Week 3 Student Work -- more to come!

Post date: Jul 14, 2009 7:55:32 PM

What a wonderful week filled with literature and learning! This week, we have read several poems, plays, and fiction and non-fiction stories, including Tuck, Beneath Your Feet magazine, River Cave, Exploring Lechuguilla, Journey into the Earth, Meadow Walk, The Burrowers: A Field Guide to Underground Creatures, My First Subway Ride, and The Mole People.

We also worked on compound words, suffixes -er and -ed, syllables, homophones, writing descriptive paragraphs, word families, and responding to sentence prompts. We are still working on retelling stories and using reading strategies (listed in Week 2's announcements) to help decode unknown words. Keep working on expression and fluency (smooth reading) at home. Reading the plays this week really got the kids interested and using expressive voices during reading. Try reading a play at home, giving everyone in the family a character.

This week's post is a bit longer, because I had added some student work to help encourage and motivate the children to write and have confidence in their work. Continue to congratulate your children on their accomplishments and on their progress--they are working hard this summer! :) Also, please check work habits section of the Weekly Behavior Chart to make sure your student is trying his/her best. Practice makes perfect!

Catch up on Tuck: When Helen gets a call from Mrs. Chaffey from the Canine Companion Institute, she and her family quickly take Mrs. Chaffey's offer to come in for another visit. Mrs. Chaffey informs Helen and her family that a blind man has recently passed away, leaving a companion dog available for Tuck. The dog is a German Shepherd, named Lady Daisy, who is a sweet and responsible dog. When Lady Daisy comes to live with Tuck, things begin to change. Tuck is no longer the sweet, loving yellow dog that he used to be. He turns into a jealous, selfish, and angry pet. Helen is determined to make things right between Lady Daisy and Tuck. Day after day, she trains the two and tries to get them to cooperate with each other, but it isn't working. When Helen's parents tell her that Tuck has had enough, Helen secretly vows to Tuck that she will keep on trying. In secret, Helen gets an idea from the local grocer, Mr. Ishihara. Although Tuck cannot see, he can smell and hear! Helen puts a bell on Lady Daisy and wraps Lady Daisy's leash in her old, stinky t-shirt. Tuck is bound to cooperate with Lady Daisy if she smells like his favorite person, Helen. Things finally begin to work! Tuck and Lady Daisy walk close to each other, and Tuck rests his head against Lady Daisy for guidance as they walk together. When Helen's family finds out about this great surprise, Helen becomes more confident and feels more beautiful than she ever has before. Helen is no longer an awkward, gawky 13 year old with low self-esteem. Congratulations, Helen and Tuck!

Last week, we created limericks using the AABBA rhyme pattern. Check some of them out! (Note: Some of the rhyming words may be nonsense words, but it's ok to be silly when you are writing a poem!)

Starting 7/16, we will be reading

Jackson Jones and the Puddle of Thorns,

written by Mary Quattlebaum.

This week, we read a non-fiction selection about Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico. This cave is the deepest cave in the United States and is 1,565 feet deep! WOW! We created some new captions to the photographs from the magazine.

Girls Go MAD

Slip on a Banana

written by Nigel

There once was a fellow named Nigel

Who was in the private jet named Migel.

He slipped on a banana,

And busted his head on a cranana.

Now it felt like a rigel.

To Hurl or Not to Hurl

written by Aalysia

There once was a girl named Pearl

Who liked to hurl.

She worked in the dark.

She loved to go to the park.

Now she likes to curl.

Cave Lechuguilla

Joseph wrote, "Don't eat them if you don't want your teeth broken."

Anna warns us, "Don't mistake those with jawbreakers--they are pearls."

Shelf Stone

Cave Pearls

written by Melissa

There once was a girl named Bla

Who always got into a fight with Cha.

And then a girl came along

Named NobKimadchung.

Now they fell in a toilet made by Fla.

There Once Was a Boy Named Cello

written by Micah

There once was a boy named Cello

Who lived with an old fellow.

Then he worked at night,

Started a fight.

Now he sleeps on a pillow.

Joseph said, "Big place! Don't go in there if you want to live."

"You wouldn't want to sing next to these shiny rocks," said Micah.

Laryah tells us, "The cavern is 1,565 feet deep. It is the deepest cave in the USA."

Cave Bacon

Soccer Player written by Ryan

There once was a human named Ryan Who was named Bryan. He likes soccer. He sat down in a rocker. Now he is crying.

Here is a story map that we created for the play, River Cave.

Click on the image to see it in larger detail.

Samantha thinks, "The shelf stone looks like a pancake."

"You wouldn't want to eat these pancakes with syrup. It's shelf stone," warns Micah.

Aalysia said, "Be careful. Shelf stone. Slimy."

"Don't mistake the shelf stone for pancakes. This shelf stone has pure calcite in it," tells Laryah.

Anna said, "That's not bacon, so don't eat them!"

Melissa warns us, "Even though the name is bacon, it's not. Don't eat it."

On Thursday, 7/16, we wrote descriptive paragraphs about objects that were in brown bags. Nobody else knew what was inside each bag except the bag holder. The descriptive paragraph gave hints about the object and told us information about the object. Ask your child to describe the object he/she wrote about.

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