At Bemiss we have our favorite authors and genres. We are just beginning to publish our thoughts about some of our favorite books. Who are your favorite authors? Let us know if you have a suggestion of a new book to read. Add a comment if you read the same book and agreed with our reviewer.

Dear Jeff Kinney,

        Thank you for making Dairy of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules. I like this book because it is funny and it has great words. It is just plain awesome. It’s funny when Greg wants to join the water jazz team because it is all old ladies and he has to wear tight bottoms and when he wraps himself in toilet paper because he is cold. Please make more books just as funny as Dairy of a Wimpy Kid one and two. What made you want to write this book?

        Thank you,

        Brittany Stafford

Dear

Dea

Categories: Book Reviews and Letters
No Comments »

Mrs. Adams’ second grade students are expert observers of nature. They have honed their observation skills, and here you will see how poetic their observations are.

Autumn leaves
Swirl around and round
They also swish and swirl.
Leaves look like
Golden little sparkling
Stars glowing at night.
Leaves feel like crunchy
Crackers getting smashed.
Leaves and berries smell like
Minty mints you eat to make
Your breath smell good.
Leaves are great
To have in our class.
By Michaela

Autumn leaves swirl in the beautiful sun and the sky
And it shines down to the porch and it flows
Leaves shaped like a bear or any shape,
That god is good at drawing a lot of things
Leaves feel fragile
Purple leaves feel soft and
Berries smell like they are turning green for a little while
By Baelei

Autumn leaves drift
They flip, they flop they twirl
Like stars that fall gently down.
Leaves feel pointy, crunchy,
Soft as a black kitty
By Melody

Autumn leaves falling down in the fall
Leaves are golden
Leaves look like golden little clouds and big clouds
Leaves feel like soft feathers and crunchy cereal,
Leaves and berries smell like minty.
By Jillian

Autumn leaves are golden and colorful.
Leaves look like soft moons in the sky,
And spiky twirling leaves in the world
Leaves feel like crunchy and crumbly ovals,
And leaves float in the water.
Leaves and berries smell like fresh bunch berries.
By Unique

Autumn leaves they tremble and tumble to the ground.
Leaves look like crunchy ships. Some leaves feel smooth.
Leaves and berries smell delicious.
Spiky and golden leaves are exciting to rake up
Because I can make a leaves pile.
By Savannah

Autumn leaves are fresh.
They float in the wind.
They look like orange birds.
Berries and leaves are a colorful family.
By Skyler

Autumn leaves are golden, colorful green leaves.
Leaves look like golden color in the fall.
Leaves feel like they are smooth when you feel them.
Leaves and berries smell like blossoms in the fall.
Leaves are awesome because they make the wind slow down.
By Robert

Autumn leaves twirl down trees.
Leaves look like beautiful golden oval eggs.
Leaves feel like puppy fur.
They feel crumbly.
Leaves and berries smell like snacks and blueberries.
Leaves are a beautiful garden.
By Jace

Autumn leaves are golden.
By Jarren

Autumn leaves plop down as the go.
Leaves look golden.
Leaves are orange.
Leaves are brown.
Leaves feel like a plop.
By Donnie

Autumn leaves spin round and round.
Floating in the cold water.
Leaves look like golden flowers a-shine.
Leaves feel like crunchy, hard colorful.
Leaves and berries smell minty and like flowers
By Nathan

Leaves are drifting around,
And falling around in the sky and sun.
They feel like feathers.
Leaves are gold and colorful,
And flip beautifully.
By Zacary

Autumn leaves flip and
Autumn leaves fall off their trees.
They float down to the ground.
Sometimes they twirl really hard into the ground.
Leaves look like beautiful ovals and trees.
Leaves feel like sparks
Leaves, smooth and crunchy.
Leaves and berries smell like autumn and minty.
Leaves are special,
Because leaves help you understand which tree it is.
Like this maple leaf.
By Eric

Autumn leaves wind together by spinning and spinning.
Leaves look like green and brown summer time.
Some leaves are green and white.
Leaves feel like feathers when they are fresh and clean.
When they are not clean they feel hard.
Leaves and berries smell like “fruitsies”
Leaves are great because they are different colors.
By Carrick

Autumn leaves they float and flip,
Leaves look crunchy
And they are soft and they are smooth.
Leaves feel like they are spicy and they are fragile.
Leaves and berries smell like spices and berries.
Leaves are round,
And round they twirl.
By Amelia

Autumn leaves go round and round.
Leaves look like golden sheets.
Leaves feel smooth and crunchy.
Leaves and berries smell like a big bowl of fruit.
Leaves are real soft.
By Austin

Autumn leaves flip and they fall down.
And they stay down,
In autumn some of the leaves glow orange,
They are smooth gold.
Leaves look red and green, some are orange,
Some are big, some are little.
Leaves feel crumbly.
By Matin

Leaves
I smelled the autumn leaves.
They smell like the fresh outdoors.
There are millions of bright shapes.
They are fun to jump in.
By Dillon

Categories: Science, Poetry
4 Comments »

Third graders are beginning to write their personal narratives by starting with small moments. Small moments are a short pieces of writing where the author tries to zoom in on the most memorable moment of their story. Here is a small moment by Tabitha:

My Surprise
By Tabitha

One day my friend and I were at my house swimming. My dogs were barking at the garage so me and Kristin, who was my friend, looked in the garage. It was a Pit bull! I was running for my life! Kristen was running too. The dog wasn’t running. Kristin and I got my horse rope and caught the dog. It laid down. I called my mom immediately. That dog had nine babies. We got to keep one. Its name is Lovely. She’s pretty. Her doggy mom is with her owner again. Lovely’s mom’s name is TammyFay. Lovely and her sisters and brother look different. Some were black and brown with huge wiggly dots and short ears. I love Lovely!

Here is another example of zooming in on a topic by our third grade poet, Eric. Eric captures the feelings he has when it is time to rake leaves in a delightfully illustrated poem. 

Categories: Writing
6 Comments »

First graders are learning about weather. They sang a song called Weather Fun to the tune of BINGO. Then they wrote about their favorite kind of weather. Look at their wonderful illustrations and writing. What’s your favorite kind of weather?Here is Angelina’s favorite kind of weather:  Here is Christy’s favorite kind of weather: Here is Xavier’s favorite kind of weather:  Here is Shamus’ favorite weather: 

Categories: Science
1 Comment »

We have found that one of the joys of writing is to write something just for the fun of it. Here one of our sixth grade authors has fun modeling a story after one of her childhood favorites, Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. She has a delightful way of showing, not telling about her trials and tribulations.  This author expresses that sense of frustration when everything seems to go wrong by exaggerating how bad things are. 

Madie’s Bad Day

By Madie

        When I woke up this morning I looked at my alarm clock and found out I had…five minuets to get ready! So I jolted out of my bed, only to hit my head on the wall. With a painful head ache I went to my dresser and tried to open it. Instead of my dresser opening the handle decided to rip off my dresser so I couldn’t open it. So, I collected my clothing out of my closet. And then I knew today was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. I’ve decided to move to Cle Elum. And to make it even worse I have to run to school now.

        After I got to school, I went up to the cash register in the cafeteria. I found out that I had no breakfast money, so today I can’t eat breakfast. Today is going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Cle Elum sound so nice right now. I want to live there, in fact I’m moving there.

        After hearing the deceiving, annoying bell ring, I trudged up the stairs, bracing myself for the rest of my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. When, I get home, I am moving to Cle Elum, and that’s final!

        When I was walking home I was thinking about my day, and before I knew it I was home. Not paying any attention, to the steps that lead to my door I tripped chipping my tooth. I managed to pick myself up and I opened my front door and, BAM! My sister’s attitude hit me at what seemed like 100 miles per hour. She started ordering me around like she was a drill sergeant. “Madie clean your room” and every chore you could think of and she wanted it all done in two seconds. Instead of listening to her, I went to my room and started working on the mountain of homework my teacher gave me because he said “You talk too much, Madie. You should be happy with all this homework.” I just want this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day to end! And I want to move to Cle Elum!

        If there is one good thing my evil mother can cook is…nothing! She cooked diner and she made spinach, and added taco seasoning to it. To make matters worse it was still frozen. Grosse! My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day was almost over, but I’m still moving to Cle Elum.

        Even though it’s barely 7:30 pm I decided to get ready to go to sleep before I am forced to watch a love movie. I went into my bathroom and used about 3 cups of Listerine. I went downstairs and my dad came in. He said, “There are horrible, no good, very bad days even in Cle Elum.” But, I still want to move there.  

Categories: Writing
No Comments »

Our second graders are already big time readers! Here they share about some of their favorite books. We look forward to more book reviews from the second grade!

Categories: Reading Response
2 Comments »

Our authors are using the words they learned to spell in Kindergarten as they tell their personal stories in these first drafts. Notice how they are beginning to add the “when” to their stories. As writers, our first graders will progress from “best guess” spelling to correct spelling. First graders are learning so much about words and spelling, it is so exciting to see them use what they know about words to attempt to spell unknown words. Way to go first grade authors!!!!

Categories: Writing
1 Comment »

As we begin the year, second graders are focusing on capturing the stories of their everyday life. Here they try to zoom in on one experience and write about the details that made that time special for them. Notice how they stayed focused on one topic, helping their audiences to share in their “small moments”.

The Space Needle

By Jaiden

I went to the space needle! It was awesome! You could see the ocean there was a log ship. We took pictures. There was restaurants and then went on the elevator. We were squished! There were 100 people in there! Then it was really, really, really, really, really high!!!!!!!!!! My cousin is a grownup. And all the grownups went to the top. It spins. He went behind the garbage can. My aunt Jennifer and my papa Steve both pushed him to the wall, but he smacked them. Oh yeah, my uncle turned white. He went back to the Day’s Inn,that was our hotel. All of us laughed for days and days. My grandma Lean stayed with me and Mack. We saw a black log ship. We saw tall buildings. We saw crickets. We saw some fish jumping out. The ocean was fantastic. Then we all went back to our hotel.

The Dog

By Isiah

When my brother and me were walking to the store a dog jumped on the gate and bit my brother. I was really scared. I did not know what to do. I ran across the street. I knocked on somebody’s door. I said can I use your phone please. “Why?” My brother got bit by a dog. They said yes I called my dad. I said Jesse got bit by a dog. He said I’m on my way. I said OK. He got to the hospital. Ho got 5 stitches. I hope my brother is ok.

My Dinosaur

By Abby

One day I got a dinosaur. It was a meat eater. It eats my enemies. Tani was in the back of the dinosaur. We chased my enemies together. Then my friends Mona and Essence came. We chased Jessy all day long…we fell asleep. My dinosaur brought us home. I woke up. I asked if I could have a sleep over. My mom said yes. We had dinner I fed my dinosaur. Then we watched My Little Pony’s Christmas the movie. We ate popcorn. Then we went to bed. Tani and I were awake still. I was tired, I said, “WAKE UP!” I fell off the bed! “AOWECH!” I said. “AUGH!! I woke up! I went back to bed.

Me and My Friends

By Caitlin

Me and my friends play a lot and terrific time. I love my friends they are the best. There names are Nyny and Anika. We play a lot. We play freeze tag and hide and seek and we race each other. We play Hannah Montana games. We make potions, we make perfume out of flowers. We give it away to our moms. Moms like the lotion. Me and my friends made a secret hide out. It had our diaries in it. We showed each other. Mine is full. I have fun. Our moms look for us sometimes we tell them we are hiding. They look and look. Finally we show ourselves. Me and my friends pick apples. Some have holes in them and some are brown and mushy.

Sledding with my Pop

By Braedin

My dad and I went sledding I was excited. The first time I flew off because my dad went off. It was fun until I landed, it hurt. We stopped sledding for a little bit so I could heal. And then we almost hit a tree. We were about ten inches away. I was scared. We went on the biggest hill. We went about a mile. It was awesome. Then we almost hit somebody, we screamed look out! My dad pushed his feet down on the snow. I was anxious. We stopped in time. Then I went on my own I spun out of control. It was fun then we were climbing a hill. I wanted to carry the sled. I tripped on something and I sled down. Before we left we had a snowball fight. I used the sled for a fort it was great. Then we climbed up the huge hill. And sled down my dad gave us a push and we went really close to our car. Then we went home.

Roasting Marshmallows

By Justin

One day I got to go camping with Grandma and Grandpa. It was awesome and we roasted marshmallows. Grandpa started the fire with a lighter. First we put a marshmallow on a stick. Next we put the sticks with marshmallows in the fire. I turned my stick so it got brown and crispy. Next we pulled it out of the fire. Next we let it cool down. Next we put the marshmallow on a graham cracker. Then we put chocolate on it and finally we ate it. It was yummy!

Camping

By Darius

I was home waiting for Bradley to take me camping. I packed super fantastic stuff. It was 2 hours. I was finally there. I had to wait until dark. It was finally dark. My dad put a match in the wood. I was hot, I had to move a little bit far. I turned the stick. I did not make it go on fire because I was scared. I took the marshmallow off the stick and just ate it. It tasted fantastic.

Going to the River

By Josie

One sunny day me and my family are going on my grandpas new boat. When we were on the road we stopped at a gas station. When we got back on the road my grandpa took the wrong turn. When he noticed he took a wrong turn he turned back road and we got back on track. When we saw the river we were glad. My cousin and my mom and my grandma got the boat in the river while me and my grandpa find a parking spot. Then all of us got on the boat and drove all the way out there. When we had a little drive we got on the shore to eat some lunch. When I put my feet in the water little little fish came up to my feet. When we eat up all of our lunches we all go back on the boat. I drived the boat all by myself. It was fantastic. When I got really tired I fell asleep for ten minutes then I woke up and I drived the boat again. When we got on the shore we turned off the boat. My grandpa got the truck and hooked on the boat and then we went home.

The Barbecue

By Noah

We had a barbecue our family came. We had hotdogs, hamburgers and chips. My favorite food is hotdogs with ketchup. We started up the barbecue then we put 2 of the marshmallows on the metal stick. I turned the marshmallows. They were brown. Then we took the marshmallows off the metal stick. We ate it. It tasted great. Then it was time for bed. I had a dream of the barbecue. It was an OK dream.

.

Categories: Writing
9 Comments »

Our sixth graders traveled to YMCA’s Camp Reed to experience the ropes course and work on building stronger classroom communities. As you can see by their writing and the delightful photos, this was a fun learning experience. It was rewarding to see how supportive all the students were as their classmates attempted the formidable tasks the low and high elements provided. Bemiss students welcomed new language learners, new students to our city and to our school, by working together to meet the day’s challenges.

My Experience At Camp Reed
By Amree

My experience at Camp Reed was so awesomely awesome. We walked on wires that was the hard part. It was hard but fun at the same time. My classmates were really nice. They were alsovery helpful by helping me across the wires.
I would say my biggest accomplishment was trying to walk on the wires. The wires were about a foot off the ground. I also tried to wasl the high wires. They were really high off the ground! I didn’t give up and I’m very proud of myself for not giving up.
I learned that you have to listen to each other. They have to listen to you because you might have something to say that’s important.
One thing I noticed about my classmates was they cheered for everyone. They also helped encourage people. Some people really needed to be encouraged because they really weren’t up for doing the courses. But wen we encouraged them they were more up for doing the courses.

Thoughts About Camp Reed
By Curtis

My experience about Camp Reed was fun! It was like hard doing some of the low elements courses. I did one called a water wheel. I had to climb up on another student and pull myself over the wheel.
One thing I accomplished that I am proud of Is going as high on the high element course as I could before I wanted to get down. One reason I didn’t do it all the way was I am really terrified of heights. Some other people did go up there too.
One thing I learned was working together is important. You have to cheer people on to help them on. The more you work together, the faster you can accomplish your task.
One thing I noticed about the class was we were all working together. There were no put-downs. We were all working together to help all of us get over the water wheel.

Camp Reed
By Amelia
My experience at Camp Reed was cool, a little scary, and awesome. What I liked was everyone did their best on the course. What we did there was a little scary because we went some feet up a ladder, then went then climbed up about three feet. Then we had to practice for the next part we had to do. The next thing we had to do was walk on a rope and hold onto two ropes then kiss the tree, then walk to the other end.
One thing I accomplished that I am proud of is that I could make it up the ladder that was three feet tall. Then I climbed up about three or four more feet and there were three ropes at the top, but one was for walking on and the other two ropes were to hold onto and the end was like twenty five feet away. But I made it to the end.
One thing I learned that teamwork is a lot of fun. Teamwork is a lot of fun because we all got to do a lot of fun things at Camp Reed. Teamwork is also fun because when you are on a team your team cheers for you.
One thing that I noticed about my class is that we were cheering for one another every time one of us was on the course. One more thing I noticed about my class is that when we came down from the course everyone was cheering very loudly. The last thing I noticed about my class is that we would not stop cheering until they were done with the course, and everyone would start asking how it was on the course.

Thoughts about Camp Reed
By Grace

My experience at Camp Reed was that this is the day to have fun, be responsible, show respect, show commitment, and be safe. I went through the hills, played games, and did the high ropes course that was 25 or 26 feet high.
One thing that I accomplished that I am proud of is climbing the high ropes, even even though it was scary, but I still pushed myself to do it.
One thing that I learned about myself is that I will help others pass the high ropes up above the ground and help them pass the spinning wheel. Don’t be scared of what you’re scared of, but be proud of what you are not scared of.
What I noticed about my classroom is that everyone tried to help students get through the wires that were low near the ground. We cheered on for them so that they can get over to the other side! What I appreciated about my classmates is that they made a good choice that they will be respectful for others and of other classes too.

Categories: News
No Comments »

As a way to review the parts of speech these sixth grade writers composed tongue twisters. See if you can locate the nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives in their silly sentences.

Silly Sandburn
By Shelbi

Democrat Daimio, Republican Rice
By Rickey

Categories: Writing
No Comments »