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You Read it Here First! - read "Take My Word For It!" students' work

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Words from Our Young Authors at Oakton Elementary, Grades 3-6

This session in our What A Mystery! curriculum we solved mysteries through writing! Our class was all about suspense, problem-solving, and finding clues. No small detail gets past this class!

 

From: Grab Your Reader by the Hook

Computer Trouble

I thought it was just a glitch in my computer. But that was yesterday before I discovered that my computer was alive! … My computer is amazing now that it is alive! For instance, I don’t bother looking at my homework because I have a walking, talking super computer with arms, literally! So it just does the homework for me while I study or watch a movie…The next day I got an F on my homework! “What?” I exclaimed… Then I remembered my brother knew my password….

- Ian

 

When it Happened

I didn’t know how it happened, I didn’t know why it happened, I just knew when it happened. It was a cool breezy day when the incident occurred. I felt a chilling feeling up my spine when I saw the shadowy figure walking down the alley at exactly 1:45 AM. I knew the witness, but the victim was still a mystery.

“I wonder,” I thought to myself as a cool breeze brushed against my face. “I wonder why?”

- Ava

 

From: Beginning, Middle, and End Activity: Beginning - Characters are introduced and the reader learns about the problem, Middle - Detectives work to solve the mystery by interviewing suspects and gathering clues, End - The mystery is solved...

The Legend Of Edward I

There was once a boy named Edward Prestly. He had a mom, a dad, a younger brother named Elvis Prestly, and an older sister named Gracie Prestly. They all lived in a mansion. Edward had a secret: Whenever he reads his sister’s diary, monsters and other creatures come out. If he tells anyone, all of the things come out and attack the person he told!

- Bayan

 

 

From: Who, What, When, Where, Why

Mystery Story

I got an eerie feeling when I heard the booms and crashes of about 5 cars that mysteriously stopped suddenly. I stepped outside, it was misty, a police officer was already there. He had bright red eyes when he asked me my name.

- Nataly

Locked

We were in the teacher’s lounge when the lights went out. We waited for the generator to turn the lights back on, but they never did. We all rushed to the door (all of us except Miss M&M, because she didn’t know). The door was locked! Then the clock raced backward as fast as light! Then the door opened simultaneously. We rushed through to the front door of the school, but it was locked too. A realization dawned on us, we were all alone here.

- Brenna

The Robbery

I couldn’t believe what I had just seen and it was coming back! One night at 2:00 AM on June 3rd a person walked by London Bank #243. He looked gloomy. I tried to keep my eyes from drifting to see his face, but I just couldn’t keep them straight. He looked at me. An alarming shiver flew down my spine. He walked into the bank, but took out a card that wasn’t from the bank. I thought about the bank robbery that happened last week.

- Devon

Detective Pudgy and the Case of the Missing Jackpot of One Million Wombats

Suddenly, Detective Pudgy woke up in the middle of the night! He had had a terrifying dream. But then he heard a horrified squeak followed by an evil laugh. A chill ran down his back. He jumped out of bed and ran toward where he though the noise was coming from. It was dark, but D. Pudgy could just make out a small car driving away from Dr. Chubby’s house. He went up and knocked. He waited five minutes, but no one answered.

- Sophie

The Tunnel

Once upon a time, there was a boy named John Pine who found a hole in his back yard. He had no clue what it was. He threw a rock into the hole but didn’t hear it hit the ground.

“That’s weird,” he said out loud.

Then his mom called him in for dinner. As he was washing his hands he heard about a crime on the news. Someone called The Tunnerler had been robbing banks all over the country!

- Charlie

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The Fluffy Panda Song

Panda  

You think I'm so scary but seriously I can be nice I'm black and white just like a dice. You think I'm a tuffy but I'm really fluffy.

I sqweel when I'm excited it's real don't just recite it. You think I'm a tuffy but I'm really fluffy.

Don't test me the police might arrest me. You think I'm a tuffy but really I'm fluffy.

Not that they would arrest me right they would run away with lots of fear. You think I'm a tuffy but really I'm fluffy.

I have longed for a bamboo bow and arrow but the only person who would have that is a Farrow. You think I'm a tuffy but really I'm fluffy.

I'm a panda that's right come close I don't bite.

-Sophie, Thornhill Elementary

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Gabby's Sunglasses Are Lost and Found

Sunglasses I'm chillin' at the beach. I brought everything, you're at reach. As the sunbeams glow right into my eyes, I thought I would be prepared for this surprise.

I reach inside my sunglasses case...My sunglasses! I don't see them! To my face I get off my chair, I started to get frantic. I thought to myself, "It's okay, just don't panic."

Well, I did exactly what I just thought of. But cut me some slack! What I paid for those glasses sure was a lot! I started looking under various things, like under big rocks, small pebbles, starfish, and rotten old socks!

As I itch my head thinking, "Where else could they be?" I feel behind my ear, this I feel but can't see, I realize that I had been searching for these sunglasses like my life depended on it But all this time, they had been on my head.

-Gabby, Thornhill Elementary

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Words From Our Young Authors at Grattan Elementary

This session the students worked on character and plot. They learned to make use of each of their five senses as a source of inspiration. The students did listening activities that led to poems, worked collaboratively to interpret photos, and used details from their own lives - both mundane and personal - as details to enhance character. See sa couple of the excerpts below!  

From a photograph of a Scarecrow dressed in a fine suit and hanging in a cornfield:

Ballad of the Scarecrow in a suit.

I am a scarecrow. It’s a lot harder than it seems. For one, it’s a pain in the neck to re-stuff yourself everyday. Oh and, hey, wait, please don’t leave. I’m not going to complain the entire time. Maybe ten percent, but not more. Besides, I’m getting off topic, and before I do, I should tell you about my appearance. No really, it’s essential to the story. Like I said, I’m a Scarecrow, an average Joe, straw-filled, rough, canvas skin. But it’s the outfit that really catches people’s eye. I can see you’re filled to the brim with questions, and being the Scarecrow that I am, I am happy to answer them.

-Sam

 

I am supposed to be scary. But not that anyone thinks I am. Everyone thinks I’m funny. It makes me sad. I hope someone will understand.

-Estella

 

From an exercise in collaboration called the exquisite corpse, where the kids each  wrote a line of the story, without having seen the line that came before:

Bob R. Greedy

Bob R. Greedy Planned to smuggle a bald eagle into Spain. At the top of the Empire State building. In the middle of 223 BC. Because of the atomic matter in your mother’s favorite teapot. But she became so excited that she drowned. And this caused the cow to run circles around them.

-Adam

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Josephine Translates for the Cloud Kitten

What the Cloud Kitten Said

The moon is but a bowl of milk drifting in the sky Every night I go up to the moon to get a lick of milk Once the milk is all gone, my mother fills it up again That is how the moon revolves around its lovely Earthly time

-Josephine, Grattan Elementary

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Boudreaux the Beloved Dog

 Ode to Boudreaux

Boudreaux, you are so soft and furry; and as fluffy and cuddly as a brand-new stuffed animal. You seem like a puppy, although you are really an old dog. You are swift, and you happily bound through the park. You know how to cheer us up, even if you are tired at the time. We know we are safe when you are around. You guard the house while we are away. Every day you are there for our comfort. You are as white as snow. You are joyful when we come home. For all that, you think the best reward is Love.

-Helena, Sunset Elementary

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