Mrs. Rastin

The Fall Fair
The Fall Fair The fair is fun I see the pigs. I smell cows. I hear music. I taste hotdogs. I touch sheep. The fair is here. -Lauryn	The Fall Fair The fair is a great place! I see animals. They are furry and noisy. I smell pizza cooking. I taste french fries. I touch rides. I love the fair! -Jesse
The Fall Fair I like the fair! I see the rides. I smell the hamburgers. I hear the fun music. I taste the fries. The fries are good. I touch the animals. They are furry. The fair is fun. -Cody	The Fall Fair The fair is the best. I see chicks-yellow with orange noses. I smell big hamburgers. I hear music. It is cool. I taste good fries. I touch the furry animals. Bye fair. -Mark
The Fall Fair I love the fair! I smell the hotdogs. I hear the roller coaster. I taste pizza. I touch the cow. I see the rides. I like the fair! -Elisa	The Fall Fair I like the fair. I see roller coaster. I smell cotton. I taste pizza. I touch the truck. Whoopee! -Nathan
The Fair I love the fair! I love to see the extra cute piglets because they are so small. I love the sweet smell of hay! Do you? I always hear screaming. It almost pops my eardrums out! The fresh taste of pizza-yum yum! I always touch the animals. My last sentence to be said, "Good-bye. It's time for bed." -Shannon	The Fall Fair It is the fair. I see games. They are great. I hear music playing. I smell fries-greasy and great. I taste food. It is yummy. I touch rides moving. I wish it could last forever. -Alex
The Fall Fair I see the pig. I smell the pizza. I hear the cow when it moos. I taste the hotdogs, and I always have them. I touch the rides. Whoopee! The fair! -Roberta	Western Fair I see cows, games, pigs I hear mooing, crying, baaing, I smell hotdogs, pizza, popcorn, I taste FOOD, I touch the safety bar, and the water gun game. The fair is FUN! -Terry
The Fall Fair I see rides moving. I smell pigs. I hear cows. I taste pizza. I touch sheep. Whoopee! The fair. -Brian	The Fall Fair I see the roller coaster. I smell the hotdogs. I hear the music. I taste the pizza. I touch the sheep. I love the fair. -Jason
The Fall Fair I see insects. I smell pizza. I hear music. I taste ice cream. I touch rides. I like the fair. -Candace	The Fall Fair I see the roller coaster. I smell the hotdogs. I hear noise and music. I taste the pizza. I touch rides. The fair is the best. -Rick
The Fall Fair The fair is fun. I see games. I smell food. I hear music. I taste pizza. I touch animals. That was fun! -Joseph	The Fall Fair I love the fair. I see the pig. I see the bees. I smell cow. I hear bird. I taste egg. I touch yo-yo. I like the fair. -Myrna
The Fall Fair We are going to the fair. Cool! I see the animals. I smell the fries. I hear the sound of the roller coaster. I taste the pizza. I touch the sheep. Mom, can we go to the fair again, pppppppppppppppppppppppplease? -Danielle	The Fall Fair I see sheep. I smell pizza. I hear cow. I taste pop. I touch rides. I smell greasy fries. Clowns are funny. -Ryan
The Fall Fair I see cow. I smell hot dog. I hear music. I taste pizza. I touch the Wild Strawberry. I like the ferris wheel. I like the roller coaster. -Aaron	The Fall Fair I see the rides. I smell horses. I hear music. I taste pizza. -Daniel
The Fall Fair I see the roller coaster. I smell hotdogs. I hear the animals. I taste pizza. I touch my tickets. The fall fair. -Shanice	The Fall Fair I like the roller coaster. I like the fair. I like the wild strawberry. I like the fair. -David
The Fall Fair I see the saucer that makes you dizzy. I smell my hotdogs. I hear people screaming. I taste m-m-m french fries. I touch the fishing rods. I see the rides. I smell pizza. I hear the animals. I taste the pizza. I touch the safety bars. It is the best. -Haddrian
Assessment
School in Ontario began on September 7 this year. Three days later, the local agricultural fair began in our city-about 2 kilometres from the school. Half the children missed school to go to the fair at least once, and we went on a short, directed field trip to visit the animals (sheep and chickens this year) as a class. Since it was so close to the beginning of the year, my assessment of the children's poems was to be a baseline for the rest of the year. I needed to know simple facts about these children. Could they physically print on paper? Could they follow directions? Were they able to use their own ideas? Could they simply complete a task in a given amount of time? Were they able and was there any internal drive to make their writing better? The class, as a rule had not done much writing last year, so I was pleased that everyone completed the task in an allotted amount of time. I was not surprised that few children used the rubric given to improve their writing-even after discussions with me. That will come as the year progresses. Most of the children were able to follow the middle directions given-that of the sense lines of the poem. The beginning and ending sentences were more free choice, and these children have not had the opportunity to explore that in their writing yet. I anticipate much growth in the writings of the class as a whole as the year goes on. One thing that was not formally assessed was the enthusiasm for the writing. All of the children are eager to become writers, and that makes me very excited at the prospect of writing this year! Marking rubric: given to the class prior to the writing 0-poem not begun (refusal, very poor time management) 1-started but incomplete (poor time management) 2-for the most part, followed the basic pattern (sense poem evident) 3-completed the pattern poem including a beginning and ending thought and some thoughtful choice of words 4-completed the poem by using exciting and interesting word choice added to the basic pattern given