The Important Thing about Mrs. Costa

 How Do Writers Use Funneling?

Recently the children completed a class book entitled The Important Thing about Mrs. Costa based on Margaret Wise Brown's classic, The Important Book. The children were taught the skill of "funneling" an idea and writing about that specific topic. They added details to support their topic and each student completed a page in our classroom book. We recently presented our work to Mrs. Costa and the children were so excited when she read it aloud, every writer was beaming with pride.  Thank you Mrs. Costa for working so hard to make Steward School a safe and fun place to learn!

Vincenzo and Janey proudly present our work to Mrs. Costa

Here are some important facts we uncovered...

The important thing about Mrs. Costa is that she is the principal of Steward School.

She drives a black car,

she keeps us safe at school,

she always wears a walkie-talkie,

she always says hi in the hallway,

she always smiles,

she stays calm at unexpected fire drills,

she has a daughter who's in 2nd grade,

she makes assemblies fun,

she's very tall, but not as tall as Mr. Costa,

she's thoughtful and kind,

she buys supplies for our school,

she has G.R.I.T.,

But the important thing about Mrs. Costa is that she is the principal of Steward School.

The children were mesmerized while Mrs. Costa shared our classroom book.

Fabulous Fables and Folktales

The children recently read a variety of fables and folktales from different cultures, determined the differences & similarities to one another, made comparisons to similar versions, determined the elements of each, decided on the moral, or lesson and finally worked hard to relate that lesson to their own life.  They were thoroughly engaged, and as a final culminating project we have shown all we have learned through our book reports and the Fantastic Fables and Folktales iMovie below. 

Click here for our movie!

  Please be sure to leave a comment below to share your thoughts about our hard work.  

Personification, or the ability for animals to think, act or speak as humans is an element of both fables and folktales.

We reviewed the important elements of retelling a tale, and remembered it's important to restate the question in your answer.

The children have become experts in determining the differences between fables & folktales.

Working with a reading buddy, students identified the key elements in Stone Soup.

Common Core Standards Addressed in this Unit

RL. 2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

RL. 2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

RL. 2. 3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

RL. 2.6. Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

RL. 2. 7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Corresponding College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standard 

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

RL. 2. 9. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.