Today, we tackled a daily reading skills activity card that had to do with following directions and writing at least one verse of your own poem following Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Wind rhyme scheme. What a challenge and what a lot of fun it turned out to be! Read and enjoy the poems written by 5th grade as a class effort.

The Snow

You the snow so mighty and strong
Your coldness soothes me all day long,
Your crystal flakes are angel’s wings,
Your voice shines and glitters like rings–
Sparkly snow shines like a king’s crown,
You make no sound as you fall down!

Rain

I heard you tap my window pane
and yet I still can see no rain,
You think that it’s a weather game,
Yet our weather is still so lame–
O rain, I feel I’m in a box,
Rain it stays dry and always locks!

Night Sky

In the middle of the dark night
Your small diamond stars shine so bright,
The dark slides o’er the moon aglow,
Wispy clouds above move so slow–
The cold air fights the cold night moon,
The sunrise will be coming soon!

Night Sky

Stars shine like diamonds in my eyes
As the moon glows across the skies,
Your fog covers the midnight sky,
Crickets and owls begin to cry–
O Night, as your stars are so bright,
Please send a shooting one tonight!

Our class chose Elijah of Buxton to read as our first read-aloud this year. Three students were buddy reading it, and they persuaded me to present it to the rest of the class as a consideration to read aloud. I appreciated the fact that the book is a Newbery Honor, has the Coretta Scott King award and is a culturally different story that is historical fiction.

The first chapter was definitely a great start. Elijah and his friend Cooter are terrified of Hoop Snakes because of what the Preacher has told them. Elijah’s ma is just as afraid of toady-frogs. When Elijah and Cooter play a prank on Ma with a toady-frog, she doesn’t even whip him with the switch he had to find. She counter-attacks with a prank of her own which includes Mrs. Brown’s warm, delicious rope cookies.

The students had some wonderful comments and connections to make about first chapter, but I will let them write those themselves!

Phew! I think I’ve finally done it! That is…I’ve added or updated the 5th grade blogs. What a job!

For those of you who do not see your name on my blog (travel to a new world), it’s because…

1. you didn’t return your form, or
2. you returned your form, but you forgot to write your password, blog title and tagline

So, if you fill out your forms and get them to me, I will add your blog to the list.

All I can say is…Happy Blogging!!!

Mr. Mattson, what can I say? Thank you so very much for finding my blog page. I promise to never (never say never) play around with adding or updating themes to Wordpress.

What a fast, crazy, absolutely wonderful first day in 5th grade! Everything was happening so fast, my head was spinning. Seeing the smiles, the bright, shiny eyes and the excitement on the students’ faces made me perfectly aware of why I teach. I love the curiosity, the enjoyment, and the wonder each child brings into my classroom. Surely this year is going to be phenomenal.

Today, a couple of my students stumbled upon a fellow 4th graders blog on which she had “blabberized” …that is…recorded an informational audio piece on a specific animal, but then made it appear that the animal was speaking (its mouth was moving) in her voice.

Of course, my two students immediately wanted to know what they had to do in order to make their animals’ mouths move in the same manner. I explained that Mrs. Salazar was the expert and I was the “clueless” one. Seeing their excitement and interest, I was convinced (persuaded) to see Mrs. Salazar and find out how to “blabberize” a picture.

Oh my gosh, what a blast it turned out to be! Trying to get the mouths just right is the most challenging bit, but I think I’ve got the hang of it now. The goal is to finish up with the rest of the class tomorrow and get the information on our blogs.

Feel free to check out a “blabberize on a Dingo” and yes, I know I cut the dingo’s tongue, but that’s where the moving mouth had to go!

As you browse through and read some of the most recent posts by students in 4-1 (those posted on March 6), you may wonder, “What in the world are they writing? Their stories don’t make sense.”

Well, what you need is a bit of background information. During our last computer lab session, we created Wacky Web Tales. We had to write words using hints. For example, we might have been prompted for a singular noun or a plural noun, an adjective or a verb, an animal noun or a person noun. Once we had completed all the blanks, our “story” was created with a quick press of the enter key. Wo-lah…the wacky tale was done!

Of course, none of the tales make sense, but we had a lot of fun writing them, and we had even more fun reading them!

…apparently I wasn’t! It was about 7:00 PM when I finished grading my final papers. Hmm…I thought. I should have enough time to take the TELPAS refresher course. It didn’t seem to take that long last year! Of course, last year was quite a while ago, and how easily one forgots the amount of time spent on something. I was about to find out rather quickly that I had taken longer than I thought and that this time, I would take longer than I wanted. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter. I got 100’s on all the sections last year…nothing to it! Ha! Different pieces, different time, different mindset. Boy, was I in for a big surprise. After completing the listening practice and the speaking practice, I was finally on the writing practice. Ugh! Writing…

I forget how tedious it is to read each collection…to review the Proficiency Level Descriptors…and to actually choose a rating. After completing just two of the collections, I chided myself for even beginning the refresher course tonight. However, I plodded along…literally. Why did this seem so easy last year? What is different this year? I know…I’m tired – no, I’m exhausted. Last year, I completed the course over the weekend – when I was relaxed. This year, I’m crazy enough to try to get it done on a week night (f00l)!

After struggling through several collections, I was at the end of the tunnel. I could see the light! My score was being calculated…and…WHAT? I have to complete the second set of collections. Now I know I was too beat to try this tonight. Well, no use crying over spilled milk. After another 20 minutes or so, I was finished…yes finally finished. I was even able to print a certificate of completion.

Next year I think I’ll test on the weekend while I enjoy my cup of morning coffee!

I sit in silence at my computer as Mad World by Gary Jewels plays softly through the closed door of Tina’s room. The song soothes my mind as my fingers peck aimlessly at the keys, trying in vain to generate a worthy piece(or at least a few worthy words). The only thing that comes to mind is, “This is how my students must feel day in and day out as they too struggle to create the ultimate composition, the piece that takes a reader’s breath away and makes him say, ‘wow’.” (I wonder, did I just use those quotes and inner quotes correctly? Argh!)

I think of the prompts I present to my students and wonder if I could come up with a meaningful piece to write about. Let’s face it, I write when the urge overcomes me, and believe me, it’s not on cue or like clockwork. I have to be “in the mood,” and that just doesn’t happen every morning between 8:00 and 9:30. Neither can I be presented with a prompt and write specifically about “that.” I write about what comes to mind, and even then, it’s difficult to put the words and feelings in my mind onto paper (or computer).

With a bit of help from my daughter, I tackled the job of putting a 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication sketch on our class website. She actually did all the work (it would have taken me hours just to figure out how to draw on the tablet)! I am the voice behind the camera, and she is the artist. I tried to sketch the problem myself (honestly), but I couldn’t get a grasp of the concept. My lines were all over the place, and I couldn’t look at the computer screen and the tablet both. Anyway, check out the math sketch and work, and let me know what you think. I already know that iShowU proves to be larger than I thought. The sketch takes up the whole screen. The next one will be better (I promise.)