Sentence Building: Complex-Compound Sentences with Hyperbole

Our newest lesson in sentence building involved starting with "The storm approached" and writing a complex-compound sentence with hyperbole. Check out the results.

As the horrifying tornado whirled towards the poor frightened village, the wet cable lines dropped to the black ripped apart ground, and the sprinting villagers got in the storm cellar as fast as possible. by Brianna

While the spinning sign top tornado dove towards the ground at the bull tournament, the over excited bulls leaped into the air and floated higher and higher, and the frantic bird sped down the sidewalk at race car speed. by Tori

The frantic great-horned owl flew as fast as a rocket to it’s hollow, and the cold chipmunks burrowed underground for warmth when the ice cold blizzard froze the leafless forest. by Adam

As the giant hurricane rose above the ocean water, the gigantic tugboat started floating towards the shore at lightning fast speeds, and the surfers started running towards the city. by Andrew

While the destructive tornado twisted the peaceful town, the scared people drove a million miles an hour, and the freaked- out dogs ran like their life depended on it. by Ben

As the horrifying twister emerged, the frightened farmers sprinted at race-car speed towards the storm cellar, but George ran for a ditch. by Nick

As the twisty turny funnel touched the ground, the horses stomped their hooves one thousand times a minute, and the frantic boy tried to calm them down. by Codey

When the robust hail storm crashed on the ground like a toddler at the beach, the cowardly cowboys screamed as loud as a jet plane taking off, and they went to warn the town. by Amanda

As the tornado approached, a little old lady walking across the street screamed as loud as a jet pack, and she got swooped up by the tornado before landing on a horse. by Alison

The alert lifeguards waved their warning flags at rampaging bull speeds as the blinding sand storm blew at hurricane force, and the sun bathers scattered off the beach. by Austin

When the spiraling tornado zoomed to the shipshape barnyard, the scattered sheep dashed like a speeding race car out of the field, and the crazy farmer ran to his truck and drove away. by Molly

The frantic children ran around the school one hundred times looking for shelter, and the teachers ran into their cars leaving the school safely with the children as the skinny tornado dashed towards the tremendous school at like one million miles an hour. by Richie

The hollering children ran lightning fast, and the parents chased after them as the destructive hurricane glided towards the town. by Heather M.

When the antagonistic tornado blitzed toward the dilapidated pasture, the rushed farmer dashed to his car as fast as the speed of light, but the pickup truck flew away into the tornado. by Cameron

As the dusty sandstorm blasted through the desert, the super pointy cacti blew in many directions and the cacti gardener jogged at the speed of a car. by Campbell

Adam, Austin, Richie, and Heather changed from starting the sentence with a dependent clause to inserting it after a simple sentence. They get extra points for editing their sentences by changing the order of words and phrases!

Building Sentences: More complex sentences with metaphors

Our starter sentence was: The boats danced. We made a complex sentence and included a metaphor.

As the old chestnut sailboat skipped along the waves of the light blue sea, the surprisingly sneaky thief became a fox sneaking through the night into the boat owner’s home. By Dallas

As the wonderful cruise ship tap-danced on the water, the sea sick passengers turned into sick green monsters on the boat to Africa. By Nick

Although the sailboats jiggled in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the partying people danced and became giraffes looking over their friends because the boat was so crowded. By Aaron

When the supersonic wild speedboat skittered across the water, the excited, frightened tubers turned into macaws as they screamed their heads off while going over a huge wave. By Adam

As the rickety, old pirate-ship jerked from side to side in the middle of Indian Ocean, the sleep deprived crew raged and became stampeding bulls because they wanted to sleep. By Amanda

While the speedy hovercraft bounced, the giant waves got closer and closer to the hovercraft and became a bowling ball crashing into the boat. By Andrew

While the pin-striped yacht bounced and became a bouncy ball, the salt infested waves crashed against the yacht in the stormy sea. By Austin
While the good smelling maple wood toy boats were being dancing ballerinas in the lake, the huge crystal-like wave pushed the boats under the water. By Ben

As the antiquated canoes flopped and the waves jiggled, the boats turned into tumbling marshmallows on the hot sand of the summer beach. By Brianna
After the lightning fast speed boat stopped bouncing, all of the wacko passengers became dolphins and started jumping in the ocean. By Richie
When the complex onyx black yacht waltzed across the ocean at dusk, the 25 foot wave lunged across the ocean top and became baseball players diving for the base. By Cameron

While the fisherman’s violet kayak swayed on the glistening lake’s water, the sleeping campers became hibernating bears tucked away in their sleeping bags. By Heather B.

Although the water-worn happy steam-boats fox-trotted in the vast blue snake of the Mississippi, the people of the flooded boggy land around it left the snaky river to get to higher ground. By Kayla

Although the huge white yacht was a dancing zebra in the wavy water, the nice boat did not make me sick. by Codey

Two new Donors Choose Projects

I have listed two new Donors Choose Projects for my classroom. They are already half-funded by the Nashua School Department (as long as the other half is funded). Any donation large or small is appreciated.

The first project is for a student-use digital camera use for when we do the many animoto, glogster projects, and other classroom porjects. It is called Classroom Camera for Digital Storytelling and you can click on the link to find out more.

The second project is for mutliple copies of "Love that Dog" and "Hate that Cat" as well as cd versions of the books. I have used some of the poems in these books for the teaching of poetry for over 20 years (even before the books were written). When Sharon Creech wrote these books, they were a natural for sharing with my classes each year and to continue the poetry writing. These year's pet poetry projects on Glogster took the creative writing of poetry to a whole new level. You can find Classroom Poetry Writing Using Classic Poems As Models at this link.

Building Sentences: Complex sentences with metaphors

We started with "The sun rose." and developed these complex sentences. Can you find at least one metaphor in each sentence?

When the blistering morning sun lifted its arms and stretched above the beautiful sky, the sound asleep children stampeded like bulls to get to the bus stop. by Molly

Though the beautiful golden sun drifted into the dull sky, the lazy sloths did not wake up. by Aaron

As the dull morning sun started sprouting over the mountain, the excited, sleepy kids turned into cheetahs and sped downstairs on Christmas morning. by Adam

As the scorching evening sun levitated its big body above the sky, the sleepy children began sleep walking and became zombies. by Andrew

As the scorching morning sun lifted into the sky, the moaning snoring children became zombies getting ready for school. by Austin

When the fiery morning sun arose its smiling face out of the towel sky, the sleepy campers started to get up out of bed. by Zak

As the awakening sun emerged through the sheet of clouds, the drowsy and tired friends started rolling around because they thought that they were balls tumbling down a hill. by Cameron

While the beating yellow sun grew to be a balloon over the blue sky, the small happy village became yawning bears in the morning. by Codey

While the glimmering sun grew to be a sun flower over the horizon, the cranky children sobbed like little babies for candy. by Heather M.

When the feisty sun rose up into a giant dandelion in the sky, the whole sleepy village woke to the big yellow flower in the ocean of atmosphere. by Kayla

Building Sentences: Complex Sentences with a Metaphor

We are working on building complex sentences. A complex sentence is made up of one independent clause (simple sentence) and one or more dependent clauses. The dependent clause begins with a subordintating conjunction such as: after, because, since until, whenever, although, before, unless, when,and while.

For this assignment our initial sentence was The alarm rang.

After the mind-blowing alarm stopped screaming, the wild 5th grade kids turned into monkeys and started jumping on the desks. by Richie

As the flashing fire alarm rang in the congested theater, the startled zebras sprinted toward the exit. by Aaron

While the irritating fire alarm rang like a horror movie scream, the annoying kids became running deer. by Amanda

When the horrifying alarm rang, the crazy construction worker became a bull and rammed the clock into the wall. by Andrew

After the musical alarm rang, the sleepy snoring grandpa became a slingshot and threw the alarm clock against the wall. by Ausin

After the horrifying fire alarm rang while screeching its own heart out, the 6 year olds all became stampeding elephants sprinting to their nearest exit. by Brianna

The sleepy 10 year old became a psycho and smashed the alarm clock to smithereens when the deafening alarm rang. by Cameron

When the loud alarm rang during the test, the crazed students became charging bulls finding their way out. by Codey

When the agitating alarm screamed during a math test, the annoying kids were trembling chihuahuas. by Dallas

The enthusiastic 2nd grade students became charging rams heading to an exit after the vibrating fire alarm screamed its heart’s desire out. by Heather B.

The sleepy girl was a noisy stampede of elephants when the head aching alarm went off for school. by Heather M.

The once asleep children cried like someone breaking a bone after the screaming alarm clock rang its little bells out. by Molly

After the weird alarm beeped its head off, the frightened students became elephants as the charged for the exit. by Nick

After the annoying alarm screamed is beeper out, the terrified students became a charging stampede in the parking lot. by Adam

After the echoing alarm screamed a dreadful cry, the anxious kids became elephant raging after a lion protecting their herd. by Zak

I angrily made my foot turn my sounding alarm clock into a ball and then I made my foot kick it across the room although the blazing loud thing only wanted me to get to school on time. by Kayla

All the stampeding bulls ran outside in a wacky fashion because the horrifying alarm rang.by Alison

As the disco music alarm played its music, the laughing hyenas danced. by Cady

If the annoying alarm rang during the spelling test, the panicking students would be stampeding bulls. by Ben

Student Piclits

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Aaron


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Alison


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Amanda


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Austin


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Cady


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Cameron


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Campbell


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Cody


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Dallas


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Heather


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Heather


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Molly


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Nick


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Richie


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Tori


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com Zak

New York City

Our reading selection this week come from the book A Cricket in Times Square. In fouth grade the students read another section from this book that took place in Times Square. This weeks selection takes place in Central Park. The Class like this page with panoramss of New York City from different viewpoints. They wanted to explore some more at home, so enjoy!


Spring in Central Park. in Central Park


There are plenty of different panoramic views you can choose from on these pages from all over New York City. Make sure you right click on the mouse to try the "little planet" and other views. Have fun and explore! When in the Big Apple do not get in a cab with a crazy cab driver!



Manhattan in New York City

Students Portfolio on Glogster

Here is a sample student portfolio Glogster showcasing some of Cameron's work this year.