Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Sun

Today I took a friends advice and I did something completely different than my scope and sequence because my students were going on a mental strike.  I thought about how much I have missed the sun this winter and how great it was to see it yesterday.  That was my inspiration for my lesson.  We brainstormed descriptive words about the sun then they did their daily slice of life challenge connected to the brainstorm.  I wrote my slice along side of them.  Below is my slice as well as a few of my student's brainstorm and slices.


Sun,
Where have you been, Sun?
I've missed you!
It's been dreary every day.  When I rise out of bed I wonder if you'll show your shiny face today. I try not to give up hope that I will someday see you brighten up the sky.  You don't know how much I've missed your smiling face that absorbs my sour moods.  I look forward to the days that I can lay on the deck and bask in the beauty of your warm rays. 
Please forgive me because I have taken you for granted.  You are so important to every living thing here on earth: the flowers, grass, cows, beetles, lizards, oak trees, and yes even the creatures of the sea.  We would not even have milk to drink because the sun makes the hay and grain that the cows need to eat in order to make our nutritious milk. There were many times on hot summer days that I wondered if you would go away when I had a river of sweat running down my back as I worked in the fields but now I regret that I was so inconsiderate. 
What is amazing is that one cold wintery morning I can go to work with piles of snow all around and then just like that you find your way into the sky.  Then piles of snow shrink into puddles of water.  One day I am bundled up with hats, scarves, thermal underwear, heavy down coats and furry boots and then as soon as you poke your smiling face the winter gear is thrown to the side. 
I seen a glimmer of you today and I can once again wash away my crabby mood.  Please don't tease me by hiding behind the fluffy white clouds. Stay and play awhile.  I promise that I will not take you for granted again.
 Sincerely,  
Mrs. Shrontz






5 comments:

  1. I loved your post!! What a great idea to inspire your students' writing. I liked that you wrote in letter form. This line "Please forgive me because I have taken you for granted. " is so true! We want what we don't have as soon as it's gone!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved your post!! What a great idea to inspire your students' writing. I liked that you wrote in letter form. This line "Please forgive me because I have taken you for granted. " is so true! We want what we don't have as soon as it's gone!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I also love this letter idea! And we all have surely missed the sun! I'm wondering what kind of letters my student would write if I asked them to write a farewell letter to the snow! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome Kris! I changed a few things today too! My usual groups of 3-4 were 5-7 today. I was afraid they would do more talking and it would be louder but I wasn't! They were quietly chatting with the kiddo next to them and working hard! I think there is something to a change in routine to shake things up a bit! I love the student samples! It looks like it went well :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like your kids' brains were on full power with your lesson today. That's a lot of writing! Your post made me think of the letter the crayons wrote in The Day the Crayons Quit. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete