1st Person Narration-- A Day in the Life of a Personified Object

One of my favorite lessons to teach is 1st person narration from the point of view of a personified object.  It is fun to go from the strict structure of book reports to the more playful, casual, "hear one's own voice" style of this assignment.  Here are a couple that I absolutely loved-- but once again, it was hard to choose!  My classrooms were full of shoes, balloons, toys, pumpkins, foods, fireplaces, pencils, and even a volcanic rock and an American flag.  It was an interesting couple of weeks!

The students started by story mapping their births, lives, and deaths (or endings if they didn't cease to exist at the end of their tale.)  They also settled on a mood or tone.  Some of them quite enjoyed being themselves, others (like Kelly) did not.  Then came the creative writing part...... Enjoy!

Series of Unfortunate Events: A Blade of Grass' Life
By Kelly (5th grade)


     Ugghh!  I am a tiny seed stuck in a big bag.  The bag is full of loud, happy seeds.  I HATE happy seeds!  They ruin everything with their happiness.  Oh no!  What's happening?!  Suddenly, the world tilts to the side, and I am suddenly falling in the air.  Aaaaahhh!  Ooof!  I hit the dirt hard.  I sniff around and look at my surroundings.  Gee, this dirt smells terrible!  Oh no!  Water falls onto my head, almost drowning me!


     Over a month, I grow into a blade of grass.  It's even worse than being a seed!  I'm all long and squishy and bendy.  I'm the shortest piece of grass, and I hate being short.  The other piece of grass are no help.  They're all happy and all optimists, and they don't understand what it's like to be truly grumpy!  What's that?  What's that hideous noise?!  It's going to burst my eardrums!


     "I love the sound of children laughing," said a dreamy piece of grass next to me.  Children?  What are "children?"  They must be hideous beasts.  Suddenly, the world is cast in shadow and a big "thing"-- there's no other word to describe it-- flies out of the sky and lands on me.  Oooowww!  That hurts!  Doesn't that thing have eyes?  The dreamy blade beside me says, "I love shoes."  So, is that thing called a "shoe?" Well, Mr. Shoe, let me give you a piece of m--


     What's that noise?  Is it the children again?  No, this sound is more of a buzz.  Hey!  Will the thing making that buzzing noise please be quiet?!  A blade of grass who has been through what I have needs beauty sleep!  I said, BE QUIET!!


     But the noise doesn't get quieter.  Oh no.  It is getting louder, probably just to annoy me.  Then suddenly, a terrible monster leaps out at me and cuts me in half!  Oooooouuchies!  Gee, that hurts!  Even monsters should know to look out for innocent piece of grass!  And.... oh no!!  I'm short again!!  And just when I had gotten tall!!


     "I love when lawn mowers come," says the annoying piece of grass beside me.  I hate lawn mowers! I hate this world!  And most of all, I hate being a blade of grass!




What?
By Savannah (4th grade)


     Yea!  I was written by my favorite teacher Mrs. Huff!  I don't know what I'm supposed to be, but I know how she drew me.  First, she drew a backwards C, and then she drew a connected line with some space and a dot.  So I figured out I look like this: ?


     She smiles as she begins her lesson in 2nd grade Language Arts.  She tells all the children I am some kind of punctuation.  Caley asks, "What's punctuation?" and the class giggles.  I want to shout out, "I am punctuation!" but I can't raise my hand to speak.  Then Mrs. Huff tells them I am a question mark and I am used in interrogative sentences.


     As Mrs. Huff teaches the kids, I take a minute to look around.  To my right, I see the Handy Helpers board, and to my left I see a smart board.  I look out at all those cute little children looking at me.  I can see in the far right corner the Grammar Garden.  This classroom is so beautiful!


     Then I hear her say, "Now all of you try to make a question mark."  All of a sudden, I see sixteen of me.  Oh, look how good I look!  Oh.  That one looks really weird.


     I have been up on the board all day!  I'm so happy!  Mrs. Huff looks tired.  She says something about needing to clean the classroom.  She's holding a small rectangular tool that has a fuzzy side.  Oh no!  What is that?  What is that?!  I am being eras........

Fabulous Book Report Writing

After mastering paragraph writing, I taught a lesson on fabulous book report writing.  A good report will have:
1. An attention-getting introduction with important facts such as book name, author, number of pages, and any other interesting and pertinent information
2. 1-3 body paragraphs (depending on grade level).  These may include a summary of the book, a summary of the favorite part, or a detailed paragraph about main characters.
3. A clever conclusion

It was so hard to choose a book report to post on the blog.  So many incredible ones were turned in!  I chose Crystal's (3rd grade) because she really pushed herself.  She went beyond the minimum requirement, even though she is in the youngest grade.  I also really liked how she snuck a bit of a book summary in the introduction without making it sound like she was switching topics.  And check out her conclusion-- loaded with adjectives!  I think this is a fantastic book report.  (And if you think it looks neat all typed up, you should see Crystal's impeccable penmanship, margins, and perfect spelling!)

Each Little Bird that Sings, by Crystal (3rd grade)


     I read the awesome book Each Little Bird that Sings.  The author of this book is Deborah Wiles.  This book has 247 exciting pages, which include news stories by the main character, Comfort, recipes written by Comfort's neighbors, and letters exchanged by Comfort and her best friend, Declaration.


     The main character of this book is Comfort Snowberger.  She can be funny sometimes, or serious and sad other times.  Comfort is a good character.  I would like Comfort as a friend because she seems like a nice and funny person to be friends with.  The minor character is Dismay, Comfort's dog.  He is always there when Comfort needs him, except when there is a funeral, because Dismay is the funeral dog.  Dismay is a good character, and I would like him as a pet because Dismay seems like a "feel-good" dog.


     My favorite part of the book was when Comfort comes to a compromise with her whiney cousin Peach. It is Thanksgiving, and Comfort and Peach were just released from helping prepare Thanksgiving dinner.  Comfort and Peach take a short walk, and Declaration joins them.  Declaration and Peach are talking about marbles, and Comfort feels rejected.  Then, Peach suddenly turns to Comfort and says what he usually says to Comfort's Great Uncle Edisto and her Great-great aunt Florentine: "It's Thanksgiving and I've come to see you!"  And Comfort responds: "Okay, come see me then."


     I liked the humorous book Each Little Bird that Sings because it can be interesting and funny at some parts, and serious and sad at other times, just like Comfort!  I would recommend this exciting book to anyone third grade and up because it can make you have very strong emotions at very different parts.  I would like to read other books by the amazing author Deborah Wiles because Each Little Bird that Sings is such a good book!

Fabulous Paragraphs

Once we mastered writing outstanding, descriptive sentences, we moved on to paragraphs.  After all, great sentences that vary in style and length make up great paragraphs!  That was the theme of our lesson on fabulous paragraph writing.  First, I showed the students examples of horrible paragraphs that strayed from the original topic.  Then I taught the students how to write five sentences, all with various beginnings, in order to make the paragraphs sound more interesting and stay on topic.  They were to stick to the format I gave them, but we did allow for some variations as long as they used all five types of sentences.  Below you will find some of my favorites.  Notice how they all have at least one outstanding adjective in the first sentence, pronouns (possessive, too) in the second and third sentences that support the topic, a sentence starting with a "where," "when," "even," "although, etc" clause, and a fantastic conclusion.   The students worked in partners and groups, and then tried a paragraph on their own.

How did they come up with these topics?  They got to pick various topics out of my bowl-- definitely a surprise as they read topics such as Favorite Vacation Spots, Favorite Cartoon Characters, The Yuckiest Food, Holidays, Animals, and even some as crazy as Cookie Monster and Mickey Mouse.  The students definitely stretched themselves and did an outstanding job!

Harry Potter Character Harry Potter
By Will (3rd grade), Katy (3rd grade), and Jade (5th grade)
     Out of all the characters in the book, Harry Potter is the worst!  He murdered Voldemort and ruined Cornelius Fudge's life.  I truly feel Harry should be sent to Azkaban.  When he created "Dumbledore's Army," he disrespected the wonderful Umbridge Regime.  Even though Voldemort is evil, Harry Potter is much more destructive!
     (PS- I am Draco Malfoy and I approve this message.  I also wrote it!)




Harry Potter character Sirius Black
By Rebecca (5th grade)
     My favorite Harry Potter character is Harry Potter's sneaky godfather Sirius Black.   He broke out of Azkaban, the wizard prison, because he was innocent and had great wizarding skill.  He is very brave and he broke into Hogwarts, the wizarding school.  When Sirius managed to escape Azkaban and broke into Hogwarts, he turned into a great, black, shaggy dog.  Truly, Sirius Black has a lot of skill and is a deceiving person.




Christmas
By Katherine (4th grade)
     I love Christmas because of all the fun things and activities.  It's fun to rip all the paper off and throw it around, making a mess.  My favorite thing to do is have my relatives over and have dinner with them.  While doing these two things, I laugh and have fun with my cousins.  I think Christmas is the most fun holiday ever.




Dogs
By Elika (5th grade)
     There are many pets in the world, but dogs are my favorite.  They are such loyal animals that can be your friend forever.  Dogs will always be ready for you to throw a tennis ball out on the field.  While reading a book, I can pet its soft hair that makes me feel relaxed.  Clearly, dogs are the best pets of them all.

Turning a Boring Sentence Into an Exciting one!

Our very first assignment in Session II was turning a boring sentence into an exciting one!  We talked about how great words make great sentences, great sentences make great paragraphs, and great paragraphs make great book reports, essays, and stories!

We all started off with the same base sentence: "The snowflake falls."  Then we added in one element at a time:
~ 2 adjectives describing the snowflake
~ an adverb describing how the snowflake falls
~ a phrase that tells "where"
~ a phrase that tells "when"

After that, we experimented with the placement of our phrases and read a few ideas aloud, while our classmates gave their opinions on what sounded best.  It was a wonderful exercise in teamwork and peer teaching.

We then had fun creating a snowflake with white paper and scissors.  (Who DOESN'T love making snowflakes?!)  We curved our sentences all around the paper, so twirling and spinning our snowflake would be a necessity in order to read the sentence.  Gluing it on blue paper and adding some art to match the sentence were the final touches.  Before long, the sentence that started out the same for every student turned out beautifully unique.  Here are just a few outstanding samples:

On a cold, snowy December afternoon, the delicate cold snowflake falls slowly in the huge, beautiful, white park.
- Maya, 3rd grade


On a chilly Christmas Eve, the gentle, light snowflake falls merrily on a white wooden park bench.
- Reeya, 3rd grade


After a freezing blizzard on a snowy January day, the cold, soft snowflake falls gracefully on a snow covered cottage in Canada.
- Abby, 3rd grade.


On a freezing winter day, the unique white snowflake falls softly on to the crisp cold snow.
- Arushi, 4th grade


The shimmering white snowflake lightly falls on to Cody's head while he is sprinting into the classroom.
- Clark, 4th grade


The sparkly, white snowflake falls beautifully on the tip of the snowy mountain after a freezing snowstorm.
- Miyuki, 4th grade


On the 15th day of Chinese New Year, the beautiful soft snowflake falls gently on my white bunny's cute little feet.
- Lillian, 3rd grade


I just love how different every sentence turned out!  They are all unique, just like real snowflakes!

Adjectives, Adjectives, Adjectives!

Session II of Writers' Workshop has started off beautifully, and I've had a wonderful time getting to know my students.  There are some enthusiastic returners, and excited new faces too!  They are super authors and artists, as this post will prove.

We started off our first meeting focusing on writing fabulous sentences loaded with detail.  We talked about how adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases describing where and when can turn a boring sentence into an exciting one.  The following week, the students worked on putting many detailed sentences into paragraphs to describe in the greatest detail a snowman they had drawn.  The Snowman Draw Game works like this:

1. Draw a snowman complete with background and clothing.
2. Write a description of your picture so thorough and vivid, that when someone else reads it, they can picture your snowman perfectly.  Every sentence should mention size, shape, color, and number!
3. Trade descriptions with a partner.
4. Attempt to draw your partner's snowman.  If they are twins, you did a great job!

Winners of the game would win jelly beans and blog honors, so here they are!

Riya's Snowman (3rd grade)

     There are three balls.  The first is sky blue that is shaded lightly.  The middle is sky blue that is shaded darkly.  The last is the same color that is shaded lightly.


     The first one has two black eyes and one long, orange nose.  There are seven raisins for his mouth.  He has a black top hat that is small.


     The middle has four small round red buttons.  He has two brown sticks which have three fingers.


     The last ball is very fat and has one big yellow snowflake in the middle of it.


     The background has seventeen snowflakes.  There is no snow on the ground yet.

Riya divided her writing into such easy to understand paragraphs that Elliott (3rd grade) came up with this:

Emma's Snowgirl (4th grade)

Sianna: Read the whole thing before you do it.


     My snowgirl is quite an athlete.  She is made of three snowballs: the top one is small, the second one is medium, and the third one is big.  She is small on the page.


     She has brown hair to her shoulders.  She has two black eyes and one orange carrot nose.  She has five black circular buttons for a mouth.  She is on your right of the page, and above the middle line.  


     She has a soccer jersey that is purple with the number 12 on it.  She has two arms and three fingers.


     On the last snowball she has two soccer cleats and a soccer ball that is right next to her on your left.


     The whole field is slightly colored green, with two goals with squares around them.  On your far left, she has a score board that says "Home" and "Visitor."  The "home" score is 4, and the "visitor" is 2.  They are in yellow.  In the middle is a line with a circle.  The goals are black.


Emma had such a detailed background that I was afraid her partner wouldn't be able to match it, but she described it so well that here is how Sianna (4th grade) did:



Roya's Snowman (3rd grade)

     My snowman has three balls.  The head has a green and magenta hat that says 49ers.  There are two eyes that are pencil colored.  He has an orange carrot nose that has four columns.  The mouth is seven dots.


     He is wearing a yellow 49ers jersey.  The numbers on the jersey are pink.  He has twig arms.  Each has three sticks, and one is holding a brown football.


     The bottom is just plain white.


     There is an orange sun with red tips.


Katy (3rd grade) and Roya made great partners!  Look how close these are:



Will's Snowman (3rd grade)

     My snowman has three balls.  The bottom is huge, the middle is smaller, and the top is the smallest.


     My snowman's head has one blue eye and a solid red smiling mouth.  


     The body has a horizontal string going through the middle with a green dot in the middle.  The body also has six yellow dots with circles around them: three on the top, and three on the bottom.


     The bottom is gray, not anything else, and there is a black full moon to my snowman's left.  The last thing about my snowman is a light black sky at the top of the page.


     P.S. For the light black sky, just use a black crayon or anything black and color lightly.


The class loved Will's "Alien" snowman, and how his partner Jade (5th grade) drew it!:

Arushi's Snowman (4th grade)

     My snowgirl is quite pretty.  She has a black top hat with a brown strap with a small purple bow.  She has two coal black eyes and a tiny carrot nose.  For a mouth, she has four small coal pieces.


     She wears a pink pearl necklace and a pink vest with green buttons.  She has two skinny stick arms with three fingers.  In her right hand, she has a miniscule snowball.  In her left hand, she has a purple leash with a dog attached to it.  But we'll get to the dog later.


     My snowgirl has medium sized green boots, but she isn't wearing any pants.


     She is standing on a snowy hill with her tiny dog, who has a snowball at her paws.  the dog is white with brown ears, a brown tail, one brown front leg, one brown back leg, and the other two legs are white.  She has brown patches.  On her tail, she has a purple bow.  In the corner, there is a sun that is not completely showing.


Arushi is so thorough and her description is so easy to follow with her paragraph breakdowns, that a super reader like Reilly (4th grade) could draw this:



Abby's Strange Snowgirl (3rd grade)

     My snowgirl is very large and funny.  She is made of three snowballs: the bottom one is large, the middle one is medium, and the top one is small.  She sits on a peach, sandy beach.


     She wears small black sunglasses and has light brown hair down to her shoulders.  She also has a small, light brown coconut nose and a medium, red, smiling mouth.  She wears a purple tank top, teal shorts, and she has thin, light brown arms with circular hands.  She also has orange flip flops with navy blue straps.


     She is on a peach, sandy beach with little black dots in the sand.  There are two, blue, big waves behind her.  The sweating sun with green eyes and pink pupils, a dark green nose, a pink mouth, and orange and yellow rays is behind her on her right.

Abby's use of size, shape, color and number adjectives was outstanding!  Her partner Melissa (5th grade) then drew this:

Congratulations to our Snowman Draw Game winners!

Election Day

One of my Writers' Workshops fell on Election Day.  On the drive to school, I started brainstorming an assignment that I am really glad we ended up doing!  The students were either to write letters describing why they were running for governor, or suggesting a proposition that would make life better.  I love these two students' emphasis on school-- enjoy!!

Dear President Obama,

I would like to become the new governor of California.  I am in fifth grade and was chosen by the principal of my school.  I will change the laws in a better way so that everyone will like them.  First, because every child is important and should go to school, I will make a law that every school should start at 9:30 and end at 4:00 with each child in this state spread out in a school.  I would also have only healthy food for hot lunch.  Also, I would create a law that teachers should only give students homework if they need it or want it.  Teachers can only give homework to the children who are behind, which will urge them to work harder.

Put me on the ballot and I will improve America by improving California!

Sincerely,
Rebecca (5th grade)


Proposition 29

Hello, I'm a 4th grader at __________.  The President told me to make a proposition, so vote for Prop. 29.  Prop 29 would make schools give more vacations.  If we have more vacations, the children would be happier.  They would get Monday through Saturday off.  So, that means they only have school on Sundays.  But on Sunday, you have school from 8:45 AM to 6:00 PM.  Plus, you only get homework if you miss school a lot or you have bad grades.  On Sunday, you get to skip class if it is a holiday.  This is why you should vote for Prop 29.

By Cody (4th grade)

Haiku Poetry

Haikus are such a beautiful form of poetry.  The students and I talked about the importance of visual imagery and of course, the famous 5-7-5 syllable count!  Here are some of my favorites:

Beautiful horses
Running in the great hot plains
Finally away

By Krithika (4th grade)


All through the season
Leaves begin to change colors
And start to fall down

By Jade (5th grade)


Rain falls all the time
In winter snow, ice, or frost
You want to be warm

By Reign (5th grade)



Watch the yellow light
In the beautiful night sky
Watch for shooting stars

By Jack (4th grade)

Research Papers

We spent a few weeks in October working on our research papers.  The subject?  The backwards animals we wrote fabulous paragraphs about earlier!  We had a lesson on how to outline, and we created outlines with main ideas, points, and sub points about everything we could imagine (and imagine we had to, since we were the creators of our own animals!)  The students outlined topics such as diet, habitat, appearance, and living style/habits.  After the outline was complete, the students were to follow their outline and create a research paper complete with an introduction, body, and conclusion.  The children worked very hard!


Here is Melissa's (5th grade).  I chose it for the blog because her creativity is just unbelievable, from this bird's diet to its funny personality.  Notice how she quotes "studies" that she researched!  And I love her picture.  Enjoy her research paper on the Xert (T-rex backwards of course!)

      You won't find any animal that is quite like the xert.  It looks like an orange owl, but from its homework diet to its magical and mischievous habits, it couldn't really be considered a cousin.


     The xert's vivid colors make it stand out in the crowd; definitely a change from an owl.  It has a bright orange beak with matching feet.  It grooms the orange feathers all over its head and body daily, using its beige wings with orange speckles.  No one really knows why it does this.  Maybe it's to seem innocent when it steals homework!

     When it comes to homework, the xert suddenly becomes very devious.  That's because homework is its primary staple of food.  Studies show that the xert not only steals when its owner is not around, it also prefers "important" documents.  Sometimes owners take on a devious side themselves, when they make fake homework for their xert to eat instead of the real thing!  Don't worry, you don't always have to be on guard- if you happen to have carrots or corn cobs around.  The xert will eat these too.  With a diet of only these three foods, it definitely qualifies as a picky eater!

     You may be thinking that the xert is not exactly your ideal bird, but there is something I haven't told you.  This furry little bird has the psychic ability to influence other animals.  In one study, an xert convinced a dog to dig up some carrots for it to eat, just with mental messages.  It is definitely strange.  Officials think that the xert could be a help to the community, as they have an effect on people.  Someday, you might see an xert patrolling a local park, silently reminding people not to feed the squirrels!

     The xert is definitely one-of-a-kind.  I think it's the most personified animal I've ever heard of.  From its colorful feathers to it strange diet, it's a very hard bird to miss!


Here is Daphne's (5th grade).  Her research paper is well-organized with clear paragraphs on appearance and diet-- both very creatively thought out!  I now present to you "The Gorf" (Frog backwards of course!)

The gorf is very weird, but unique.  It makes funny actions.  The one thing that separates it from all other animals is that it eats burgers!  It can't miss a day without burgers!

The gorf is in the same family as the kangaroo, but it is much faster and can jump higher.  The gorf is brown and tall.  It has long legs, a long neck, but short hands.

The gorf has a weird diet.  Its number one thing to eat is a hamburger.  It needs to eat at least one hamburger a day.  If it can't find any humans to share a hamburger with it, it will simply go to the burger garden.  After eating a burger, the gorf will eat some healthy things like fruits or vegetables.  The gorf can get fruits from the ground or trees because it has a long neck.

In conclusion, I think the gorf is unusual.  Even though it has a funny appearance and a weird diet, I think it would be a cool pet to have.  If I did, I would like it to be a lookout!

Riddle Poems!

The month of November we will focus on poetry.  We started off with an introduction to rhyme scheme and end line rhyme with a lesson on "Riddle Poems."  My favorite part of this lesson was how the students and I helped each other out and brainstormed together to get rhyming words that made sense in the context of their poems.  We all sure shared some laughs this week!  Here are just a few for now.  To keep tickling your funny bone, I will add more to the blog as they get turned in.  Enjoy!

This thing tastes very swell.
Its flavor is sweet, and so is its smell.
They say it keeps the doctor away!
It makes me very healthy to this day.

What is it?
(Answer: an apple)
By Reeya (3rd grade)



On your teeth these things sit tight.
They do their work with all their might!
They make your teeth very straight.
To get them off you'll have to wait!

What are these?
(Answer: braces)
By Nicole (3rd grade)


These things cluck around in their pen.
The boy is a rooster and the girl is a hen.
They walk around in a disorderly way.
If you're a farmer, you see them all day.

What are these?
(Answer: chickens)
By Savannah (4th grade) with some wonderful assistance from Caley (5th grade)


I can't come in your sleep
Until you rest real deep.
Sometimes I can be quite frightful,
Other times I'm quite delightful!

What am I?
(Answer: a dream)
By Julia (5th grade)


She teaches writing every week
And she never takes a seat.
When we're good she gives us candy.
When I need help, she comes in handy.

Who is this?
(Answer: Mrs. Huff!)
By Nick (4th grade)  Thanks for thinking I come in handy, Nick!  And you're right... I don't do any sitting while I teach!!




Many of them in the air,
They fall down in your hair.
They are very cold and white,
And make a sight on a winter night.

What are they?
(Answer: Snowflakes)
By Sarah (5th grade)


In this sport you need a ball and bat
You can wear a glove and a hat.
You run around from base to base
At an extremely fast pace!

What is this?
(Answer: baseball)
By Cody (4th grade)


He is very jolly and fun.
He quickly melts in the sun.
He loves to be in the snow,
And I am sure you know....

What is this?
(Answer: a snowman)
 By Krithika (4th grade)


This electronic is a cool thing.
I'm going to buy it with my savings.
Into the Apple Store I'll stride,
But first I'll need to catch a ride.

What is this thing?
(Answer: an iPad)
By Revan (3rd grade)

Halloween Monsters

Adjectives, adjectives, adjectives!! They paint such important pictures in our minds. Colors, numbers, shapes, and sizes.... we can't clearly envision an object without adjectives.


My Writers' Workshop students celebrated Halloween last week with the Monster Draw Game.  Here is how you play:

1. Draw a monster and have fun with the art work.

2. Write a description that is incredibly detailed. Describe every aspect of your picture with size, shape, color, and number adjectives.

3. Exchange your descriptions with a partner.

4. Attempt to draw their monster, while they draw yours.

5. The winners' pictures will look almost identical, because the description will be so vivid and easy to follow.

When the game was over, the classes (and a few parents, too!) voted on the best matches.   I promised the winners they would be published on the blog, so here they are!

Sianna (4th grade) wrote such a vivid description for her monster that it was no wonder her partner Abby (3rd grade) drew it so accurately:

My monster isn't scary, but cute.  She has a giant round orange body.  She has a purple top hat with a little pink ribbon and bow.  her two eyes are light blue.  On top of her eyes she has five dark blue eyelashes.  Just like people, she has two brown eyebrows.  Her nose is a little turquoise circle about one inch under her eyes.  Her mouth is a big red smile (because she is always happy), with one little gray tooth in the middle on the top.

Because he's round, her little arms stick out.  They are about one inch and are yellow with four fingers.  Her pink legs are about the same size as her arms (except a little shorter), with little purple high heels.

And here is how Abby drew it.  Besides the darker shade of orange, they are almost twins!

Katherine (4th grade) wrote a fantastic description, except, as her partner pointed out, when she forgot to include a couple of key color adjectives.  Jay (4th grade) persevered anyway, and followed Katherine's instructions beautifully.  So even though some parts are colorless, we voted they were winners!

My monster isn't tall or scary.  It is friendly and kind.  Her head is a round circle with cat ears on top.  she has a cute little mouth and five eyes looking north, south, east, west, and straight.  Her body is blue and shaped like a raindrop.  On each side, she has three arms.  She also has four legs.  She has wavy legs and arms with four fingers.  On her back, there are two yellow wings.  She has pink slippers and blue shoes.  She also has a bow on the top of her head.

Good writing, Katherine, and Good reading, Jay!

Riya (3rd grade) and Lillian (3rd grade) worked beautifully together.  Riya is a very thorough writer, and Lillian is an excellent reader!

My monster has a big round white head.  She has a red round nose and one eye.  She has three curved pink hairs on her head on each side.  My monster has a black smiley mouth with two purple fangs!  She has two wavy white arms with magenta stripes, with five small orange fingers.  My monster has no body.  She just has four legs.  The two on your right are purple, and the two on your left are green.  They look like golf clubs!

Lillian's version is smaller, but still right on!

How to Write a Great Hpargarap!

A few weeks ago, I presented a lesson on paragraph writing.  To make it fun, we created imaginative animals by spelling real animal names backwards.  As we drew and colored our new creatures, they came to life in our imaginations, and we began thinking of topics on which to write: appearance, diet, habitat, and living style.  We focused on varying our sentence patterns and making sure we had a catchy introduction and conclusion to our paragraphs.  We also made sure we didn't stray off the topic.  And of course, we remembered that tiny important detail: INDENTING!  I had so many wonderful paragraphs turned in that it was difficult to choose, but here are three very creative animals and their paragraphs!


The Xineohp, by Jay (4th grade)

(I am posting two of Jay's paragraphs because I simply couldn't pick a favorite.  His "appearance" paragraph goes beautifully with his picture, but the paragraph on "diet" is so creative and unique that I had to include it as well!)

          The xineohp is really a very scary looking bird.  It has lots of vibrant colors on its whole body like its cousin, the phoenix, but they are very different.  It has a very menacing look so people run away in terror.  When people hear its majestic call, they flee the scene.  The odd bird is truly a sign of fear.

          The xineohp has an odd diet.  It eats fire, hot coals, and drinks lava.  When it eats too much, it turns into a fireball and shoots around.  Try to avoid the xineohp in that state.  Its favorite food is fire inside ice.  Its diet is dangerous!

Here is Caley's (5th grade.)  Her little critter is adorably creative, and I enjoyed this paragraph on what the Redips is known for.

          The redips is very special.  It is special because it breathes fire!  When it breathes fire, that means it has just eaten jalapeno nacho cheese.  "Nacho cheese!" is the favorite word of the redips.  Despite its strange appearance, you will think that the redips is very cuddly, except when it breathes fire!

Here is Katherine's (4th grade).  You'll love her conclusion sentence in this paragraph about the niugnep!

          The niugnep is a very unique creature.  It has a snake-like tongue, bear ears, a unicorn horn, wings that grow when it flies, a soft fox tail, and sharp claws that can go in and out.  While hunting, niugneps take out their claws to kill and take their prey to the surface.  Niugneps are the cuddliest things you've ever felt, as long as they keep their claws in and they don't spit poison at you.

Another wonderful semester has begun!

I am happy to report that more wonderful sessions of Writers' Workshop have begun at three different schools, and I have loved getting to know each of my students.


We started off with our first assignment of A Summer Adventure Story.  We've all been given the task of writing or telling about something fun we had done over the summer.... but this assignment was given an exciting twist.  At some point in the story, the students were asked to to turn their true story into one of fantasy and adventure.  We started off brainstorming and story mapping, and then began our rough drafts.  Here are just two of many outstanding stories that were turned in!  See if you can figure out when the truth becomes fiction.....


Here is Riya's (3rd grade).  I love the ending of her story!

"This Summer...." by Riya


This summer my dad and I went to Crater Lake.  I went swimming and relaxed a lot.  But one part of my trip wasn't relaxing.....

When we were just about to start swimming, I saw a lobster.  My dad said he would pull it out, but he only got the claw.  Just the claw bit him for some reason.

"Ouch!" said Dad.

Then the rest of the lobster came together again!  We were so surprised that we forgot about swimming.  We put the lobster in a bucket and took it home.

While we were walking back to the car, we saw that the lobster had disappeared!  We went back to the water to search for it.  Then I found it again, and it said to me, "I am magical.  Please don't eat me!"

So we didn't eat it, but instead took it home as a pet.  Now it's sitting in my room, practicing its magic tricks.


Here is Arushi's (4th grade).  I love her vocabulary, especially her use of outstanding and descriptive action verbs. I also think the subtle mention of sibling rivalry is quite humorous!

"My Vacation," by Arushi

This summer I went to Santa Barbara.  It was a hot day in Santa Barbara, a perfect day for swimming.  But what happened in the pool wasn't what I anticipated....

It was July 20th when all of this happened.  I had persuaded my sister to help me get our parents to let us go to the pool.  They finally said yes, and they decided we'd all go.  So I got my swimsuit on and off we went.

My dad jumped in and told my sister and me to come in.  We shook our heads and wandered around the pool.  Then, my dad decided we were taking too long.  He heaved himself out of the pool and grabbed us.  My sister, being the younger one, screamed, 'Eeeek!"  I, meanwhile, silently struggled.  Okay, maybe I screamed a little  Anyway, my dad lifted us up and threw us in the pool.  We landed with a large splash.

As soon as we rose for breath, my sister shrieked, "Dad!  This is going to ruin my clothes!  They're brand new!"

"Your clothes aren't brand new," I said calmly in my big-sister tone.  "It doesn't matter.  Let's just swim."

I had a fun time playing in the pool after that, even though I had to put up with my sister's grumbling.  Then my dad went to join my mom in the hot tub.

Finally, my sister stopped moaning and dared me to touch the tile dolphin at the very bottom of the pool. I dived down and looked around for the dolphin.  Then I saw it.  It was much more realistic than I originally thought, and its tail glistened and glittered.  I hovered above it, watching sparkles dance around it.  It didn't occur to me that I had been down there five minutes, and hadn't drowned!  All I could do was stare.  Finally, I touched its tail.

Suddenly, the tail started to flip and flop.  I pulled back my hand and saw the tile dolphin come to life!  My sister had come down to see what the hold-up was, and she saw everything.  "Dolphin!" she squealed, and the next thing I knew, I was on the dolphin, watching all the fish.

Fish?  Where was I??  "Um, take us to the top," I told the dolphin, feeling silly talking to it.

But it just nodded and raced to the top of the water.  When I looked, I realized that I was in the sea!  The dolphin looked at me and saw the surprise on my face.  "Don't worry.  I'm Splash, Ruler of the Dolphins, and you are now Ruler of the Sea.  I will take you to the palace," the dolphin said kindly.

"So I'm just a visitor?" whined my sister.

The dolphin nodded.  I, meanwhile, had only just figured out what was happening.  The dolphin took no notice and sped down into the sea.

We finally arrived at the sandy bottom.  A huge team of dolphins swam by and gave me something with their flippers.  It was a glowing green trident.  My sister and I stared at it, awestruck.  Then my sister realized it wasn't for her.  "It's not fair that you get it!" she yelled, startling a school of fish.

"Dolphin, take me to a place where I can rest," she commanded.

I watched her ride off.  After that, I had a great day.  The dolphins took me swimming, a bunch of huge sea horses gave me a ride, and the seals showed me the palace.

Then my sister swam back, a big smile on her face.  "I take back what I said before.  I love this!"

Uh oh.  She couldn't be happy here.  This was MY palace.  She could go get her own!  I decided to make her leave.  I called Splash and asked her to to take us home.  She agreed, but only because I said we'd be back.

Finally, we popped out of the water, and saw the pool.  We joined our parents in the hot tub and told them everything, but no one believed us.  But I knew I was still Queen of the Sea.

I really enjoyed reading Sarah's (5th grade).  Her visual imagery is just beautiful.  What a fabulous adventure!

Horse Rides

by Sarah

            This past summer I went to Lake Tahoe with my family.  We rented a vacation house and it was the best house ever!  We went swimming in the hot tub, playing in the lake, boating, fishing, and horseback riding.  Even though we had a lot of things to do, horseback riding was the event I would never forget.

            First of all, my mom selected the specialty ride because she thought our ride should be a little more special this time.  The trail guide looked really excited about her customers.  She assigned us to our horses and as soon as we got on, we started walking along the trail.

            The ride was pretty long and boring until suddenly, all the horses moved to a small new narrow trail that seemed to have just appeared.  And then we could see a huge tree in the distance that was in the way.

            When we were about to bump into it, a warm gust of wind blew across my face.  I didn’t feel anything when we walked into the tree.  But when I looked back, I could not see the tree anymore.  I didn’t need to care about that because once I turned back around, I was too stunned to say anything.  There was a huge horn right in front of me!  My horse had just turned into a unicorn!

            I think it was about nighttime in this new world because it was all dark and everything was glowing and sparkling.  It wasn’t a cold night; it was warm.  There was soft green moss on the ground and our guide just smiled to our stunned faces.

            Our guide showed us around this new land.  There were pixies everywhere, spreading pixie dust over our heads.  There were also ponies with wings that were grazing in the huge, healthy meadow.  Also, there was a lake that had mermaids in it.  The path we were walking on was lined with different little flowers.  The land was beautiful, filled with life and a sweet aroma always filling the air. 

            The guide led us to some money trees (we weren’t allowed to pick any) to take a break.  I fell asleep and I had no dreams.  Then, I didn’t keep track of what happened after that.

            It was a peaceful sleep, until I woke up under not a money tree in the magical land, but under an apple tree by the horse stables.  Suddenly, I realized that the ride was over and I did not remember a thing about it.  My family kept on telling me that I had fallen asleep on the horse, and they had to get me off the horse and put me under the tree.  I really don’t believe them since they don’t sound so convincing.  I think the pixie dust was to make me think it actually happened.  I’m the one who knows what really happened.  Or so I think.  Maybe I’m wrong.  We’ll never know.

Gearing Up for Back to School

These past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of working with a wonderful, hard-working group of students in a shortened Writers' Workshop course. I am proud to share some of their work with you!

We focused on some important academic aspects of writing this summer. We wrote creative stories, but first created story maps so as to keep on track and remain focused on a goal during our writing. I also did a lesson on how to outline, and then how to follow the outline to write a detailed, organized report. We also learned how to write an outstanding book report, with an introduction, body, and conclusion.

These students worked hard and tomorrow we will celebrate with some writing games and a Read Aloud party with parents invited. What a fun celebration of school in the middle of summer!