Happy Valentine's Day!

It was a very busy day today!  I won't be able to describe all of today's classes, however, here are some highlights!

The kids passed out their Valentines early in the day.  After all of the cards and goodies were deposited into the proper bags, the class presented their portraits and name poems.  The kids drew names a while ago, and now they were able to present their secret student with their gift!  I love this activity.  Having a time set aside for each child to feel special and loved is just precious!

In writing class, we reviewed the key elements of narrative writing.  Ms. Bev had taught the class all about sequencing, characters, setting, and being descriptive.  They learned how to capture their reader's attention.  They have learned how to create a complete paragraph.  We touched base on all of these things.  Then, I explained that we would be doing one more narrative writing assignment.  This time, instead of using a formula or outline to help us to organize our thoughts, we are going to use a comic strip approach!  Comic strips are just like story boards.  They give us little snapshots of a story.  I gave each student a copy of graphic organizer for plot structure.  It shows the typical development of a plot.  First it is introduced.  Then, the action builds.  The plot reaches a climax.  Then, the action falls until the final resolution.  They are going to use this guide to help them with the sequencing of their story.

Today, they began brainstorming a list of events in the story that they have chosen to tell.  They took the events and started the process of jotting them down on the Comic Strip Narrative Planning Sheet.  The 6 cells of their comic strip will correspond with the Title, Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution.  This is just a rough outline of their story!  They will be working at home to create a comic using the online Comic Creator.  Then, next week, we will begin taking this comic strip and using it to create our narrative writing assignment!

Mr. Tom Bunnell came to visit our agriculture class!  He shared with us his presentation on bees and beekeeping.  The social structure and life cycle of honey bees are so complicated... and I needed someone who really knows to fully describe them!  The class learned about the many different jobs that bees have during their lives: mortuary bees, water carriers, fanning bees, queen attendants, foraging bees, and more!