Fictional Narrative Pre-Writing: Monster in a Jar

In class we have begun working on our next narrative.  We will be writing a fictional narrative.  Our "prompt" will revolve around the idea of having to capture a monster in a jar.  To get "things" going, we captured our own classroom monster: Lenny.

With Lenny in captivity, we began describing what type of monster Lenny is.  As it turns out, he lives underneath students' beds and/or in the depths of their closets.  He makes very loud screeching noises.  His beak like mouth is extremely sharp and his eyes can blast lasers beams.  What a creature.  

The next step in our pre-writing process was for students to create their own, squished, "Monster in a Jar."  They needed to imagine what their monster looks like, what sorts of features it has, where it lives and more.  All of those characteristics helped students imagine what their monster looks like.  Today, we voted for favorite monsters.  We even brought in two fourth grade classrooms, so our votes were unbiased.  While only one could win, all of the monsters have turned out great.  Can you find Lenny in the picture below?

Tomorrow, we will begin imagining our narratives.  We are excited to see where our imaginations will take us.

Making Word Study Fun!

Understanding how to create, spell, and analyze words is a very important part in becoming a successful reader and writer.  Using the Words their Way curriculum, we do a variety of activities to get better at our word knowledge ranging from meaning sorts and activities to several strategies for better spelling of words.  Throughout the day, students have many opportunities to get better at using words and to become better spellers in general.  Below are some pictures from some of the activities students did today:

"Banana Grams" with Large Magnetic Letters

"Written Blind Sort"

"Scrabble" with Magnetic Letters

"Secret Decoder" Spelling Cups

Rebooting our Imagination with Katy McKy

Our school PTO generously brought our students the great fortune of meeting author and educator Katy McKy this week, as our author in residence.  To begin the week, Katy McKy, surrounded by nearly 600 eager students, transfixed us with her exciting tale of how pumpkins took over the small, quaint village: Pumpkin Town.  The show was entertaining, start to finish, with Mrs. McKy developing much of her fun story using our school's principal (Poppa) as her center of attention.  Quickly, she brought nearly 80 students up to the front stage to become instant props, while bringing forth staff (myself included) and students to act out various parts one might read in her book.  As she retold the story Pumpkin Town, all legs sat criss-crossed, backs were straight, and eyes were glued to what might happen next.  The morning was a success.

However, our class' individual time with Mrs. McKy this morning may have taken her presentation to a whole new level.  Regularly she asked my students if they were "Tough enough to focus."  You bet they were!  In her energetic ways, she reminded them to REFUSE TO GIVE UP!  Our morning was based largely on her tale Wolf Camp.  As a group, my students had to identify every single element her story might include using the props around us.  We used leaf blowers for wind, squirt bottles for rain, feather dusters as creepy crawly bugs.  My students quickly memorized the "things" they need for a camping trip, from a water canteen and filter to an emergency pack.  Before we knew it, we (myself included) were crawling around on the floor pretending to be bears or packs of wolves invading an imaginary camp which Katy and one of my students inhabited.

With our remaining time, Mrs. McKy had my students write their own story using all the elements we learned about in the first 45 minutes.  Their stories had to include: a setting, a problem, a bigger problem, an even bigger problem, and a solution.  With students camped up into tents, Mrs. McKy and myself wandered our campgrounds causing rain, wind, and creepy bugs to invade the tents.  These distractions were no match for my focused writers.  Many of my students were upset to end / leave, because as they might tell you, they still have a long way to go on what some of them see developing into a great story.

Mrs. McKy taught my students that each of them has a extraordinary power within them...their brains.  Their brains are capable of anything they want them to be, so long as they have will power and courage to do their best.  McKy provided me, with a much needed (though I did not realize this) professional development session.  I learned that my students can be very focused with the correct cue, and that some directions don't need to be so dragged out.  I also learned to power of oral editing.  I cannot wait to integrate Katy McKy's strategies with my own to create a very positive and unique learning environment.

We will have one more all school assembly with Katy on Friday, where she will then let our students tell their parents all the "Truths" about what she really told them...giving her just enough time to get out of town.  The following are some pictures from our fun writing session this morning: