nostalgia

(n) - Nostalgia is a feeling that a time in the past was good, or the activity of remembering a good time in the past and wishing that things had not changed.

• Synonyms: fond memories, reminiscence, yearning, sentimentality
• Antonyms: regret, sorrow
• Etymology: 1668 Greek, from the word algos meaning "pain, grief, distress" + nostos meaning "homecoming," which originally comes from the PIE root *nes- meaning "to return safely home"
• Morphology: nostalgic - adj
• Example: When I look back on our blog, I get a sense of nostalgia for all of the fun projects and activities we have done.

premise

(n) - A premise is a statement or idea that you accept as true and use as a base for developing other ideas, like a hypothesis.

• Synonyms: hypothesis, idea, conjecture, notion, presumption
• Antonyms: guess, fact, reality
• Etymology: Late 14th Century Latin, from prae meaning "before" + mittere meaning "to send" (which is where we get the word mission)
• Example: I believe in the premise that you (or I) will never have a better class in your entire school career.

I also believe in the premise that there are GREAT people out there, like those from Phillips 66 Refinery, who want you to be GREAT students, and GREAT citizens of Billings and beyond.

serendipity

(n) - Serendipity is when interesting or valuable discoveries are made without planning or meaning for them to happen.

• Synonyms: blessing, good luck, lucky break
• Antonyms: choice, bad luck
• Etymology: 1754 English, first said by a man named Horace Walpole in a letter he wrote to he wrote to someone named Mann on 1/28/1754. He said he got it from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents."
• Morphology: serendipitous - adj
• Example: It was serendipity that brought me to Burlington, and that led me to teach a combo so that I could meet you!

ample

(adj) – If you have an ample amount of something (time, money, etc), you have more than plenty of it for what you need.

• Synonyms: plenty, more than enough, abundant, extensive, substantial
• Antonyms: insufficient, meager, not enough
• Etymology: Mid-15th Century Latin, from amplus meaning "large, spacious," which comes from ampla meaning "handle, grip"
• Morphology: amplify - v
• Example: I hope you had ample rest over our last 3-day weekend!

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?

ominous

(adj) - If something is ominous, it makes you feel like something bad is going to happen.

• Synonyms: dangerous, doomed, haunting, threatening
• Antonyms: happy, lucky, promising
• Etymology: 1589, from Latin ominis meaning "warning"
• Morphology: omen - n
• Example: My car is making an ominous rattling noise, so it’s time to take it into the shop.

Math:

Probability Fair

Reading:

Click to play

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!

substantial

(adj) - Something that is substantial is either large in amount or number, or is large and strongly made.

• Synonyms: abundant, bulky, heavy, large, massive, sizeable, significant, vast
• Antonyms: insignificant, little, minor, unimportant, unsubstantial
• Etymology: Mid 14th Century Latin, from sub meaning "up to, under" + stare meaning "to stand”
• Morphology: substance - n
• Example: Even though we are nearing the end of 4th quarter, we still have a substantial amount of work to do this year!

The Heritage Project was a substantial amount of work, and I'm both glad and sad that it's over. I think that CR Smith's visit yesterday was a great way to celebrate the conclusion of our trek across the USA:

Exploring the West to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean was a substantial journey that took over two years to complete. Click on the image or the link below to help Lewis and Clark on their trek:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/west/main.html

feasible

(adj) - A plan, idea, or method that is feasible is possible and is likely to work.

• Synonyms: possible, doable, achievable, practical, reasonable
• Antonyms: impossible, unlikely, unreasonable
• Etymology: Mid 15th Century Old French... and Latin, from faisable meaning "possible, easy, convenient," which comes from faire meaning "do, make," which comes from Latin facere meaning "do, perform"
• Morphology: feasibility - n
• Example: Since we already live in Montana, a trip to some locale in the West is very feasible for us!

Click here to view the Virtual Field Trip

jubilant

(adj) - If you are jubilant, you are extremely happy and pleased because of a success.

• Synonyms: elated, excited, overjoyed, pleased, thrilled, triumphant
• Antonyms: depressed, sad, sorrowful, blue
• Etymology: 1660s Latin, from jubilare meaning "to call to someone," which comes from jubilum meaning "wild shout."
• Morphology: jubilee - n, jubilation - n
• Example: Tonight's Vocademy Awards event will be a jubilant celebration!

Let's get ready for tonight's event by looking at some photos of last year's jubilation: