Cinderella as Retold / Summarized by Rm 15

In 4th grade, we are learning about the difference between retelling and summarizing a story. Retelling has lots more details and may contain dialogue, like the students' retelling of "Cinderella" below.

Ms. Moore's favorite retelling is "Ever After," starring Drew Barrymore.
Photo from thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com.

Retelling

Once upon a time, there was a happy couple and they had a child named Ella. Then Ella’s mom was mortally sick and died. Then the dad married a very rude and sassy woman with two crazy children. The stepmother liked her two children, but made Ella do chores. 

Then the father died, and the stepmother got even meaner. Ella got so dirty doing the chores, they called her Cinderalla. (Cinders are ashes, and they had a fireplace that needed to be cleaned out.) 

One day, they got four pieces of mail, and it was invitations for a ball. The stepsisters said they were going to go, but they didn’t want Cinderella to go. The mom agreed that C. shouldn’t go. The mice made a dress for C., but the sassy stepmother and crazy stepsisters tore it apart. Now she definitely couldn’t go, and she was sad. Then the mice made her a new dress, and the stepsisters tore that apart too and then left for the ball. 

C. cried and cried and cried until her fairy godmother came. The FG said, “Hello, there dear! It is I, your FG. I will grant you one wish, but once the clock strikes 12, this wish will expire. Like milk.” 

C says, “But how will I get there? The ball ends in three hours!” 

The FG pointed her wand at a pumpkin, and it transformed into a carriage with horses pulling it. She said, “Have fun! I’ll be cleaning up the house while you’re gone.” 

Then the prince said, “Dad, I don’t want to get married.” The king says, “You have no choice.” The duke says, “Line up the women.” The crazy stepsisters ran up to the prince and tried to hug him, fighting over him. 

C. finally got to the ball. The prince saw her and danced with her. The crazy stepsisters were so mad and jealous. When the clock struck 12, she ran away and left behind a glass slipper. The prince said, “I’ll find you … even if it takes me my whole life, I will find you,” and looks out in the distance. 

The man went out knocking on people’s doors, trying to find C. He knocked on C’s family’s door, and the stepsisters answered. They tried on the glass slipper, but it didn’t fit. Then the prince noticed C. cleaning, and asked her to try on the shoe. She did, and it fit. They lived happily ever after, and the two stepsisters had to clean and got a taste of their own medicine.

Summary

After we retold Cinderella in 426 words, it was time to summarize it in a couple of sentences. The method I taught the 4th graders is Somebody Wanted But So Then. Here are some of the summaries they came up with: 

Cinderella

wanted to go to the ball, 

but the stepmother didn't want her to.

So the fairy godmother came and got her a dress and said it would expire at 12, like milk. 

Then she went to the ball and danced with the prince. 

The stepsisters 

wanted to dance with the prince, 

but Cinderella got to instead. 

So they were surprised to see her there. 

Then they got a taste of their own medicine. 

The stepmother 

wanted her daughters to go to the ball and meet the prince,

but Cinderella came and danced with him.

So the stepsisters were mad.

Then the clock struck 12.

 

Cinderella as Retold / Summarized by Room 14

In 4th grade, we are learning about the difference between retelling and summarizing a story. Retelling has lots more details and may contain dialogue, like the students' retelling of "Cinderella" below.

Ms. Moore's favorite retelling is "Ever After," starring Drew Barrymore.
Photo from thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com.

Retelling

Cinderella got a stepmother, who was mean and only wanted her to clean the house. She had two mean stepsisters. Her father died, and her stepmother kept telling her what to do. 

Their family got invited to the prince’s ball, and C. couldn’t go because she had to clean the bathroom. Also, her only dress, which had belonged to her mom, got ripped by the stepsisters who were making fun of it for being old. 

She goes to the front of the house, in the garden, and is crying. Then she meets her Fairy Godmother, who gives her a brand-new blue dress and glass slippers, but they will only last until midnight. The FG turns her animal friends into horses and footmen to drive her in a carriage that used to be a pumpkin.

She goes to the ball and her two mean stepsisters don’t even recognize her. The prince asks her to dance with him. The clock strikes midnight and she runs out, losing one of her glass slippers. She tries to get in her carriage, but it breaks down, and she has to walk home. 

Later, the prince finds her slipper and tries to return it, but the stepsisters and stepmother don’t let her go downstairs. They try on the slipper, but it doesn’t fit. C’s mice friends find a key and unlock the door for her. She goes downstairs, and the shoe fits! Then the dad came back because he had actually been captured by pirates and got away. And they all lived happily ever after. 

Except for the stepmother and stepsisters, who got boiled by C. as revenge.

Summary

After we retold Cinderella in 272 words, it was time to summarize it in a couple of sentences. The method I taught the 4th graders is Somebody Wanted But So Then. Here are some of the summaries they came up with: 

Cinderella

Wanted to go to the ball,

But her stepsisters and stepmother made her clean the house instead. 

So a fairy godmother comes. 

Then she gets to go to the ball. 

The prince 

Wanted to dance with Cinderella. 

But she ran away. 

So the prince finds one of her glass slippers and goes around to see who it fits.

Then he goes to C’s house and it fits her.

Telling Fibs in Grade 4

Fibonacci, a mathematician who lived during the 1200s, developed a number sequence named after him. Each number is added to the previous number to get the next number: 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 and so on.

Author Greg Pincus invented the “Fib” form of poetry, in which each consecutive line has the same number of syllables that appear in the Fibonacci sequence. The students wrote their own. Here are some of their creations:

Oh no!

I'm sick!

by that bug!

Its now on the rug!

I hope I will feel better soon.

I am feeling much better before the afternoon!

I guess those five-star rated, cherry flavored pills worked amazingly well, that is swell.

- C.S., Rm. 14

Autumn

Red,

green,

yellow

leaves. Get out-

side and enjoy the

breeze. It's a piece of cake to en-

joy today. Go out and play! Hip hip hooray!

- S.C., Rm. 14

My

show

will come

out on this

December 18.

The show is about Star Wars, yay.

- B.B., Rm 14

So

wow!

No way!

I got home and showed my mom and

dad my grade; it was an A! Yay!

"No way," said Mom. Yay Yay No Way Hey!

- C.P., Rm 14

Cold

It

is

colder

than a mon-

ster's cold sore. Ew! So

gross. I meant to say ice cream. Ew.

- N.C., Rm 14

I

am

a num-

my chicken

wing so don't eat me.

If you do, you will go to chick-

en wing jail, and you will learn your rules so listen up.

- M.D., Rm 14

Al-

though

I can't

see my friends,

I still can. You might

not understand. But I can with

my tablet so I can. I hate this pandemic.

- C.C., Rm 14

I

am

annoyed

with COVID,

because we have to

stay home and wear a mask. But ev-

ery one knows we love Ms. Moore's teaching because she 

does a lot of fun things. She loves teaching library; that is her favorite subject. Books!

- L.L., Rm 14

I

like

football.

Patriots,

they are the best team.

Play in Foxboro at Gilette.

They are the best team in the National Football League.

- G.Z., Rm 15

I

like

the snow,

but I like

summer sunny days

so I can jump in the pool. Yay!

- L.B., Rm 15

Run!

They

will hunt

you down 'til

sunrise once you touch

the hidden treasure items. The

torches will turn into blue flames and start smoking.

You can't hide from them. You can't survive from them. They won't stop 'til you return the items.

- K.L., Rm 15

I

love

ice cream.

I like it,

but not strawberry.

I also do not like blueberry.

- A.S., Rm 15

I

hate

worms, but

worms love apples.

When they see one, they

go crazy for one, then get crushed.

- T.C., Rm 15

In Other Words ... with Grade 4

Fourth graders are practicing their paraphrasing skills. First we worked together to come up with synonyms and ways to recast a sentence.

source: https://thesaurus.plus/synonyms/in_other_words

ORIGINAL: The automobile that went by very quickly was maroon. It went through a big puddle and splashed us.

NEW: The car flashed through the puddle and got me soaked. 

NEW: We got soaking wet when a car splashed through a puddle. 

 

 

ORIGINAL: The educator removed the unruly student from the learning environment because of the sounds he was making

NEW: The rude student was kicked out of school because he was making noises.

NEW: The teacher was distracted when the student was making a terrible commotion in class, and they kicked him out. 

 

ORIGINAL: I remained awake until the wee hours, absorbing broadcast entertainment. At the present time, I am lacking energy.

NEW: I stayed up late listening to the radio, and I'm tired.

NEW: I'm tired because I stayed up too late watching TV. 

Then they worked on an individual assignment, putting the following sentences into their own words:

During my earlier years, I experienced much conflict with my male and female siblings who were born before me. Now that we are more mature, we have overcome some of our differences and have the ability to interact pleasantly.

Here are some of the new sentences the students came up with:

Back when I was a kid, my older siblings didn't get along with me. Now that I'm older, we now respect and love each other - A.M.

When I was young, I got into fights all the time with my older brothers and sisters. Now that we are older, we don't fight anymore and get along nicely. - D.P.

When I was younger, my older sister and I didn't get along too well. Now that we're older, we get along much better. - G.S.

When I was younger my siblings and I fought. Now we are older and we are mature, we have a nice time together. - G.Z.

When I was younger I fought with my older brother and sister a lot. Now that we are older, we get along and enjoy each other. - L.S.

When I was younger, I often used to fight with my older brother and sister. As we got older, we realized we may not always agree and get together often. - M.R.

When I was a kid I would fight with my older brother and sister. Now that we are older we get along better. - N.C.

When I was four years old, I had many arguments with my older brother and sisters. Now that we are older, we are able to get along with each other and not argue. - R.R.

When I was younger, my brothers and sisters and I always fought over silly things. Now we are older, we have worked out all our problems! - S.C. 

RIP RBG

Runner-up

To mark the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September, I read two picture-book biographies about her to students in grades 3-5: "I Dissent" by Debbie Levy and "The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality" by Jonah Winter. 

We discussed what the authors had chosen to include in their books, working from the same original sources. 

For example, both books mentioned that the library where Ruth borrowed books as a child was over a Chinese restaurant. However, only one talked about how she wasn't allowed to take shop in school (and got bad grades in home economics because she was a terrible cook). 

WINNER

Both books mentioned that she was one of only 9 women out of 500 law-school students. However, only one gave details on the cases she worked on as a lawyer.

The students then voted on which one they liked better; of those who had a preference, twice as many kids voted for "I Dissent."

I also asked the kids if there was a rule or law that they found unfair or unjust. Not surprisingly, most of their answers involved school, COVID, and rules at home. But they brought up other issues at the national level as well. Here are some verbatim comments: 

School

• More time for lunch at school.
  
  
• I think it's unfair that we don't get to wear PJs to school every day. 
  
  
• We should get an equal amount of summer and school.
  
  
• That you can't wear hats in class.
  
  
• I think in school if you don't raise your hand you shouldn't call on someone if they didn't raise their hand. They don't know the answer. 
  
  
• I think private and public school systems are unfair and should be the same, all kids are same and they have a right to learn on equal levels. When I grow up I will make all the schools for all kids same.
  
  
• I think it's unfair that school starts so early. I think it should start at 10.  

School in COVID times

• I don't think it's fair that we don't get to have breakfast during morning meeting. What if your alarm clock breaks and you don't have time to eat. 
  
  
• I cant eat or have a little snack while I am in class online. Because my brain needs food all the time. EAT when I want as long as I do my work.
  
  
• I don't think it's fair that my little brother is back in school, in person, 5 days a week.
  
  
• In school you can't drink from the fountain.
  
  
• I think it is unfair that I can't meet my teacher and see all of my friends. What I would do to change things is try to make everyone know that the virus is serious and people need to follow the rules better. Then, maybe I could return to school.
  
  
• I think that online schooling is unfair because you cant see your friends and it is really difficult to do everything over a laptop.
  
  

Home Rules

• Bedtimes are early because we have school the next day. I could change it if I had the power of an adult so I will block up the time on my cable box with my TV stand that sliding doors to cover the time.
  
  
• Change bedtimes for kids. It’s unfair because some kids I know stay up till 10 and I can’t,  I go to bed at 8. I would make it so everyone has to go to bed at the same time. I would pick 9 so it’s in the middle.
  
  
• It's unfair that my older sister can stay up later and has to get up earlier.
  
  
• My brother has to go to bed 30 minutes before me.
  
  
• A rule I don't like in my house is that I am not allowed to play with slime in the upstairs living room.
  
  
• I can't choose what I want for dinner every night. My mom likes us to have a variety of foods but sometimes I just want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 
  
  
• I think its unfair that my my little sister does not have to do chores and I do.
  
  
• I think that not playing ball in the house is unfair because I wanna play but my parents say no.
  
  
• I have to do all work before I can play video games.
  
  
• One rule I would change in the house is that we don't have a electronic time limit.
  
  
• I cannot have my IPad 24/7.
  
  
  

National/General issues

• I hate how in the MLB the National League the pitchers have to bat and in the American League they don't.
  
  
• I think not being able to steal bases until the ball crosses the plate is unfair in Little League. I think its unfair because not all runners run at the same speed. 
  
  
• I think that everyone should have free healthcare. I have a disability and now the Supreme Court may change that for people like me.
  
  
• It's unfair that for some things black people are still treated differently than white people. I think more needs to be done for inequality in our world.
  
  
• I think it is not fair that is matters what color skin color we have... I think we should all respected no matter what.
  
  
• I think it is unfair for people to be picked on because of their religion. People who have different religions should be treated equal.
  
  
• I think it is unfair that teens/children under the age of 18 can not vote for the president. Although we may not be 18 that doesn't mean we are not informed enough to vote. Children/teens deserve to vote too because depending on who wins determines part of their future.
  
  
• A rule I do not think is fair is in hotels they do not let pets go in to the hotel, and what I would do to change it is I would say pets have feelings too.
  
  
• All dogs should be able to go into stores, not just service animals.
  
  
• That dogs cant go in playgrounds. I would change that and let dogs go in but only if they have a leash on.
  

• A unfair rule is that you have to wear matching clothes. You should be able to wear whatever you want. 
  
  
• I don't think it fair that at the beach and pools boys don't have to wear tops but girls do. I think it's unfair because it shows the same body parts. I would make boys wear swimming tops. 
  
  
• It is not fair that some people don't have enough foods. I think that is unfair because everyone should have enough food. I would help get money for people's food. 
  
  
• You need to buy things. I think you should trade instead.
  
  

Grade 4 Dewey Detectives

The Dewey Decimal system is a way of sorting nonfiction books. I don't expect my students to memorize specific numbers; that's what the online catalog is for. I do, however, want them to understand how certain topics go together. At least according to how Mr. Dewey thought they did.

Each table of fourth graders got a stack of books from a "hundreds." They had to work together to figure out how the subjects could be classified under one major label. If you are not a fourth grader and think you have cracked the code, put your answers in the comments!

• 500s: planets, electricity, magnets, weather, dinosaurs, bugs, ecosystems, animals
• 700s: movies, art, photography, music, sports, jokes, crafts
• 900s: maps, ancient civilizations, countries, states, wars, explorers

The next week, using what they knew about the categories, each group had to assign a stack of topic cards to the correct "hundreds." The students in both classes did a great job; even if they had something in the wrong place (like dinosaurs in the 900s), they were able to explain their reasoning (dinosaurs lived a long time ago, in ancient history). I love that they were using their brains!

Retelling Cinderella

In 4th grade, we are reviewing the difference between retelling and summarizing a story. Retelling has lots more details and may contain dialogue. The kids took turns adding sentences to the Cinderella stories below:

Ms. Moore's favorite retelling is "Ever After," starring Drew Barrymore.
Photo from thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com.

Retelling - Room 15

A long time ago, there was a princess named Mozzarella. (NOTE: I had to clarify at this point that we were retelling the traditional story v. making up a completely new version.)  She was being treated badly because her father died. She had a stepmother who was a grumpy witch, and her stepsisters treated her like a maid. One day, there was a fairy nana who told her to go to this really crazy dance that invitations had came for. But the very mean stepmother wouldn't let her go. But her stepsisters were allowed to go.

While M. was doing her chores, the mice and the birds made her this really beautiful dress. Then when she came downstairs with a beautiful dress, the stepmother and stepsisters tore it apart because they were jealous of it.

After that, she ran back up to the attic to do some chores. But she was tearing up. So then the magical fairy nana arrived again and made her a really really pretty orange dress to go with her name. Then she sent her to the ball in a big meatball. When they got there, the prince saw M. and asked her to dance.

When it became midnight, all of a sudden, she had to run out, and her orange slipper came off. The fairy nana's magic powers would only last until then.

When the slipper came off, the prince took it and wanted to find its true owner, so he went searching in the village. He met all these wonderful girls, but none of them fit the magic slipper. So then he came to a big old dusty house and went inside.

The stepsisters were there, along with the stepmother, looking really excited to see him. He tried each person, but it didn't fit. Then M. came down and tried it on, and it fit. Then M and the prince got married and lived happily ever after.

Retelling - Room 14

Once upon a time there was a girl named Ella. She had very slim toes. Her stepsisters and her stepmother were bullying her and making her do all the chores and not helping. The three of them started to turn into real brats. They were fighting and giving each other bloody noses and kicking each other in the face.

They called Ella "Cinderella" instead of her real name because she cleaned the fireplace and always got cinders all over her.

They all wanted to go to a dance. When the sisters ripped her dress, C. went outside and cried. Then her fairy godmother came and gave her a pumpkin carriage and a beautiful dress with glass slippers. All the magic wore off at midnight

As C. got to the palace, she saw the prince out back having a war with one of his servants. When she went to the dance, she found a man who she thought was just a regular pedestrian, but realized that he was the prince.                                                                                                                                            
Time was up! She lost a shoe and ran away. The prince ran after her but didn't find her. Then he had every girl try on the shoe. 

He searched around and around the land. Finally, at the stepmother's house, the stepsisters cut off their feet to fit into the shoe and marry the prince.  So C. had to see if the shoe would fit her. It fit her! Then C. and the prince lived happily ever after. 

Summarizing

After we retold Cinderella in multiple paragraphs, it was time to summarize it in a couple of sentences. The method I taught the 4th graders is Somebody Wanted But So Then. Here are some of the summaries they came up with: 

Mozzarella
Wanted her slipper back
But the prince had it.
So he went looking for the owner.
Then he found her.

The stepmother and stepsisters
Wanted to be rich.
But the prince would only marry whoever fit the shoe.
So they cut off parts of their feet.
Then they still didn't fit.

Cinderella
Wanted to go to a dance,
But her mean stepmother and stepsisters kept stopping her.
So she went outside crying.
Then her fairy godmother gave her a magical dress and shoes. 

The fairy godmother
Wanted to give Cinderella a pumpkin carriage to get to the ball,
But the magic would only last until midnight. 
So she gave C. a warning.
Then C. went to the ball with her magical items.

In Other Words ... with Grade 4

Fourth graders are practicing their paraphrasing skills. First we worked together to come up with synonyms and ways to recast a sentence.

ORIGINAL: The automobile that went by very quickly was maroon. It went through a big puddle and splashed us.

NEW: The maroon car was zipping by at high speed and went through a puddle and splashed us.

ORIGINAL: The educator removed the unruly student from the learning environment because of the sounds he was making

NEW: The disruptive student was kicked out by the teacher for making a lot of noise.

ORIGINAL: In the metropolis, the recreation area was dilapidated. Youngsters received injuries when they attempted to utilize the equipment.

NEW: The children were harmed in the city playground that was very old; they got hurt trying to use the equipment.

Then they worked on an individual assignment, putting the following sentences into their own words:

During my earlier years, I experienced much conflict with my male and female siblings who were born before me. Now that we are more mature, we have overcome some of our differences and have the ability to interact pleasantly.

Here are some of the new sentences the students came up with:

When I was younger, I argued with my brother and sister, but now that we are older, we get along better and talk to each other nicely. - S.S.

When I was a kid, my older brother and sister [and I], we fought, but now we are older, we don't fight anymore. - J.W.

When I was young, my brothers and sisters fought me a lot. We are now more polite and do not fight as much. - C.W.

When I was little, me and my siblings always argued with each other in a mean way. Now that we are older, we stopped arguing and we can talk calmly together. - S.R. 

When I was young, I fought with my siblings that are older than me. We behave better now, so we don't fight much anymore and are nicer to each other. - O.C.

When I was a child, I got into lots of fights with my older brother and sister. Now we are older and we enjoy being around each other. - G.F.

When I was little, my brother and sisters annoyed me. We are older, so we get along. - P.K.

When I was younger, I had a bad time with my older brother and sister. Now that we are older, we get along nicely. - L.A.

When I was younger I argued with my older brothers and sisters. Now we are older, we have stopped arguing and we have fun. - A.J.

Password Protection with Grade 4

We're discussing "Rings of Responsibility" in Grade 4: ways to be responsible to yourself, to your friends and family, and to the community (both in person and online). Common Sense Media has a great lesson on building strong passwords, which connects to digital citizenship at the self level.

The number one rule is ... don't share your passwords with anyone but the grownups you live with!

After that, try and make sure nobody can guess said passwords. We talked about avoiding dictionary words, substituting symbols for letters, using phone keypad numbers instead of letters ... one student suggested using Morse code, and another converting letters to binary code!

Using a Common Sense handout, the kids came up with "weak" and "strong" passwords for famous people. The next week, the students worked in groups to devise replacements for some of the weak passwords. For example:

Person: Isaac Newton
Weak password: gravity
Ideas for stronger passwords:

• gr@v!ty4411
• @55ytivarg!
• @plscilw 

Person: Michael Jackson

Weak password: moonwalk
Ideas for stronger passwords:

• w00n52wA!k
• m0nw1!k1368
• mjma1b2c3

Person: Ms. Moore
Weak password: ollibrary
Ideas for stronger passwords:

• 0!lidr@ry
• b00ks$shelf60
• oak@libry.!
• 0!!LbeRry!

How strong are YOUR passwords? 

Grade 4 Dewey Detectives

The Dewey Decimal system is a way of sorting nonfiction books. I don't expect my students to memorize specific numbers; that's what the online catalog is for. I do, however, want them to understand how certain topics go together. At least according to how Mr. Dewey thought they did.

Each table of fourth graders got a stack of books from a "hundreds." They had to work together to figure out how the subjects could be classified under one major label. If you are not a fourth grader and think you have cracked the code, put your answers in the comments!

• 500s: planets, electricity, magnets, weather, dinosaurs, bugs, ecosystems, animals
• 700s: movies, art, photography, music, sports, jokes, crafts
• 900s: maps, ancient civilizations, countries, states, wars, explorers

Here are Grade 4 students working to identify their 100s' categories:

The next week, using what they knew about the categories, each group had to assign a stack of topic cards to the correct "hundreds." The students in both classes did a great job; even if they had something in the wrong place (like dinosaurs in the 900s), they were able to explain their reasoning (dinosaurs lived a long time ago, in ancient history). I love that they were using their brains!

Coding with Cups

It's Computer Science Education Week! We're doing many of the unplugged activities at code.org to learn some programming basics, including writing algorithms and debugging problems. I took pictures of several classes at work doing the My Robotic Friends activity.

Room 12

Room 13

Room 14

Room 15