Marco the Gigantic Machine - Spelling Bee Words List: Second Grade Challenge, Third Grade Advanced, Fourth Grade Intermediate

Performing maintenance on these gigantic machines, physically intimidating in appearance I might add, requires a tremendous amount of grace. I am not graceful. My dad tells me that I am just at an awkward stage and my mom says that I have two left feet. I think there is just something wrong with me. My body ignores whatever my brain tells it to do; or at least that is what it feels like.

I grab the first piece of sturdy furniture available so I can reach its eye cameras. I tried to tell dad that if he can design a robot that will actually walk along beside us and carry our groceries without falling down, he should also be able to design eye cameras that do not need me to manually focus them through my performance of a virtual act of aerobatics. One day soon, this is going to go very badly and I will end up as some unfortunate headline beside the hurricane-of-the-month story-of-the-day at the newsstand.

Just as I am making the last twist on the eye cameras, the bench on which I am standing falls over and I am left dangling from Marco’s (Marco is the name of this gigantic machine) left eye camera. Fortunately, the camera housing is laser-cut from some industrial grade black diamond, so it is strong enough to bear my weight. Just as the most disastrous possible scenario plays out in my head, I hear my sister laughing in great amusement.

I just know that this is going to result in a very bad attitude for the rest of the day, but I am grateful for her protection. Julia, my sister, is quite the athlete. What I lack in grace, she more than makes of for in her athletic prowess and muscular strength. I nod my permission as I can barely speak with the strain of hanging on, and she less-than-respectfully grabbed me by the hips and tossed me with great momentum to the couch. I can guarantee that she will remind of this incident for the rest of the day.

With the eyes focused, Marco and I are ready for our trip to the grocery store. This is always fun. I quite frequently get strange looks and stares as Marco and I walk together. In fact, we have been stopped more than once by a well-meaning police officer and even harassed by Mrs. Jenkins. Mrs. Jenkins even launched a campaign through the neighborhood association to get Marco taken away by the city council. Fortunately, through a unanimous vote, the council decided that since Marco was not a person, pet, or vehicle they had no authority over him. Mrs. Jenkins was not happy, but her campaigning came to an end with the first cool breaths of autumn. Mrs. Jenkins always takes off for the cooler months – it’s the only thing I like about her: she leaves.

With the public anti-outcry dying with Mrs. Jenkins departure for the winter, my mother decided that tomorrow would be a great day to wield some influence by hosting a neighborhood harvest picnic celebration. I don’t really know what she has in mind, but the promise of a delicious pumpkin pie had me readily agreeing to this grocery store trip. Just before leaving the house with Marco, I remember the Pixel Crunch box tops and ran back in for the envelope.

I hate Pixel Crunch cereal; it is absolutely disgusting! But I have been eating it for more than five months. Once I have collected forty-two (why such a strange number as forty-two, I will never understand) and mailed them in, Pixel Crunch will send me a collector’s edition PixelCraft sword and scabbard set. I finally finished my last box of that awful cereal this morning, and am mailing the envelope now. In eight to sixteen weeks, I will have my prize!

As Marco and I head out, I trigger his musician mode. Marco begins making odd noises that sound strangely musical. This is another of my dad’s brilliant, but under-designed features. My dad gave me permission to tinker with Marco’s programming so I can submit him as a science fair project. If I win the science fair, I can go compete on the state level with a full scholarship to PixelCraft Summer Design Camp as the award. I think Marco’s musician mode will be one of the first things I fix.

As we walk past the television station, a strange static overpowers Marco’s music. The interference is only a problem when we are immediately in front of the television station. I have had more than one discussion with my dad about this interference problem, but he is not really concerned. He is thinking about his next project: some strategic, autonomous, mechanical amphibian that he plans to sell to the military as an all-terrain war machine. His last effort to pay the mortgage was some whales-of-war concept he sold to the United States Navy. That did not end well. Between silly ideas-that-don’t-work such as whales-of-war and SAMA (Strategic Autonomous Mechanical amphibian), my dad pays the bills as a second-rate playwright.

We finally arrive at the grocery store, when I notice a sign hanging in the window:

“NOW HIRING ALL POSITIONS. APPLICATION AVAILABLE INSIDE.”

I shake my head. This store is always hiring, and never in a million years would I work here. Never! After I switch Marco to Stand-By mode and head inside, I suddenly change my mind. Maggie is working here? Maggy?! I have had a crush on this girl since she moved here in the third grade. I grab an application to take home and leave, forgetting why I had come to the store in the first place.

Check out these word search and word unscramble worksheets for the first group of eighteen words and the second group of eighteen words.

SPELLING LIST 2nd Grade - Challenge Words | 3rd Grade - Advanced Words | 4th Grade Intermediate
maintenance
muscular
scholarship
delicious
diamond
discussion
playwright
amphibian
campaign
musician
furniture
protection
respectfully
television
application
unanimous
mortgage
interference
newsstand
envelope
permission
appearance
autumn
influence
available
celebration
association
tomorrow
guarantee
disastrous
unfortunate
amusement
momentum
attitude
physically
hurricane

See some other word lists:
Second Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Third Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Fourth Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge

Whales-of-War - Spelling Bee Words List: Second Grade Advanced, Third Grade Intermediate, Fourth Grade Beginning

You may already know about my canary named Chicken. Yes, a canary, not a chicken, named Chicken. Chicken had a habit learned from his mother to go along in my pocket to every destination. Our friendship was profound, and I was ever grateful for the companionship of Chicken, but I digress. This is not a story about Chicken, he was simply along for the ride.

My neighbor and I were on our way to a convention Friday afternoon, a special gathering of foreign dignitaries, when we witnessed an event of important note. This strange event, a mixture of the remarkable and ordinary, struck us as odd.

My daughter was a government attorney (much in need of a vacation) who specialized in the exercise of justice in the military. Last week she introduced some evidence that brought into question the ethical treatment of a squadron of whales-of-war, when her legal teammate stood with an objection. It was strange, seeing as how they were on the same side, that her partner would address the court in objection to her case, but that is exactly what he did, saying “Sir, your honor, let me explain. These whales-of-war can have no justice, because they each are a machine, not alive at all.”

Back to the event at hand, my daughter was finally enjoying her much needed vacation as my neighbor and I were on our way to the convention. As we were floating above Main Street in our family’s hot air balloon, we saw what looked like a whale sliding along the street below us. As we watched more closely, we noticed my daughter, running hand-in-hand with a fellow, turn suddenly into a blind alley.

The whale looking creature attempted to quickly change direction to follow, but as one can imagine it must be difficult to suddenly change the direction of that much mass as it is sliding along dry land. The whale-lookalike careened wildly into a kitchen supply store at the alley’s corner, smashing a good deal of deep frying equipment (such a tragedy).

My neighbor expressed concern about my daughter’s potential fatigue, and we quickly set the balloon down in the middle of the street to assist. An ignorant driver shot us a dirty stare as he slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting us, and my neighbor turned to the driver wielding a gigantic pair of scissors. I have no idea from where he pulled the scissors, but my bewilderment turned to relief when he disassembled the scissors and handed half to me.

In pursuit of the whale-lookalike, a giant, half-scissors shaped sword in each of our hands, we must have been a strange sight to all on Main Street. The whale-lookalike finally pulled the rest of its body from the kitchen supply store with a vacuum cleaner stuck in its blowhole. Suddenly with a strange shimmer in the air, we found ourselves mysteriously transported to another place. We appeared to be on top of a great mountain with a grassy prairie on all sides.

With a mighty rumble, a great earthquake shook the mountain. Just as we were sure a relentless rockslide was going to wipe us down to the prairie, the whale-lookalike slid down the mountain into our scissors-swords. With a giant crackle and a wisp of smoke, the whale-lookalike disappeared from our sight. My daughter, just ahead and safe, turned to us in relief.

As I opened my mouth to question her, we three were suddenly thrust back into our balloon on Main Street. We must have caused quite the commotion as there were a vast number of cars and pedestrians surrounding us on all sides. With Chicken in my pocket, a scissors-sword in hand, and both neighbor and daughter in tow, we raised back into the air. Turning once more to my daughter, I heard her say to my neighbor, “It is now time for your true education.”

Check out these word search and word unscramble worksheets for the first group of eighteen words and the second group of eighteen words.

SPELLING LIST 2nd Grade - Advanced Words | 3rd Grade - Intermediate Words | 4th Grade - Beginning Words
mountain
grateful
objection
daughter
neighbor
balloon
friendship
question
earthquake
squadron
machine
prairie
teammate
because
address
exercise
foreign
chicken
explain
vacuum
vacation
fatigue
education
ignorant
kitchen
mixture
important
special
convention
attorney
equipment
afternoon
government
justice
evidence
scissors

See some other word lists:
Second Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Third Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Fourth Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge

A Canary Named Chicken - Spelling Bee Words List: Second Grade Intermediate, Third Grade Beginning

I bent to pick up a yellow tail feather from the ground. Such an ugly feather for a pretty bird: a little, yellow canary I named "Chicken." Chicken was one of seven chicks hatched by her mother, a sweet canary I will never forget. Before we moved from town, the happy bird would ride in my pocket everywhere I went: when I rode the wagon to a birthday party or went with my brother to finish a project. People would often remark to me that a garden was a much better place for a bird to be, but the bird preferred to be inside the house or my pocket.

Right before we moved to the country, Chicken's father flew off, right out the window. Usually an alarm would sound every time the window was open, but the weather was so nice outside that my father had turned the alarm off. That was a sad day for my sister, as Chicken's father was her canary. I tried to express my sympathy, but my sister cried until morning. In the morning, we both donned our rubber muck boots and walked throughout the neighborhood, looking and calling for the missing bird. Sadly, we never did find the bird.

It was a very warm fall season when we moved, the tendrils of summer sun still hanging on. Having learned our lesson, we left Chicken and his remaining parent in the cage when the windows were open. We had found new homes for the rest of Chicken's siblings. I walked into the room to pull the zebra-striped cover over the cage so that the birds would be quiet while I tried to do my homework. Just before pulling down the cover, I noticed Chicken looking at me with his mouth wide open. I fed him three drops of honey, and pulled the cover down.

My gaze returned to the ugly, yellow feather in my hand as I remembered that I had a report to write and present for school in the morning. The report was to be a recounting of our summer adventures, but there is more power in tragedy than adventure. I think this yellow feather and a tale of our summer tragedies are a better fit for the report.

SPELLING LIST 2nd Grade - Intermediate Words | 3rd Grade - Beginning Words
seven
pretty
remark
brother
mouth
yellow
forget
express
report
lesson
country
pocket
happy
feather
season
party
father
parent
honey
outside
every
people
finish
wagon
inside
cover
sister
window
garden
morning
power
mother
alarm
zebra
rubber
never

See some other word lists:
Second Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Third Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Fourth Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge