1st and 2nd graders learned about nouns and verbs today, as we played a bit of a reverse-MadLibs game. Each student was given three verb cards and three noun cards, and they made up silly stories using the words on their cards. Most of the students got through this activity twice - and a few of the kids even had fun making up stories to go with their friends' cards. It was a blast to see their creativity come to life! In addition to just putting pen to paper, penmanship, word spacing, and over-all confidence is a big focus for 1st and 2nd grade writers.
I often enjoy politically charged discussions with the middle schoolers, and Monday was no exception. We discussed the Shawnee Mission East senior who tweeted her disapproval of Gov. Brownback and the rumor that President Obama had changed the name of the tree currently decorated in the White House from Christmas tree to "holiday tree". I researched the latter issue, and found it to be incorrect; however, Rhode Island Governor Chaffee has, indeed, done this in his state. Like the Shawnee Mission East student who made headlines last week, our Mighty Oaks middle schoolers have opinions on many political issues. In an effort to make our voices heard in a constructive way, our middle schoolers are writing letters to Governor Chaffee. While we are not constituents of Governor Chaffee's, I applaud the students' efforts, intentions and maturity as they stand up for what they feel is right and question what they do not understand. As future voters, the ability to discern fact from fiction and string together a few meaningful thoughts in a respectful way is invaluable. I will mail the letters next week (with the return address being Mighty Oaks).
Additionally, through the letter writing exercise, I found that many of the students had never written a letter before, did not know their address, and did not know how to address a letter or envelope. As email, blogs, Facebook, and online shopping and banking streamline just about every part of life, I can see that old fashioned letter writing has lost its appeal and young people are losing valuable life skills. We will do these exercises again in the future, so please feel free to let me know if you hear of anyone who might like to receive letters from our Mighty Oaks students. (Anyone have a loved one deployed?)
