Short Stories and Outdoor Free Time...

~Hey, isn't he a bit too BIG to be in 5th grade still?? Yeah, but he likes the teacher so much, he's decided to stay as long as he can. He's hoping no one will notice him behind the teacher's desk.~

~The first short story from the upcoming author and illustrator, Tresjea.~

~Here is Tresjea, proud, after finishing her short story.~

~Next up is Chyance. She requested that no photos be taken while reading was in progress. As you can see, she showed no sign of shyness once her story had been read. Chyance is one of my "Ms. Diva's" in the classroom...I don't think I've seen her wear the same outfit twice yet this year. She's a stylish chica.

~Here is Akeiyah...one of my more mature girls with a solid head on her shoulders. She wrote a fantastic short story about a young boy who finds out on his own at age 12 that he was adopted. He ventures out to find his biological mother to understand why she gave him away.~

~Akeiyah worked very hard and should be proud of her writing!~

~And this is Tiana...I can always count on her for a hug (or two). She is such a sweetie...this is my second year being Tiana's teacher (I had her two years ago when she was a third grader).~

~Doesn't she give such great smiles??~

~Kyle is my brave boy...he's the only boy who wanted to read his short story aloud. Like Tiana, I also taught Kyle in 3rd grade. It's neat to see how these children have matured and changed over the past 2+ years.~

~Kyle's story was about a dog and cat that hated one another at the beginning of the story (because they were different), but realized that despite their differences, they could still love one another. It was a very heartfelt story...Kyle does have a sweet heart.~

~Here is my Jonarhi. He is definitely the class clown, the ladies man, and Mr. Popular. He came in this morning to "explain" his hair to me...I guess Grandma permed his hair last night...and this was the outcome. Thankfully he was able to laugh along with all of his classmates at the outrageous "hairdo." Despite all of this, Jonarhi is always good for a laugh.

~He cheated....I told the students to read their stories and not look at the camera. But Jonarhi always wants to be the center of attention and just couldn't resist the urge to not get that face on camera.~

~Do you see what I mean??? He made me wait to take the picture until he had his pose just right. If anyone ever needs to laugh for awhile, come visit me at work.~

~Say "Cheeze!!!!" Tiana.~

~Swinging their cares away...Quiara and Akeiyah .~


~Larissa and Chyance seeing who can swing higher. Must everything be a competition girls??~


~Carl, showing his monkey-like skills as he hangs upside down.~

~My smiling girls: Larissa (pink), Tiana (blue), and Dajia (back).~

~Darius, showing me what he can do!~

~The mischievious boys: Ryan, Malcolm, and Kyle. They can always be found doing something they're not supposed to!!!~

~Tresjea, Jess (another one of my former 3rd grade students), and Larissa.~

~The girls were begging me to take a picture of them doing the splits. Yeah, I remember when I was that age and flexible!!!~

~My sweeties: Jess and Tresjea.~

~"Can we take a picture with CJ, Mrs. Colbert? Pleeeeeeeease???"
That's all I heard from the girls when I took the class outside this afternoon for a little bit of free time. CJ has a fairly large fan club at my school. Pictured here with CJ is (left to right) Tiana, Chyance, and Larissa. I'm sure more would have joined if they had anything to do about it.~

*I have a video of the kids playing outside coming soon...

* There will be more "short story" pictures next week. We ran out of time today, so the rest of the students who want to read their stories must wait until Monday.