Fortunately / Unfortunately with Room 4

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We read Fortunately by Remy Charlip, a story that follows Ned through a series of plot complications and resolutions.

Then the kids worked on their own versions. Here are some pictures of them at work, as well as some of their stories. I'm hoping to start a whole book of these that we can have in the library for kids to check out.

A Story by Emmy, Colin, Emma, Maya, and Sean

One day, a fairy ran into a dragon.

Fortunately, the dragon was nice.

Unfortunately, the dragon breathed fire.

Fortunately, the fairy was fireproof.

Unfortunately, she was allergic to dragon scales.

Fortunately, she got away.

Unfortunately, there was a tiger in the cave she ran into.

Fortunately, she had pixie dust and put it on the tiger. He went out and busted through the ceiling and got caught on a tree.

THE END

Fortunate and Unfortunate with a Monkey
By Jace and Jayden

One day, a monkey's mom said "Go play out with your friends."

Fortunately, he can walk to the end of the city.

Unfortunately, he got hit with a bat.

Fortunately, ran away up a hill.

Unfortunately, the hill was a dragon that sprayed hot sauce bombs.

Fortunately, he ran fast.

Unfortunately, the dragon sniped him with one of his bombs.

Fortunately, he jumped in a lake.

Unfortunately, there were alligators in the lake.

Fortunately, he ran out again.

THE END

Telling Fibs in Room 17

We read a biography of Fibonacci (B Fib), a mathematician who lived during the 1100s. He developed the Fibonacci sequence, in which 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. Here are some of the students' examples ... feel free to write one of your own in the comments!


I
like
my class.
It is fun.
I love my cool friends.
The fun, it changes every day.
- C.B.

Ding
Dong!
Someone's
at the door.
I should go get it.
Oh my gosh, it is Dove Cameron!

Dog.
Cute.
Awesome.
Man's best friend.
Very playful pet.
A great friend to play with and cool.

I'm
good
at sports
like football.
I'm a running back.
Touchdowns mean a celebration dance.

Boing.
Boing.
Splashes.
Someone's in
the pool; they need a
safety vest for emergency.
- D.K.

Bugs.
White.
Furry.
Fluffy pet.
Best bunny ever.
Best friend as a bunny so cool.

I
love
to play
basketball.
It's so fun to play.
I like to play it with my dad.
- F.P.

Ding.
Ding.
School's out.
Happy summer!
I'll play in the pool.
Let's have a pool party Friday.
- D.K.

Dogs'
barks
are so
loud loud loud.
But I like their
furriness and their funniness.
- N. H.

Hi.
I
like to
be silly
at home with my friend.
We are funny and silly, yeah.
- G.A.

Bang.
Bang.
Shooting
practice at
the police station.
Boom. Boom. There it goes again. Bam.
- D.K.

I
like
to play
with my friends
like Francesca and
Brooke. We play very awesome games.

I
love
football.
Fun fun fun.
It is very fun.
I like scoring for my teammates.

Telling Fibs in Room 18

We read a biography of Fibonacci (B Fib), a mathematician who lived during the 1100s. He developed the Fibonacci sequence, in which 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. Here are some of the students' examples ... feel free to write one of your own in the comments!


Split.
Flip.
Backbend.
Gymnastics.
I am flexible.
Roundoff, backbend, front flip, leg lift.
- S.D.

Hoot.
Hoot.
Owl
feeding time.
Come over to eat.
The owls fly high in the sky.
- S.I.

I'll
try
to be
the best one
on my soccer team
I'll try my best to reach my goal.
- J.K.

Bat.
Catch.
Dugout.
We have fun.
I love softball.
Ball, bat, glove, helmet, mask, bat bag.
- B. A.

Crash!
Boom!
Fire!
Got to go!
Don't want to get burned!
I need to warn everyone now!
- E.D.

Play.
Jump.
Dancing.
Gymnastics.
Practice for softball.
I do flips on the trampoline.
- S.P.

Book.
Look.
Reading.
Like the book.
I paid for the book.
I love this book, I want it bad.
- J.S.

I
like
sewing.
It is fun.
I also like to
color and draw; it is such fun.

Scream.
Run.
Recess.
This is fun.
I love to play this.
Have fun and jump 'til you fall down.

What Ms. Moore Read Over Vacation

Sadly, I was sick all vacation; I spent a couple of days in bed, and the rest mostly on the couch. But at least I got a lot of reading done! Here are some new books I think students would enjoy. They're available at the public library. All book covers and plot summaries are from Goodreads:

Picture books

Before spring comes, the trees are dark sticks, the grass is brown, and the ground is covered in snow. But if you wait, leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, the grass turns green, and the mounds of snow shrink and shrink. Spring brings baby birds, sprouting seeds, rain and mud, and puddles. You can feel it and smell it and hear it—and you can read it!

Bear didn't mean to break a little girl's kite, but she's upset anyway--upset enough to shout "HORRIBLE BEAR!" Bear is indignant. He doesn't think he's horrible! Then Bear gets a trulyHorrible Bear idea. What will he do next? As Bear prepares to live up to his formerly undeserved reputation, the girl makes a mistake of her own, and realizes that maybe--just maybe--Bear isn't as horrible as she had thought. 

Younger grades

Waylon has lots of ideas for making life more awesome through science, like teleportation, human gills, and attracting cupcakes by controlling gravity. But it's impossible for him to concentrate on his inventions when he's experiencing his own personal Big Bang. 

Arlo Brody is dividing the fourth grade boys into two groups. Waylon would rather be friends with everyone. Well, everyone except the scary new kid, Baxter Boylen. (NOTE FROM MS. MOORE: Clementine is Waylon's classmate.)

Middle grades

In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel THE CROSSOVER(which Ms. Moore LOVED), soccer, family, love, and friendship, take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams. Helping him along are his best friend and sometimes teammate Coby, and The Mac, a rapping librarian who gives Nick inspiring books to read. An electric and heartfelt novel-in-verse.

It's 1969, and the Apollo 11 mission is getting ready to go to the moon. But for half-black, half-Japanese Mimi, moving to a predominantly white Vermont town is enough to make her feel alien. Suddenly, Mimi's appearance is all anyone notices. She struggles to fit in with her classmates, even as she fights for her right to stand out by entering science competitions and joining Shop Class instead of Home Ec. And even though teachers and neighbors balk at her mixed-race family and her refusals to conform, Mimi’s dreams of becoming an astronaut never fade—no matter how many times she’s told no. (NOTE FROM MS. MOORE: This is on the new RICBA list. If you liked Inside Out and Back Again, you will love this.) 

Room 14 Collective Nouns

Here is Room 14 at work on their collective noun lesson:

This group got the black shirt memo.

A tweet of baby birds

Room 15 Collective Nouns

Fourth-graders learned about collective nouns, which describe groups of people, places, or things. Some are general - a class of students or a team of players. But others can be quirky and actually work like adjectives - a splash of mermaids or a crash of rhinos. They might describe a noun's appearance, characteristics, habitat, actions, or sound.

For our first lesson, the students paired up and read through books of collective nouns (you'd be surprised how many there are), choosing a couple to explain. For example, "a tower of giraffes is describing the tallness of them," and "a smack of jellyfish is because they flop around in the water."

During the second lesson, they came up with collective nouns to describe a group of themselves. The words they chose were definitely accurate ... when I read some of them out loud, the kids guessed IMMEDIATELY which classmates had used them. 

They also came up with some new collective nouns for celebrities:

• a slam dunk of Michael Jacksons
• a split of Gabby Douglases
• a bend of Beckhams
• a guitar of Taylor Swifts
• a meat dress of Lady Gagas

What new fun collective nouns can YOU think of?


Common Core standard addressed: L.4.5. – Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

PM K Loves Pete the Cat!

Some days you just really need Pete the Cat to come in and remind you, "It's all good." We read three Pete the Cat books in kindergarten - one about his rocking school shoes, one about his white shoes, and one about his four groovy buttons. Readalong video below; pictures of the kids and their Pete the Cat dot-to-dots and coloring after that.