White to Brown :: (Summer Writing)

My former third graders are choosing to write summer vacation stories in their Google Drives! They share the Google Doc with me and leave a Google Doc comment asking to be published. I love having a connected learning community! Here is a great story written by Shayna highlighting adverbs! 

White to Brown

By Shayna

One day, a white pug named Eddy Wrinkleface walked happily down the Muddy Hill St. He tried as much as he could to avoid mud puddles. Eddy just got a bath, and he didn’t want to get another when he got home.  To Eddy, taking a bath was like eating jelly beans that were flavored like barf. He hated them more then being fed spoiled food. It was almost 9:00 and Eddy just wanted to get home and eat his dinner. 

Suddenly a big dark shadowy figure moved towards him. As scared as a baby pup, he tumbled into a big pile of mud. Then two big lights came on the enormous figure, blinding poor little Eddy. Then the figure hit Eddy making him very dizzy. Weakly, dirty Eddy tried to stand up. But he was hopeless. He flopped down on the floor again. Eddy barked as loud as he could, trying to yell for help, “Help! Help!” But his voice was as wimpy as a noodle. Then he heard a siren coming towards him quickly. To the rescue, came the animal control truck. They picked up Eddy carefully and put him in the truck.

But then, one eye came open, and then another. Eddy woke up finding him in a vet’s office. Still covered in brown mud, Eddy barked. Hooray! His voice was back. He stared over at the big desk in the room next to him. He saw a lady with a big phone.

The lady said, “Mr. Wrinkleface, is this you. We would like to tell you that your poor dog is in the recovery station after a delivery truck hit him. He was put under anesthesia and should wake up soon. If you can come get him tomorrow, that would be great.” Then the lady hung up the phone. This time, Eddy actually wanted a bath. The mud was spreading all over him. After two minutes, he was totally brown. From the tip of his nose, to the end of his tail was a full coat of brown mud. Eddy soon fell back asleep.

The next morning, the bell rang loudly at the veterinarian's office. It was Eddy’s family there to pick him up and take him home. Eddy was tired and dirty. He couldn’t wait to get home. Eddy jumped up excitedly and barked. The vet took the family to the room Eddy was in.

“Here he is. As good as new!” The vet said pointing at Eddy.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but this isn’t our dog.” explained Mr. Wrickleface. Our dog was silky white, not brown.”

“Oh dear. My mistake. Let’s look at room four.” Said the lady. Then they all walked away.

Eddy sat down with a frown on his face. What was he going to do? He got up and ran out the door of the pet care building and slowly walked off into the middle of nowhere. With no clue of where to go, Eddy stumbled off in disappointment.

Eddy decided to write a letter to his family and leave it at the front door of his old house.

_______________________________

Dear Family,

I see you no longer have interest in me. I could tell by the way walked away from me. I am off to find a family that wants me. But don’t worry. I will surely never come back.

Yours Truly,

Eddy

_______________________________

Eddy left the note at the front door and hurried off. Eddy had no luck of finding an owner. He had to sleep in the dumpster too.

The next day, Mr. Wrinkleface stepped outside to pick up the morning paper. To his surprise, he found a note. It read:

fjsghpa rhf apijhg pairhfpasrihg pajht pariuthp9q ytiaerhg iuhasrigha srgj as hkgjajgaos hfoasjhgfiasjgfiasjjhf  aosjfhdjfnakjfh asjhfkljs dhfkjs dhgk ljsdhjhsg kjjfk kadhf djh

ejfhk jjdhglk sj

rkfkjs (Eddy never new how to spell)

But then, Mr. Wrinkleface realized something. “That’s Eddy’s signature. Everybody get out here! Eddy left a note! We have to find him.”

The family went out looking for Eddy, but they didn’t find one pawprint.

Farther into town, poor Eddy found himself walking alone in an empty village. A car drove by and over a big puddle of rainwater, splashing all over Eddy. The mud disappeared. He was clean at last. Then he turned around and saw his family. They all ran towards Eddy and gave him the biggest hug ever given to a dog. Then they took Eddy home and lived happily ever after.

What do you think of Shayna's story?

What a great way to showcase adverbs!

Step-Up to Commenting!

Guest Post by Samantha, Aashi, and Shayna



In class, we learned how to write a Step-Up to Writing Paragraph. A Step-Up to Writing Paragraph is structured and uses color. Here is a sample paragraph Mrs. Yollis wrote about her Uncle Don.

Here is a chart of the colors and what they represent:

Recently, Mrs. Yollis and students have started leaving comments using this method. Here is Mrs. Yollis' comment to Samantha about the Moorish Idol fish. Samantha asked Mrs. Yollis to name her favorite Hawaiian island. Mrs. Yollis  responded using the Step-Up to Writing format. That comment is what started the fad.

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Mrs. Yollis' fish comment to Samantha:


Out of all the islands I have visited, I like Maui the best. First of all, I love the snorkeling on Maui. In my opinion, the reefs of Maui are the most interesting. One bay, to the north, is so wide and full of colorful fish, I could spend the entire day swimming with my humu friends and the plethora of butterfly fish that live there. Another reason I love Maui is the condo we stayed in. The building is right on the beach and the front windows of the living room and bedroom go floor to ceiling. When I go to bed at night, I am lulled to sleep by the sounds of the waves. Finally, I love the restaurants on the Valley Isle. One of our favorite eating establishments is in Lahaina. We eat at our special place a few times and love to watch the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. The restaurant has live music, so I get to enjoy some local music along with a delicious meal. As you can see, Maui holds a special place in my heart and is my favorite Hawaiian island.

Did you notice anything special about the structure of my paragraph?

Mahalo!

Mrs. Y♥llis







Samantha's comment back to Mrs. Yollis:

I thought that your comment was amazing for many reasons. First, I discovered that you used high level words such as plethora and establishments. I learned that plethora means an excessive quantity or a lot. Using higher level vocabulary raises everyone's reading level.  Next, I noticed that you used adjectives such as wide, colorful, local and delicious. It makes the paragraph more interesting. Sometime I use a thesaurus to help me find synonyms for some dull words.   Last, I noticed that you used transition words, such as first of all, another reason, and finally.  Transitions help others put the main ideas and details in order. That makes the paragraph easier to understand. In conclusion, it was interesting learning about Maui.  

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 A couple of dogs and a baby felt bad for poor Clem of Clem's Calamity, so they left a nice Step-Up to Writing Paragraph for punctured pooch. Here is a comment from Rocky, Heather's dog (Heather) and Aarna, Aashi's two year old baby sister (Aashi). Both of them used the Step-Up to Writing format.

Photo by Mr. Shareski

Aarna (Aashi)'s comment for Clem:


Here's a Step-up-to-Writing paragraph just for you. I'm telling you, get packing! Just in case this quill-ful creature doesn't listen to us....

Out of all the frightening adventures I've been on, this is going to be the toughest mission. Firstly, you should get as much help as possible. This prickly animal might want those quills to hurt all of us. Please get some things like: first aid kits, lunchboxes, camping tents, food, etc. Next, make sure you practice some easy ninja moves. If the thorny ball tries to get even one of his quills on you, you should know how to defend yourself. Practice doing some backwards somersaults on a rough but comfortable flooring, and make the best blocking position with your paws as you somersault. You need to do this so that the quills won't be able to touch your lovely body. Finally, make sure you wear some strong and firm clothing. Think about how a ninja would look, and you should wear something similar. You should: wear a medium sized jacket that you can pull on. Tighten the laces on the hood and wear tight pants and two pairs of socks. In conclusion, I think that being ready to befriend a porcupine truly requires readiness.



 Rocky (Heather's) comment for Clem:

Oh no! That must have felt horrible! 
I have never met a porcupine before, but I think that they are cute and are nice to sniff. Even so, I have some safety tips for you in a Step-up-to-Writing paragraph:

Out of all of the accidents I have seen in my life, this is the most painful. First, if you see that mean rodent ever again, ignore him and run away. Don't even try to say hello or sniff him if you can. If you are on a walk with your humans, they are probably going to protect you. Second, you should have your humans to pluck out those quills or else that is going to hurt! Some even look deeper than some other quills. I don't think those quills are very comfortable in your muzzle. Finally, take me on any great voyages that you are planning to do. If you meet one of those prickly guys again, I will say hello to him and sniff him for you. If he loosens his muscles to shoot out those quills, I will just back away. In conclusion, you should try to avoid contact from that little animal.

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Shayna left a step-up-to-writing paragraph for Sheila's photo of Thing 1 and Thing 2, the mischievous twins.

Shayna's comment to Sheila:

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Here's a paragraph about why I like those three characters that I mentioned before.

Out of all the characters that Dr. Seuss had created, I have three favorites. My first characters are Thing 1 and Thing 2. I adore these characters because of their humorous personality. These silly creatures have funny, blue, and spiky hair with a red shirt that says which thing they are. I always laugh when I imagine their silly blue hair zooming by. My second favorite is Cindy Loo. I like Cindy Loo because of her calm and gentle attitude. Her soft voice always soothes me as I read the book she was placed in. My final character is The Lorax. The Lorax is a yellow creature with many friends. All nature is his friend. I thought The Lorax had a real meaning when he spoke the word, "Unless" in a mysterious voice. At the end of the book you find out that he meant, "Unless someone like you cares a whole lot, nothing will ever get better." Clearly, I have admired these characters for a long time and I always will. 

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This is Peter's post about subject pronouns. He wrote a step-up-to-writing paragraph to complement his post. 

Peter's Subject Pronoun Post  

Here are some examples of subject pronouns. They are words that replace names or things, like thing would be it, Peter would be he, Mrs. Yollis would be she. I am going to make up a step up to writing about subject pronouns.

   Subject Pronouns are a great way to use different words instead of Peter or Mrs. Yollis. First,  instead of using Peter,  you could use he. He has a new blog post on his blog.  He admires blogging. He thinks Mrs. Yollis' blog is grand! He thinks blogging is a wonderful way to connect with others, and learn around the world! Secondly,  other than using Mrs. Yollis, you can use she.  She has a blog that is a great place to find wonderful facts.  She publishes posts that are full of inspirational blogging ideas.  Finally, instead of using thing, you could use it.   When referring to places or things you can use the word it.  It is an incredible place to have a grand vacation, and it is called Hawaii.  It has beautiful fish like the Humuhumunukunukuapua' a (hu • mu • hu • mu• nu •ku • nu •ku • a • pu • a • 'a). If you want some facts about this amazing fish, you can go to the following post on Mrs. Yollis' blog, Mrs. Yollis' Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a is Hawaii's state fish, and it is a spectacular tropical fish. At the end of the day, subject pronouns are pretty important.

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Heather also made a step-up-to-writing post. It was about prefixes and suffixes.

Heather's Prefixes and Suffixes

 Out of all the words that have prefixes and suffixes, I chose three to explain. One of my words is disagreement. I chose this word because it shows a prefix, base word, and a suffix. Dis- means not. It has almost the same meaning as un-. To agree to something means you share the same idea and think it is also correct. A synonym for that is concur. Ment- means forming nouns expressing the means or result of an action. Disagreement is a negative word. If you disagree with someone, you don't agree.Another of my words  is reappear. To reappear is to appear again because re- means again. The base word for reappear is appear. If you take off the re- and replace it with dis- it will make disappear. An antonym for reappear is also disappear. Reappear can be a positive word if you make it one, but it can also be a negative word. If a bee stung you, and another bee reappeared, that would have been using it as a negative word. Finally, I want to share the word midnight with you. As you probably guessed, mid- means middle because the first syllable is spelled mid. Midnight isn't exactly the middle of night because after midnight, the next morning starts. The antonym for midnight would be noon. If you get rid of the mid- and replaced -fall at the end of the word, it would be nightfall. The meaning of that is that the night is beginning to rise and the evening is gradually mixing into the night. Clearly, everyone can have fun changing the prefix or suffix on any base word!

What do you think of this Step-up paragraph writing?

How does the green, red, yellow color help?

Minecraft Math!

Recently, Mrs. Yollis' class has become a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) room. During our geometry math unit,  students were building in Minecraft.

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Guest Post by Shayna 

During math,  students were allowed to make solid figures on Minecraft. First I made a cube, and then set my goal to make a square-base pyramid with five flat faces. However,  there was a problem. In Minecraft, it will not let you tilt a single cube, so I could not get the flat triangular faces I wanted.  I ended up with a stair-step square-base pyramid.  

As I was building it, Mrs. Yollis mentioned that it was hard to count how many cubes were on each level because they were all one color. She recommended that I make each cubic unit a different color, so the other classmates could count how many were in each layer. 

I started out with three colors, diamond, iron, and lapid lazuli. Then when I was almost done, two of the same colors were side by side making it difficult to count. So, I tried adding a fourth color, black obsidian. It worked! 


I took these pictures as I got closer to being done. When I finished I took a final screen shot. My pyramid had seven layers. 

As you can see, I am starting to color each layer. The top cube is diamond colored. 

The top layer is one cubic unit. 
The second layer is a 3 x 3 = 9 cubic units. 
The third layer is a 5 x 5 = 25 cubic units.

The fourth layer is a 7 x 7 = 49 cubic units.
The fifth layer is 9 x 9 = 81 cubic units. 

How does the pattern continue? 

What is the volume of my pyramid?

We noticed that the even square numbers (2 x2 and 4 x 4) were skipped. 

Later, we built my pyramid with the one inch blocks that Mrs. Yollis had. We also build a pyramid using all the square numbers. Then I took a picture of that and put it with the others.

In Minecraft, each square face must line up with another square face. That was the reason I could NOT build the pyramid on the right.   

Have you ever built a solid figure in Mincraft?

Your pupil,

Shayna