Thursday, August 25, 2011

Adding Interest to our Writing

As learners it's good to Make Connections as it helps us in our understanding.
We are studying the work of Eric Carle as an artist and 
as a writer. 
This week we were using his story
 "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth.

The children were able to make a connection to the sloth, 
as our quad-blogging buddy Mr Salsich has a sloth 
named Perezoso as a class mascot.

We are reading Eric Carle's books to identify techniques he uses to add interest to his writing.
On the last page of this book, the sloth objects to being called lazy and gives a long list of other adjectives that could be used to describe a sloth.

Adjectives are describing words and being able to use adjectives well is a great technique for adding interest to your writing.
We were excited to make another connection, when we saw that our friends in 2KM and 2KJ have also been learning about using adjectives!
Read their post here.

We've created a Wordle of adjectives that could be used to describe the fireflies that we made in art last week.

Can you make this sentence more interesting by adding some adjectives?
The firefly is in the tree.


19 comments:

  1. Dear B4,

    What a great post! It is so fun to learn from our blogging buddies.

    Adjectives can really make your writing come alive! We are enjoying learning about adjectives, nouns and verbs in 2KM and 2KJ.

    I am going to add some adjectives to your sentence.

    The sparkling firefly is perched quietly in the giant eucalyptus tree.

    Now, can you add some adjectives to my sentence?

    The girl made a cake.

    Your blogging buddy,

    Mrs M☀rris

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello B4. It's wonderful to see you are learning about adjectives. Adjectives make our writing sparkle!

    I am going to have a go at adding adjectives to your sentence, but I'm going to try to make it really different to Mrs. Morris' sentence. Let's see how I go...

    The grumpy, ancient firefly is hiding in the twisted and broken tree.

    Do you think my adjectives helped to paint a really different picture in your mind?
    Thank you for this fun activity. Enjoy learning about exciting, colourful and interesting adjectives!

    Mrs. Rutherford :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mrs Morris
    Thank you for your terrific sentence about the firefly.

    Here is our sentence:

    The cheerful nine-year-old girl baked and decorated a delicious birthday cake.

    from B4

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Mrs Rutherford
    Thank you for your fantastic sentence about the firefly. We pictured a very old firefly and a bent and busted tree.

    from B4

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ B4,

    I love ajectives a lot.
    These are my favourite ajectives: amazing, shiny and bright.
    I might change your sentence now.

    The shiny and bright firefly landed on the colourful wishing tree.
    How was that?

    I used to read lots of books writen by Eric Carle when I was little. I loved The Hungry Caterpillar the most. I can't remember all the books because it was a long time ago.

    Do you know any more books writen by Eric Carle?

    Your blogging pal,
    Amelie(2KM)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aloha B4,
    I love adjectives not only because they make sentences sparkle they make reading more interesting!

    The silky winged firefly hovered near the large green shady tree.

    I hope you enjoy building your sentences.
    A hui hou,
    Mrs. Jacobs

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much for the kind words about the "new look and title" of our classroom blog! I loved everything you wrote. My new students and I will be sure to follow you and see what you and your students are up to as soon as school starts! How exciting that it snowed. Here in Canada it's 80 degrees F. HOT! We won't be expecting any snow for at least three or four more months.
    Enjoy your Eric Carle books - he is one of my favourites!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Amelie
    Thank you for your inspiring comment and colourful sentence.

    We have lots of favourite Eric Carle books at the moment. We have borrowed a big box of books from the National Library and we try to read at least one new Eric Carle book every day.

    On Friday we read a book about a sea-horse, and we used it to inspire our art lesson.

    from Mrs McKenzie

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Mrs Jacobs
    Thank you for your comment!

    So far, we have learned that adjectives colour our writing, that they make it come alive and that they make it sparkle.

    All those things add interest to our writing!

    from B4

    ReplyDelete
  10. To the clever students in B4,

    I completely agree that adjectives make writing more interesting! However, you don't want to overuse the same adjectives either. For example, many student overuse the word big. Like there was a big elephant stomping through the jungle. It would be better to use a synonym for big like: enormous, gigantic, or colossal!

    Some adjectives that get overused in my class are good, great and wonderful. Rather than saying I had a great day, I would say I had a stupendous day. Rather than saying you are a wonderful class, I'd say you are a remarkable class!

    See what I mean? The right adjective can make all the difference!

    The firefly is in the tree. Hmmm...let's see...


    The colossal firefly tried to land on the solitary gum tree, but was so big it snapped the delicate branch right off.

    Have a stupendous day!

    Your American friend,
    Mrs. Y♥llis
    California

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mrs Yollis
    you are pretty and I hope your New class Loves your Things you do, but do you know Teacher is cool Just Like you but My does good Things Like you, but Like my Teacher some dont do The same Things because Just My One is so so cool. Im 6 years old Now Just Today I Was in Greymotuh amd had fun.

    From Lukah

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear Lukah,

    Thank you so much for commenting back to me! You are a super blogger!

    I love all the interesting projects that you and Mrs. McKenzie publish on your fabulous blog. You're right, we don't all do things the same way which makes the world a fascinating place.

    You mentioned that you were in Greymouth. What did you do there? (Don't forget to add an adjective or two!)

    Your friend,
    Mrs. Y♥llis
    California

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear B4,

    I am so glad you were able to make a connection to our class mascot Perezoso! He loves that Eric Carle book, especially the last page when the sloth shows what a great vocabulary he has.

    Did you know that the name "Perezoso" means something in Spanish? I wonder if any of you can learn what it means and leave a comment in reply.

    I also enjoy using adjectives to make my writing more interesting. Like Mrs. Yollis said, one of the things I like to do is think of different words I can use for adjectives that get used over and over. For example, instead of writing the word "pretty", I could use gorgeous, lovely, dazzling or beautiful.

    Okay, let's see what I can do with your sentence, "The firefly was in the tree." How about, The tiny firefly was so minuscule that no one could see him in the enormous, bushy tree unless he blinked his dazzling light on and off.

    From your friend,
    Mr. Salsich

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear Mrs Yollis
    At 8:500.am our school starts.

    Have a super sumer weekend today because you are in California today.

    thank you.
    by Jonathon

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear b4 I reckon that heaps of people could learn off Eric Carle I like his stories . from Nathan

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear B4
    These adjectives are so cool. Adjectives make writing look better.

    by Liam

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Mrs Yollis
    We made adjectives today. It was fun in writing and we like doing things like that because It helps us with things like that .When I am a grown up Im going to be a teacher.


    From Luka★

    ReplyDelete
  18. @ Jonathan,

    Thanks for taking the time to comment to me! :-)

    You mentioned that you start school at 8:50. Guess what? We start school at 8:15! I get up for school at 6:30 so I can have breakfast and then drive the half hour to my school.

    What time to you get up? How long does it take you to get to school?

    @ Luka★,

    How exciting that you are going to be a teacher! I love being a teacher. It is so wonderful to watch students grow and become great readers and writers. You will enjoy that too!

    What grade would you like to teach? What age?

    Your blogging buddy,
    Mrs. Y♥llis
    California

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dear Mrs Yollis
    We made adjectives today. It was fun in writing and we like doing things like that because It helps us with things like that .When I am a grown up Im going to be a teacher.
    writing

    ReplyDelete