NOTTINGHAM KNIGHT WRITER

3rd Grade 2012-2013

Art by Lauren N., Zoe F., and Shriya N.

Art by  Amelia O. 

An anthology of writing and art

Exemplary Project   Nottingham Elementary School 

Arlington, Virginia 

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Advising Editor Jacqueline Jules, Exemplary Project Coordinator 

Art by Sophie P.

Junior Editors

Shriya Nagpal Sophie Poellnitz Mia Lodwig Samantha Lincoln 

Ellie Billings Ada Carter 

Nico Castleman Kate Davis 

Special thanks to the Nottingham PTA for their generous support! 

PURPOSE AND VISION: 

Nottingham's Exemplary Writing Project was carefully designed to develop the writing skills of young authors through the power of publication. When students know their words will be shared with an audience, they are motivated to do their best work. 

At Nottingham, Grades 2‐5 use the Being a Writer curriculum, in which students explore a wide variety of literary genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, and personal narrative. Students are encouraged to use sensory details and strong vocabulary in their writing. Carefully selected picture books are read aloud for inspiration. Many students enjoy using these picture books as models to create stories with similar patterns or themes. 

This magazine was created from writing published online at the Nottingham website throughout the 2012‐2013 school year. Each piece was formatted individually, giving students the opportunity to design their own pages. Junior Editors assisted in making  decisions regarding the design of the magazine and collected artwork while serving as ambassadors for the publishing program. The Exemplary Project Coordinator, Jacqueline Jules, is an award‐winning children’s author and poet. A valuable resource, Ms. Jules worked with our Knights to revise and polish their stories for publication.  

As you read, remember this is student work. Please note that imperfections are part of the process and our goal is to celebrate the growth and development of young writers. In our technology dependent society, the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas through writing is an absolutely essential skill. We hope you will help us by applauding our Knights' efforts and encouraging them to reach their full potential. 

    

Mary Beth Pelosky, Principal 

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Art by Jillian B.

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by Ellie B.

One day there was a girl named Paige. Paige loved all of the holidays, so of course she was excited that Halloween was coming up. She knew right away what she was going to be. She was going to be a pink and purple witch with a broom and a witch hat.

When she told her mom what she wanted to be, her mom replied, “Yes.” After that they went Party City and got Paige’s costume. Paige tried on the

costume and loved it! When she got home Paige asked her mom if she could go trick-or-treating with Kylie, and her mom said, “Yes, it is fine with me but let me call her mom to make sure it is fine with them.”

“Ok,” said Paige. So Paige’s mom called Kylie’s mom and they both said, “It is ok with me.” So the night of Halloween they were going to go trick-or-treating together! Oh

did I mention that Paige has a younger brother named Connor that is obsessed with candy and he had to go with them trick-or-treating. So Paige complained and complained over and over again but nothing worked.

The next day was Halloween. Paige was jumpy all day waiting for Halloween to come. Then the time came and she got her costume on and went to Kylie’s house to pick her up. And of course Paige’s brother was with her. When they went to the first house they got two pieces of candy. Kylie got one York and one Twix, and Paige got one lollipop and one Hershey bar and Connor got one Kit Kat and one Reese's Pieces. But something they did not know was going on. Conner, Paige’s brother, was taking out the candy and replacing it with rocks.

They went to the second house where they got one piece of candy, so Kylie got one bag of Skittles and Paige got one Starburst and Connor got one Babe Ruth bar. But Paige and Kylie still did not realize that Connor was stealing their candy. So when they got home, Kylie and Paige had a sleepover and when they were just about to dump out their candy they realized that all that was in the bucket was rocks.

They had no idea what had happened but then they looked over and saw that Conner’s candy bucket was full of candy. So they asked Conner why he had all of that candy. At first Conner lied, then he finally gave up and said, “sorry,” and gave them their candy back.

That is the story of Paige and Kylie’s Halloween.

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by Riley B.

Once there was a cricket named Charly. Charly lived in a hole in a human family’s house. He wanted to go out in the open, but very few animals survived because of the dangerous predators. The family’s pet hamster got thrown in the trash can by a mean pigeon and three of the family’s cats disappeared and never returned.

The only one who survived was the dog, who was big and went out in the open whenever he wanted, which didn’t tell much about this adventure. Even though Charly was scared, he prepared for his adventure. He got a piece of Kleenex, crumbs, and two sticks. He filled the Kleenex with crumbs and tied the sack to the sticks. Now it would be easier to carry. Then right before he left he talked to the fish in the fish tank.

He said to the fish, “I might not be coming back.” But before he could even say anything else the fish said, “We’ll watch for your return.”

Then he talked to the other bugs in the house. There were five bugs in the house. There was a ladybug, a snail, a spider, a pill bug, and a dragonfly. There were three bugs that were interested in going on the adventure. The bugs that wanted to go were the ladybug, the pill bug, and the spider.

They looked through a crack in the wall. It was cold and the wind was blowing. When they got outside there were a lot of pigeons. Then the pigeons swooped down and grabbed the pill bug. The ladybug flew off.

Charly said, ‘‘Let’s keep going.’’ Later the ladybug came back. She said that she couldn't keep up with the pigeon

and save the pill bug. Then they heard something from the trash can. The hamster bumped open the

lid of the trash can. Charly said, “Can you come down here?” The hamster said, “I can’t because I will fall.” Then the trash truck came and dumped the trash. The hamster fell on the

ground. Charly said, “Are you all right?” The hamster got up and spotted the cats. Charly, the ladybug, the spider, and the

hamster walked over to the cats. The hamster said to the cats, “We’re here to take you home.”

They start to go home and Charly says, “I think I forgot the way home.” “I saw everything above when I was chasing the pigeons,” said the ladybug. “I

think I know the way home.” The ladybug led them back to the house. Charly, the hamster, and the bugs go in

through the crack. When they got back inside, the goldfish asked, “Did everybody make it back?” “The pill bug got snatched by the pigeon,” the ladybug said. “I see you found the hamster,” the fish said. “Did you find the cats, too?” The cats came through the dog’s door. “I might want to go on another adventure,” Charly said.

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by Lilly B.

Friday January 11th, 2013, Mrs. Price's class went to the Outdoor Lab. On the way to the Outdoor Lab I thought, "What are we going to do? Will we get to lift Miss. Price? Will I be able to use a simple machine?" Ssss Kkkk Rrrrrrrr Eeeeeee Ccccc Hhhhhhhh. The bus stopped. Mrs. Price's class and Mrs. Ready's class got off the bus and headed to the cabin. On the way it started to drizzle. I could see it in the water. When we reached the cabin, it looked like it was all wood. In the cabin we had hot cocoa. Mr. Fish had to make sure we knew the simple machines. The first one he made sure we knew was the pulley. He used an example on Sophie. What he did to Sophie was lift her leg with a pulley. The others he made sure we knew were the inclined plane, the lever, the wedge, the wheel and axle, and last, the screw. After he tested us, he told us the rules to the class. Rule #1: Have fun. Rule #2: You have to stay with whoever is with you. Rule #3: Do not go off the path unless you're using a simple machine and you have to go off the path. Around 12:30 we got back from the hike and went to the animal lab. My favorite animal was Big Mama (a salamander). Then we had to go. On the way back to the school I sat next to Jillian and we had a chat together. When we got back to the classroom, (around 3:00), I thought about my favorite part. It was the animal lab. Soon we had to go home. That was the best day ever. I think if you went to the Outdoor Lab, you would also think so too.

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by Matthew B.

Fortunately, Bulgy got a letter saying, "Please come to England to get a train." Unfortunately, when he got to the station there was a sign saying, "Sorry No

Trains Today." Fortunately, there was a bus. Unfortunately, the bus got stuck in the mud. Fortunately, there was a train near the mud puddle. Unfortunately, the rails were slippery and the train skidded off the rails and into a barn. Fortunately, he knew a dude who knew a dude who knew a dude who flew a helicopter. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong to fly. Fortunately, a giant State of the Puff Dude took the helicopter back to the airfield. Unfortunately, fire broke out inside the helicopter and Bulgy was burnt badly. Fortunately, the State of the Puff Dude gave him medicine and a car.

Unfortunately, there was a humungo bump in the road and Bulgy went flying into the air. Fortunately, he landed on the State of the Puff Dude’s bed. Unfortunately, the State of the Puff Dude sat on him. Fortunately, he was made out of pillows. Unfortunately, Bulgy got really hot and was almost only covered in sweat. Fortunately, he was so sweaty he could slip right out.

Unfortunately, he fell onto a busy highway. Fortunately, a baby State of the Puff Dude gave him medicine and a car. Unfortunately, the road was slippery and Bulgy skidded off the road and crashed into a chocolate factory. Fortunately, he had all the chocolate he wanted and he was right next to the Titanic waiting to sail to England.

Unfortunately there was no room on the boat. Fortunately, there was a very tiny tiny spot on the boat for him. Unfortunately, the window broke and Bulgy fell out! Fortunately, someone came by on a hang glider and saved Bulgy. Unfortunately, the hang glider crash landed.

Fortunately, there was a train near the crash site. Bulgy got on and he went through the tunnel to England. Unfortunately, the tunnel was blocked. Fortunately, Bulgy had a shovel to dig away the rocks. He made it to England on time.

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by Jillian B.

There was a seahorse named Spiral. Her name was Spiral

because she had a tail that looked like a spiral. She had a friend named Heart. Her name was Heart because she had a tail with a heart on it. Spiral was green and Heart was pink.

One day Heart was teasing Spiral about being green. Heart was being mean and said, “Green makes you look sick.” Spiral started gliding away. Then Spiral turned around and said,

“Your name means that you are in love with that boy you keep on hanging out with.”

“Hey!” screamed Heart. Spiral said, “That boy named Patrick who is brown. He is the

color of a tree trunk. Yuck!’’ Heart explained, “That is mean.” Spiral said, “I know, but you said something mean to me.” Heart apologized, “I’m really sorry for saying that you look sick.

Will you forgive me?” Spiral apologized, “I’m sorry for talking about your boyfriend.

Will you forgive me?” “YES I will forgive you.” They said at the same time. They were friends again!!!

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by Mary C.

Once upon a teacher, Nottingham School was out for the summer. Teacher was sleeping under her desk in the trailer. The trailer started rolling away. Teacher screamed for help. Mr. Slater, the principal, heard her and ran after the trailer.

The trailer was going up Little Falls Road and was up the hill headed to Monster Bridge, which goes over the Potomac River. Mr. Slater was in his car yelling on his phone. The police wouldn’t listen, they were talking to a burglar.

Mr. Slater called the fire department. The fire chief answered and said, “We are busy, bye.”

Mr. Slater called the ambulance people and they answered and said, “What’s the emergency?”

Mr. Slater said, “I have a runaway trailer and there’s a teacher in it and she’s screaming for help.” The ambulance people said they would rush right over.

Mr. Slater drove to Monster Bridge. The trailer was floating from the Potomac River into the water in the Atlantic Ocean. The teacher had escaped the trailer and was swimming in the ocean.

The ambulance came and the driver yelled in his radio, “Hey! Help! We need a helicopter to save the teacher in the water!”

The helicopter helped the teacher out of the water and the trailer sunk. The teacher had to buy a new trailer and school supplies with her own money. She never found out why her trailer ran away in the first place.

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by Vera C.

On Friday, January 11th, my class went to the Outdoor Lab on a field trip. In

the bus I thought about what my sister told me. She went to the Outdoor Lab two years ago. Grace, my sister, told me that there was going to be a lot about simple machines. That is good because my class is learning about simple machines in school! On the bus, I was sitting next to Sydney and across from Mackenzie and Lauren N. I thought the field trip was going to be awesome and I was right.

When I stepped into the cabin, the first thing I could smell was hot chocolate. Then I knew this trip was going to be great. I put my lunch bag under the table. Mr. Fish was showing my class about simple machines. He lifted Sophie’s leg with a pulley. Sophie is a girl from Mrs. Ready’s class. Mr. Fish had a lot of simple machines. He had scissors, wheel and axle, wedge, pulley, and a screw. Then we got ready to go on the nature walk. Outside we said the pledge of Mary, because Mary got lifted up in the air in a tire. Mr. Fish lifted her up. “Are your parents here?” Mr. Fish asked. Mary said, "No."

When my class went to the nature walk we took a different path than the Researchers class. We did a lever first. Four third graders Alex, Adam, Connor, and Courtney were trying to lift Mrs. Moose, our instructor, on a seesaw. Next Ellie and Emily did a screw. They were screwing a hole in the ground. Ian and Henry did the inclined plane. They had to pull a block of wood up onto a platform from the ground. Then they brought the wood block up a ramp. It was a lot easier for them. Another activity was a pulley. Some kids were trying to pull Mrs. Moose. I did the wheel and axle. My friend Riley, aka Ugg, was trying to decide which wheel to bring the woolly mammoth he killed for dinner home with. There was a square, hexagon, and circle. I was helping Riley, aka Ugg, pull the square wheel. The boy who was helping Ugg was Robbie. Ugg didn't help pull the hexagon, the girls did. The other girls were Shriya, Sophia, and Sydney. I was helping them pull the hexagon. Ugg pulled the circle by himself. Zoe was pulled like a tent on an incline plane.

We went to the animal lab next. My class and Mrs. Ready’s class saw a yellow spotted salamander, a corn snake, a turtle, and a toad. We got to touch the corn snake and the turtle. Then we got to go around the room and see the other animals like the poisonous snake. There were bear heads and deer heads, too. I thought they were fake and part of them were. We also saw deer antlers. They felt like plastic. I thought the poisonous snake was the coolest part.

On the trip home I thought about what Grace told me before I went on the field trip. She told me that the Outdoor Lab was awesome and she described every simple machine exactly how it actually was! She told me about something that I didn't get to see. That was a saw. Two kids were on each side of the saw and they were trying to saw the saw back and forth. I was sitting with Sydney again but we weren't talking as much as we were on the way there. I want to go to the Outdoor Lab again!

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by Zoe F. “Sage, time for dinner!” yelled Sage Parker’s mom.

When Sage got downstairs she heard her parents talking about one of her sisters, Melanie, asking for a goldfish. Right then she got an idea. Maybe I could ask for a pet? Like a puppy or a kitten? Maybe I could ask them to surprise me. Like I could make a list of pets I want and then they could pick the pet that they think I would take care of well and then I could get that pet!

Sage went to the dinner table and asked Melanie, “You asked for a goldfish, didn’t you?” “Yes I did. Wait, how did you know that? I haven’t told anyone except Mom or Dad." “I heard them talking in the hallway about it,” Sage explained. “Oh, okay, did Mom say yes or no?” asked Melanie. “No, she has not replied yet. Mom and Dad were just talking about it. When they come to the

dinner table, I’m going to ask them for a puppy for my 11th birthday which is coming up next week. I mean, I have been asking for two years and they always replied, ‘Wait until you’re eleven.’ I always said, ‘Okay.’ So I should be able to get one this year,” said Sage.

“Then I get a pet, too!” screamed Olivia. “Me too!” yelled Brooke. “Don’t forget me,” whispered Nicki, the shy sister. Then Mom came running in saying, “Why are you yelling?” “Because we are arguing about pets,” replied Olivia. “Why are you arguing about pets?” asked Mom. “Because Sage said she’s going to ask you guys for a puppy for her 11th birthday,” whispered

Nicki. She’s also the most honest sister. “Then we all started saying, ‘I want a pet too,’” replied Brooke. Her mom interrupted her, “Stop. We were going to ask EACH and every one of you guys if

you want a pet and if you did, then what type of animal you wanted." “OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” screamed all the girls at the same time,

except Nicki, who whispered. Today is Saturday, the day they are all going to PetSmart to get their pets. Sage is so excited

because she gets to get a PUPPY! Sage already has a name for her. Her name is going to be Daisy because she is a little six week old yellow lab puppy. When the Parkers arrived, there was a person waiting for them. She introduced herself as Megan. “Hello everyone my name is Megan and I am going to show one of the new litter of puppies we have because one of you are supposed to get one. Who am I taking with me?”

“Me,” said Sage. “Let's get going," Megan said. “I have a puppy reserved. They call her Daisy for me," said Sage. “Ohhh, I know the puppy you are talking about. She is the

youngest out of the litter. She is a total snuggle bug!” Megan exclaimed. “That's good. Do you think she is the right one for me?”

questioned Sage. “Definitely! She is PERFECT!” Megan and Sage got to the playpen with the puppies. “Which one is Daisy?” Sage asked. “She is the one with the pink string. You can pick her up if you want." When Sage picked her up, Daisy fell asleep because she felt comfortable. “She is the puppy for me. Let’s go home little cutie," Sage whispered to Daisy. All the girls were happy with their new pets when they walked out the door.

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by Henry G.

On Christmas Eve I am going to see Aunt Emily, Graham, Lena,

Grandpa and maybe Cate. We will go to a restaurant different from the

one we went to when I was 7. There will be presents for me and my 5

year old sisters. We are going to a restaurant in Arlington.

The restaurant is called The Daily Grill. I think the restaurant is

about 5 miles away from my house. We will leave at about 5:30 or 6:05.

The restaurant has food that my sisters and I will like. I think the

restaurant has fruit. We will be there for about four hours.

During dinner, my sisters and I will get presents from the adults.

We will get presents from my aunt and uncle, my cousin and grandpa.

I’m hoping one of my presents is a Kre-O Transformer. I’m also hoping

one of my presents is a punching bag.

We will be home at about 9:05. We will leave out chocolate for

Santa. I hope he will put stuff on my list in my stocking.

On Christmas Day I am going to open more presents. They will be

from Santa and my mom and dad. Around lunch we will go to my

grandma’s house. At grandma’s house we will have lunch and open a

few more presents. Then we will go home. It’s going to be a wonderful

Christmas.

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by Sydney G.

Once there was a mommy dog who was a chocolate lab. She lived with a nice family. Then one day she had a baby and named it Ruffles. Ruffles was a cute pup but sometimes he could cause trouble like chewing on shoes, eating homework, and all those other things. Ruffles’ mommy always did her best. Mommy and Ruffles were hungry dogs and pups. But then one early Tuesday a tragedy happened. Ruffles and Mommy were sent back to the shelter. They didn’t know why they were. They were scared, especially Ruffles. At the shelter in Colorado, Ruffles and Mommy were trying to figure out why their owner would send them back. ”Maybe because he found out he was allergic to chocolate labs?” Mommy said. Then one day a nice lady came and she was looking for a chocolate lab. Ruffles said, “Maybe she is going to buy us.” The nice lady came over to Mommy and Ruffles and said, “I'll take them.” “Ok, you shall get them in a week while I pack up their stuff," the man at the shelter said. “Ok.” A week later the lady came. “Ok, Ruffles and Mommy. Let’s go," she said. "Ruff! Ruff!" they replied. They went home and their owner was nice and gave them some crunchy dog food. Then the dogs got a good night rest. Crunch! crunch! “I love this home and we’ll always be here. Hooray!” shouted Ruffles and Mommy.

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by Nicholas H. Alex Shadow, known as The Shadow, had traveled back in time because a magic user

had cast a spell on him. He saw a dungeon but he couldn’t remember anything. But then he remembered where all the traps were, and then he remembered doing this. He remembered he was looking for a magic book that belonged to a priest. He figured out that he had traveled back in time.

Then he said to Dirk, one of his friends, “I sense where all the tricks and traps are.” Speaking of friends, there is Dirk the fighter (as you know), there is Cadereck the

cleric, Leaf the ranger, and finally Tidge, the thief (never trust a thief). They finally walked in and The Shadow said, “Don’t step on the middle tile of the

floor, it’s a trap.” Then Alex said, “Follow me.” Dirk, Cadereck, Tidge, and Leaf all start following

him. Then they stopped at the stairs. The stair colors were blue, yellow, red, and green. They could kind of see past the platform, but all they could see was a blue step.

Alex said, “Be very quiet, and skip yellow.” Tidge jumped first, silently, and was successful. Then Cadereck jumped, and he

jumped all the way to the green step and missed the red step. Finally, Dirk jumped, and he kind of lost his balance. He was on his tiptoes on the step, but he managed to stay on. Alex boosted Leaf up, and then Leaf jumped.

Then Alex jumped to the platform silently and said, “This time, skip the red step.” All of them make it to the next step, but then they heard

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRR! After that, they heard a thud and they heard wood crack. It sounded as if something hit the wooden stairs. Then they heard an axe blade scraping against the wall.

Alex said, “Minotaur!” Then he yelled, “Run!” They all ran to the door, but they heard a loud clunk, clunk, clunk. They saw the Minotaur running toward them, and he stepped in every single trap. All the traps were activated, even the one that was smashed, but it didn’t hit the Minotaur.

Minotaurs have poor eyesight, so the Minotaur didn’t see the friends. The Minotaur finally caught sight of them, and he busted down a door which led to another door that he busted, too. He hit Alex, but Alex is very good at doing back flips so he did a back flip behind the Minotaur. The Minotaur hurt his horn and he fell to the ground right before he got to the door that led to the town.

Alex said, “That was easy.” His friend sighed. They saw the secret door that the Minotaur had run into. Behind the door, there was a

book in a glass case. They broke the glass, got the book, and took it to the priest. The priest was relieved and said, “Yes, this my book.” As a reward for the friends, the priest gave them twenty mythroll, which has a greater

value than gold.

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by Adam H.

"Tat da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da,” (to the tune of the Star Wars theme song), said a guy.

“What are doing?” said the anonymous author who shall remain that way. “Giving your story more zest,” the guy said. “You know this is a book. They can’t hear you,” replied the author. “Oh. Then I’ll go now.” The guy went away. “Ok. Back to writing.” Tatooine. A planet covered with sand and rocks. If you go into one of the open

parts of the planet you might run into a moisture farm or Jabba's palace. Which brings me to the story. It is about a spaceport called Mos Eisley.

It was a sunny day on Tatooine. Well, it’s always a sunny day on Tatooine. “I wonder what kind of news story will be today,” said Com, who works for a news

show. Just then Jabba came into the room and said, “Azelachiwa.” “What did he say?” asked Com. “He said, my rancor busted out!” said the translator. A rancor is a ferocious

species of animal and Jabba has one that he keeps kind of like a pet. If someone who wants to entertain Jabba doesn’t entertain him, then Jabba will drop them into the rancor pit!

“I am guessing an alert story,” said Remo, who also works for the show. “Then we better get to the news ship,” said Com. “Yeh,” said Remo. Com and Remo went to cover the story. (Music is playing) “This just in. A rancor is attacking Mos Eisley!” exclaimed Com.

“It is advised to stay in a basement at all costs. It’s headed for the imperial landing platform! BOOM! Correction, it destroyed the imperial landing platform.”

STEP STEP! “It’s standing right behind me isn't it?” said Com. “Yep,” Remo said. “Then let's get off the ship!” Com exclaimed. “That is a good idea,” Remo said. “Jump!” Com said. They got off just in time.

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by Connor H.

There once was a ghost named Bobby who haunted the Super School. Bobby liked to play with the other ghosts. The school was old and dark at night. Whoever came to the school got scared by the ghosts and ran away. They never came back to the school. The ghost made it look like chairs were walking. They also made it look like shoes could walk by themselves. There was also a Frankenstein. The school had spider webs, spirits, and an old bell. The bell has a 20 foot crack in it. The ghost rang the bell. Nobody went to the school because there was mysterious screaming from the classrooms, too. One day there was a ghost buster named “Bob the Hammer.” The other ghost busters' names were Meany the First, Meany the 25th, Tornado, and last but not least, Lightning the Hurricane. They met Bobby, the ghost. Then, you know what? They became good friends. Bobby told them that the other ghosts were playing tricks. The leader of the ghost busters told Bobby and the other ghosts to stop playing tricks on the kids. They told the ghosts to clean the ceiling and wash the floor. The ghost busters’ leader told them to fix the 20 foot crack in the bell and clean it so it looks twinkly and shiny. When they finished cleaning the school, the ghost busters were impressed. The kids came back to the school, and the kids thanked the ghost busters. Then they drove away.

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by Noah H.

My dad and I went to my soccer game. When we

came back a squirrel was in my bathroom. He was so HUGE and was fluffy and gray. He looked like a stuffed animal.

50+50=100, I thought. I asked the squirrel what 50 + 50 was so that it would make a sound. All he said was squeeeeeek!!!

My dad and I said, “OH NO! We have a squirrel in the bathroom!!”

I named him Jeffrey—Jeffrey the squirrel. Next we got a squirrel trap and we put peanuts in the trap. Jeffrey stole all of them without putting the trap down. Then we put peanut butter on the peanuts. BUT Jeffrey stole one peanut. Jeffrey ate one peanut but we decided that we should leave the trap in the bathroom anyway.

We were waiting for two days. We finally trapped Jeffrey. We took the cage in the car and drove him to this big mulch pile and let him go. He ran off.

I hope we don’t have another squirrel in my bathroom.

Squeeek!! Uh! Oh!!!

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by Emily H. A girl named Anna lived on a small island called Kawanii. Kawanii is a calm quiet island. One day Anna was walking to school. As she walked, she came to a big stone cave so she decided to go in it. Soon, when she was deep in the cave, she found a set of stairs. Once she went down the stairs, she came to a big metal door and on the other side was a jungle with every color you can imagine. “Wow!” said Anna. Anna was speechless. Anna took a step forward, then two more. Half buried in the gold sand was a heart shaped ruby red stone as shiny as a gem. Anna tucked it into her pocket and set off for school. The next day was the weekend, so Anna could spend all day in the jungle. As she was walking to the cave, Anna saw her friend Clara walking towards her. Anna ran to the cave and down the stone steps and opened the big door and shut the door and ran into the jungle. When she was far enough she didn’t see the door, she gathered vines and got tree branches and made a little hut. Before she knew it night came again. Early next morning Anna woke up to a noise that went, "Woof! Woof!" So Anna got dressed and ate a tropical dragon fruit and brushed her teeth and went outside. It was a puppy and worst of all it was all alone in the big dark jungle. Anna picked up the puppy and brought it inside her little hut. Anna named the puppy Cookie. That day Anna took Cookie into the jungle to explore with her. Soon they came to a huge waterfall as big as Anna's school. It was beautiful with crystal clear water. Anna and Cookie went behind the waterfall so they could continue their journey. As they were walking, Anna and Cookie fell into a deep dark hole. Anna yelled, "Help! Help! Help!" while Cookie barked, "Woof! Woof! Woof!" Soon a green button appeared in the hole so Anna pushed the button and a blue glass passageway appeared and the dirt disappeared in a flash. Then Anna walked with Cookie down the big long passageway. Soon they came to a big shiny mansion, so Anna opened the big pink door, then she walked in. There was a note in front of her that said: Dear Anna Smith, We have been waiting for you to find this place for almost seven years. We are glad you found it at last. This was your wish seven years ago. Hope you love it. Love, Mom and Dad Anna was amazed. She remembered when she wished for that when she was ten. Cookie ran in with excitement. It was a dream come true. Cookie ran ten times around the mansion in excitement. Then a medium brown poodle walked in through the back dog door with a little note in her mouth that said: Hi Anna, This is part of your surprise too! We know you always wanted a poodle. XOXO Love, Mom and Dad

Anna thought back to when she was six and from then on she always wanted a poodle. Cookie was happy now that she had another dog to play with. Anna named the dog, Cupcake. About ten years later, Cookie had puppies. Cookie is a Corgi and her mate was an Australian sheepdog named Spaghetti. They had five Corgi Aussie puppies. Then a month later Cupcake had puppies with a Golden Retriever named Pip. They had eight Goldendoodle puppies. Yay!!!!! So from then on Anna chased her dreams and went on adventures with her dogs and puppies. They even found a new part of the jungle to play in. Anna had the best life ever.

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by Alex H.

There was once a funny kid monkey named Fred. (Not the funny monkey)

Fred was a happy monkey. One day Fred was roaming the forest when he heard a noise.

“What was that?” said Fred. He whizzed home. The next day he went back to the forest with his friend Jack. There was a

scream and everything went silent! In the news there was a report that two monkeys went missing in a forest. It

was the tenth time that week. They needed the funny monkey (the real one). He was the only one close enough to come.

He went to find the missing monkey kids in no time. He found a wall with lots of writing on it. From reading the wall, the funny monkey learned there was a group of villains that capture kids. That is a lot of information on one wall. And the funny monkey went off toward the villains.

Somewhere in the forest a villain was talking to the monkey kids. “When the others come, we will rule the world,” said the villain. He paced

back and forth till his legs got worn out. Back in the forest, not so far away, the funny monkey was searching for the

monkey kids when suddenly two robots came out of nowhere and a monkey was chasing them. The robots ran away.

“Who are you?” said the funny monkey. “I’m Phil, I love chasing robots.” “Can you join me to save some kids?” asked the funny monkey. And off they

continued toward the villain's hideout. “One problem! We are in the middle of nowhere without any food or water!”

exclaimed Phil. It turned out that the villains were ten minutes away. The villains had a very

big hideout with high ceilings. “Why do you want to take over the world?” asked Phil. “We want everything,” one villain said. “Let's get the monkey kids and go,” whispered the funny monkey. While the villains were arguing they sneaked to the monkey kids and

whispered to them, “We are here to get you out.” One by one the monkey kids crept out of the hole they were in. Then a villain

spotted them, “Where are you going?” he asked. “I think they are escaping!” said another. And with that the villains charged. But the villains got lost in the forest. So

everyone was safe, for now.

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by Ian J. Once there was a monkey. He was like a person. He could speak a lot of languages like German, Polish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, Antartican. Oops! That's not a language. Yes it is. "Hahwoazilizewo." What does that mean? Hello! Okay...anyway he can also speak Arabic and Russian. Two things kind of odd have happened to the Monkey. By the way his name isn’t really The Monkey. His name is anonymous and will stay anonymous. Anyway, here is one of the odd things that happened to him. So one day he was walking in the city and saw a giant egg walking around singing. The monkey was horrified so he ran back to his house which is a tree and hid. Here is the second odd thing. Once the monkey for some reason was feeling like his tree house was haunted, so he got into a storage room and it randomly fell into a river. The monkey was wondering where he was going. He saw a sign that said headed to Alligator Lake.

"Oh! No! I’m going to Alligator Lake. I must have gotten into the escape pod! What’s that noise? Oh! No! It's a waterfall that leads to Alligator Lake! This is a terrible day. It's especially bad because it is the waterfall of King Koykakywozicywasibi who was a terrible, rich, UGLY king.’’ (By the way the waterfall of King Koykakywozicywasibi is haunted by King Koykakywozicywasibi.)

‘’He didn't even look like a monkey, he looked more like a devil to me. He’s too bad to think about,’’ the monkey explained. ’’Aaaahhh! I’m getting closer to the waterfall! Aaaaahhhh!’’

The monkey yelled BAM! ‘"What was that?’’ When he looked out the window he noticed that a rock had stopped him from falling down the waterfall!

"Yay! I didn't fall down the waterfall. There's only one problem. How will I get back to land?’’ asked the monkey. CRACK! "What was that?’’

Sadly for the monkey, the rock cracked the boat. "Is that a current fighting boat?’’(which I made up) The monkey wondered. "YES! It is! Oh! No! I need a key to start it up. Noooooo! Wait a second. This is all set up, isn’t it? Now I’m supposed to find the key. Hey, there it is. POP! Uuggggggggghhhhhhhhh. There's another and another."

POP! Each time he tried to get one it disintegrated until the monkey finally got a key.

VVVVRRRRRRROOOOOMM! The current fighting boat sped off. "AAAAAAAAHHHH! It’s going really fast! YAY! I escaped! So

that’s the second odd thing." Three days later, we still don’t know why a storage room turned into an escape pod. "Was that room actually the escape pod?" asked the monkey. No, we think it was cursed by King Koykakywozicywasibi.

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by Mackenzie K.

One morning a Golden Retriever named Rosalina gave birth to five puppies. Their names were Norman, Neuman, Nellie, Nora, and Nova. Norman was the only male.

When Farmer Bill went to the barn, where the dogs were, he saw that Rosalina had given birth. He said, “ Oh wow, Rosalina, you gave birth. Yes! ” So he ran to his wife and said, “Rosalina gave birth!”

“Really!” Farmer Miranda replied. So they both ran to the barn. When they got to the barn Rosalina was already giving them milk. “Four girls

and one boy,” said Farmer Bill calmly. Then Norman came over to the couple’s feet and fell asleep. It took awhile to get Norman off of their feet but, Norman finally let loose.

When Farmer Bill and Farmer Miranda left they heard whining. It was Norman wanting them! So Farmer Bill stayed while Farmer Miranda went and did things around the house.

Later that day Farmer Bill was still trying to leave, but Norman would keep whining and Farmer Bill couldn’t resist so he brought Norman to the house.

When Miranda saw Norman in Bill’s arms, Miranda said, “Honey, wh-?” But Bill interrupted, “I was trying to go but Norman kept whining and I couldn’t

resist!” “It’s okay. Just put him in the living room.” Miranda and Bill got into a long discussion on whether to sell Norman or to

keep him. They ended up with Norman winning the battle. Norman is going to stay! The very next month both, Miranda and Bill went to get Norman’s shots, toys,

and tags. Norman was very easy to train. Also that week they were going to sell Neuman, Nellie, Nora, and Nova.

When the day finally came to sell the rest of the puppies, Bill was putting the puppies into the truck. All of them hopped in happily except Neuman. Neuman wouldn’t budge. Bill guessed pretty easily. He knew Norman and Neuman loved each other. She wanted to stay with Norman!

So he took Neuman in. Miranda and Bill had another long conversation on whether to keep Neuman or sell her. Once again the puppy won the battle. They kept Neuman!

Finally they sold the rest of the puppies! They got more than 600 dollars. The next day, around 12:30, Bill heard barking. He ran down to the barn. Rosalina was barking because Nova came back. Bill was so surprised. So he took Nova in.

When Miranda saw Bill with another puppy she said, “Bill, is that Nova?” “Yes it is. I saw her in the barn,” replied Bill. They checked the tags on Nova’s

collar, but there were no tags. Nova looked skinny, beat up, and hairless. They thought that Nova must have been abandoned by her owners. Nova looked so sad and tired!

Bill and Miranda ended up keeping Nova. Later on that day, Bill and Miranda got Nova some tags. So Bill and Miranda ended up keeping three puppies out of the litter, Nova, Neuman, and Norman.

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by Sophia L. Hi I am Amelia Fretz. I am more of a boy than a girl. All the girls make fun of me because of it. My favorite thing to do is play baseball and football and most girls like playing Barbies and dress up. I think that's boring! All the girls call me "boy" and I don’t like it. I tell them to stop but they never listen to me, so I just pretend I don’t hear them and they still do it! One day they did something worse. They wrote "Amelia Fretz is a sissy" on the wall. I didn't even know until I went to school that morning when I saw the graffiti on the wall. I burst into tears and ran into the girl's bathroom and stayed there the whole day. When the bell rang, I ran home fast as I could, still crying. When I got home I wrote in my diary how mean they are and I wish they weren't. I had a headache from crying all day so I took some medicine. That made me tired so I took a nap. When I woke up it was time to go to school. I didn't want to go to school. I hid under my bed so my mother couldn’t find me and give up and go to work. Thankfully she didn’t find me and did exactly what I wanted her to do. So when she left I wrote in my diary how lucky I was. Then I threw on some clothes, and went downstairs to make myself some breakfast. I had pancakes with syrup. After breakfast I read for about an hour and played a one person game. I got hungry so I had lunch. I had a sandwich with apples. I turned on the TV and watched The Smurfs. I thought it was a good movie. By the time the movie was over I was done with lunch, perfect timing. I looked at my watch. Oh no! I had lost track of time. My parents were coming home in 10 minutes! I had to say something that gave me an excuse. I thought about saying that yesterday my teacher said that school started early and ended early and that's why she couldn’t find me this morning. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. When my parents came home they asked why I was home so early. I told them my excuse. They believed me! My mom gave me a big slobbery kiss. I was happy to see them and I bet they were happy to see me too. Two years later at dinner I said, “Remember the time two years ago when school started early and ended early and they never told the parents?” "Yeah," Dad said. "Well, really, I was hiding from mommy and lied when you came home." Daddy says, "Ah man! You tell us two years later Amelia!” "I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. When I go back to school they stopped it because I told them I would tell the principal if the didn’t." "Good job for solving your own problem," Dad said.

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by Shriya N. Jade is a Bottlenose-Dolphin. She lives in Miami, Florida. Jade was playing in the

ocean. Wait! Hold on for a second! First let me introduce myself. My name is Teddy. I am a Maltese Puppy. This is a fun fact about me: I got adopted 19 times and I got lost 30. What can I say? I am a picky puppy. These are some other things about me: I love lemonade and ice cream. I also like lemon ice cream. Back to the story. Jade swam to the shore and found a cute little puppy walking on the sand (which is me). But wait! A big giant crab came and gobbled up Teddy. Am I exaggerating? Repeat of sentence, a small Hermit Crab pinched at Teddy and he got very scared. Teddy did get a little bruise, but it did not stop him from telling the story! Teddy, away! I heard an echoing noise. I thought this time it was a real giant crab but then I heard giggling. Either it was a Sea Monster or a Great White Shark. Did I just say shark? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I started to run but then a block of shade stopped me. I turned around. I could not do it in slow motion. How do movie actors do it? Or is it just the camera? Back to the monster. So there was a block of shade. I got scared and then I realized it was two dolphins. But they were not just swimming and talking like regular dolphins. They were swimming on high speed and suddenly a slight shade came over me. Those dolphins actually jumped over the sun! You know that big hot red thingy that’s in the air and space museum. Don't get me started on that story! That’s when the dolphins came over. They introduced themselves. The dolphin said her name was Jade and the other dolphin said her name was Caroline. I did not title this story Jade, Caroline, and Teddy. That would just sound weird! Also Jade sounded more dolphin, Caroline sounds more elephant. The dolphins said they just came back from a storm and they kept on swimming and swimming. The dolphins said they jumped really high so they can get a bit more air. That was their story.

The dolphins offered me a ride in the water. I told them I was scared of going in the ocean. Jade said for me to ride on Caroline and she would be back in a second. Caroline told me to hold on to her fin, so I did. When I started to enjoy and feel relaxed on the ride, we . . . RAN INTO A BIG BAD SCARY STINGRAY! Mental Note: Never Listen to Dolphins.

Honestly, I am afraid of ocean animals but Caroline told me not to worry. Sadie, the stingray, was their friend. From the distance, I heard Jade and a HUMAN SOUND! I thought it must be one of their friends. Fun Fact: I am very shy of HUMANS not animals. I told Caroline about my random fear about people. Caroline told me to wait, close my eyes, and forget that I was afraid.

The sound got closer and closer. I think I even started sweating a little, but then the noise got slower and slower and then I think the human snuck up on me. They said this was all a plan and this is the story: Sasha, my first and best owner, had lost me. She kept on looking and was posting flyers everywhere. They explained they had seen me walking on the beach so they got me and brought me here for Sasha!

I can’t believe it was Sasha, my first and best owner! I was so glad to see her I licked her like never before! She and her mom drove me home. I got a bowl of super kibble! So we lived happily ever after! But that was after I did my business—not that type of business—I have a real Teddy Kibble company!

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by Lauren N.

One warm, sunny day after school I was practicing my routine in my backyard. All of a sudden I saw a Jack Russell Terrier puppy running around. After a few minutes of watching her, I saw another puppy running around and they were playing with each other. I sat down to take a break and right as I sat down, the two puppies raced over, jumped on my lap and gave me two big kisses. They were SO CUTE!!!! One of them was a skinny pup that had a fluffy white coat with three light brown patches. Her eyes were surrounded with a black spot. The other puppy looked like a big fluff ball with one brown and one black patch. He had two big puppy eyes and one wet black nose.

For the rest of the day, I was playing with them. I decided to ask my dad if we could keep them even though I knew what he would say. "No! We can’t take care of dogs.”

But my dad almost fainted when he saw them because they were so cute. He let them sleep at my house but said the next day we had to get rid of them. That night, they fell asleep at the end of my bed. The only thing I could think about going to sleep was how I could get my dad to let us keep them. Then I thought of calling them Brooklyn and Wave, the names of my old dogs. Brooklyn was the big fluff ball and Wave was the skinny one.

The next day, I took the puppies and went to my friend Emma’s house. Brooklyn, Wave, Lilly, and Prince Paws (Emma’s dogs) all snuggled up with each other on a bunch of blankets after I got there. “So cute!” Emma whispered to me. All of us went outside and started playing a game of fetch. After we were done, we went to the park to run around. We were there for about an hour and a half when my dad called. “Where are you!” My dad said with anger. “You’re an hour late!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” He said almost crying. “COME HOME RIGHT NOW!!!!” My dad said every word getting more angry. “What was that all about?” Emma asked me. “My dad is just mad I’m an hour late.” “Why? Do you have to go somewhere?” Emma said. “No! That's why it's weird. I’ve never heard my dad so mad before. I better go see what’s happening. Please take good care of Brooklyn and Wave! I hope I’ll be back soon!” I shouted running home.

I got home to see my dad getting tangled up with rope by a creepy looking stranger. Out of nowhere, Wave sprinted up, biting one of the stranger’s legs. Brooklyn did the same but on the other leg.

The puppies had followed me home and I didn’t know it. The stranger ran away and when he did, my dad ran over hugging all of us. “Thank you so much for saving me!” My dad said as we walked inside together and I asked him why he was so mad on the phone. “Because a stranger was tying me up with a rope!!” he said giggling. “Thanks to you, I’m right here.” “So does that mean we can keep the puppies?” I asked hopefully. “Yes...” My dad said quietly. I jumped onto his lap, hugging him. Brooklyn and Wave jumped onto our laps like they were listening to every word we were saying.

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by Lauren R.

So here’s the story. My mom was putting up Christmas decorations and I realized that my dog had not gone outside that day. So I asked my mom if I could take him out for a minute.

"Okay," my mom said. So I got to walk my dog around the block. My dog’s name is Skittles. He is light brown, getting darker. My

dog is medium sized. He is half King Charles Spaniel. I was glad about getting to walk my dog by myself. I love having

the responsibility to walk my dog without having anybody following me or walking too fast. I had walked my dog with my brothers but not by myself. But this was the first time I was allowed to walk my dog Skittles.

First I walked my dog outside right in front of my house. Then my mom asked me if I wanted to take my dog up and down my street.

I said, "yes." I felt good about making him stay with me when there was another dog on the sidewalk. Skittles didn’t jump like he usually does.

I got pretty good at walking Skittles so my mom asked me if I wanted to take my dog around my block.

I replied, "yes, yes, yes!" I went all the way around the block a few times. Once, Skittles found a friend. The other dog was small and brown. They sniffed each other's bottoms.

When I got home I said, "Mom, Skittles got to meet a friend." "Good," my mom said. I felt proud of myself. Now I walk my dog all the time.

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by Robbie R.

One day I got up and knew something was wrong. When I looked up at the light, it was flashing on off, on off, and a UB40 tape was on. I heard about 5 different things: Led Zeppelin from downstairs, the Beatles from the basement, 106.7 FM from my dad’s room, the song "Poker Face" from right next to me, and a keyboard demo. I got some clothes and ran out to the car. Fortunately, it was still in the driveway. I got in and Mom, Dad, my two dogs, and I drove away. About an hour later, we got to my aunt’s house and stayed there.

The next day we drove back. The house was a battlefield that looked like a tornado had hit it. Apparently, there was a war taking place in the house. The ancient Greek God of Messes was probably on one side, and the Goddess of Neatness maybe on the other. The dumpster had a 15 foot pile of stuff coming out. In it, was the heater, the water heater, a ship deck chair (where did that come from?), the oven, the microwave, the toaster, another microwave, and the stove. Apparently the Goddess of Neatness hated coffee because that was in there, too. Everything was still playing. There were some new things playing, too. One thing was floating on a life raft. Ahhhhhh! I went flying over the back fence. Apparently I had been on a life raft when it had been inflated. We drove away after that. Something banged on the hood of the car as we were backing out. It was a toilet (the God of Messes had thrown it out the window during the battle). Really?

After a week, we drove back to the house. Two more toilets came crashing down on us as we pulled in. Then came the main floor bathroom sink. Then a bathtub came out the window. Then the oven floated out of the dumpster. About ten minutes later, it came crashing down on my head. I tried to push the oven off my head. I got some water after that. Another bottle of olive oil was thrown out the window. Then the Goddess of Neatness tried to get me. I’m pretty sure that’s what she was trying to do when she threw the vacuum down on me. It was turned on, the hose stuck to my head. Fortunately, it wasn’t powerful enough to pull me to the first floor window.

I heard her say, “Here, take this!” And a door hit the car. We left, and when we came back the gods were almost done warring. We

needed to get something, and that something was furniture. We went furniture shopping and then we went back. When we came back, they were done. We started to put some furniture inside. That night we tested the house. The gods were still there just a tiny bit. We stayed at a hotel for a few more nights. Then we tested the house again. It was perfect!

After a few nights we got used to the house. One day I woke up and knew something was wrong again. We packed up a bunch of stuff and left. When we visited again, the dumpster had another 15 foot pile of stuff coming out of it. I wondered if the same things would happen again.

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by Courtney V. Once there was a dog named Coco. He was a superhero who saved lots of people in his village. Coco the brave dog is very rich so he bought a laboratory. The laboratory was for when Coco was sleeping and he doesn't notice when the bad guy comes. The alert will come on. Then, when the alert has awakened Coco, he’s off to the rescue.

One day when the alert went off he went out of his house and flew up. He looked at his GPS and found Henry Husket, an evil villain. He was robbing a bank to be as rich as possible. Then it was time to take action. BAM! He punched Henry Husket and Henry Husket got dizzy. Coco the brave dog wrapped him with a thick rope. The day had been saved again.

But suddenly there were two more attacks going on at two more banks. His GPS rang and said, "alert alert." Coco flew as fast as he could. POW! He punched George Missile, another evil villain that works for the emperor. He got dizzy too. Coco tied him with the LARGEST GUMMY WORM EVER!!! The day had been saved again but suddenly Michael Bush hopped in. Coco was dehydrated. He couldn't get up anymore. He was too tired. But the people he saved from the bank thanked him. So they gave him water so he was no longer dehydrated anymore. He got up. Then... KICK!!

Coco kicked him so hard that Michael Bush fell to the ground. He got knocked down harder then the two other villains he defeated. Why Michael Bush got knocked out harder was because he was the boss of the evil. He was the person to first create the civil war to be a villain to be.... EVIL!! Michael Bush couldn’t give up. He got up and smacked Coco as hard as he could. Coco sobbed for a second, then wiped up his tears. He stood up and was too weak. He tried everything he could to fly. He could only rise up a little. He flew toward Michael Bush. He lost a lot of energy. When the people saw him smack Coco so hard, they were too scared to go out of their safety house. They wanted to help but they were too scared but one of the people stood up. He was the boss of the bank. His name was Richard.

He said, “Hey, you take your hands off my friend.” Michael Bush looked at him and said, “Ha Ha! Do you even know who I am?” “Umm, no,” the boss said. “I'm the leader of villains. I am the one who created the civil war. I am Michael

Bush!” “Wait! What? You know him?” Coco barked. “I do! You destroyed my family, ” Richard said. “Now it's time for me and Coco to

destroy you!” Michael threw smoke bombs. It filled the whole bank

and some came out of the chimney. Coco tried to find a oxygen mask for both of them. Coco reached in his bag to get the mask. When he got them out, he passed one to Richard. They both put them on. They ran to Michael, then punched him kicked him, and smacked him. Coco got out his knockout ray gun. Once again they have succeeded. Then Richard became a crime fighting assistant and they lived safe and sound!!

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Art by Mia S.

by Liam A.

There is an island, a pretty big island, in North Carolina. It’s called Bald Head

Island! From 2008 until now, my family has been going to Bald Head Island for summer vacation.

I love going boogie boarding on the smooth waves at the Bald Head Island beaches. Boogie boarding is similar to surfing. Boogie boarding is when you lay on a board that’s made of foam. You get in front of a wave that is going to collapse. Maybe you’ll get scared about the fact that the wave is going to fall on you, but you don’t have to worry as long you have the back of your boogie board facing the wave. Once you do all the steps, the wave will fall on you and the wave will carry you back to the beach. You’ll get used to doing these steps if you keep practicing.

Every year my parents have to rent a house to stay in. This year we stayed in the house called Barnacle Bob’s. The living room had two single chairs and one quadruple chair. The best thing about the living room is the 20-inch flat-screen TV. If you went upstairs, there were two rooms. The one on the right had two small beds and to the left, one queen-sized bed. My sister and I slept in the right room with the two small beds and my parents slept in the other room.

Every year, we try to see the alligator at this pond. I know that the pond is really big, but I can’t tell you how big it is because the pond goes through a green forest kind of like a rain forest. Maybe you’d think that there would be a trail or something but there isn’t.

This year, my dad and I went golfing for the first time at Bald Head Island. On the golf course, there are lots of alligators and the biggest one was twelve feet long. But we didn’t see any because they were deep in the ponds at the golf course.

There is a light house that is hundreds of years old. It is really tall and almost every year we go up it. It is named Old Baldie.

Next year, we might not go to Bald Head Island. If my family agrees to go somewhere else for summer vacation, I’ll miss Bald Head Island but I bet that I’ll have lots of fun at the other vacation place.

But I still think Bald Head Island is the best vacation spot.

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by Dillon B.

Cats are my favorite pets. I have five cats. Their names are Tigger, Ash, Teddy, Cinnamon, and Sammy. My favorite one is Tigger. He is cute and he will play with almost anything he can play with. The most special thing about him is that he paws on me. At night, if I have a blanket over me, he will come and paw on me. He will pull the blanket off of me. Than I wake up cold and I yell, “Tigger!”

Sammy and Teddy are the lazy cats. Cinnamon is the grouchy cat. Ash is like Tigger. He is cute and gray.

It is so crazy living in a house with five cats. They chase each other around the house. If you are in my basement you hear pitter patter from upstairs.

I like cats that are cute, playful, nice, and furry. I love my cats.

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by Nico C.  

If I could have the perfect meal for my mom, my dad, Ronin, my friend, 

and I, there would be many varieties of different kinds of food.  

As my drink, I would have water and Mexican Coke. For my delicious 

and yummy appetizers we would all eat chewy octopus salad and sticky 

sashimi salad. We would have many delicious side dishes such as a fresh fish 

head. For our amazing entrees I would eat pepperoni, basil and onion pizza, 

plain cheese calzone, fresh Greek lamb chops and yummy toro, tuna, salmon, 

halibut and yellowtail sushi. For dessert I would like creamy cannolis, nutella 

pizza and taro frozen yogurt.  

The whole table would be covered with food. Even with all of us eating 

we would still have a lot of leftovers to eat the next day. 

That would be the best meal ever! It would be an amazing experience. 

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by Lindsay C.

One day Mom and Dad said I could have any meal that I wanted for dinner. So first I went to a sushi restaurant and bought six California rolls to use as appetizers. Then I went to the grocery store and bought three bags of potato chips, some carrots, soda, steak, pizza, and pasta.

When I got home I went to work. I had a lot of cooking to do! I asked my dad to cook the steak on the grill with garlic salt, pepper, and salt. Then I threw the cheese pizza in the oven and set the timer for three minutes and boiled the pasta for six minutes. The meal looked juicy, yummy, fresh, and smelled terrific! I couldn’t wait to try it.

As the meal cooked I had a thought about what will I have for dessert? Of course I will make some ice cream sundaes. So I went to the fridge and got chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream. Then I took the pasta and put it in my bowl. It almost looked like a bowl of worms. I thought it was funny.

Then Dad went to check the steak, and it was done. It was nice and crisp and I couldn’t wait to try it. When I tasted the steak it was warm and juicy.

After a yummy dinner I made my way to dessert. I took three big scoops of chocolate ice cream and dumped a lot of hot fudge on the ice cream. Then I sprayed the whipped cream on it too. I knew what it would taste like—a creamy, smooth texture as it rolls down my tongue. I loved that perfect meal.

33

by John F.

Once upon a time, at 11:59 p.m., I figured out my old alarm clock could freeze time for three minutes. The first thing I did after I froze time was to go to CVS and look at the biggest Nerf gun with the most bullets and a set of three war planes and a helicopter as a Christmas gift for my brother, Kevin. After that I figured out that my Arceus level one hundred could make me teleport. An Arceus level one hundred is a pokemon card. Then I used my card and teleported to my kitchen. I took brussel sprouts, pepper, bread and bananas. Then I teleported to the food bank that the most homeless people go to and gave the food to the food bank owners. Then I teleported back to my house. I took the letter opener and teleported on top of Devils Tower. Devils Tower is a mountain that only three people have climbed to the top of in Colorado. I carved my name in the granite with the letter opener. Then I teleported home and took a little nap. When I woke up it was 7:30 a.m. Then I remembered I froze time at midnight! I could not wait to freeze time again.

34

by Patrick F. Last weekend, I was sick. The worst part was that I couldn’t go anywhere even though I wanted to go to my brother, Garrett’s, basketball game.

It started last Friday night at 10:30. I got sick to my stomach three times. After I got sick, I went to tell Mom. Mom and Dad came in and helped me out. Then, Dad told me I had to lie on the floor because I would be closer to the bathroom. Of course, Mom agreed. From then, it was a long night because I was really uncomfortable on the floor. I had a pillow but it still wasn’t very comfortable.

The next morning, I woke up and I was still sick. I had a big fever and I was light headed. I had no breakfast, lunch, or dinner. For the whole day, I watched TV and took naps. That evening, Garrett, Mitchell, Dad, and I watched a new movie called Santa Buddies 2. During the movie I was feeling a little better because I was relaxed and calm.

I woke up the next morning feeling much better, but my throat was still sore. The good part was that I got to go to church that morning. It was boring being sick and I am happy to be feeling better now.

35

by Natalie H.

Bedtime is one of my least favorite parts of the day. I have so

much energy at the end of the day and I still have to go to sleep.

On school nights, I have to go to bed at 8:00. I really dislike going

to bed at that time. Before I turn off my light, I read for a long time.

I read until 9:00 or 9:30. Then I turn off my light and I try to go to

sleep. I lie in my bed for a long time until I finally fall asleep. While I

am lying in my bed, trying to fall asleep, I roll around a lot. I also

stare at the ceiling in my bed.

Most nights around 10:00, I fall asleep at last. Some nights,

though, I want to go to bed. The only time that happens is when I

have a sleepover the previous night. On nights I have sleepovers, I

stay up until 1:00 in the morning, so I am very tired the next day.

My brother never goes to bed early. My mom puts him to bed

at 7:30, but he doesn’t go to sleep till 10:00. My younger brother

makes a lot of noise by screaming and being silly. If my brother

would just go to sleep without a fuss, it would make my bedtime so

much easier!

36

by Lillian K.

One day, Evan and his little sister, Allie, were walking home from the park. It was Halloween and the school day was over, so their mom let them take a short walk. They were about to turn onto their street, when Evan saw the haunted house. Evan had always wanted to go in the haunted house, but his mom never let him. Now seemed liked a good time to Evan because his mother wasn’t there to say, "No." The house was on the corner of Autumn Street. It was dark and gray. The shutters were cracked and broken and the roof was pointed like a witch’s hat. By the way it looked, Evan suspected it was deserted.

He took Allie’s hand and headed up the stairs. When they got to the front door, he gave it a push to see if it was locked. It swung open easily. They walked inside, closed the door, and started to explore. The first thing they saw was a lumpy couch. It had been chewed to the stuffing by some type of rodent. “Eeww!” Allie cried. “Evan, we really should leave. If Mom finds out we were here, she’ll freak!”

Evan sighed and said, “How would she find out? The only way Mom would find out is if a certain little kid tells her. Now be quiet!” He gritted his teeth and put his hands on his hips to give her the message that she better not say a word.

Meanwhile, their mom was wondering where they had gone. She thought that they would be back by then. She decided to give them a few more minutes and then she would go looking for them. When they weren’t back after a few minutes, she put on her jacket and went outside. The first place she wanted to look was the park. It was possible that they lost track of time, so she set out for the park.

Back at the haunted house, Evan and Allie found the light switch and tested it to see if it worked. They were very surprised that the lights still worked after all of the years no one had lived there. Soon they were jumping, and leaping all over the house. Evan and Allie decided that they should split up to look for cool gadgets or expensive silverware. Evan was searching the first floor and Allie was searching the main floor. They had found many gadgets but not many trinkets. Allie was about to give up when she heard a crash! Allie went over to where she heard the crash. Spilled on the floor were jewels, silverware, and even silver and gold! She started stuffing her pockets with everything! She was too busy to notice the person in the shadows watching her every move.

Evan heard the crash, too. He went downstairs to see what had happened. He came down to see a smiling Allie. Her pockets were bulging and her arms were full of jewels, silverware, and tons of silver and gold.

“How did you...I mean... what did...what happened?” Evan stuttered. “Well... I heard a big crash and I went to see what happened and this is what I

found,” Allie exclaimed. “Great job, Allie!” Evan cried. “Now we can sell the gold and become super rich.”

They were so excited that they almost didn’t see the bald, dark, figure quietly creeping toward them, but Evan saw him out of the corner of his eye. He thought it looked like a person he knew. He was about to tell Allie about the figure when it leaped out at them. Evan screamed.

As he woke up screaming, he realized it had all been a dream. He had Harry Potter, book seven in his lap. “Ohhh,” Evan breathed. “The figure was Voldemort. Oh, I need to stop falling asleep with a book in my lap.”

37

by Grace K.

One day, when Mia opened the door to her room, she saw a

little pink girl no more than one inch tall and a little green boy about the same size on her bed. Mia asked them both where they were from.

The girl said, “I’m from The Land Of The Good. ”The boy said, “I’m from The Land Of The Bad.” The little pink girl asked Mia politely, “Will you come to The

Land Of The Good with me?” Not wanting to be left out, the little green boy rudely said,

“Come on. Let’s go to The Land Of The Bad.” Mia agreed to go with both of them. First to The Land Of The

Bad and then to The Land Of The Good. In The Land Of The Bad, all of the houses were old with broken roofs, chipped paint, and they all were gray. All of the people had rotten teeth and messy hair and a lot of broken bones.

Mia asked the little green boy, “Can we go to The Land of the Good now?”

The houses in The Land Of The Good were all different colors and were all very large and all looked brand new. The people had well brushed teeth and well brushed hair and they all looked very happy. After Mia visited both places, she went home, fell asleep, and dreamed of visiting The Land Of The Good again.

38

by Beck O-R.

Usually I go to bed at 9:00. First, I take a shower. I like it hot and

I stay in there for a long time. Sometimes, when I have a sore stomach, I take a long and hot bath. Sometimes, it makes my stomach feel better. Second, I get my PJ’s on. They are soft and fuzzy.

On Fridays we watch Grimm. Grimm is a movie series that has weird and mysterious creatures. The Grimms are people that try to kill the creatures. I watch it at 8:00. It is one hour long. Next I climb into bed. I have a loft bed. A loft bed is a bed sort of like a bunk bed but it doesn’t have a bed on the bottom. Then I get comfortable in my blanket. My blanket has baseball on it. I always have to fluff my pillow because it is an uncomfortable pillow. Next I go to bed and fall asleep. Sometimes I go to sleep right away and sometimes I don’t. When I go to bed I have dreams about Christmas and presents.

During the week, my dad wakes me up in the morning. My dad tells me to get up and put my clothes on. I wake up at 6:00 every morning. I get my clothes on and then I go downstairs. I have waffles for breakfast and then my dad takes our dog for a walk. My dad expects me to have my shoes on and my teeth brushed. Then I go to school. I go to morning extended day before school starts. I go to the gym at 8:00 and stay in there until 8:30. Then I get lined up to go to the lower level. Then when the lower level line gets downstairs I sit under my locker. Then school starts and I go into the classroom ready to have a good day.

39

by Sienna P.

One day, Amy, Sam and Grace all woke up and went downstairs.

Amy and Sam were twins who were two years older than Amy. Their

mom and dad were not downstairs.

“Maybe they are at work,” said Max.

“I will get us all on the bus and make eggs for all of us,” said

Grace. So she did that.

When they got to the bus stop, the bus did not come.

“I think that all the adults disappeared!” Sam said.

“Nonsense, adults can not just disappear,” Amy said.

“I do not know. We will walk to school. If the teacher is not there,

then adults have disappeared,” Grace said.

They walked to school and saw a poster that said, “Kids are Cool.”

They did not see any teachers and they felt scared.

“You were right. Adults did disappear,” said Amy.

Then, Amy woke up and realized she had been dreaming.

Her mom came in and said, “It is time for school.”

Amy went to school.

40

by Sophie P.

It was the night before Christmas and Max and Ella were hanging their green and red stockings. Ella hung the last ornament before going to the closet to get more. Max was moving some of the ornaments to the top of the tree, and then he put on the star. Max walked to the closet to get Ella. He looked around, but he couldn’t find her. The closet door was wide open, so he walked in. Max could tell he wasn’t in the closet anymore. He was surrounded by candy, gingerbread people, and more! Then, Ella strolled out of a gingerbread house carrying a box full of candy canes and maps. That was when they knew there would be adventure still to come.

Ella and Max picked up the first map, and they started to follow it. Each spot on the map had one sweet treasure hidden inside. The first stop was the chocolate waterfall. Max and Ella were surprised at how hard it was to find the treasures. The treasure was a big bucket of Jell-O. The last treasure in that map was a giant ice cream sundae that was 16 feet tall and 9 feet wide. They took out a candy cane and stuck it into the ice cream sundae.

The next map was long and very different from the first, but was just as interesting. It took them to a skyscraper. Ella opened the tall sugar door. They stepped into the room that seemed to be stretched very thin. Ella walked two steps admiring the smooshy floor made of gumdrops before bumping into a stick. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. She and Max looked up. A gingerbread man was chipping lollipop pieces off a giant lollipop. They took some and then picked up the next map.

The next map was so old and faded they could hardly read it, but it looked cooler than the other maps so they tried to follow it. It took them to the best place they had ever been. They found themselves looking at the candy city. There they met gingerbread people, tasted new candy they had never tried before, and played fun games.

Max and Ella knew they had to go home, so they found the closet door and stepped into their warm house. After one hour of sleeping, they had a great Christmas! Even after Christmas was over, Max and Ella kept having dreams that they walked into a closet filled with adventure, candy, and fun!

41

by Laura P.

You probably don’t know this, but in the back of your desk there are tiny mushrooms. Those tiny mushrooms might look very, very cute, but they chew on every loose piece of paper. Have you ever found your eraser on the floor when you know you put it in your desk? That’s the mushrooms again. The mushrooms love eating erasers for a snack when they're visiting other friends. The little mushrooms are always very, very playful. At the end of the day, the mushrooms get the Friday Folders and start hang gliding across the classroom. The tiny mushrooms’ favorite snack is chapter books. They read it and they eat it. All of the mushrooms least favorite snack is hand sanitizer. It tastes a lot like Brussels sprouts (Brussels sprouts taste horrible to them).

Every Saturday the tiny mushrooms take a cup of water and pretend it is a swimming pool. SPLASH, SPLASH! The mushrooms live in little mushroom houses in the back of your desk. Some of them are red, some are green, and some are blue with polka dots on the roof of the house. Lots of tiny mushrooms like to explore to find new types of erasers and yummy chapter books like Charlotte's Web or Harry Potter. Those cute little mushrooms are playful, but they eat like pigs. Watch out for loose papers because the mushrooms will eat them up. That goes for erasers and books, so hide all of the above.

If your homework ever has a bite in it, don’t blame your pets, blame the mushrooms.

42

by Lindsay S.

Popcorn is a very good snack to eat. It can be buttery, salty, and

very good when microwaved. Popcorn is white and yellow and it smells

like corn. It is fun to watch it pop! I like to eat popcorn at the

movies when it is very buttery. It is a delicious snack! I love to eat

it with my friends!

I have popcorn every Friday, because it is movie night. I watch

the movies with my family in the movie theater. We watch a lot of

movies! It is so cool! I get front row seats almost every time I go!

My whole family likes the front row, but now we like the middle

of the movie theater because we can see better!

Popcorn makes me think of my family. I love to eat popcorn.

43

by Alex S.

In the future, there will be a mailbox. Its name will be

Mail. Mail will be every color. If you are sad, it will be blue. If

you are happy, it will be white. It will hold as much mail as

possible.

Mail will be able to hold boxes, packages, letters —really

anything. It will be your home. The post will be an elevator. At

the bottom, you will be able to type in the name and a smaller

mailbox will pop out. It will be a car, plane, boat, helicopter,

spaceship — any kind of transport.

Mail will have anything you have in your house. It will

never run out of rooms. You can type in the room you want and

Mail will be able to make it for you.

Here are some examples. If you love art, it can make an art

studio. If you love to travel but don’t want to leave the warmth

of your home, Mail could come with you. Mail will have every

camera there is, so it will have the best security system ever.

Mail will be very safe. Mail can also be very small. It will

be able to make you small with it.

I would like to live in Mail in the

future.

44

by Jack S.

One winter morning, I got out of bed and went downstairs. I just

remembered that that day was the Rose Bowl! The Rose Bowl is a championship football game of two teams who are very good. Texas A&M was playing Oklahoma. I was rooting for Texas A&M. Texas A&M had the Heisman Trophy winner and they were ranked higher. Texas A&M was in 9th place and Oklahoma was in 11th place.

The game was going to start in 26 minutes. I still had some time to chill before the game. My dad came down and put some coffee beans into the coffee machine and then went outside to get the newspaper. When he came back inside, his coffee was ready. He sat down and turned on the TV. I was sitting on the couch with the remote in my hand. I felt super excited!

The game started. It was boring in the beginning because no one scored and they had to punt to the other team. In the first half, when there was seven minutes and thirty seven seconds left, Texas A&M had finally scored. It was the first touchdown of the game. I jumped up and down.

In the end, the score was 31 to 28 and there two seconds left in the game. Texas A&M won and I was very happy for them!

45

by Mia S. Ally, the bubble gum girl was a strawberry bubble gum

girl who lived in a bubble gum machine in a candy store. She lived with a bunch of other bubble gum people who didn’t like her and said her flavor smelled funny.

One morning, an orange flavored bubble gum person said, “If I were you, I would change my flavor.”

Ally glared but said nothing. Orange flavored bubble gum always wanted to be better.

She walked down the street until she saw a lonely strawberry bubble gum girl. A group of grape flavored bubble gums passed by. They screamed and laughed, “Look at Miss Lonely! She's sitting on that weird bench again!’’ Ally was about to stop them, but they pushed her. She fell down and scraped her knee.

’”Are you all right?’’ asked Ally. “Yes, I am fine,’’ she said. She stood up and shook

herself. “What is your name? We could be friends.” Hearing that made Ally happy. She said her name and

asked for her name. “My name is Emma,” she said. “Nice to meet you, Emma,’’ said Ally. Now that she had a friend, she wouldn’t

be bored any more. Ally was really happy for a long time after that.

46

by Nadia S.

About two years ago, I went to a farm called Rocky

Acre Farms. We went to Hershey Park. When we got back,

we saw a bat in my room!

We called someone over to get the bat out. We were in

the fireplace room, so the bat could come from the

fireplace and get in the room. We finally got the bat out.

Then we could all go to sleep!

Now let me tell you what it was like. It looked like a

kite flying in a house. I felt bad for the bat. It was hanging

on the coat rack. I was six when that happened, so I was a

little scared. And that's the time when I saw a bat in my

room.

47

by Henry S.

I remember when I went to Sandbridge Beach with

Dad, Mom, and my brother. In the car, I was very

hungry. I ate some delicious gummies. When I got to the

beach, the waves were huge. They were as big as the

universe.

Later, I was playing in the sand. Sometimes, the

waves swept our sandcastles away. When I was at the

restaurant, we had shrimp and grilled cheese

sandwiches.

At the end, I was happy, but tired.

48

by Fletcher T.

It was a surprise when I got off the bus! My mom was holding our new puppy. She is only 9 weeks old and is a Soft Coat Wheaten Terrier. A Soft Coat Wheaten Terrier is a medium dog that's fur starts out brown and then turns white.

I have been asking for a dog forever and my mom finally got us one. I was so excited my wish finally came true. We had a hard time coming up with a name. So my dad had the idea for everyone to put in a name and then we voted. The name that my mom wanted was Nora, but Maple won. That was the name my brother came up with. I’m glad that’s her name because I think it’s a great name. At first I thought Maple would know how to do everything, but she didn’t. She has accidents in our house a lot if she is not being watched. I wish she knew how to sit and shake my hand. My mom says she will learn. She also bites and sometimes it hurts. We play ball in the backyard together but all she does is chase it. I can’t wait for her to get trained so she will not bite and go to the bathroom in our house. I still love her and I will forever. I am so happy she came to our family.

49

by Andrew V. If my alarm clock could make time stay still for three minutes, I would sleep in. I wouldn’t have to get up so early, because I don’t like getting up at that time. I could be more energetic at recess, and I could eat my lunch faster. When I get home, I would play basketball in my backyard. I would shoot three pointers and score a lot of points. It’s pretty easy because I’m good at basketball. Another thing I might do is, Wii baseball, where I hit doubles, triples, and home runs. I would win by a lot.

If there was a rooster that lived in my backyard, I would ignore it, and I’d throw it in the basketball net! Then I’d get my dog, and I’d make him chase the rooster around the whole entire house! The rooster would fly over the street and I’d make my dog go back inside my house. The rooster would fly into a tree and stay there until night when the rooster would fly away forever. We’d never see it again and I wouldn’t need to wake up when a rooster went cocka-doodle-doo.

I like to sleep in because I don’t like getting up and I like to sleep with a stuffed animal named Alcatraz.

We got him in San Francisco and we named him after an island named Alcatraz. The island has a prison for prisoners like Al Capone. We saw lots of windsurfers surfing around the island. I liked everything about being in San Francisco except the plane ride, which took two hours too long because of a storm in the middle of the country.

I would wish that I could sleep in every day hugging Alcatraz, just for that reason!

50

by Lizzie W.

For Thanksgiving, I’m going to Pennsylvania. I will see my cousins. Laura is older and has a job at CVS. I have two young cousins. Their names are Juliette and Lewis. Lewis is 4 years old. Juliette is 5 years old. My grandpa brings us to the park. We play in the basement, too.

I will get to see Laura’s dogs. Their names are Kalle and Taco. Kalle is the new dog. I will finally see Kalle. Kalle is like a husky. Kalle has some fur that is brown. Taco is a wiener dog. Taco is all brown. Kalle does not know when to stop playing. Taco likes to sit on my grandma.

We will all eat in the dining room. The foods we will eat are turkey, corn, green beans and pumpkin pie. Green beans are my favorite food. I can’t wait!

51

by Yunshan Z. I have two goldfish. A purple one and an orange one. The orange one has a polka dot close to its head. They both are very active, just like the third graders running around in the playground. My goldfish are very interesting! Their cute little mouths open and close. It looks like they’re whispering something to me, but I know they’re just breathing. Their tails swings back and forth to control where to swim. But I’m still wondering how they can stay still when their fin is moving. When I come to feed them fish food, the purple fish always starts eating first. When there is a piece of fish food that is bigger than the purple fish, that smart fish bumps the fish food HARD!! When the piece of fish food is broken into pieces, the purple fish calms down and eats it. It looks as if the purple fish is saying to the fish food, ’’Don’t think just because you’re bigger than my mouth, I can’t eat you!’’ I love my goldfish!

52

Art by Alex S.

53

by Kyle B.

One day in the world of Minecraft, Caption K. was practicing his

mining skills. Then he finds a secret hatch! He opens it and goes inside.

“This…this…this place is super scary,” says Caption K.

Then he goes back to his world but forgets to close the hatch! The

next day there was an attack of zombie pigs and creepers. The creepers

blew up the houses and the pigs ate all the food.

The people rebuilt their homes and got more food. Then Caption

K. made a map to the hatch. He started to dig all the way to lava. Then

he hid the map behind a stone wall. He climbed back up to his house

and went to sleep.

The next day he went to the Ice Lands to build a hut for a friend.

When he was done, he went cliff climbing and made a secret fort under

the cliff. Then he blew up all of Minecraft!

He rebuilt it. Everyone survived. All the houses were rebuilt. After

a looooooooooong day of work, every thing was finished. When

everyone was asleep Caption K. built a new secret fort way under his

home.

10,999 years later…someone evil finds the map! That’s the

adventure for Minecraft2.

54

by Hogan B.

On Saturday morning, I walk in . . .

Good morning gym!

I see the rainbow colored equipment

and all the girls and boys

flipping and spinning.

I hear people land their routines

and all the floor rattling and clattering.

The vault smacks, slam. Clap it goes!

I smell sweat and chalk everywhere,

hopes and dreams on the way.

I feel the equipment: the bars, beams, vault, and floor,

my body flipping and twirling.

I taste chalk and water flowing through me,

sweat dripping down me.

Good night Gym!

See you Sunday!

55

by Matthew B. One day a bug appeared out of the forest. Unfortunately someone smashed the bug. Fortunately, it was a cockroach and it lived. Unfortunately, that someone flicked the cockroach into a waterfall. Fortunately, the cockroach could swim. Unfortunately, the current was too fast. Fortunately, it was a pond and he could crawl out. Unfortunately, he met chimpanzees who wanted to eat him. Fortunately, the chimpanzees got chased away by a rhinoceros. Unfortunately, the rhinoceros chased the cockroach, too. Fortunately, the cockroach had wings and could fly. Unfortunately, it was too windy to fly. Fortunately, the cockroach saw a plane and got on the wing. Unfortunately, it was a jet plane and it went too fast for him to get on. Fortunately, he found a small crack and he could fit himself inside. Unfortunately, the people inside thought he was gross. They screamed. Fortunately, the cockroach went back through the crack in the plane and dived off. Unfortunately, the cockroach becomes a wanted criminal for getting on the plane because the queen was on the plane. Fortunately, he gets his own picture on a sign. Unfortunately, all the cops were chasing him. Fortunately, the cockroach could hide in little places. Unfortunately, he hid in a pit of dynamite. Fortunately, he survived when the pit blew up. But it turns out, this was all a game called "Chase the Cockroach" by little kids.

56

by Sara C. Last year, when I went to North Carolina, my grandma and I went to Wal-Mart to get me a birthstone. My birthstone is a blue topaz. We asked a woman that worked there where to find birthstones. She pointed to the jewelry section. We asked a woman that worked in the jewelry section where to find a necklace with a blue topaz on it. All of the birthstone necklaces and bracelets were on a wheel. The woman spun the wheel around to where the blue topazes were. She took them off the wheel for me to decide which one I wanted.

I chose a necklace that had a gold chain, a blue topaz, and a diamond on it. The blue topaz was sky blue and was in the shape of a tear. My grandma asked the woman to put it in a box for me to carry the necklace in. The woman gave me a very pretty box to put my necklace in. The box was a white box that had a bumpy design of leaves on it. Now, my birthstone is my favorite necklace that I have. I wear it more often than any other piece of jewelry that I have. It is special to me. My brother once tried to steal it and I was so mad at him that I hardly spoke to him for three days! My birthstone necklace is so special to me that most of the time it is around my neck!

57

by Ethan D. Bobby found a spaceship in the back of his school. It was big enough to hold three people. It was white with black stripes on the hood.

He got into it with his little brother Joe, his hamster Fluffy, and his best friend, Jimmy. Bobby started the ship. It took off into space. When they got into deep space, it stopped. Jimmy said, “Look what you did.” Bobby said, “We are heading to a big planet.” Jimmy said, “Give me the controls.” Bobby said, “No way. The last time I gave you the controls, I lost my world record on Airplane Death Match.” “So!” yelled Jimmy. Then Bobby gave him the controls but it was too late. The ship crashed. Nobody was hurt. An alien came out of nowhere. He had a green body with a big head and pointy ears. Bobby said, “Who are you?” “He’s an alien,” Jimmy said. “Can’t you tell?” “Oh,” said Bobby. “Let’s go.” The alien followed them to a crater. He sat on the crater. But it was not a crater, it was a rock monster. The rock monster ate the alien. Now the alien could control the rock monster. More monsters came out of the ground. Jimmy was scared. But Bobby wasn’t scared so he tried to find something to stop the monsters. Out of nowhere, came some alien rebels. They came to take down the rock monsters. One of them was a general. His name was General Frank. General Frank said, “Charge!” More rebels came from the hills. Now the alien rock monsters were outnumbered. They surrendered. Their leader was called General Alien. He told his men to get out of the rock monsters and surrender. General Frank’s men took General Alien and his men to the base. They put General Alien in a tight secure spot so he wouldn’t get out. Bobby, Jimmy, Joe, and Fluffy went to find a mechanic. He fixed their spaceship. They got inside and went home.

58

by Quinn G. I hear crowing seagulls. I feel soft sand and warm air. I smell salty sidewalks. I see kids playing tag on the beach. I taste hamburgers at my dad’s restaurant. I hear waves roaring. I feel hot sidewalks on my feet. I smell roses in the park. I see people fishing. I taste popcorn and coke at the movies. I have an exciting time at the beach with all my five senses.

59

by Christian H. Tim was sent to learn to fly a plane. Unfortunately, he got fired.

Fortunately, he got rehired.

Unfortunately, he crashed the plane. Fortunately, there was a parachute.

Unfortunately, a needle poked a hole in the parachute. Fortunately, Tim

was headed toward a moon bounce.

Unfortunately, they were taking it down. Fortunately, Tim had bungee

shoes.

Unfortunately, the bungee shoes fell off. Fortunately, Tim landed in

water.

Unfortunately, sharks were in the water. Fortunately, Tim reached land.

Unfortunately, there were man-eating gorillas on land. Fortunately, Tim

found a jet pack.

Unfortunately, he could not get it to turn on. Fortunately, Tim had a hang

glider.

Unfortunately, he crashed into a tree. Fortunately, birds carried him

down. Unfortunately, he dropped right into the mud.

Fortunately, Tim could dig. He dug under a building into a party room.

After that, he joined the party and he had the best time ever.

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by Ryan H. One day my parents and I were going to move to a different house because our house

was very old and every step we took the floor creaked. We got in the car and drove to our new house. My mom said we lived right next to a zoo called, Safari Animals. I asked if we could go to the zoo. My mom said, yes. So my dad and I got out of the car. My dad told my mom to pick us up at 7:00. We saw about 100 animals!

We had a lot of fun at Safari Animals, but my dad looked at his watch and said it was 7:00. Mom pulled up in the parking lot and said, “It’s time to go.” When we got in the car, Mom started to drive us home.

At home, Mom and Dad said I could look in the attic. So I went in the attic but there was nothing but a bed. I turned around and I saw a monster! I was really scared so I hid under the bed immediately. I was lucky the monster couldn’t find me. I started to notice he was clumsy, so I came out from under the bed. And the monster saw me.

“Greetings,” said the monster. I murmured, “Hi,” and ten seconds later I heard my parents calling me. I told the

monster to stay and not to make any noise. I came down the ladder and then my parents told me to check out the basement. I saw my big clumsy monster friend in the basement. He had a little friend with him.

I said, “What are you doing?” “Want to play?” the monster asked. “Okay, but first I will give you and your friend a name. I will name you Bob and your

little friend will be Joe. I will ask my mom if I can go to the park.” “Sure,” Mom said. I went through the basement door with my monster friends. We were running along

and the fat one fell and toppled over. Luckily I had brought a jetpack that helped me lift him up. When we finally got to the playground, Bob and Joe started attacking the kids. I called them to go home.

We went home and I decided to tell my mom and dad about my monster friends. My monster friends snuck into the basement and I opened the front door. My mom and dad were furious! My parents went to the basement and found my friends, Bob and Joe. They met Bob and Joe. They liked them and they learned to live with the monsters in our house.

61

by Tristan K.

One day a pilot was in an airport getting ready to fly a fully loaded airliner. One hour later the airplane took off into the sky. But minutes into the flight the left engine blew up so the plane couldn’t fly. The pilot’s name was Joe. He didn’t know what happened to the engine. Joe looked at a map. He had to find the closest airport. The closest airport was Dulles airport. So Joe called the air traffic controller on his radio. “This is Joe calling to declare an emergency. Our left engine blew up, so can we land at your airport?” “You are clear to land at runway 1,” said the air traffic controller. All the fire fighters got ready for the crash landing. Five minutes later they saw the plane come out of the sky with a burning left engine. The plane was tilting to the left. When the plane was 75 feet above the ground, Joe turned the plane sharply to the right so the plane was straightened out. When the plane was going back to the left it landed. No people were hurt. Joe got very famous and he kept on flying.

62

by Samantha L.

My cousin’s name is Olivia. She lives 17 minutes away from me in

Springfield, Virginia. We see her every Wednesday, Friday, Sunday and sometimes Saturday. We are best cousins and my sister and my other cousin are best cousins. We always agree on what we are going to play, and we love to say bad things about our sisters. We always play together. We love having sleepovers with each other. Olivia is one year younger than I am. We also fight sometimes. Sometimes we are just tired and don’t want to play with each other. Other times we just don’t like each other. So we play with our other cousin. Here is an example of when we had a fight on our sleepover in October. The fight was, because she missed her mom and Olivia wouldn’t play with me. So I got really mad at her. My mom said that she was just tired and she missed her mom. So I just went outside and played with my other cousin and then after ten minutes, I said, “Sorry.” And I also told her I did not know that she missed her mom. Then we went outside and played on the hammock. When I play at her house we either play school, and I’m the teacher and Olivia, my other cousin and my sister are the students. Other times we play dress-up. When we are at my house, we play wedding. I am the bride, and my cousin is the groom, Olivia is the flower girl, and my sister is the ring bearer. We have one sleepover a month. We alternate houses for the sleepovers so we get a chance at each house. We always watch a movie. The last sleepover we had was in October at my house. We watched The Lorax. I cannot wait to have another sleepover at Olivia’s house in November.

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by Mia L.

I like going to Washington. I went there several times because my grandparents, my great grandma, my aunts, uncles, and cousins live in Washington State. I’ll tell you about the last time I went there.

The last time I went there I went to the Seattle Space Needle. I've got to say it’s pretty awesome! I went there with my Aunt Amy, my cousin Anya, my grandparents, my parents, and my three-year-old brother Cole.

First we went in the front door at the bottom of the Space Needle. Inside was a huge gift shop with T-shirts to coffee mugs. I followed my mom into the elevator. The elevator was see-through. It was made out of glass. I looked at the big city of Seattle getting smaller and smaller and smaller. All the buildings look like squares from above.

When we finally got to the top a waiter took us to our seats, right near the window. I had Sprite and a hamburger with a side of French fries. My brother and Anya both had lemonade and spaghetti with a side of fruit.

My favorite thing about the Space Needle was that it could spin. Other kids left notes for other kids as the Needle spun around. It spun all around in an hour. My favorite note was when someone sent me a piece of gum. Other notes asked where we lived, my favorite book, movie, color, and animal.

When we were done with our meal, my family and I took another elevator and went up to the observation deck. I ran all around the deck. I saw a Ferris wheel and several tall buildings.

My family and I went down the elevators and went back in the gift shop. I got a cool souvenir so I could remember the awesome day at the Seattle Space Needle!

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by Ethan M.

One day Minecraft people were playing baseball. Then zombies came, creepers came, zombie pig men came, and skeletons came to the field.

“What are you doing here?” the zombies said. ”This is our land.”

But the people said, “Let’s settle this with a baseball game.” And the zombies said, “Yes.” So they had a baseball game. It was a good game. The score was 96-99. The zombies were

winning. It was the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, zero balls, two strikes, two outs, and the worst hitter for the people.

”Looks like we’re going to win!" whispered one of the zombies to another zombie in the outfield.

Then the pitcher threw the ball and a person took a power swing. He hit the ball. It was going, going, caught.

Just then, a zombie knocked into the zombie that caught the ball. He dropped the ball over the wall. Gone!

And the people won! Hooray! And all the zombies left.

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by Emma N.

“No, I’m more nutritious than you,” shouted Apple. “No, I am,” shouted Orange. If you’re wondering what’s going on, Apple and Orange are fighting over who’s the most healthy and nutritious. They always want to be eaten by a human because they think that there’s a party in human’s stomachs with other foods. Well, they’ve got the wrong idea. “I can’t wait to go there,” said Apple. “Why do you think you’re going?” asked Orange. “Because Charles has been saving me to eat last,” Apple said proudly. Charles was the kid in the Woodson house. His parents are Amy and Tyler Woodson. “No, he has not,” Orange sputtered. “That’s what you think,” said Apple. “Hey, why do you think the parents at soccer games give their children orange slices?” asked Orange. “Because they don’t want to have the orange slices for themselves,” explained Apple. One day, Charles Woodson had a friend over. His name was Jonathan Fryer. They were having a contest to see who could eat two foods at the same time. Jonathan picked a loaf of bread and a granola bar. He couldn’t fit it all in his mouth. Charles picked Apple and Orange. “We’re going in,” screamed Apple and Orange. Charles took a huge bite out of them. He actually did it! Charles fit Apple and Orange in his mouth! It was amazing! But……what happened to Apple and Orange?! Apple and Orange just realized that they were TOTALLY WRONG! A human’s stomach didn’t have a party in it. It was disgusting! But Orange had an idea. “Hey, Strawberry, can you help us?” asked Orange. “Sure,” Strawberry yelled back from inside the fridge. At night, Strawberry and Gogurt walked silently into Charles’ room. They jumped onto the bed. Strawberry grasped Gogurt and hurled him down Charles’ throat. “Apple, Orange, grab on to Gogurt and I’ll pull you out of there,” said Strawberry down Charles’ throat while he was sleeping. Down in Charles’ stomach, Apple and Orange grabbed onto Gogurt. Strawberry felt a tug and he pulled up Apple and Orange. “Let’s get out of here,” whispered Apple. “Good idea,” mentioned Orange. All of the foods jumped off the bed and, since the door was open, walked out of Charles’ room easily. Apple and Orange learned two lessons that day. They learned they should stop arguing. It could lead to trouble. They also learned that humans’ stomachs are disgusting and do not include parties.

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by Amelia O.

One upon a time there was a girl named Rosemary who loved pets. She had bunnies, dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs and lots of others. Oh did I tell you she lives in a small cottage on a farm? Her house is overflowing with pets.

One day when she was walking with her mom, dad, and sister, two brothers and some pets she saw the ugliest abandoned hotel ever. So Rosemary decided to check it out. She walked inside. There were cobwebs everywhere and when she walked the floor creaked. Then she thought of the perfect idea. She would turn this old place into a daycare, hotel, and training place for pets.

So that night she went to the old place which she decided to call Pet Plazza. Emma, Sara, Quinn, and Jay helped her with Pet Plazza. They set to work buying furniture like couches. Next, they bought pet things and hired trainers.

The next day the Pet Plazza was overflowing with people and pets. Even Rosemary’s pets worked there. The business was going so well because Rosemary made $5,000. The next day Rosemary bought a harp seal. She named him Salvester the seal. Salvester the seal was the best entertainment in Pet Plazza.

Pet Plazza became the best place to take your pets in the whole world. Rosemary became very happy and lived happily ever after.

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by Daniel P. It was a sunny day outside. A bird found a magic flower. The magic flower turned the bird into a soccer ball. A kid named John walked outside. He was very surprised to find a bird soccer ball. His favorite sport was soccer and he did a report on birds. He was so happy. But then he found out it was not just a bird soccer ball. It transformed into anything, from armadillos to zebras, apples to zucchini, Argentina to Zimbabwe. Yeah, you get the pattern. John had a blast with it. He played with it every day. He obviously would not give it up. But one day he was very sleepy. So a burglar snuck in and stole it! He put up signs but there was no point. Then one day John saw a bird on a man's back that looked like his bird! He followed the man till he got to his house. It was filled with magic birds from top to bottom. Then the man turned around and saw him. The fight began. The fight went on for a year. Finally John stole his bird back. And the man set free all of the birds.

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by Emma P.

“Are you excited?” my mom asks me. “Um, I don’t know, I’m kind of nervous,” I say. It's true, team tryouts are only 11 weeks away and today is the demonstration. The

demonstration is where all of the gymnasts show their routines to the parents. Hopefully everything will go smoothly but, if something happens I might not be able to compete! Thinking about that gives me a sickish feeling inside. I want to compete soo bad!

“Well, we’re here," my mom says. I step into the gym, and a whirl of excitement is in the air. “Good luck," Mom says,

waving goodbye. I go over to Brooke and watch her stick her landing on the vault. I sigh. “I wish I could stick my landing on the vault every time,” I say. “Hey. I don’t stick it every time,” she says, “I fall and mess up sometimes.”

“Brooke, you’re up first. Floor exercises. Let's go!” Coach says. Coach has been getting more and more strict with team tryouts coming up and I have been getting more and more nervous. I watch Brooke do her rock solid routine. When she finishes I get butterflies in my stomach. I am up next, and next is now. I walk over to Coach and tell her that I am freezing up. She tells me not to worry, no one is judging us. I go out onto the floor and pose, then the music begins. I start my routine, and it feels like forever, but I finally finish and go back to my place in line.

“Vault, Brooke, you’re up,” Coach tells Brooke. Brooke goes over to the runway. She is great at this. I watch her stick her landing both times, then I get more butterflies in my stomach because I am next and vault is one of my favorite events and I am pretty good (most of the time).

Then I step up to the runway. Coach says, “Stick to your routine.” I nod my head in a circle, and stretch my arms up and run faster than I can. I jump onto the springboard as hard as I can, push off the vaulting table, do a double back flip and stick it! I throw my arms in the air, and go back to the runway.

“Don’t do anything crazy,” Coach says sternly. I feel kind of bad because I just ignore her, then I get back to work running on the runway, jump on the springboard, push off the vaulting table and do three twists, then fall to the ground. Pulling my foot from under me, I clutch it as tears fall from my eyes. My mom and dad rush down. Grandma and my two little sisters are still in their seats, horrified. Gasping for air I manage to say, “I am sorry Coach.” “It’s okay, it’s okay,” says Coach.

“Just breathe,” says Dad. I breathe hard, maybe a little too hard. Then I snuggle into my mom.

A few hours later, I step out of the car, my mom hands me my crutches, and we go inside the house.

“Here you go Brittany,” says Dad putting a pillow for my foot. I sit down on the couch. My parents talk to me about the consequences of a broken foot. After the talk my mom says, “You should get some rest, we all should.” “Okay,” I say. Even though I am not at all tired, I go into my room and get my pajamas on. I walk over to the ladder of my loft bed, put my crutches on the floor and try to stumble up the ladder. I try to sleep, but can’t. I climb down the ladder to my desk and look at my email. There is an email from Coach. It says: Hi Brittany - I am sorry about your injury. Brooke can take your place. —Coach I crawl into my bed, go to sleep thinking, “Why didn’t I just listen to Coach?”

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by Elizabeth R.

“What’s your name?” asked Ms. Moose at the Outdoor Lab. “Mia,” said Mia. “Alright, said Ms. Moose, "but we’re going to call you Ugg.” I looked around the large field and I saw the large wooden wheels. One

wheel was square, one was a hexagon, and one was a circle. They were all lined up side by side. ”Ugg is a very cool cave kid," Ms. Moose continued. “She can kill a woolly mammoth with her spear, but she needs to figure out which wheel will take her woolly mammoth back to her cave. Now when I say 123 Ugg, you try to pull the square wheel across the field. Ready? 123 Ugg!”

Mia pulled the square with the rope that was attached but it wouldn't budge. “Looks like she needs some more help,” said Ms. Moose. “Who’s number 12?” she asked. Ethan stood up. He walked toward Mia and

grabbed the rope. “Ready? 123 UGG!” We all shouted.

The square wheel moved a little more than the first time but it still wouldn't roll. “Who’s number 13?” asked Ms. Moose.

Emma N. did the same thing as Ethan. “Who’s number 14?” asked Ms. Moose. This time Amelia stood up and walked toward the square wheel and grabbed it behind Mia. “Now let’s try the hexagon,” said Ms. Moose. “Who’s number 15?” Daniel stood up. He walked toward the hexagon and pulled. The hexagon was a little closer to rolling than it was with the square. Ms. Moose asked number 16 to come up. Emma P. came and tried to pull the hexagon. It was pretty close to rolling but it didn’t. Then I come up and try the hexagon with Emma and Daniel and we get it to roll. Ms. Moose calls up the next person to roll the circle. The circle rolls with the first pull. Then Ms. Moose asks Mia which one of the wheels she would like to use. Mia says she would like to use the circle. Everybody learned how much easier it is to pull a circle than a square or a hexagon.

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by Charlotte R. Once there was a star named Bright. Bright wasn’t like any stars his age. Bright was

full of mischief and always asking questions. But one of Bright’s biggest questions was to wonder what it was like to go to the human world. Whenever he asked his father Shiny, his father always said, “No it’s too dangerous for a star like you. GO TO YOUR ROOM!”

Then Bright slowly trudged with his head down to his room. While Bright sat in his room for two hours with his dog, Small Star, Bright was thinking, “How can I go to the human world?” That’s when Bright got his big idea.

“Small Star,” he said, “I can sneak out.” Small Star started to shiver like he just saw a ghost. Then Bright said, “What if Mom

and Dad star find out that I’m gone?” Then Bright started to stare at Small Star and said, “You’re just like me but smaller.

You can pretend I’m in bed while I try a soft pretzel for the first time.” Small Star shivered and said, “Woof! Great, I will do it tonight.” So Small Star

climbed into Bright’s bed. “Thanks Small Star,” said Bright. “Woof! Woof!” Then as Small Star pretended to play Bright sleeping, Bright jumped

out of his window. It did not hurt him. He snuck over to his neighbor’s house because he had a rocket collection. Bright picked out his favorite rocket. It was blue with yellow dots on it. Then Bright started the engine and the rocket zoomed up into the air. Bright was on his way to the human world.

“Yippie,” said Bright. Just a few minutes later, the engine broke and Bright was falling and screaming on the top of his lungs. The falling rocket came to a stop. Bright got out of the rocket and said, “Man, this looks just like home but more beautiful.”

Bright started to cry and said, “This is amazing. This is the best day of my life. I must be on the human world.” Bright started to twirl and sing, “I made it to the human world.” Then he started to lie down on a field which for some reason had white stripes on it. Bright said, “I could get used to this.”

That’s when Bright heard a whistle. Then he saw a huge pile of football players running at him. Bright was small. “Ahhh!” said Bright. Then he got trampled by the football team. Bright slowly walked on his knees away from the football field covered in cuts and bruises. He laid himself down on a flower and said, “I need to sleep.” That’s when a big bee flew by and stung him. “Ahhh!” said Bright. As the bee flew away, Bright got off the flower, screaming in pain. Then he fell down on something. This thing was pretty hard. That’s when Bright heard a beep, beep!

“Ahhh!” said Bright, as he got run over by a truck. Bright walked off the road and said, “Shiny was right. The human world is too dangerous for a star like me. I want to go home.” So Bright went to his rocket and fixed the engine and took off for home. He landed safely on his planet and returned the rocket. Then he climbed into his room and said, “Thank you, Small Star.”

Bright went into bed and said, “This is where I belong.”

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by Alex S. One Sunday, I was walking in a park. Then a man attacked me but the man was a gingerbread man so I tried to eat the gingerbread man. But the gingerbread man was sad. So it turned out that you should never attack a gingerbread man when he is sad. But of course I didn’t know that, so the gingerbread man turned around and kicked me. I think that was a little harsh though but before I could run, he whistled.

“You think that will hurt me?” I asked. “No but they will!!!” said the gingerbread man. Just then ninjas came from the sky and took me into a car. ‘’Hey, where are you taking me?’’ I asked. But the ninjas just kept on doing

their work and tied me up in a very tight rope. In just an hour, we appeared in a mansion. I looked out the window and there was sign that said DEAD DUNGUN.

The ninjas took me in the house. Then they sat me on a chair. They untied me and left.

"Hey, aren’t you going to take me with you?” I asked. But the ninjas ignored me. I tried to knock the door down but it was

impossible. My body was cold. I couldn’t hear a thing. I was about to go to sleep when I heard a noise. THWUMP. It was getting closer THWUMP! Closer THWUMP!! Even closer! I thought I could hide but then suddenly the door fell down, and in came 9 police, 1 army man, 6 swat men and 1 F.B.I.

“Are you Alex?” asked a woman. ‘’ Y-yes,’’ I trembled. ‘’Good! Come on, you have to come in the car.’’ “Ok. Why?" I asked. ‘’We’ll tell you later.’’ After three hours, I was safe at home watching TV when my dad came home. ‘’Hi,’’ he said. “I have to go to a business meeting.

You can go to the park.” I decided not to go to the park because that's

were I got kidnapped. I decided to go to a movie. And that’s my adventure.

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by Will S. Once a guy named Jack was walking, but unfortunately a twister came. Fortunately there was an escape pod. Unfortunately it blew up. Fortunately Jack landed in Jamaica. Unfortunately there was a tsunami. Fortunately, there was an escape boat. Unfortunately the ship blew up. Fortunately there was the Titanic. Unfortunately the Titanic sank. Fortunately Jack got on a paparazzi boat. Unfortunately it self-destructed. Fortunately there was a gray platform. Unfortunately the gray platform was a shark. Fortunately Jack punched the shark in the nose and the shark swam away. Unfortunately Jack started drowning. Fortunately minnows saved him. Unfortunately the minnows took him to a deserted island. Fortunately Jack built the Titanic/car and drove/ sailed away to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately Jack slipped off the Grand Canyon and got seriously injured. Fortunately he could pay for the medical bills at the hospital because he was paid for all the amazing stunts he did.

THE END! Fortunately, Part 2 is coming soon! Unfortunately, it will probably come next year.

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by Michael S. Once there was a kid named Bob. Bob loved adventure and traveling. One time his family went to Egypt and the pyramids. They were taking a tour when Bob got lost! He was out of luck, because it was rumored that the pyramid was cursed.

“What am I going to do?” Bob asked. Then he heard a voice saying, “I can help,” in a

high pitched voice. Bob turned around and he saw a bird with food.

The bird was all black and his eyes were bright yellow and his tongue was blue.

Bob asked him how he talked. The bird said he was sent by Osiris, the god of the dead. Bob said he wanted to see King Tut’s Tomb. So the bird told him where it was and they went together. The tomb was gold and blue and it was about the size of a grown man. Bob liked the gold and blue on the tomb. Then the bird picked him up and led him to Osiris. Once they got there, Osiris got his messenger and his messenger led Bob back to his family.

After Bob told his family what had happened, he was glad to be back.

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by Quinn S.

Some may think rainbows are peaceful, but for Blue definitely not. He was stuck in the middle of quarrelling brothers. Most of all Red and Purple. They hated each other. Everyone tried to keep them apart. Everyday Blue traveled to some part of the world. His favorite was Italy. Whenever there was a rainbow needed in Italy, he was overjoyed! The people loved the colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple. Blue loved the Coliseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. One day he saw a hotel that looked splendid from the sky. The letters on the sign said, "La Casa Del Borgo." Day after day he saw overjoyed people leaving, and very excited people entering. One day he decided to visit. The next day they went to Italy. Blue put on a cardboard cutout of himself and went to visit. Too busy enjoying himself in the pool he didn’t notice the crowd forming by him or the whispering. “Where’s Blue?” one whispered. “That looks like cardboard,” whispered another. As soon as he went underwater everyone shouted “Blu-ue!” When he came back up he dried himself and put in earplugs and listened to “Over the Rainbow.” As soon as he put in his earplugs they shouted again, “Blu-ue!” That night all Italians went to sleep very scared. The next morning Blue went back to his brothers. But every time they went to Italy, he used his cardboard cutout. And every time they went to Italy, the Italians were desperate to see if Blue had returned. It was the same every time, Blue went underwater and the Italians shouted, “Blu-ue!” Blue put in earplugs. “Blu-ue!” One day, he finally heard them. Putting on his human disguise he went over and asked, “What’s blue? I love stuff that’s blue.” The Italians agreed not to tell other countries. Also, the whole country knew. So they decided to fib. “Blue? What are you talking about? We got a homework assignment that asked us to name one thing for each color in the rainbow, and we are helping each other by shouting out the colors.” Blue wanted to help but they said that their teacher said that they could only work with people that had that assignment. “Oh,” Blue said. “Never mind." The next time Blue went to Italy he didn’t go to Le Casa del Borgo. Instead he went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the Coliseum. Next, he went to Siena and saw the Palio. He had got a tour at La Casa Del Borgo. When he was driving back to La Casa Del Borgo he picked up a conversation with the tour guide, “What is your latest news?” he asked. “You know the rainbow? Blue is missing.” That hit him hard. The Italians had figured out he was missing. He didn’t know what to do! Should he leave La Casa del Borgo and go back to the sky, or confess? He decided to go back to the sky. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said. And he really was. On Friday (it was Monday), it was back to Italy. The Italians cheered when they saw him. That night the Italians held a party in honor of Blue. He had never felt so special!

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by Sara Z.

Mrs. K woke up very early to go to school. She trudged to go down to her kitchen. She got her Cheerios and walked to her dining table. She ate her cereal very fast. Then she quickly put on her Nationals T-shirt, red shorts, then ran to her Jeep. When she got to her new school she was putting some finishing touches to her classroom. Then all the kids came in and found their seats. Once they sat down in the seats with their names on them, Mrs. K said, “Do that thingymajiggie on your whatevers.” The kids started whispering and asking questions. She was wondering why they were whispering and asking questions. Twenty minutes later she said, “Umm…come to the carpet.” So, the kids came to the carpet. She started talking all about her weekend for an hour! Then the kids said, “Let’s skip writing workshop and go to reading.” So, Mrs. K told them to read easy books. Then at lunchtime she told them to go without her to the cafeteria! At lunch the kids kept saying, “We don’t even know her name!” When they went out to recess it took Mrs. K three hours to pick them up! For the rest of the day all they did was solve math problems! The next day the kids sat in their chairs. Mrs. K, who was wearing a pretty maroon dress, said, “Please do your morning work that is on your desk.” The kids were surprised that she said “morning work” instead of “thingymajiggie” and “desk” instead of “whatever.” Twenty minutes later she said, “Come to the carpet.” When the kids were at the carpet she said, “Hi! My name is Mrs. K. Today we will do lots of fun things like going to P.E., having Show and Tell, enjoying a music assembly, having lunch in the classroom, and at the end of the day, I will tell you a surprise.” After she said that, the children did all the fun things that Mrs. K was talking about. Everybody told Mrs. K that she was the best teacher ever. Before everybody left, Mrs. K told her surprise. She said, “Tomorrow we are having a pizza party in our classroom and for dessert we will have a cookie cake, which is a big cookie with frosting.” At the pizza party Mrs. K admitted she was very nervous on her first day of teaching and thanked the students for being so nice, kind, patient, and understanding. From that day on, Mrs. K and her students had fun and learned lots of new things together.

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by Aiden Z.

There once was a kid named Bob. He wasn’t having much fun because his parents were always busy doing all their work. So, Bob’s greatest dream was to have a baby brother. When he was four, he found a magic bird. How did he know the bird was magic, and how did he find it? Well, he loved nature, and he followed a patch of flowers to the bird. The bird was magical because it talked and said, “Come close. I have something to say.” So, Bob came to the bird, and the bird said, “You will have a brother only if you can do this…” “Do what?” quickly answered Bob. “Well, you must find six different metals, as you see here,” the bird said wisely. “Wow, they are amazing!!” “Yes, the shiny metals are like no other. Here, take a picture so you don’t forget— and you must do them in the order they are or you may never find them.” So, Bob took a picture of the shiny metals in the colors of orange, green, red, yellow, white and brown. “Here is a hint,” the bird continued. “To find the metals, the first letter of each metal is the first letter of the place that it is hidden.” Bob asked, “Okay, anything else?” The bird replied, “No, and don’t come back to me until you have all six metals.” Then, POOF, the bird was gone. In his place was a button, and covering it was a plant’s leaf. This was helpful in keeping the button hidden from anyone else. “Well,” said Bob, “I guess I have to find those metals if I want a baby brother. Now, which one first?” Bob looked over the picture of the metals. “Oh, the orange one!” he shouted. Bob began to think: Which place starts with O? Hmmm … oh! An orange orchard, and there’s one 25 minutes away. Could this get better? So, Bob went inside and said, “Mom, can I go to the orchard?” Bob’s mom said, “Sure, dear, take your bike. You know the way, right?” Now, Bob was very smart. He knew where everything was, even though he was only four. His parents taught him everything so they could work, work, work. So off Bob went to the orchard, to get the first metal. He knew it would be an adventure.

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Art by Kate D.

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by Ashton A.

This summer I went to three places—Texas, Michigan and

Connecticut. I’m telling you about Michigan. In Michigan I went to my Uncle Jeff’s lake. He has a farm, zip line,

fire place, golf cart, pound and trailer. I did it all! After all that, I went to my grandparents’ house. I played Minecraft with my cousin who is thirteen years old. We also went to his house. He had a fireplace and three of his own computers. Two computers are connected so he can move his mouse off the screen and it comes out on the other one. I got to play on the other computer at night.

After that, we played catch and had Popeye’s chicken. Then we played Minecraft. At 9:00 pm, we started to watch movies. First, we watched National Geographic movie, then we saw Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Last, we watched two more National Geographic movies.

We played Minecraft again in the morning. We went to a Tiger’s game. They played the Blue Jays. It was exciting. Miguel Cabrera hit a ball to the outfield. But they made a diving catch, so he was out. Then we got something to eat. I was hungry. In the 6th inning, the Blue Jays hit a home run so it was 2-0 but then in the 9th, Alex Avila hit a single and got two RBI’s so it was tied 2-2. It was great in the 11th. Justin Verlander was taken out and someone else came in and pitched. In the 16th Alex Avila hit a single to win the game. Then we left the game and went back to my grandmother’s house.

The next day, my cousin went back to his house and we left to come back to Virginia. It was fun to go to Michigan. If I could go there again, I would.

80

by Ellie B.

Today is Halloween. We are making our jack-o-lantern. When it is dawn, my friends are going to pick me up and we will go trick or treating. I am going to be a vampire, Helen is going to be a ghost and Max will be a zombie. First we are going to a Halloween party. I met up with my friends after the party and we went to go trick or treating. At midnight we were going home and the road was blocked and the only way back was through the old graveyard.

“I am not going in there,” said Helen. “Come on!” I said. “Don’t be a scaredy cat, Helen,” Max said. “Yeah,” I said. “It will be fun.” But I knew that it was true that we were going in to the darkest, most dangerous

graveyard in the world! But one by one we walked in the grave yard. I knew it was not safe even then. But little did I know that we were in for a surprise!

“Max," I said. “Hurry up!” We ran to find the way out of the graveyard. Just then we heard a girl scream. I

turned around and Helen was gone! As I turned around, I heard a boy’s scream. Again I turned around and Max was gone too! I was all alone in the graveyard. Then I heard a crack in the leaves.

“Max! Helen,” I yelled. “Come on. I know this is a joke.” Someone came out but it was not Max or Helen. It was a little girl. We stared at each

other, then she let out a scream. I turned around and there was a dark man in a robe. I let out a scream but I saw that he was melting! The little girl was the reason for the light. But when I turned around, we both screamed. Then she screamed, then I screamed, then she screamed, then I screamed, then she screamed. This went on for a while.

Then I asked, “What is your name?” She said, “My name is Amelia Smith. What is yours?” “My name is Sara Smith. We have the same last name. We must be related. Do you

know why we are here and what happened to my friends?” She bust into tears. I ran to her to see what was wrong. She said that she had been

walking for so long. “I came in 1999. What year is it?” she asked. “It is 2010. You have been here for 12 years,” I said. Just then a vampire grabbed Amelia and started to run with her. I ran after her. I felt

like I would never stop running. I was finally catching up when I tripped and fell. I saw that Max was on top of me. On top of Max, I saw Helen. I rolled over and saw what I had tripped on. It was a flashlight!

I started to run after the vampire again with the flashlight. I caught up with him and sent the beam of light at him. The vampire screamed and fell to his knees, dropping Amelia. She got up and we ran away. We went to Max and Helen. All of us ran out of the graveyard as fast as we could.

We didn’t stop until we got home. We spread out our candy and gave Amelia some. Amelia and I became such good friends that my family adopted her.

81

by Eliza C. Colors, Glitter and Party went trick-or-treating together. Colors did not dress-up. She

already looked like she was in costume because she is a color witch. Nobody knows except her family, friends and her pets! It is the same with Party and Glitter. Glitter is a glitter fairy. Party is a party princess.

Colors wore a colorful dress, cape and even make-up! She wears colorful shoes and her hair is colorful. (P.S. It is permanent) Glitter’s hair is glittery and pink. She wears a glittery pink dress, glittery pink shoes, and glittery pink make-up. Glitter has glittery pink wings. Party has tie-dye glittery hair. She has a tie-dye bow in her hair. She has a tie-dye shirt and a tie-dye skirt. She also has tie-dye make-up.

They were heading towards their friend’s diamond store. When they got there, they saw that there was a car that was all white with the word "Police" printed in blue. They knocked on the door… and out came a ghost!!!

“AAAHHH!” they screamed altogether. They tried to run away, but they were captured!

“HELP!” they screamed. The police ghost took them away to a cage and locked them in. They waited an hour. And then finally someone came! She wore black pants, shoes, shirt, sweatshirt, and necklace.

“HELP!” they screamed again. The ghost tried to lock her in a cage too but she dove over and the ghost missed!

“Wait a second,” said Glitter “I think that is Jen!” “You mean the one who works here?” said Party. “Oh yes it is her!” said Colors. “JEN!” they said altogether. Jen ran over to them and gave them a wand. “Take this. It will help you defeat the

ghost and it will make him turn good.” Then Jen unlocked the door to the cage with a key.

The girls got out of the cage. “So what do you do with this thing?” asked Party. “Press this button and the light will turn on. Then

shine the light in the ghost’s eyes” said Jen. “Ok, got it,” said Party. “Let’s do this,” they said altogether. Then they launched forward and they made it! “RRRRHHHAAARRRR,” said the ghost. Light and sparks flew. The show was over

and the ghost was gone. The door opened and police dressed in blue walked in. “What happened?” asked the police. “It is a long story,” said the girls altogether. “Thanks for helping me save my store. The ghost almost destroyed it!” said Jen. After

they hugged Jen, they left. “What an AWESOME night,” said Colors. “We should get to our homes and rest,” said Glitter. As soon as they got to their houses, they said goodnight to each other and went inside

to their houses and went to bed and thought about their exciting night.

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by Ada C.

If I had $50.00, I would go to a Toys R Us and buy two Light Bright Pillows. You squish a Light Bright Pillow and it glows. It has 20 different colored lights! If I had a Light Bright Pillow, I would make a fort with a blanket in my room. I would turn off my lights and take my pillow under the fort and squish it. It would glow and I would feel happy. I saw Light Bright Pillows on a TV commercial.

One pillow costs $20.00 so that would be $40.00 total.

Then, I would buy a Fibit. It is a small electronic ball that plays, dances, and tells jokes. When it is lit up, you can say what you want to do. I found out about Fibits on the TV, too.

I love Fibits so that is what I would buy with my last $10.00.

So if I had $50.00 to spend, that is what I would buy.

83

by Kate D. We went to the outdoor lab and did a lot of things. My favorite part was when we tried to pull a square, hexagon, and circle wheels. Our counselors were Mr. Fish, Mrs. Turtle, Mr. Bear, and Mrs. Moose. When we first got there, we got hot chocolate from Mr. Fish. After that, we split into groups. My group was most of Mrs. Zipfel’s class and Mrs. Turtle was my counselor.

Mrs. Turtle took us to a teepee and gave us graham crackers. Then we got to do something with a kind of seesaw. Mrs. Zipfel went on one side of the seesaw. Some students went on the other side. When it was not balanced, it did not move with four students. We moved it so it was balanced. That time it only took two students to move it. That was fun even though I did not get to go on the seesaw.

Jayden got to use some clippers. He used it to snap a branch. When he used the top part, the branch did not snap. But when he used the black part, where you might get a better grip, the branch did snap.

We also used something that looked like a big screw. The big screw is used in soil. When the inclined plane that is wrapped around the screw goes into the ground, the soil goes between the inclined plane, above and under. That is a way you can get soil samples.

The Outdoor Lab was a cool field trip and I learned a lot there. I hope I can go there again!

84

by Jayden D.

One Halloween night, five friends went to go trick-or-treating. They were named Kenzie, Jay, Areya, Mike, and Mac.

Jay said, “Let’s go to our houses first because we live right next to each other.”

“That’s OK,” said Kenzie. Mac said, “Areya, there’s . . . a ghost like Medusa. Turn around.” Areya turned around and ran. Kenzie, Jay, Mac, and Mike followed. It was a boy called Tom. He was the ghost. Tom is Kenzie’s older

brother. Kenzie said, “Hey Tom! I’m telling, because you scared us.” The friends got to a house right when they almost rang the doorbell.

Frankenstein came out. The friends ran away. “Kenzie! Watch out!” they said, “a monster!” Kenzie ran away. Mike said, “Let’s scare these things with . . . Scare

Away.” Mike pulled a spray can of Scare Away out of his bag. They tried it and got candy because it worked! But it didn’t work for

long. “Oh man!” Mac said. “I don’t like this!” Jay said. Areya said, “Mac, there’s a werewolf witch behind you!” “What? Everyone knows that they’re not real . . .AH! A werewolf witch!

Help me! Everyone run!” Mac screamed. Kenzie stayed behind. “Hurry!” Areya said. “I’m staying here. I know karate,” said Kenzie. Kenzie was right. She could do it. Whatever challenges you give her.

Kenzie finished them in two seconds. That werewolf witch did not like bananas. Kenzie fed it bananas and it ran away.

She ran to her friends. “Let’s go get some candy.”

Kenzie, Jay, Mac, Mike, and Areya said, “Yippee!”

Mac said, “I’m glad were together to the end.”

85

by Julia D. Once upon a time there were four girls Julia, Nadia, Lizzie and Eliza. One day the girls were in Extended Day. Julia spotted a fawn. She whispered to Nadia and Lizzie and said, “Not everybody outside saw the fawn.”

They decided to care for it. Nadia and Eliza got a bowl full of water and Julia and Lizzie got some lettuce and carrots. When they went outside, they noticed he was hurt. So they gave it extra care before they left to go home. They found him a good spot to sleep in for the night. Then the next day he was not hurt any more, he was fine.

So they decided to name him Thunder. They thought it was a good idea for a name. The next morning they saw it frolicking with other deer and other animals. It started to rain and they got under a tree with the deer.

Then the deer picked Julia, Nadia, Eliza, and Lizzie up off the ground and flew up in the sky to this magical place that they got to rule. The place was called Animal Island where they got to rule the animals and it never rained unless they wanted it to. They got to do whatever they wanted, like meet pop stars, see Winter the dolphin, and all this cool stuff that people on Earth cannot do.

Plus they got to have as many wishes as they wanted a day. They loved it. On weekends, they would get to go and meet the fawn at Nottingham and get to go to Animal Island during the days and nights on the weekends. On the weekdays, they’d just go at night.

After they met the fawn, they always were looking forward to the island.

86

by Rowan F.

When I went to Mexico over winter break I stayed for a week. I was there

from December 29th to January 5th. I was with my grandparents and my sister, Zoe. The first day I really missed my parents but the next day I didn’t miss them

as much. The rest of the days I didn’t miss my parents and was fine. The beach only had one yellow flag and that was only one day of the week

we were there. A yellow flag means you can go in but it is not the safest time. A green flag means you can go in the water and it’s safe.

The day we got there it was a green flag but we didn’t go in the water that day, so it was a big bummer. But we still got to go in the ocean. It just wasn’t the safest time. There was a pool where we stayed so we spent a lot of time in the pool. The only time we didn’t go out to dinner was when we had a lot of leftovers. That was because we had pizza and some leftovers from the night before.

The 5th day we were there we went to Chichen Itza. It’s a place of Mayan ruins. The biggest pyramid is called Chichen Itza. That's why it's called Chichen Itza.

That’s where I got my little pyramid that I have at my house. There were a lot of people trying to sell overpriced things. We bought my little pyramid for $1.00 and then we went to lunch at a buffet. Then we went to a little lake where we went swimming. Later, we got back on the bus to go to the hotel.

The next day Zoe and I went to swim with DOLPHINS!!! We did it at an aquarium. We got to be in the water with a mom dolphin and a baby swimming around.

That was Zoe’s early birthday present. The next day we didn’t do anything exciting really. The last day we played some tennis and then we had to leave to go back to Virginia. We went to the airport a little late and we had a hard time getting to the plane on time.

87

by Ryan G. Dear Mrs. Stokes, I am loving third grade. I have been very good this year. My favorite part of third grade so far is DEAR and math. DEAR is when you Drop Everything and Read. I am having a great year so far. How did you like teaching third grade? Were you nervous on your first day of teaching? I was sure nervous on the first day of school.

I have Tess and Wesley from second grade in my class this year. But sadly, Tess moved in December. We are in Trailer 4. We have a small space on the wall to hang our work up. Mrs. Zipfel is my teacher. She is very nice.

I wish you were here. I was crying on the last day of school because I knew I would miss you so much. You are still here with me in my mind and in my heart and soul. I will never forget about you. You were the best teacher ever.

How is your new class this year? Is there anyone new to Nottingham? Are they very talkative? In our class this year, we are very talkative.

How is your whole class? Do they work in groups well? Are they nice to each other? Are they nice to you? I hope you have a nice day. You are the best teacher ever. I really miss you. Last year, you really perked up my whole year.

Where is your classroom? I would love to spend a day in your class if it’s okay with Mrs. Zipfel. But I’m not sure I should because third grade is a big thing. I think it is not going to happen because I would have all the answers in second grade. It wouldn’t be fair.

Your loving student, Ryan G.

88

by Ian H. The Alaskan Brown Bear can grow 9 feet (2.7 meters) long and weigh 1700 pounds. Its appearance is a long snout and a wet cold nose and dark eyes. They live in north western North America, northern Asia, Europe, the Atlas Mountains in Africa, and the Middle East. The bears' habitat is temperate and coniferous forest, open fields, mountains, highlands, tundra, and caves. Bears stay in caves which are dry and warm. The Alaskan Brown Bear preys on fish and mammals. It has to eat 90 pounds of food every day. In the water, it catches fish with its long sharp claws and it does the same on land. Humans hunt down and kill bears with guns or knives. They eat the bear or use them for blankets or other things to stay warm. Bears can camouflage themselves by rubbing dirt all over themselves. When the bear is hibernating, its heart rate drops from 40 beats to 8 beats a minute and all the bear's body functions slow down. When the mother bear enters her den, she is usually pregnant with 1, 2, or 3 baby bears. When cubs are born they usually weigh one pound. Bears live to be 25 years old. Fun Facts About Alaskan Brown Bears: 1. They are at the top of the food chain. 2. They are very good at protecting themselves. 3. When cubs are born, they don't have teeth.

89

by Catherine H.

It was a hot and sunny day when I was in Florida. I was so excited to get there. We took an airplane and the flight was about 4 hours long. We went there because it was my birthday. It was a make-up trip because in January, my dad was supposed to have a work trip to Florida, but it was changed to San Francisco. We all were very disappointed. But Dad said, “We will make a surprise trip.” I kept asking when we would go and finally he said, “Ok we’re going in October and on the 24th too!” “That is my birthday,” I said. “Well, we will just have to go on your birthday,” Dad smiled. “Yes! Wow! Thank you so much!” I replied. “You’re welcome,” Dad said. “I can’t wait to go. This will be the best trip ever in the whole wide world…” When we got there, we went straight to Sea World. We got a tour around the animals like sea lions, a whale act, and we got to see the dolphins in the same place. It was great because dolphins are my favorite animal. But you would not believe how BIG the tank was. The tank was so BIG, even bigger than my HOUSE!!! But of course it had to be big. It had to fit a whale and a couple of dolphins. They did great tricks. The whale trick was amazing because Willy got almost everybody wet by flipping his tail. The next day we went to Disney World. It was crazy because a lot of people were there. We went on a lot of rides. My favorite part was getting an orange shark stuffed animal for my little brother because he couldn’t go on the trip. It was just a special trip for me and my dad.

90

by Mason H.

One cold night, the darkness king, king of the darkness people, King Trick or

Treat Troll, talked to the Phantom. The Phantom had so much planned, but he had to get two white bunnies. He

asked the king if the Evil Jester could do it, but the king said, “Certainly not!” The Phantom said, “Ok.”

The king said, “Since you asked that, you have the most work to do today.” Back on earth, everyone was at the haunted house and eating at the Bizarre

Black Cat. Wesley and Mason made the party happen. They were having a blast! “The party is AWESOME!” Wesley and Mason said together at the exact

same time! “Mason, you have cool gadgets!” Wesley said. “You do, too,” Mason said. Ellie came to the party, all mad with blue eyes! Wesley and Mason were

shocked! Because Wesley is a werewolf, Mason is a demon, and Ellie is a vampire. “Why do you have blue eyes?” Mason said. Then Ellie took off her fake eyes. “Why did you do that to us?" Mason asked. “I just had to take out my contacts,” Ellie said. Bob, Joe, and Bill showed up. The six friends were having a blast! Then the

Phantom struck! Mason, Wesley and Ellie changed into their transformations of a werewolf,

demon, and vampire. Then, everyone left the party in a flash because they were so scared. The three kids felt bad, but there was no time to feel bad. They had to go to headquarters. When the three were at headquarters they trained and trained and trained.

They went to a graveyard and scared the Phantom, the King Trick or Treat Troll, and the Zombie Warriors. Wesley roared, Ellie hissed, and Mason showed his sharp weapon. They won the battle of good against evil.

91

by Emma L.

Once at Nottingham Elementary School there was a Nottingham ghost that lived in an old house in the Nottingham woods. Every Halloween there is a Halloween party at Nottingham Elementary School. The monsters are going to try to hurt Emma. So now it is up to Emma and Ellie to stop them. The day before Halloween, Emma and her mom went to Party City to get decorations and costumes. Emma is going to be a witch and Ellie is going to be a ghost for Halloween.

On the way back in the car, Emma noticed that her mom was sweating. “Why are you sweating?” asked Emma. “Because there are really bad monsters after you,” said Emma’s mom. “Yeah, right! There is no such thing as monsters,” said Emma. “Actually Emma, once in your back yard, I saw this creature that said I want to take

over the human world. The creature looked like a ghost and he or she had a partner that was a witch,” said Ellie very, very quietly.

“Ok, where did you last see the ghost and the witch?” said Emma. “In Emma's backyard,” Ellie said. “Ok let’s go,” said Emma. As soon as the girls got to Emma's backyard, they heard, “I got you now!” It was the

ghost and the witch. The girls were scared but they never gave up. They also heard them coming. OH NO! The ghost captured Emma and Ellie. The girls called Emma’s mom and said, “The ghost and the witch captured us. Can you help, and just in case, bring backup.”

So Emma’s mom went home and got Emma’s dad, and Ellie’s mom, and Ellie’s dad. The parents got to the forest. They saw Emma and Ellie captured in a room, screaming, “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!’’

Emma’s mom brought a pocket knife so they could get them free. Emma noticed that the sky was gray and there was a lot of thunder. Emma and Ellie were so happy to see their parents. The house started rumbling and Emma’s mom said, “We have got to get out of here. We tried to get out but the doors were locked.”

So Emma and Ellie’s dads busted down the door because they were so strong. They finally got out of the house but suddenly the sky was blue and the clouds were white.

“But, Mom, the sky used to be gray and the clouds used to be a blackish color,” said Emma.

“I’m going back in the house and check it out,” said Emma and Ellie. When the girls got in the house, the ghost and the witch were lying on the floor and their friend Kalle was standing right next to the ghost and the witch.

“What happened?” asked Emma. “Oh I stopped the ghost and the witch,” said Kalle. “But how?” Ellie asked. “Oh I’ll tell at the sleepover tonight,” said Kalle. The three girls went back to Emma and Ellie’s parents and Emma and Ellie said to the

parents, “Kalle stopped the ghost and the witch.” “COOL!” said the parents. At the sleepover they were watching the news. They heard

that the mascot knight came alive. The three girls said, “This time the parents take care of it!”

92

by Kalle M.

The last time my friends, Hannah and Mikayla, were in town with their parents from Long Island, New York, there was a storm. And during the storm the power went out and the air conditioning went off.

The whole rest of the night everyone was hot. I went downstairs and got ALL the ice packs in the freezer and put them on my bed and went to sleep on the ice packs.

The next day Mikayla, her mom, and I went to the closest 7-11 we could find with power to get Slurpees. For lunch, we went to the place next door to the 7-11 because it also had power. I got a salad and shared it with Mikayla.

After lunch our moms went around to seven different places to find ice for our party including the 7-11 we went to before. That night we had a party with both of our dad’s college friends because they live in New York and they don’t get to see each other a lot. Mikayla and I went around serving people drinks. It didn’t matter that we had no power because the party was mostly outside.

The next day we went to Eastern Market on Capitol Hill in D.C. It was busy and at the same time fun to look around with my friends.

Then we went home and thought we saw a light on. We tested it by hitting the garage door button. It didn’t work. Then we went inside and that light was really on! Everybody started screaming and the kids turned the air conditioner on and stood in front of it with our tongues sticking out. Then we watched T.V. and the next day Hannah and Mikayla went home. I had a great time!!

93

by Amelia M. When I was at the Outdoor Lab, I did a lot of fun things like

going on a hike and testing simple machines. We even got to see

animals like a snake and other reptiles.

I saw a teepee, reptiles, a lake, horses, and trees. The reptiles

were my favorite part. It was cool petting the snakes. On top of the

snake, it felt bumpy. On the bottom, it felt smooth. I never thought the

bottom of the snake would be smooth.

I learned that using simple machines makes work easier for us.

For example, using an incline plane makes it easier to move heavy

boxes.

My favorite part was pulling a hexagon wheel across the field with

Kalle and Mason. I liked that because it was hard and a lot of people

had to pull with me.

I disliked the bus ride because my tummy hurt a lot. But I still had

a lot of fun!

94

by Ella M. Selena Gomez is my favorite singer. She is 20 years old. I would really like to meet her. She used to be dating Justin Bieber. She stars in the Wizards Of Waverly Place. She was in Monte Carlo, Wizards of Waverly Place, the movie, Spring Breakers, Spy Kids and Princess Protection Program. She also appeared in Suite Life on Deck and The Muppets. She is a actress, singer, and a fashion designer! She loves lemons with salt. Her best friend is Taylor Swift. Her favorite actress is Rachel McAdams.

I love Selena! I really like her because she helps charity. She helps people in the hospital.

These are some of her songs, Hit the Lights, Love You Like a Love Song and Naturally. My favorite is Hit The Lights. I want to dance when I hear it.

She is great! I have magazines about her, a book on her, posters of her, and a shirt with her face on it. I have a shirt she designed. It is aqua and short sleeve with sparkles on the top. I also have her perfume and a shoe with her face on it.

I saw a movie starring Selena for my 6th birthday. I went to the movie theater with my friends.

For my 8th birthday I had a cake with a real picture of her on it. My favorite website is Selena Gomez.com. She is the best. That is why I like her.

95

by Christopher P.

It was a hot and sunny day when I was playing hopscotch on the black top with Sarah, Gus, and Henry. When suddenly, a pack of oversized panthers appeared. They were black with red eyes. They were seven feet long and that was three feet taller compared to us. They came from the jungle.

They chased all of us around the playground. Then after we had been chased around the playground five times, the outside teachers realized that the oversized panthers wanted to play. And that was exactly what the panthers wanted.

They were always the first ones to get picked. They played soccer, they played football, you name it.

And we played happily ever after.

96

by Wesley R. I love 3rd grade. I get to learn new things. There is a lot to do and sometimes we don’t have time to do it all. My favorite thing about 3rd grade is ART! I love Art because I am very creative and I love to draw. I also like to paint and use clay. I made a ladybug bowl in art class made out of clay. I also like D.E.A.R. D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. You can drop everything and read any book you want. We usually do D.E.A.R. on Wednesdays. In Language Arts we read the story of the week, do word study activities, and do the brain probe. We also free write or do handwriting. In Social Studies we write about what we are learning about. So far we have learned about bartering and Ancient Greece. Boys couldn’t watch girl Olympics and girls couldn’t watch boy Olympics. Girls and slaves couldn’t vote. I am glad I didn’t live in those days. We also go to specials which are Art, P.E., Computer Lab, Library and Music. So far I love 3rd grade!

97

by Chase R.

One scary night Bob got an invitation to a party. It was on 29th

Street, HH2. Bob wonders what HH stands for but he will figure it out when he gets there.

When he got there, he figured out that HH stands for Haunted House. When he got inside, it was a lot less haunted then he thought. But then the power went out and the doors locked. Everybody was scared.

Frankenstein came out and took off his mask. It was Bob’s friend, Joe. Joe went to the bathroom. Five minutes later, when Joe was still in the bathroom, a witch came out but she didn’t take her mask off. Everyone wondered who was in that costume.

Later on in the party when everybody had forgotten about the witch, the witch came out again. Everybody screamed except Bob. Nobody could leave because the doors were locked.

Bob said he had figured out the mystery but he needed the witch to come out one more time. Bob set up a trap. It was a net. Fifteen minutes later, a witch and a ghost came out. Bob caught the witch and the ghost.

“The witch is Joe and the ghost is Joe’s son, Joey,” said Bob. “They did it because after Joe was in the Frankenstein costume he thought he could scare everybody away and steal the party supplies. He was also the one that turned off the lights and locked the doors.”

Another case solved by Bob.

98

by Austin S.

Our Lego jack-o-lantern heroes just landed on planet Yavin2. They were searching for Malick’s castle. The Jack-o-lantern names were Clutch Powers, Brick, Berney, and Peg.

“Let’s see where that castle is,” said Brick. “How about you go and find the castle and I find Prince Verrn?” said Clutch. “Fine,” said Berney! Meanwhile… “Shocky! Bones! Come here!” said Malick firmly! “At your service,” they said together. “Follow Clutch to Prince Verrn’s castle and bring him to me!” said Malik. When they got back Shocky said, “There was no castle. We almost died against one

of Prince Verrn’s solders!” Bones added, “It was a dark and stormy night!” Meanwhile… Berney and Brick were working on a Big Cart when a weird Viking

came out and screamed, “My heroes, I was hiding from scary Malik!” “Well, let’s get going then,” said Brick as they jumped into the cart. Meanwhile Peg

had found a Friendly Dragon. And Clutch was trying to finish questions so he could get to Prince Verrn’s castle and find Prince Verrn. Like the troll promised he would do!

Clutch had to build a new bridge, and answer a riddle to get past and he got past so the troll took him to Prince Verrn’s castle. Prince Vernn decided that Clutch should help Prince Verrn.

“I’m not so sure about that,” said Clutch. But Clutch finally agreed to help Prince Verrn. They came out of the castle and said, “CHARGE!”

When they got to Malick’s castle they didn’t see anything or anyone. Then they heard Malick say, “Rise, Skeleton Army, rise!” And then the Skeleton Army climbed out of the ground! The two army’s fought while Shocky and Bones where eating popcorn and drinking soda. Then Uncle Benny (a Skeleton) got run over by Brick’s cart!

“He was always a bonehead!” “Nice one,” said Bones. Then Prince Verrn’s army surrendered. While Clutch and

Prince Verrn were fighting a bad warrior with four weapons! They made a dead soldier cut him in half! Then Malick came up and put them in a skeleton jail.

Malick made a announcement, “Give me the Golden Sword or you won’t see these two again!”

“Uh-oh! Too late!” said Berney. “Oh man we have to crash! Wait look!” said Peg! They looked at the clouds and saw

a message from Clutch that said LEGO out of bones. So they built the cart again but it looked better then the old one.

“You missed a piece,” said Berney. “Let’s go,” said Brick. So off they went. Then Peg got on the side of her dragon and

freed Clutch and Prince Verrn! Prince Verrn locked up Malick! Then Prince Verrn’s army beat the skeleton army! Clutch, Brick, Peg and Berney escaped!

99

by Dominick S.

Here we are with two girls. Their names are Katharine and Molly. They are twins. The girls are on a trip. When they get to the forest, they look around. The forest is a very cheerful sight. The trees had red and yellow leaves. It was quiet. Then they see a tiny, green serpent that was as big as a finger.

“EEK!!!! A snake!” they yell. The father comes over. “Don’t worry. You are learners. Being a

learner is good. Later on you will learn that this snake is harmless. Now, I heard your mom is making dinner!”

"YAY!" the girls shout. And they run back to their trailers. After they ate they went canoeing. The tide was not very speedy. The ride was very fun. After that it was getting dark. They found wood and started a fire. The girls roasted sausages and marshmallows. After that they went to bed. The trip lasted 3 days. Then they went home.

When they went to school they got to share about something. When it was their turn, they told about their trip and finding a snake and how they roasted marshmallows.

“What a great story!” said the teacher and the class went back to sharing.

100

by Tyler V.

On a beautiful fall day, an evil wizard was mixing his magic

potions in his apartment. He has been waiting a long time for Halloween night. He was making a potion to turn people into ghosts that haunt the town. Halloween night had finally come. The wizard was so happy he almost knocked over his cauldron full of the potion. His pet owl, Hooty, swooped in and squawked at him in the face.

He sat down and watched TV, waiting for someone to come. A tall man knocked on his door. The wizard said, “Come in!” and as soon as he stepped on the floor . . . ZAP! The man was turned into a ghost. The wizard laughed.

A little boy who lived upstairs from the wizard heard the commotion and peeked through the floorboards. He saw what had happened. So he went down to investigate. Five minutes later, the boy was knocking on the door.

The wizard said, “Come in,” and as soon as the boy stepped into the room. . . ZAP! The boy was turned into a ghost.

A man next door peeked into a hole in the wall and saw the whole thing happen. He took a mirror just in case. There was another knock on the wizard’s door. The wizard said, “Come in,” and as soon as the man got into the door, the wizard shot a bolt out of his staff. But the man blocked it with his mirror and deflected it back and hit the wizard.

He said, “NOOOOO!!!!” Then the boy and the man were free. They all lived happily ever

after.

101

102

by Nate W.

It was October 30, 2012. John woke up. He went downstairs and said in his head, “One more day until Halloween.” Then he saw his brother, Jack.

Jack asked, “What are you being for Halloween?” “I don’t know,” John said. “I am being a ghost,” Jack said. “Now I have to go to school. Mom will be down in a

minute to take you to school.” When Mom came downstairs she said, “Let’s go.” At school at lunch time John and

Tom were talking about what they were going to be for Halloween. John said he didn’t know yet, and Tom said he was going to be a cowboy.

“Good idea, I will be that, too,” John said. The next day it was Halloween and John woke with excitement. “It’s Halloween!!!”

John yelled. His brother Jack and his mom and dad were up in a snap and ran to John’s room. “What’s wrong?” they asked. “What’s that noise?” “Nothing.” said John. “Oh it was me. Sorry.” Then John went downstairs and looked at the computer. There was an email. It read,

no school because the building roof fell in. The phone rang. Ring Ring Ring. John picked it up. It was Tom. “Hi John, whose house should we go to?” “My house,” said John. In a couple of minutes there was some knocking. Knock, knock, and knock. It was

Tom and he had a newspaper. “Hey, look at this. It’s a haunted house and it is on Big Street.” “Cool, let’s go there tonight,” John said. When they got there, they saw a ghost. “Run! Run!” said John. They ran into the basement. “We made it. Look, that ghost had black eyes,” John said. “John, please stop being scared,” Tom said. “I don’t think that was a real ghost. Let’s

go look for clues. Look, a generator. Come here a radio. Wait, is that a blower?” “I figured it out it is a blow up,” said John, “for Halloween.” “Oh,” said Tom. “Let’s finish the mystery. See this is a blow up. Wait, what about

the ghost. He is a blow up too.” John went up stairs and pressed the button. The ghost collapsed. Tom and John went

home.