Two Crazy Pigs by Karen Berman Nagel

     Today we read the story Two Crazy Pigs by Karen Berman Nagel. In the beginning of the story, the two crazy pigs lived on the Fenster Farm and did crazy things. They jumped out of the barn, they tickled the hens, tied the cows tails together when they were getting milked, and even threw mud at Mr. and Mrs. Fenster. The Fenster’s told them to leave. The two crazy pigs went to the Henhawk’s Farm and met Mr. and Mrs. Henhawk. Mr. Henhawk built them a very cool pigpen. The Henhawk’s let the crazy pigs bake mud pies in the oven and laughed when they dipped a sheep’s tail into some ink. One day Shirley the Cow came to visit the crazy pigs. She said all the animals at the Fenster Farm missed them and wanted them to come back. The two pigs said, “No!” and that the Fenster’s loved them for who they were. One week later, the animals from the Fenster Farm came to the Henhawk Farm and asked if they could stay. They were all welcomed and they all jumped on the bed for two hours. At the end of the book, the pigs were happy with their new home and so were the other animals. Mr. and Mrs. Fenster moved to the city because they thought it was better than living on a farm. The crazy pigs thought about visiting them, but never did. In the end, the two crazy pigs and the rest of the farm animals lived with the Henhawks, and enjoyed every minute of time together.

By Kyle, Isabel, and Mr. Feustel

Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

     Yesterday we read the book Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel. The book had four stories in it as well as an introduction. In the introduction, a mouse was reading a book under a tree when a weasel came and got him. The weasel wanted to eat the mouse in some mouse soup. The mouse said, “You need to add some stories to mouse soup so it will taste good.” The weasel said, “I don’t have any stories.” The mouse said he would help out by telling the weasel four stories to make the soup taste good.

     The mouse told the weasel four stories. “Bees and the Mud” was the first story he told him. The next story was “Two Large Stones”. The third story was “The Crickets” and the final story was “The Thorn Bush”. Tyler and Grace’s favorite story was “Bees and the Mud”. Mitchell enjoyed “Two Large Stones” the best. Mr. Feustel was a big fan of “The Crickets”.

     After the mouse told the weasel some stories, the weasel went out to get a nest of bees, some mud, two large stones, ten crickets, and a thorn bush to add to the soup. Each thing the weasel got had some problems and the weasel got hurt, but he didn’t care because he just wanted to make the soup taste good. Without the weasel knowing it, mouse followed the weasel as he got each thing because the weasel left the door open when he left. When weasel returned with all the stuff, he was surprised to see that the cooking pot was empty. The mouse had escaped and was safe in his home reading the rest of his book.

     We loved the book because it was hilarious and the mouse was never eaten by the mean weasel.

By Grace, Mitchell, Tyler, and Mr. Feustel

Three Word Phrases

A prewriting strategy that I learned from reading Notebook Know How by Amiee Buckner that I like to use my my students is Three Word Phrases. For this strategy, students are to come up with three word phrases on a particular subject. I like this strategy because it forces students to summarize their ideas into just three powerful words, and it allows those students who struggle with writing to reach success because they only have to come up with three words. After a brainstorm session is had and a list of three word phrases is compiled, I have the student choose 2-3 of their favorites. They will then quickly conference with a writing partner and get some feedback on what someone else may want to here about. Ultimately, the student is in charge of their writing and can choose anything, but having feedback helps some writers who struggle with their choice on what to write about. After one Three Word Phrase is selected, I let the students journal about that idea alone, hoping they can develop it and come up with some sort of entry they can be proud of. With all that said, here are some three word phrases my students came up with on the topic of WINTER.

WINTER

*like to shovel *piles of snow *winter is coming *don't like ice *cross country skiing *time for holidays *Snow day please*build a snowman *dress really warm *travel slows down *miss the leaves *inside recess day *time to sled *tracks in snow *need a vacation *cold, cold, cold *gets dark early *presents are coming *Arizona sounds nice *almost my birthday *love the snow *how many inches *no more football *Spring come quick!

BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END

As a reading teacher, I get to work with students from a range of grade levels. I've worked with kinders to fifth graders and have enjoyed each and every group. For this blog post, I would like to show you an example of what I did with a group of first graders who were working on comprehension. After using a little prewriting brainstorm on a white board to help organize our thoughts, this is what we came up with. Enjoy!

Recently we read the book Always in Trouble by Corinne Demas. To better understand the story, our reading group went over some of the things that happened at the BEGINNING, MIDDLE, and END of the book. Here are some of our ideas.

At the BEGINNING of the story, Toby (the dog) always found ways to get into trouble. One way he got into trouble was by getting into the garbage. Another way Toby got into trouble was by running into the street. He also wet the floor, chewed buttons off Emma's new coat, ate a loaf of bread Emma's father made, and he jumped into the clean laundry which had been nicely folded.

In the MIDDLE of the story, Toby went to dog school because Emma's mother said, "Something has to be done about that dog!" After Toby went to dog school (where he was the best in the class) he was good for a little while, but not for long. Soon he was finding trouble again. This time, he ate Emma's dad's freshly baked cookies, dug up petunias Emma's mom had just planted, and barked in the middle of the night making it hard for the neighbors to sleep. He also ran across the road again, wet the floor again, and even chewed up his dog school diploma. Emma had to take Toby back to the dog school and leave him there for a whole week.

Finally, at the END of the story, Toby took out the garbage, baked some bread, cleaned the kitchen floor, vacuumed the rug, planted some new petunias, and he even folded the laundry. On Sunday he snoozed. BUT, no dog can always be perfect, especially Toby!

Written by Colin, Jake, Mitchell, and Mr. Feustel

Shared Writing: Art Around the World

Here is an example of a shared writing done with a group of three second grade boys. Each student selected a color that would represent their ideas during our shared writing. Enjoy!

We read the book Art Around the World by Margie Burton, Cathy French, and Tammy Jones. In China, they fly dragon kites made from cloth on Chinese New Year. People in Japan fold paper into different shapes. This is called origami. In Alaska they carve animals from stone. Trees are used to make masks in Africa. A stamping tool is used to make cloth pretty in India. Cool belts are made from yarn in Peru. After cups are made from clay in Mexico, they are painted to make them look lovely. As you can see, we learned a lot from reading a nonfiction book.

by Connor, Jack, Jefferson, and Mr. F.

example post

example of new post for class

Good morning bloggers!

Glad you found the blog. Here are some links that I feel we should explore before going on any further. They will help us figure out what types of blogs we want to create.

edublogawards.com

Tween Tribune

teachertomsblog

Troy's Trails

Blogger.com

edublogs

Word Press

Egg Shell Garden

Supplies for the Egg Shell Garden.

First seeds after only 9 days.

Observations made by first grade reading group.

Writing from Another Point of View

I made a "teacher goal" a few years back to improve my teaching of writing. I've read numerous books, checked online resources, and of course, talked to other teachers who have a love for writing. In my pursuit to become a better writing teacher, I've come across numerous writing strategies that have helped me become a better writing teacher. One writing strategy in particular that I have enjoyed teaching to my students (and anyone else who likes to write) is Writing from Another Point of View. This strategy was found in the Notebook Know-How book by Aimee Buckner and it's been a joy to try and get writers to create a piece of work using this strategy.

When Writing from Another Point of View, the writer tries to imagine (or use a real life experience) a single situation in which two (or more) people may have different viewpoints on the exact same situation (teacher note: the situation has to be the same or the writing doesn't work as well). The writer will then write two separate journal entries trying to capture the ideas and thoughts of each point of view represented for this particular situation. It is important to think about the language or thoughts you will use for each viewpoint as you want to try and capture the voice of each individual viewpoint represented.

Selecting viewpoints to write from seems to be the hardest part of this writing exercise, so here are some ideas to help you out. Parent & Child, Teacher & Student, Pet & Pet Owner, Pet & Another Pet, Child & Brother or Sister, Person & Object, and any other combination you can think of. The ideas are countless, all you have to do is try!

Here is a wonderful example from a teacher I work with. Her name is Susan and her creative idea for this writing was to write from the viewpoint of herself and then the piece of paper she was writing on. Yes, you read that correct, one of her viewpoints was that of a piece of paper. Enjoy.

Viewpoint 1:Susan

Writing sometimes thrills me, but most often, it frustrates me. I chuckle as I write about my cat's antics while he hides around the corner, waiting to pounce. I feel the thump of his paw on my nose as I peak his curiosity and natural instincts by hiding around the other side of the corner.
Other times, there is no chuckling or thrill, just frustration. When I need to write a sample paragraph for a writing mini-lesson, the words don't come. I know...Writer's Block.

Viewpoint 2: Notebook Paper

I'm waiting... I see the pen so close to me! I can't wait for the first douse of ink to seep into my fibers. It feels like bliss! What's this? Only two words so far? This can't be. I thought you had gotten over that Writer's Block two journal entries ago. Ahhhh! More ink; so fast now! Way to go! Keep it up, let the words just flow. The word 'thrills' thrills me!! No, no, the words 'frustrates', and 'Writer's Block' frustrate me! Oh, I love it when you write about the ol kitty! His antics make me laugh..

Shared Writing on Shrek

In my first grade reading group today, we read the classic (that's right, it's been 20 years since William Steig wrote this book) book turned movie Shrek. All the the students had seen the movie, but none of them knew it was a book. To be honest, I thought Shrek was only a movie as well. Below the book cover is a Shared Writing we did after reading this funny little tale. As you will see, the text below has different colors. Each color represents a different student's input to our writing. Enjoy!

Today we read Shrek by the wonderful author William Stieg. We all agreed it was a good read. There were parts in the book that were the same as the movie. There were some parts in the book that were different from the movie. In the movie, there was NOT a mean dragon. Like in the movie, at the end of the book they got married. There was a castle in both the book and the movie. Both the book and the movie were well worth our time.