After our nature writing on Thursday, it was time for the students to share their experiences with one another. Interviews were conducted to discover if the author could add more descriptive details to help paint a more vivid picture for the reader. Happily, each of improved our writings through the interview process.

With many of the students gone today on field trips and tennis meets, our class was much smaller, but we still love our Language Arts class.

The whole gang after we wrapped up our descriptive nature writings. Am I the luckiest teacher or what?!

The 3rd and 4th hour class won the library scavenger hunt, so they were treated to donuts and juice today. Super thanks to our wonderful librarian for the treats Amd the love she shows us all.

Today we went for short nature walks to see if we could locate any interesting textures, images, or sounds. We tried to capture those moments the best we could with descriptive words and imitating Mark Twain's style in Tom Sawyer.. It was the best day ever!

Today 1st/2nd hours staged a flash photo moment and asked if I would snap the photo. I have the greatest kiddos!

When we do in class readings, the students take on the roles of the characters. They must try to identify with the character's voice and mannerisms which not only brings the character to life, but it helps the students make personal connections with the novel.

The collages are complete! On each panel there are 83 references to help explain the concept. After completing the collages, we held class discussions of what each concept meant giving us a whole class understanding. I am very proud of how well the students did.

Each day the class nominates words from the text that we should investigate further. The words have to be ones that the students have heard or read before but really do not know the meaning or how to use it in correct context. For example, one class selected "facetious" which is found in Chapter 5. From there, the class researches the word and it's origin. We are keeping tallies of which word origins are the most frequently found in our vocabulary words. So far, the Latin words are holding first place.