Pumpkin Interviews!

      My classes had fun exploring the concept of personification as we learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin.  From seed, to leaves and vines, to flower and finally, the pumpkin, my students learned it all!  Their challenge was to take that scientific knowledge and turn it into questions they could ask a personified pumpkin.  What would a pumpkin think of its seed life?  How about when it sprouted out of the ground?  What would a pumpkin think pollination felt like?  And what about those clever tendrils that latch on to everything?  Of course... what would a pumpkin think about at the end of its life?  All of these questions and more can be found in these samples.  Enjoy!

Interview with Bella, by Julia (4th grade)

Julia: What were the first few things you remember?

Bella: The first thing I ever remembered was darkness. Then I heard voices, a girl I supposed and a boy. I felt like I was being lifted, then dropped into soft, brown stuff. Immediately I felt thirsty, and the girl seemed to shout, “Get water for the “pumpkin seed!” Then water dropped through the brown stuff and my thirst was quenched! Best part of life at that point!

Julia: Wow! What happened next?

Bella: After that I waited for about a week. Then I could feel my legs, pearly white and very wobbly and skinny. They continued to grow until I could actually stand up! Another achievement!

Julia: Great, not to be offensive, but you look young and not much like a pumpkin. I’m pretty sure pumpkins aren't green with a golden flower on top.

Bella: Not offensive at all! Actually, I’m in the so far BEST part of being alive. Though getting here took awhile. After I got my legs, I had the most perfect green hands ever! The girl apparently said they were “seed leaves”, and sounded super excited. Those “seed leaves” soaked up the warm stuff from where I couldn’t see. Sadly, those hands were replaced with other less perfect hands. A dark green one that was MUCH too big for my taste. There was good in it though, too. Those hands soaked up the warm stuff super fast. I began to grow.

Julia: Nice job, please continue.

Bella: Then a bunch of arm like thingies came climbing out, attaching themselves to a lot of stuff. Then the best thing that ever happened to me came in, I GOT A SUPER COOL FLOWER ON MY HAIR!! 

Julia: Ooh! That does sound super cool! What happened next? Though it sounds like we are getting to an end.

Bella: Then I could see. I was a small green bulb, with a golden flower. Right now, I’m exactly 12 hours from that change.

Julia: Ok then, this is as far from the beginning as you went. Now what do you want to be when you grow up?

Bella: Well, I hope to be either a perfect orange pumpkin or a white one. Another thing I forgot to tell, when I could see, I saw a bunch of other green bulbs and golden flowers that I thought were my siblings.

Julia Cai: Now that we covered your life span until now, I’ll move on to personal information.

Julia: What is your age right now? 

Bella: Around 70 days old.

Julia: What is your Birthday? 

Bella: August 22, 2020

Julia: Who were your siblings?

Bella: Some of them are: Beth, Sam, Luke, and Sophie.

Julia: It was great to meet you, Bella. See you later!

                                                  Interview with Mr. Pumpkin, by Bobby (5th grade)

Prof. B: Thank you for meeting with me today. You are looking quite good.

Mr. Pumpkin: That is very kind of you, but I don’t have a face.

P.B: Oh, uh I’m sorry well then let’s move onto our first question. What happened in your childhood?

M.P: That’s an interesting question. Well I guess I have to answer it. First, I started in a dark bag with all of my brothers and sisters. Then all of a sudden, someone started shaking the bag! Me and my siblings were being thrown out the bag! Luckily, I didn’t fall out, because if I did I wouldn’t be here.

P.B: Wow that sounds like a pretty traumatizing childhood. Please continue. This is very interesting.

M.P: Ok. I don’t remember that much after, but it was really dark and squishy. After about 1 week my legs and hair started to grow!

P.B: Wow! Only 1 week, that’s incredible! What happened to those seed leaves?

M.P: I was just about to tell you. They got replaced by vine leaves. As the days passed, I grew hands trying to find something to grab onto. I called them tendrils.

P.B: So that’s why vines swirl around when they grow?

M.P: Yes

P.B Cool! Carry on.

M.P Alright. The weirdest thing happened after that. A little yellow flower grew on my butt. I tried pretty hard, but I couldn’t get it off. Then a bunch of winged insects came fluttering around me! It was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me!

P.B: That does sound pretty scary, but what happened to your flower? 

M.P: Hold on, you’re missing a step. A little green ball grows. AKA me. And the flower shrivels up! I thought I was dying!

P.B: What are you planning to do after this?

M.P: Actually, my owner will gut me and roast my seeds for food!

P.B: Geeze! Well good luck!

Interview with Pumpers, by Jackie (6th grade)

Jackie: Welcome Mr. Pumpers! Er…. Mr. Puddle-kin. Anyways, how are you doing today?

Pumpers: I am not doing well at all. I really never had any hope for myself since the moment I came out of that dark cage. 

Jackie: Well, I was wondering how you got to this… umm… how do I put this nicely? “Slightly smashed” state. 

Pumpers: (Offended and rude) Wow, how nice of you to say. (More relaxed) Well, I’m actually glad you asked because my life was absolutely horrible! I started out super small, and in this dark cage. Never in my life have I ever felt more cramped! Wet, brown stuff packed me in, so I had no room to move. My neighbors were so close, and worse of all, they were super nosy! 

Jackie: Oh my, well it seems like you are still a bit cramped.

Pumpers: Yup! These flies are always buzzing about and being even more nosy than my neighbors! (Mutters) which is saying a lot. Anyways, I was even more angry when I sprouted this terribly ugly hairdo! It was green, and had two tiny little leaves on it. It was even worse than I ever thought it would be. I remember clearly how my neighbors bragged about how they were so much prettier than me. 

Jackie: Yikes! That seems super hard to live with. Do you have any more memories from when you were still a young pumpkin?

Pumpers: Actually, I do! When I was in this wet , dark stuff, I recall that it was unreasonably hot! I only got a teeny tiny bit of water every day. I was living in harsh conditions so I always wonder how I even got grown!

Jackie: I remember learning about a pumpkin’s life cycle, so what was it like with one of those beautiful yellow flowers?

Pumpers: Ugh. Don’t even get me started on HER. She was the worst mom flower in the whole patch! She always told me I was not big enough, and I had to grow more and eat my veggies and my fruit. Little did she know that she was forcing me to be a cannibal! I disliked her very much. She was so commanding, and she always had the upper leaf! Until she wilted, HA! Take that, Mom! 

Jackie: Well, did you really live with her for that long? 

Pumpers: Yes! I had her for weeks! I actually kind of wish she hadn’t wilted, because then, I wouldn’t have been bullied. She also just became one giant, dry, flower on my head. I had to wait ages until she finally fell off. 

Jackie: That sounds very interesting! Can you tell me about the bullying part? What had happened?

Pumpers: Well, one of the vines that had grown up next to me was telling all of the other vines to use their tendrils to take all of the possible holds in the pumpkin patch, so me and my vine couldn’t find any spots. It was disastrous. When I asked about why they were doing this, the bully vines just said, “You can’t boss us around! You're still green, Watermelon!” I was so angry! Everyone in the patch knew that I was under-average so I hadn’t gotten the orange-yellow color yet. 

Jackie: That sounds very frustrating. How did you become orange?

Pumpers: I got pollinated by bees. When my mom was still around, she opened her arms out big and wide, for the bees to go into. I couldn’t see much, but I heard a lot about it from the bully vines. 

Jackie: That sounds nice. So, we pretty much covered most of your life, right?

Pumpers: pretty much, but there is still some of my life getting to this (mockingly) “Slightly smashed state”. 

Jackie: umm… okay. Carry on Mister!

Pumpers: One night, while everyone in the patch was settling down for sleep, I noticed my vine was growing very rapidly. I was scared out of my mind! I had just grown into a big orange pumpkin, and I had overheard from one of those humans like you, I would be cut from the vine soon! I knew something was off, because I started racing towards the fence gate. I saw a large truck pull over in front of me, and I knew what was coming for me next. 

Jackie: This is getting very suspenseful! 

Pumpers: I suddenly stopped, and realized that the angry mailman was coming. He came to the gate, and opened the door. No, not opened it. HE SLAMMED IT IN MY FACE! I got cracked, and smushed, and flew across the patch into the other fence! It was the worst time of my life! I was super mad at that mailman. I was so close to getting picked!

Jackie: Well, it looks like we have run out of time for today. Thank you for doing this with me, Mr. Pumpers. It has been a delightful time!

Pumpers: Thank you for interviewing me, Jackie. I had a somewhat good time. Bye!

Pumpkin Interview

With Julia (7th grade) and Mr. P-Pie

Me: Hello sir, how are you doing today?

Mr. P-pie: I’ve been better. Why are you asking me? No one has ever been kind to me.

Me: Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. I hope this interview will make your day better.

Mr. P-pie: Let’s hope so.

Me: So, what was it like when you were a little pumpkin? Do you remember most of your childhood?

Mr. P-pie: Well, I’m getting a bit teary even thinking about it. I remember every single, little, detail about my life as a little seed, all the way to what I am today. I remember when I was dropped into some soft fertile soil in the month of May. It was like I was dressed in a nice warm sweatshirt. I got water when I was thirsty, and I was really happy and grateful. I remember that after about a week or so, I grew these two little leaves. Now I know they were my seed leaves, but back then I had many theories about those leaves. I thought they were my legs, then I thought they were my arms, then hair, but now I know they were my seed leaves.

Me: That sounds really nice. I’m glad you have some nice memories of your baby years. What about when you grew up a little more?

Mr. P-pie: My next few years flew by in a flash. I sprouted out of the ground, and I started growing these long, beautiful, healthy, vines. I grabbed all my friends and anything I could with them. It was quite amusing to grab everything in my reach. Then I grew this beautiful yellow flower. Mine was the healthiest in the patch, and I had attracted almost all the bees because they liked my flower the best. I even remember one of the bees telling me that I had the most gorgeous flower he had seen in a very long time. I was so proud. Sadly, because my flower was so nice, the bees focused all of their attention to me. So a few days later, all my brothers, sisters, and friends became very ill.

Me: I’m so sorry to hear that.

Mr. P-pie: It’s not your fault. But, anyway, that was a difficult time. After that, I was grateful for everything and anything that happened to me. I grew up really healthy my whole life. After my flower bloomed, I became a little green ball. I grew, and grew, and grew. I began to turn a little more orange every day until I was a big, beautiful, orange, and round pumpkin. I could tell that my harvester was overjoyed when he saw me.

Me: That sounds wonderful, I’m so happy for you. What happened after that?

Mr. P-pie: I was cut from my vine and sold for quite the lot. I went to a local store where I was sold to a nice-looking family. But looks can be deceiving. They cut me, and took out all my organs. I have mere days left to live with big scars on me, and a candle where all my insides should be. If I could have one thing back, it would be my childhood. That is why I’m so grateful for the life I had. I just wish I could have had a happier, more peaceful ending.

Me: That is a very inspirational story. I am sorry you couldn't have the ending you were hoping for, but it sounds like you will bring joy to the owners of the doorstep where you sit!  I hear a certain holiday is coming up where you will be the star! If you ever need a friend to talk to, I’m always here.

Mr. P-pie: Thank you for letting me share my story.

Me: Not a problem, I enjoyed it myself. 

Me: Now, next on JNN Live News, we will be speaking with Ms. Melón the watermelon.

Persuasive Writing: Election Time!

      Check out these awesome presidential candidates and propositions!  Would you vote for them?  In this lesson on persuasive writing, the students were taught to write an introduction, body, and conclusion that explained their views clearly and packed a punch with persuasiveness through strong and emotion-filled language.  Enjoy these selections!

            PROP 1234: Get a 3 day weekend and a 4 day school week!!!

                                            By Seoyoon (3rd grade)

   Prop 1234 is the best prop in the USA. Prop 1234 means having more free time to spend on the weekends. Also, this proposition will create a shorter school week!!!

First, getting a 3-day weekend is important because we can get more time to finish school homework. There is not much time to play with our families as the schedule is now. We can get more time to spend time with our families with a 3-day weekend. If you are a teacher, you get to have more time to plan fun activities for students to do!  Finally, there will be more time to plan extra work for some students that need more education. 

If you want to have more time to finish homework, plan activities for school, and spend more time with your family, be sure to vote YES on Prop 1234.

                                                            Kyle for President

                                                            by Kyle (4th grade)

     Vote Kyle for President because I'm smart, cool, and awesome!

     If I get elected, it will only cost $1,000 to live in America for a lifetime!  There will be more military forts, so the country will be more protected.  Paper will also be free!  Everyone will have a pet, and they can bring it to school every day.

     If you want an awesome president, vote for Kyle!

Vote for Jessie!  (4th grade)

If you want a caring, supportive and considerate president, and if you care about the people around you ,vote for Jessie. I will try hard to be considerate and make fair decisions.  Here are some more reasons why you should vote for me.

Voting for me will not only help people who are fortunate, but also the people who aren’t fortunate. I will work on making services for food, if restaurantes have extra food, I’ll get that to the people in need, instead of the good food going to the garbage and creating large landfills. I also will build a large orphanage building.  It will be a fun place, and a school will be built right next to it, just for orphans.  That way they can learn like the people around them and won’t feel left out. The last important thing that I will do is build homeless shelters.  They will receive  donated things, and some will be made new.  The taxes will pay for these things just like public schools, libraries and other buildings.

Imagine if you didn’t have a home, food or parents, you would feel terrible, hungry or discouraged. If you want to help those people vote for Jessie.

Prop 39: Get to Wear What You Want in School!

By Anay (4th grade)

Prop 39 is one of the best props in the world. It allows students to wear whatever they want to school, and not wear uniforms.  It lets you be free in school!  Let me tell you more about Prop 39. 

Have you ever felt itchy in school  because of your uniform?  Well Prop 39 will get rid of that. Have you ever felt that you want to express how you are feeling that day, and you couldn’t express yourself because of your uniform? Well Prop 39 will change that and will let you express yourself.  Students also get to wear what they choose.  If they want to wear more thin shirts and thin shorts because it was going to be a hot day, they can choose that instead of their thicker uniforms.   

 You should vote Prop 39 because it will let students wear comfortable clothes in school and let them express themselves in school by wearing clothes of their choice. So vote for Prop 39 for true clothing freedom! 

                                                            Behold  the future 

                                  By: Rylin (6th grade) 

              

I want to help our electric future so it won’t be like the past. I believe in better learning conditions for our future students, and better wifi! So please vote YES on Prop 51 . 

This proposition will help students learn better by providing discounted wifi that actually works. My prop would solve that annoying problem of having your partner drop out of your breakout room, and it would help your teachers to stop dropping like flies. Lastly, my proposition will at the beginning of every school year make all internet companies  give a 80% off to you! 

So please help the future in a brand new way by supporting Prop 51. 

                                    Prop 123456789 : No More Dangerous Fires

                By Hari (6th grade)

Prop 123456789 provides a key component that will help the face of the Earth. It makes it so that big fires and lighters are banned. This prop is important for many reasons.

The first reason is that in October 2020, there were 44,000 Fires. All of these fires were caused by lighters and other fires. The second reason is that there are children and toddlers who die or get hurt from the use of lighters. They grab onto the lighter, and because they have no safety cap, they start a fire and burn themselves. My last reason is that I created an invention that bypasses the issues. 

This invention creates a spark that has a strong keyhole cap. The only way to unlock it is if you use the designated key given to you. You need to go through a big process to use this tool so that you don't misuse it. It only can be opened for ten seconds before getting locked for one minute. 

Vote yes on Prop 123456789 if you want to save acres of our beautiful land, as well as children, by using this incredible invention.

Monster Draw Game

 Adjectives, adjectives, adjectives!  They tell size, shape, color, and number.  And if you don't include them, your reader will get an incomplete picture in their mind of what you are trying to describe!  That was the theme of our On Demand Writing Game, "Monster Draw."  Here is how you play:

Step 1: Draw a monster, complete with background if you have time.

Step 2: Describe every aspect of your monster and background.  Don't leave out a single detail!  Because....

Step 3: Trade descriptions with a partner.  Now you will draw each other's ONLY by reading what they have written.  No talking or asking questions allowed!

As you can see, this game gives students instant feedback about their ability to use detail in their writing.  We all had some good laughs as pictures were compared near Halloween Day.  The winners were voted on by the class.  Enjoy!

Theo's Monster (5th grade)

     My monster is a pretty big guy that takes up most of the page.  He looks like a snowman.  His head (like a snowman) is the smallest of the three.  It is blue with a green border.  Its eyes are yellow, and its eyebrows are orange.  He is mad.  His mouth is in a sad face, and his mouth is orange.  He has three yellow, thin horns that go left, right, and up. 

     The middle part of the monster is (like a snowman) is middle-sized.  It has a green border and is blue.  This ball has a face too!  This face has large eyes without pupils that are yellow.  His mouth is wide open and is orange.  He has two orange stick hands, and one of them is carrying a small yellow jack-o-lantern that has a mad face.

      The third ball at the bottom has a green border and is blue.  It is the largest ball out of all the three.  Its eyes are just two simple straight lines going horizontally that are yellow.  The mouth is also a simple yellow line that goes horizontally, but it is longer.  Its legs are short and they have orange boots.

     The background is just a light blue sky with a purple half moon in the right corner.

    Theo is an absolute pro at this game!  This is his 6th workshop with me, and it shows!  That detail is amazing and so easy to follow.  Ben (5th grade) was happy to draw this twin! 

Ella's Monster (5th grade)

     My monster is a cute and fancy guy.  His body is a big triangle that takes up lots of space.  The triangle is an orange-red color.  He has large, closed brown eyes.  On his right eye is a large monocle that is gray.  The monocle has a little shine on the top right side.  Connected to the monocle is a squiggly rope with gray beads in between.

     He has a brown long mustache.  His mustache is close to this eyes.  The monocle should go on top of the mustache.  The mustache has a little bit of red in it.  It is curly at the end.  Underneath the mustache is a red tongue.  The tongue should face downwards and right.

     My monster has two small, yellow legs and feet.  He has no shoes or toes.  He also has two yellow arms.  The right arm doesn't show its hand.  Some of the arm is cut off out of the paper.  The left arm should have a fancy black watch.  In his hand should be a small white teacup.  The teacup should have two pink splotches and one purple splotch. The drink inside should be turquoise.   Under the tongue is a bowtie.  The bowtie has a black circle in the middle.  Next to the circle are two triangles.  The triangles are turquoise.  A black stripe is at the end of each triangle.  At the top of his head is a big, black top hat.  The top hat should be slightly tilted to the right.  Lastly, the background is plain white.

Ella's monster is so cute and she described him so perfectly!  Clara (6th grade) nailed it!

Julia's Monster (4th grade)

My monster is a happy guy. His head is shaped like two circles, one big and one small, like a horse.  It is dark green on the outside and apple green on the inside, a little smaller than a horse’s. The whole body is facing to the side, so you only see one eye, and that eye is a little less curved than a rainbow, otherwise just like it… and black. His ears are also like a horse, only bigger, and dark green on the outside and dark peach on the inside. The nose is very small, just one black dot where the nostrils of a horse is. This monster has no mouth.

The neck and body are connected, both the same color of the head, except the chest is the same peach color like the inside of the ears, and has lines going horizontally, two to be exact. The underside of the belly is the same as the chest, even the same number of lines, though going vertically. The monster has four feet without any kind of imprinting, connected with the body and the same color, dark green on the outside and apple green in the middle. The tail is kind of shaped like a right triangle, split diagonally so there is a “ish” backwards trapezoid on top, same kind of greens, and another right triangle on the bottom, peach with two lines going vertically.

This monster also has wings, true green and apple green where the saddle would usually go on a horse.

The background has a yellow moon in the top right corner of the paper with outlined black circles randomly placed on the moon, eleven of them. The sky is shaded light black and the ground is outlined in brown. Oh… I forgot, the monster is facing the right and there is a jack-o-lantern in front of him… except the stem is replaced by a round, black handle. And the whole paper is horizontally placed.

Can you guess my monster?

Julia is such an excellent, thorough writer, that she got her partner Leila (4th grade) to draw this practical twin!

1st Person Stories: Backwards Land Postcards

 Once we created our imaginative backwards lands in our minds, we wrote stories in the form of postcards  as we pretended to visit our Backwards Land!  First, we story mapped clear beginnings, middles, and ends.  We learned how to address a postcard and where the stamp would go, as we created our own stamp designs (addresses/stamps cut out for privacy).  We ended the project with an imaginative picture on the front representing our land.  Enjoy these samples!

A letter from Esoj Nas, by Carissa (4th grade)

A Letter from Gnimoyw, by Allie (5th grade)

A Letter from Kroy Wen, by Jeff (5th grade)

A Letter From Adanac, by Juliet (6th grade)

Backwards Land Paragraphs!

Writing a good paragraph goes beyond just writing a certain number of sentences on the same topic.  Every sentence should have a different pattern or style to keep the reader interested and engaged.  To practice this concept, the "Awesome Authors and Artists" classes had fun brainstorming the names of real places backwards, and writing about what the new crazy-named places would be like.  Enjoy these samples, and see if you can figure out what the names originally were!   

Eropagnis, by Vivian (4th grade)

     Eropagnis is a beautiful environmentally-healthy island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its wildlife is a natural wonder, with lush forests growing plentifully. While visitors enjoy the beauty, they can also sip wonderful juices made of delicious fruits. During the busiest visitor hours, friendly locals love to help tourists find their way. For all travelers who love wildlife, lush greens, healthy snacks, and zero pests, this would be the dream location.

Kroy Wen, by Carl (5th grade)

        Kroywen is a vast sunny country with lots of space for fun activities. Because of the warm weather, it is great for farming year-round. As the sun beats down upon Kroywen, you can hear children laughing in thedistance. It is a very pretty environment with beautiful things all around. So if anyone LOVES fruits and vegetables, pretty environments, and fun activities, they have found the perfect vacation destination. 

Eessennet, by Allison (4th grade)

Eessennet is a beautiful and sunny wonderland located on a seaside shore. It is full of luxurious hotels, bustling markets, and tourist-friendly attractions. Because of the ocean, there are many exhibits available to the public at a low price. During the early morning hours, visitors can climb to the rocky peak and watch the sunrise. Anyone looking for a cozy, welcoming vacation spot is recommended to visit Eessennet.