RKB's Cincinnati House - Poetry

Here is a piece that is being posted for review. RKB is aksing for some feedback in the form of stars and wishes.

Cincinnati House

Cincinnati house
Small garden out front
Welcoming any friendly visitors
Reminding them of spring
But now it’s gone
From my life
Warm crackling fire inside
As smoke rises
The smell of burning wood fills my nostrils
But now it’s gone
From my life
Muffled talks in kitchen
Never able to understand
What they say
But now it’s gone
From my life
Creaky stairs as I head up for bed
Creak
Creak
Creak
But now it’s gone
From my life
6 years old
Stairs so steep
As if I were climbing Mount Everest
Sitting on my bottom
Slowly
Scooting
Myself
Down
Down
Down
But now it’s gone
From my life
Cold in the family room
As chills run up my back
Playing tag
One after another
But now it’s gone
From my life
As I plop face down on the beige couch
Breathing in the scent of
Old furniture
But now it’s gone
From my life

Sitting in the kitchen on a warm sunny morning
The birds sing’n there song of gratitude
Saying:
Thanks for the food
But now it’s gone
Thinking back to those days
When that old house was still part of my life
I just sit there
Thinking
The scent of old crayons
Missing
The warmth of the crackling fire
Burning
Making salty dew roll down my crimson red cheeks

Wondering
If I will ever see it again

Sitting in the kitchen on a warm sunny morning
The birds sing’n their song of gratitude
Saying:
thanks for the food

Math Challenge for November

Students, here is a math challenge:
In many schools across the country, students run laps for exercise during recess or P.E. You have set a personal goal to run 100 miles in one year. If your school track is one-fifth mile, how many laps should you have to run to reach this goal for the year? On average, how many laps would you need to run each week to reach your goal of running 100 miles in one year?

When giving your answers, be sure to explain your thinking so others can understand your reasoning and learn how you came up with your answers. Remember this is a two-part question.

Here's a site that will challenge the whole family: http://www.freerice.com/ . It's a vocabulary game that, when you get questions correct, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. Parents, test your vocabulary knowledge. Kids, get a dictionary! The questions get harder as you get words right, and the questions get easier as you make mistakes. See how much rice you can donate!

Dear Friends and Families,

Our class is creating a video about reading and writing. We're asking people questions about their reading and writing experiences and how literacy has influenced the lives of people around the United States. We're inviting you to respond to one or all of the following questions. In your post, it would be helpful to know if you are an adult or child, and where you're from. We are looking forward to learning how others think and feel about literacy!

1. How did you learn to read?
2. Do you remember the time you realized you could read? What was that like?
3. What book or author got you hooked on reading? What made that book or author unforgettable?
4. What are you reading now?
5. How important is writing well?
6. What author has helped you the most as a writer? What did they do to guide your writing style?
7. What kinds of writing do you do now?

Writing Similes is as Fun as Riding in the Hot Air Balloon at the Fall Festival!

Students - we have had a great time creating similes - comparrisons using the words like or as. We discovered it is sometimes simply not enough (or as fun) to write simple similes (The cat is as black as the night). It is much more effective (and fun!) to extend similes to add a bit more description (The cat is as black as a moonless night in the middle of January).

Students, here is your challenge. When you come across a well written simile - either in you reading, or one you've written, please add it to our classroom blog. Be sure to give the author credit. Let's see how many fabulous similes we can find.

Welcome!

Welcome to our classroom blog; we're excited to use this space to discuss what we're reading, writing, and learning about this year. Please come back often to see what we're up to!