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Tag: writing

Spooky Story Writing

Posted in writing

Last week when I was substituting in fourth grade, one of the assignments was to write a spooky story! This is right up my alley! I read the bilingual class the opening and closing lines from several spooky stories in the library and they took off with their imagination! They wrote an opening line and ending for a scary story. We had fun!

4 g spooky writing

fourth grade writes

Spring Poetry Writing

Posted in bilingual, displays and deco, fifth grade, fourth grade, poetry, third grade, and writing

April is National Poetry Month! Third through fifth grades had fun in the Jackson Library writing Spring poems! Some wrote diamante poems about the atmosphere layers, some wrote acrostics in English, and some wrote Spanish acrostics. We used kite templates (see TPT links below) so we could post them on the library windows. The kids had fun writing the poems! 

stu acrostic poems

#nationalpoetrymonth

poetry kites

acrostic poem on kite

 

link to Spa acrostic template
link to Spa template

 

Spring bulletin board kit- acrostic kites
English acrostic kite template and SPRING banner

 

Dear Basketball Revisited 2022

Posted in fifth grade, games, poetry, and writing

This week in the Jackson Library, fifth grade read Kobe Bryant’s Dear Basketball poem (we used MrsBlewettELA’s TPT Questions) and watched the Oscar-winning short animated movie.  Fifth graders wrote a letter to SOMETHING they love. If they wrote a poem, they wadded up some paper to shoot a basket into the trash can. This idea is from Michael Bonner. Fun! 

Embedded: Arthur, Garcia classes

scroll down for more

Arthur Garcia 5 poems
Click to read more below! 
Kuwitzky Valentin Burkhead poems

Dear Basketball film
Dear Basketball short film

Dear Basketball website

LINK to 2020 Lesson

 

Bonner quote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boo Haikus! 2021

Posted in displays and deco, fifth grade, holiday, how to, picture book lesson, poetry, technology, and writing

Last week, in the Jackson Library, fifth graders had fun writing spooky haikus! This idea is from the book, Boo! Haiku. To get our brains warmed up, I showed the kids some student samples from a couple of years ago and then had them draw a spooky scene.  Thinking about how to describe the scene helped the kids to get ideas for their haiku. The bilingual classes chose to write in English or Spanish. Other helpful tips:  scatter SPOOKY words1spookywords2 on the tables as vocabulary enhancers, don’t ‘require’ use of the form/template- many kids wanted to write their poem rough draft right next to their drawing… Check out their spoooky creations! 

boo haiku
Review

5th grade boo haikus 2021

Eng. stu sheet
Student sheet- Eng.

MODIFY LESSON: SPOOKY words1

spookywords2

 

Stu Sheet Spanish
Stu Sheet Spanish

Spa haiku sample

 

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stu boo haikus 2021
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More books by Deanna Caswell
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Note on how to embed a Google Doc popout:
Share your Google Doc.
Go to the three dots at the top.
Choose ‘open in new window’- this used to be called ‘pop out’
open goo doc in new window
Then choose: embed item
choose pop out
Copy the embed code URL
embed code
Change the ‘height’ to a larger number so more of the document can be viewed at once:
I think I made the height of this one 3000

I Have a Dream 2021

Posted in fifth grade, holiday, poetry, and writing

This week in the Jackson Library, fifth graders learned about Dr. Martin Luther King’s powerful, peaceful words used to spur change for equality. I asked them to think about things going on in the world and what causes are important to them.  They wrote their own ‘I Have a Dream’ excerpts to convey ways they want the world to improve. Check out their poems below! 

 

g couruosGeorge Couros

 

pollution article 2021

 

 

Student Template – short

I Have a Dream Poem Template - short

Student Poems

student poems MLK Jr.
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AG me

Our ‘Expert’ Alphabet Books

Posted in fifth grade, nonfiction lesson, picture book lesson, and writing

In the fall, fifth graders had fun sharing their ‘expert knowledge’ on different topics by creating an alphabet book. Since I started taking guitar lessons on Zoom last July, I created a sample ‘book’ to use as a model and then also shared the book, Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer’s Alphabet by Chris Barton. They had fun and we all learned so much!

Based on the book:

attack boss cheat code
click to go to Chris Barton’s site

 

Samples

Student Book Excerpts
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#MySummerInSixWords

Posted in remote learning, and writing

Thanks to Jimmy Fallon for this get-to-know-you remote learning lesson idea! Using only six words, fourth and fifth graders summarized their summer in the Jackson Library Google Classroom.

Inspiration:

Jimmy Fallon six words

Lesson: 

stu response summer 1
stu smp spa
summer six stu2
c 345
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I had my washing machine flood my house which required a restoration company, insurance company, and several contractors so mine was…
flood six+++
What are your six words to describe your summer?

The Masked Writer Contest

Posted in fun events, grants, and writing

Who is the masked writer? Students send in their guesses via the Jackson Library Google Classroom. Thanks to @MedCityPlano and @PISDEF for library books to reinforce writing strategies! In the fall, I wrote a PISD Education Foundation Grant for library books to use as mentor writing texts. Then I taught a series of writing strategy lessons to grades 3-5 during their library time.  There were certain targeted writing skills they had to achieve in each piece. I chose a few papers for children to read while wearing a mask. (videos)  The other kids in the grade level guess as to who is behind the mask. Fun!    

 

LINK

Some other Masked Writer Contestants:

 

Tiger 2

 

 

unicorn

m w 1

mw 1

mw fox 1

 

mw4

Masked Writer - Beagle

Some mentor texts used:

Twister – Beard

Sergio’s Bike– Boelts

Up North at the Cabin – Chall 

Night Driving – Coy

Strong to the Hoop – Coy

Goal! Javaherbin

My Best Friend – Rodman

 

Tweet

Google Classroom Guesses

mw guesses

 

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