The Tale of Despereaux

 

Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.

The past few weeks we have been thoroughly enjoying Kate DiCamillo's novel, "The Tale of Despereaux".  We were hooked on each chapter - each page as this story unfolded.  If you have not yet read this delightful tale of a mouse, a princess, a rat and a serving girl, the BUGS of Room 18 highly recommend you pick up a copy and start today!

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When is a Turkey Not Just a Turkey?

When it is a Turkey Glyph!!  We made turkeys that tell about our Thanksgiving celebrations and traditions (well, mainly what we EAT!)  Check out what we are doing for the holiday!

 

You have to follow the code...

Make sure you include all your favorite things...like pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes...But don't put green feathers unless you like green bean casserole!
(remember, Moms will see this at conferences!  They might hold you to it!)
Don't forget to tell us if you're staying home or going somewhere else for the holiday by making your feet yellow or red!

I didn't see a single turkey with closed eyes...guess everyone likes dessert! 
I'll be eating my gravy in the dining room! 
I'll take extra helpings of corn and dinner rolls, please! 

Just white meat for me, please!  And hold the gravy! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

 

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Gratitude

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, we recently took a look at the word 'gratitude' and talked about what it means to be grateful.  We read a book about gratitude and decided to share what we are all thankful for.  While I only have room here to share a few of the great Gratitude Writings our class authored this week, the rest are in the hallway for parent conferences.  We sure hope you take a moment to stop and read all the amazing blessings we all have in our lives that make us full of gratitude! 

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AR Buttons!

Congratulations to Maya and Abigail for earning their Five Point AR buttons!!

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What Teachers Do On the Weekend

Ever wonder what your teacher does on the weekend?
 Last weekend, I spend way too many hours in the classroom organizing BOOKS!!  

 

The students will tell you that I cleaned out the Closet of Death so I could access our leveled guided reading books easier.

 

Which meant all the craft supplies had to find a new home (and get organized as well).

Which meant our reading books needed to find new homes.  (Let's hope this cabinet is sturdy!)

But we did all that so we could use our awesome new book bins!!  Mrs. Koehn bought these cool book bins with some of the funds from the Drive One 4UR School fundraiser.  Each student has their own bin where they can keep their library books as well as other leveled books recommended by Mrs. Koehn!  We are all so excited about these bins!

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Coincidence?

 

Sophie and her new book.  Hmm....  :)

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Using the Tools

Jose was practicing his parts of speech with a grammar activity today.  He had to color words by whether they were nouns, verbs or adjectives.  Jose had no problem deciding what part of speech the words were, but first there were a few words that he had trouble sounding out.  He grabbed a scrap piece of paper and began fish hooking the words into syllables to decode what the vowels would say in each word.  I watched as he carefully wrote, fish hooked, pounded and sounded out each word with confidence.  His eyes lit up when he read each word and then he happily colored it the appropriate color!  Way to go Jose for using your tools to figure out hard words!!

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