What's A Wampanoag?

I didn't have a clue what a Wampanoag is, until this past Saturday...

Each Friday afternoon, Samuel comes home from school with a list of vocabulary words for homework. He's supposed to learn the words. And he's not just supposed to be able to read them and spell them correctly. He's supposed to have a good idea of what the definitions or meanings of the words are, and he's also supposed to be able to use the words correctly in a sentence. He has the weekend to work on the vocabulary list, and then he is expected to be able to read them to his teacher by Tuesday of the following week. After that, he's expected to be able to spell them correctly and use the words accurately in composition sentences on a spelling test on Thursday. Samuel's got a great vocabulary, and the few words he has struggled with in the past, after I tell him once how to pronounce it and what it means, he remembers it. I am always so impressed with his vocabulary and memorization skills.

BUT... I've noticed over the past couple of weeks that the words coming home on the lists are getting really difficult. This week's list has topped them all. This is the list:

1) Native American
2) Powhatan
3) Sioux
4) Pueblo
5) shelter
6) tepees
7) adobe
8) tradition
9) Europe
10) explorer
11) colony
12) colonist
13) Wampanoag
14) Squanto
15) harvested
16) Independence
17) American Revolution
18) pioneer
19) transportation
20) slavery

Now people, Samuel's in 2nd grade!!! He's 8... I'm 37 years old, and I've got to tell you, I didn't have a clue how to pronounce #2 and #13. And coming up with definitions off the top of my head for some of these words was, quite frankly, rather difficult for me. How on earth am I supposed to help my child, if I don't even know what some of these words are? Enter http://www.dictionary.com/. Seriously, what did parents do before The Internet and Dictionary.com? On their website, they have this cute little icon that looks like a speaker. When you click on that icon, it pronounces the word for you. How super helpful is that?!?! Anyway, I am happy to say that I did initially pronounce Wampanoag correctly. But I missed the mark on Powhatan... I don't know, but I'm thinking this is a little excessive for 2nd graders. I mean, if I were trying to learn a new language, I'm not sure that I could learn 20 new words and their meanings, how to use them correctly in a sentence, how to spell them correctly and how to pronounce them correctly, all within 4 days! I mean, Powhatan... Sioux... Pueblo... Adobe... The list might as well have read ερυθρόδερμοι Δείτε επίσης; διπλό αντίσκηνο, and αποικία, because most of those words looked Greek to Samuel. Goodness, I am honestly not looking forward to next week's list! I'm anticipating the words maize, cornucopia, voyage, Massasoit, and Plymouth to rear their ugly little heads! :-)

Now, go learn something new today! Hope everyone has a great week!