Thursday, May 24, 2018

Blogging Promotes Quality Writing!

Guest post from one of my former students, Nolan. He is a fabulous fourth grader who serves as a blogging mentor for my third graders. Enjoy his informational text and narrative! 

Photo by Nolan's mom 


This is a photo of my brother, Troy, and I playing in the snow in Wisconsin in December. My family goes to Wisconsin almost every summer to see my grandma. We sometimes go in winter, too, as you see in this scenario. My grandma is famous in Mrs. Yollis' class. She has been a great virtual volunteer for all bloggers, and she even has visited the classroom!

It snowed a good amount in Sheboygan (the city where my grandma lives) when we were on this trip. But where my great-grandma lives, in Door County, there was maybe almost two times the amount of snow.

You can see all the snow in this photo. You realize that we are bundled up, so you can tell that it is freezing. But what you don't notice is that the temperature is 3 degrees! The wind chill temperature range was -8 to -25 degrees! Wind chill is how the cold feels to humans on their skin in certain conditions. Humans have almost like a warmth shield on our skin that protects us from the cold. When a cold wind blows, that protection goes away and the temperature feels even colder.

It got VERY cold at some points in time on this trip, but the moment in this photo was probably the second coldest moment that we faced in Wisconsin. It got to -9 degrees when my family stayed overnight on Christmas day at a hotel called Bridgeport. Thank goodness we were inside!
I'm surprised my brother and I didn't get hypothermia, or, even worse, frostbite!

Eventually, my brother and I were getting cold and tired, so we went back inside.

Here is a narrative description about Troy and I playing outside before we came inside:

Hike! My brother and I were playing football in my great-grandma's backyard. I'm the one in the neon snow pants. I've got a good tackle going on, right? I think my best play was when I faked left, then ran right, and my brother came for me when I was faking right. He missed me, and couldn't catch up to me at that point. TOUCHDOWN!
I jumped into a pile of snow that had just a little more snow than the rest of the yard. I got up, and tossed the rubbery ball to Troy. He looked left, then right, thinking of a play. Then he shouted: "Blue forty-two! Ready! Hike!"
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! He ran full speed to the left of me, keeping distance by running away from me.
Thump! I grabbed his torso and brought him down.
"Ugh! You got me!" he said. (He is pretty hard to bring down. I guess I got lucky? No, I think it was just my good skills).




Have you ever been in very cold weather like this?

How are mentors helpful? Have you ever mentored anyone?

Leave a comment so I can all hear about what you have to say!

This Monday is Memorial Day!

Guest post from Mallory, Mrs. Yollis' former student

This Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day in the United States. 
It is a national holiday!

LAST YEAR, I celebrated Memorial Day with my mom and my Girl Scout troop in a special way.  We went to the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood to place American flags on the headstones of soldiers who have served our country in the military.   There were so many other troops to help, including Daisies, Brownies, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Eagle Scouts.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

There was very specific way to place the flags.  They had to be put 1 foot away from the headstone and 2 inches into the ground.  Then we were told to stand and have a moment of silence to recognize and honor the soldier for their dedication to our country.

Photo by Mallory's Mom

I was very interested to read each soldier's headstone.  Some fought in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War.  There were many soldiers who even fought in more than one war.

This memorable experience inspired me to come home and learn more about Memorial Day.  I found out many interesting facts on Wikipedia. 

Memorial Day Facts:
* Memorial Day used to be called "Decoration Day" during the Civil War.
* It wasn't until after World War II that the name changed to Memorial Day.
* In 1967, it was declared a national holiday.
* There are 88,000 graves in the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Photo by Mallory's Mom
How do you celebrate Memorial Day where you live?

Do you have anyone in your family who has served in the military?

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

*Badger Claws* Clauses

A tip of the hat to retired teacher, Mrs. Ranney for this repost!



Mrs. Yollis' students have been reading about a Chumash boy named Badger Claws. It's been a great way to learn about the Chumash culture! We've also started learning how to improve our writing using dependent clauses




What are dependent clauses?


Dependent clauses start with special words:
After, Before, Since, While, When, If, During.


A dependent clause ends with a comma and cannot stand alone as a sentence. It must be followed by an independent clause, which is a sentence that can stand alone!


Here are some excellent examples of sentences with dependent clauses from our story about Badger Claws. 



1. If mischievous Badger Claws had not gone into the hot sweathouse, he would not have been caught by the Shaman!



2. After the Shaman left the brave Badger Claws in the high mountains, Badger Claws took a nap.



3. If Badger Claws shoots the fluffy, furry rabbit, he will have to skin it, clean it, and cook it before he eats it.



4. Since Badger Claws couldn't shoot a furry rabbit, he practiced shooting down the bumpy trail.



5. After Badger Claws shot a furry, little rabbit, he needed to skin the rabbit's soft fur.



6. When Badger Claws woke up in the freezing night,
he saw two monstrous "grizzly bears!"


7. Since brave Badger Claws found out the tracks were littleraccoon tracks, he was laughing like crazy!


8. Before Aged One got home, he devoured several acorn cakes and then lied about it. 

9. During the first two moons, Badger Claws was able to construct an ap, make acorn cakes, and adopt an orphaned raccoon. 


10. While Badger Claws slept, the little raccoon escaped and ate several acorn cakes.  





How did you like our dependent clauses?


If you have a sentence with a dependent clause that you'd like to share, we'd love to read it! (Hey, that was a dependent clause sentence!)

Maybe you can leave a sentence with a dependent clause about your biography subject! 

Again, dependent clauses start with special words: After, Before, Since, While, When, If, During.