Mrs. Gemma's Class' Holiday Fortunately/Unfortunately Story

I was hanging ornaments.

Unfortunately, I was home alone!!!

Fortunately, I had a German Shepherd there to keep me company. 

Unfortunately, he bit all the ornaments.

Fortunately, we had extras in the attic.

Unfortunately, last year some of them broke because of my siblings. 

Fortunately, I was very rich and had servants to clean them up. 

Unfortunately, the servants were very clumsy and dropped all of my other rich ornaments.

Fortunately, the ornaments were magic and flew back together and back to their places on the tree.

Unfortunately, robbers came in the house and stole the tree and the ornaments. 

Fortunately, I called the police, and they got there as fast as they could.

Unfortunately, they actually lived in Tallahassee, FL, and I was all the way in Washington, DC.

Fortunately, they finally got to DC.

Unfortunately, they skipped my house and went to visit the president. 

Fortunately, they got back on track and came to my house.

Unfortunately, President Washington was having a talk with President Lincoln and President Theodore Roosevelt about creating a mean Grinch to steal Christmas.

Fortunately, they weren't that smart.

Unfortunately, they were still able to turn all the cops into Grinches.

Fortunately, they were happy Grinches.

Unfortunately, they still wanted to steal Christmas.

Fortunately, I invented a machine to make all the Grinches nice.

Unfortunately, the machine didn't work because there were too many Grinches.

Fortunately, President Lincoln decided that he was not going to help them any more.

Unfortunately, President Lincoln got zapped with the Grinch machine.

Fortunately, Santa Claus came and said they were going to be on the naughty list.

Unfortunately, President Washington zapped Santa Claus.

Fortunately, it was snowing and the snow came through the roof, and they all got cold and turned into icicles.

Unfortunately, I also turned into an icicle.

Fortunately, Santa Claus was secretly in training and he had a six pack and was able to break out.

Unfortunately, when he did that, he was so strong that all the Grinches got out too.

Fortunately, the Subvengers came.

Unfortunately, the Grinches and Presidents ate the Subvengers,

Fortunately, the Subvengers came back out of the Grinches and Presidents and ate them.

Happy holidays!

Fortunately/Unfortunately with Grade 3

Thanks to https://ideafm.org/ for the idea and the image.

We read Fortunately by Remy Charlip, a story that follows Ned through a series of problems and resolutions, and talked about plot structure.

Then we wrote our own version as a class ... the kids much preferred coming up with the "unfortunately" parts!

Ms. Gemma's Class

Story 1:

I was going swimming.

Unfortunately, I went to the deep end and I can’t swim.

Fortunately, there was a lifeguard there to save me.

Unfortunately, the lifeguard couldn’t see me.

Fortunately, there were stairs beside me.

Unfortunately, I fell down the stairs.

Fortunately, there were life vests.

Unfortunately, there were sharks that had come through the drain, as well as piranhas.

Fortunately, they were nice.

Unfortunately, a jellyfish came through the drain and zapped me.

Fortunately, a doctor was swimming in the pool too.

Unfortunately, he was evil.

Fortunately, the sharks ate the evil doctor.

Unfortunately, the doctor gave the sharks a shot.

F, the lifeguard finally saw me and I was rescued.

Story 2:

There was an evil octopus in the sea that sucked the smart out of people.

Unfortunately, the octopus sucked the smart out of me.

Fortunately, I was so smart that the octopus couldn’t suck ALL of my smartness out of me.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone, and he had poisonous piranhas and poisonous sharks that can also suck out brains. 

Fortunately, they couldn’t breathe on land, and I escaped.

Unfortunately, there were mountain lions chasing me.

Fortunately, the lions were distracted by Subway subs.

Unfortunately, the octopus was actually a scientist that didn’t like humans because they killed his brother, and he came on land and suffocated me.

Fortunately, my older brother was there sneaking up on me.

Unfortunately, he fell into the water and the evil scientist tried to suck out his brain. 

Fortunately, he saved himself and Supergirl and Superman attacked the octopus with their laser eyes, and the Subway subs turned into the Avengers … actually the Subvengers.

Story 3:

Once there was a scientist in secret lab.

Unfortunately, the scientist caught me and planned to turn me into a hairless cat.

Fortunately, he was allergic to cats, even the hairless ones.

Unfortunately, he decided to turn me into a dog.

Fortunately, he was scared of dogs.

Unfortunately, when I turned into a dog, I transformed into a Grinch and wanted to steal Christmas.

Fortunately, I turned into a good Grinch.

Unfortunately, he wanted to turn my brother into a lifeless lizard.

Fortunately, the Subvengers were there, ready to take on everything. 

Mrs. DeSimone's Class

Ned finally made it to the surprise party.

Unfortunately, all the things that chased him were at the party, including sharks and tigers and a pitchfork.

Fortunately, there was a superhero there as well.

Unfortunately, she was an evil supervillain.

Fortunately, everything that chased him decided to fight the supervillain.

Unfortunately, a big herd of elephants ran into the room, being driven by an evil scientist.

Fortunately, the scientist had no chemicals on him.

Unfortunately, he did have a bomb.

Fortunately, the bomb went into the water and blew up the boats instead of the people.

Unfortunately, it rolled back to the party and blew up.

Fortunately, a ladder also flew out of it onto the roof, and Ned was able to escape.

Unfortunately, the evil scientist came back to eat his brain.

Fortunately, Ned was right outside of his best friend’s house.

Unfortunately, before the scientist lost his chemicals, his best friend had had his brain sucked out, and was not smart enough to let Ned inside.

Fortunately, he found the back door open and let himself in. 

Unfortunately, his friend was like “What the heck?” and fell to the ground because he was so scared.

Fortunately, he recovered and they were safe. 

Mock Caldecott Results

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." In the spring, first- and second-graders listened to about a dozen picture books that were published in 2019. Our voting process was interrupted by COVID, but we finally had a chance to select a winner from the list of four finalists this fall.

The winner: Who Wet My Pants?, illustrated by Zachariah O'Hora and written by Bob Shea.  

Here are some reasons why the kids chose it:

• It made me laugh and it was funny
• Because I liked how he talked
• He wanted to find out who wet his pants ... and it was him
• It was like a comic with not that many words on each page.
• He kept asking WHO WET MY PANTS!!!
• It's funny when he says "These pants are broken."
• Because it is hilarious
• He was kind and he was curious and even if one of his friends did it, he would still forgive them.

Full voting results: