Charlotte's Web Collaborative Cartoons

We just finished reading Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White. To complement the book, we made a collaborative slide show. Each of the twenty-two chapters got a summary slide. Students worked in pairs to create each summary slide. Cartoons helped tell the story!

First, students picked a chapter. Then they went to Scholastic's Charlotte's Web Make-Your-Own Comic. It is fabulous!

Once there, students picked a layout. We recommend template two. 

In addition, two comic cells per slide looks best. 

There are many comic options. For example, there are characters, objects, settings, and speech bubbles. Students clicked and dragged the items that went with their chapter. The funniest item was the pile of manure that Wilbur adored to lay in. :-) 

Students took screen shots of their comic cells and then inserted the screen shots in the collaborative Google slide show. 

Behold! Our Collaborative slide show!

After learning how to make a web, we decided to make one in our room! How did we make this web?

Photo by Maddie

Which slide was your favorite?

Which character do you like the best and why?

Which character changed the most? 

If you want to be clever, leave a comment from the point-of-view of a character.  :-) Great idea, Michael.

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Congratulations, Family Blogging Month Winners!

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Congratulations to our Family Blogging Month Winners, 

Abigail, Keya, and Kate! 

Each blogger received a free kid's meal to a local restaurant, a fabulous crown to wear, and a free choice post on Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog!

Past FBM winners have made these blog posts: Meet Mr. Gallon Movie, Doggy Disobedience School, Sarah Performs Chopin, and Meet Heather's Dog, Rocky.

Photo by Mrs. Yollis 

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Mrs. Yollis created the idea of Family Blogging Month back on April 1, 2010. The participation, the quality of the commenting, the interaction and learning that transpired via this classroom blog and the 365 Project makes Mrs. Yollis beam with pride.


Not only are her students and their family members becoming superior writers, but they are also honing important digital skills like how to communicate and contribute on line, how to limit personal information on the Internet, and how to develop a dynamic digital footprint. (To hone is a fancy verb that means to improve over time.) 

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Mrs. Yollis would like to personally thank all the parents and family members for their constant support.Your participation is the key to your child's educational success!

What did you think of Family Blogging Month?

Who commented from your family?

Where did your family comment from? 

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Happy Veterans Day

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On November 11, America celebrates Veterans Day. It is the day we honor the men and women who have served in the armed forces. Veterans Day is a national holiday! 

Photo by Mrs. Yollis

Veterans: Men and women who have served in the armed forces.

Soldiers: Men and women who are currently serving in the armed forces.

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Here is a link to a wonderful BrainPop video about America's Armed Forces. 

What did you learn about the 

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast guard?

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Here is a link to a patriotic Veterans Day blog post by Mrs. Hembree in Seattle, Washington. Read about her father-in-law's service and see photos from his Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  

Photo honoring veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Joe Hembree

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To help us learn about Veterans Day and the men and women who serve, I asked my students if any of their family members are in the military or are veterans. We honor our soldiers with this blog post! 

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Meet our district superintendent, Dr. Stepenosky. As you can see, he served in the Navy. From 1990 to 1994, he was on the USS Chancellorsville which was a guided missile cruiser. It was 9,000 tons and had a crew of 330. Notice the destroyer in the background. 

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Meet Abigail's Uncle Ming. He is a major in the Air Force and is stationed in Qatar! Today we looked for Qatar on the world map. Where is our soldier located? 

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Meet Chris, Abby's uncle. He is in the Air Force stationed at March Air Force Base (AFB). March AFB is located in California. Chris is serving in the 452nd Aerospace Medical Squadron at March AFB and is in his 6th duty station. What is a squadron? What does he mean "6th duty station"?

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Meet Kate's grandfather, Elbert. He served in the Marines: 

August 1965 - December 1965 Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California / January 1966 - February 1967 Chulai, Vietnam /

March 1967 - May 1967 Camp LeJune, North Carolina /

June 1967 - June 1968 American Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / July 1968 - July 1969 American Embassy, Montevideo, Uruguay / July 1969 - Discharged Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California.

We thank Elbert for his service and for his contributions to our Family Blogging Month post! 

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Meet Tom, Nicholas' grandfather. (Nicholas is my former student.) Tom was a Navy officer in World War II. He was a navigator on the USS Shaula in the Pacific Theater. He used celestial navigation to navigate the ship. Today they use satellites, but are going back to the celestial navigation he used 70 years ago. The reason is the threat of attacks on the satellites.

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Thank you for reminding the children in your class that many of us served in the military. It would please us greatly as the grandparents of Jock to recognize us for our service. Grandmom was a navy nurse stationed at the San Diego Naval Hospital caring for wounded Marines and Navy personnel from 1962 to 1965. 

I served in the Navy spending one year in Vietnam as a surgeon with combat Marines. I served from 1964 to 1969. 

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Meet Sawyer’s grandfather Thomas. He was an officer in the United States Air Force, with active duty assignments from 1962 to 1969 in the United States, Germany and Southeast Asia. He was actually in Vietnam when Sawyer’s dad was born. He retired as a major after thirteen additional years as a reserve information officer for the 440th Reserve Tactical Airlift Wing in Milwaukee. We honor his service every year on Veteran’s Day.

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Meet Lily's Aunt Eileen, Uncle Steven, cousins Ben and Samantha. Eileen and Steven have served in the Navy for the past 25 years. They met at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Steven is a pilot and flew planes for the Navy.  Eileen is a supply officer and has earned the title of Captain. They current live in Virginia Beach.

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Meet Lily's great-grandfather, Charles Armond Wright. He served in the Army during WW II in Germany and Italy. He helped free the prisoners from the concentration camps. 

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Meet lieutenant Ted Fundoukos, Chloe's (Kostaki's sister) Godfather. In the Greek orthodox tradition, he is family. Ted went to the Naval Academy and served in a submarine!

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Meet Abigail's Uncle Roger. He retired from the Navy last year. He was a Captain in the Medical Corps. Roger served all over the world including the Pacific Rim as well as Europe. Here is a picture of his family from a few years ago. Abigail and her siblings love playing with them at family reunions.

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Are any of your relatives or friends veterans?

Please tell us about them and thank them for their service to America!

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