The Fight at Queniborough Partizan 2012

The little, historic village of Queniborough awoke on Sunday morning to the distance sounds of vehicles moving and men marching.









Meanwhile in the  village Princess Elizabeth was having talks with several of the local faction leaders but the others had got wind of this and planned and moved against her.

The Duke of Rutland raced forward his BUF troops, the elite of his army, towards the small village but others had plans too. The Bishop of Bath and Wells visiting the local Anglican League encampment pushed up from Launde Abbey with his movements being tracked and follows by the Somerset Freedom Fighters. Others loyal to King Edward VIII in the shape of the WI and Melton Hunter rushed forward to help, capture the Princess. The socialist force raced out of the city of Leicester to head off the BUF and Al forces operating too close to the city while a force of Albertines came as a relief force the Princess.

And it was not long before the first shots were fired, actually it was a jam jar bomb at the local Everads Morris Troop causing them to retreat into the pub where they stayed. Before long the SFF was attacking the hunt, the socialists push up hard in the centre, the Albertines flanking the SFF and marching at the socialists. Meanwhile the Bishop of Bath and Wells moved his troops together the house where the Princess was and the BUF forces having problems crossing the walls and hedges.

The Hunt charge toward the yellow house but the SFF took advantage of this and caused casualties in there ranks. in the meantime the Albertine forces clashed with the socialists but the Albertine cavalry got cut down but the post office trade union personnel. in the meantime the Bishops troops advanced to take up good positions and started to range in mortars on the BUF causing them to retire but they also still suffered from the walls and hedges and not being able to climb over them.

More to follow later.

Did I Really Say Yes?

By the time I reached high school permanent lines of worry had found a home for life on my forehead.  As a member of Girl Scouts I took the motto, Be prepared, and the slogan, Do a good turn daily, more seriously than most.  For these reasons empathy for certain people and characters in literature is second nature; much like every breath I take.

Sophie's Fish (Viking) written by A. E. Cannon with illustrations by Lee White is a brief exploration into the mind of a young boy who commits to a good deed but is plagued with second thoughts.  Without a doubt this little guy has inherited a Murphy's Law gene.  Reality is quickly overshadowed by one very vivid imagination.

Sophie, a classmate of Jake's, asks him just before school is out on Friday if he will take care of her fish while she visits her gram.  Not giving it a second thought, (How hard can it be to babysit a fish?), he says yes.  At home with the minutes ticking by before her arrival, he begins to wonder about the wisdom of his decision.

He truly has no understanding about proper fish habits.  He pictures the fish wanting:  to eat a snack, to play a game, to hear a story before naptime, to be covered in a special blanket or Sophie to come get him.  Yikes!  This is a major disaster waiting to happen.

He has no ideas; none whatsoever.  What's a worry wart to do?  What else can he do but to say...  The doorbell rings.  Jake and Sophie surprise one another...bigtime.

A. E. (Anne Edwards) Cannon, employing an economy of words, manages to convey every nuance of young Jake's emotional state.  Her projections of fishy desires mimic those of acquiring an unknown human house guest.  Her "what-ifs" are candidly comical.

What if Yo-Yo gets cold while listening to a naptime story and wants me to cover him up with his special blanket?  Do fish care if their special blankets are all wet?  

Naming Sophie's fish Yo-Yo is the final perfect touch.

Before the cover is even opened you know that a red-haired, bespectacled boy in shorts, vest and bow tie is hesitant about a fish belonging to a rosy-cheeked, Sophie in pigtails.  Plain sea green endpapers, front and back, enhance the fish theme as the title page, verso and dedication are placed on a background replete with fish depicted in various sizes and mediums.  Lee White, using watercolor combined with mixed-media collage heightens the story with detail and a keen sense of humor.

At each reading the most intricate of fish images become apparent; depictions on the blackboard at school, as leaves on the trees, the tree bark resembles fish scales, the hands on Jake's clock, and the pattern on Jake's towel.  Suppositions by Jake are exaggerated; the potential game is depicted with a large fish attired in pirate garb, eye patch in place, sword in hand, splashing in a tub riding a large yellow rubber ducky.  Newsprint, patterned paper or fabric used in likely and unlikely portions of his illustrations adds texture, visual interest and an engaging uniqueness.

The splendid array of artwork by Lee White coupled with the polished narrative of A. E. Cannon make Sophie's Fish a charming, funny story that readers will beg to hear again and again.  If you want to learn more about A. E. Cannon and Lee White follow the links to their names at the beginning of this post.  A. E. Cannon's blog posts are hilarious.  Lee White shares artwork from his many books as well as several pages from this title. 

Attack of the Cherries and a Bleezer FREEBIE

Today, we were in heavy discussion about adverbs. We talked about adverbs answering the question how and modifying a verb. We also discussed that adverbs frequently end with –ly. My students’ suggestions were spot-on (you know…quickly, quietly, insincerely, nearly, precisely) until my one love bug suggested shelys! I said, “can you please give that to me in a sentence?” He said “she leads the class in the pledge.” Ummmm…can you tell I live in the south??? So, as we say in the south to excuse such a moment {I call those special occasions “moments”}…Bless. His. Heart!

After our lesson together, and once my sweetheart figured out that you can’t just add -ly to a word to make it an adverb, we turned our adverb fun into a very competitive friendly competition! Right along with all of the sweetness that we have going on in our classroom with our ice cream unit this week, we created ice cream shakes…with cherries on top, of course! The students wrote as many adverbs as they could think of on cherries. Then, they stacked them on top of their shake! Finally, just to be sure that we could apply this concept directly into our writing, the students switched shakes and wrote sentences using their friend’s adverbs.

This was such a fun activity and can easily be adapted to practice any basic skill.

  

  

In math, we continued enjoying all things ice cream as we reviewed making change. We read Bleezer’s Ice Cream Store by Jack Prelutsky. Then, the students worked in pairs to buy/sell ice cream in Bleezer’s store. They looked at the menu…

decided on a flavor, and paid Mr. Bleezer {their partner}. The buyer used a five dollar bill to pay for each scoop, {they bought one scoop at a time} and then the seller would give them the correct amount of change. Then, they showed their work here….

If you would like this free download, you can snag it {HERE}, or by clicking on the pictures above! If you would like to check out our unit that we will be working through during our last few days together, click on the picture below !

 

That’s all for me, friends! I am off to prepare for our writing celebration and pancake breakfast! The end is near my friends!!!!