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Tuesday, December 11, 2018

From my notebook...

Because I have second graders, and now first graders, trying out fiction writing, I gave it a go also.  Here is an excerpt from my notebook that I wrote in front of my second graders.

One day, Sally and Joe were at the store with their parents.  They were Christmas shopping for family gifts for aunts and uncles and cousins and such.  Sally wanted to get Grammy a new puzzle.  Joe wanted to get a new Nerf gun for himself.  Mom and Dad wanted to be done shopping.

After a while, they were all in the clothes section of the store, looking at hoodies for the cousins.  Sally and Joe decided to play Hide and Seek to help pass the time.  "One...two...three," Joe counted to twenty.  "Ready or not, here I come!" Joe shouted.  Mom gave him a look.

Joe began the search for his sister.  He looked under the cart, around his dad, and over by a stand of hats, but he didn't find Sally.  He followed his parents over to the baby section.

Meanwhile, Sally stayed still as a tree, crouching down in the middle of a hoodie rack.  She drew in her feet and hugged her arms around her knees.  She listened for Joe, keeping herself still and quiet.

I was working on telling bit by bit and writing from outside the story.  Also, my second graders reminded me to make my characters talk, so we did a little revision as we wrote there.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Snow Days?


December starts cold
precipitation promised
snow days may be many

Black asphalt, bleak, wet, and cold
Snow tumbling down, down
contact, melting, gone

pretty from inside
warm, cozy, kid-filled classroom
excited looks wander

Fluttering, falling
some drifts, tumbles, lazily lands
won't accumulate