Jungle War story

Jungel wore [war].
By Joshua, J...
Once in the Rainforest A group
of stray soldiers attacked the
Cobra Hideout. The cobras kept
on spitting on the soldiers.
The soldiers kept on hitting
then [them] with their spears at the
cobras and throwing dynamite
on the hide-out. The cobras [...]

[This is a literacy task Joshua completed in school last term. It is a final draft, though not complete. His spelling has dramatically improved this term since he has been having extra help. He has been learning to ask for help with his spelling when he is unsure, and to spell more common words from memory and phonetic rules or cues.]

Letter to a friend

Dear Lauren
I hope I can come to your house soon.
I am looking forward to you coming to
my house. If it is not raining we can play
on the trampoline. If it is raining we can play
with the doll's house. We can play with the
blocks if you like playing with blocks.
See you soon,
Love, Anna. x x x x x x x o o o o o o o o

[Anna sat next to me while she wrote this and asked for help with the words she had difficulty spelling, such as "forward" and "trampoline". That is why her spelling is so well done.]

Big Ben and the Thames

Jeff found a photo frame that we have never used the other day, and since it came from England (from our Christmas with Joshua's godmother's family back in 2005,) Jeff thought it a good idea to put in a family photo from our holiday to England. Amazingly, of all the photos we took, there were only three family photos taken. And two were versions of the same; you know, where someone blinks in one so you take another. We chose the "most English", I cropped it, and here is the result:
L-R: Abigail, Jeff, Anna, me, Joshua (Sam was yet to be conceived.)