Student Instructions

Name __________________________________

Sentence combining

Newspapers are known for using fairly short, simple, straightforward sentences. But imagine that a newspaper takes this short sentence business a bit too far with a piece like this:

There was a fire. The fire was yesterday. It was at a restaurant. The restaurant was Spaghetti Land. The restaurant was popular. Spaghetti Land is located on 5th Street. The restaurant was destroyed. It was a fire that destroyed it. The restaurant is next to another restaurant. That restaurant is Antonio’s Taco Factory. The fire also damaged Antonio’s Taco Factory. The damage was estimated at around $100,000.

This writing could certainly be improved by combining the information into fewer sentences. There are many ways the sentences could be combined. Here are three ideas:

Yesterday, a fire destroyed the popular Spaghetti Land restaurant on 5th Street. The fire also did about $100,000 damage to the next-door restaurant, Antonio’s Taco Factory.

The popular Spaghetti Land restaurant on 5th Street was destroyed yesterday by a fire that also damaged Antonio’s Taco Factory next door. Damage to Antonio’s was estimated at around $100,000.

A fire was responsible yesterday for destroying one popular local restaurant and damaging another. The Spaghetti Land restaurant on 5th Street was destroyed, and Antonio’s Taco Factory next door sustained around $100,000 in damage.

Here are two more stories that go overboard with short sentences. Rewrite each story at least two different ways. Be sure not to leave out any information. Try to use no more than four or

five sentences in each rewrite.

1. Victor was hungry. His hunger was extreme. His hunger occurred at lunchtime. He went to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was in his school. He looked at the food. The food was being

ind of brownish. It resembled meat. He wasn’t sure it was food. He was sure of one thing. It did not look good. He did granola bar. It was in his backpack. It was squashed. It would than the brownish food.

What did the cannibal

have for lunch?

Baked beings.

babysitting Tyrone. Tyrone has a nickname. The nickname is Ter-

. Tyrone is two. Allie was trying to feed him peas. Tyrone like peas. He doesn’t like babysitters. He spit the peas. He spit

clear across the room. Some of them landed in other places. One of those places was Allie’s hair. Allie was mad. She had a date later. The date was with Calvin. She really likes

Calvin. She doesn’t like Tyrone very much. She also doesn’t like something else. That something else is

peas in her hair.

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Student Instructions

Name __________________________________

Dishing up the Internet

Dictionaries are great. However, they don’t have everything. For some things, the Internet is more helpful for quick answers. Use Internet search engines and an online dictionary to answer

the following:

1.Look at the three words below. One is found in a garden, one is found in the ocean, and one is found in the desert. Which is which?

abalone____________________

agave______________________

aubergine__________________

2.What do the following words all have in common: zeppola, beignet, fritter?

3.Which part of a cow does flank steak come from: shoulder, rib, front, back, head, belly, foot?

4.Name two things wrong with this sentence: Senora Morales was eating in the Mexican cottage where she grew up. She cut open the jambon and spooned out the strawberry jam inside of it. “This jambon is delicious. It must have come from a happy cow,” said her father.

5.What is the main ingredient in p’tcha?

6.Write one sentence that uses all of the following words correctly: ganache, garnish, garbure.

________________________________________________

7.Which word doesn’t belong in the following list: vichyssoise, cioppino, pappardelle, borscht, gazpacho, bouillabaisse.

8.What famous cook and food writer said, “You don’t have to masterpieces—just good food from fresh ingredients.” Name one book that this person wrote.

9.How do quick breads differ from regular breads?

___________________________________________________

10.What, exactly, is lard? _______________________________

What nonedible item that most of us use every day is made from lard? ________________________________

“Never eat more than you can lift.”

—Miss Piggy

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Student Instructions

Name __________________________________

Where’s the Food?

Can you find the foods hidden in the sentences below? The letters are in the correct order, but they are sometimes spread out over more than one word. There are two foods hidden in each

sentence. Underline or highlight the letters that spell the food.

Example:

Mom bought each of the children a cookie but made Bianca keep hers until her homework was finished.

1.I’m impressed that Bob read the entire book to Benjamin.

2.Meet me at 10:00 in front of the train depot at Oesterfield and 42nd Avenue.

3.I asked the rich American tourist if she could maybe answer my question.

4.I hope a chestnut tree will grow in my one acre, amazingly beautiful garden.

5.George went to a street dance, but Terry decided to go to the library.

Super Challenge

Add one to five sentences to this puzzle, hiding at least five more food words. (You can put all of the words in one sentence, if you can. Or you can spread them out over one to five sentences.)

Of course, spelling is very important in a puzzle like this!

Recipe for

Elephant Stew

1 Elephant, Medium sized,

2 rabbits (optional), gravy.

Cut elephant into bite sized pieces and cover with gravy. Cook over kerosene fire for

about 4 weeks at 465 degrees F. This elephant serves 3,800 adults and 35 children. If more are expected, two rabbits may be added. Do this only if absolutely necessary, as most people do not like to find a hare in their stew.

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Student Instructions

Name __________________________________

You Are How You Eat

You have probably heard the common phrase, “You are what you eat.” In this activity, think, “You are how you eat.”

Write a paragraph that describes someone eating and, at the same time, lets the reader know something important about that person—but without actually saying outright what it is that is

important.

For example, perhaps you want to indicate that the person is very tense. Don’t write, “This person is tense.” Instead, show that she is tense. Describe her nervous gestures as she slurps her soup: her glances left and right, her rigid shoulders, her shaky hands, etc. Let readers figure out on their own that the person is tense.

Some ideas to think about for your description:

•Who is the person you are describing?

•Is the person upset? Happy? Tense? Excited? Bored? Or...?

•Is the person a strong leader? A great coach? Extremely smart? Very athletic? Suspicious? Mean? Kind? Or...?

•Where is the person eating?

•Is anyone eating with the person?

•Is there a server serving this person? If so, how does the person eating treat the server?

Choose your words carefully to portray something important about the person eating, but without stating it outright.

Why don’t cannibals eat clowns?

Because they taste funny.

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