It’s the last week of school and finally Mrs. McCullers brought the guest we have been begging for all year. See if you can guess who our special guest is from our clues:
Now that 2007 has come to an end, what was one accomplishment that you are proud of? What do you hope to accomplish in 2008?
This time of year there is magic in the air! I’ve heard so many elf stories from my students. Although this is a busy time of year for elves, they seem to have plenty of time for mischief. Treat yourelf to an elfmorphosis. Don’t you make a cute little elf?
Pretend that you really do get to be an elf for a day. What kind of fun would you have? Give us details of the mishief you would get in to.
With Thanksgiving just a week away, it’s time to reflect on the things that mean the most to us. There are so many…
What are you thankful for? Why?
Ahhhhhh! Yikes! Jeepers creepers! This time of year, there are many creepy, crawly sightings that can give us quite a scare. When have you been scared? Did you jump out of your skin? Did you feel shivers go down your spine?
To help us get a better grasp on our writer’s voice, we came up with list of all the different times we have to write. Here’s what we came up with:
-a report
-an invitation
-a story
-a script
-a thank-you letter
-taking messages
-answering questions
-grading papers (that one was just for me!)
-making a list
-a route (for a bus driver, mailman, or delivery person)
-ideas/notes
-music notes
-songs/poems
-an email
-a text message (definitely 21st century students here!)
-a memory book
-mail (filling out the addresses on the envelope)
-assignments/agendas
-schedules
-diaries/journals
-a letter
-directions
-graphs
-blogging (how could we almost forget this one?)
We realized after making our list that writing is involved in just about everything we do. We write for so many different purposes. We would love for you to help us add to our list. Can you think of other times when we have to write?
After enjoying our tadpoles for a few weeks, we decided it was time to let them go into a world beyond their tiny bowl. (Actually it was mostly a teacher decision. I did not want to be surprised in the wee hours of the morning by coming in to a room full of frogs!) We watched them morph from tiny clear things into dark creatures that were beginning to look very froglike. Before setting them free, we tried to find our tadpole “voices” and pretend for a moment that we were one of the tadpoles. Here are what a few of our “tadpoles” wrote:
Have you ever felt like you were trapped in a bowl of water with kids staring right at you? I have. It isn’t so much fun. I would rather be in a creek with my friend tadpoles. Kids love to have us as pets but it isn’t too much fun for us. We would rather be swimming free. Kids think it is sad when we leave. Lots of us tadpoles are free and some of us are not free. It is much more fun to swim in a nice clean creek. If you are a captured tadpole, your wish is to be free. We will like to hear water rushing through the creek than hear kids learning. We don’t like being in a scary bowl because you don’t get so much room to swim free. Swimming free is my dream. I can’t wait to be free, but I will miss the bowl with my friends. Allison
Finally! Today is the day I’m moving out of a gross bowl. And in a pond I go. I’m on my own now. I’m just about there, and now I’m here at the pond. Hey! But first before I jump in, I need my floatie ducky. Now I can jump in. 1, 2, 3 splash! Ahhhhhh! Something touched my foot! Get out! Get out! Get out! Uh oh! There’s another tadpole coming to jump in or coming to make fun of me. He he comes. Gotta jump in. Where’s ducky? Uh…ok, let’s look in the bushes. Oh, I know. I can go to the stoere and buy a new one. Wait. I don’t have any money, but I have garage liver. I’ll just use that. But I don’t have anything to get there in. I’ll skip to the store. Skip, skip, skip, skip. Here we are: a ducky. Now all Ihave to do is pay for it. Here you go. Thank you. When I got back to the pond, I jumped in the nice pond with my very own new ducky. Emily
One day I was swimming in a baby pool, and I got scooped up by a big net and thrown in a bowl. The next morning I got taken to a classroom full of kids. They started to come to the glass bowl and tapped it. I made a horrible sound. All of us started to swim around. After about 10 days, we heard that we’ve got to go. The kids started to write a story about how we would do int he creek. Here is one: “I think that the tadpoles will like it better than the glass bowl. The tadpoles are going to like going home to see their friends. The End” Nick
One day I was in a bowl. My name is Bigdaddy. I was in a bowl because one diver caught me and brought me back. My mom died in a shark accident. My dad sacrificed his life for me. Five minutes later he got shocked by a sting ray. Now you know how I feel living alone. I’m in a room full of smiling, learning children. I get fed three times a day. One meal is a monstrous cookie!
Now I’ve been released and am six years old. I was going down to the market today. So it’s not bad living on my own. Now I’m free to live in the ocean! Finn
I had fun swimming in a bowl. I don’t like big fat meanies. It was fun sleeping here. It was fun eating here at school. I want to stay here. It’s fun being here with you. It was fun watching you write stuff. Antoine
It’s really fun to be a tadpole. We get to see things that people can’t see. I will turn into a frog. After that, I will hop around. It feels scary to go to the pond. Well, I’m on my way to this pond. I really loved it here. The food was great! Also, what’s the name of the dude that has the grassy hair? He scared me when I first came here. Well, I’m here right now packing my suitcase. I will really miss you all very much! Raneem
What would it be like to see the world through the eyes of a tiny tadpole? If you could metamorphosize into something, what would you like to be? Where would you choose to live?
Today being the sixth anniversary of 9/11, we, along with the rest of the country, paused for a moment of silence to just remember. It’s hard to discuss this day in our country’s history with students who were barely two years old when this happened. Today we reflected on why we should remember this day and why it is important to us. After we read the booksThe Pledge of Allegiance and September 12th, I asked the students to respond to these questions: Why are you proud to be an American? What does our flag mean to you?
I’m proud I’m in America. I love the flag. It is the best. I’m sad that a lot of people died this day. I think America is the best country in the world! Wyatt
The American flag means so much…the 50 stars, the 13 stripes. I just think we should all respect the American flag, especially when we are proud to be American. Christian
I like the United States. I think it is fun to play in. When I see the flag I feel special to live here. I am glad to be an American. Emily
The American flag means a lot to me. I see the American flag everywhere. In our school we say the pledge every morning. When we say the pledge, we put our hand over our heart. Everyone in the school says it at the same time. Lots of people care about the United States of America. Allison
When I see the flag, it makes me feel free. Jacy
The flag makes me feel free. I have a grandfather who fought for freedom. Ian
The flag is like freedom to me. I am proud to be an american. I obey laws. I respect the people who died. America is mine. It is our home. I love AMERICA! Jennifer
So simple, yet so profound! This is the future of our country!
On Tuesday, the day after our Labor Day holiday, my students reported a mysterious guest in our classroom. I’m not exactly sure where I was during her visit (???), but here are a few reports of her profile:
Her name was Miss Crazy. she was Cruella DiVille like. She was weird and unmatching. She had a screachy voice. She was unpleasant. She had a stiff windmill. She had a red, feathery scarf and big, blue, starry glasses. She wore a crown. Wyatt
She had a red feathery scarf. It was very unpleasant. She had a shiny tiara. She had big, blue, scary sunglasses and a screachy voice. Also she was very unmatching and had a stiff windmill. She was very creepy, freaky, scary, weird, crazy, unpleasant…whatever you want to call it. But most of all, she looked like Cruella DiVille. She needs to go to jail. Reagan
Mrs. McCullers! Mrs. McCullers! Someone got in the classroom while you were gone! She looked like Cruella DiVille. She had a shiny tiara and a screachy voice. She is weird, freaky, and scary. She has big, blue glasses. Jennifer
We had a visitor. She was a robber. She had on a red, feathery scarf, a sparkle crown, and big, blue, starry glasses. She needs to go to jail. Jacob
Today we had a fairy come in our room. She had a bright-red fluffy scarf, a sparkly silver tiara, and a stiff windmill. THen she left right before Mrs. McCullers came in to the room. Nick
You’ve got to help us! From our descriptions, can you see a picture of this visitor?
Of course the first week of school we were still longing for those days of summer. We tried to focus on just one particular moment from our summer to share. We even got out a magnifying glass to help us focus on just a tiny part of our summer so that we wouldn’t have just a list of the events of our summer. Here are a few of our summer highlights:
One hot day on June 12th we were watching TV. A call came. It was from my dad. He said, “You have a baby brother.” When we came to the hospital, he looked like a monkey! Zooming through the hospital, I said, “We have a monkey brother!” When we went inside, he was hairier than ever! The day he came home, I called him a grizzly bear! Raneem
When I went to my dad’s house, my dad and I went the lake and innertubing. I was holding on and my dad was trying to sling me off the innertube. Then we relaxed in the water and had a good time. Chase
I was looking at cars. Then I saw a Farari. It was so awesome! Then my brother was looking at a black convertible. That was so awesome! After that, I went to see what my dad was looking at. It was a station wagon. It was a car store. I loved my summer. Finn (more…)