Our young writers had a blast letting their imaginations run away with free-writes, Amelia Earhart theories, and more at Thornhill Elementary this Fall. Take a look at some of our favorite excerpts from the class below!
A Fun Rainy Day!
(From a freewrite where the students were asked to describe the last night's rain.)
The rain came down hard in school! It sounds like thunder or probably like fishes flopping on the land’s ground. In the rain, it smells like dirt and muddy puddles everywhere. It felt like somebody was tapping on me a thousand times! It had no scent. Then I ran back to the class and started on my homework. Then I told one of my friends “It’s raining cats and dogs out there!”
-Tiffany
The Pops Comedy
(From a freewrite where the students were asked to list a bunch of common household objects, then use personification to bring them alive.)
One day I was eating my cereal, “Pops.” It was a sunny day just to tell you, too. When the sunlight reached the Pops, they turned alive. I was about to take my spoon and eat until the Pops said “Stop!” I looked at my cereal. What? The Pops said, “Don’t eat us because we are alive! The sun turned us alive. I know it’s weird, but it’s true.” I turned my face and saw one Pop named Jack was dancing. Wow! “My God what are you doing, it’s time for school,” my grandmother said. I was hungry at school, sadly. After school I came back to the Pops. They all were not alive. Only one of the Pops was alive. I ate him because he was as annoying as a frog. I went to sleep. The End.
-Joshua
What Happened to Amelia Earhart
(From our Amelia Earhart exercise, Take Flight Curriculum. The prompt was "What do you think happened to Amelia Earhart?")
What happened to Amelia Earhart is that she was flying for 33 days but one day she fell asleep near an island. Her plane dived for the island and she crashed her plane but was never found. She had enough food for years. She lived on that island but no one ever found her. No one knew she was stranded. Her copilot got dropped off at another island. Amelia Earhart built herself a shelter. She used wood to build a raft and tried to find fish. She was smart - she knew that the small raft could not go through the giant ocean. So she stayed there and used the few resources she had to make a big difference.
-Jonah
Friends
(From a freewrite prompt - "What's your favorite thing about being you?")
I have a lot of friends and they live across the world. One of my favorites is Alex. He lives in Australia, does home school, and surfs real good. One time I was surfing with him and we got in a water tube! My other friend lives in Saint Petersburg and knows everything about the city. His name is Dan. He took me across the whole city without me even having to pay. And last but not least Fred. He lives in Brazil and is great at soccer. He even knows how to do a bicycle kick! But most of my friends are here in America.
-Pasha
The Rain
(From a freewrite where the students were asked to describe the last night's rain.)
The rain came down hard. I could hear the rain plip plop plip plop. So I woke up but then I saw there was a flood. I was so wet. I saw people swimming in it. It was funny but then I saw thunder. But then I felt hungry. I smelled pancakes and syrup - it smelled yummy. So I opened my blinds and ran to the kitchen and I ate some pancakes. Then I watched some TV. Then I went downstairs to play the computer. Then it was time for lunch. When I finished it I drew a picture. Then I looked outside again and the people were still swimming. Then I found out they were really walking to get to their cars. Then I started watching TV again. Then we went to the car so we could drive to Costco, but when we opened the garage door and water came pouring in and then we drove through the rain. We finally got to Costco but it was flooded so we had to go home. Then it was time for bed.
-Sydnie
Puffy the Bumblebee
(From our prompt, Flight of the Bumblebee. The students listened to "Flight of the Bumblebee" and wrote a story based on what they imagined.)
Hi! I’m Puffy! I’m a bumblebee and I’m owned by Nectar, a honey and insect fairy. Today I’m flying home from a successful day of nectar gathering. Let me tell you about how Nectar and I work together. I collect nectar then Nectar makes honey. Unfortunately the flower and garden fairies live away from Fairy Garden, so Fairy Garden has no real flowers. Today I visited Snapdragon’s garden. Her flowers have lots of nectar and pollen. I like to mix the two together. Now I’m flying home to Fairy Garden. I’ll bet Nectar has made an excellent honeycomb by now. I hope she makes beeswax dumplings and honey cake. Yumm! I’m glad that nectar has given me many good foods, like Hot Frogs, and I think I’ve tried the most foods of all the bumblebees.
-Helena
The Diary of Frank, Amelia Earhart’s Copilot
(From our Amelia Earhart exercise, Take Flight Curriculum. The prompt was "What do you think happened to Amelia Earhart?")
Dear Diary,
Thirty days ago Amelia and I left for our around the world trip. I got this diary from New Guinea and wanted to start using it today. Everything has been going smoothly so far. I’ve had the best time on this trip than I’ve had for awhile. Oh! Gotta go.
Dear Diary,
The strangest thing happened, but luckily we’re safe. Amelia and I were flying through the night sky when a portal opened out of nowhere. We tried to turn right, but out plane just wouldn’t let us. Right when we got to the world, two unknown creatures which we soon called Lanzas took us into a room which looked a bit like a science lab. The Lanzas took our blood and put it in test tubes. We’ve actually been treated well in the world of other captured humans and Lanzas. Everything is fine except the food is made of green goo.
Dear Diary,
Weep, weep. Something terrible has happened. Just as we were getting settled in, Amelia fell down a stairwell and went into a coma. Her sickness was so bad she has never woken up. I can only see her on the weekends. Ugh, I can’t write anymore. My paper is too wet.
-Illysa
The Tale of the House
(From a Halloween freewrite, inspired by a picture of a spooky-looking house.)
Hi, I’m Kip. There’s this house of an old man and there’s a rumor he’s a wizard. We hear that it’s true, me and my friends Tyse, Zack, and Carl. “Come on,” said Tyse. “Ok,” said Zack and Carl. We went in. “This is weird,” I said. “A bone!” said Zack. “That’s just a dog bone, he has two dogs and ten cats,” said Tyse. “Oh yeah,” said Zach. “Grrrrrr,” said a dog. “Rarrrwr,” said a cat. “Hello,” said a voice. Aaah, who’s there? To be continued....
-Niall
