Blog 4: Dear Taqueria

This past week we have been discussing personal writing. I didn’t realize there were so many different types of personal writing and that I use many of those types of everyday. My three favorites are writing in my journal, texting and sending emails. I like to write in my journal so I can keep track of my life. I usually remember the big things but usually forget the small. Even recently when I go back and look at my past journals and read what I wrote, it’s pretty crazy. I can relive how happy I was or how angry I was. As for texting, I just prefer to text than to talk on the phone. When I am talking on the phone I can’t really get things done. But when I text, I can say what I have to say, go and do something and text again. I also love to send people emails. I know it sounds weird but many people really don’t email each other anymore. It’s all about MySpace and keeping in touch like that. I prefer an old fashioned email.

Well yesterday in class we made an “All about Me” book (it was so much fun by the way). One of the things that I wrote is that I LOVE Mexican food. I love enchiladas, tacos, gorditas and the list goes on and on. I love to make these foods but I love it even more when I go out to a Taqueria and they make them for you. So what I have decided to do it write a letter to Taqueria expressing my love for their food.



Dear Taqueria,

I have been going to you now for many years now and you always have just what I need. Whether I just want carne guisada tacos or Enchiladas de Verde’s, it always comes on a nice plate and taste wonderful. I try to make the same magic happen at home but it doesn’t come out like yours. It comes out good but not the same. And I really don’t mind waiting in my car for 20 minutes for a gordita. As long as it comes out fresh and its picadillo, there shouldn’t be any problems. So thank you. Thank you for all the years of providing me tasty food and always being there when I needed you most! Love you!

Lauren

Blog 3 Cont'd: If I Won....

If I won five million dollars, I probably wouldn’t even believe it! It’s not like people win five million dollars every day. Once I get over the initial reaction I would call my parents and tell my mom. My mom is always the first person I call when something good happens! Then I would probably call the rest of my family and let them know the good news! For me, five million dollars is a lot of money and there are so many things I could do with that. I could buy a plane, have my own movie theater, or even buy an ice cream truck. There are endless possibilities of what you can do with that amount of money! If I really had to choose what I would do with five million dollars, I would have my cupcake bakery, buy a new car and house, and use what I have left over for my family.

For some reason, I am completely obsessed with cupcakes. I love to make them and I love to eat them. But I do have more fun making then than eating them. So because of this obsession, I have always wanted a cupcake bakery. I have only been to one cupcake bakery in my life and it was nothing like what I imagined a cupcake bakery to be like. When I think of one, I think of colors and fun designs and kids stuff and this place was nothing like that. This bakery was more of an adult coffee place, like a Starbucks except they sold cupcakes. Any who, I would open a cupcake bakery with all different kinds of cupcakes. There are some many to choose from and I would like to think that I would try to make them all. I know that it is not realistic, but for now it is! I would have a big party room in the back hopefully it would tons of fun and really successful.

In view of the fact that I would have a cupcake bakery, I would want some type of new transportation. This is when I would finally go out and by my new 2010 Ford Mustang Cobra! I have five million dollars now, I can afford it! My mustang would be dark blue, with the two white stripes down the middle. That is all I would need for me to be happy with it. Now that I have a new car, I’m going to need a new house. I would like a simple one story home with three bedrooms, three baths and maybe a room for an office. I don’t want too big of a house because that just more that I’m going to have to be cleaning. No, thank you.

Now that I have everything that I would want for myself, I use the remainder of the money for my family members. I would say I have already spent a million dollars just on my stuff alone, so that would leave four million. I would pay everyone’s debts. Everyone owes money to someone for something. And to not have to worry about that anymore would seem like a weight has been lifted off everyone’s shoulders. Depending how much everyone’s debt was, I would go from there. If I had money left over( and I hope I would) I would like to take my whole family, all 30 of us, on a nice tropical vacation. We all really don’t get to spend much time together anymore since we are all adults and have our own lives. So it would be to go on a week vacation and just get away. I think everyone deserves that every once in a while.

Blog 3: Writing is a PrOcEsS!!!

As we all know, writing is a process. In this process there are five key features. The five features in order are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. In the prewriting process, students get to choose a topic, figure out the purpose of the paper and create ideas. When students get to choose their own topic, their paper usually comes out stronger because they are writing about something they are actually interested in. When students need to come up with interesting ideas, they can actually engage in “rehearsal activities”. Basically when students take field trips, read books or even just view videos, they are gathering ideas from what they are doing and engaging in rehearsal activity.

In drafting, this is when students put their own ideas down on paper. It is best for students to skip lines when they write so they can leave space for revisions. The students usually mark ROUGH DRAFT so everyone knows it is their first copy. When writing the rough draft, spelling or punctuation doesn’t matter. The main point of the rough draft is the students content. In revising, students can do multiple things like: rereading their draft, sharing their drafts with others students aka “writing groups” or conferencing with the teacher. I would say the students would enjoy the writing groups a lot because they get to share with the fellow classmates and get the opportunity to get feedback to make their paper better.

In the editing process, students should proofread to find errors in their papers and correct these errors. When students proofread, they should be looking for any and all kinds of errors. These errors can range from spelling to punctuation to just having the wrong word all together. (Having the wrong word has happened to me, many times.) When students edit their paper they can use an edit checklist. With this checklist, students should have an editor to also look over their paper. Both the author and the editor go over the paper and through the checklist to make sure they find all mistakes. Once they believe they have found all the mistakes, they can correct them and move on to publishing! Publishing is the final step in the writing process. Students can share their writing with others, make final copies of the writing or read from the authors’ chair. Examples of students sharing their writing are: sending it to a pen pal, submitting their work to a writing contest, reading it at a school assembly or even sharing it with their parents.

My favorite as a child was making the final copies. I remember when we got the chance to write a story, publish it and make it into a book. I wrote about the twelve months in a year. I was so proud of myself when I finished it. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. That is something I will never forget, especially since my parents still have the book!

Blog 2: Make Reading Fun!

Today in class we went over the book, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake.” I had never heard it before and it was a really cute book. Basically the book it about a pig who gets a pancake and then she wants syrup. After she gets the syrup, she wants a bath. This routine keeps going on until she ends up back at the pancake. This is what you call a circular story. With this type of story, you start in a certain place and have events that follow and end back in the same starting place; like a circle. The book we made in class is a great example of way we can use a circular story. By creating the book, we got to come up with our own ideas, work together as a group and come up with an interesting story. Since we were all in college our example was good because it was about going to college and getting a degree. For a second grader, to incorporate the same idea it would be better to use ideas that would relate to them. Another example of how we could use it in the classroom is to have the students predict what is going to happen next. It is always fun to make a prediction and to see if it comes true. In the book, “If You Give a Pig a Pancake”, after the pig gets all sticky, you could ask “What do you think she will want to do next?”

As I have said many times before, I love to read! I find great enjoyment out of it and it can really relax me. With that said, I want all my future reading students to love it as well. I know that isn’t likely going to happen but a girl can dream. A lot of students really don’t like reading because they don’t think its fun but there are many ways to make it fun. Here are a few examples:

1. If a child is reading with a parent or a buddy, they can “Popcorn Read”. Basically the parent and students or buddy and student take turns reading. When a word gets too hard to pronounce or the child gets really frustrated, they can say “popcorn” and it will be the other person’s turn.
2. Have students partner up and read together. This always makes it more fun.
3. In a classroom, have a variety of books.
4. Have the students’ role play. When they act out the book they may find more entertaining.
5. Teachers can take turns having students bring in their favorite books and read them to the class.
6. Teachers can play “Picture Detective” with the class. The teacher can have students flip through a book and with the pictures describe what they this is going to happen. After the teacher reads the story, they can see how well they did.