More Short Stories

As promised, more stories! We're still missing the story from Katie Beth and Abby and Aidan and Aaron. They are working on a masterpiece, I've been promised! :)

The Three Smurfs and the Big Bad Dragaon

by Luke and Gabe

Once upon a time there lived three little smurfs and the giant dragon. Every time he sneezed he laid an egg. The first smurf lived in a house of grass. The second smurf’s house was made out of brick. The third smurf had a house made out mushrooms. The dragon came to the first house. And he sneezed. He laid an egg and knocked over the first and second smurf’s house. And he ate them and came to the third little smurf’s house. And sneezed a humungous sneeze and an egg shot out. But the egg broke. And only the third smurf lived happily ever after.

The Big Bad Ear and the 3 Little Bunnies

By Harry and Julien

The big bad bear needs cookies for a birthday so he went to the first bunny’s house to ask for cookies. No answer so he went to the next house made out of wood. He asked for some cookies and no answer so he broke the bunny’s house. Then he ate them. That’s how the story is. The end.

The Big Mad Bear and the 2 Little Puppies

By Savannah and Hannah

The big mad bear lived in a cabin. Then he was trying to blow down the house down made out of sticks. Then he ate the puppy. Then he went to the next house that was made out of hair but he blew the house down. So he went to the third house that was made out of stone but it was so strong he could not blow it down. The last puppy was safe and they lived happily ever after.

The True Story...

This week we've been reviewing the 6 Traits of Writing (ideas, organization, word choice, voice, sentence fluency, and conventions). Our lesson on Monday focused on the Voice trait. We talked about how when we write, we need to make sure we show emotions using strong words and how we need to match our writing voices with each character. We've all heard the story of the 3 Little Pigs right? And that Big, Bad Wolf? Well.. we read a version from the Wolf's perspective. The author does such a great job making us belive the story is being told from the Wolf's point of view. The book is below:

The kids then got to work with a partner. Their job was to recreate the story using 3 of their own little creatures and 1 big, bad creature. They had to decide who was going to be telling the story. They turned out SO cute and the kids had SO much fun! This isn't all of them.. I'm typing the rest of them up and will post the rest tomorrow. Besides some added words and some spelling fixes, these were ALL their own ideas!!

The Three Little Kittens

By Reagan and Bailey

One perfect day three little kittens were going on a trip for a month! The big bad elephant was going to the three little houses made out of yarn, foam, and paper and [he] blew the houses down. And the kittens got back and they had nowhere to stay. They were homeless.

The Three Little Kitties

Mary Sullivan and Kellyanne

Once upon a time there were three kitties. Their mother sent them to build houses of their own so the first one made [one] out of straw and one sticks and a brick one. The big bad dog found a way down the chimney but he fell down into steaming hot stew and he got eaten. The end.

The Big Bad Monkey and the 3 Little Sheep

By Cody and Destiny

The first sheep lived in a glass house. The next lived in a banana tree house and [the third] in a black house. The big bad monkey jumped on all the houses. They fell apart. They became friends. The banana house got eaten.

The True Story of the Crocodile and the Monkey
By Xander and Angus

Once upon a time there was a crocodile and 3 monkeys. The crocodile was making a book for his mother but he didn’t have any crayons so he asked his neighbor. It was made out of hay. He knocked. Nobody answered but he felt a sneeze. AHCHOO! It broke the house. He ate the monkey. So he went on. The next house was made of sticks. He knocked. Nobody answered. He felt a sneeze. AHCHOO! It fell down! The next house was made out of bricks. He knocked. Nobody answered. He felt a sneeze. It didn’t fall down. The army came and he went to jail.

The Big House

by Lauren and Hunter

Three little puppies lived in a big big house. A dragon sneezed and coughed and [it] did not work! The mom came in and she kicked the dragon up in space.

Once upon a time there lived 3 kittens and a Big Bad Puppy. WOOF. The puppy was super duper mean!!!! The first kitten’s house was made of yarn, the second kitten’s house was made of cans of tuna, and the third kitten’s house was made of steak. So the puppy went to all the kitten’s houses and ate them up. So the kittens made a house out of sticks and three kittens lived very happy. The end.

- Alex and Baylee

A bear is making chocolate cake. He needs chocolate so he goes to one little tiger’s home. [It] was made out of trees. He knocked on the door. The tiger said “Go Away!” so he blowed the home. The next tiger’s home was made out of leaves. The tiger said “Get lost” so he blowed the home. The last tiger’s home was made out of hay. The tiger said “Don’t come back.” So he blowed the home. The cop got the bear. He said to the cop, “Can I have chocolate?” He said, “No.” The end.

- Dimitri and Daniel

** Thank to those who have sent in items for our map activity on Thursday! Items are due tomorrow!!

** Grits for Grans RSVP forms are due on Friday. Please get those back ASAP.

** MAP testing began today in the Computer Lab. We will test again on Friday morning. Please make sure your child gets to sleep early on Thursday and eats a healthy breakfast on Friday morning. This is a chance for your child to show me what they already know! We will discuss their scores at our conferences in October.

** I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Open House on Tuesday, September 6th. Your child has so much to show you!!

July and August Birthdays

We had our first birthday celebration today! At the end of each month, we will celebrate all our birthdays for that month. Today we celebrated our July and August birthdays. We actually didn't have any August birthdays, but we wanted a chance to recognize and celebrate those who turned a year older this summer! Don't worry June birthdays... we've gotcha covered during the month of May! Below are some pictures from our celebration!

 Daniel, Dimitri, Aidan, Savannah, and Destiny

This was right before we sang to them! We love to sing and add our "cha cha cha" to the birthday song! Destiny had to leave early so this is the only picture I have of her.

 Yum. We love birthday snacks!

 Thank to those parents who sent in our birthday snacks and drinks. The kids had so much fun. One child even came up to me afterwards (it wasn't even his birthday) and gave me a huge hug and said, "Thank you Mrs. Kellett for letting us celebrate our birthdays!"

We're looking forward to our September birthday celebration next month!

FEW REMINDERS:

- Grits for Grans information went home today. Please RSVP as soon as possible. We want to make sure there's enough food! :)

- If you volunteered to bring goodies for our map making activity (Hershey Kisses, Twizzlers, chocolate chips, and/or Smarties), THANK YOU! We need these items by August 30th. The kids are already excited about our project!

- READ, READ, READ. Try to read some each day this weekend. Ask your child about our Reading Stamina challenge!!

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

Reading Workshop

In our classroom, I use a Reading Workshop model to teach. Each reading lesson begins with a mini-lesson such as predicting, main idea, characters/setting, etc. I model that particular skill with a lesson on the Smart Board so we can practice together. After our mini-lesson, children have independent reading time. This ranges from 10-15 minutes so far. My hope is that as the year goes on, your child will be able to build enough reading stamina to read for longer periods of time.

Have you heard your child use the words "Shop for books?" Each week your child has an opportunity to shop for books in my classroom library. They know what level they are on and what baskets to choose from. They use these books during that independent reading time to practice applying the skill I just taught. For example, if we're learning about characters in a story, I may have the kids identify the characters in their own books and use clues to tell me what that character is like.

As your child is reading independently, I'm walking around conducting reading conferences. I listen to a child read and ask them questions as they go along. It gives me a chance to see if they understand the new skill. It also provides an opportunity to see if there's any other problems I can help address with your child's reading.

The last step is share time. We meet back on the carpet and discuss our discoveries from our books. The children really seem to enjoy share time. They have more confidence because they are practicing skills in books that are just right for them. I want your child to grow into a confident, strong reader. In order to build that love for books, it's important to make sure they are reading books on their individual level. They get so excited when they get to move up!!

Some pictures from today's Reading Workshop lesson:

 Gabe found a perfect reading spot!

 During today's lesson we talked about reading being all around us. We read more than just books. We read signs, recipes, newspapers, clothes, license plate tags, food labels, and so many other things! The kids had a chance to look through magazines and find examples of things people can read.

 They worked with their tables to create a poster of the examples they found.

Have a great night!

A few more pictures from our 1st week!

Well, we survived!! I have to admit though -- this teacher is exhausted!! The homework sheet went home today. Please keep that in your child's folder for next week. Homework will go home on Monday and will be due on Friday. This is different from last year. Everyone's so busy with work, sports, etc so I figured this would give you guys some freedom to choose which nights work best. Remember we will need some magazines to cut pictures from on Wednesday. If you have some you are willing to donate, please send them in! Check to make sure they are child friendly first.

It's definitely been a fun week. Here's another peek into our 1st week of school.

 Caught you reading!!

 The kids loved this. It was called Find a Friend. They had to go around and find people in our classroom that fit the clues in the boxes. For example, has a pet dog, saw The Smurfs, etc. They really got into it! We realized Abby was the only one who wore flip flops that day (one of the clues) so she was QUITE popular!

 We also read the book The Crayon Box That Talked about a box of crayons that did not get along. They had to learn to work together. At the end of the story, they crayons realized that by working together, they could make a beautiful picture. We talked about what lesson we could learn from the story and how it relates to our classroom. Then the kids worked in groups to create their own pictures.

 Below is each group's picture.

 Ending with this beautiful girl who got brand new glasses Thursday after school. They have peace signs on the side. Very cool.

Enjoy your weekend guys!!

A look into our first few days...

Ohmygosh.. let me brag about our day!! We did SUCH a wonderful job today -- getting our work done, listening, following directions. I am so impressed!! Your child started a special project that we'll have on display during Open House. They were pretty excited about it!! Some of us had a chance to share our favorite books. It's so neat to hear why they chose the book they brought. Those who didn't share will have a chance tomorrow and Friday!

I promised pictures so here you go!! Again, it's been a great 2 days. I'm so lucky to have your child in my class. Their excitement and happiness make all the time and effort DEFINITELY worth it! :) I hope they've enjoyed these past 2 days as much as I have!

 Getting ready to begin our first day!

 Look at those sweet faces!

 The kids filled in apple puzzle pieces about themselves. They wrote about their favorite sport, book, food and many other things.

 Look at that amazing 2nd grade line!

 The line is too long to get into just one picture.

 After they filled in the puzzles, we cut them out. I mixed up ALL the pieces and in small groups they tried to see if they could put their puzzle back together.

 They all did such a great job. I loved Abby's pictures!

Our class...

They wanted to take a goofy one too. They are so silly!