Tuesday, October 28, 2014

   SUPER STARFISH AND HIS SEARCH FOR SNOW

               By Gina Andros



               Super Starfish and His Search For Snow


On Sunday, Super Starfish was feeling super well.
He heard it was winter now, but he really couldn’t tell. 
He wanted to see the weather change he learned the months and then…
He marked off every day that past with one gigantic pen,


On Monday, he felt magnificent- which means he was feeling great!
On Tuesday, he was impatient- which means he could not wait.
On Wednesday, he was wonderful and excited don’t you know?
On Thursday, he was tumbling, as he bundled up for all the snow.
On Friday, he was fascinated he tracked the storm from high and low,
On Saturday, he felt suspense-meaning eager,
for this winter storm to blow.

But eventually he realized- which means he learned,
the snow would never be….
Because he was a starfish who lived deep down in the sea.
He felt a little foolish -which means silly,
although the snow he did adore,
So he decided very quickly to swim up and meet the shore!

On Sunday, he was stunned-which means he felt a bit of shock
As he dreamed about the snow- it arrived, while he laid out upon a rock!
All week Super Starfish was enthusiastic- meaning excited,
to see something called snow,
Although he had to travel a bit, he then drifted back down below.
Super Starfish is so clever which means he’s really smart.
He knew what his goal was, right from the very start.
The snow would come again and he’d know just where to look,
If he forgets how to get there, he’ll follow the steps inside this book.






The End Song:
The end… the end, that is the end my friend. I hope you like the story! The end, the end, the end!



This children’s story has a fun rhyme scheme, educates students about the days of the week and is a perfect teaching tool when discussing winter weather with ESL students who may not even know what snow is. Some less obvious concepts include positions in space such as “under“, “on” and “in“. The story  also has a variety of new words and reveals an assortment of “bigger words” that  describe feelings which go beyond the very common and sometimes under stimulating words “sad”, “happy”, and “mad”. The main character is Starfish and I think he’s unique. :)

New Vocabulary:

1.magnificent(maɡˈnifəsənt)- very good, very beautiful, and excellent. Adjective.

2.impatient(imˈpāSHənt)- quick to anger. Upset easily when approached. Short tempered and restless. Adjective.

3.fascinated(ˈfasəˌnāt)- strong interest and attention. Attracted to and draw by something.Verb.

4.eager(ˈēɡər)- in a hurry to have or do something. Wanting something badly. Adjective.

5.decided (dəˈsīdəd)-to make a choice. To figure out a solution or to settle.Verb.

6.stunned (stənned)- dazed and shocked. Surprised and temporally unable to react.Verb. 

7.enthusiastic (inˌTH(y)o͞ozēˈastik)- showing enjoyment. Feeling eager and very interested. Adjective.

8.clever (ˈklevər)- very smart, able to understand quickly. Adjective.

Practice: Unscramble the new vocabulary words

1. tagmniifcen is_____________.
2. reeag is________.
3. dddciee is _________.
4. vrelec is___________.
5. ipatentim is__________.
6. citnaedsf is _________.
7. nundets is __________.
8. suthasicitne____________.

Grammar point: Capitalization

When is capitalization necessary? How to know when to capitalize (use an uppercase letter) at the start of a word. Rule #1 is to always use a capital letter at the start of a sentence and after a period. Rule #2 is to Capitalize proper nouns, titles, and names. There are other rules to learn when using a capitalization, but rule #1 and #2 will help with the most common uses of capitalization.

Exercise:
Write a brief description of what you do each day of  the week and include capitalization throughout when needed. Include at least 20 words that need to be properly capitalized in your written description.

To learn more about capitalization refer to the article below:
https://www.boundless.com/writing/textbooks/boundless-writing-textbook/style-structure-grammar-5/mechanics-32/using-capital-letters-148-3239/





2 comments:

  1. I really like the way that you incorporate the story as part of your blogs! I would have never thought of that. It was a very creative way to get the students involved and motivated. Great exercises and grammar points!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gina, your creativity never ceases to amaze me! I really like how you incorporated a lot of different items such as prepositions, capitalization, vocabulary, and the weather - all into a fun poem. I would certainly want to use this if I was teaching younger ESL students!

    ReplyDelete