Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Student Narrative: Living Wild


Living Wild by Savannah P.
660 Words


                I woke up from my deep slumber to the sound of water sloshing around, my littermate and best friend, Lily, prodding my side with her paw. I groaned. “What do you want Lily?” I rolled on my soft belly with a sigh and closed my eyes. Lily replied with a scared, shaky meow, “Sunny, look at the floor! It’s flooded!”

                I opened my eyes and saw that Lily was right. The water rolled into my soft bed, and I scrambled to my paws. Just then, I realized that my housefolk were howling, trying to get some of their precious objects into their car. Then, all of a sudden, they just drove off, with no warning.

                O stared after the, wondering, that they would come back for me. Lily was shaking beside me, and I knew that she was thinking the same. So we just sat there waiting, while the water rose up around us, already at Lily’s neck. She’s smaller than I, and it was only just up to my chest.

                All of a sudden Lily blurted out, “They’re not coming back. They won’t until the flood is gone. And that won’t happen in a long time, will it?
 I was about to tell her that they would come back, that they always would, but in my heart, I knew that would be a lie. I muttered sadly, “No. No, they won’t. We need to get out of here, maybe live like those tigers we see on those books. Wild.”

                I stalked out of the house and jumped on the fence. “You coming?” She nodded, and we set off to the forest. While we were looking for a sheltered spot, it started pouring down rain. The drops stung like bees, but eventually, I found a hollow tree that would have to do for the night.

                All of a sudden, I realized something I’d forgotten. Food. I had forgotten food! How could I be so dumb as to forget the most important thing of all times? I remembered that the tigers in the stories would hunt for their prey. I couldn’t do that. I didn’t know how! Lily walked up to me, noticing that I was still for quite a while. She said calmly, “As your loyal companion, I would like to know just this one thing. What are you so worried about? We’ll be fine!” She sat back, clearly waiting for an answer. “Oh, it’s just, well, we don’t have any food. And we won’t for a while if we don’t hunt. Do you have any idea now?” She shook her head and replied. “Not really, but there’s no reason we can’t learn how!”  By now the sun was sinking below the beautiful horizon, and I yawned loudly, so I curled up in the tree and fell asleep.

                I woke up with the sun beaming down on my soft golden fur. I stretched and yawned, and suddenly I realized that we had no food. I heard Lily softly snoring, so I figured I’d have time to catch some food before she woke up.

                I jumped back into the tree; the smell of mouse woke Lily. She sat up ad her eyes widened at the sight of food. “Eww. If you’re sure that’s safe to eat, Sunny, we will,” she stated calmly. I replied, “Of course I’m sure! I even caught it myself!” So we sat down and ate the whole mouse.

                Quite a few days went on like this, and soon the flooded lake wasn’t flooded anymore, so we trekked back home where our housefolk were, waiting for us on the driveway.

                We ran up to them, purring and meowing with joy. Soon, our housefolk got some work done on their house so that if it flooded ever again, the house wouldn’t.

                I’ve spent the rest of my life, so far, wishing that horrific adventure wouldn’t happen again, and it hasn’t. Therefore I am thankful.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Student Narrative: The End



The End by Noah D.
621 Words

                War has broken out due to feared dragons and ruthless giants. The war started by a raid on the most important cities in the world; New York, France, Washington, and other cities like that. For the first four years the armies have kept the giants and dragons from destroying everything. That  all changed two years ago. That was when the serpents came and cut of supply lines that helped out every one. Slowly, one by one, humans started dropping dead like flies. Now there are about 1,000-1,500 people still on the face of the Earth. My name is John and I have survived the six years of war. Now I am faced with my greatest fear…..death. I am one of the ninety-eight humans I America that want to go to Asia to meet up with the resistance. This is the story of me and how I found my friends.

                “Help,” yelled a voice in the distance. I stopped and looked around holding my makeshift spear. “NO PLEASE NO.” There it was again. I sprinted in the direction of the noise. Once I found the kid, a dragon had taken him to a camp of two dragons and four giants. I threw the spear with all of my might and hit the giant that had picked up the kid. As it started falling backwards in shock, the id was able to free himself. Later that day, I found the id. “Mike, my name is Mike,” he told me. That was when a id ran into us knocking us to the ground. Two giant’s showed up and picked us up. They took us to the camp again. The giant that I had hit with a spear was dead. We were tied up to a pole as they started a fire. Thinking fast I took out my pocket knife and started to cut the rope. Once my rope was cut I gave it to Mike and ran for my spear. A dragon spotted me and chased me until I reached my spear. I threw it down the dragon’s throat. The dragon fell to the ground. By then Mie had cut his and the other kid’s rope. We all got out of there. Once we got to a safe location he told us his name was Frank.
                “Nice to meet you Frank,” I said to him.
                “I need to get to Asia to meet up with my family,” Frank said.
                Mike and I both said, “The you should come with us, because we’re going to Asia.”
                The Nest day we went to my hidden boat and loaded it up with food, weapons and water. “Okay, who is ready to become serpent food?” I joked. But, that did happen halfway through our trip. We ran into a serpent. Fran, Mike and I picked up our spears and threw them towards the dragon. Mike’s missed but mine and Franks were dead on. Frank hit the forehead and I hit the left eye. Worst decision I ever made. The serpent sprang into action using its tail to wipe off Fra and Mike into the ocean. Then I screamed into the air….drum roll please, a hydra. A hydra is a breed of dragon. The hydra jumped on the boat and flung me into the sky and down into the water. The weight of the dragon destroyed the boat. We swam to Asia. It was hard! In the end Mike was attacked by a baby serpent and dislocated his left leg and right arm.

                I the end, Mike, Frank and I made it to Asia. Frank found his family. Mike and I were safe for now, but who knows when they will find us here.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Student Narrative: Even Superheroes Can Be Afraid – The Story of Solidman


Even Superheroes Can Be Afraid – The Story of Solidman
By Skyler K.
661 Words

            Everybody knows that there’s a lot of superheroes in this world. You know, Superman, Batman, Spiderman – the usual. But, you probably have ever heard of my superhero – his name is Solidman. He had an usual power. He could turn into any solid object by clicking his fingers. As you can imagine, this could be a very useful power. There was just one problem. Solidman was afraid to use his power because, there was one thing that could stop him for good – blitzoid.
            You see, Solidman came from a planet far away from earth. Years ago Solidman was forced to move off of his home planet. Then it exploded into a million pieces and fell onto the earth. These pieces of his home planet were radioactive and were called Blitzoid. For some reason, Solidman was horribly allergic to Blitzoid and it would melt the solid objects of matter that he turned into. This could spell doom for Solidman, and he was always in fear of that happening.
            One day he was walking down the street and saw a bunch of bullies picking on this kid who was kind of short. These bullies had been in a dark alley and the kid was walking by on the sidewalk. When he walked by they began coming towards him in a mean way. The kid bolted and began to run, but the bullies were faster and were almost on top of him. Then in a flash Solidman turned himself into a brick wall between the kid and the bullies, and the kid got away safe. That was the kind of thing Solidman could do. But, it was mostly little things that helped people like that kid. But, Solidman wanted to use his power in a bigger way.
            He got his chance one day. The town he lived in had a big hydroelectric dam at the end of a huge lake, fed by a river. One time it rained so hard that the water put a lot of pressure on the dam. It put a big hole I the middle of the dam and the water started coming out. Solidman heard the news and rushed to the dam just as it was going to burst. However, the water in this lake came from a big mountain nearby and that was where some of the Blitzoid had fallen. That Blitzoid had worked its way from the mountain into the water behind the dam.
            Now Solidman was scared. He knew that if he turned himself into concrete and plugged the gaping hole that the Blitzoid water could kill him if there was enough of it. He was very fearful. But, courage moved him to take the risk. So, he turned himself into concrete ad patched the gaping hole in the dam. The people in town cheered for Solidman because he had saved them from disaster.
            But wait! What was that burning sensation Solidman felt on the inside of the dam? Sure enough, there WAS Blitzoid in the water and it was putting pressure on the concrete where Solidman had patched it. What would he do? He was afraid the Blitzoid would destroy him and the dam would burst and destroy the town! But, then he thought of an idea. He took the white sand out of the concrete and put it against the water. The heat from the Blitzoid got very, very hot. And it did start to melt the sand!
            But guess what? When the sand had completely melted it had turned into a thick glass wall! This glass was extremely hard when the coolness of the water had cooled it. So, Solidman was saved, the dam was saved, and no one even got hurt! Now Solidman had new confidence because he overcame his fears. He went on to save may people from a slew of disasters.

            So face your fear and you will win!

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Student Narrative: Make One Friend

Here we go again.  Today I have a part of a story written by another of my wonderful sixth graders. Enjoy.  Please leave Positive Comments.

Make One Friend by Isabella J.
687 Words

                I am Barney Appleridge. I’m not your average id. I am a geek, a reading, writing, unpopular school-loving geek. My mom always says things lie, “Nerds rule the world,” or “One day all of those bullies are going to work for you.” It never makes me feel better though.  I can’t control who I am, but sometimes, I wish I could.
                “Tic, tack, tick, tack,” rain ran down the side of our car like soft gunshots. I sat in the back seat trying to ignore my mom peering back at me and smiling every five seconds. After this went on for what seemed to be ten minutes my mom finally said, “You’re excited aren’t you? I can tell.” I didn’t say anything, and stared out the window to show my enthusiasm. “Don’t worry hun; middle school is a good place to start over new.”
                “Right,”  I say sarcastically, “instead of being seen as a geek, people could see me as a complete joke! Thanks mom that makes me feel loads better!”
                “Hey” said a voice in my head. “It’s Theo your bud!” Theo is my imaginary friend. I talk to him so much my brain makes him talk to me when I need him.
                “Hi Theo,” I whisper trying to avoid my mom hearing my conversation.
                “Hey, don’t be afraid of what you have to face,” Theo said encouragingly.
                “I know it must be done,” I mutter. Theo appears in the seat beside me.
                “Yes, it is what you must do,” Theo said. “At least have fun doing it. Make me a promise.”
                “Okay,” I replied.
                Alright, Theo muttered, “Make yourself a real friend okay?” Before I had time to answer, my mom opened the car door. I looked back to say goodbye to Theo, but he was gone.
                “Okay, I told myself, make one friend, make one friend.” I chanted those words as we made our way to Bacteria Prep, my new school. “Make one friend, make one friend.” The chanting became louder and louder in my head. I barely noticed it when my mom hugged me and said goodbye. There were many kids walking toward the school. My heart was beating to the rhythm of my waling and chanting. “Make one friend, make one friend.” I almost hit my head on the front door. I was so distracted.
                I was handed my schedule in the office. World History first period, I ran up the stairs entering the flow of many other students making their way up the stairs with me. When I walked into the classroom I sat in the first available seat. Everyone in the classroom looked like me, scared and pale. I didn’t notice it, but it looked like I sat next to a boy. Like everyone else in the classroom, he too was scared and pale. “Make one friend, make one friend”, the chant started back in my brain again. This must be a sign, a sign that me and this boy could be lifelong best friends. The words “hi my name is Barney” formed in my head. I repeated this over and over again in my head hoping it would come out of my mouth. Before I had the chance to speak he talked to me.
                “Hi, do you want to sit together at lunch?” My mouth was opened wide. I quickly wiped the expression from my face and agreed. I nodded my head yes frantically. He showed me a large ear to ear smile and I gave him one right back. 
                The next three periods flew by quickly. It turns out that I have five out of seven periods with him! After meeting him I met his friends and their friends, and I was popular. “I” was popular!.

                Middle school wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Also, the boy’s name was Theo! Now that’s just creepy. He moved here from Rhode Island over the summer. He has a lot of stories to tell. During lunch I saw a friend that I once needed. He was waving goodbye, the he disappeared forever.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Impenetrable

Here we go again.  Today I have a part of a story written by another of my wonderful sixth graders. Enjoy.  Please leave Positive Comments.


Impenetrable
Elizabeth B.
1,444 words

     My name is Raven Vert, and I have a mission. With, of course, my only friends. I am going to do something that no one, absolutely no one, has ever done before. I know that it sounds like a very cheesy thing to say, but what this really is, is not cheesy at all.

     It’s a place that is hidden. It’s difficult to find, unless you know what you are looking for. I do. I live In Maine with my two sisters, Chelsea and Stephanie, and with my parents. I have two friends, John and Percy. They are the people who are accompanying me on this mission. They are my only friends. I live on a hill, three blocks away from the hidden place. John lives one block away from me, and Percy lives right across from the hidden place. He always complains how loud it is over there, how creepy it is a night. Everybody is afraid of that place, everybody in the neighborhood.

     Everybody except us. John, Percy, And I. Every Wednesday, Our only free day, we all go to the hidden place. We can’t ever get past it. See, the problem is that we aren’t even scared of the forest, it is just that we can’t get by it.

     There are giant bulky trees surrounding the perimeter of the forest. Each of the trees, only one centimeter apart, stands at least one hundred fifty feet tall. Wickedly thick trunks at the bottom. We have tried to get ten arms, stretched out, on the front of the tree with no success. Humongous green leaves as big as my face hang from the trees. The branches hang so low, and the leaves never fall off of the tree. Never. Even in the most brutal of all storms, Not a single leaf has ever came off one of those trees. Scientists haven’t even come up with a scientific name for it and well, its because they don’t know anything about it. Every Wednesday, after school, we go to the hidden place now as you know, the hidden forest. With parents permission, of course.

     You see, when we ask out parents to go there, we don’t specifically say what we are doing. We say we are going to do homework there. We do. Sometimes. But we don’t tell them what we do after that. Our goal is to get past the impenetrable forest.

     We have tried everything. Well, everything we can think of. I had an idea, and this particular Wednesday I will be able to put it into play.

     Today is Wednesday. I am eating breakfast and staring out the window. I am so excited to use my idea. I can hardly think of anything else. My favorite color is green because when I look outside, I see green, all green. The drop-off from our hill, the sun rising, sets a bright glow to all the greenery. Right across from us is a creek, the highlight of our neighborhood. One side of the community is all of the houses, and the whole other side is occupied by the creek. The road is neatly paved and all of the houses look completely different. Just like my house is the only house in the community that is one story, and painted yellow. We are the only ones as well that have a backyard. Small bushes surround our whole property. We have a whole swing set in the back, and also a garden with all different vegetables. I get ready for school ‘Arnold Tolkien Creek Middle’. Both of my sisters are in high school, and so they are still asleep. I hugged my parents, threw open the door, ran down our walkway and leaped onto the bus just as the driver gunned the engine and sped off to the place of education.

     “Everybody off!” the driver yelled to the kids. I shot out the door. I then trotted to my  home room, and sat down. Just then, my best friends John and Percy sat down on either side of me. John had dirty blond hair and brown eyes, Percy had black hair and blue eyes, while I had brown hair and unusual wild green eyes.
     ”Hey guys, I have an idea for mission impossible. But it will have to wait until after school when we are over there. I don’t want anybody to overhear us.” John exclaimed,                                  “What's mission impossible? Is it something that I don’t know about? If so, why didn’t anybody tell me?” I laughed. Then whispered,    
     ” No it’s the mission with the bulky trees that Percy lives across from. Remember?” Percy rolled his eyes.    
     “That was just the question you asked about the science test!”
     “So how did your dance practice go yesterday, John? And what about your soccer game Percy?” I asked. John replied in a hushed whisper.
     ”SSHH!! Keep it down! I don’t want anyone else to know about my dancing! Oh, and it went very well, thanks!” Then Percy,
     “Great! We won! It was a very tough game. As we advance, teams are getting much much tougher. How did your track team tryout go?” I felt proud.
     “Amazing!” I exclaimed, “And I got in! And by the way John, there is really nobody in here. It was John’s turn to roll his eyes. He scanned the room.
     “Yeah, except meanie Jenna over there.” Jenna was talking to her best friend Abby.

     Jenna was a very mean girl who had the same classes as John and took every chance she could to bully him. We have tried to get her to stop countless times, and also have talked to the administration about it. They said that they are working on getting her expelled for next year. She has blond hair and blue eyes, and everybody is her friend. But, she has reserved one person to be her best friend. She is, if you want to put her evilness into words, a lying, cheating, bullying person. And people love her. Want to be like her. She is very wealthy, and she criticizes people who are not.  I can’t understand why people want to be like her.

     I had just rolled my eyes and said,
     ”Hey, remember? We can go and play an instrument now, if we leave our homeroom teacher, Mr. Harrison a sticky note!”
     “Since when do you like playing the bass? I thought that you said that it was a waste of time and that is because you are not very good at it…..” Percy inquired.
     “SSHH!! Come on! Let’s just go!”

     So, they got through the rest of the day and got on the bus in a flash. As John, Percy, and I rode home on the bus, Percy exclaimed,
     “Wow! The school day went really fast.” “Yeah,” I agreed, “I already asked my parents to go to the impenetrable forest.”
     “Me too,” Percy and John replied in unison. We neared the place to get into the hidden place. We hopped off the bus and neared the drop off to the creek.

     Our routine was as usual. We started to climb on the rocks of the creek. From there, we crossed the creek and took a detour from the creek to a hidden cave filled with spider webs. We climbed through the cave , under the spider webs and came out to a clearing.

     The hidden place. It looked the same from last Wednesday. Same huge trees and leaves that don't look real, and the forbidden aroma.
     “Well guys, let’s set to work.” We sat down next to one of the trees.
     “Ok, so my idea is that we can….. climb up the trees! I mean, we have tried to go through the space in the trees and tried to go underground. I know, we even tried looking around all of the trees. But then, we haven’t thought hard enough. So, what else can we do? We can climb up the trees!” John perks up.
     “Oh my gosh, that is brilliant! I love it! You can try it out first, though!” ‘Some friends’ I thought to myself.
       “Fine,” Percy said, “I don’t believe it. I personally don’t think that you can do it.” 
     “Ok, then. I will show you that this can be done and that it will work.” As I  was explaining my thinking, I was also thinking,’ I’m scared. They call me brave, but I am terrified of breaking something, or dying!’
     All of a sudden, I stopped thinking. Instead it was replaced by either determination or foolishness, I could not pin-point it.
     “Ok, I’ll do it.”  I was terrified. I went to the nearest tree and I started climbing.


Monday, September 22, 2014

First Student Writing of the Year

It is with great pleasure that I share with you my readers, the first student writing of the year.  We have been working on Narratives.  Our first assignment has students writing about a character's fear, since we have been looking at fear for your unit.  Here is a piece of really fine writing by one of my sixth grade students.  I hope you enjoy and please leave a POSITIVE comment.


Stranded by Logan C.

            I opened my eyes and was surrounded by green. I was being awakened by water dripping on my forehead. I shook my head frantically, like a dog after a bath. I sat up, and as my eyes focused, I realized that I was on a beach, under a palm tree. “This is new,” I said.
            I stood up, and attempted to brush off the sand that covered me from head to toe. The last thing I remembered was Sunny, my new, yellow lab puppy, licking my hand as I dozed off on the couch. Now, I have no idea where I am, or how I got here.
            Everyone knows my ultimate fear is being stranded on a deserted island. I briefly recall watching “Swiss Family Robinson” as a kid, and how everyone else loved it. The thought of not being able to go home either filled me with dread, or scared me to death. I think a little of both.
            “I have to know,” I muttered as I set to climbing the tree. There were no limbs, so I used my shirt to shimmy up Mulan-style. The higher that I climbed, the lower my heart sank. My worst fear is now my reality. I reluctantly lowered myself back down.
            The thud of my body hitting the ground was met by a scurrying of what appeared to be either giant opossums or banana rats. Both are rodents, so to me, both equally disgusting. “Just when I thought this could not get any worse,” I mumbled, as a chill went down my spine. Of course my deserted island would be barren of people, but filled to the brim with possibly rabid creatures. I wish I was wearing red ruby slippers right about now. I wouldn’t even care what my friends thought. I would be home, and away from here.
            My stomach started churning, partly from my feeling of impending doom tossed in with my hunger. “Please let there be fruit. Please let there be fruit,” I chanted as a little prayer. I scanned my surroundings thinking…Fish? No hook, no line, no spear, no luck. I imagined a little rotisserie rat. It’s not gourmet, but it’ll do in a pinch. “This is definitely a pinch,” I laughed sarcastically.
            I tightened my laces, put my shirt back on, and stammered deeper into the jungle, determined to find a meal and not be one. I grabbed a cantaloupe-sized rock as my weapon of choice as I tiptoed toward the squeaking. I thought about all of the nature shows I’ve watched, and realized I’d need a plan. My slamming of my mini-boulder with my bare hands would most likely leave me bitten, bloody, and frothing as I croak, never to be found again.
            I took a quick inventory of my possessions: fully clothed with long pants and long sleeves, a belt, socks, and tennis shoes. I’d love to tell you that I created some awesome trap, but time was of the essence. I kicked my shoes off, slid out of my jeans, pulled my shoes back on, tied a knot in one pant leg, dropped my rock in, and swung away! Just out of reach of retaliation, I nailed two nasty rats to the ground. My wild man screaming sent the rest scattering.
            “New problem. I didn’t think this through,” I sighed as I dry-heaved at the thought of eating raw meat. I dragged the carcasses back to the beach by their tails. I gathered some dry palm fronds and took my belt buckle off of my belt to reflect the sun to start a fire. When the brush began to smoke and burst into flame, I nursed it until it became larger. I dug a hole in the sand and lined it with rocks. I threw the rats in, fur and all. Then, I gently lowered my fire on top of them. I knew it would be hours before they cooked, so I tended the flame that would also serve as my protection through the night, and hopefully draw human attention for a speedy rescue. While my nummies roasted, I created a makeshift hut out of green fronds. I hoped it would be a one night stay.
            Two hours passed, according to the sun, and I used a stick to retrieve my feast. Although still encased in charred flesh with remnants of fur, the meat fell tenderly from the bone. I tried to imagine something less gruesome, and tried to avoid eye contact with their hollowed sockets. “This is some “Lord of the Flies” nightmare,” I choked as I tore the meat into bite sized shreds. I gorged myself until I was in a Thanksgiving kind of stupor. I piled more dry fronds on the fire, and sprawled out under my primitive hut and slipped off into a food coma.
            My eyes fluttered in the darkness. I saw flickering through my slits. I assumed it was the fire as my eyes slammed shut. Then, came the licking! In a half a second, my mind raced. The rat family had come back for their revenge! I snatched my hand away, jumped up, and started running for my life. I immediately tripped over the coffee table, head first into the wall. I rolled over groaning as Sunny came to my aid cautiously, as the T.V. flickered in the night. I had been forced to face my fear. I headed off to brush my teeth to get this awful taste out of my mouth.
           
                                   


 
Copyright Sandra's Writing Quest 2009. Powered by Blogger.Designed by Ezwpthemes .
Converted To Blogger Template by Anshul .