A Great Day

Thursday was a great day. Look at how many kids clipped up so much they clipped off the chart and onto my badge!!

Revisions are so hard!!!

We are in the process of writing our own stories now. After they are written, we will need to revise them. Revising is different from editing. Editing includes capitalization, punctuation, spelling, complete sentences, and verb usage. Revising is changing, deleting, or improving words. It also includes moving sentences around. It might be adding several forgotten details.

     Revising is really hard. It means admitting our story isn't perfect and can be improved. It also takes time and thinking. Revising is also really messy.To practice this, we revised our Zombie Attack! story. I would read a sentence aloud, one at a time, and they would have to decide if it could stay or if it needed improvement. If it needed improvement, we asked for several suggestions and chose one. Here is one way our story could be revised for improvement.

   

Staff Picture

It's a little belated, but I still wanted to share. We have such a great staff at Lince, and I'm so lucky to be able to teach here.

Happy (almost) Friday

I just wanted to remind families that we do not have school Friday (2-13-15) or Monday (2-16-15). Friday is a non-school day built into the calendar in case we have a snow day during the winter. Monday is President's Day.

Another class story

Zombie Attack!

            A long time ago in the year 1, there lived a fearless knight named Hercules. He was so brave that he became friends with a fierce, fire-breathing dragon named Alvin. They had many adventures together protecting the Kingdom of Lightning.

            One adventure they had was the time zombies attacked outside the gates of the kingdom’s castle. The zombies needed to eat, and so they were trying to get the people in the Kingdom of Lightning. Hercules saw that the people were in danger, and so he bravely fought the zombies with his sword. While he was fighting, a zombie jumped up and sneakily bit him on the shoulder. Hercules yelled, “Ah! He bit me!” This bite caused him to slowly become a zombie too. Alvin the Dragon heard Hercules’ cry, so he flew in to help. He breathed fire onto a big, heavy tree, and it immediately burst into flames. The tree crashed on the zombies, destroying them all, except for one. Alvin couldn’t bear to kill his friend Hercules, but Hercules was still a zombie and a threat to the people in the kingdom.

            Meanwhile, Zeus was up in the clouds, watching the fierce battle. Alvin called out to Zeus, “Zeus, can you please help?” Zeus flew down and shot a healing lighting bolt at Hercules. Hercules quickly recovered and returned to his human self. He was so grateful to Alvin and Zeus for saving him. Zeus flew back into the clouds, and Alvin and Hercules resumed their watch over the kingdom.

Here is a picture of our plan that goes with the story above.

A Class Story

Here is a story we wrote together as a class. We are learning how to make a good plan with a quick sketch and quick notes first. Then we take the plan and carefully write a good beginning that focuses on one of four strategies - introduce the character, describe the when of the story, describe the where of the story, or begin with an action. We then use the plan to flesh out the action (the problem or significant even in the middle). Finally, we write a satisfying ending that solves the problem, provides resolution to the situation, or expresses feelings about the significant even of the story. Other components for our story include planning limited dialogue in our story by sketching out a speech bubble in our plan, including descriptive adjectives to describe characters and setting, and using strong verbs in our action.

We hope you enjoy our story. Look to see if you can see the components listed above in the story below.

Shark Attack!!

By Mrs.Bonsen’s class, 2-4-15

       Deep in the warm, Hawaiiann ocean waters lived a beautiful mermaid named Alex. She had long brown hair, blue eyes, and a green tail. She loved seaweed – she loved to eat it, play with it, and wear it in her hair for decoration. She was a very nice and kind mermaid who loved animals. Her very best friend was a dolphin named Blue. They loved to play hide and seek together.

       One day at lunchtime, Alex couldn’t find Blue. They always ate lunch together. Alex was sad that Blue was gone, so she shouted, “Blue, where are you?”

       What Alex didn’t know was that a huge, mean shark named Haley had eaten Blue for lunch. Haley was so hungry that she ate Blue in one big gulp! Haley had found Blue swimming far from the school when she had been playing hide and seek during recess. Blue had been looking for a new hiding spot.

       Haley had been feeling pretty guilty about eating Blue. She decided to spit Blue back out. Blue was so happy to be out of Haley the shark that she swam quickly to find her friend Alex. She told Alex what had happened, and Alex was upset. Alex and Blue hurried to find Haley. When they found her, they confronted the shark. Haley felt so bad, so she said, “Sorry! I was super hungry, and I made a mistake. It will never happen again!” Blue forgave Haley. The three creatures decided to be friends. They swam off together to find a good lunch for Haley.

Here is what our plan looked like - notice the quick sketch on the left and the quick notes on the right.