COMING SOON!!!!

I am so excited. We are working on writing reviews of our favorite fairy tales in class. I have several student who would like to post their reviews when they are ready. I hope that they will be ready some time next week.

I love being able to showcase student work and this will be a new venue for us. They were all very excited when I asked them if they would like to put them on my blog. They were so excited about being published where anyone in the world could see it. You would have thought you had given them a new Wii game or another bag of Halloween candy. Don't you love authentic publications? Watch the BLOG for their editorials!

Have a great weekend!
Donna Smith

Hank the Cowdog - Every Dog Has His day

Review: It's time for the big cattle drive, which means big responsibility for Hank. Meanwhile, what's Benny the cowdog doing on the ranch? Hank's got to find out quick--before he loses his spot as top dog. USA Today calls the hilarious Hank the Cowdog series "...the best family entertainment in years." Hank is a scruffy, smart-alecky supersleuth with a nose for danger and an eye for the ladies. And as Head of Ranch Security on a West Texas ranch, he's usually up to his ears in all kinds of amusing trouble. Whether he's called upon to bark up the sun, investigate suspicious goings-on, or defend the ranch against marauders, Hank's hilarious, hair-raising adventures will delight readers young and old alike. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/john-r-erickson/every-dog-has-his-day.htm

Poor Hank, I feel so sorry for him. He just got ousted by a blue blood border collie. He has been banished from the cattle drive and tied to a post. Not mention, all of this happened in front of the beautiful beagle, Miss Scamper. Hank has to get himself out of the doghouse and back into the good graces of High Loper and Slim. Read the book to find out how he does it!

The students today had a great time carving their branding irons out of potatoes to get ready for the big round up. We branded paper cows with our potato stamp brands. The students designed their own brands so that everyone would know whose cows they were in case they got out of the paper pen. We had lots of fun! We read our books and left poor Hank tied to the hitching post.

(Teachers: We watched a video on cowboys and ranch life on United Streaming before we started reading the books to frontload the students. We knew that they had no background knowledge of that lifestyle. It really helped. Creating the stamp brands helped them to understand how ranchers were able to tell their cows from other people's. They really had a good time. They did require some help with figuring out how to cut away the potato so that their design would be raised to make the print. Plastic knives worked great!)

We're riding out on the next doggie.....yeee haaaaa!!! Until we meet again on the lone prairie,
Donna Smith and cowhands

Reader's Theater

How much fun do the kids have reading reader's theater plays? LOTS!! The kids today had a great day reading different versions of Cinderella that were written as reader's theatre plays. We took the two versions to compare and contrast how the same fairy tale can be told in different cultures. Somethings are different, yet there is always the underlying story---wicked stepmother and stepsister(s) who treat the child of the father poorly after he dies. Then a royal person has a dance, ball, etc.... and meets the poor misused girl and falls madly in love with her. She loses a shoe, of course, and the royal guy sets off across the kingdom to find her. AND you know when the shoe fits, she wears it!!! AND they live happily ever after much to the anger of the STEPS. We got a lot of good discussion and were able to use a VENN diagram to compare and constrast the two stories. The kids really liked changing up the parts and getting to be different characters. I particularly enjoy being the wicked step mother. You know you always like the roles you can get into and since I am NOTHING like the awful Steps, I had a really good time reading with the kids. They LOVE it when you get into the roles with them. It frees them up to be dramatic TOO!

I can't wait until tomorrow....we get to brand our cows! (Pictures to come!)

Have a great day!
Donna Smith

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Donna C. Smith

You know E. L Konigsberg got it right on the nose when he described how unappreciated Claudia felt in the middle of her brothers in the humerous tale The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. She ran away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and took one of her brothers with her. She didn't realize just exactly what she meant to her family and how much her parents depended on her to help with her younger brothers.

Sometimes I get wrapped up in everything I'm doing and forget to say how great I think the teachers at Langston are. They work very hard to try and move these kids ahead. Though, I'm just the Reading Interventionist, I don't want to fail to say THANKS FOR THE AWESOME JOB YOU DO!!!! I depend on the classroom teachers to help me better do my job, and I don't want them feeling unappreciated! (I really don't want them to run away!)

You are APPRECIATED!!!

Donna Smith

Hank the Cowdog Rides into After School at Langston

If you have never read any of the 42 Hank the Cowdog books written by John Erickson, then you are missing a treat. John R. Erickson, a former cowboy and ranch manager, is gifted with a storyteller's knack for spinning a yarn. Through the eyes of Hank the Cowdog, a smelly, smart aleck Head of Ranch Security, Erickson gives readers a glimpse of daily life on a ranch in the West Texas Panhandle. This series of books and tapes is in school libraries across the country; has sold more then 6 million copies; is a Book-of-the-Month Club selection; and, is the winner of the 1993 Audie for Outstanding Children's Series from the Audio Publisher's Association.....Hank the Cowdog made his debut in the pages of The Cattleman, a magazine for adults. An obvious favorite of readers, Erickson included two of Hank's humorous stories in Maverick Book's first publishing effort, The Devil in Texas (1982). Erickson began selling books from his pickup truck at cattle auctions, rodeos, and just about any place cowboys gathered.

When Erickson started getting "Dear Hank" letters, he knew he was onto something. So in 1983, 2,000 copies of The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog were published, and sold out in 6 weeks. Not long after that first printing, the book was recorded word-for-word on audiotape. Since then, every Hank book has been recorded, making Hank the longest running successful children's series on audio ever. (http://hankthecowdog.com/erickson.htm) To read the rest of the story go to the official Hank the Cowdog website at http://hankthecowdog.com/ .

After school tutoring in reading will be reading one of the 42 Hank books, Hank the Cowdog: Every Dog Has His Day. We are planning lots of fun activities to help the students understand what life on a ranch is like. We are going to listen to some authentic cowboy trail songs and see what life is like on a working ranch. One of the activities we will be working on is creating a brand so that we can brand our cows. The students will be designing a brand for their cattle ranch. We will then create a brand using a potato. We are also going to have the students make hats and cowboy bandanas (much safer than spurs!) Those are just a couple of activities we have lined up...

Yippee Ti Yi Yay get along little doggies, we are going to have some cowboy fun!
Donna Smith

Wow! What Busy Week!

Whew, I only thought last week was busy! This week has surpassed them all. With our after school tutoring group, my regular groups, my night classes, not to mention the election, I am pooped! I think everyone at Langston is.

Our practical cycle is in full swing right now. The students have created paper hats by following the instructions. They made pudding and popcorn balls by reading the recipes. They have written letters, notes, and cards and viewed e-mails, blogs, and websites for communicating with others....They are learning lots and having fun! LEARNING IS FUN!!!

Some of our students who did well on the NWEA assessment got to take a field trip to watch for the eagles. They got some really neat pictures. We also FINALLY finished our recipe books and took them home to share with our families. Yes, even I made one with my little friend Amaya. We had a great time! I will be posting some new pictures of our recipe books and hopefully the eagles trip too!

I will try to keep my blog more current in the coming week! Have a great Friday!!

Donna Smith