stories.

My students spent the last few weeks working on animal stories. We started with an extended sentence graphic organizer that I learned about at the CCIRA conference in February. Then we used that as the main idea for our stories.

They wrote and wrote and wrote... we edited (so thankful for the ELL para that I have in my room during that time and for a very faithful community helper that came twice a week during our writing time. I could not have done this without them!) then they recopied on special paper... and illustrated them. With the exception of a couple super un-motivated students, most of my kids had 3-4 pages. (One had 14!) I was so impressed with their creativity! "The Upset Penguin" had to be my favorite story. This kid has been like no other student I've had before. He has given me more than a few gray hairs this year. But when he chooses to... he can do some really great work...

The Upset Penguin

One cold winter day a white and black penguin named Gonzalez was swimming with his friends Joey, Ms. Lupita and Medina deep in the Artic Ocean. The four friends were looking for food. Gonzalez came up and saw his upset wife standing beside the ice sofa with her fins crossed. She wanted to go to a party and she was very late. The wife said in a mad voice "Hurry up. It's your turn to babysit. I am late for my party."


Some of the other titles...

The Crying Penguin
Monkeys Playing at the Park
The Sneaky Monkey
The Tired Prairie Dog
The Monkey Who Wanted a Friend
The Bad Mean Lion
The Dinosaurs Who Became Friends
The Zebras Who Got Married
The Mad Snake

and my favorite... The Tarantulas vs. the Spider Monkeys