Syria crisis getting worse for refugees

The Syria crisis getting worse for refugees as thousands face homelessness due to increased fighting.

Charity organisation OXFAM has described the situation as ‘spinning out of control’, as aid organisations are unable to keep up with the thousands of people who need help.

The problem in Syria started about 2 years ago.  Syria’s citizens began pouring into the streets  to protest against their leader, President Assad. They wanted him to step down.

Assad’s family has been in power for over 40 years and Syrians wanted to be able to make their own choice for who will lead them. They also want more personal freedoms, better opportunities and improved living conditions.

To keep control President Assad cracked down on those that protested, often resorting to violence to keep control. Some people estimate that over 75,000 have died so far in conflict between the Presidents forces and Syrian citizens.

Syrians had hoped for pieceful change in their country but it has now turned into a ‘civil war’. A civil war is a war betwen groups within the same country.

Almost a million people have already fled the fighting in Syria, with many of the refuges now staying in camps in nearby Jordan and Lebanon.

Latest reports show that around 5000 Syrians are leving their homes every day.

Last month countrys around the world pledged almost $2 billion NZD to help the refugees, but less than 20 percent has been received.

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[tabs tab1=”Word Study Overview” tab2=”Spelling Activities” tab3=”Parts of Speech” tab4=”Proof Reading”]

Each week on the Kiwi Kids News website we write a Word Study article. It is a special article that can be used as a weekly tool to develop student’s confidence with words. Students use the article as the foundation text for the activities below.

We have spelling activities, proof reading activities and parts of speech activities. The final paragraph (in green) includes  spelling errors. This is done on purpose as one of the activities is for students to proof read the final paragraph.

Below are the Master Sheets which can be used to guide you in your word study.

THIS WEEK YOU MUST COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING
Spelling tasks: #1,2,7,12
Parts of Speech tasks:#3, 4, 5
Proof Reading tasks: #2,4

Kiwi Kids News Homework Activities

Kiwi Kids News Homework Overview

Your teacher may give you a certain number of activities to complete or tell you the activities they want completed this week. Remember to write both the questions and answers down in your book.

1. Spelling Pattern of the Week
Using the article above list all the words that have this week’s spelling pattern.
List 5 other words that also have this spelling pattern.

2. TUT PUP
Visit the TutPup site and complete one level of the spelling competition. Record your score in the back of your homework book. CLICK HERE.

3. Alliterative Phrases or Sentences
Choose 5 words from the text and write five alliterative phrases or sentences.
An alliteration uses the same initial letter. You may include a word or two that do not begin with the same initial letter.
Examples:  Deep down in the dungeon        tiny town       sheep shout

4. Antonyms
Choose 6 words from the text and write an antonym next to each word. An antonym is a word that means the opposite. Use a dictionary or thesaurus for help, if needed.
Example:  hot cold

5. Consonants and Vowels
Write 10 words out from the text. Use a blue coloured pencil for consonants and a red coloured pencil for vowels.

6. Missing Consonants
Write 10 words out from the text leaving blank spaces for all consonants.
Example:  __a__ __ e__ (answer: carpet)

7. Missing Vowels
Write 10 words out from the text leaving blank spaces for all vowel letters.
Examples: bl__ck =black        l__st =list        b__x =boxMoney Code

8. Scrambled Words
Pick 6  words from the text and write them on the left side of your paper, but scramble the letters of each word. Next to each word, leave a blank line, and write a clue or an illustration.
Example:  cholos________ a place where you learn

9. Silly Sentences
Pick 6  words from the text and write 5 silly sentences. Underline each spelling word. Choose one of your silly sentences and illustrate it.
Example:  The long line at the grocery store was empty.

10. Synonyms
Pick 6  words from the text and next to each one write a synonym. A synonym is a word that means the same. Use a dictionary or thesaurus for help, if needed.
Example:  large big

11. The Conversation
Pick 6  words from the text and write a dialogue between two characters using the words.  Be sure to use quotation marks around the words that are being said by a character.  Underline each spelling word.

Example: “Hey Jack, do you want to skate to the park?” asked Matt.

Jack replied, “I would love to but where is that place?”

12. True or False?
Pick 6  words from the text and write statements to explain their meaning. Some of the statements should be true, and others should be false. Be sure to write True or False next to each statement and underline each spelling word.  DO NOT SOLVE.

Examples: You go to preschool when you are 12 years old.     True or False

If you uncover a pot you take the lid off.             True or False

13. Word Cousins
Pick 6  words from the text and put them into a word bank at the top of your paper. Write 3 clues relating to each word and leave a blank after the clues. The words can be related by similar categories.
Examples:  Coat, raincoat, hat,____________    (answer: jacket)
Toast, peanut butter, cream cheese, __________(answer: jelly)

14. Words-in-Words
Pick 6  words from the text and then write at least two words that you can make from each. You may scramble the letters to create new words.
Example:  shower     show     owe     row

Use the article above to answer the following questions about grammar. To remind yourself what each of the parts of

1. Find 4 nouns in the article and write them down.

2. Find 4 verbs in the article and list them.

3. Find 3 adjectives used in the article above.

4. List 3 adverbs from the article above.

5. List 3 pronouns the write has used in the article.

6. Find 3 examples of either a preposition, a conjunction or an interjection.

Noun –   thing or person
pen, dog, work, music, town, Auckland, teacher, John
This is my dog. He lives in my house. We live in London.

Verb – action or state
be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must
Kiwi Kids News is a web site. I like Kiwi Kids News. I ran down the road.

Adjective – describes a noun
a/an, the, 2, some, good, big, red, well, interesting
I have two dogs. My dogs are big. I like big dogs.

Adverb – describes a verb, adjective or adverb
quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really
My dog eats quickly. When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly.

Pronoun – replaces a noun.
I, you, he, she, some
Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.

Preposition – links a noun to another word.
to, at, after, on, but
We went to school on Monday.

Conjunction – joins clauses or sentences or words.
and, but, when
I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don’t like cats.

Interjection – short exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentence
oh!, ouch!, hi!, well
Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don’t know.

The final paragraph of the article above is here we focus on our punctuation and proof reading skills.

Use this final paragraph to help you complete the activities below.

1. List 3 words with capital letters and find the two words that should have capital letters.

2. List the 5 spelling mistakes that are in the final paragraph. Write the word that was in the text and then beside it put the correct spelling.

3. Join two sentences together to make one. You may need to use commas to help make the sentence true.

4. Using the entire article as a guide, write a new sentence that could go into this piece of writing. Your sentence must have a comma and speech marks.