Leor's draft of "Dragons"

I stared down toward the sandbox from the top of my Dragon. Suddenly I felt a rush of cool air blowing hair around my face. As Dragon swooped downward toward the ground I screamed at the top of my lungs until my face got red. I felt my toes skim through the soft, lush grass as I flew upward holding tight onto the wings of Dragon. When I woke up in the meadow and recalled this dream I stood up, held out my arms and ran up the hill flapping my arms just like Dragon wings.

Dragons

We stare down to the bottom of the hill
From the sandbox, we stare

We start to run down
Tumble, slip, roll, we run
Scream, jump, fly, with joy

Toes skimming the ground
Hearts hammering
Arms pumping
Grass crunching

Bursts of laughter fill the air
Heavy breathing fills our heads
Screaming kids all around

We start back up
Up the great hill
Flapping our wings
Our dragon wings

Jamie Jacobs

The Dragons

"Roar" "Roar" Jack and I yell. We are pretending to be dragons flying over the high rooftops.
We stare down seeing all the little cars and people looking like they are toys.
Jack starts screaming like a trumpet. Then I follow like a flute.
We spin and spin then fall down onto the grass!
We start laughing our heads off,then we go up,
up and away again!
It feels good to fly!

Adi's Draft of "Dragons"

Dragons

I stare down
toward the bottom
from the top of the sandy hill.

I jump off the hill
with the wind pressing against my face.

I begin screaming,
at the top of my lungs.

The straps are tight against my body,
I feel like I’m in an elevator
falling down, and down, and down,
and it never stops.

My feet barely touching the water,
But when I stop
I hit the grass.

At the bottom I laugh
sitting on the grass,
feeling like a dragon
flying back up.


- Adi Rosenkrantz 6B

Dragons

We stare down toward the deep bottom of the grainy sand box.

I start sprinting, screaming at the top of my lungs with great joy.

Our toes are skimming the top of the grass. The cherry blossoms all around.

As I reach the top of the teeter totter I feel as if I'm at the top of the world flying.

The wind blowing through my hair feels outstanding. I wish I could stay up at the top forever.

-Isobel

Adi's Book Talk About the Book 'Elsewhere'

Book Talk

Book: ‘Elsewhere’
Author: Gabrielle Zevin

My hook:

Elizabeth Marie Hall died at the age of fifteen (almost sixteen) when a car ran over her. She doesn’t know that she died, because she doesn’t remember anything about the crash. When she wakes up she finds her self on a bank bed in a small white room with another girl that she doesn’t know. Thandi, the girl on the bottom bank, lived in DC for about sixteen years until she got shot in the head. The girls introduce themselves and get to know each other. They soon realize they are on a boat, ‘but where to?’ they wonder.

Elsewhere is the place where people go to after they die. There you don’t get older but you get younger. When you are a baby you get sent back to earth in a river with all the other babies and start a new life. In the beginning Liz (her nick-name) thought it was all a dream but soon she realizes that this is real life, or as she says real death. She meets lots of people in her adventure in Elsewhere. Some that knew her but she didn’t know them, some that she knew but they didn’t know her, and some that just met and had no clue about each other.

On Elsewhere Liz is sure that it is impossible to fall in love, have fun, and get on with your life without being depressed. With the help of her friends, Liz soon realizes that nothing is impossible.


Even though ‘Elsewhere’ is an odd book, and is a very rare topic to write about, I liked it. I think that this book is mostly for girls from the age of 11-13 grades 6-8. Boys can read this book too, but I think that they won’t enjoy it much. I recommend it to students that like: romance, reality, fantasy, who can deal with a bit of sadness in a story, and a tad of adventure.

You can find the book Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin in the public library, chapters, and in kidsbooks.

-Adi Rosenkrantz 6B

Homework

1. Page 21 Communicating Skills

2. Binder check

3. Re-write "Dragons" using clearer and more descriptive writing so your readers can understand it better than "Meg's" poem. Post it and label it: "Dragons".

All due Monday

Homework

-Glossary Test Tomorrow

(Any five previous words; you should ace it!)

If you have some time, I'm sure your classmates would appreciate some comments on their work. There is some excellent work here!

Writers united!

Almost ready to write...

sensory image paragraph

Sensory Image Paragraph

It was a normal school night, I was in my room doing my math homework. Suddenly, my window burst open and the heavy cold wind flew into my room screeching. I heard screaming coming from downstairs. I ran out of my room as fast as I could! My heart was beating as fast as ever. I ran down the cold wooden floors. Running as fast as I could down the stairs, I slipped on the second last stair and fell face first onto the hard marble floor. My mind began to swirl and I fell into what seemed like a deep sleep…

“WAKE UP!!” My sister yelled as she shoved me to get up.

My mind was a blur, I had no idea what was going on. All I heard was the howling of the wind, and my sisters voice. Just then, the floor shook. First, a little bit, then it got to the point where I heard the sound of the wine glasses shattering onto the ground.

“Carly, get outside!” I heard my dad say.

From outside I heard cries of,

“EARTHQUAKE!”

It was FREEZING outside! I was still in my school clothes, and I had nothing else. My nose was killing. I wanted to turn back, but it was too late, my house was burning down.

Bubbles

Bubbles

I was on my way home from the courthouse were I had interviewed for a position as first assistant to the judge. I wasn’t at all sure that the judge was impressed by my presentation. I knew I was going to be quite miserable if a whole year of preparation wasn’t going to be good enough to get the job. To make things absolutely worse it was raining on the way back home. Mind you, I’m not talking about a drizzle, I’m talking about rain with a capital R! By the time I came home I was soaked and chilled to the bone. This promised to become one miserable day. I slammed the door behind me, took off my coat, kicked out my brand new but by now solidly ruined leather shoes and ran straight up stairs to the bathroom to take a boiling hot bubble bath! I needed some seriously warm relaxation at the end of this day. Just when I was ready to step into my perfect pinky pink bubbles the phone rang. “Oh darn”, I had to run downstairs to answer the slim black phone on my kitchen counter. Maybe it’s the court. Maybe I got the job! Barely dressed and out of breath I picked up the screaming phone. “Hello….?” “Oh, hi mom.” She always knew when were the best times to call me. “Mom, can I call you back later?”

“Honey, listen to this. The dog just peed on me. He knocked over my china to the floor were it laid there, shattered. The cat scratched the walls including my antique painting from the seventeen hundreds. The bird just flew out of its cage and right into the house next door, you know the one were Lola lives, this horrible lady who never mows her lawn. A coyote ate our bunny and your father is late for dinner again! The doctor told me that I should have an operation for my veins, but with these terrible headaches I can’t take the pressure of going to a hospital. You know your brother hasn’t called me for three days. You know he was never like that before he married that no good wife of his.”

“Mom, how’s the weather in Miami?”

“It’s sunny but I shouldn’t complain, really.”

“Well, thanks for asking, but here it has been raining cats and dogs the whole day! It’s raining so hard, it almost feels as if it were raining inside the house.” Wait a second… raining inside the house? THE BATHTUB!!!

Polished Sensory Image Paragraph

This year my birthday is very different. Last year in the the afternoon of my birthday there was a giant earthquake in Port-au-Prince Haiti were I lived. I still remember the rumbling and roaring as the earth shook while mine and many others houses collapsed. I was buried under about 1000 pounds of hard cement. My heart was pounding like a runner who has just won the world cup. I kept focused on two things I must survive and where is the rest of my family?

-By Barbie

Shayla's sensory paragraph

The Incident

I was lying on my bed looking at two of my favourite outfits, my magenta top with black and pick jeans and my don’t bother me I’m busy tee with brown sweat pants that say the same thing on the back. Then I heard some people screaming and pouring water down our street. I ran down stairs I slipped in a puddle. My mom yelled at me and my sister too go to the attic with are favourite thing and some cloths in one bag. After that I went to the attic with my younger sister Selena. The attic was disgusting and had spider webs all over. I didn't know what was happening till my dad was home from work extra early I ask my dad what was happening he didn't answer. But when my mom got up the stairs with my favourite snack that she only give me on special occasions. She told me that there is a flood and a boat is coming too get us we heard sirens and we look outside there was a police boat it look like a police car but it was a boat. The police guy told us to slowly climb down the roof and get into the boat I was first my roof was super slippery the brown looked like black. But I did it I was in the boat next it was Selena’s turn she was supper scared so a police guy had to help her down next it was my parent and our bags. Finally we were in the boat they took us to a dock we went on a Cruise. The Cruise was super nice they had a smoothie bar and ice cream bar all for free. The Oreo coffee crisp dark chocolate ice cream was to die for. We finally docked after fifteen day on the boat we were in Germany. We had to start are life all over.

You know when you are soaking wet and cold and you just want to get home and have a nice warm bath on a horrible, gloomy and wet day. Well I had to sit on a 19 hour flight like that, just me and my sister no change of clothes. Here's how it happened. It was the end of summer but it felt like the middle of autumn, we were on the way to the airport for our trip to Australia and running low on gas. Clonk clonk, clonk clonk was the sound of the car. We only were 10 minutes away from the airport then suddenly the car broke down, there was black smoke everywhere blinding us we couldn't even find the way out. Mum called a tow truck and a taxi, but it was to late we had to be at the airport in 20 minutes but the cab would take 30 minutes to arrive. We thought if we ran we could make it so we grabbed our luggage and dashed to the airport. We were 2 minutes away when i collapsed in a huge puddle of mud it was disgusting, but we were all drenched I didn't want to get any wetter so I got up and pushed it to my last extent. When we finally made it every one was starring at us but it didn't feel like us it felt like they were starring only at me, They were! were was my mum were was my sister. Well it turns out my mum took my sister to get changed as usual they forgot about me and by the time they got back I had no time to get changed, comet think of it we barely made the plane so i had to dream about finally landing in sunny Australia, well i would IF I COULD SLEEP!-Gabe

Sensory Paragraph

On a gloomy and sinister day I was strolling towards the busy city square when I felt a light drizzle upon my head. I ignored it and raced to the large, long brick bridge that joined my street to the city square. The drizzle got heavier and a sudden burst of water came down, I heard a distant rumble and saw the lightning. All of the sudden, the bridge started to tremble. My heart leaped and I gasped in horror as I saw a few bricks fall into the water with a loud splash. I felt the ground shaking, I knew I was trapped. Without thinking twice I plunged into the glacial water. As I grasped for breath I swam to the edge of the river, where the water was shallow. There I shivered and listened to the frightened people running in panic, Their hasty footsteps on the nearby streets made a click clack sound on the pavement. I gazed at the bridge as it collapsed into the water. All that remained on the surface of the water where bricks, and one or two dead bodies buried under the ruins. I had never witnessed an earthquake and storm before, it was more horrifying that I could have ever imagined. My clothes and my hair where damp, I covered my head in my hands and started to sob. The rain, thunder and lightning had abruptly ceased and I was left weeping and sniffing alone. After this disaster, the last thing I expected came, the sun had come out. It's rays shone on me and I rose from my spot.-Salome

Sensory Image Paragraph

Sensory Image Paragraph

By Nadav

I was hiking in the humid, lush, tropical rain forest of Costa Rica. I caught a glimpse of a vibrant orange, sky blue, and lime-green coloured toucan with an elegantly curved beak. I gazed at its spectrum of shades until it flew away into the forest canopy. It reminded me of Fruit Loops cereal and mouth began to water. Though the toucan was silent, my surroundings were far from quiet. Birds chirped to each other, and raindrops fell hard on the soggy plants. The wetness dripped down the hood of my rain poncho echoing in my ears.

Sensory Immage Paragraph

BOOM! BOOM! CRASH! BOOM! I wake up into a sudden flood of darkness. The first thing that jumps to my mind is: EARTHQUAKE! and I keep screaming that until I hear my mom yell back to me that its only a thunder storm. I calm myself down and try to fall back asleep, but that seems impossible. I just cant stop hearing: pit pat pit pat.. BOOM! BOOM! I can even smell the fresh smell of rain, and feel the wet touch of it on my arm, and the taste of it in my mouth, the watery taste. That's impossible! But it isn't, not if you have a leek in your roof! So I try and try to fall back asleep, rolling on my uncomfortably wet mattress. I suddenly see a flash of bright light, then another: BOOM! BOOM! CRASH! BOOM! Then suddenly, out of no where, the pouring stops, the thunder stops, and so does the lightning. I decide I might as well go back to sleep, but I can't get those annoying booming sounds out of my head. BOOM! Maybe it's not over after all!

Oren's sensory image paragraph

Drip,drop I'm sitting at home next to the fire place all cold. I am all a lone but my dog and the sound of the TV. I just curl up in to a ball all scared that the thunder will struck me and my dog. I can barley stand up and get the phone, cause i am so scared. I was praying that day that my mom would be home safe soon.

Josha's Sensony Image Paragraph

I remember the time I went to the beach with my mum. The waves were crashing so hard anyone would think that God was angry and taking it out on the waves. The sky was gray. I remember my mum wearing her favourite coat and yellow hat. We stayed for a little while but all too quickly the cold seeped into our bones and we had to leave. Then the rain started. I love the rain, especially on the beach because I can feel the wet sand between my toes. I remember the sound of the engine in our car pumping up as we drove away.