April Student Writing Gallery!

April 26, 2015 | 826 Blog Post

Each month, we feature EIGHT new pieces of student writing on the TWENTY-SIXTH of the month. (Get it?) This month, we are delighted to feature student work from our In-school Program, specifically highlighting our In-school Workshop Roadshow Program and Family Write Nights.

* Family Write Nights! *

Collaborative Ode
Adams STEM Academy Family Write Night

O pasta, you are so good with the salt and pepper —
it makes it so much better.
I like ice cream a very lot;
it tastes good when days are hot.
I like the taste of the ice cream;
my favorite is cherry.
I think the race car goes faster than
a school bus.
I love you, Ypsilanti, ’cause I love to go
to school.
O Art, I love you in every way,
but there’s a special place in my heart
for glitter glue.
Do you know me?
This is your son.
I insist on getting a mustache.
Mom, I love you. You buy us new foods to try.
Her eyes are lasers.

Collaborative Ode
Erickson Elementary Family Write Night

I love going on vacation with my family
To see their smiles and giggles,
Splashing and making ripples.
I love Great Wolf Lodge because I swim every day
And my favorite part:  I went under the hot tub
And stayed under for a long time.
You push me into the computer and trip just to get a laugh.
My fish would never do what you do.
Don’t be afraid to eat pickles!
Unicorns are real narwhals (>0<)
I run outside with an exuberant mood to play softball!
As bright as a wand my imagination shines.
You are my favorite sister — shh!
Please don’t eat me . . . but I eat ‘em.
Narwhals are cool, narwhals are great, appreciate!
I love to play tug-o-war with you.

 Chelsea Jones, age 8
“Dolphin Rescue”

It was a beautiful day when a dolphin got caught in the ship. The dolphin got the sky and the water confused. “How do I get down?” said the dolphin. While the dolphin was up there, he had a party. Unicorns came to the party. The dolphin just wanted to go home. The next day, the mermaid came. The dolphin said, “Goodbye to the unicorns!” The mermaid took the dolphin back home. Then he came back to visit many, many, many times. They had so much friendship between them, it left a heart in the sky.

 Abby Jones, age 9
“Halloween”

There was once a girl named Amy. Just like any Halloween night, Amy was going trick-or-treating. She was going everywhere. Then, all of the sudden, a witch jumped out. Amy was so scared. She ran all the way back to her house. She was so scared, she had nightmares. Then the witch, out of nowhere, came and scared her again. The news heard about this and put her first letter in a constellation. Then she lived happily ever after.

 Aaron Sanford, age 7
“Ode to Great Wolf Lodge”

I like Great Wolf Lodge because I got to go on a ride.
It was so colorful and the lights were flashing in my face.
Another thing I liked is that I got to go in the hot tub.

* In-school Workshop Roadshows *

Inayah Amir Bey, age 13
“January 4, 1999”

This was the day she was waiting for; Aspynn was going to get her favorite game. Aspynn’s mother and father had left to see family in Japan just a couple days earlier (though her father was from Cuba). In Japan, the Pokemon games had already been released, but in America, the game was not yet released. In advance, Aspynn asked — more like begged — her mother to get her favorite game, Pokemon Green, as a present from Japan, even though she had yet to play it. Luckily, her mother taught her and her twin brother Steven Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana, so she would have no problem reading the Japanese text in her game.

“Aspynn! Mom is on the phone!” her brother Steven called to her as she came downstairs.

“Thanks,” she said grabbing the home phone from her brother. Aspynn and her brother had a very strong relationship. It was the morning of January fourth, and all she had to do was get through school, and then she could finally get her game, and she was excited that her mother and father were coming back from Japan. They had left a week earlier and left the twins with their grandmother.

“Hi Mom. How are you?” Aspynn asked her mother through the phone, taking a seat on the living room couch next to her brother.

“Hi Aspynn. I’m fine. How’s your brother and grandmother?” she asked in a very strong Japanese accent.

“Just fine. It looks like we have a snow day here in Michigan. Will you be able to catch your flight?”

“Your father and I will have to stay here until the storm passes. I will call later on today. Don’t get into any trouble and listen to your grandmother.”

“Mom, we know, we know. Love you. Bye,” Aspynn said as she hung up the home phone and put it back on the charging dock.

“Great. Just great,” Aspynn said, slumping down on the couch. “I’ve waited forever for Mom and Dad to get back, not only just to see them and hear about our family, but it’s gonna be soooooo long until we experience the Pokémon life. So what are we going to do if there’s no school and almost two feet of snow on the ground outside while our grandma is still snuggled up in bed?” Aspyn asked her brother, staring at the television, watching the school closings and weather.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Steven asked turning his head to look at his sister.

“No, not really,” she responded, looking right back at him.

Steven sighed. “And to think that we’re twins.”

“Grandma, Steven and I are going outside, alright?” Aspynn told her grandmother.

“Okay. Be careful, and tell me if you’re going on a walk or what not,” their grandmother said sweetly.

“Okay, so what do we do now?” Aspynn said cluelessly to her brother who was dressed in heavy, warm layers because of the cold and snowy weather, in the front yard of their house.

“We have fun. You wanna sit inside all day and play, and watch cartoons all day until your brain rots, or have fun with your brother?”

“I guess I will spend my precious time with my brother but what are we gonna do? Two fifteen-year-olds who start a snowball fi–” she stopped mid sentence as a snowball collided with her face.

“Yep. Right on. You gonna play or wha–” then a snowball collided with his face.

“You’re on,” Aspynn said slowly backing away.

“I definitely won,” Aspynn said, sitting down on the living room couch.

“Barely. At least my snowman was better.”

“It didn’t have any eyes or arms. It was horrible,” Aspynn said teasing her brother.

“Shut up,” he responded, laughing.

“Kids, want some hot cocoa?” the twins’ grandmother asked.

“Yeah, sure,” they both said simultaneously.

“Thanks Grandma,” they again said simultaneously.

“So what do you wanna do now? We’ve spent hours outside and it’s too cold to go out again,” Steven said to his sister.

“Want to play the Nintendo 64?”

“Super Smash Bros?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks Grandma,” they said, while their grandma sat two mugs on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“You’re welcome,” she said walking away back to the den.

“Best out of three?” Steven said.

“Sure. Just don’t get sad when I win.”

“In your dreams.”

“You only won because at the last minute Kirby fell off the tree,” Steven said taking a sip of his hot cocoa.

“Yeah, sure, you just don’t want to admit that you lost,” Aspynn responded, also taking a sip of her hot cocoa.”

“You know today was a good day after all, even though it’s not even over yet. I just wish we could have spent it with mom and dad,” Steven said.

“Yeah. It was a good day, though. Just wish we had another snow day tomorrow.”

“Yeah, and repeat this day all over again.”

“Well, the day isn’t over yet.”

Michael Pochrnich, age 13
“September 11, 2001”

“Love you, honey,” Jerry’s wife said. Jerry hugged his wife and she drove away. Jerry turned toward the door, got his plane ticket out, and walked inside. People everywhere. People rushing. People running, not walking, running. Business people, family’s everywhere. He walked toward the security, lines everywhere. As more people entered the airport, he became nervous that he was going to miss his flight. He stepped into the security line and waited. At least thirty people were ahead of him. He waited, people moved ahead, he moved again. He pulled out his watch. Twenty minutes left. This was going to be more than twenty minutes, at least. At this point he noticed a shorter line. He stepped into that line and it proved to be much quicker. He put his bags on the table.

As the security guard checked his bags, he interrogated Jerry. “Where are you going?”

“New York,” Jerry responded.

“What for?”

“Oh, just to experience new stuff.”

He looked up at Jerry. He handed him his bags. “Have a nice day.”

Jerry went through security with no problem. Most of the people must have left. He took out his watch. Five minutes left.

He finally made it to the plane on time. He handed the ticket to the lady.

“I am sorry sir, your plane has been delayed for two hours.”

“For what reason?” Jerry asked.

“I am not allowed to say, sir. We will let you know when your plane is able to fly.”

Confusion was the only thing that went through his head. “Huh, okay, thanks.”

Commotion filled the airport. People kept leaving, but Jerry was unable to figure out why. Were there other planes being delayed for so long that people didn’t even want to wait? Did other’s planes take off? Vibrating in his pocket. He picked up his phone. He answered. It was his wife.

“JERRY, JERRY ARE YOU OKAY?” she cried in tears.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, what’s going on?”

“A plane has just crashed directly into one of the Twin Towers.”

Jerry couldn’t believe it. “Okay, yeah, my plane was delayed, I don’t think I’m going. Can you come pick me up?” Jerry asked.

“Yeah, I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks. Bye.” Jerry closed his phone and put it in his pocket.

He sat down and finally got a chance to observe his surroundings. The news was on everywhere. A report on CNN was announcing, “A plane has just crashed into one of the Twin Towers. This has just happened a few moments ago. We have very little information on this incident at this point in time, but we do have a report from someone who was near the incident. She said that she was on her way to work when she came out of the subway and saw a plane fly directly into the World Trade Center. We will bring you updates with more news of this incident as it happens.”

Then the news showed a video of the crash. There was smoke everywhere coming from the top of the building. The smoke was so dark in the center. As it drifted away to the left it got lighter and lighter. You could hear emergency sirens everywhere. Jerry turned around. Everybody was scared, crying. Looking up at the TV. The same channel was on everywhere. Phones were ringing. More and more people were leaving the airport.

Jerry was shocked. He now knew that his trip to New York was not going to happen. Unsure of what to do next, Jerry picked up his stuff and went to sit on the curb, where his wife would pick him up. Traffic everywhere. Police sirens everywhere. All around the airport. You couldn’t go anywhere without being stopped. Here she was. Scared, shocked, nervous, although relieved that he was safe. Jerry got into the car. They hugged and put Jerry’s bags into the back of the car. Everything on the radio was about the situation in New York. If there was a song on, it ended shortly. It took hours to get home. Hours upon hours. Traffic everywhere you went. Jerry got home only to find a second plane crashed into the second Twin Tower and to find the first tower had collapsed. The second Twin Tower was about to collapse. The news showed picture and videos of people jumping to their death. They said that another plane had crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

It only then came to Jerry that this was a terrorist attack, like what happened in Pearl Harbor. CNN said at 10:05 the second Twin Tower collapsed. Jerry couldn’t believe it had happened. He only thought that this must be the last of it. Nothing could happen next. He wanted it to be over. The only possible sight left was the White house. He was only hoping that this was over. Jerry got a phone call from his best friend Walt. Walt wanted to know if he had the news on. If Jerry was okay. Walt wanted to make sure that he wasn’t in any type of danger. He wanted to come over. And sure he did. Walt and Jerry had been best friends since they were kids. They had been through everything together.

Knock knock. When Jerry opened the door, Walt said, “Hey buddy, how are you doing?”

“Good, good,” Jerry said. “Hey, don’t go back out there; traffic is bad out there.”

Moments later, after staring at a TV, the last plane flew directly into the Pentagon. Jerry didn’t know how to feel. He thought it was all over. He was only hoping that no one he knew was in one of those planes.

Ari Barajas, age 13
“8/28/05”

He called and called, but no one would answer. Most of them made an assumption that she was affected by the hurricane critically. Ryan didn’t want to go in that state of mind, yet. He wasn’t ready to accept that she might have died in the disaster. He wanted to forget about it. He knew that she was fine. He was hoping that maybe after the hurricane, she would find a way to contact them, and say how sorry she was for not doing so sooner or maybe she had died. She wasn’t sure what to think.

“Did she call at all?” He felt it was a stupid question to ask, because he’d already known the answer.

“Not today. Do you still think she out there?”

No, he thought.

“I do, do you?”

He didn’t answer, of course.

“I just want you to know that if she isn’t okay, we’re going to be okay.”

Ryan didn’t really feel like hearing that.

He smiled and walked toward his room.

Ryan turned the TV on just get things off his mind.

Almost every channel was talking about the hurricane. He turned the TV off and just sat on his bed listening to music. A few thoughts ran through his mind. One led to another and soon he was thinking about his mom. Ryan hasn’t seen her in almost two months. He came to visit his father, because he lived here in Michigan.

Ryan’s father and mother had been divorced for five years. Ryan was seven when he heard the news. At only seven, he didn’t quite understand why they couldn’t make up like they always did. He remembered fights almost everyday — screaming and yelling about money. Ryan didn’t have a very good appraisal of things. Things were better now, though.

Both of his parents were remarried. Ryan’s step-father and mother had his little sister; she was so beautiful. Emma had a large heart and was very outgoing. She was full of life, wherever and whenever.

His father and his stepmother do not have any children, but he thought that was better, because he got some attention. Although, Linda might be sterile. Ryan heard a couple of conversations between them about a month ago. He heard that she was going through a pretty hard time. She begged him not to say anything.

Linda was such a great step-mother; she was always making lunch and jokes. She seemed happy ninety percent of the time. She became best friends with his mother. Both of them were like high school girls when they were together. Both of his families are very welcoming and full of love. I miss my mother and Emma, thought Ryan.

8/29/05

Today, Ryan decided to take in more information about the disaster.

He felt the urge to watch the news. Maybe he felt like it would help to find his mom or something. He sat under the covers to prepare himself and whispered, “I honestly don’t know why I’m nervous.”

He turned the on the TV reluctantly and changed the channel to CNN news.

“1,800 are reported dead and 6,600 are reported missing.”

How likely was it for his mom to be one of them? The thought scared him.

There were houses and roads underwater.

If something wasn’t underwater, it would be destroyed by the strong winds.

Buildings were torn apart and cars were floating and sinking in the water. He felt a rush of gratitude that he wasn’t there, then anger that his mother and Emma were there.

“Eighty percent of New Orleans is under water.” The news informed him.

Not only was Ryan worried about his own family, but also all the people who would end up homeless because of the traumatic disaster.

There were buses, cars, and trucks on top of houses. Trees had fallen down. Houses once considered homes had turned into scraps of trash.

Ryan shed a tear. He didn’t know whether he would see his mother and Emma again. He was losing his remaining hope. He tried to convince himself that they were okay and that they had found shelter. He thought of all the good things that could’ve happened.

Even if he thought of only three, he would only hang on to those.

Rami Emad Breadiy, age 13
“January 28, 2001”

Harry Clare lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is fourteen years old. It was January 28, 2001, the day of the Super Bowl. That was the year they had to move. Harry did not want to move because he was happy with his life in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he had lots of friends. They had to move to Detroit, an hour away.

”Mmm,” Harry said smelling the fresh scent of chocolate pancakes. He went downstairs to eat breakfast and the news wasn’t on, so he turned on the news. It said the weather was going be hot—73-83 degrees—today in Florida, and right then and there, his dad turned off the TV. He told Harry to go start packing up once he was done with breakfast.

“Okayyy,” Harry said. He finished eating and went to his room to start packing up, and he turned on the TV. It said the Super Bowl today would be the best one yet. It was the Baltimore Ravens vs. New York Giants at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. “Don’t miss it,” said the announcer. Harry said, “Cool,” and he went downstairs and told his dad.

His dad said cool and he said that they could invite their friends over. Harry was happy and then he went to call his friends so they could come over. They said they could come over, so he went to set up some appetizers and popcorn.

Ding dong. Who was that? Harry ran to the door and saw his dad’s friends Ian, Gabe, and Erik with the big New York Giants symbol on their shirts.

How ugly is that? It makes me want to throw up, he thought. “Hi guys, come in.”

Harry went to get his jersey on and his dad went to go put his New York Giants shirt on.

Harry said, “Well, I had gone to get my amazing purple Ravens jersey before your friends came,” so he went upstairs and got ready. Harry said, “Dad, your friends are here.”  Jack, Bill, and Peter rang the doorbell.

“My friends are here, too,” he said, as he went running down the stairs, and his dad followed. Harry opened the door and he saw his three friends, Ian, Gabe, and Erik, so he went with them to the family room and turned on the TV. The TV blared, “Hello everyone, we are in Tampa, Florida at the biggest Super Bowl yet, and with best two teams, the New York Giants vs. the Ravens.”

“Wait Dad, I have an amazing idea,” Harry said. “What if we make the biggest bet of all time. If we win, we stay here and don’t move, but if you win, we move,” he said.

His dad agreed and the pressure was on in first quarter, with the score at 7-0. In the second quarter, the score was 10-0. Harry said, “Hooray, we’re winning in the third quarter with a 14-7 score!” There were more touchdowns in the fourth quarter and the game ended 34-7, with the Ravens winning! “Yes, we won, we won’t have to move!” said Harry.

 

 


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