Vista Language Arts Lessons

 1. swabbed ---I swabbed the floor with a new an improved mop that cleaned my kitchen floor in minutes. 2. swan-  The swan is a bird that is known for mating for life with its swan partner. 3. sway-  The tall palm trees sway back and forth during the wind storm. 4. swap-  When I was a kid in elementary school, I used to swap my tuna sandwich for my friend's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  5. swig-  I took a swig from my friend's water bottle and found out it was wine instead. 6. swami- The swami at the temple greeted me with welcome arms. 7. swift-  The deer was swift as it traveled through the hill side. 8. sword-  The sword fight by the knights was fierce and brutal. 9. swept- The waves swept the debris away from the shoreline. 10. swallow-  The spaghetti was hard to swallow without more sauce. 11. swatter- I just bought a fly swatter to swat the flies in my patio area. 12. swamped-  The accountant was swamped with income tax clie...

  If you ever had a favorite stuffed toy as a child, you can relate to the story of the Velveteen Rabbit. This children's book was first published in 1922 by Margery Williams.  The story begins with a stuffed velveteen rabbit that is given to a small boy for Christmas. The boy was given an abundance of  modern and mechanical toys and didn't pay much attention to the stuffed rabbit.  However, one evening when the boy lost a toy, his nanny replaced it with the stuffed rabbit. From that time on they were inseparable.  As the story progresses challenges follow that many readers have felt were awfully sad.  One of the important quotes taken from the Velveteen Rabbit is the communication the stuffed rabbit has with the "skin horse" toy that is one of the original toys in the nursery. Velveteen Rabbit Quote- The Velveteen Rabbit and the Skin Horse: Real isn't how you are made, "said the Skin Horse. It's a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for...

  Jane Castillo-Los Angeles based artist with parents who immigrated from Columbia. "Hairball" Sculptures added to Castillo's personal journey  for developing her current art form. Castillo uses the symbolism and metaphor of hair as a marker of identity and gender; hair places you in the cultural hierarchy based upon the preferred color and straightness: you have either high hair or low hair.  To comment upon the large role hair plays in the life of its owner, Castillo makes huge hairballs of densely curled hair, formed painstakingly by hand, and then hung on ropes from the ceiling.  The hair is as artificial as the semiotic meaning of hair types, and, depending on its color, one ball can  knock the others about.  "Ecliptic Eccentricity" is a series of five large hairballs, four black and one blonde, a redesigned pendulum. The blonde hairball is on the end--position of power.  It can knock the  black ones around. Hair is a statement of artifice, t...

  Sandra Cisneros -novelist, poet, short story writer, artist, Chicago, Illinois 1954. Notable works: The House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories Cisneros' early life experience provides themes for her writing.  She is the only daughter in a family  six brothers.  Her family's constant migration between Mexico and United States made her feel like she was "always straddling two countries...but not belonging to either culture." Much of  Cisneros' writing deals with the formation of Chicana identity and the challenges of being of  Mexican descent in an Anglo-American culture. HAIRS Everybody in our family has different hair.  My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the air.  And me,  my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands.  Carlos' hair is thick and straight.  He doesn't need  to comb it.  Nenny's hair is slippery-slides out of you hand.  And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair  ...

Too Much Peanuts-Muchos Cacahuates I used to look forward to having my grandmother's capirotada in the early spring.  I didn't understand the religious/historical significance until I was a full grown-long-ago- college- graduate.  I recall one of the last times I had capirotada at my grandmother's house.  I was probably fifteen almost sixteen at the time.  The image was a kitchen  all in Irish plaid with dark shadows of the fall. The future shined through the living room window over the Early American sofa. The capirotada was still kind of the same-too many peanuts for me.  Almost every spoonful seemed like it was 80% peanuts-cacahuates.  When writing creatively it is okay to play with the grammar and combine different languages.    

  Memoirs are memories by an author that are based on their own world view.  These ideas can be seeds for the story that will be told.  Alberto Rios- Is an American author born in Nogales, Arizona a border town right on the edge of the Mexican border.  His father, Alberto Rios, Sr., was born in Mexico near the Guatemala border and his mother Agnes Fogg Rios, was born in England.  His parents met while Alberto Sr. was in the army during World War II.  Capirotada- Is a memoir by Alberto that describes his upbringing in Nogales, Arizona in the l950's-1960's. Capirotada is a Mexican dessert -like a bread pudding that is made of a melange of ingredients which vary based on the family.  It is usually served during lent.  The Lemon Story When I was about four, or maybe five, my parents bought a new house in what would become a small suburb of Nogales, Arizona on the border of Mexico, some four miles outside of town.  My father was born in Mexico, on...

  Embellishments-a detail, especially one that is not true, added to a statement or story to make it more interesting or entertaining... Stripped of her embellishments, the essence of her story and actual facts were disappointing. She claimed to have run 4 marathons last year but actually only ran one marathon and 3 10K's. saga: a long story of heroic achievement,  a long, involved story, account, or series of incidents The saga of my mother and father's engagement began when my parents where three years old. They claimed that they fell in love when my father hit my mother with a rock at the age of three.  My father said the my mother's three brother's tried to beat him up after witnessing the incident. (saga's are especially related to medieval prose narrative in Old Norse or Old Icelandic stories-Vikings) "Humans are storytelling beings who personally and collectively, lead storied lives. The study of stories provides insight into how individuals and families...