Look Out for the Dreaded Desk Monster!

I've never actually seen a desk monster. I don't think they're dangerous at all, but they are pests! And they're tricky, because they hide during the school day, but come out and wreak havoc when no one is around. 

Here's my evidence of their existence:

1. They've been known to eat important papers.

2. They leave footprints on the desks of students in the form of dirt, pencil markings and crayon markings.

3. If there's a bad infestation, they make nests out of children's papers by crumbling them up at the back of their desks. 

Luckily, I've found a few things that can help keep these guys at bay:

• Don't keep any stray papers in your desk. Keep any important papers in a folder.  Desk monsters can't open folders.

• Keep food away from desks. If you spill a little snack, clean up the crumbs right away.

• Keep all the books and materials in your desk in a neat and orderly manner.

That's it!  If you follow these three simple rules, the desk monsters won't be able to make nests, and will move onto another classroom. (Maybe your brother's classroom!)

Opinion Writing Organization

 Kids have opinions, and they're actually pretty good at sharing these opinions, giving reasons for their opinions, and sometimes even getting their way! 

They need help getting these opinions written down in an organized manner. I have this resource to help them out with this!

I made up this graphic organizer, along with a couple of samples.  There are a million topics they can use to share their opinions, such as "favorite color, brothers: good or bad, favorite after-school activity, to name a few. See this resource here: Opinion Writing Organization

I always believe that children need to talk before they write, so I'd share my samples, and enhance each time to make the story more interesting.

Quite often, before they even start to organize their story, I have them practice orally with each other what they'll be writing. It truly does help the writing flow more smoothly!