I gave students time to brainstorm some of the things they could write about for a free-write this morning.  Because I haven't seen them for a while, I was interested in what they had been up to over the break.

Any new experiences?  Did you try a new activity or new food for the first time?

What was you favourite meal?

Where did you go?

Who did you see?

What did you get for Christmas?

What did you enjoy the most over the break?

What did you enjoy the least over the break? (For me, this would be the cold that I couldn't get rid of!)

What did you do for New Year's Eve?

Do you have any New Year's resolutions, and if so what are they?

On Monday, May 5th, we went over the expectations for the grade five novel study.  Students chose their own books with the help of our librarian or consulted with me as to whether it was a 'good fit' book for them for this project.

Students will be provided with their poster board that will make up the majority of the project once they bring in the signed form (second page) acknowledging that this is an involved project that will be given class time as well as require students to work on it at home.  

Since we will be doing more writing for Language Arts this term, I have asked that students condense their spelling sentences down into five sentences.  They will still be using a minimum of ten words from their list, just using them in fewer sentences.

For example:

They carried their heavy knapsacks half way up the mountain before the climb became too difficult.

These were all written, you guessed it, near Halloween!

Students were asked to create a two-sentence story that was scary and made the reader 'conned the dots.'  If they came right out with something frightening, it was back to the drawing board with their work.  "How does the reader make the connection to the scary thing, instead of you just telling us 'there's a scary thing'?"


Every time his mom would take a picture, the hand would get closer to the boy's shoulder.

I woke up to the dog licking my face...which was strange because my dog was put down when I was three.

I saw a car come up the drive, but I didn't see anyone in it.

You were just about to fall asleep and you hear: "Good-night, sweetie."  You feel saliva drip on your face and when you look up, you see a shadow.

My neighbour is so nice to me, she smiles at me every day!  I wonder why she always wears a hospital gown every time I see her.

While I was outside playing, then sun came.  I saw my shadow - I moved around, but my shadow stayed still.

I hear someone calling me from downstairs.  I wonder who it could be since I'm home alone.