The day students become poets

As you may know, we are coming up to the end of the school year (8 1/2 days to be exact, but who's counting?) so I have been trying to come up with creative/fun things for the students (and myself) to do so that we don't spend our days wishing it was summer. So far we have had an elementary school reading day, we went to the park, and the 7th graders will be joining us next week to share a few original children's stories.

In between these very exciting activities I have started a poetry unit with my 3rd graders. We wrote color poems first and they were super cute so I had to share! Enjoy!

Blue-by Ha-yeong

Blue is water, Rosie's jacket, and cold

Blue is the taste of blueberry

Blue smells like salt and delicious blueberry

Blue makes me feel sad

Blue is the sound of waves in the ocean and rainy days

Blue is the ocean, sky and pen

Blue is paddling to the middle of the sea

Blue is the sky

Blue is the best

Black-by Annemarie

Black is Ha-yeong's hair, my hair band, and like nail polish

Black is the taste of blackberries

Black smells like nail polish and thunder and lightning

Black makes me feel scared in the dark

Black is the sound of nails on a blackboard and the dim night

Black is the underworld, the sky when it is night, and my closet

Black is a scary movie

Black is a computer screen when it goes black

Black is awesome

Green-by Mollie

Green is nature, green grass, and happiness

Green tastes like nature in a bite

Green smells like seaweed, and dew on the grass

Green makes me feel fresh

Green is the sound of amazing things

Green is nice, good, and full of excitement

Green is everything good

Green is amazing

Green is like rowing a boat into nature

Blue-by Shamima

Blue is fire from a Nancy Drew book

Blue is the ocean so deep and blue feels like the beach

Blue is the taste of water

Blue smells like the swimming pool and a blue rose

Blue makes me feel sad

Blue is the sound of a seashell and the waves too

Blue is the rivers, seas, and ponds

Blue is drinking water

Blue is watering plants

Blue is my favorite color!

Red-by Levi

Red is a robin, a flame of fire, and the bright morning sun

Red is the taste of chili

Red smells like markers and smoke

Red makes me feel mad

Red is the sound of a heart beat and bubbles boiling

Red is the center of the earth, Australia, and Mars

Red is a volcano

Red is a fire sword

Red is the hot, dry sand of a beach

Can you write a color poem like these???

Until next time....

When students decide to pull a prank--a letter to Miss Laugherty

Dear Miss Laugherty,

Today something happened that you should be aware of (for next year of course). We will simply call it the sushi in the shoe incident of 2011. Today, our Korean student brought sushi to school for snack. Since trading food seems to be the thing to do, our PK ended up with a whole roll of sushi that she decided to save for lunch. The sushi wasn't wrapped well and some ended up on the floor. This event in and of itself is not a big deal but is crucial to false accusations that will come later...

Moving on, when going down to lunch (it was my day for duty naturally) our British American came up to me and said, "Miss Townley I think someone put sushi in my shoe!" I promptly went inside the classroom and found the recently squished piece of sushi on our favorite Serbians desk. I kinda laughed (wouldn't you?) and told him it was okay and pushed him out the door because we were late to lunch. Problem solved....I thought.

During lunch I was doing what I always did--serving drinks--when I came across a group of girls consoling a sobbing PK. Through her tears she told her story of our British American declaring that they would no longer be friends if he found out she was the one who put the sushi in his shoe. By her reaction (tears, really?) I thought it was safe to assume she was not in fact the sushi offender.

From our trustworthy student from India I quickly found out that it was not our PK who put the sushi in the shoe. It was in fact, our Korean and Czech American student who did it as a joke. Trying to suppress a laugh (because, does this really happen?) I told them that it was not nice, they must apologize, and they would lose recess. They did apologize, and will lose recess-if I can remember-but did not seem very remorseful. But, if you put sushi in a shoe would you be remorseful? I didn't think so...

All this to say, Miss Laugherty watch out next year when you see a roll of sushi come into the classroom. It could mean there is another sushi in the shoe incident coming your way.

With Love,

Miss Townley

First guest blog! The Gingerbread baby adventure...

A while back, Melanie, one of my roommates, received a gingerbread baby (kinda like flat stanley) from her goddaughter-Abbey- who lives in TN. Now Abbey had specifically sent the gingerbread baby to Melanie in Prague rather than to her dad who is deployed to Afghanistan because she thought Melanie would be up for the challenge of taking gingerbread baby on a grand adventure in Prague. I decided to tag along with Melanie and the gingerbread baby and the following is the gingerbread baby's story. Enjoy!

The Gingerbread Baby Adventure

Dobry den! (That’s how you say ‘hello’ in Czech!)

Whew, am I ever glad to be back! I had some Great Adventures in Prague, Czech Republic! I was pretty jet-lagged when I arrived in Melanie’s mailbox. And to make matters worse, the postman folded me in half! It took two days to get the kink out of my back.

Before Abbey took me to the post office in Tennessee, she said that she had taken a trip to Prague last summer. She told me all the best places to visit! I was so excited!

Abbey said she liked riding the metro the best, because it went so fast. I rode the big escalator all the way underground. Then I jumped on at Namesti Miru and in a few seconds I was speeding away to the castle!

Abbey told me that she loved the fountains at the castle. Melanie held me up so I could look over the edge, but *whoop!* I almost slipped in! Fortunately, only a little bit of my foot got wet. I put a bandage on to hold it together for the rest of our adventures! I even saw one of the castle guards. He was very serious. He must have a really important job to do.

Our next stop was beautiful Charles Bridge. When Melanie and her friend, Kim, told me it was 650 years old, I was a little worried about walking across it. But she said it was safe. There were so many people! I even got my picture taken with a real soldier!

Then we walked to Old Town. Abbey’s mom, Mrs. Wawryk, liked this part of Prague the best. We bought a Trdelnik that was as big as me! Melanie and I shared it, but when she got to the end of the Trdelnik she accidentally took a bite out of me!

“After all,” she said, “You ARE a big cookie!” And she licked her lips! Yikes!

After that, I was finished with sight-seeing! I was also feeling lonely for the little girl who made me. Melanie wanted to cheer me up, so she told me she knew where I could find some other first graders who might want to play with me!

So we hopped on a tram and went to the school where Melanie teaches. I met all the fourth graders and they made me feel much better. After just a few hugs, I was back to normal.

Even though I liked those fourth graders, I liked Abbey best. So Melanie said good-bye and sadly packed me in an envelope and sent me all the way back to Tennessee! (She even included some postcards that we bought for you!) Thanks for letting me share my adventures with you!!

Until next time...