revitalize

(v) - If you revitalize something, you put new strength or power into it.

• Synonyms: breathe new life into, enliven, exhilarate, freshen, renew, renovate, repair, revive
• Antonyms: kill off, hamper, discourage
• Etymology: 1858 , from re- meaning "back, again," + vita meaning "life," + -ize, which is a verb-forming suffix
• Morphology: revitalization - n, vital - adj, vitality - n
• Example:  There's just nothing quite like Field Day to revitalize your energy for the end of the year!

Scientists in Yellowstone brought back wolves in 1995 to revitalize the park's ecosystem.

How can reintroducing a top-tier predator like a wolf actually help revitalize an ecosystem?

traverse

(v) – When you traverse something (like a state or a lake), you move across, over, or through it, especially an area of land or water.

• Synonyms: bridge, travel, cross over, span
• Antonyms: back up, reverse, stay put
• Etymology: Early 14th Century Latin, from transversus meaning "turn across"
• Example: It took us several weeks to traverse the whole United States in our Heritage Project.

Congratulations to all of the Heritage teams!


Check out these pictures from Friday night, when you traversed the red carpet to receive your Vocademy Award!

malinger

(v) – If you malinger, you avoid work or school by pretending to be ill.

• Synonyms: play sick, fake it, evade work
• Antonyms: ail, be sick
• Etymology: 1785 French, from malingre meaning "ailing, sickly." This word possibly comes from a blend of mingre meaning "sickly, miserable" and malade meaning "ill." Mingre is actually a blend of maigre meaning "meager" + haingre meaning "sick, haggard."
• Example: With only a couple of weeks of school left, there is no time to malinger!

 Click on the sites below to learn and review triangles:

• http://www.math-play.com/classifying-triangles/classifying-triangles.html
• http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2numeracy-shape-and-weight.html#triangles

 

alter

(v) - If you alter something, you change it.

• Synonyms: change, adjust, adapt, modify, reform, renovate
• Antonyms: continue, keep, fix, leave alone, ignore
• Etymology: Late 14th Century PIE, from *al- meaning "beyond" + comparative suffix -ter (which is where we get the word other)
• Morphology: alteration - n, altered - adj
• Example: If your pants are too long, your mom may have to alter them to get them to fit you.

 Believe it or not, there are quite a few ways to alter Google.

Try searching "do a barrel roll" or zerg rush" and see what happens!

fret

(v) - If you fret about something, you worry about it, even when there is no need.

• Synonyms: worry, stress out, lose sleep over, agonize
• Antonyms: calm, comfort, soothe
• Etymology: Late 12th Century Old English, from fretan meaning "eat, devour" (in Old English used of monsters and Vikings; in Middle English used of animals' eating); that word came from the Proto-Germanic parts *fra- meaning "for-" + *etan meaning "to eat"
• Morphology: fretted, fretting - v, fretful - adj
• Example: I don't want you to fret about your grades, so I encourage you to make corrections when you can.

Another thing I don't want you to fret about is geometry!

Try some of the geometry games on Sheppard Software using your Chromebook.

trek

(n.) - A trek is a long and difficult journey, made especially on foot as an adventure.
(v.) - To trek is to travel (usually walking) a long, long way.

• Synonyms: expedition, march, journey
• Antonyms: stay
• Origin: 1849 (n.); 1850 (v.) Dutch, from trecken meaning "to march, journey," which originally meant "to draw, pull”
• Example: As much fun as it would be to trek across the USA for real, I am glad we get to do it for "pretend" first!

disperse

(v) - If something disperses or is dispersed, it spreads in different directions over a wide area.  If a group of people disperse or are dispersed, they go away in different directions.

• Synonyms: distribute, scatter, spread out, scramble, spray
• Antonyms: arrange, assemble, collect
• Etymology: Late 14th Century Latin, from dis- meaning "apart, in every direction" + spargere meaning "to scatter" (which is also where we get the word sparse)
• Example: Next year, my sweet class will be dispersed across town, as some of them will go to Will James.

trump

(v) - If something is trumped, it is outdone or surpassed, usually by something better.

• Synonyms: defeat, beat, overcome
• Antonyms: lose, fall behind, fail
• Etymology: 1580s Old French, from tromper meaning "deceive," of uncertain origin, perhaps from a verb meaning "to blow a trumpet."
• Morphology: trumpet - n
• Example: Your Heritage fate card details will always trump whatever happens along your journey.

You may think that your mom made your lunch, or maybe that the lunch ladies made your lunch, but you would be wrong. Dirt trumps them all!

proportion

(n) - A proportion is the relationship in size, amount, importance etc, between two things, or a part of a number or amount, considered in relation to the whole.
*This word can also be used as a verb.

• Synonyms: relative amount, ratio, relationship, dimension, division, scale, scope, relative size
• Etymology: Late 14th Century Latin, from pro meaning "forward" +  *partio meaning "division," which comes from pars meaning "part."
• Morphology: proportional - adj, proportionally - adv
• Example: The rewards you get in your education are in direct proportion to the effort you put in.

ponder

(v) - To ponder is to spend time thinking carefully and seriously about a problem, a difficult question, or something that has happened.

• Synonyms: think about, think over, wonder about, consider
• Antonyms: forget, ignore
• Etymology: 1330 L. ponderare meaning "to weigh" (which is also where we get the word pound)
• Morphology: ponderous - adj
• Example: Here are some interesting thoughts for you to ponder…

Click here to ponder the wonders of perimeter and area.

abscond

(v) - If you abscond, you sneak off or secretly leave a place, sometimes taking with you something that does not belong to you.

• Synonyms: sneak away, hightail, make off, vanish, vamoose, fly the coop, flee, escape, disappear
• Antonyms: continue, endure, give up, remain, stop
• Etymology: 1560s Latin, from ab- meaning "away" + com- meaning "together" + dere meaning "put"
• Morphology: scoundrel - n
• Example: In our first episodes of Fizz and Martina, our heroes suspected Budge of trying to abscond with Pinky McGee's pinky!

meander

(v) - If a river, stream, road etc meanders, it has a lot of bends rather than going in a straight line. If a person meanders, he or she may walk somewhere in a slow relaxed way rather than take the most direct way possible. If a conversation meanders, it is too long and has no purpose or structure.

• Synonyms: wander, zigzag, roam, drift, ramble, wind, veer
• Antonyms: go directly, stay on track
• Etymology: 1570s Greek, from Maiandros which is the name of a river in Caria noted for its winding course
• Example: It is very important that no one is allowed to meander around the room while we are testing.

Exactly how did it come to be that rivers and lakes meander across the Midwestern landscape?

devise

(v) - To devise something is to plan or invent a new way of doing it.

• Synonyms: dream up, form, formulate, invent, come up with, imagine, figure out
• Antonyms: borrow, steal
• Etymology: Early 13th Century Latin, from dividere meaning "to divide," which comes from de- meaning "down, away from," +  root of viere meaning "to bind, twist"
• Example: Farmers in the Midwest had to devise more efficient methods of harvesting their crops in order to make more money.

endeavor

(n) - An endeavor is an attempt to do something new or difficult.
(v) - If you endeavor to do something, you try very hard.

• Synonyms 
• nouns: aim, effort, undertaking, venture, a stab
• verbs: attempt, try, plan, aim, focus, zero in on, set your sights on, strive
• Antonyms 
• nouns: laziness, idleness
• verbs: don't try, sit around, be lazy
• Etymology: Early 15th Century, from the phrase put (oneself) in dever meaning "make it one's duty." This is a partial translation of Old French mettre en deveir meaning "put in duty," which comes from Old French dever meaning "duty," which comes from Latin debere meaning "to owe" (which is where we get the word debt)
• Morphology: endeavored - v
• Example:  We are taking on a new endeavor by bringing all of this new technology into our classroom.

Last October, NASA endeavored to move the Space Shuttle Endeavor to its final resting place in the California Science Center in Exposition Park.  It travelled 12 miles from Los Angeles International Airport, through the town of Inglewood, to Exposition Park. It was no easy feat!

compensate

(v) - To compensate is to replace the effect of something, to make up for something, or to balance out the results, especially of something bad.

• Synonyms: counterbalance, satisfy, take care of, make up for
• Antonyms: lose, forget
• Etymology: 1646 Latin, from com- meaning "with" + pendere meaning "to weigh"
• Morphology: compensation

I don't care how much money you offered me... you couldn't compensate me enough to want to do this job:

• Example: In order to compensate for our missing Heritage time this week, we are going to switch Library times with Mrs. Falcon's class on Wednesday.

Now would be a good time to figure out how to set up and use your Google calendar!

It's TECH TIME!

looming

(adj) - A looming event seems important, worrying, and difficult to avoid. A looming object appears as a large unclear shape, especially in a threatening way.
*This word can also be used as a verb

• Synonyms: rising, approaching, menacing, threatening
• Antonyms: avoidable, distant, far-off, small
• Etymology: 1540s perhaps from a Scandinavian source (like from the Swedish word loma meaning "move slowly"), meaning "come into view largely and unclearly." Some Etymologists think this word may be a variation from the word lame.
• Morphology: loom - v, loomed - v
• Example: Now that the MontCAS is behind us, the NWEA tests are looming in our future.

When a severe thunderstorm is looming in the Midwest, you can bet that Sean Casey and his team will be there to capture it on film!

obtain

(v) - To obtain something is to get something that you want, especially through your own effort, skill, or work.

• Synonyms: get, acquire, earn, collect, win, come into possession of
• Antonyms: give up, forfeit, lose, sacrifice, give away
• Etymology: Early 15th Century Latin, from ob meaning "to" + tenere meaning "to hold"
• Example: Before setting up your Google accounts, we needed to obtain permission from your parents.

convey

(v) - To convey a message is to communicate or express something, with or without using words. You can also convey a package or object by taking or carrying it from one place to another.

• Synonyms: carry, express, move, transport, send, transmit
• Antonyms: hold, keep, maintain, retain
• Etymology: 13th Century Latin, from com- meaning "with, together" + via meaning "way, road"
• Morphology: conveyor - n, conveyance - n
• Example: By doing WOD every single day, I hope that I can convey the importance of having and using a good vocabulary!

I think that by using this scene in their show, Drake and Josh are trying to convey the message that Lucille Ball really was the Queen of Comedy:

Click here to see the episode

quibble

(v) - If you quibble with someone, you argue over small, unimportant details or trivial matters.
*This word can also be used as a noun.

• Synonyms: bicker, argue, disagree
• Antonyms: agree, discuss
• Etymology: 1610s English, meaning "a pun, a play on words," which is probably from quib meaning "evasion of the point at issue"
• Example: It seems like there is a point in every year when students start to quibble about football at recess. 

improvise

(v.) - If you improvise, you do something without any preparation, usually because of unexpected events.

• Synonyms: make up, brainstorm, invent
• Antonyms: design, plan, prepare
• Etymology: 1826 Latin, from in- meaning "not" + provisus meaning either "foreseen" or "provided"
• Morphology: improvisation - n
• Example: I forgot to bring my notes, so I had to improvise when I gave my speech.

Click here for your chance to improvise!