Friday, December 4, 2020

Fortunately, Unfortunately with Grades 2 and 3

Thanks to https://ideafm.org/ for the idea and the image.

We read Fortunately by Remy Charlip, a story that follows Ned through a series of problems and resolutions, and talked about plot structure.

Then we wrote our own version as a class ... the kids much preferred coming up with the "unfortunately" parts!



Mrs. Breton's Class

One time, a boy was on an airplane.

Unfortunately, the airplane crashed in the water, and he got eaten by a shark.

Fortunately, there was another swimmer who killed the shark, and he got free.

Unfortunately, he ran into a vampire squid.

Fortunately, he swam up to the surface and the squid couldn't reach him.

Unfortunately, the squid had a harpoon.

Fortunately, the squid missed.

Unfortunately, there was another squid that was much bigger and ate him.

Fortunately, he got out and ran to an island.

Unfortunately, there was a lion.

Fortunately, he climbed a tree and the lion couldn't reach him.

Unfortunately, the lion also had a harpoon.

Fortunately, he dug to an aquarium.

Unfortunately, he ran into a tiger shark and got eaten.

Fortunately, the other guy cut him out. 


Ms. Parenteau's Class

There was a big beach party in New York.

Unfortunately, he lived in Rhode Island and had to babysit his sister.

Fortunately, he had a pool.

Unfortunately, he couldn't swim.

Fortunately, his mom said he could bring his sister to a local beach.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a float.

Fortunately, his friends were there, and they had a float.

Unfortunately, a shark was going to eat him.

Fortunately, the shark hit a rock.

Unfortunately, the shark smashed the rock.

Fortunately, he ran away.

Unfortunately, there was a mountain lion trying to eat him.

Fortunately, his sister threw a life jacket and knocked out the mountain lion.

Unfortunately, the mountain lion bit through the life jacket and broke it.

Fortunately, his sister went to the store and got a new one.

Unfortunately, she didn't have any money.

Fortunately, her mom could pay, and they all had fun on the beach.


Mrs. Riccitelli's Class

You are going to school. 

Unfortunately, you are not prepared for a test.

Fortunately, it was a math test and you had a calculator.

Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to use it.

Fortunately, you have a brain.

Unfortunately, you don't know how to answer the questions.

Fortunately, you take a bunch of guesses and get an A.

Unfortunately, you fall in the pond at recess.

Fortunately, someone helps you up.

Unfortunately, you start bleeding.

Fortunately, there is a doctor's office at your school.

Unfortunately, noone is there.

Fortunately, someone comes.

Unfortunately, it is a zombie.

Fortunately, it is a zombie that does not eat human brains ... it is a vegetarian!

Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to put a band-aid on.

Fortunately, someone else comes in and puts it on.

Unfortunately, the cops come and arrest that kid for stealing a band-aid.

Fortunately, he escapes.

Unfortunately, the cops are faster than him and arrest him.

Fortunately, the kid is Hulk, so he smashes the wall and gets out.

Unfortunately, he falls down.

Fortunately, he finds a donut.

Unfortunately, the donut has bugs on it.

Fortunately, there is an exterminator there.

Unfortunately, the donut tases everyone and they get thrown in prison, and the bars are tased as well.

Fortunately, Hulk's friend Iron Man comes to save him.

Unfortunately, Iron Man gets stuck in the bars as well.

Fortunately, Hulk and Iron Man work together: Hulk smashes the ceiling and holds on to Iron Man and they fly out.

Unfortunately, Wolverine's brother comes. 

Fortunately, Wolverine's brother starts to be nice and calls Santa to bring his reindeer. They use their antlers to smash the bars and help the prisoners escape. (The elves help.)

Unfortunately, the SWAT team is outside.

Fortunately, it is Halloween and they are dressed up.

Unfortunately, they thought they were too old to go trick or treating.

Fortunately, the just defeated a vampire.

Unfortunately, another vampire came.

Fortunately, they all make it back to school in time for the bell.


Ms. Veyera's Class

Once there was a guy in a car.

Unfortunately, there was a swarm of butterflies behind him that picked him up and flew him to space.

Fortunately, there were aliens on the moon who had oxygen tanks to help him breathe.

Unfortunately, they were vicious aliens who ripped off his underwear.

Fortunately, the aliens didn't like his underwear.

Unfortunately, they stole his lollipop.

Fortunately, it started raining cats.

Unfortunately, the cats were vicious and attacked him, and he turned into a cat.

Fortunately, he was a very good cat.

Unfortunately, he lost all his fur.

Fortunately, the cats gave him some spare clothes.

Unfortunately, he did not have any cat food.

Fortunately, he was a blue cat.

Unfortunately, dead birds were falling out of the sky.

Fortunately, the cat was able to heal the birds because if you are a blue cat, you can heal things.

Unfortunately, there was a nuclear bomb coming!

Fortunately, he turned into a bird and they all flew to Neptune.

Unfortunately, they transformed into cats midway and fell from space.

Fortunately, Captain Underpants appeared.

Unfortunately, Captain Underpants got scooped away by a bunch of space butterflies.

Fortunately, the cats landed safely and had a party.

Unfortunately, an alien lumberjack cut off their legs.

Fortunately, the alien lumberjack was just pranking them, and they let him party with him, and he gave them astronaut suits.

Unfortunately, the alien lumberjack got stung by a stingray. 

Fortunately, the cats took over the universe.

Unfortunately, Captain Underpants went to jail, where he turned into a black hole and sucked up the universe. 

Fortunately, the cats knew they could fix the black hole by singing. They were off-key, but it didn't matter. Captain Underpants joined them as a cat. 

Unfortunately, the black hole followed them as a person, and unicorns started riding him. 

Fortunately, the cats turned back into humans and ran faster, and the black hole gave up and disappeared. 


Friday, November 13, 2020

Creepy Underwear!

During Halloween week, we read some "scary" books in Library. One was Creepy Pair of Underwear by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown. Here is a video of Aaron reading it: 

 

This activity kit from the publisher, Simon and Schuster, includes a blank pair of underwear that you can make look creepy! Or sweet or friendly or funny if you prefer. If you don't have a printer at home, just draw an outline on a piece of paper and then decorate! 

Here are some student designs: 






















Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The Z Was Zapped!

In second grade, we read The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg, which features the letters of the alphabet meeting sad fates. The students had to guess the action happening to them, which started with the same letter; for example, the F was flattened by a foot and the Q was quartered. Then the kids submitted their own ideas (see below). One student had TEN ideas!



The A was crushed by an apple


The B got burned

The B was a bear's friend

The C was captured






The E saw an elephant 

The F was fun

The F was frightened

The F was freezing

The F was flying

The F was frustrated

The F was on fire





The L was in the library

The L was long



The M was a monster

The M was mushed




The O was in the ocean

The S was small

The T was tossed

The T was trampled

The T was twisted

The U was a unique unicorn

The Z zig-zagged away



Sunday, November 8, 2020

Mock Caldecott Results

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." In the spring, first- and second-graders listened to about a dozen picture books that were published in 2019. Our voting process was interrupted by COVID, but we finally had a chance to select a winner from the list of four finalists this fall.

The winner: Who Wet My Pants?, illustrated by Zachariah O'Hora (our Mock Caldecott winner last year for Niblet and Ralph!) and written by Bob Shea (our Mock Caldecott winner in 2014 for Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great). 





Here are some reasons why the kids chose it:

  • It is really funny and silly
  • Because he screams
  • He doesn't realize that everywhere he goes is water
  • Because he always says WHO WET MY PANTS!!!!!!!
  • It was really funny to me and I like funny books
  • I loved when he was so mad
  • Because I'm a Brownie like Scouts, and this is like Scouts
  • He was blaming all of his friends, but at the end he was like, "If you guys did it, I would forgive you."



Full voting results:


Forms response chart. Question title: Which of these four books was your favorite?. Number of responses: 78 responses.