Volume 11, Issue 4

A collection of writing pieces chosen by Erickson students to demonstrate their writing growth over the course of the 2014- 2015 school year.

The Squirrel and the Dinosaur! Fable By: Gavin Grade 5 Based off of David and Goliath!

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a squirrel named Dave and a di- nosaur named Giant Bob. Giant Bob wants to conquer the squirrels for multiple reasons. First, they have good land. The land had plenty of trees, rocks, other animals, water, just about any- thing a dinosaur would want. Second, they taste good. What meat eating dinosaur doesn’t want a life supply of food? Third, they are easy to destroy or are they? When the squirrels saw the dinosaur, they hid in any place they could find. Un- der trees, behind rocks, or in the leaves. With this, Giant Bob bragged. “HA-HA-HA! I will destroy you all any second and will be the greatest, most powerful, and smartest dinosaur on Earth! You are ants just trying to flee from me, but nobody can escape my enormous eyes. Nothing can stop me!” Dave knew that Giant Bob wasn’t no match for his weapon, God, and the faith Dave had made him even stronger. He was one of all the squirrels who praised God but it seemed that he was the only one who remembered his power. Dave remem- bered the stories his mother taught to him about Adam and Eve. How he created the sky, the world, the land, the sea, and all of the animals, not to mention himself. Dave could picture himself snuggling with his mom and learning about the promises that Abraham had received from the Lord. He would have billions of questions and his mom would do her best to answer then. He was definitely a true Christ follower. Think- ing back about all of this, he too, wanted to be brave and determined! He gathered 5 smooth nuts and used his favorite stick. He went on over to where Giant Bob was camped out. “I will fight you, Giant Bob!” shouted Dave. “With a stick and some nuts!” bragged Giant Bob. Before Giant Bob could strike, Dave threw up a nut and hit it with the stick as far as he could. It hit Giant Bob right on the forehead. For a moment, it seemed like noth- ing happened. Then, there was a THUD like an Earthquake! Dave had done it! He had destroyed Giant Bob. “Thank You, God!” he mentioned is all of the excitement. And all of the squirrels lived happily ever after. (With food, water, and shelter!)

The moral of the story is Have faith in yourself. The Lord is your most powerful weapon of all!

The Pledge of Allegiance By Nick C. Grade 3 Every morning we say the pledge. We pledge to the flag of the USA. We are pledging to honor our country. In the pledge its says to promise to honor the USA. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.” This shows that the people of our country need to respect and value the rules (Constitution) that were made for us. In conclusion, the USA is the greatest country to live in because we are free!

All About Dylan By Dylan Grade 3

Have you heard of Dylan? Well that’s me. I am different than other people. My birthday is June 11th. I am eight years old. I go to Erickson School. I have a small house. My background information is really important. In my family I have two brothers, a mom, and a dad, and a dog. When someone needs help I will be helpful and help them. My favorite animal is a dog. My favorite sport is baseball. I have a lot of stories to tell. When I was eight I got a dog and it is very good. When I was in a bas- ketball game I slipped and fell. When I was on my bike my brother fell into me. These stories tell what my life is all about. Things I do well in are basketball because when I shoot the ball I focus on the net. Another thing I’m good at is baseball. I am good at this sport because when I hit the ball I hit it far. I achieved these sports because I tried my best. I struggle in jump rope because I don’t know how to double bounce. Also, I struggle in soccer because sometimes I kick the ball to the other team. One of my goals is to try my best in basketball. Another goal is to hit the ball in baseball. Also my goal is to make every basket in basketball. My career is to win every baseball game. This is what some parts of my life has been. I will keep on trying.

Fireworks By Brianna Grade 3

This song is like a poem because it has repeated words like of course baby you are a live wire. The seventh paragraph is similar to a poem. I know this because when I look at the text I noticed it is the short- est one of all of them. The poem is written in second person. I know that because it would said cause baby you’re a fire- work. This reminds me of Madagascar. I love to listen to it. It reminds me of a song fireworks is in the name. I love to listen to it.

The Seven Ravens By Jack Grade 3

The central message or them is to make good choices. The text said, “I wish the youngsters would all turn into ravens.” That text support means the man made a bad choice in turning all the brothers into ravens. The second support is “Between things the pitches fell into the brook” That mans it was a bad choice to fight over the can and drop the bucket. The next support is “for a long time she was unaware that she had any brothers.” This sentence means the parents should’ve told her she had brothers earlier so she can go set out to find them. The fourth support is “she is really to blame for the misfortune to her seven brothers.” This means the people were blaming her for the incident. The last support is it devoured little children. That means the sun ate the little kids. This was a great fairy tale. I hope they make a sequel. The Hideous Genius by Jacob Grade 5

Yet another day Marvin was alone with his thoughts. Each day before Marvin had to go to work he waited if anybody would go to him for wisdom and it was the same re- sult every time. “Nothing, why am I surprised?” Marvin thought. Marvin was a wise man, the wisest in the town in fact. But there was a reason he had to put on a mask to make money instead of people coming to him for wisdom for a low price. He was hideous, people thought his face so revolting that he had to put on a mask and say he was a different person. As Marvin walked his way down to the farm he worked on, there was a lady sob- bing. hmmm. Should I risk cheering this woman up? Or am I going to make it worse by revealing my face? Marvin decided to cheer her up and said, “My name is Albert.” He lied, “Why are you crying?” he pulled of his mask, thinking that he made a mistake. “My parents have died, and none can give me the wisdom I need. For I don’t know where to start!” She looked up at his face, but instead of looking to disgusted she laid her head on Marvin’s shoulder! “Why isn’t she running away screaming? He pondered “And worst of all I am blind!” She exclaimed. A light dinged in Marvin’s head “I have found my other Half! He screamed in his mind. “Don’t worry I am one of the wisest men in the town, and I shall give you the wis- dom you deserve!” “Thank you Kind man! Now since you have promised to help me I shall give you one wish!” “One wish? I don’t mean to be rude but: Where have you learned such wizardy?” “My parents were friends with the great sorcerer. His name was Marvin!” “What a coincidence! My name is Marvin!” The lady looked up at him in confusion “Why do you look as if you have seen impossible happened? He asked “Why, you just said that your name is Albert!” In his head he realized had made a huge mistake “Well I was going to tell her the truth sooner or later!” He thought. “Ok, I did not tell you my real name because at first I did not know you were blind and I am one of the ugliest men in the town. And I certainly did not want to scare you by telling you the name of a hideous man!” “I appreciate the kindness, but back to the wish!” “Ok, for my wish I want you to retrieve your sight!” “Are you sure! That is kind but you don’t need to do that!” “I am sure” And with that wish Marvin was a handsome man and also the lady had retrieved her sight! “I gave you your true beauty that you deserve!” Anna P grade 5 Saturn I am known for my rings And some other things. They are made of ice,dust and frozen gas and has a lot of mass. If I was in a big pond I would float sort of like a boat I am of in the distance I have 18 moons in existence I am a marvelous planet

Lorado Taft by Alex Grade 5

Shhhhh! Look there, through the bushes. What color is that headband? Wait, it’s a car- nivore! Run!!!!! At Lorado Taft, 5th graders experienced a game called instincts for survival. This was just one of many games students played while they were at Taft. I’m going to teach you about how to play the game! RUNNNN!! During the game there was a food chain. It started out with herbivore like a giraffe. An example of a omnivore would be humans. An example of a carnivore would be li- ons, tigers, and bears oh my! Let’s say I was a carnivore. I could only eat omnivores and herbi- vores. So I would tag kids/ prey. In the game, the kids would be dead. Once you get tagged, you have to give the predator a life chip. Herbivores have 4 lives and omnivores have three and carnivores have two lives. You also have a piece of paper that is your stomach and there was food and water posts. If you had 6 food and 6 water, you win!!! Wait. I see the hunter! Runnn!! Someone said heard a kid say, “out there in the wilder- ness, there was some tough times.” “It was free for all!” If you were a carnivore or omnivore, the hunter would hunt you and take a life using his walking stick. If you ran out of life chips, then you would have to go to the healer(s) and get more chips. You have to run out of lives COMPLETELY dead in order to get more lives. You could team up with some people but not a whole bunch. That would just make the game not fun. Finally, you have at least some strategy! You can't go into the game without a game plan! Have you ever tied to play the game without an adult? This piece of writing covers up how to play the game. This piece of writing talks about the food chain which includes herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. It also talks about the healers and hunter. Now you have a TON of info. about Instincts for survival, maybe you can have a game of your own?!?! A Lost Princess A fairytale by: Sarah Grade 5 Once upon a time there was a faraway land called Wonderland. It was called Wonderland because there were many wonders in that land. One of them were, where does the Wizard named Merlin get all his magic dust? Another one was how did the dragons come to Wonderland? That’s right dragons! The dragons were mean and they tried to eat the people, but one day, it all changed! A young girl named May saw what the dragons were doing. She went up to the dragons and she taught them to live a wonderful life on the beautiful land of Wonderland. The dragons realized what they were doing was wrong, so they became nice and friendly ever since that day. That day the people were so happy and made May their queen. One day Queen May had a baby girl. She named her Scarlet for her bright red hair, but one morning, when Queen May looked in Scarlet's room, she was missing! She sent her knights to town to look for Scarlet, but when the knights came back, they didn’t have Scarlet. They said that the Wizard Merlin was missing and his magic dust was miss- ing too, but they knew for sure that the Merlin would not take Scarlet. Which means someone kidnapped them both! The next day, one of the maids went to call Queen May down for dinner, but she found her dead. There was blood everywhere so she started screaming. She ran and told everyone and the knights surrounded the house so the killer couldn’t get out. They looked everywhere, but they didn’t find him. Not even a clue was left! Meanwhile, when Scarlet woke up she found herself in a beautiful castle. She was only a baby, so she didn’t know where she was. Scarlet grew up all by herself until the age of 18. She couldn’t leave the castle because the doors and the windows were made of a magical glass. The next day, while Scarlet was cleaning the castle, she found some golden dust. It looked like the dust on the outsides of the windows. She took the dust and she threw it on the door, and the door opened! She was so happy! She walked and walked until she saw a beautiful land. It was Wonderland! As she walked into the town, every- one was sad, but when they saw her they were surprised. They started whispering because they saw Scarlet’s hair and they were in awe! They asked her what her name is and she said Scarlet and everyone gasped! They asked her where she was from and she told them that she was stuck in a castle. She also told them about the magic windows and the golden magic dust. They gasped again because the only person who has that dust is the wizard Merlin and someone had kidnapped him too! She said what if this was all Merlin. The people said the Merlin would never do that and that he is too weak. Scarlet asked the people why they were crying. An old lady said that it was because their queen died. Then she asked them why they were gasping when she said her name was Scarlet. They said because their queen had a baby named Scarlet. The old lady said “Look her hair is red like Scarlet’s and there is no one who has red hair as Scarlet.” Then she said “What if she is the Scarlet? What if she is the lost princess?” They all agreed. Then Scarlet’s eyes turned gray and she froze. She had a vision! In the vision, it showed that she was the Scarlet! The lost princess. It showed the night she was kidnapped. There was a tall man in a black cloak. You couldn’t see his face it showed that Queen May was her mother. It showed the black cloaked man kidnapping Merlin. It also showed that he killed her mother! Then after a couple minutes, she came back. The people asked what happened to her and she said she had a vi- sion. She told the people what she saw. All of a sudden, there were black clouds everywhere. Out of a tornado came a man in a black cloak. Scarlet shouted “It’s him the man in my vision!” He landed on the ground and he said “It is time that i confess to you all.” He took off his hood and he said “I am Veldegrath. I was the king of Wonderland before your mother and these people came. I wanted this land to myself but your mother took it. Now I will take it back!” Scarlet knew he would try to destroy the people so she ran to the dragons and told them everything. The dragons felt sorry and they started a war. There was so much noise and magic dust everywhere! After hours after hours, the war had ended because Veldegrath had ran out of magic dust and the only person who can get more was the Wizard and he wasn’t even close to Wonderland, so Veldegrath gave up. Veldegrath said that he will bring back the Merlin and go away from Wonderland, but Scarlet told Veldegrath to just tell the dragons where Merlin is and they can go get him since they are extra fast. She also told him that he can stay since he used to own the land. He said sorry for everything and thanked everyone for letting him stay. Then, he said my name is Jerin. I used Veldegrath so no one knows who I really am. After an hour the dragons came back with Merlin and they all proclaimed Scarlet their queen. From that day, Queen Scarlet and the people and dragons of Wonderland lived happily ever after. Gum Chewing by Vivek grade 5

You probably like gum I assume, well picture this walking into the classroom and your teacher calls you. “Hey come on up here”, she says. “Oh no” you think as you walk “She caught me chewing gum during the PARCC. She then says “Good job on your test!”... I strongly believe gum chewing should be allowed in school to save your education. I strongly believe that gum chewing should be allowed in school because it will improve grades for everyone! In fact, students will “pop” smartness into their brain because their memories will improve above and beyond. The continuous movement of the jaw increases memory because the hippocampus is activated. Research shows that students who chew gooey gum will remember 25%- 40% more. Did you know that scores will blow up like a bubble and you will pass with flying colors? If your teacher chooses to give you =gum, chances are you will perform 26%- 36% better on tests because there will be more oxygen pumping to your brain. More oxygen equals more knowledge! Likewise, chewing gum in school will increase students’ focus. So you know how that person next to you always talking when you try to work, gum actually dullens because it activates the eustachian tube in your ears. So chew up because that chit chatter is not bothering you anymore. Also if you have a speech you won't sweat because the more gum the less fidgeting and stress running through your body. I firmly believe that gum chewing should be allowed in school to greatly improve oral health. Your teeth will be whiter just by putting a stick of gum in your mouth. Chewing gum helps to reduce plaque and keeps your teeth clean after meals, including lunch, so you will not have the discomfort of food particles stuck in your teeth. Your favorite flavor could double the amount of cleaning your teeth gets. Gum can reduce dentist trips, because chewing gum can also help avoid cavities. Your dentist will also be happy because gum makes your breath pleasant. Also it saves time, so its a win win situation for all. That Orbit in your pocket isn’t useless after all! The gum you chew also helps your mouth get stronger. The movement of chewing gum helps to make your jaw stronger, and if you have braces, gum can help protect the sharp metal parts from cutting your gums, so the more gum you chew the less pain you get in your mouth, causing you to be able to go through your day without discomfort in your mouth. Gum chewing also makes your teeth stronger and better at chewing, making it easier to chew up that tough meat. Gum doesn’t only keep your teeth strong, but your jaw too. Your jaw after chewing is now less painful. So if you chew really hard or if you chew for a long time it won’t hurt as much. In conclusion, gum chewing should be allowed in school to keep oral health from getting in the way So you also realized isn’t PE hard and I have a game coming in soccer well you better buy some gum because sticking that bazooka pop in your mouth helps a whole lot in maintain- ing a healthy lifestyle. Actually you know gum is actually one of your favorite things and in a lot of flavors. So you can chew it and stop cravings. Gum also even gets you to stop eating up more and more fat by the second. Have you ever chewed gum for a long time and have it feel like a full out meal. Then at dinner time you won’t eat as much. Since most people love gum it won’t be like you trying to feed it to the dog. You also lose 11 calories per hour. So the more he chews the more he lose. Also it’s sort of like exercise with your mouth moving. Luckily there won't be too much sweat. You know the gum you chew won’t stay in your stomach if you swallow it but just in case grab some and start chewing because it upgrades your digestion for $0.60 cents per packet. You know when you want to throw up you always end up drooling. Well spit or saliva helps your digestion. So you know you chew gum and a lot of saliva comes. That helps. So if you do eat something you didn’t chew or was really hard for your intestines to han- dle stay calm. Go to the local store and get some trident and start chewing!!! You will digest it. Hey what’s a tool to success, a key to a great life, a key to stop you from ending up a piece of dust nobody cares about. Well bubblegum!!! As you can see, gum can benefit your life a lot. Since you know them, to all principals that say no to gum, say yes to gum chewing in school. It would be to your advantage. Captain Raptor and the Crazy Freaking Time Machine Sequel by Syed Grade 5

One day on the planet called Jurassica there was a town where Threetoe and Captain Raptor were heading towards Threetoe’s secret lab where Threetoe was planning something very secret. “Okay, wait, come again?” said Captain Raptor curiously. “I am going to turn you into a human and then send you back in time 65 million years ago on Earth.” said Threetoe taking a big breath. “But why?” asked Raptor. “Just to investigate” said Threetoe. Raptor took a deep breath and agreed to it. “I’ll do it” said Raptor. “Not just yet. We need to check if you are fit enough to go.” replied Threetoe. After all the tests were done Threetoe said “You’re all set to go.” Raptor stepped into the “Dino to human machine” Threetoe pressed the trigger and a blinding flash filled the room. “Whoa” said Raptor. “YOU TURNED ME INTO A HUMAN.” Threetoe was amazed that it worked. Now he was going back in time. Raptor stepped in the time machine and gave the “Go” signal and Threetoe pressed the trigger while, yet another, blinding light flashed in the room and Raptor disappeared into nothingness. Raptor was sick of the “ride” through time. The good news was that he made it to the di- nosaur age. He saw many kinds of dinosaurs. Just then he saw the exact same spaceship of the humans that were on Eon. The spaceship landed and Captain Storm came out. “Hello Captain Raptor.” he said The first question he had was... “How did you know I was here?!” “Captain Raptor, I knew because Threetoe teleported me to Jurassica and told me to eliminate you when you were here.... but I refused. After you saved my life I couldn’t betray you.” “UH… Thanks” Raptor said. “Your welcome said Storm. Storm and captain Raptor de- cided what to do with Threetoe. Since they did not have time machine the decided to build one. All the ingredients were there. They had to find a watch, which Raptor had. Then they found wood to make the outer shell of the time machine. Then they got potatoes to power the watch or jump start it. They had to find Jurassica soil. Then Raptor realized that he was carrying a sample. He put it in the compartment that he built. Storm and Raptor stepped in and they pulled the lever. Then they were gone. They made it back to Threetoe’s lab. He had run away. “Well at least Earth and Jurassica is safe said Storm and Raptor together. “We will have to wait until he comes back.” The End For Now… Gum Chewing By Isabela grade 5

Think about chewing on a piece gum. How would it feel to chew gum in school? I strongly be- lieve that gum chewing should be allowed in school because it would help you with your Oral Health. Who does not want shiny white teeth? I strongly believe that gum chewing should be allowed in school because it will improve grades for everyone! In fact, students will “pop” smartness into their brain because their memories will improve above and beyond. The continuous movement of the jaw increases memory because the hippocampus is activated. Research shows that students who chew gooey gum will remember 25%- 40% more. Did you know that scores will blow up like a bubble and you will pass with flying colors? If your teacher chooses to give you gum, chances are you will perform 26%- 36% better on tests because there will be more oxygen pumping to your brain. More oxygen equals more knowledge! Likewise, chewing gum in school will increase students’ focus. Without a doubt, gum chewing should be allowed in school to enhance students’ oral health. You should definitely chew gum because chewing on that glob of sweetness will help you with cleaner teeth. Gum chewing can help you by removing plaque, even after you eat lunch food particles that stick to your teeth. While you're chewing gum it helps you with tooth decay. Gum chewing will increase your mouths taste buds and will also help you with cleaner teeth. While chomping on the “stick of gum,” It will help you Neutralize Plaque acids that form in your mouth after eating fermentable carbohydrates. When you’re on your way to the dentist, stick a stick of gum in your mouth and that will help you reduce stains or cavities. I strongly believe that gum chewing could make your mouth stronger by sticking a piece of gum in your mouth . Do you think that gum chewing would make your mouth stronger? Chewing gum can help increase salvia and you can say goodbye to cavities. It can also help strengthen your jaws. Chew- ing gum can help by straightening your jaws and helping you chew that delicious piece of gum. Chewing gum can help you to remineralize enamel. Chewing gum can make your mouth very comfortable and luxurious. Gum chewing can relieve dry mouth discomfort. Gum chewing can make your mouth fell like if you were having a massage . Obviously Gum chewing should be allowed in all schools. I am in full agreement that gum chewing should be allowed in school because it will help you maintain your healthy lifestyle. As a result you should chew on that piece of chewy gum because it will heip you burn calories. Chewing that piece of sweetness will burn 11 calories in a hour. Imagine your- self chewing on that piece of sweet gum for a whole day and end up like a stick. Gum chewing will help you manage your weight. The more you chew the more you loose. Both regular and sugar free chewing gum help the kids eat less. By just chewing on that piece of chewy glob it will hold you by eating all that junk. Gum chewing should be allowed in schools because it will help you reduce hunger. Chewing gum decreased snack intake by 36 calories.Chewing gum before snacking helps reduce hunger. Imagine no more weight gaining because the super gum has gone to the rescue because gum will stop hunger. Chewing gum can reduce hunger and the desire to eat significantly. Gum chewing can take your hunger away for good. Gum can reduce cravings for sweets. You will no longer will get fat by eating junk. In conclusion gum should be allowed in Erickson and all the other schools because it helps maintain a healthy life style. Unquestionably gum should be allowed in school because it will pop your head with great ideas like, help you with your grades and you can become the greatest kid that ever lived. To be sure gum chewing should be allowed in Erickson and other schools. Look! There is our class pet sleeping! So cute! I think all classrooms should have pets in their classrooms. They would help us learn, teach responsi- bility, read, and make us happy. Class pets could help children learn. For example, we could learn what the pet eats or how the pet changes and the life cycle of the pet. If we were doing a science experiment on the pet it would be very useful. Class pets could also teach us a lot of responsibility. For instance some- one has to take the class pet home over the weekend to watch the pet and take care of it. While the class pet is at the students’ homes they would have to feed the pet. This could also give the class helper another thing to do. Another reason why we should have class pets is because they could help us read. For example we could have a odd number of students so one of the stu- dents could read with the class pet. This would help students practice their flu- ency. The pet might also enjoy when the teacher reads aloud a story. One more reason is that they make us happy. The pet could inspire the children by playing with the pet. If kids are sick they can make them feel better. If there is a kid that is sad the pet could make them happy.

by Hannah grade 3

The Dragon Who Lived Under My House By Kuba Grade 1

In the morning I went outside to go play. I was walking when I saw a big black hole. I was a little scared. What should I do? I decided to run back to my house and get a flashlight. I ran back to the backyard and jumped into the hole. Asssssssss! Before long, I reached the bottom of the hole and saw a dragon. The dragon started to breath fire at me. I ran away from the dragon and I started to climb on the dirt. I escaped from the hole. Oh no! The dragon followed me! The dragon started to breath fire at everything. I jumped on his back but he shook me off. I put on a scary monster costume and chased him with a water hose. The dragon flew back down in the hole. I filled the hole with dirt and I never saw the dragon again.

Green Crayon and Red Crayon By Nathan

In a small house lived a red crayon. He wasn’t a normal crayon. Red has arms and eyes and a mouh. One day Red went out side to play football. Red was walking to the park when he saw Green crayon. Red said, “Hi! Do you want to play football?” Green said, “Yes.” Later, Green threw the ball hard at Red. Red, crash! Green broke Red’s head. Soon, Green called 911. “Please come fast!” said Green. Red was on the ground in pain. OWOW! The doctor came as fast as he could to fix Red’s head. First, the Doctor tried glue. It did not work. Next, the Doctor tried sticky tack. Red’s head tumbled off. The Doctor had one last thing in his bag….tape. The Doctor wrapped taped around Red’s head. Red shouted, “It worked!” Read and Green thanked the Doctor and started to play football again. A Kid Named Billy Bob By Sam Grade 3 Chapter 1 There was a kid named Billy Bob he had a lot friends and liked to play baseball and he liked to hit the ball but HATE to be outfield because he never caught a ball before and he hit a 2 home runs in a game before so that’s why he likes to bat and hates to be outfield. So he got mad he played his least favorite position pitcher he once hit to people with the ball. And the other team was laughing. The other team got to get so much walks he was about to hit someone. He was excited he was about to hit but someone took their turn and he was mad he hit his coach then his coach had to go to the hospital he was bleeding on his back he was sad the day that he hit his coach they lose 20-10. Billy was so sad he didn’t even want to baseball. Chapter 2 My coach was still in the hospital 1 month in the hospital I forgot if I hit him so hard? I went to the hospital I went to go see my coach he was sleeping and bleeding on his back he bought his coach a flower. One of the flowers said William I wish We won William was on our team he was good at hitting too But I was a little better at hitting then him he hit run home run He was screaming when he did a homerun. Chapter 3 We had a game he was still at the hospital so far he was in the hospital for 2 months I was scared If he died I think he was the best coach he was nice every game that we had he brought us snacks. I wish I didn’t get so mad I hit him with a bat it was so sad. We had a game I hit first I hit a home run I was happy William was too and my whole team was too. I was happy but I was sad about my coach. Then William went to hit the pitcher hit him in the back he got to walk I thought he was going to hit a home run but the pitcher hit him so that’s bad. So far my team was to doing good three people hit a home run me Scott and Jack they we were also on our team.

Chapter 4 Good news we finally won a game 16-24. I was so so, so happy It was exciting my whole team was screaming. My whole team was surprised they were the hardest team they won all their games so they won 14 games and they lost 1. Our team was only team that won against them. And we lost 13 games and we won just 1. That was amazing we lost against all the bad teams and we won against the best HOW AMAZING! But I was still sad that my coach was in the hospital.

Chapter 5 We had practice we were talking about the last game we all had fun in that game we hit 5 home runs and the pitcher hit 3 peo- ple. And tomorrow he have a game I think we would win.

Chapter 6 The baseball season was about to be done this was our last game and then were doing basketball my least favorite sport but I'm actually good but it’s not really fun. It started we against the cubs they hit first I was the WORST position pitcher I pitched the ball he hit a line drive to me I was scared I caught the team was like YEA!!!! Again I was pitching to the best hitter Jake he always hits line drive he hit it to 1st base he caught it YEA. Then I did three strikes you're out! Our turn to bat we got so much hits they forfeited my whole team was yea 14-0. Then came the biggest surprise are coach is alive we were like YEA!!! My whole team hugged him for 4 months he was in the hospital few! At least he didn’t die. After all we got to go somewhere for baseball and we got to play a lot of sports soccer, football, basketball, and my most favorite sport baseball.

The Lost Jewels By Emma Grade 1 One dark and mysterious night in a mysterious house the family was eating dinner. The maid was cleaning the kitchen. It seemed like a normal night… All of a sudden the mom and dad noticed the maid was being suspicious. The mom and dad walked in the kitchen. Oh no the maid is missing! The mom went up stairs to look for the maid, but she was not there. The mom noticed one of the drawers were open. She looked inside her drawers and her jewels were gone! The mom ran down the stairs and screamed my jewels are missing. The dad called the detective to help the mom find her jewels. The detective came over quickly. First, he searched for fingerprints. He could not find any fingerprints. Next, he decided to look for footprints. The detective went down stairs and noticed footprints leading to the office. He followed the footprints and the ended at the bookshelf. The detective grabbed a book suddenly, pop! The wall opened. The detective opened the book- shelf and saw the maid wearing all the jewels. He gave the mom her jewels back and took the maid to jail. He solved the crime!

Script: Locomotion by Nandan, Aleena, & Adyan grade 5

Characters : Lonnie: 11 year old boy 5th grader

Lili : 8 year old girl; lives with foster parents. Lonnie’s sister

Lili’s “Mama”: Lili’s foster Mother. Has a bad opinion about Lonnie. (Lonnie goes to the adoption agency in the afternoon to see Lili)

Lili’s Mama: An hour! Just an hour! Plenty of time to talk!

Lonnie: Thanks for letting me talk to Lili .

Lili’s Mama: Hmph! Lili begged for it!

(Lonnie and Lili go inside the agency room to talk)

Lili: Have you found God yet Lonnie ?

(Lili has a Bible in her gloved hands)

Lonnie : I was never looking for Him.

(Lonnie smiled because he thought it was a joke)

Lili : God is everywhere. He comes in your heart if YOU let Him.

( Lili’s eyes get watery)

Lili : You find God Lonnie , then maybe you and I can be together again.

( Lonnie turns to see the window, tears escaped his eyes)

Lonnie : Yes Lili , I’m going to look for Him.

(Lili gives Lonnie the Bible and kisses Lonnie on the cheek)

Lili: You’re the best brother, the best brother in the whole world! In the galaxy!!!

(Lonnie looks down at the Bible and grins).

Princess Angelina and Prince Nicholas By Marissa Grade 1 In a nice and sunny kingdom there was a Princess and a Prince. Prin- cess Angelina and Prince Nicholas lived in the same kingdom but not in the same castle. Princess Angelina and Prince Nicholas never meet. The Princess Angelina never was allowed to leave the castle. Princess Angelina was walking on a path. Then Princess Angelina bumped into Prince Nicholas. They talked for awhile and fell in LOVE. The next day Princess Angelina and Prince Nicholas were holding hands and picking flowers! Then King Tritintin and Queen Ariral were on their horse...thumpaty, thump, thump. King Tritintin yelled at Princess Angelina. Queen Airal yelled at her son. Princess Angelina and King Trititin rode home and found out their castle burned down. Before long Princess Angelina and King Trittintin came home and found their house burned down. “NO! Crash! A guard said, “A thief! A thief!” “What is wrong?” “A thief stole your crown, King Tritintin! King Trititntin said, “NO! Oh, No! I am bald. I need the crown. I need it! I need it.” Princess Angelina and King Tritintin did not have a home and King Tritintin did not have a crown. They did not know what to do. In the morning Queen Airal and Prince Nicholas invited King Tritintin and Princess Angelina to live with them. Prince Nicholas told King Tritintin, “I will try to get your crown back and get people to help build a new castle for you and your daughter!!!!” In the morning Prince Nicholas and his knights looked all over and found the thief. They saw him at a bar in the village. They arrested the thief and gave the crown to King Tritintin. In the afternoon Prince Nicholas asked the whole kingdom to help build a wonderful castle. After 1 month the castle was finished. It was the most extraordinary castle. Prince Nicholas took Princess Angelina and King Tritintin to the castle. King Tritintin said, Now you can marry my daughter.” Princess Angelina jumped into Prince Nicholas’s arms. The Princess and Prince are finally together. The End.

The Ogre By Carson Grade 1 Once upon a time there was a King with 15 trusty knights. They lived in a land far, far away with many animals but the scariest one of all an ogre! One day all of a sudden there was a big knock on the door. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The knight opened the gate and fainted. It was an ogre!!! He stepped on the knight and now they have 14 knights. He was as flat as a pancake. The ogre roared. ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!!!!!!! The ogre came into the castle and now he had a chainsaw!!! The ogre cut the gate in half. Then he stepped on the Knight’s sword AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWW!!!! The ogre sucked his thumb like a baby….now he I very angry! The ogre came in the kitchen and scared all the cooks away and ate all the cakes. The cooks ran in fear and told the knights that there was an ogre in the kitchen. The knights surrounded the ogre. Then the ogre kicked the knights out of the way and ran in the throne room. The King was in his throne room. Then all of a sudden an ogre comes running in. The King grabs his Infinity sword and stabs the ogre an has a VICTORY! They have a big party and feel happy and safe until...THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!!!!! The Amazing Teddy Bear By Hadi Grade 1

In the house there was a kid named Hadi. He got a teddy bear from a store. He named his teddy bear Teddy. The teddy bear was big and fluffy. It looked real. One day, Hadi went in his room and his teddy bear said, “Hello” And Hadi screamed like this, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” His sisters came to see what was wrong and his mom and dad too. His parents and his siblings were creeped out. Teddy kept on talking. Hadi hated it! Teddy asked a lot of things. Hadi was so an- noyed. It was a very bad day for Hadi. He needed the bear to stop talking. Hadi had an idea. Hadi brought toys for Teddy to make him talk less but that did not work. Hadi gave the teddy bear peanuts. The teddy bear stopped talking. Hadi was happy.! His family was happy! Hadi still had fun with Teddy. He now loves Teddy more because Teddy stopped talking. Hadialways has to carry peanuts around Teddy.

The Mysterious Cat By Ty Grade 1

A long time ago there was a cat named Sniffers that was walking on the street. Sniffers was a black cat with blue eyes. Andrew the inventor was walking on the street trying to think of an idea. Then he saw Sniffers and brought him to his science lab. Andrew make Sniffers into a monster cat. Lexi, the assistant, ran away and found a hiding spot. The monster is 700 feet tall with teeth that hang past his chin and they are super sharp. Sniffers runs to the city and scares everybody y in town. Also, he was wrecking windows, throwing buildings and eating dogs. Andrew stayed in his lab and invented a cure. Lexi and Andrew took the cure and went on a plane. They shot Sniffers with the cure. Sniffers turned into a normal cat again. Andrew and Lexi returned to the lab. Andrew will never make a monster again.

A Day at the Zoo By Michael Grade 1

One day Michael and his friends went to the zoo. They were so excited to see the animals. They got to the zoo. They brought their tickets. Michael wanted to see the lions. Jake wanted to see the gorillas. Nicholas jumped up. Then he said, “Can we see the monkeys?” The boys walked in the zoo and they realized something was wrong. Michael and his friends noticed there were no animals in the zoo. Michael said, “Let’s go in the monkey cave.” There were no monkeys. They went in the lion cave. There were no lions. “Where are all the animals?” Michael asked the zoo keeper where all the animals were. First we check in back of the zoo. Next, we check on top of the roof. Last, we check the cafeteria. The animals were having a partying there. Now we just need to get them to their homes, but how? “I know,” said Jake. “We will put steak for the lions, peanuts for the elephants, and bananas for the monkeys” “Good idea.” said Michael. Finally Michael, Jake, and Nicholas shared the day at the zoo.

The Life Of Sylvan

My name is Sylvan. I live in Bloomingdale, IL. I am 9 years old. I was born in 2006. My Family I have a Mom, Dad, and 2 brothers. Oscar, and Eryc. Oscar is 6 and Eryc is 11 months old. I am the oldest child in my family. Character Traits I am nice because I respect people also helpful. I am very smart too. Favorites My favorites are video games because I play them every day, and also I like to sleep a lot. Happy Times I am happy when it is my birthday and also when it is time to go to Poland because that is where my family lives. Last is when it is a polish tradition called kid’s day. I like it because I can do anything I want. Sad Times When I need to go to kumon and when my great grandma passed. Things you do well Things I do well are reading and math. How You Achieved It For math I practiced a lot. For reading I read a lot of books!!! Struggles My struggles in school are sometimes spelling. Also even though I do good on reading sometimes I struggle on reading although I sometimes do good on it. The reason I sometimes struggle on reading is because I do not know how to pronounce a word. Goals My goals are to understand words when I do read to someone, and read to self. Another goal is to eat less candy so I am healthy. Career In my career I want having kids to make a family and also a great job to get lots of money. This is my life.

Bananaman! By Nicholas Grade 1

In a house there was a kid named Grayson. He ate so many bananas he turned into Bananaman. He was all yellow and he had blue eyes and he had red lips. Grayson was so sad he thought it was going to stay on him forever. He tried to peel off his skin. Ow! It hurt real bad. He did not peel any of it off. Now I am going to stay like this forever. Now I am yellow. No one will play with me at school. When he went to school everybody started to laugh at him. BOOM! Pow! Grayson punched Kevin out of the school because Kevin was laughing at him. Later he got sent to the principal’s office on the fifth floor. Grayson looked out the window. It was high but he wanted to escape. So he climbed out the window. AHHHHH! But he survived. After that he ran home. He snuck upstairs and turned on the shower to boiling hot water. He got out and he was just a saggy banana. Grayson wanted to get dry so… he put himself in the oven! When he got out he was a krispy banana. All of a sudden his skin came back to yellow skin. He had healed himself. That is when he realized he had super powers. Grayson decided to go out in the city to save people. Now Grayson has become Bananaman, the Super Hero. Banana 2 By Brett Grade 3 Remember when we bananas said that we were making a comeback, its today. We’ll do it right here, right now in this book. We have been practicing karate for the past few weeks and we have mastered it. We will punch your face, arms, chest, legs, knees, feet, nose, eyeballs, and back. You will be sorry for what you’ve done too me and my friends. Now, we will make this whole world belong to the team of Banana man! Oh. Did I tell you about Banana man yet? Anywase, I will tell you who he is. He is the god of all of the Bananas! If we didn’t have Banana man, we would be little weaklings! But, since we have Banana man to protect us, we are not. We are like the strongest humans in the world! Banana man is awesome. Do you know what the best thing about Banana man is? Guess. Ok. I’ll tell you. He has powers! He shoots lightning, shoots banana peels out of his fingers, and do you know what the best power that he has is? Well, it’s kinda hard to explain but, I’ll try my best. All of us Bananas, trans- form into this gigantic banana too! Even Banana man. When he transformed with us, the gigantic banana gets too have the powers that Banana man has. That power never ever lets us down. It always works. Always, were going to kick your butts in 5,4,3,2,1. “Attack!” Yelled Banana man. We all bolted to the humans. All of the humans didn’t even see us! I think we were too small. Oh well, i’m just going to go for it. “Charge!” I yelled. Everyone charged. “Wow”. I said to myself. They actually listened to me for once. I said, “Stop!” They didn’t listen as I thought. I just knew it was Banana man. I need friends that actually listen to me. It’s not fair that Banana man gets to rule all of “Banana World” I’m going to find a new home. “So the Banana set off to find a new home that people will sometimes listen to me. Then one day,.....” “Boo!” “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Screamed Banana. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Screamed unknown person. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Screamed Banana. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Screamed unknown person. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Screamed Banana. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Screamed unknown person. They went back and forth like that forever. Then, after 100 minutes of screaming together, we finally did our last scream then stopped. “We are the corny corns.” “Hey!” “Were both a type of food!” “Thats so cool!” “Maybe we can be best friends!” “I was just thinking the same thing.” “The exact same thing.”

Snakes are cool animals and are fun to learn about. Snakes can go a long time without food. The bigger the snake the longer it is. Large pythons can go 1 1/2 years without eating. This is because snakes bodies are long and thin, not like our bodies which are short and wide compared to a snake. Snakes can be up to 6.5 feet long! That’s 10 times bigger than a new- born baby! A boa is one of the biggest. They are 3 inches wide and 5.6 feet long. The smallest snake in the world is the thread snake. They are as big as a quarter when full grown. As babies the thread snake is not bigger than a speck of glitter. On a snakes’ menu is usually rat, small birds, mice, frogs, small lizards, and large in- sects. A large snake may eat a baby dear, small bear, or a moose. By Mia Grade 4 The Orphanage By Daniel Grade 3 “Get out of here as fast as you can!!” I yelled to my brother as the fire was spreading. But it was too late my brother was gone and so were my parents. I jumped out the window luckily there was a trampoline for me to land on. I scurried to the nearest orphanage. I knocked on the door no one came I knocked again this time a old lady came to the door. She muttered under her breathe “too many kids these days “ then she said in a sweet voice “welcome little girl come in” so I went in. It was a mad- house. There were kids with happy faces and glum faces. I couldn’t be- lieve that most of the kids were happy because their parents were likely to be DEAD. The old lady told everybody that it was breakfast time. She gave everybody sticky and gooey oatmeal I looked around me most of the people were taking the oatmeal and slapping it into their faces. But I wasn’t worried about that I was staring at a group of parents, they picked some twins that were sitting next to me. Those parents were desperate for a child so they picked them without knowing that they were troublemakers. The other parents had plenty of children. But the little boy wanted A big brother so they took the messiest kid at our table. Those were the only kids that were gone this morning in the afternoon. I hoped I would get picked by a parent, but day after day nobody adopted me. But one day there were so many parents, there was a 78% chance that I was going to be picked. But guess what, nobody picked me and I was so sad that I couldn’t keep it in. I burst into tears, but then a girl came right next to me and said “It’s okay I’ve been here for 5 years and I got over it right when I got here”. From then on we became best friends . 8 Years later She’s gone you heard me she’s gone my best friend is gone, and I never got to catch her name even in 8 years but at least she knew my name. But I couldn't believe it she was gone forever. I was too sad to eat my breakfast, and in 8 years they improved it by a lot. Now it’s French toast. But any way my best friend was gone you know what I’m too sad to speak until I get adopted. 2 years later Guess what I didn’t get picked but there is only 3 people left in the orphanage so I’m bound to get picked. But years past the orphanage shut down and I’m begging on the streets. I was wrong I’m never going to be adopted. But something caught my eye, a family, but not some normal family. Someone in that family looked familiar. It was my best friend. I ran up to her and hugged her. I’m so so happy now. But she looked like she didn’t know me. I thought for a second that she wasn’t my best friend. But I destroyed that thought in my head. So I asked her “what’s your name?” She answered “Mindy”. I asked “do you remember me, my name is Jill”. Right from that moment, her eyes were as big as extra large pie plates. She screamed out “JILL!!!!!!!!!!” she hugged me back. This was the best moment of my life. But her parents butted into our conversation and they asked “Mindy, who is this”? She replied “ This is Jill, my best friend at the orphanage. Could we adopt her”? There was complete silence, they finally made a decision . They said. Wait for it yes! I was so happy. I spread the biggest smile ever in the whole universe. But that wasn’t it, they also said that Mindy had to get A+ grades in school.

On the ride home I thought, this has been an amazing adventure with sad times and happy times. But at least I have a new fam- ily

Fairy tale BY: Matt Z Grade 5 The Greedy Giant! Once upon a time, there was a very greedy giant. Rumors say he is the greediest giant in the whole kingdom. One day the giant found the crown jewel. “No one will take my jewel from me”! Exclaimed the giant. At that moment a giant fire breathing dragon 10 times bigger than the giant broke through the doors of the gi- ant’s castle. The giant, scared as a baby then said, “Please spare me and take all of my jewels”. “Everything”? Asked the dragon. “Everything”, cried the giant. After they made the deal the dragon imme- diately jumped into all the jewels. While the dragon enjoyed his wealth the giant tried to sneak out with the crown jewel. Out of the corner of his eye the dragon saw the giant and his crown jewel and confronted him. “Is there a problem”? Asked the giant. “Yes” roared the dragon “you lied to me and did not live up to your deal”, said the dragon. The giant hesitated, then murmured “no I didn’t”. The giant ran from the dragon, but he was not fast enough. “Fwoom”!!! The fire from the dragon killed him. On the giant's grave it said don’t lie to someone bigger or more powerful than you or else you will suffer the consequences. The Frown And The Gnomes by Angelina grade 5

A long time ago there was a girl named Bella. She always was a happy kid until she was four years old. Both of her parents died on a ship. Ever since then her grandma Cookie, took care of her. Even though the name Cookie sounds nice, she was the meanest person in the town. If you look up the word mean in the dictionary Cookie’s name would come up! Since her parents died and Cookie started taking care of her she would always frown. She has the right to frown. Life was just not as good as Bella hoped it would be. So since then, Bella never smiled even if she found a nickel on the ground not even a quarter she wouldn't smile for it. Bella claims her frown is stuck like that and she can't control it. One day she was sick of her grandma harassing her, so she went to the woods to get everything off her mind. Then all of a sudden she saw a mushroom house and thought it was interesting, so she went in it, after all she had nothing to lose she already had a messed up life. She went in the house and nobody was in there, well that’s what she thought… Suddenly she looked down and dozens of gnomes were staring at her. They had red little hats, white fuzzy beards, bushy white eyebrows, and wore green pants. Except for the one in the corner, the runt of the gnomes. It had no beard just a mustache, a yellow pair of pants, and a red top and always was smiling. Then all of them said, “Hello, hola, and bonjour.” Then the runt of the gnomes said, “What are you? Some kind of big gnome?” Well actually I’m a hu- man, there’s a lot of us outside of the woods”, said Bella.” Oh what’s your name? No, wait let me guess! Emily? Cindy? Mary? Don’t make me look bad! Just say your name?” Said the runt. “Um my name is Bella , but you can call me Bell for short.” all of them said “wait sorry for the runt for asking so many questions let’s start over. “So my name is Jeff”. “His name is Arthur,” and the other one is cleaning the grass. His name is Joe” said the gnome, Jeff. But the runt is not called the runt his name was Raymond. Through all of this, she still unfortunately was still frowning. For the next 2 weeks she would always leave to go see the gnomes. She learned more and more about the gnomes. Bella surprisingly didn't really get along with the other gnomes besides Raymond, even though Raymond was different than her. You would think Bella and the other gnomes would get along well, but it took more time to get along with Jeff, Arthur, and Joe. Then one day grandma Cookie found out that Bella was sneaking out, so she locked her into her room. She yelled she had to stay in there for one year. During that time cookie was trying to find out what she was doing for the past two weeks.” Was it a prince? A friend? Going to the bakery? I don't know yet, but I will find out!” said the grandma. Meanwhile, Bella was in her room she found a painting behind her dresser. Something that looked like a painting of the mushroom house she has seen when she went to the gnome’s house. So she moved her dresser and discovered the most beautiful painting! She touched the painting and she was there at the gnome’s house. She tried to tell the gnomes what had happened but nobody believed her except Raymond, so she brought Raymond back to her room through the same painting that was outside. Raymond said “thank you for bringing me here. I have to give you something for being such a wonderful friend!” Raymond pulled out a sparkly green dress, a sparkly red dress, and a sparkly blue dress. Raymond told her that each dress had a spe- cial power. But you don't know what it is until you put it on. Cookie found out that she brought something into the house so she went into her room when she was doing her hair in the bathroom and Cookie found Raymond sitting on the balcony and Raymond screamed! AAAHH! Said Raymond. Quickly Bella came to her room to find out what all the commotion was about. She realized that Cookie was in her room. Cookie was furious with Bella and Raymond. So she had to separate them. She put Raymond in the dungeon, but left Bella still in her room. But Cookie never found out about the painting. Bella had to find a way to get to the dungeon without getting caught. She remember the dresses that Raymond got for her. So she put the blue one on and looked in the mirror and realized she was invisible! She went to the dungeon to try to save Raymond and she made it to him without Cookie noticing. She told him that she had come to save him and how she used the dress to make her invisible. They got out of the dungeon and went back through the painting and went back to Raymond’s house and Bella said,” I never knew that I could get along with a different kind of person, well a gnome than I am”. Raymond said “yeah, but I knew we would get along”. Raymond smiled, and so did Bella! And they lived happily ever after.

Fairy Tale By: Zoey grade 5 Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a castle with her brother the prince and her mom and dad the queen and the king. The princess had a pet bunny that she named Mr.Puffy puffers. One time she was feeding her bunny carrots and when she turned around to get more carrots the bunny said ‘’Thank you.’’ the princess was so amazed but of course she had to keep it a secret because if she told anyone that her bunny can talk the bunny will be taken away. The prin- cess had a fairy god mother that granted her 3 wishes one of the princesses wishes was for nobody to ever find out that her bunny can talk. The godmother granted her wishes and a few weeks later the princess was outside playing with her brother the prince then a witch appears in front of the princesses window and without anyone looking the witch opened the window and went in. The witch knew that the bunny can talk because she heard the bunny when he said ‘’thank you.’’ the witch got the bunny to talk and the witch opened the cage took the bunny and was on her way back to her castle. Later that day the princess came into her room with more carrots to feed to her bunny but when she came over to the cage she found that it was empty she screamed so loud that the whole kingdom herd it. The butler came running in and asked her what was wrong she told him about her going to play with her brother and then coming back with carrots and finding that her bunny wasn't there. The princess knew where the witches castle was but she didn't ever dare to go there but now she had an excuse to go. So the princess set out with her family to get her bunny, they nicely knocked on the wooden door and the witch appears with the bunny. The queen says ‘’ I think you have our daughters bunny.’’ then the witch says ‘’I don’t like company! then she slammed the door on the queen’s head who wasn't even done talking. The family goes back home then the princess thinks about how she might be able to get her bunny back from that old evil witch. She finally comes up with an idea she can sneak into the witches bedroom like how the witch sneaked into her bedroom, so out the princess went to go get Mr. Puffy puffers. The princess finally arrived and she got into the witches bedroom then the princess heard the witch and she zoomed into the closet and in came the witch and said ‘’hello bunny I have come to visit you again.’’ the bunny did not enjoy her company so in- stead he flipped over and took a nap the witch then got very angry so she opened the cage door and pulled the bunny out. The witch put him on her bed then she vanished out the door the princess came out and saw the witch was going outside to grab some carrots for the bunny the princess came out of the closet and grabbed Mr. Puffy puffers and ran as fast as she could down the steps and out the front door. The witch noticed the princess with the bunny and stopped her in her tracks and confronted her about going into her room the witch pulled the princess into her castle and made her hurt Mr. Puffy puffers the princess did not want to hurt her own bunny so she tricked the witch by looking the other way and by the time the witch turned around the princess was gone. The princess got back to her castle safely without getting hurt. A few months later the witch still hasn't come to steal Mr. Puffy puffers she has left the royal family alone forever the lesson that the princess learned was to never get others involved in your problems. Then royal family lived happily ever after. One, Two, and Three by Samantha grade 5

Once upon a time there was a woman named Laura and her father was King Arthur. One day she went for a stroll outside and she saw a woman she looked poor, so Laura gave her some money to buy food with. After she bought food, the women said, “Because of your kindness you get three wishes, but use them wisely or you will regret it.” The next day her and her father got into a fight. “But father I do not wish to get married yet!” screamed the princess. “I know you said it about 50 times, but the ancient law is the law you have to get married,” said the father politely. At night, Laura used one of her three wishes but she may regret it later. “I wish that i never ever see my father again!” and she didn't. The next day when Laura woke up her father was gone. No note no anything all of his stuff was still there but he wasn’t. “finally alone, no father to tell me what to do!” Laura roared. The second day Laura used her second wish. “I wish i was the most powerful and rich person in the world!” Laura screamed. All of the money came to her and she had servants, many of the them and many people got mad. She had no father to protect her, he was gone. She had one last wish. She was happy for a few days, then she saw the women she gave the money too. “I told you not to be greedy, I told you there would be consequences,” said the old witch. After that everybody who was her servant became her enemy, the cook, the waitress, and all of the rest of the people that helped. She still has that one wish and she remember that just before they could hurt her “I wish that everything is back to normal!” Laura wished. “FATHER!” she screamed in delight. And gave him the biggest hug she had ever had given anyone. “Wow what’s this you were just mad at me and now you are fine.” Arthur said confused He said “Yes, Yes I don't care that we got into a fight, I missed you so much.” Laura cried, “Wow I was only gone for a little bit, so don’t care if you get married yet.” “No, no I do not care only if you stay with me forever.” “Ok I will promise I will stay with you forever.” said the father The next day she went for a walk again, she saw the women who gave her the wishes and the warnings. Laura went up to her and said “Thank you for teaching me a fine lesson not to be greedy.” “Oh don’t worry about it.” And she vanished. After that Laura went home and lived happily ever after with her loving husband and father forever. The moral of the story is to not be greedy.

Bugs and More Bugs By Haley R . Grade 5 A long, long time ago there was a smart clever bug named Zachary, and a tiny dumb bug named Jeremy. Jeremy thought that if he was so dumb how could he be able to play sports like football, baseball, and basketball. But what he didn’t know is that you could be good at anything, not just one thing but yes all. One day Jeremy went up to Zachary and said “I may not be smart like you but I am good at one thing.” “What?” said Zachary. “Sports!” claimed Jeremy. “Ha, who you I am the best person here. I can beat you any day.” Zachary had no clue what he had gotten himself into, but he didn’t think it would be swimming. Jeremy had tricked Zachary into a sport that Zachary could not do, and it was SWIMMING! Zachary later that day learned that you should never tease someone because it might not end out so well. The Dog And The Duckling A FABLE BY: Emily Grade 5

Once upon a time, there was a dog named Spot. Spot was the only pet that his human’s had. He always got all of the attention in the house because there was nothing else to give the attention to. Until one day, Spot was sitting on the couch when he heard the door open. There was the same routine every single day thought Spot. He would be sitting on the couch and then the door would open. It was always the 11 year old boy, Ethan, and his mother that came home because Ethan’s dad worked and his mom stayed home all day until she had to pick Ethan up from school. When they got home Spot would run to them at the front door to greet them. Then mom would start to make dinner, and later when dinner was ready, dad came home. When mom and Ethan came through the front door like a usual day, Spot smelled some kind of animal. And heard squeaking inside Ethan’s backpack. Ethan set his backpack loaded with books that he would need for homework on the chair that Spot had been sitting on when they came in the house. He opened his bag and picked up a duckling that was sitting in his bag. He sat down on the ground and set the tiny duckling in his lap. “Spot meet Ducky, Ducky meet Spot.” Ethan explained to both pets. “Ducky is going to be part of our family now” Ethan went on. Spot was not very happy about this new arrangement with his “New Family Member”. He went over to Ducky and started to bark, and growl at him con- stantly. Then Ethan scolded Spot and put him in his cage for the rest of the night. All night Spot kept barking and growling. Then since Spot was being so bad he was kept in the cage for three weeks, and the only time he was allowed out, was when he had to go to the bathroom. On the first day of the fourth week he realized that his anger was getting the best of him and that he would stop. That same day he was let out of his cage and went over to Ducky and started to play with him. And it went on like this for the rest of the animal’s lives.

“Chi” A Folktale by Eric Grade 5 A long, long time ago… there was a beautiful Maine-Coon cat named Chi. Chi grew up with his best friend Whiskers, the tabby cat. Every single day, Whiskers would make his triumphant path up to the kitchen table. Chi was envious of Whiskers and wanted to get up on the table with him but he wasn’t able to make his way on the table. So one fateful day, Chi tried with all his might to get up onto the clean table. After a while, he made his little soft body right on the smooth table. Little did Chi know, getting on the table was not allowed in the house. “ OH MY GOD CHI! GET OFF!” the owner screeched, and so Chi did. Two hours after, he tries again. He was so close until . . . you’ve guessed it. “OH MY GOD CHI! GET OFF!” the owner said as Chi scrambled to the ground. Chi had enough, so he decided to try once more. He got up so softly that no one, not even Whiskers heard him. Chi stood there in delight. 16 minutes passed and he finally got down. He was successful. The End. TTT and OTO Created By: Jaden Grade 5

Timmie The Tissue: Hey Oscar The Organ! Oscar The Organ: Sup Timmie The Tissue! Timmie The Tissue: Did you hear that Henry The Heart asked out Sophie The Cell? Oscar The Organ: Yeah, it was all over Instacell. Timmie The Tissue: Where are they going to go? Frank’s Famous Fried Cells? Oscar The Organ: Or are they going to go to Cells “R” Us and buy a cell mobile, then go catch a ride on the blood stream? Timmie The Tissue: Do you even know where Henry The Heart lives? Oscar The Organ: Duh, Henry on the left side of the chest. Timmie The Tissue: He claims that every time he goes to a hockey game he feels pressure and hears singing. Oscar The Organ: I don’t know the exact directions to Henry. Can you tell me? Timmie The Tissue: surely, get off at the third vein, move straight until the fourth rib, turn right and there he is. Oscar The Organ: Henry should really go out with The Lung twins. Timmie The Tissue: No way man! Those girls have so much oxygen is obnoxious. Oscar The Organ: They may be annoying, but they have so much in common. For example they are both within the thoracic cavity and both need constant blood flow to survive. Timmie The Tissue: They have differences you know. Oscar The Organ: Name one. Timmie The Tissue: Okay, the differences are that the lungs control the respiratory system and the heart controls the cardiovascular/cardio-respiratory system. Oscar The Organ: I have to give it to you, you’re smart. Timmie The Tissue: Why thank you. Oscar The Organ: Not smarter than me though. Timmie The Tissue: oh yeah, ask me a question and then lets see who wins. Oscar The Organ: Okay, it’s your funeral. What are similar tissues between the heart and the lungs? Timmie The Tissue: Well, The lungs contain muscle tissues, connective tissues and epithelial tissues. Oscar The Organ: What about the heart? Timmie The Tissue: The heart on the other hand contains, Muscle, nervous, and epithelium. Oscar The Organ: What? You cheated. Timmie The Tissue: How dare you accuse me of cheating. Oscar The Organ: If you didn’t cheat then how did you get that question right? Timmie The Tissue: How else? I pay attention is science class when Mrs. G is talking. Duh! Oscar The Organ: Yeah. Gotta go do my homework on cells and other parts of the body. Timmie The Tissue: Ok bye. Let’s chat on Instacell and do a private chat! Oscar The Organ: Yeah! That’s a great idea! The Mouse And The Turtle A Folktale By: Emily R grade 5

Once upon a time in a small pond there was a mouse and a turtle. The tiny mouse was surprisingly full of his self for he was as fast as a fox, while the turtle was rather self-conscious and very sluggish. One morning while the tur- tle was happily munching on some lettuce the eagle appeared. The turtle ran fast as he could to under the bramble of leaves where the clever eagle could not spot him. The mouse unaware of the eagle presence was gladly snacking on some tasty berries. The turtle lifted his little neck and screamed as loud as he could from under the brambles “Watch out mouse for the eagle will eat you!” The mouse not seeming to care dashed away and hollered “For I am fast, I can escape any predator!” and disappeared into the forest. Later that same day the mouse and turtle met once again at the pond to eat. “Oh mouse, you must be more careful for that eagle could have gobbled you up for an early morning snack.” “I doubt that the eagle could have even gotten close to the end of my tail.” The turtle stopped eating and looked up. He cleared his throat. “Mr. Mouse I must ask how are you so swift?” examined the turtle. The mouse merely chuckled. “I am fast because of my wits and smooth fur that glides in the wind as I scurry, but you Mr. Turtle with that huge shel l you could never even beat a snail in a race, even if you got a head start!’’ the mouse broke out into laughter rolling all over the tasty berries he was just munching on getting it all over his coat of grey fur. The turtle annoyed by the frantic laughter of the mouse trudged into the forest. “HA! He’s even slower when he’s angry!” the mouse said with great joy. The laughter stopped abruptly. The mouse got off the ground and simply strolled back to his burrow in the woods while the eagle on his tail followed. The mouse laughed in his burrow. “For I am fast I can escape any predator!” The eagle grunted, and flew off into the clear blue sky. The turtle shaking with fear looked at his back at his huge shell and sighed with disgust. The next day when the mouse emerged from the burrow he spied the turtle lazily strolling with his enormous shell to the pond, and the sly ea- gle sitting on an oak tree branch. The mouse rapidly darted past the swooping eagle and SPLASH! right into the pond.

“For I am fast I can escape any predator!” and with that the eagle swooped down and gob- bled the mouse in one bite. The Turtle frightened as a flea tried to run but with his enormous shell it was near impossible. The eagle swooped down, the turtle prepared itself for a huge impact but nothing happened so the turtle stuck his head out and saw that the eagle couldn't even grasp him by his shell so, frustrated the eagle swooped off. Oh Mr. Mouse what's so wrong with my shell, and with that the turtle walked away and smiled.

Moral: Your weaknesses can actually be some of your greatest strengths. The Princess And The Stolen Voice By: Lior Grade 5

Once upon a time, in a beautiful kingdom, there was a beautiful royal family. King John, Queen Jade, Princess Lucy, and last but not least Prince John. They ruled the land of talent! All of their fellow citizens were talented in many ways. The King’s family was very talented. The King’s talent was playing polo. The Queen’s talent was painting but she thought her talent was boring so she was still trying to find a new one. Anyway, Princess Lucy’s talent was the best in the whole land and was very unique. Her talent was singing. She had the most beautiful voice in the land. Everyone wanted her voice. Last but not least Prince John. Prince John’s talent was playing sports. Any type of sport he tried or the first time, he always did amazing. One time Prince John played baseball for the first time and when he batted he made a grand slam! Meanwhile, Queen Jade was still trying to find her talent but no luck. Queen Jade tried dancing, softball, running, swimming and many, many more but nope no luck. One day Queen Jade and Princess Lucy were home all by themselves, no boys. Princess was singing in her room while she was getting dresses for the day upcoming. Meanwhile Queen Jade was trying more talents. She heard her daughters singing and suddenly she barged into Princess Lucy’s room and said “Honey?” said Queen Jade “Yes mother?’’ said Princess Lucy “Is that your voice?” asked Queen Jade “Yes!” said Princess Lucy giggling. “Wow! I never heard your voice before!” Queen Jade said in shock. “Yes mother I know I never sing in front of anyone,” stated Princess Lucy. “I am too embarrassed.” “Well you shouldn’t be” exclaimed Queen Jade “I have to go back to finding my talent!” “Okay Mom good luck!” yelled Princess Lucy The Queen thought to herself “Hey why don’t I try singing!” So with that thought in the Queen’s mind she tried singing. Let’s just say her singing was as horrible as nails on a chalk- board! Queen Jade knew she was not a good singer. She didn’t have any more talents to try! By this time Queen Jade was very mean. She was wicked. Another day she heard Princess Lucy singing! The Queen barged into Princess Lucy’s room once again and said “Lucy!” shouted the Queen “Yes mother!” scarcely answered Princess Lucy “Stop singing!” “It is getting annoying!” “I am sorry.” answered Lucy Day by day the Queen got more and more wicked. She thought to herself, “Since my daughter has such a BEAUTIFUL voice I will have one of the kingdom's wizards create a potion to switch mine and the Princess’s voice.” Once again the King and the Prince went on a trip to a different country. This gave the Queen the opportunity to switch the voices. No one can stop Queen Jade now! Queen Jade went into the wizard’s dungeon and asked the wizard, Sebastian, if switching the voices could happen and they talked for a long time. Sebastian stated that “ I will try my hardest to make it quick but it will take a long time.” “That is fine but remember that I have to do this before my boys come home, and that is in 2 months.” answered Queen Jade. “Also I need to know if you are okay with using the potion and you know how to use the potion.” asked Sebastian “Yes I know how to use the potion.” answered Queen Jade. While Queen Jade was being mean and wicked, Princess Lucy was helping people in the towns of her father’s land. Princess Lucy was gorgeous. Lucy was one of a kind. Queen Jade was planning how to get Princess Lucy trapped. Day by day she was counting down the days for her plan to happen. Sadly that day came. Princess Lucy was in her room and once more the Queen barged in, and said “Honey why don’t you take a nap before dinner.” “Oh! That sounds like great idea mom!” answered the Princess. “Can you wake me up at 5:30?” asked Princess Lucy “I will wake you up alright.” Evilly laughed the Queen So Princess Lucy went to bed softly asleep. While the Queen was getting the potion ready. After she we to the Princess's room and made sure she was asleep and the coast was clear. She opened the potion bottle and put it in the Princess’s mouth and the potion made a huge sound and woke the princess up, Princess Lucy said to her mom “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” the Princess shouted “This is what I am doing SING now!” shouted the Queen “What! Okay?” said the Princess The Princess sung normal the way she always did. “What!” “How could this be” the Queen stated “Okay what is going on I am getting very mad.” shouted the Princess. “How could this be I still have the worst voice and no talent!” shouted the Queen. “MOM!” “WHAT IS GOING ON!” screamed Lucy. “Fine! I couldn’t find a talent and I heard your voice and I wanted it so our wizard Sebastian, made a potion so we would switch voices.” sadly said the Queen “I thought you were my mother. Why would you want the worst for me!” stated the Princess “I know I was just caught up and just so angry!” cried the Queen So the Queen explained everything to Lucy and the rest of the family. They all forgave the Queen and Queen Jade found her talent and it was helping all the poor people and not be selfish. Princess found a Prince and got married. His name was Prince Jaxon. Prince John led his country in the Olympics and he won the gold medal! So they all lived happily ever after! Fairytale:The Four Wishes By: Taylor Grade 5 Once Upon A Time there was a poor girl named Abby and she lived in a huge castle with 243 rooms, but the castle wasn’t hers, it was her two older brother’s. Of course like mean brother do they gave her the smallest room in the castle, it had a bed that was too small for her, a closet that didn’t have enough space for all her clothes, and of course a tiny lamp that can only light up one word on a page. One day she went up in her room after she was done cleaning the castle and started crying but the two brother’s just ignored her and moved on with their evening. She cried “I wish I can have a room with a bed long enough for me, a big walk-in closet, and a bigger lamp”. POOF! There it was a bigger bed, walk-in closet, and a bigger lamp! She cried with joy! A mysterious elf popped out. “Hi”, said the elf. “My name is Joe.” “Are you the one who made my wish come true?” asked Abby. “Yes” exclaimed Joe. Joe shouted, “I can give you a total of four wishes you used one already so you have three left”. Abby’s face lit up like Christmas lights. The next day, her brothers came into the room and one of them said, “Abby go clean the castle”! The other one babbled, “Abby why is your room different”? Abby demanded “none of your business get out”! When her brothers left the room, she called “Joe, Joe where are you”? POOF! There he was. ”Yes ma’am” said Joe. Abby said “I wish that I can have someone or something clean this whole castle for me every day”. BOOM! The whole castle was as shiny as silver and very spotless. “WOW” she boasted “You're the best”! The next night her brothers were going to a very royal ball with their princesses, Abby really wanted to go but she knew all she had to wear was her scraggly clothes she wore when she cleaned the castle. POOF! Joe was standing right in front of her, “Did you forget about me?” said Joe. Abby gasped with joy. “I wish for you to make me be in the prettiest dress and to get a very royal wagon to get to the ball”. POOF! There she was in a shiny big blue dress with her golden hair curled and a big tiara in her hair. The next twenty minutes she was there! As soon as she walked in everyone stared at her and their eyes grew wide. When she turned the corner she saw Joe. “Joe, for my last wish, I wish to find the perfect one tonight”. POOF! There a handsome prince appeared and took Abby’s hand and they danced the night away AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

FolkTale By: Lea grade 5 Who Can Jump The Highest

Once Upon A Time There lived a colossal lion, a tall flamingo, and last but not least a tiny frog. One day these 3 animals decided to do a contest at who can jump the highest. First went the colossal lion. “Of course I can jump the highest.” roared the lion. So the lion jumped, the lion jumped up to the the tree, the highest tree. “Can anyone jump higher?” questioned the lion. No one answered. Next went the tall flamingo. “Of course I can jump the highest.” screeched the flamingo. So the flamingo jumped, the flamingo jumped even higher than the highest tree! “Can anyone jump higher?” No one answered. but the frog “Of course I can jump the highest.” croaked the frog “Ha you are so tiny, you probably won’t even jump higher than 2 inches.” laughed the flamingo. Then went the tiny frog. The tiny frog leaped into the air and jumped higher than the highest tree, higher than what the flamingo jumped, the tiny frog jumped higher than the clouds! When the frog landed he asked “Can anyone jump higher than that?’” No one even dared to answer. After this they had a party for the frog to celebrate how high the tiny frog jumped. And they lived happily ever after. Gum Chewing By Alex grade 5 Crackle, Crackle goes the tin foil wrapper of this ooey gooey 5 calorie piece of yummy delicious gum. I strongly that believe that Erickson students should be allowed to chew gum in school. And to think this mastermind creation was a total accident. Yup total accidental awesome- ness. Without a doubt Erickson students should be allowed to chew gum in school because it will im- prove grades significantly. Your memory will get better just by chewing this scrumptious gum. The moving of the jaw continuously improves memory because the hippocampus is stimulated. For exam- ple, students who chewed gum during a test did 26%- 36% better. Can you imagine going from a B in Science to an A+ just by chewing gum? Equally important, gum increases glucose or “sugar” levels for mind fuel. This can keep you going all day with more and more energy like the Energizer bunny. Stick- ing to learning is every student’s goal. If teachers allow students to chew gum during class time, chances are they will remember 25%- 40% more. This results in students remembering facts for school and forever! Not only will gum chewing increase students memories, but it will increase their focus. A piece of gum a day keeps the dentist away!! I strongly believe that Erickson students should chew gum in school because it improves oral health significantly. Did you know that a piece of sugar free gum reduces cavities? Chewing gum increases saliva, which is the most important component of oral health and extremely powerful protector of oral cavities. Can you imagine a five calorie stick of delightful sweetness that can help you reduce cavities?. This can wash away particles like sugars, food debris, and decay causing acids out of your mouth. This stick of gooey, amazing flavors act like tooth- paste when it is chewed. Equally important, this piece of mouthwatering, juicy gum won’t cause tooth decay. In fact, chewing gum can demineralize and has an antibacterial effect. This can keep your teeth cavity free. Scientists has proven that those who chewed gum had less cavities than the students that did not. I’m sure the dentist would love that. Not only will this incredible delicious sugar free bubble gum reduce your cavities, but it can also strengthen your mouth. Did you know that chewing gum can help dry mouth discomfort? This happens because chewing gum can increase saliva flow, which can help you hydrate your mouth. This means that you can drink less often if you chew gum. Everyone needs saliva so we can live. Chewing gum can boost up your hydration. Furthermore, gum chewing can strengthen your jaws and teeth. The motion of chewing gum can help exercise your jaw muscles. Can you imagine your jaw getting stronger by just chewing on this stick of flavorful dreams? Scientific re- search proves that some types of gum can strengthen your teeth. This can help younger students chew on stronger foods. There is no doubt that Erickson students should chew gum in school because it ex- ceptionally improves oral health. Chewing gum is beneficial and on top of that, research proves it. There are unlimited reasons that Erickson should definitely chew gum in school. Most importantly, it can make students soar! I am convinced that gum should be allowed in Erickson because it helps us have a healthy life- style. To begin with gm can help better digestion. Chewing gum increases mortality which increases saliva. And that will cause frequent swallowing. This will also increase Acid Reflux. gum can also de- crease your stress rate the jaw movement makes your mind let out nervous energy. I’m sure parents would love that. Also gum can help you reduce stress. I’m sure you are wondering how. How you say. I’ll tell you. Gum can help you release nervous tension because of the jaw movement. Parents need the relaxation. Gum also reduces irritation. And also induces concentration. Last but not least. Gum also makes you more alert. At the beginning of the year our class was very off task but now that we started chewing gum there has been a huge improvement in grades and tasking. So that is why Erickson students should be able to chew gum in school. Erickson Students should be able to chew gum during tests. Biography of Jackie Robinson By Sal grade 5 Do you know who Jackie Robinson is? Jackie Robinson is the first African American baseball player to be on a MLB team. Jackie also broke the color barrier in the time of segregation and slavery. What a very important name in Ameri- can history! Jackie Robinson’s early life was not very easy. He was born an African American on Jan.31 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. When Jackie was eight his dad left him and his family. Jackie was the youngest of five children that Mrs. Robinson took care of. He had three brothers named Edgar, Frank, and Mack. He also had a sister Willa Mae. Jackie's mom had to feed all of her children and run the farm at the same time. The 1920’s was a scary time to live in Georgia especially if you were black there were a lot of race riots. White people burned down black schools, houses, and churches. Where can Jackie's mom find a bet- ter place to live? Oh that’s right! She could move to Southern California! The trip took more than a week! She only had three dollars in her pocket but she had hope. She soon found a job as a maid and quickly bought a house in Pasadena, ten miles from Los Angeles. All of the Robinson’s neighbors were white. They often lied to the people of Pasadena and said they were too noisy or too happy. In conclusion Jackie’s childhood was not that great. When Jackie Robinson was about 19 he was accepted to a college named UCLA. At UCLA Jackie played basketball. A couple months after he joined UCLA tragedy struck. His beloved brother Frank died in a motorcycle accident. To Jackie it was hard to believe that he was gone hard to believe that he didn’t have his support. After Frank died he threw himself into sports even more making it easier to forget about his brother. While playing basketball at UCLA he led the Pacific Coast Con- ference in scoring two years in a row. Once a coach called him the best basketball player in the United States. Jackie ex- celled in college football too. He is probably the greatest ball carrier on the gridiron today wrote one sportswriter. He also won golf and tennis championships. One of Jackie's biggest dreams was to compete, like Mack did in the 1940 summer Olympics. But in 1940 German forces were invading other countries in Europe. World War II was raging therefore the Olympics were called off. There would be no medal for Jackie. During his second year at UCLA he met a girl named Rachel Isum. Rachel was a nursing student. She knew all about Jackie Robinson. Every student did. But as they got to know each other Rachel noticed that he was almost shy. The two had a lot in common. As for sports no blacks played on professional teams. Now Jackie Robinson was older. In the 1940’s there was over 200 all black baseball teams with players as good as the whites in the major leagues. People said there was good money in playing on an all black baseball team. In fact the Kan- sas City Monarchs were looking for players. Football not baseball was Jackie’s first love and his strongest sport. But playing sports and making a decent living sounded good. On November 24, 1944 Jackie had a spot on the Kansas City Monarchs. In the Negro leagues there were many good players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson but Jackie was better than them at most positions. But after playing 47 games with the Kansas City Monarchs a man named Branch Rickey who owned the Brooklyn Dodgers approached Jackie at practice and asked if he wanted to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league team! Jackie answered in a heartbeat. YES! So after that he quit the Kansas City Monarchs and Joined the Brooklyn Dodgers! 3 months after he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers he was promoted from the minor league team to the major league team. Also him and Rachel got married and had three kids. At spring training when Jackie saw all of the equipment that you get when you are in the major leagues he almost began to cry after what he used in the Negro Leagues. Many teammates of his com- plained about having a black man on their team but after they saw how he played they stopped. In fact in one game a fan had put a black cat on the field and yelled Jackie that’s your cousin one of his teammates walked over to shortstop and put his arm around Jackie. Jackie Robinson had been the first black man to play in the MLB! Jackie Robinson broke many color bar- riers around the world. After playing over 10 seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson retired. 5 years after being retired from the Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson was accepted into the Hall of Fame. On Jackie's plaque he didn’t want it to say anything about being the first black man to play in the MLB he wanted it to admire his confidence and skills so that’s what it was about. Jackie Robinsons impact on society was very important. Jackie broke many color barriers in the southern states like Georgia. Jackie also stood on stage during Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech. Jackie also encouraged many black people to try even harder at helping their family have a better life. He also made many MLB teams consider having black people on their teams. Unfortunately Jackie died on October 24th, 1972. Athletic, confident, strong, and passionate that sums up an important man named Jackie Robinson. As a child Jackie had to overcome many struggles that he had faced. But as an adult Jackie quickly became the most popular name in all sports playing basketball, football, baseball, golf, and tennis. Also when he was older he broke many color barriers in many states letting many black slaves live a better life. Overall Jackie Robinson has made the world a better place for many genera- tions to come. Bibliography Books : Gail Herman, John O'Brien, Who Was Jackie Robinson Websites : www.History.com www.Youtube.com www.Answers.com The History Channel YouTube Answers Videos : Jackie Robinson Color Barrier, Mini Bio for Jackie Robinson Gum Chewing By Tanav P grade 5

Chomp! chomp! chomp! On my GUM, sugar-free sounds so fun! I strongly believe that gum chewing should be al- lowed in schools. During the process of gum chewing your students are chewing on minty or wintergreen sticky deliciousness, students actually are focusing and will STICK to A’s. Without doubt students should be able to chew gum in school for many different reasons. Without a doubt, Erickson students should be allowed to chew gum in school because it will improve grades significantly. Your memory will get better just by chewing this scrumptious gum. The moving of the jaw continuously improves memory because the hippocampus is stimu- lated. For example, students who chewed gum during a test did 26%- 36% better. Can you imagine going from a B in Science to an A+ just by chewing gum? Equally important, gum increases glucose or “sugar” levels for mind fuel. This can keep you going all day with more and more energy like the Energizer bunny. Sticking to learning is every student’s goal. If teachers allow stu- dents to chew gum during class time, chances are they will remember 25%- 40% more. This results in students remembering facts for school and forever! Not only will gum chewing increase students’ memories, but it will increase their focus. As a result, gum chewing produces more oxygen and makes students feel more alert, so they don’t miss more important information. Not only did gum chewing make students pay better attention, but also stay quiet longer. It is my belief that gum chewing soothes minds for better focus. I am convinced that the pink glob of deliciousness will help students to stay on topic, feel more alert, and improve grades to STICK with A’s. I am assured that students should be allowed to chew gum. In fact, gum can clean teeth to help maintain oral health. When chomping on gum, the delicious pink glob will help to reduce plaque in your mouth. Gum chewing also helps with in- creasing on saliva flow. This delicious stickiness will help with less dentists visits. While chewing on gum, it will help you to keep your jaws stronger. This will help so you can eat delicious foods easier with stronger jaws. This delicious sticky glob of pink goo will help to make your teeth stronger as well. Another thing it will help you and everybody is that it helps to focus while making your teeth and jaws stronger. Can you imagine going from a B to an A+ just by chewing on gum? Chewing on gum also helps to freshen breath, whiten teeth, and prevent stains and also helps repel cavities. When chewing gum you can fo- cus even in the loudest areas and help pay better attention to teachers. Gum is also very delicious and is only 5 calories, which is so much better than cakes and other types of delicious sweets. It is clearly evident that students should be allowed to chew gum in school maintain their oral health. I am convinced that gum chewing should be allowed in schools. If you didn’t know, the process of gum chewing will help maintain a healthy lifestyle. While chewing on that pink glob of ooey-gooey deliciousness will help you with better diges- tion. Better digestion increasing saliva flow in the process of gum chewing to help. I believe that gum chewing will help you to eat low calorie foods. It is my belief that gum chewing will help you to prevent acid reflux. Also, sugar-free gum and non-sugar- free gum will help others to eat less. Not only will it help with digestion, it will help with burning calories. Gum chewing burns 11 calories in one hour. This will help others to become healthier. This also helps with money because it is inexpensive and helping everybody to eat less than normal. What would it be like without gum? Just wonder! In conclusion, I believe that gum chewing should be allowed in schools to help kids getting smarter. Your teachers and parents just have to do their thing and kick back and chill ax and watch you go!

The King's Wish By: Carolyn grade 5 A long time ago there was a greedy king. The king wanted everything. One day the king went inside the castle basement. When he got into the basement he saw a ghost. “Who are you” asked the king. “I am the wishing ghost” moaned the ghost. But the ghost is really not what he said he is he was a thief which could do anything. “I will grant 3 wishes to you” said the ghost. The greedy king was wondering if he should or should not make a wish. “Ok I will make a wish” the king said. “What is your first wish?” wondered the ghost. “I wish that my small gold room was bigger and it had more gold.” So the ghost turned the gold room bigger and filled it with more gold. But the ghost thief knew that the king wanted gold so he had a plan to steal it all. The king was happy that day with all the gold he had. When everyone in the castle fell asleep the ghost went into the gold room and stole it all. The next morning all the gold was gone. “Where had all the gold gone!” The king was now furious he knew right away that the ghost had something to do with this. “Are you ready for your new wish” Said the ghost pretending that he had done nothing. “You had stolen my gold, I knew I couldn't trust you” yelled the king. “What I had not done anything!” But the king could tell he was lying. “I want you out of my kingdom!” the king exclaimed, but by the time he had turned around the ghost was gone. The end! The “Minor” Problem A Fairy Tale By: Lauren grade 5

Once upon a time there lived a princess who was so smart whose beauty was truly inside and out. The princess’s name was Flora. Flora lived in the most perfect castle with her most perfect family. In her perfect family was her mother, the Queen, who was just as pretty and intelligent as her daughter, her father, the King, who was a jewel to the people for his leadership, and don’t forget about Flora’s enchanted dancing elephant, Ellie! Along with the perfect family lived Flora’s best friend Rose, the fairy princess. Rose was the keeper of nature and love to plant gardens and spend time outside. Being that Rose liked to be outside and Flora was smart and wisdom comes with curiosity, and Ellie liked to be where Flora was, together they went on many adventures. The three would explore the forest where woodland creatures and beautiful blooming flowers lived. They would explore the village and did what most princesses would never do, in- teract with the people! The explorer’s days were always filled with fun and learning, but there was a gigantic upset about explor- ing. This humongous upset was the royal guard! Sure, the princesses were grateful that they were protected by them, but it is hard to be yourself and have fun when you’re practically being babysat! “I love exploring!” exclaimed the more hyper than usual Ellie. “I love nature and exploring, but the royal guard sucks the joy out of it,” stated Rose. “Someday they will realize that we are responsible and mature,” responded Flora, hoping to shed some light on the situa- tion they discuss almost every day! “Is someday soon, because I really want one of those burgers without being judged by someone. I’m sick and tired of this royal food!” shouted a serious Rose. “Just be grateful you didn’t have to eat peanuts for 2 years of your life!” Ellie snapped. “Well, instead of bickering we can solve this problem like civilized people and call for mother,” stated Flora. “MOTHER” Ellie cried The girls explained the current situation to the wise queen, who resolved that if the princesses could each prove their re- sponsibility and maturity they could go on adventures by themselves. “Sounds easy enough!” decided Rose. “Are you kidding!” complained Ellie, “Mommy is not an easy person to impress, even more so when you are trying to prove a point!!!!!” “I hate to say it, but Ellie is correct,” reasoned Flora The girls set off on a quest to find what would prove them mature and responsible. After a long and hard day of search- ing, each girl came up with a plan. Rose was going to adopt a baby unicorn named Rainbow and show that she can be responsible by taking care of her. Ellie was going to paint the fence that the queen kept urging the king to paint and never got to. Last, but not least, Flora was going to invite the most important rulers to attend her royal tea party. Rose got busy setting up a new section in the stable for Rainbow. In this section would be golden-brown colored hay, a few worn out old toys, and the silkiest pillow you could imagine. You can most definitely say that Rainbow was spoiled. Almost a half hour later when Rose was done setting up, Rose took Rainbow on a lengthy walk, little did she know that Rainbow is evil. Meanwhile, Flora was busy with the tea party preparations. She had just sent out the invitations to 10 of the finest prin- cesses. First was Princess Meredith, followed by Florence, then Octavia, Isabella, Lauren, Nicole, Mia, Claire, Emily, and of course Angela. Flora HAD to make this tea party fantastic! She started by preparing her famous caramel brownies, and her choco- late covered crumpets. After the steaming crumpets and oozing brownies were finished Flora was off to gather the finest honey and sugar in the castle’s gigantic kitchen. Flora made her lilac tea and made name cards and custom place mats for all of her guests. In no time the tea party was ready and in place for all of her guests. In a short while the guests arrived. In the interval, Ellie was painting the fence a beautiful amber color. She had nine buckets full of paint, just enough for the large fence! Using her trunk, she lifted up the enormous paint brush and started her task of responsibility. Then it happened. BOOM! Rainbow started losing her marbles and in the process Rose lost her grip on the saddle. Rain- bow was wicked she was out to ruin the girls quests! So she galloped all over Flora’s tea party table and decorations. It when on like this for five minutes. Then after that part of the extravaganza came to end Rainbow ran all over the yard until she came to an abrupt stop when she hit Ellie’s freshly painted fence! “ROSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Ellie and Flora screeched. “Yes,” Rose responded trying to act as soothing as possible. “Don’t play dumb!” commanded Ellie “Your unicorn ruined my fence!” “And my tea party,” added an agitated Flora. “I’m so, so sorry” sobbed Rose “There was a butterfly and Rainbow chased it and things just got hectic and it’s all a big blur!” “Hold on, I have to go and apologize to my guests for the disastrous events,” grunted Flora. While Flora went to apologize to her guests and thank them for coming, Ellie forcefully told Rose that she was going to help fix the paint. Rose agreed, but first things first. She grabbed hold of Rainbow and marched her back into the stable. She scolded Rainbow and confiscated her pillow locking the door behind her. When Rose returned mother came out and told the girls that she saw everything through her open bedroom window. However, she was not disappointed. She thought the girls handled it remarkably well and deserved their day out without the royal guard, and the girls lived happily ever after! Princess Zoes Ice Cream By Anirvinyaa Grade 1

Once upon a time there lived a Princess Zoe in the kingdom of Happiness. People in the kingdom of hap- piness lived happily. Princess Zoe wanted to enjoy an ice cream on a warm day. She walked to the store to buy an ice cream. Princess Zoe’s favorite ice cream is vanilla. As Princess Zoe was walking to the store so was a mean witch. Prin- cess Zoe walked in first. The witch walked into the store and the witch did not get the ice cream. Princess Zoe got the last ice cream. The witch was mad at Princess Zoe. So the witch tricked Princess Zoe by locking Princss Zoe in the jail and she took the ice cream from Princess Zoe’s hand. Princess Zoe was sad and upset in the jail. She wanted to get out of the jail. She was thinking of a way to get out. Princess Zoe remembered her Fairy Godmother. She said, “Oh, Fairy Godmother, help me.” Fairy Godmother appeared and waved her want and Princess Zoe is free. Fairy Godmother waves her wand twice. Princess Zoe get a big scoop of ice cream. The witch disappears out of Happy Kingdom. Princess Zoe lived happily ever after.

The Butterfly Who Saw a Boy By Maha Grade 1

Once upon a time a butterfly saw a boy. The butterfly was a baby butterfly. She was in the park with her mom. She was finding food from flowers. All of a sudden the boy had a small net to catch butterflies. The butterfly was scared. The butterfly was flying faster but the boy reached and snatched her out of the air. The boy put her in a jar and took her to his home. The next day the butterfly was sad and scared and wanted to go back to her mom. The boy walks in and said, “You are my new pet. I will keep you forever.” The butterfly was upset and wants to get out. The butterfly tries many ways to escape. First, the butterfly banded her winds on the jar. Next, the butterfly tried to open the jar with her wings. The butterfly was angry! The butterfly started to cry. The boy saw the butterfly crying. He asked to the butterfly, “Why are you cry- ing?” The butterfly said, “I want to go home.” The boy got to the park and let the butterfly out. The butterfly went home and found her mom and said, “Mom, I missed you!”

North Pole By William W. Grade 1 In the morning at the North Pole Bob and Jon, the scientists got ready for the day. They tried to find a polar bear to learn more about polar bears. Zoom! Bob and Jon zoomed away on the their snow speeders. First it starts to snow harder and harder. Soon it turned into a snow storm. Bob and Jon cannot see where they were going. It was very dangerous. Later Lan and Lain were worried about Bob and Jon. The haven’t heard from Bob and Jon. The storm is getting stronger. Lan got in the helicopter. Then he found Bob and Jon. Then the helicopter blew away. Now Bob and Jon are in danger. Lan told Lain that the helicopter blew away. And they need more help. Lain knows that the only way they could save them is a transport. A transport is a big monster. The only thing that could save them now is a transport. The transport is heavy, strong and has a plow on the front of it. Lan got in the transport. The snow storm is very sticky. Lan found them in a cave. Then they got into the transport. They drank hot cocoa. It was really hot. And it warmed them up. The did not find a polar bear, but maybe another day. Princess Isabel with the Cavity By Sameeha Grade 1

One fine morning, there was a princess named Isabel. The princess woke in the morning. She brushed her teeth. She saw that one of her teeth was half black. Isabel ran downstairs and told her mom. Her mom said, “Gross Isabel, go brush your teeth,” said her mom. “I did!” said Isabel. “Do it again. There is a piece of date,” said her Isabel’s mother. Suddenly, Isabel’s mom tried to take out the black part of her tooth. Her mom noticed that it was a cavity, not a piece of date! Isabel tried to wash it out but it didn’t work! She tried to take it out with a needle, but it didn’t work! “Ouch!” said Isabel. Isabel’s mom called the dentist. The dentist’s name was Dr. Smith. She nagged, brushed, pushed, and pulled. Dr. Smith gave Isabel a mirror and… Isabel flossed her tooth, brushed her tooth, picked at her tooth, and used a water pick. Isabel was exhausted, but when she looked in the mirror she noticed that her teeth were all white. Now Isabel and her mom were happy because Isabel’s teeth were back to normal. Then they went home to eat lunch.

The Girl Who Cannot Swim By Sophia Grade 1

In the morning Lexi was very happy. Her family was going on vacation for spring break. They were going to Florida to visit her grandparents. She and her brother Bobby had not seen their grandparents for a long time. The day had come. They rush to the airport. Lexi was nervous because she never went on an airplane before. The plane flight was good. Lexi and Boby go off the plane. They were so happy to see their grandparents. The next day they went to the pool. Lexi met two girls. They played together in the shallow side of the pool. The two girls went in the deep side. Lexi cannot go because she cannot swim. Lexi saw the two girls swimming in the deep end. She was so sad. She wanted to learn how to swim. Her grandma saw Lexi very sad. She told the life guard, “Can you help her learn how to swim?” “Sure,” said the life guard. The life guard and Lexi swim for2 days and that day she got it. Lexi was ready to swim in the deep end. She was so happy and that was the best thing.

Wildkratz By Evan Grade 1

One day in the swamp there lived a crocodile and an alligator. Chris, Martin, Koke, Jimmy and Aviva came to the swamp to learn the difference between a crock and a gator. All of a sudden they saw a reptile with teeth and Chris touched it. The gator swam away. Then Martin saw a girl gator and Martin touched the gator to activate the gator powers. The gators floated quietly on their tummies. The gator powers are that they can run and swim really fast, but not faster than crocs. After that Jimmy saw a gator with a U-shaped snout and a croc with a V-shaped snout. Jimmy was scared because he had built a wooden tower and he was sitting on a chair on top of the tower. The croc chased Chris and the gator chased Martin when they tried to rescue Jimmy. Aviva made gator and croc power discs and gave them to Chris and Martin. The discs activated gator and croc powers and then the real gator and croc crawled into the tortuga. The Princess and the Dragon By Tatum Grade 1

One morning the Princess woke up and got her Princess dress on to start the day. The Princess is nineteen and lives ina very big castle with her mom and evil sister. Boom! The mom and the evil sister banded on the princess’ door. Boom! Boom! Crash! They knocked and knocked until the Princess yelled, “Please stop knocking!” The mom and the evil sister told the Princess to pack her stuff up because the mom and the evil sister wanted to give the Princess to a dragon. Then the Princess yelled, “Help.” The dragon swooped into the window, grabbed the Princess and took her to his cave. After a while the dragon wanted the Princess to play, but the Princess said, “NO!” So the dragon ran with the princess and took her back to the castle. He opened his mouth and he blew the castle on fire. Crack! Crack! Crack! That day the dragon flew to his cave. The dragon realized that he did a horrible thing. He started to wail. The dragon knew that he should help the Princess and her family. He decided to gather all his dragon friends together to fix the castle. The dragons made an extraordinary castle. It had pink paint and purple flowers. The Princess and the dragon became friends.

The Unicorn Dolphins and Princesses By Samantha Grade 1 Once upon a time on Cocoanana Beach the Princesses Maya, Elsa, and Anna were playing by the Lolli- pop River. The Princesses were playing when suddenly, Molie, May, Mandie and Applejack the unicorn dolphins came up to say hi. They are good friends and they like to write letters to each other. My met up with Molie. Lizie met up with Maya. Anna met up with Mandie. Elsa met up with Apple- jack. Then they all went swimming under the sea. May and Molie play ring-around the rosie with seahorses. Lizie and May went finding butterflies. Anna and Mandie picked flowers. Elsa and Applejack swam around in circles chasing each other. They were having a good time.. Then Applejack invited them over to have lunch in her clubhouse. After having mac and cheese for lunch, Applejack and Elsa went outside to show the girls a new game. Suddenly, the other girls heard some calling for “HELP!!” Applejack and Elsa were stuck in tangled seaweed that never let’s go forever! Some girls tugged the seaweed. Some girls pulled the seaweed. Some girls pushed the seaweed. Nothing worked. The all scratched and bumped into each other. “I will call a good friend,” said May. May’s friend was a lemon shark named Mark. He cut the seaweed with his teeth and they were free! Everyone was surprised to see that she had a shark as a good friend. Mark was a life saver. After a long day of playing the Princesses knew they had to go home. The swam up to the soft beach. They all said good-bye to each other and Mark and they couldn’t wait to play another day.

Underground Railroad By Abby Grade 4

SSHH! Said Harriet Tubman to a fellow slave. We’re escaping slavery and not going back to it. We have to get back to the underground railroad to be safe. I wish by 1865 comes slavery will be over. Did you know that the Underground Railroad is not a real railroad? The Underground Railroad is really a secret place where slaves would hide and escape from their plantation which is like a small town. Slave did not like life on a plantation or life as a slave. There are many different routes of getting to the north through the Under- ground Railroad. In fact, Harriet Tubman was one of the people who used the Underground Railroad. Do you know who Harriet Tubman is? She was a conductor of the Underground Railroad, she was a vic- tim who used the Underground Railroad, she helped many others escape slavery and that also made her a great citizen. She was a conductor so she brought fellow slaves to the north, although she had to protect herself. In conclusion, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad were very important to us so you should know a lot about it and from this article I have made ou know a lot about it. Toy Hall of Fame By Esha Grade 4

To be in the Toy Hall of Fame the toy must be an open ended and it needs to give children the oppor- tunity to use their imagination. Only a successful toy can achieve that goal. I think Polly Pocket should be in the Toy Hall of Fame. Polly Pocket is an extraordinary doll. Polly Pocket is a game which makes the children use their crea- tivity. You could make your own world. You could play with it however you want. As I said, the Toy Hall of Fame is expecting that. Also, Polly Pocket can come with special features such as her own house, shop, or ac- cessories. You could make her a customer, a shopkeeper, a rich lady, or a dear old friend. Polly is like a remote car using someone’s brain, as a remote control to work! I start my ipod but when I go to play video games, I don’t have enough coins to do anything. But if you look at Polly, she can be played anytime. The doll does not run only when you use coins. Children get so attached in video-games that when they don’t have nay coins left they feel really sad. The Toy Hall of Fame does not put toys that can’t be played any time. To sum it up, unlike many video games, Polly Pocket is always ready to be played with. Polly has been selling since many years. If it is still selling and me and other people love this game dearly then Polly Pocket must be successful and popular. It even has its own movies and books. If Polly has her own books and movies, and has been going on since many years then it should be reasonable to put Polly Pocket in the Toy Hall of Fame. People made the Toy Hall of Fame for honoring toys that have been playing with children for years, are open ended, and use the kid’s imagination. All three of these qualities make a toy that is a big success. And if Polly is meant to be in the Toy Hall of Fame because she has all those qualities, then why not put her there?

Veterans Day By Ryan Grade 4

There are three important military holidays Americans celebrate every year. One of those holidays is Veter- ans Day. It is celebrated on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month of the year. How crazy is that? The holiday is a salute to all soldiers dead or alive. And it is a day to thank the soldiers for fighting for our freedom. Do you know that Veteran’s Day used to be called Armistice Day? The birthday of Armistice Day was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918. This is the day the truce papers were signed so the Allies of World War I and Germany would end fighting. The name Armistice Day was change to Veterans Day because Armistice Day wasn’t thanking our soldiers for their service to our country. Veterans Day is now a day to celebrate and thank all veterans in America. Thank you to all the soldiers of the United States. Salute the soldiers. And we thank you for your bravery.

Sound By Matthew Grade 4

Do you know what is sound and how it travels? If you don’t you will learn it here. Hey,do you know that sound is a vibration? A quick back and forth motion is called sound. Sound helps with our daily lives because it is used when people communicate with one another. Without sounds we will have to communicate using gestures. Music produces sounds that are pleasant to the ear. Certain sounds may warm us when there is an emergency. Sounds are very important in everyday life. Sounds travel by reflecting off of rough and smooth surfaces. It is transmitted by particles in a solid, liq- uid, or gas colliding with each other. Sound wavesenter your outer ear and travel to your ear canal to your middle ear. The waves cause your eardrum to vibrate. These are different ways that sound can travel. In closing, sound comes from vibrations. These vibrations create sound waves which move through air and water before reaching our ears. Large dogs can hear sounds at a higher frequency than humans. Sounds are important to all living things. How to Catch Santa Claus By Jackie Grade 4

I will be teaching you how to catch Santa Claus. It’s really easy. Ut you will need lots of equipment. The first thing you need to do is get all of the equipment. Like some cameras and night vision goggles, and a net to catch Santa, also a video camera in case he gets away. P. S. Make sure it is a big net! The second step is to make sure when he comes in you lock all of the exits so he doesn’t get away. And one more thing, make sure you make a fake you so he thinks you’re sleeping. Or you can put a pillow there. And the third step is to find a good hiding spot. I would recommend it by the Christmas tree so when he comes you can catch him easily. Now you know how to catch Santa, why don’t you try it out this Christmas? I bet you it works!. Also, before you try it see if it works first. P.S. Make sure Santa did not hear this.

Toy Hall of Fame 2015 By Kaley M. Grade 4 You’ve heard of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame but have you ever heard of the Toy Hall of Fame? The Toy Hall of Fame is inducting new classis, non electronic toys for 2015. There are many great toys out there, but I think my toy stands above all the others, and should go into the Toy Hall of Fame. This toy is called Perler Beads. There are many reasons to love Perler Beads, and these are just a few of mine. The first reason why Perler Beads should make it into the Toy Hall of Fame is, you can design so many things with Perler Beads. You can make cats, dogs, turtles, and even fish. You can make whatever you want with them. The possibilities are endless. There are giant Perler Beads and regular beads. Any color you want, and creature you want, and any size you want! Be creative! My second reason for choosing this great toy is that Perler Beads aren’t hard to use. All you do is pick your colors. Next, you put them on the blank square that you’re doing. This is where the fun comes in! Then, once you have carefully placed your beadsin the shape of the creature you want, you ask your parent or guardian to iron it for you. Fi- nally, once it cools, you have a little wax pattern or friends. There you have it, Perler Beads aren’t hard to use. You can also make so many things with them too! They are a fun, inexpensive, and creative toy that allows open ended play, and great focus for every child. Perler Beads have my number one vote for the Toy Hall of Fame.

I am the wife of the fisherman, the fisherman who caught the magic golden flounder. Now, the silly story my husband tells EVERYBODY is not real. He wants attention and to be rich as he could have asked the magic fish. His story has to say that I am the greedy one for some reason. For any one that was foolish enough to listen to my husband, I think it would be quite amazing to you if you heard the real deal. One day my husband came back from fishing and he had told me, “Wife, I have found a magical golden flounder!” I was slightly shocked knowing my husband is not much of a good fisherman, but also delighted. “Oh husband!” I said, “May you fish him up once more so I could gain a small wish? I desire a black dress with white frills.” My husband says “No! Only this one simple wish I will make him grant you but no more! I am wishing for a big house that is not your property wife.” So he goes to the fish and I get my dress and he gets his big house. That night I as my husband if I can have a big castle and be a queen. He does not respond, but the next day HE gets a big castle and I get a silly toy crown and a small toy castle. I told my husband, “My wishes are not going in my favor but in yours.” “Run along,” he said, “I have responsibilities being king and all.” That night I told my husband, “I am feeling lucky tonight. May you go and ask the flounder if I can be archbishop?” “NO!” His voiced rumbled our room like an earthquake. “YOU DO NOT NEED ANYTHING MORE!” I never thought husband had that voice. “But if there were one big thing I could get from the fish it would be that I could be the archbishop.” My husband didn’t listen to me and he said, “I shall wish to be archbishop not YOU.” He went to the fish, asked sobbing and saying, “Curse you fish! Curse youuuuuuuuuuuuu.” Besides my history with the magic flounder, I ended up good. I still have my wonderful dress, and I made enough money to buy a new house. So in a way everyone ended up well. Well, except for my ex-husband. By Jack Grade 4 Toy Hall of Fame Inductee By Alessandro Grade 4

I think that the Toy Hall of Fame has many cool toys such as the blanket, the stick, the green army guys, the ball, the cardboard box, chess, checkers, Frisbee, rubix cube, and jacks. But there are many other toys that should be in the Toy Hall of Fame such as Stretch Armstrong. I think that Stretch Armstrong should be in the Toy Hall of Fame. Did you know Stretch Armstrong has been around for a long time? It has been around for decades, from when kids parents were younger. It brings a lot of memories back to your parents because they didn’t have mine- craft or Xbox, they had Stretch Armstrong . Stretch Armstrong was and still is popular in America. This is one reason I think Stretch Armstrong should be in the Toy Hall of Fame. You can also p;lay with it in many ways. The best way to play with it is to punch other figures. A coupld of other ways you can play with Stretch Armstrong are by stretching his arms, putting him in a boxing match with other figures, decorate him, make him like spiderman shooting his arms or play tug of war with his arms. Stretch Armstrong is also useful when making a fort he can hold down the blankets. Stretch Armstrong has been around from many years even decades. It is also an open ended playing toy. It also helps your thinking skills by using your imagination.

Things to be Thankful By Leslie Grade 4 You should be thankful of what you have because there are people that don’t have what you have so stop com- plaining about your life. The first reason I am thankful for is that I have a healthy body because I know there are people who can’t jump because they don’t have both of their feet and they can’t run and that makes me feel bad because they see their friends run- ning and then they feel left out. Also I am thankful for having both my arms and no sickness because there are people in Africa that are sick and poor and homeless and some people just do not care. I mean put yourself in their shoes how they feel. The other reason I am thankful for is having an amazing school because I know that there are schools that don’t have nice strong wall and floors. Also there are schools that have bad bullies and that don’t follow the pillars. Also there are schools that don’t have computers and wish they could use them because they get bored of doing paper and pencil. But the most important thing is that most kids don’t get is a good education so that mean be happy of what you have because those kids don’t know how to read or write and wish they had what you have. The last thing I am thankful for is I have luxuries and Africa kids and people are bored because they don’t have ipads, phones, or play sports so that’s why you should donate clothes and shoes and old toys. I hope you have learned to be thankful and never complain of your life. Also, there are kids and people that wish to have what you have so itf you have a lot of things why don’t you give some also never turn your back on people on people that need a job or other things too.

The Seven Ravens By Kaif Grade 3 The lesson to be learned is always be careful of what you wish for. In the text it says, I wish all the young- sters would all turn into ravens. He didn’t think of what would happen. So people have to be very careful of what they shout out. The text says that the parents could not undo the spell and lost their seven sons. The sons were in the glass mountain. Another lesson to be learned is to not listen to what other people are saying. It says in the text that one day by chance she heard the people talking and saying things about her. It said “Oh yes the girl is pretty enough but you know she is really to blame for the misfortune to her seven brothers” Beast by Weronika grade 5 In a faraway land of deathly ecosystems, with extremely hot temperatures, and replacing water, picturesque rivers and waterfalls of glowing red ooze, hotter than the sun. Similar to magma, yet almost a solid, and in the worst moment, when you least expect it and you are frantic for the odds to be in your favor, it strikes. A low rumbling noise sounds, and as it gets closer and louder, a tremendous roar breaks out, and you look back, to see an illuminated river of doom, winding after you. This is the story of a man, sent to conquer the medieval beast. That now roams the land outside the Eternity. The Eternity is an ominous pine forest, with moss so deep, that you sink a foot into the ground with every step, until you are six feet under. Always moist with fog, and a chilly draft slowly wraps around the trees, until it finds you, and clutches you until it is truly horrific, and you sprint out with your life flashing before your eyes. No one has ever found the end, assumed for years that it stretched out for eternity, until now. Raven was again looking for trouble, and despite the warnings, he dared to step into the Eternity. As he approached the dark forest, the mist began rolling in, until he could only see between the tree tops. Suddenly, he began to sink, and right away, knew he had entered the Eternity. Stumbling over tree stumps and de- caying growth, he was sinking and rising as if he were on the world’s bounciest trampoline. He clumsily waddled past low shrubbery which could withstand the conditions of the mossy swamp, and almost earned himself a concussion when he tripped and whacked his head on a damp and spongy tree trunk. He fell back and sunk into the moss until he was staring up at the sky, pine trees surrounding him. He tried to grasp the bog’s surface, digging his hands under the layers of moss and algae. His hands reached a mud-like surface, except it was unbearably hot. Raven quickly scrambled up to the top, trying his best to deal with the heat, when it hit him. The air was sucked out of his lungs and he had a feeling of being squeezed. Then, he noticed he was going down. Soon enough, he was under the swampy mass, and falling through what seemed to be an eternal space, nothing but darkness. He frantically waved his arms and kicked out, trying to find a wall; something to grasp, but there was nothing, ex- cept an ominous moan echoing off into the darkness. He saw flashes and glints of silver, and crimson splashes of and oil-like substance. He began to think he was unconscious, pulled away into oblivion. Suddenly, he smacked down hard, and noticed a lava-like substance around him, only thicker. It started to let out a low rumble, getting louder and louder, until it broke out into a roar. Raven started running, turned to see the substance pour- ing after him, he began to sprint, the substance only ran faster, he slowed, but it lunged at him and caught his ankle. He began burning and melting, screaming and roaring an inhuman sound, like a mythical beast being ripped to shreds alive. He roared in pain, his skin a burnt layer of molten ashes covering his boiling blood and jelly-like bones. He con- tinued screaming in pain, ripping his vocals, and then he sunk to the ground in a heap of grotesque muscles and bones. Lying there, barely taking even the slightest breath, Raven slowly burned, the overwhelming pain left as an aching on his gummed up back. He began to whimper, and soon fell into a dark abyss

The moaning started again, much louder than before. The glowing substance that had burned Raven was gone, left no trace of what horrid thing it had done, but its replacement, was worse. A figure like the Loch Ness monster appeared, only it had the head of a lion-like dragon, and a tail like the Devil him- self has, and covering every inch of this massive creature, are metallic scales. The monster can defy gravity. No legs like an eel; it magically floats in the air, moving along the steel ground like a weightless serpent. Raven had thought he would be burned alive, but slowly escaped Death’s grasp and made it back. He slowly shifted into a sitting position, pulses and aches reminding him of what he had lived through that seemed like an eternity ago. In the distance, he saw the monstrous creature’s silhouette, and despite the pain and effort that it took, he stood up. His back burned and the scraps of skin he had left were useless. All he had holding him together were a couple of rags. Raven began to walk, not taking time to choose which way, since everything was identical. Darkness everywhere. No walls, no seams in the steel. Just empty space and a slick metal floor. Raven just stepped forward, when out of nowhere, the mythical creature shot in front of his face and knocked him down. He thought he would accept his doom, save some energy and just let it kill him, but just when he was about to let go, a burst of adrenaline filled every inch of him, and out of nowhere, he sprang to his feet, and whipped up the thing’s eyeball. It let out a terrifying roar, ready to pierce Raven with its metal mane, and slowly stab him until he died. Raven took advantage of the surprising energy he go from who knows where, and sprinted past the monster. It caught up to him and rammed into his back a burst of pain seared through him as the beast’s metal instruments jabbed into Raven’s back. He flipped back- wards and found himself riding the creature. He grabbed its iron horns and held on as the monster charged forward. The thing grew used to Raven and stopped jerking around trying to knock him off. Every day, the creature floated higher and higher, until one day they reached the mud. Raven helped the creature -which he had named Beast- dig out onto the grounds of the Eternity, where they lived in and eventually came out to terrorize the village, which was horrified of beast and thought Raven had gone mad, and they lived happily ever after. (At least until the rebellion) The Wise Dragon A Fairy Tale by: Andrew Grade 5

Once upon a time there was a dragon named Fluff, he was the King of Chumtopia. Fluff was really wealthy, but little did he know he was in danger. There was a pig named John, he planned to capture and rob the King. A few days later the King was robbed, but not by John. John and the King were both disappointed. Fluff was now homeless. He journeyed to a nearby forest called Turtle Forest-home of the magic turtles. Now, John planned to kill the king. Fluff got the news so he hid. While hiding he saw a purple cloud, he flew up to that cloud and saw purple, shiny, sparkly, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, flying, magic turtles! “ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” said the turtles. “WAIT WAIT WAIT” Said Fluff “I’m in danger and I am nice, I used to be a king.” ”Okay we’ll let you be,” announced one turtle. “We know how you feel, I’m a king too… well for us magic turtles anyway.” “Were also in danger, Giants have been after us for years!” Meanwhile John saw a Golden cloud he thought of many ways to get up but none of the ideas worked. The giants lived on that cloud, they were training to battle the turtles at the time. John thought of another idea… FLYING! Only one thing he needed wings! So he tried to get wings. Many attempts later, he got wings, he thought and thought and thought until, URRRRRRRRHHGGGGG… POOF, He had wings! “I bet I can run 100 miles in 5 minutes on the treadmill,” said one giant, “When pigs fly!” said another giant, the other giant was grinning with his eyebrows up. “Look behind you” he said. Then the one giant saw John flying behind him… he was speech- less! “Hey you’ve seen a dragon anywhere?” asked John. “No, but the turtles said they had a secret weapon, a dragon,” said a giant. “Do you know where the turtles are?” asked John. “Yes, why?” asked the giant. “I need to kill him,” said John. “We are trying to kill the turtles,” said the giant. “Let’s go now!” announced John. John and the giants went off to their base, but then they were trapped. Soon enough Fluff and the magic turtles came out and saw them trapped and called the police to send them to jail. The turtles were rewarded, and Fluff got all his money and his castle back. Chewing Gum Final by Jimmy grade 5 Yummy yummy gum popped on your face big disgrace! Imagine yourself in class and you see gum what do you do you chew! chew! chew! I strongly believe that gum chewing should be allowed in school because it will improve grades for everyone! In fact, students will “pop” smartness into their brain because their memories will improve above and beyond. The continuous movement of the jaw increases memory because the hippocampus is activated. Research shows that students who chew gooey gum will remember 25%- 40% more. Did you know that scores will blow up like a bubble and you will pass with flying colors? If your teacher chooses to give you gum, chances are you will perform 26%- 36% better on tests be- cause there will be more oxygen pumping to your brain. More oxygen equals more knowledge! Likewise, chewing gum in school will increase students’ focus. Like wise chewing gum will increase focus. People who are really stressed while tests they will have no trouble taking the test. Did you know chewing gum will delete background noises. In fact chewing gum will help less fidgeting in class. Stu- dents who chew gum will have less brakes off school and will be smarter. Certainly gum chewing should be allowed in school because it increases focus and improves grades. Chew, Chomp, pop! Without a doubt, school should allow gum chewing in school for oral health! Your teeth will get stronger by chewing this magical pink pow- der of sweetness! The ingredients in gum can make your teeth stronger and health- ier. In addition sugar free gum helps strengthen teeth after meals. Who wants dirty teeth after eating meals? GROSS!!!! Further more chewing gum gives you cleaner, whiter teeth. Also, it reduces stains and removes cavities. Now no more trips to the dentist, and no more dental bills. Chewing gum reduces plaque. So, no more leftover food in your teeth. Getting braces? Chewing gum will strengthen your gums so you won’t cut your mouth. It also strengthens your jaw so you can eat things like steak. YUMMY!!! So chew gum because it will be a friend to your teeth and fun to chew! Definitely gum chewing should be allowed in school because it is a maintain lifestyle! Chewing gum will help burn calories. If you chew gum then you lose appetite so you won’t eat as much food and eat as much food and won’t gain so much weight. Isn’t that great because you won’t gain fifty pounds each month isn’t that embarrass- ing if you gain that much weight. Gum has 5 calories and 2 chocolate chip cookies have 145 calories that saves you 140 calories. OMG! that is so good for your body. Strawberry short cakes are 420 calories and gum is 5 so thats saves you about 415 calories. Once in a while you can have bad things for your body but don’t eat K.F.C every day ok. Besides by chewing gum that helpsyou burn calories it can also help you with better digestion! Chewing gum will help silva which will help digesting food so you won’t choke on your food. That is kind of gross but it will help you so much. If you chew gum you won’t have stomach aches. No more having those bad stomach aches anymore. Chew! chew! chew! chew! Gum chewing should be allowed in school because it will improve grades not just at Erickson Elementary, schools worldwide. Then everyone will be happy chewing gum and everyone will be by my side demanding for gum chewing in school!!! The Effects of the California Wild Fire By Isabella Grade 4 In California on a fall morning in 2003 there was wildfire. The wildfire came without warning with no one expecting it. There were a lot of effects as a result of the wildfire so read on to learn about what happened. One of the effects of the wildfire was destruction. One of the things that were ruined was apartments, build- ings, and 3,170 homes. Also destroyed were trees with 750,000 acres scorched. Since the acres were scorched the houses on the land were burnt down as well, which is why 3,170 were destroyed. But the people in the houses did not know the fire was coming so they had to evacuate from their houses very quickly and it was hard for the people to evacuate because of the debris that was all over. After the fire there was the huge jog to tackle. One of the jobs the firefighters had to do was clean up the whole town after the fire. Another job the firefighters had to tackle was to rebuild the whole entire town again. The firefighters also had to dig up the cars. Also, it took 14,000 firefighters to extinguish all of the fire but the reason they need that many fire fighters is because the fire was traveling at 60 mph with the Fahrenheit of 2,600 degrees. The last effect the wildfire did is a lot of people died and got injured. Twenty-two people got killed and many people got injured because the people couldn’t breathe because there was toxic air and smoke but the people that survived were very lucky because in the beginning there was debris all over and there was toxic air and a lot of smoke. After the wildfire people that survived were probably in bad shape because they probably had burned skin and also burnt hair for sure. ER! ER! ER! That’s the sound of the new alarm system put in after the 2003 California wildfire. Now when a wildfire hits everyone is ready for it.

How Being Thankful Is So Important By Breck Grade 4 The next time you complain about life, stop and think about other people who have cancer or are in a wheel chair. Those people smile even though they have something wrong with them and there is no reason to be crying if you don’t get what you want because you have a pretty good life. The first reason I am thankful for my life is my home. The reason my home is one of the things I am thank- ful for is because I am glad that my family is not poor and cannot afford a house. Next, I have a nice warm bed for me to sleep in that keep me warm during cold nights because Illinois does get very cold. Last, I have a big backyard for me and my sisters and my puppy to play in. The next reason I am thankful for all the great things in my life is my family because I can always count on them to encourage me the most they can and support me in doing things that I believe is right. They also care about me when I’m upset and love me. I’m also thankful for my sister’s and my puppy because they’re always fun to hang out with and they love me. The last reason I’m thankful for all the things in my life is my health. The reason why is because America is not poor and there is food to eat. Think about the people in Africa who have people raising money just so they can have clean drinking water but if you visit them they have the brightest smile. So think about it if you lived in Africa put yourself in their shoes and think would you be smiling if you had no home, had dirty water, and no food. That’s all I’ve got to say.

The Weeping Frog By: Sam grade 5 Once upon a time in a faraway place there once lived a happy king. One day a mean old witch cursed the king and turned him into a Frog! The king was really angry at the witch. The day after that he was hopping along the castle when he fell into a well! He shouted and shouted, Please someone help me!” But still no one had heard him “I wouldn’t be down here if it wasn’t for that stupid witch!” King shouted. But then a little dwarf appeared. “Hello” instructed the dwarf. “My name is Hazel” “What do you want.” Replied the king. “You're not going to help me with anything you’re just a stupid little dwarf who doesn’t know anything.” “Well I was just saying if you are so mad that you can’t get out of this well just believe in yourself and you can do anything.” Told Hazel. “Fine I guess I’ll give it a try.” The king did, he tried turning himself back into a human it didn’t work, he tried it a second didn’t work, but finally after trying and trying he did it! Then the king easily got out of the well. “Thank you!” Shouted the king. So then the king put the witch in jail forever and had a parade for Hazel. Everyone shouted for Hazel and they lived happily ever after.

If you believe in yourself you can do anything.

The Trip to Sparkleville A fairy tale by: Grace Grade 5

Once upon a time there lived a family, the Oz family. One day the daughter of Dean Oz (Sally Oz) went out on an adventure to Sparkleville to try to find boy to hang out with. So when she went out of her house that day she knew that she had to gather food from the market before she started her journey. So she grabbed her wallet and headed out. The mo- ment that she left the house for her journey her family started getting ready for Halloween which was one of Sally’s favorite thing to do with her mom, but she knew that Sally would- n’t care because she was desperate for a boyfriend. As Sally was skipping along the rain- bow brick road with her cat Sparkles, she met a unicorn named Periwinkle. But Periwinkle was in bars of Jumbo Jelly’s Dungeon. So Sally felt bad for Periwinkle as she was crying for help, so she couldn’t help but to go over there. As she rounded the corner of the “welcome mat” the donut dogs were released by Jumbo Jelly, but the donut dogs didn’t stop Sally! She went right around them, then Jumbo Jelly and the DJ came out of the Castle and started singing to Sally. “Oh Sally looks like she could meet someone flabby, and could use some punish- ment!” After that horrible, nail scratching song she knocked out Jumbo Jelly and said “Uhu, now who’s punished? ” Jumbo Jelly replied “lalalalalalalalalala tobago bagoba” like he was truly knocked out. Then Sally took the key and got Periwinkle out of the dungeon. So then they kept skipping and singing and came across a poor, poor puppy with eyes that glimmered in the sunlight, and sparkled with glitter in the moonlight, and Sally felt bad so she had to go over there. “Rello, Rello?” questioned the puppy. “My name is Glitzy,” the puppy said afraid. “I am Sally and this is Periwinkle, and we are here to help you. ” “Ok, what you have to do first is take on the Emu, if you win I will be freed, I am here because the Emu cursed me. The Emu is the sidekick of Jumbo Jelly.” “Ok, let’s do this!” Sally said confidently. “Play the Eye Of The Tiger . Hit It Periwinkle!” Sally said seriously. “It’s the eye of the eye of the tiger. It’s the king of the night rising up to the challenge of our rival.” Periwinkle sang in the background of the fight. “There we go.” declared Sally. “I beat him for you”, and they continued skip- ping down the rainbow brick road and they came across a narwhal named Glamor who was this pretty purple narwhal and has bright blue eyes that match the clear waves crashing in the lake. So Silly Sally went over there to see what was going wrong. As soon as Sally, Periwinkle, and Glitzy got over by Glamor a trap fell on everyone except Sally, so it was all up to Sally to get her friends out of Jumbo Jelly’s trap. So she ran to the nearby sharp piece of metal that she could find. She found this one piece that was sharp enough to cut the sticky, gooey net that they were under. After she freed them from the trap Sally spotted a Gold mansion that was guarded by the Greek Gods, and pillars. So she had to go knock on the door, and when a boy her age opened the door Sally’s friends could see the way that they looked at each other. The boy’s name is Brandon. That night Brandon asked Sally on a date for every night of the week. Soon they got engaged, and a year after that they got married and lived happily ever after! Life of Nick K. Superstar Trustworthiness is my best quality because I am very honest. I was born on April 15 2005.I was born in Chicago IL, but now I live in Bloomingdale IL. I am 9 years old. Family My family has six people in it. I have a mom,dad,1 brother and two sisters. My mom is 36, my dad 45, my brother 9 1 sister 8 my other sister is 18. I wish it was me and my brother. Character traits I am a kind to others so that people don’t get hurt. I want to be sweet because I can be good to people. I am responsible because I take care of my dog. I turn in my homework. Favorites My favorite type of money is a 100 dollar bill. My favorite game is Clash of Clans. My favorite animal is a cheetah. My favorite color is purple Happy times I made 6 three pointers in basketball. In baseball I hit a homerun and we won the game. I hit 20 triples in baseball. I did a cartwheel. SAD TIMES I lost my grandma and I didn’t get to see her even when I was not born. When I was 5 years old I fell off the monkey bars at a park. When I was a little boy I fell off the couch and I broke my collar bone. I had to go to the hospital when I broke it. OTHER When I was in kindergarten I meet Dylan and four 4 years I been friends with Dylan. THINGS I DO WELL In baseball I always hit triples and we win every game. I achieved it by keeping my head level. I also make 3 pointers in basketball. I achieved it by following through. FUTURE My goal is to have kids. I want to become a pro athlete . I want to be a doctor . I want to be persistent because you get to help people that need help with anything. STRUGGLE I struggle with reading because there is so many difficult words in understanding it. I struggle with volleyball because I do not understand the game.

by Natalia grade 3 Part 1 Zombie Tommy Once upon a time there was a zombie named Tommy he loved to eat brains to make him smart but guess what… They never made him smart .He wants to have alive friends but Tommy tries not to eat the brains. He does eat the brains. That’s why he has no friends but one day he finds a group of vampires, skeletons, and ghost. Tommy asks nicely can I be friends with you guys please please, please Tommy says. The group of undead friends said sure. And Lived Happily Ever After...THE END Part 2 Alive Emily Once upon a time there was a person named Emily and she loved Halloween one time on Halloween she saw a ghost named Gilbert he loved scaring people but Emily thought it was a costume or a trick but Gilbert went through the gate Emily didn’t go through the gate Emily screamed as loud as she can trust me her screams were louder than a dino- saurs roar. Her mom came as fast as she could she said, “What's wrong Emily?” She said “Thereee isss aaaa GHOSTTTTTT!!!” Gilbert laughed and tears came out of his invisible eyes. Emily and her mom went home and went to bed. In the middle of the night Gilbert came back to haunt Emily he was in her dreams he was bothering her then Emily said “I am going to get this ghost out of my mind” so Emily was facing her fear and went to Gilbert’s house in the graveyard/ cemetery and said “I am not scared of you GHOST you are just a piece of NOTHING and then Gilbert the ghost died from the last person on earth facing him. Reasons to be Thankful By Samir Grade 4 There are different things to be thankful for. Read on to learn about three things like having a good family, hav- ing a good home, and having enough to eat. My family loves me very much and cares about me. Also they support me everywhere I go. My family is thank- ful for me because I do a lot of stuff for them and myself. For example, I help them do a lot of chores like dishes and more, and they help me whenever I want something they get it for me. Like they make food for me, they make whatever I want and they take me out everywhere I want to go. I have such a good home like my roof and my windows too. Also, my stairs because if we did not have stairs we would not get what we want. Like if your kitchen is downstairs, and you did not have stairs you could not have anything to eat. I am also thankful for everything that is on my house, and in my house and my backyard. Also my pond and my fish tank and my fish that live in it are important to me. I am also thankful for my school and my education and what I learn in school. I have so much to eat like vegetables. Also I am thankful for the fruits I have and I am thankful for the breakfast/ lunch/dinner that my mom makes me. My mom makes new food every day and always is so happy to make it for us. My dad brings home food that we love when my mom does not cook. My mom always goes to the grocery store to get fresh food to cook for dinner and makes different dinners sometimes because we do not like the same food. She always makes sure that we are full and is always willing to cook food if we are hungry. On Thanksgiving Day, you should read this to learn what I am thankful for. The three things I am most thankful for are my family, my house, and my food. People are thankful for many different things. What are you thankful for?

Veterans Day By Danny Grade 4

Do you know what is on the 11 th hour of the 11 th day of the 11 th month? It is Veterans Day. Veterans helped save our country. That is why we celebrate Veterans Day. We celebrate this holiday because we are honoring the veterans that helped make America free. Veterans fought to pro- tect our country. Did you know that veterans don’t celebrate as many holidays as people who aren’t veterans do? Three holidays they do celebrate are Christmas Day, Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. These are only three holidays they do cele- brate; they celebrate some more holidays too. They can go to visit their families on these days. Their families are proba- bly looking forward to seeing them especially on these type of days. Did you know Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day? The name was originally called Armistice Day. The name was changed in 1954. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the president to change Armistice Day to Veterans Day. I think Veterans Day was a better name than Armistice Day because we are celebrating the honor of our veterans. There are five types of Armed Forces. The five types of Armed Forces are the Army who protect us from the land, the Navy who protect us from the water, the Marine Corp who protect us from the land, air, and water, the Air Force who protect us from the sky, and the Coast Guard who protect our coasts. That is a lot of protection. Now you know what is on the 11 th hour of the 11 th day of the 11 th month. Veterans Day is a time to celebrate and honor our veterans that help protect the USA. If you have a family member that is or was a veteran you should definitely thank them for what they did for you and the country. Veterans risked their lives to make America a better place to be.

The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California By Sean H.

It would be difficult journey to Oregon and California. All the people that died on the journey show it is a big risk to take. People were killed in the floods by drowning in the deep water. The water is very deep and very hard to get past and 15% of the pioneer died in the water. In the video it showed that a lot of pioneers were beaten by white hunters or by Indians. I would not want to be beaten or hurt very badly. A lot of the pioneers died from animals and plants be- cause there were hurt by them and then killed from poison or sickness. Animals might have a disease and plants might be poisonous or painful to touch. I would not want to get sick from plants or hurt by animals around me. In the video the pioneers had to go up mountains and big hills some of them fell to their death or got injured. Also some pioneers fell out of the wagon (very rarely) It will be a very big risk and that is one I don’t want to fall off the mountain and get injured. The pioneers find a territory but Indians came and wanted the pioneers to leave until they heard the noise of an animal. Demeter and Peresphone By Carter Grade 3 The purpose of Demeter and Peresphone is that bad things can turn into good things. In paragraph two it said, “One day Kore was out gathering flowers. When the earth opened up and Hades, Lord of the Underworld rose up in his chariot. He grabbed a screaming Kore and pulled her down in the depths of the underworld. “ The myth teaches us terrible things could turn into amazing things. It said in paragraph five, “Then she will remain in the underworld for six month.” Hades declared When Kore goes into the underground it is winter and when she returns it is spring. US Windfarms Can Kill Eagles By Michael C. Grade 3

The viewpoints are the eagles are flying into windmills and the windmills are killing the eagles. We need the wind- mills for power. In the text it said, “US wind farms can kill eagles by accident without penalty” and they should get a penalty for killing wildlife. Also it explained that eagles are getting killed by wind farms and that’s hurting wildlife. That’s bad be- cause eagles are a part of wildlife. Even in the text it said, “The white house wants to produce more energy from earth friendly sources” and wind farms are killing eagles but we still need energy. Also in the text it said, “Nature groups slammed the white house’s new rules.” They said it was a bad move for wildlife.” It’s bad that eagles are dying and wind farms don’t get in trouble for that! Even the second source said, “Seek to protect eagles from wind farms because wind farms are killing eagles.” Also the author said, “You can’t call it green energy if it’s killing hundreds and thousands of birds and bats annually and if it’s killing large numbers of protected eagles.” That’s bad because easily eagles can and might become extinct. I pick the eagle side because it is not right that the birds die because of wind farms. They are killing America’s bird. Eagles are important to wildlife. It’s not right for a symbol to die.

Demeter and Peresephone By Jakub Grade 3

The purpose of this story is that bad things can turn into good things. In the text it told me that she will have to remain in the Underworld for six month, every year Hades declared. For another six months she may return to Demeter.

Pledge of Allegiance By Michael K Grade 3 Every morning we say the pledge. We pledge to the flag of the USA. We are pledging to honor our country. In the pledge its says to promise to honor the USA. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.” This shows that the people of our country need to respect and value the rules (Constitution) that were made for us. In conclusion, the USA is the greatest country to live in because we are free!

Pledge of Allegiance By Whitney Grade 3

Every morning we say the pledge. We pledged to the flag of the United States of America. We are pledging to honor our country. In the pledge it says to promise to honor the USA. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.” This shows that the people of our country need to respect and value the rules (Constitution) that were made for us. In conclu- sion the USA is the greatest country to live in because we are free.

Seven Ravens By Mason Grade 3 The theme from the Seven Ravens is to persevere at things that are hard. In the text it said, “Let it cost what it might,” The sentence means to do whatever. In the text it said, “She was determined.” This means she was fearless and she will never stop trying. The audio clip said, “She cut her finger off.” That means she used one of her fingers to help save her brothers. The girl was fearless to help her brothers be free. The Artist’s Treasure A Folktale by: Ashley Grade 5 A long, long, long time ago, there lived a kindhearted, but wealthy artist who treasured art. He had a loving daughter named Sareena Alarah, who loved her father more than anything. All day, the artist would do nothing but create a work of art. It seems true that the artist loved nothing more than the treasure of artwork. One day, an old man stopped by his workshop to beg for some food. The old man seemed hungry and tired. The artist felt bad for the old man, so he offered the old man some food and let him stay for the night. The old man thanked the artist and strolled along the very next day. Days passed and the artist painted, built, and drew. Once in a while the artist would go to a secret room stored with all his favorite artwork. One day, he opened a trunk he never touched. Rays of booming light rushed out of the trunk. After a while, a ghost appeared. The artist was horrified. What was happening? The artist wanted to run away, but in some odd way, he stayed still, frightened. "Do you remember me, my friend?" whispered the ghost. "Wh-Who are you?" asked the terrified artist. "I am, or was, the old man that begged for some food and stayed at your house that night," answered the ghost. "And for your kindness, I grant you three wishes, but hurry up, I must leave soon." The artist couldn't believe his eyes, for he did not believe in magic or ghosts wandering in his secret room. Although he thought this was some sort of dream, he decided to wish his first wish. "I wish everything I touch will magically turn into art," the artist said. "Done," the ghost replied. "Any other wishes?" asked the ghost. "No, not now," said the artist. "Can you stay here until I granted all my wishes?" The ghost smiled, then said, "I just might." Then, he faded away. The artist laughed at himself for believing what had just happened. "Such an impossible, impossible impossibility!" the artist said to himself. "What joke!" As the artist reached for the door, he noticed the floor was elegantly painted. The artist couldn’t believe his eyes! This time he touched the trunk. Unbelievably, it magically turned into a fine, drawing of light, some- thing new, something marvelous! “Goody-Goody,” cried the artist, “Oh how I wonder how much I’ll make!” Soon, the artist quickly sold a lot of his fine artwork. He touched here, he touched there, he touched almost anywhere! He helped the tailor, the shoemaker, and “made” a lovely statue of the king. “Oh, goody-goody!” the artist cried. He made a new workshop, simply by touching his old one. Beautiful paintings were carefully painting, using the most special brushes, statues were built, creating the most dazzling thing on earth! When he was done, he showed his daughter. “Oh goody-goody! Look at this glorious art wonderland!” the artist marveled. “Oh yes, it is enchanting, but our old workshop was just as pleasant. I loved our old workshop,” Sareena said, frowning. Then, she left. “Oh, sure she’ll enjoy this,” the artist thought, “she loves art as much as I do.” Then, he sat down to eat. But as he reached down to drink his porridge, it turned into a carefully carved bowl of food. Soon, he grew sick of not eating nothing. Poor artist. Luckily, Sareena was there to keep him company. "Why wouldn't you eat father?" Sareena asked. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." the artist replied. Sareena reached out to give the artist a big, warm hug, before the artist had anytime to explain what happened. It was too late. Sareena was already a beautiful, lifeless statue. The artist was speechless. What had he done! His one and only loving daughter was gone, because of his foolish self. He could make millions of dollars, but Sareena was more important. The artist wept until dawn, when he realized it wasn't too late. He rushed to his room and opened his trunk, hoping the old man was still there. Once again, boom rays of light rushed out of the trunk and the ghost, paler and and more invisible than usual, appeared. "Hurry up my friend, I must leave today, soon," whispered the ghost. The Father and the Two Sons Folktale By Joey Grade 5

Once upon a time there were two sons and a father who lived in misery because the mother died, but now the fa- ther is sick so what can the sons do. “Dad, dad Jack and I will go to any near house to help you get better.” “Jack! We have to ask our neighbors to help our father.” “Okay”Jack said Slam. Of they went to ask their neighbors for help. knock, knock Cree. “Sir sir. Can you help us our father is sick and we need some help.”Said Billy The man said no and the sons went to the next house.They still had no luck. They decided to go to an old wise man who lived in the house across the village. He said “You will have to travel through the most scariest Forests and you will find a magical mushroom land. After you will have to get the water that has a magical healing power, but be careful there are many dangerous creatures.” The boys went of adventuring through the forest but it soon got dark. “Jack I think we will have to start a fire get some wood” “Got it, Billy.” Crackle crackle went the fire. Owwwwwwwww. “What was that?” said Billy. Billy the older, one grabbed a stick and put it on fire to see what happened-he saw wolves. “Ahh!” shouted billy. “Follow me Jack” said Billy, The both of them were running through the forest. Then they saw the bright, lovely sun come out of the sky like a rabbit comes out of his hole. The sons adventure of and the two sons have found the magical mushroom forest. “This was easy right Jack” “Look up Billy”Billy looked up and saw the gigantic giant. billy whispered “Okay you get the water and I’ll distract him.” They did as planned but one mistake Billy got happy that the brothers got the water so something bad happened the giant awoke and stepped on Billy. “Nooooooooooooooo”Jack screamed in tears. Jack walked home and gave the medicine to his dad. “Where is billy” Asked Dad “He is gone.” Moral: If you love someone you might risk your life to save theirs. Benempt Benempt Good well promising loving caring To promise someone kind

Bene means good By: Elizabeth Grade 5 Captain Raptor And Shelly’s Fishy Secret By: Bre grade 5 Deep in the Raptosaurus Ocean there once lived Shelly the Sharka- saurus, who loved to eat, which was why she was super fat. Then one day Sandy the shrimptadactle came along. She and Shelly loved to play fetch the octocolossus. The two girls always got so tired they slept at Shelly’s house, so Sandy wouldn’t have to swim back to her place tired. They were best friends. Then the next day Sally the swimming fish-rex came and saw Sandy and Shelly having so much fun that she wanted to join the excitement. So Sandy and Shelly let Sally join and commit to their fun club. When Shelly saw how delicious Sally looked, she snuck up behind Sally and swallowed her in one big gulp. Sandy was shocked because Shelly was so nice and such a good friend. Shelly didn’t know why she had done such a bad thing, but she said it was just her sharkasaurus reflexes. Sandy wanted to help Sally get out, but again Shelly saw how scrumptious Sandy looked, and swallowed her when she went in to look for Sally. Sally and Sandy were screaming, “Help someone, get us OUT!” Shelly screamed back at Sandy and Sally, “Don’t even think that you guys are coming out of me, I am immortal, HAHAHA!” Sally and Sandy were thinking that Shelly had turned on them, and she did! They had then found out that Shelly was in a secret hiding place so no one can find her or Sally and Sandy. Sally and Sandy were so scared they started to huddle. A few minutes later they heard footsteps and voices getting near them. Shelly had stood up and walked towards the voice and footsteps they had heard. Who was in the secret hideout? Captain Raptor! Shelly started to talk to Captain Raptor and they heard what she was stuttering, “Captain Raptor, oh you're here, nice to see you, nothing is inside of me.” Then Captain Raptor answered back, “Yeah, then why did I hear the help signal of, help someone get us out.” Shelly was in complete silence. Captain Raptor found a shrink ray. Then he had decided to SHRINK HIM- SELF! So he got small and went in to Shelly’s mouth, and went down into the stomach. There Captain Raptor found Sandy and Sally huddling to- gether, then pulled them out. Everyone was saved. Even Shelly was having fun with everyone! THE END! Emigrant’s Guide to Oregon and California By Anthony M. Grade 3

It would be difficult to travel west. It would be difficult because you have to hnt for food and you have to find a amp to stay at. I know that you have to hunt for food because the text said, “Here while some were engaged in hunting the buffalo, which were very abundant.” and that means they are hunting buffalo. The pioneers had to find a camp and I know because they said, “We encamped for the purpose of marking meat as it is called,” The pio- neers had to find a place to stay and work hard to get their food. The pioneers worked hard to survive from Oregon to California. The pioneers took the Indians territory and they got mad.

If You’re Reading This By Dia Grade 3

This text is a poem. In the text it had stanzasto let meknow this is a poem. In the text it helped me know it was a poem because it had no punctuation. Also, it had some rhyming words to it. The narrator is a male because in stanza five it said it “I won’t see the birth of our little girl” and a fe- male can only give birth.. The two phrases were “if you are reading this” and “I’m laying down my gun and hanging up my boots.” So that let me know that the narrator was dead.

Biography on Dr. Seuss By Mia Grade 3

Do you know the Cat in the Hat? Then you know Dr. Seuss! Theodore Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2nd 1904. When he was a kid he drew many pictures. Also, he was very imaginative and funny when he made names for his drawings. Another factis his father worked at the zoo. That also inspired Dr. Seuss to write, If I Ran the Zoo. When Theodore was older he wanted to go to college to be a professor. Also he wanted to get a doctorate but instead he travelled to Europe with his wife. Then he began writing ads which he didn’t like at all. A while later he wrote a children’s book. Soon Theodore change his name to Dr. Seuss. Seuss was his mother’s last name. After he failed to get his novel published he decided to stick to writing children’s books. Once he wrote an ABC book which the pub- lisher rejected. Seuss felt so bad that he didn’t write any for years. When he started writing again he wrote And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street . He was excited by 43 publishers rejected it. Finally in 1987 a friend pub- lished on of Theodore’s books. When his friend published the book he felt so proud of himself. Dr. Seuss wanted to help kids learn how to read so with only250 words he wrote The Cat in the Hat. He was surprised he could get so far being an author. One day a guy said, “You write a book with 50 words. I will give you $50. Dr. Seuss did write the book, but the man never paid him not even a penny. As long as you try and never give up you will always be like a winner said Dr. Seuss. Wind Farms Can Kill Eagles By Ben Grade 3

The two opposing viewpoints are that wildlife and the wind turbines. The text said “It’s outrageous that the government is sanctioning the killing of America’s symbol the bald eagle.” This means that America’s symbol will soon be extinct. From the video it said, “eagles are paid little attention when hunting prey not wind turbines.” This means that it is not the eagle’s fault that they are not paying attention to the wind turbine when they are hunt- ing for food. From the source the text said, “And yet I’ve had more than one conversation with social media with people who’ve pointed to that Scott Study to claim that birds learn to avoid wind turbines.” This means that ea- gles can learn to not go by wind turbines. The author said “that for a wind farm to get a permit it must list all of the different way it will preserve the eagles.” This text means wind farms will get permits and they have to pre- serve eagles. From my source the text told me “They are crafting rules to allow wind turbines to harm eagles acci- dentally.” I that that wind turbines should stay on. I think that the wind turbines should stay on because soon we would have no energy left. Wind turbines should stay on because if our computers run low on batteries we wouldn’t be able to research anything on the computer. US wind farms kill eagles by accident without penalty. Our country sym- bolthe eagle is dying from wind farms.

Comparing a Song and a Poem By Francesca Grade 3 A song and a poem are alike because they both have repeated phrases. Like, “As you shoot across the sky” and “even brighter than the moon.” This son is second person because in stanza seven it says, “You just gotta ignite the light” and in stanza four it says “Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow.” They both have you in it so that makes the song second person. The song reminds me of the story Volcanoes. It reminds me of the story because they are both comparing something to fireworks. I know because the song says, “Baby you are a firework.” “Make’em go aah, aah, aah, as you shoot across the sky-y-y.” and “Come on, let your colors burst.” Volcanoes says, “Nature’s incredible fireworks” and “From far off they look like beautiful fireworks.” They are both comparing something to fireworks so they are both alike. You are a firework, no matter what people say or do. If you be yourself people will be amazed.

US Wind farms Kill Eagles By Vinny Grade 3 The two opposing viewpoints are keeping wind turbines but killing eagles or taking down wind turbines and not killing eagles. In the text it says “government officials said Friday that some wind power companies will be allowed to kill by accident bald eagles and golden eagles for up to 30 years.” This means that the wind power com- panies wind turbines are killing eagles and not getting in trouble for it. In the text is also says, “even then, if more eagles dying than you expected, you have to do more things or lose your permit.” That means that you have to do something to prevent eagles from dying or lose your permit for the wind turbines. In the text it says “the population of golden eagles in the western US is stable.” This means the amount of eagles there is the same and isn’t going down. In the text it says “It’s outrageous that the government is sanctioning the killing of America’s symbol.” This means the government is letting people kill the eagles. In the text it also said, “they could take away their permits.” This means that if the wind turbines kill too many eagles they can take way people’s permits for wind turbines. I n the article it says “its killing large numbers of protected eagles.” This means that wind turbines are killing a lot of eagles. My opinion is that I think wind turbines are more important than eagles dying because its their fault that they go in the turbines and since they have babies that grow overtime the population should be the same. Eagles are dying from wind turbines and windmills. People are arguing about eagles dying and keeping the wind turbines.

By Catherine Grade 3

Have you ever been to a crazy water park in the Wisconsin Dells? I slide down the slides and had a blast when I went. The SPLASH-O-FUN ride was so frightening. “By the end of the ride it turned out I really loved it.” I cheered. One day at an incredibly awesome water park in Wisconsin Dells my body was crazily frightened. In my entire life I have never been so scared. Maybe I was so scared because this was my first water park ever. Right after I started down the slide. I felt so many surprised feelings. “I was shocked in so many crazy ways because I never thought I’d love water parks.” I thought. Later on my body was in the water. Brrr I had my eyes shut as hard as I could. I felt extremely proud of myself. PROUD AS COULD BE. From this day on Catherine isn’t scared of anything. SPLASH...I got off the ride and made a huge SPLASH!!!!! AAHH I screamed. It turns out I really love water parks. If I could go I would go all the time. Never in a million years did I think I would enjoy water parks. The lesson I learned was always try new adventures. Unless you try new things you’ll never know what you are missing out on. Do you love water parks?

Porky and Thumper Fairy Tale by : Joseph Grade 5 Once upon a time there was an evil and fat pig. His name was Porky. He was the King of Animal World. The animals all were forced to do work for him. Then all of a sudden there was a magical Bunny Prince from a different dimension. He was wearing mystical robes and golden shoes. His entrance was the best the animals in Animal World have ever seen. He then talked to Porky. Porky came out looking sad. Thumper announced “I am now taking over Animal World to protect it because something bad is about to happen” and if Porky disagreed to his idea Thumper wouldn’t help to defend and or protect Animal World. So Porky and Thumper talked and talked and talked about this whole idea. Then finally Porky complained and agreed of the idea. So then Thumper brought his whole army and nation to Animal World. He exclaimed “I have now control of your property to protect it and you have mine until this invasion is over”. Everyone laughed and cheered and hoorayed. Thumper then had some of his best warriors take all of the animals (good or bad) and brought them to Lamina where they were safe and protected. (one week later) Rooooaaaaaarrrrrr “We will fight to protect Animal World even though it isn’t our’s” proclaimed Thumper. (one year later) We won the battle and protected Animal World “And we didn’t destroy it too much ei- ther”. Next we shall bring the animals of Animal World home. “No wait! First we shall surprise them with a little something that I have up my sleeve” cheered Thumper. We shall rebuild their buildings and give their army some upgrades. (One week later) “NO WAY” screamed Porky. “Thank you soooooooooooo much Thumper for all that you have done”. Then the 2 worlds then met up with each other about every week and came to even more agreements. The Case of the Missing Moon By: Anneliese Grade 5 “ Oh boy is everyone ready to get of The Mighty Megatooth and head over to the sandy beaches of Xurus!” Yelled threetoe. He was so excited to have a mission on Xurus on his birthday. “ But remember the rules of the birth- day exchange.” groaned Captain Raptor “ You go do whatever you want for a full 24-hours. But we won’t come back until tomorrow so you get to have a 48-hour birthday vacation!” “ But remember if we don’t come back scout the area of this island our lives may depend on it, because this island is very DANGEROUS!” Said Professor Angleoptorous with a flashlight in his hand just to make it sound and look creepy. The day went by fast on the beaches of Xurus and sooner or later Captain Raptor, Professor, Angleoptor- ousand, Master Sergeant Brickthorous came back right in time. BUT, something seemed off to Three-Toe. “ Is it their outfits? Did they go to this island’s Spacemart without me?” he thought as he was scanning his friends looking for something different. Suddenly Captain Rapto r took out a Green emerald that shined in the sunlight.” Behold my soldiers the Golden Green! A rare emerald created to find Princess Rex otherwise known as The Golden Princess!” Roared Cap- tain Raptor. He was so excited to meet the ruler of the Dino way galaxy!” Now my friends Let’s GO! As Captain raptor and his mighty crew went off to space a something happened something WEIRD hap- pened. “ No,No,No,No,No,NO!” cried Professor Angleoptorous “ Our plasmo controls are malfunctioning and we are losing power, soon or later we will have a crash landing on planet CRES!” before our brave hero and his mighty crew could say a peep they crashed landed on the mysterious planet. “ Sir what should we do no dinosaur has made it three days on this planet let alone find fuel!” cried Three toe “ and we had to crash on my birthday! Captain Raptor explored the CREEPY AND MYSTERIOUS land by himself leaving his crew to panic alone . But somehow Three toe saw and followed Captain Raptor into the scary jungle! They found a huge temple trimmed with gold surrounded by a up-beat marketplace that sold everything you can imagine, the ladies wore the most prettiest of gowns with flowers placed delicately in their hair to match the gor- geous gowns they wore. “ We aren’t on planet Cres we are on Malua! the land of the Golden Princess!” Shouted threetoe. Captain Raptor Noticed him immediately , yet he wasn’t mad at Three toe . They reserved a meeting with her highness that afternoon and spent the day exploring and getting gifts for the Princess and Three toe . At the time they came to meet the princess that were urged in the King’s Meeting Room! “ Brave warriors I am afraid that I have some bad news and desperately need your help.” Groaned the king sadly “ It’s my Princess she is missing, vanished disappeared, kidnapped-” ‘’ Sir we get the point.” Said Three toe interrupting the mighty and Golden King. “Now may we check the scene of the crime ?” “ Certainly not without proper authority plus how can I know if you can be trusted in order for any of my people to trust you at all than recruit a Detective.” shouted Golden king he was positive that Captain raptor was not as nice as he seems and wants to get rid of him as soon as possible . Before anyone could say a word a sly shadow slipped away from the black corner all dressed in black except for a single part of his fedora that had a plaid blue stripe’. “ This is your new recruit he will be with you everywhere and I do mean EVERYWHERE!” yelled the king with a devilish grin. they searched the room that was coated with gold including the carpet which made it very stiff finally a clue was found a single pin` covered in a gooey substance which can only be found on the sticky planet MASHA! The Small crew then traveled to the messy Masha And looked around for more clues to find the culprit but the sly detective has something else in mind he takes a jar of goo to study ALONE but gets caught by Three toe who Declared “ You found the clue!” which surprised detective was shocked to hear but nodded as if he knew the whole time. but unlike the last clue this one was a note and it said one simple word “MUTANT” captain Raptor than knew who he was up against Balossaur a evil yet smart genius who worked in the black market for 5 years than was an apprentice to an evil scientist until he took over and blackmailed him so yes this dino was truly EVIL! They quickly went to earth but that wasn’t easy since it was in a entire new UNIVERSE. but they eventually got there and were astonished by what they saw nothing at all! Except for Earth.which was the problem there was no Moons all had vanished the mighty crew of 2( plus 1) headed all over the starry galaxy only to find them in a totally new dimension that was covered with moons scattered everywhere except for one. One specific moon was covered in a black little hut covered in computers and a monitor .they slowly headed toward it. They landed on the creepy moon only to see Balossaur caging up the princess. After an epic battle Balossaur was defeated at his favorite videogame PAC-MAN he handed over the princess and her jewels, money, mirror, ,golden puppy and kitten along with all the moons and vanished to somewhere no dinosaur has been before... December 23, 1618

64213 Piccadilly Street London, England

Dear Elizabeth,

I know moving to the new land seems like the best idea for Mum, Father, Mary, Thomas, and you as indentured servants, since in England you are very poor. I know now that my choice was wrong. I signed a contract to be one for 5 years! It’s been 6 months, yet feels like 100 years! How am I ever going to get through this year, much less 5 years? Life as an indentured servant is horrendous!

I work on a tobacco field, picking, watering, and weeding barefoot under the scorching sun. My master is the worst part of my working conditions. When he watches us, if one little weed is missed, whoever is close by disappears. I am partly lucky because my overseer is very caring and kind. He never whips, slaps, or pushes us past our breaking point. That still isn’t enough to make it through five years.

In my first month in the new land, I made a friend. Her name was Sydney. One day, my master whipped her so much that blood covered the hard dirt. Our overseer tried to help her but it was too late. Her funeral was two days later, and I have been lonely ever since.

Moldy bread and smelly water are what we have to eat that isn't hazardous. You get one loaf of bread for two weeks and for your family. On the ship ride over, one man and his wife, having eaten their bread in eight days, staggered before the captain and begged him to throw them over- board, for they would otherwise starve before the next bread day. The captain laughed in their faces, and gave them sand. The couple then actually died a few days later.

The working and food conditions are horrible and I barely found the time to write this letter. You must now understand why I am telling you this and what the right answer is, don’t come to the new world as an indentured servant. When you run away, become pregnant, or marry your con- tract could be extended. You get separated from your families. Land, clothing, crops, and money isn’t enough for how we are treated.

Yours truly, Anna The Rat and the Peacock A Fable by Aleena grade 5

One day there was a self-absorbed, superior peacock who was munching on grains and thinking that he was better than everybody. Then he saw a creature that he had never seen before. To him “It” was as disgusting as a pile of dirt and manure. Then with horror he realized that “It” was a stinking rat!! “Oh how ugly!!! It probably cried to death when it realized it was nothing more than a creepy RAT!! snick- ered the peacock. Then he realized that this just proved that peacocks were the most wonderful creatures ever. “Let me show who is in charge to the newbie in this area” the peacock smugly said. Then he went with disgust over to the rat. The rat on the other hand just shook his head at the sight of the snobby peacock.” He will never manage the humans and the predators when he is showing off his useless wings.” The rat wasn’t trying to be rude on the other hand, he was just trying to be practical. “Hello, you are a very HANDSOME rat,” the peacock snickered. The rat knew that the peacock was being sarcastic since that he himself had seen himself in the mirror and hadn’t done anything about it because who was going to capture a dirty RAT for the zoo or to eat??He decided to play along with the obnoxious peacock. “I do call myself the neater of the rats,” the rat proudly said. “Oh trying to be nice to YOU is impossible. The snakes are better looking than YOU!!” the peacock was clearly mad that the rat hadn’t been offended by him. “I think I’ll like to stay that way. Thanks for the comment!!” The peacock then shut his mouth and went home still mad that the rat wasn’t sad or frightened at the mere sight of him. The next day both the rat and the peacock woke up to the sound of humans and cages. The rat knew that they were the National Zoo of the U.S. Staying in cities really did pay off!!The rat quietly slipped away far away from humans. The peacock on the other hand thought that more creatures had come to worship him. He raised his gor- geous feathers but when he saw the cages, he quickly closed them but it was too late.the humans saw him and they came slowly and steadily. “Help!! Help!!! I’m being captured!! Rat, please help me!! You're the most beautiful creature ever!!” screamed the peacock. “What was that?? I’m beautiful??Didn’t you just say that I was the ugliest creature yesterday?? So bye my friend and I hope I see you at the zoo.” grinned the rat. “A ZOO!! WITH MONSTERS THEY CALL CHILDREN??? HELP!!” shouted the peacock. And so the rat lived freely in the world occasionally visiting the zoo to meet the sad and tired peacock mourning about life.

Moral: Respect even the dirtiest of creatures.

The Dog Who Saved Many Lives By Nicole Grade 5

One day in Nome, Alaska in 1925 on January 20 a boy got sick with a deadly disease called Diphthe- ria. Dr. Curtis Welch needed the serum but it was on the other side of Alaska. The doctor sent a telegram to Anchorage,where the serum was. Nome had 2 pilots to volunteer to fly a plane to get the serum the conditions were too dangerous with the blizzard they couldn’t go. Nome had no choice but to use mail drivers and dog teams. It was 50 below zero. Some dogs died because it was too cold. It would be a total of 678 miles and 127 hours, about 5 days. One of the dog sled and the musher Gunna Kaosen. He had picked Balto to lead the team in the dan- gerous snow for 53 miles and everybody thought it was a bad choice because he wasn’t as fast as others and not experienced but Kaosen believed in him. But Balto proved those who thought he was a bad choice wrong. When Kaosen and his team got there the other team was asleep there was nothing to do so they kept going and did two days. Kaosen and the dogs were so hungry and exhausted but Balto’s sense of smell led and they finally saw light. Kaosen came in record time but then Kaosen collapsed to the floor. Now Balto and Kaosen were known as heroes and were written about and Kaosen and the rest of his team boarded a ship to California to meet shouting fans that loved them. So would you think Balto is a hero? No home work! More time! By: Trey Grade 5

What has no game and all the blame? Homework of course! Homework is a tiring, exhausting, and wearing out thing. It can help you to practice, but not if you can’t do it. There is no doubt that homework should be banned, less confusing, or even at a time period. Click! Click! Click! Scribble Scribble Scribble I hear students not be- ing able to do what they want on their own time. I firmly believe that homework is a time waster. In support of this, students, including kids, teenagers, and adults, don’t have enough time in the evening to socialis. Socializing is an im- portant part and lesson of life. Without it, there would be no team in your work. Kids need to have somebody to have fun with. Speaking of fun, where’s the fun? Kids are spending so much time on homework, they’re seeing homework more than anybody else including friends and family. Kids are missing out on the ultimate experience. FUN! Where are the (board) games? Homework is a result a sleep drainer. Kids get up so early a days because of school time to get up and be ready. The average time spent on homework is 3 ½ hours and beyond. Because of this, kids are staying up even longer to study for tests. Some of this information is even posted in kids own thought about homework. Unquestionably, homework is a time waster, and is a big reason for no home- work because it makes people’s life incomplete. Uh! No! Please! No More Students are being stressed out so much, they have no more stress sweat the next day! They used it all out. In the same way, homework is a stressor. There isn’t enough time to budge it all in. Kids have to do all the work all the time. Speaking of, kids aren’t always doing the work you know. Over 90% of American children say that their parents are ei- ther doing most of the work, or their parents are involved in their homework. Most kids have no time for studying. According to studies, students don’t do as good if they have more homework than less. To be sure, homework is a humongous stress puller. Homework is your worst nightmare, but real, and stressful, or full of stress. Are you up to it? Do you have what it takes to grade all homework and do it too? With all reasons considered, I am positive that there should be less homework. Homework doesn’t exactly have changing facts in grades, or an academic effect. Lastly homework should be banned because it does no good, but worse. Captain Raptor and the Unexpected Landing by Taryn Grade 5 After Captain Raptor and his crew saved Captain Storm, they took off towards the stars. But soon after, he realized he missed his new friends, and was curious about their way of life, “Threetoe, turn the ship around, we’re heading towards Earth,” Captain Raptor declared. “But Caption, we don’t know if Earth is a hostile planet or not,” fretted Professor Angleoptorous. “Well, those humans, including caption Storm seem pretty nice. They tried to save their Captain when he was carried off by the Pteraspikadon,” reasoned Sergeant Brickthorous. “Yeah, and Caption Storm said that we should learn more about each other, we can do that by go- ing to Earth!” Exclaimed Threetoe. “Then lets get moving!” Shouted Captain Raptor” They were off, zooming through the stars, toward the planet called Earth. Then chaos erupted. BOOM! CRASH! “Caption Raptor, we are out of fuel! After exploring Eon, we didn’t refuel!” Said Professor Angleoptorous, trying to keep his voice calm. “Well then, buckle up. We are going to have a bumpy ride to Earth,” Caption Raptor said in a determined voice. After the Megatooth crashed into a meadow on Earth, the crew started planning a way to find Caption Storm and his crew. But luck was on their side. They happened to crash right next to the C.S.S.S, the Caption Strom’s Space Station. Caption Storm and his crew were preparing a trip to Mars when the visitors made an unexpected arrival. “If we plan to return from Mars, we’ll need a faster turbo boost that can last longer. Go get the scientists and tell them this, I want to get to Mars as soon as possible” ordered Caption Storm. “Caption Storm? Caption Storm? Where are you?” Called Caption Raptor. Caption Raptor spotted Caption Storm and raced over. The two greeted each other, just as one of Caption Storm’s crew raced over. “Sorry to interrupt, Caption Storm, but the scientists gave up on the turbo boost. They said it would be at least 4 years before they could make one that will last long enough” stated the crew member. “Oh no!” sobbed another member of the crew. “Excuse me for asking, but why do you need to go to Mars so bad?” inquired Sergeant Brickthorous. “Not to long ago, we sent a spaceship to Mars with people inside. The turbo boost wasn’t strong enough, so now they are stranded on Mars. We WERE going to rescue them, but now we cannot.” explained Caption Storm. Both crews looked sadly at the sky, but there was no way Caption raptor was giving up. “I know! I could make a turbo boost strong enough to get you to and from Mars, no problem!” Professor Angleoptor- ous urged. Both crews looked relieved at this idea. “LET”S DO IT!” They all shouted. They shouted up to the sky, past the moon and the stars, until their cry of triumph reached Mars. Professor Angleoptorous started working on the new turbo boost (He found the C.S.S.S’s workshop much more organ- ized than his own.) Both crews paced restlessly back and fourth. Until, finally, professor Angleoptorois shouted "SUCCESS!" He had finished the turbo boost! Caption storm's crew wasted no time getting into their spaceship. It was similar to the megatooth, but caption storm called it "Thunder." "How did you come up with the name Thunder?" Inquired Sergeant Brickthorous. Caption Storm pointed to another alien with long, black, curly hair. "That is Thunder. She made the spaceship, so we named it after her. She will be leading the rescue party to save the people on Mars. ZOOM! The spaceship soared into the sky. "I guess we'll wait here until they arrive back here." Suggested Caption Raptor. BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! "Hello?" asked caption Raptor. "This is president Triceratops, I need your help. Please come quickly, it's urgent!" Replied the voice on the communi- cator. "Okay, we are on our way." Ordered Caption Raptor. "I thought we were going to stay and wait for the search party on Mars." Questioned Threetoe. "Well, we can't anymore! The president sounded desperate." Answered Caption Raptor. The crew clamored into the Megatooth, and set off toward their home planet, Jurassica. As they were zooming through the stars, they passed another spaceship, Caption Storm and Thunder were inside, and so were some startled looking passengers. They waved to the aliens, and set off back to their home again. Who knows who they will help next?

Homework Debate article

by Rishi grade 5

(Uptown Funk at beginning) Do do do, do do do, do do, do do do do do do do. Do you ever feel like, you have way too much homework? Well I’m here tell you why we shouldn’t have homework at home! I strongly be- lieve that homework shouldn’t be allowed in Schools. Do you ever feel that homework affects your sleep! Well it sometimes does! Imagine you going to sleep when you're really sleepy and you just re- alized that you forgot to do your homework and you have to get up early the next morning to complete it and you went to sleep at 10:00 in the night. That gets really stressful after you just want to go to sleep and wake up a bit later! After you get up it is very hard to concentrate on your homework when you are very tired. The probability of you passing is pretty 50-50. Also imagine that that you have to go to a basketball game after school and you don’t get home until 5:30 and you remembered that you have to do your homework and it takes you 3 hours to do it, and you have a test tomorrow and you go to sleep at 10:00 and you have to wake up at 5:00 and you have to catch the bus at 6:30. On top of that you have to go to school and take your SS test. It’s a pretty rare chance that you will get a good grade! Doing homework takes away most of your sleeping time. Homework can affect your sleeping time. So no more homework. In addition to that homework can also take away most of your free time. Instead of your homework time you could also get some of exercise and cause you are at school most of the day and you deserve a little break. After getting home from school can you imagine your homework taking over your screen time. Duh Duh Duh! As you know kids like to have video games after they come home from school! But then homework takes away time to play video games! Just keep in mind that kids go to school for 7 hours a day and after school they don’t have any screen time, that’s just ri- diculous. It also affects your exercise. You could’ve been out on the play- ground and playing with your friends and burning calories! So to wrap it all up schools should get rid of homework for the kids need! THE GAME A Fable by Skyler Grade 5

There were two girls. One was short and by the name of Violet and the other was tall and by the name of Prissy, Prissy was always mean to Violet. “You’re so short that if you pulled your socks up you’d be blind.” “You’re so short that when it rains you're the last one to know.” “Oh, stop crying or do we need a warm-balance. Hahahahahaha!” Every day Violet would be bullied for how short she was by Prissy and Violet would go home every day crying in her room. So one day when as usual Violet started crying, Violet’s mom told Violet to stand up for herself and so she decided to try. So after breakfast on Saturday morning Violet was scared but she went up to Prissy and tried to make her stop making fun of her. “Stop making fun of me because all you’re doing is hurting someone’s feelings” said Violet. “Oh, there is no way I am taking advice from mc-shorty pants over here” laughed Prissy. Violet started to walk away and go home but then all of the sudden she had the greatest of greatest ideas. “I challenge you to a softball game and whoever wins can still make fun of the person or just STOP and whoever loses has to go on life on how it was before” said Violet. “I accept your challenge shorty-mc going-to-be-loser. Be here at 2:30 sharp and we will see what happens” said Prissy. “Ok see you later alligator” laughed Violet. “You’re are gonna di-a crocodile” said Prissy. Violet walking home thinking about what she had done. Prissy was the best softball player besides Violet at school and she was really tall too!! And before she knew it, it was 2:25. She had to be there in 5 minutes so she quickly changed and ran out the door. When she made it there she saw Prissy practicing her pitches. “Wow she is really fast” said Violet but kept it to herself. “Oh here you are I thought you weren’t coming because you were scared” laughed Prissy. “No but come on let’s get started and only four innings” said Violet. So the game started and Prissy was feeling so proud because she thought since Violet was so small she would win the game for sure. But then there was Violet being her same confident self while getting her face-mask on! “Hey, how about we get all the animals from the forest here so they can watch us play?” said Violet. “Sure. (Whistle) “What’s going on here?” asked Ronny the Raccoon. “Yeah something smells fishy” said Faith the fish who was swimming in a pond nearby. “We are playing a softball team and we wanted audience” said Violet. “Ok” replied all the animals from the forest. So the game started and the first inning scores were 1-0 Prissy winning. “Go Prissy” some of the animals replied. Second inning 5-1 Violet winning. “Way to go Violet” cheered the other half. Third inning 5-5 Prissy winning. “Yes Prissy you’re awesome” Prissy was on the mound and Violet was up and Prissy knew she was going to win because since Violet is so short she can just pitch her outside fastball and strike her out. But no Violet whacked the ball on the first pitch and got a home run winning the game 6-5. “OMG great job Violet” said Simon the Snake. “Yeah that was duck-tastic” laughed Drake the Duck. Moral: Don't judge someone by their size.