A Wish List for Others

 This is typically a time of year for kids to make wish lists and focus on what they want.  So, I like challenging them at this time of year to see if they can think of others in need, and write a wish list on their behalf.  My students had no problem thinking of others in need in their communities and the world.  Enjoy these two sweet samples!

Dear Santa,

        I am writing this letter for the homeless all over the world.  They need a house, food, health, and education.

        You need to help the homeless because they will get sick and die.  They also need all this stuff because they have a right to live.  If they don't have all this stuff, they make the streets look messy.

        If you help the homeless people, they will be super happy and it will also change their lives.  It also will make the streets cleaner and our lives happier.

                                                Your friend, Gilbert (4th grade)

A Wish List for the Children of St. Jude Hospital, by Emily (5th grade)

        From Thanksgiving to Christmas to the New Year, we have the tendency to ask for gifts for ourselves.  When most people ask for gifts for themselves, they tend to forget about other people who are less fortunate, and are in tougher situations than we are, such as the children of St. Jude Hospital.

        Many children of the St. Jude Hospital are sick with diseases, some with diseases doctors don't even know about.  With no knowledge of the disease, doctors can't give the child the treatment he or she needs, resulting in the possible death of the child.  Doctors need money for further research, medication, and hospital treatment.  Children from the age of 0-8 are extremely vulnerable from disease such as lung cancer and brain cancer.  With the money needed, sick children can not only survive, but also thrive.  Not only that, but their parents would be forever happy and grateful, not only for their child surviving but for all the gifts and donations of all the kind Samaritans who all got together and helped their child survive.  Can you imagine all the pain, suffering, and worrying of the parents for their child's well-being for all the days, months, even years!

        By giving the foundation of St. Jude Hospital money, toys, or even just a simple note, people worldwide are joining together as on whole, as kind Samaritans who will help the future generation to have a chance at life, and better opportunities in their community.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

 "Thanksgiving Thoughts" was a fun, fill-in-the-blank assignment my "Budding Authors and Artists" did right before Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful to see the thoughts of my young students as they pondered what Thanksgiving meant to them.  

Here is Zachary's (2nd grade) essay:

        Thanksgiving is a thankful and wonderful holiday.  It is in the month of November.  Thanksgiving is about thanking, being grateful, and getting together as a family.

        I like Thanksgiving Day because my family and I get together with my whole family and sometimes go on vacation.  We are also thankful and grateful.

        Here is a list of things I am most thankful for, and why:

1. My family- They make me feel loved.

2. My house- It makes me feel warm and safe.

3. My friends- They make me happy.

4. My teachers- They help me learn.

5. God- He made me.

6. Math- It helps me learn.

7. School- I get together with my friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Persuasive Writing: Let's Vote!

 Near election day, we learned the art of persuasive writing by creating a proposition to vote for, or by running for a government office, and persuading others to vote for us!  We discussed that each short essay should have an introduction, a body paragraph with more detail, and a conclusion with a "sell it"/persuasive sentence included.  Enjoy these great ideas!

  Prop 333 by Armin (5th grade)

Have you ever seen homeless people on the streets just sitting and suffering? Prop 333 will give the homeless places to live, food, clothes, dietary needs, and a community that cares.

First, Prop 333 will give homeless people places to live by using tax money to build more shelters. There will also be a service created to drive around and gather them to be later transported to a shelter. We will also create a donation to pay for the clothes, food, and dietary needs. Several people have volunteered to live at the shelter with the homeless and take care of them along with many doctors keeping them healthy. 

Ultimately, this will get the homeless off the streets and a place that they can call home. If you want to stop seeing people suffering on the streets, vote yes on Prop 333.  

Elise for President! (5th grade)

        Can you imagine what it would be like if a smart, productive, and collaborative GIRL president was elected for office?  Well, that will happen if you wisely vote for Elise!

        Have you ever walked outside of your house and smelled the very unhealthy smell of smoke?  Voting for me would completely get ride of that horrible smell.  If you're a person that likes the smell of smoke, consider it again for it has been proven that smoke is toxic and damages your lungs.  I would also have a more prioritized goal of protecting the Earth than any other presidents, because I believe that having a healthy and eco-friendly planet for the next generation is crucial.  Next, I will create a goal to fight fairly for rights.  It doesn't matter matter what you look like or any other things that you think is negative, because everyone is created equally by God.  Finally, an issue that I will address is also the problem of low pay rates for jobs.  For example, some teachers are not paid like other teachers are, which is not fair.  This can cause lives to deteriorate (make or become worse).  I will address all these issues, and many other ones.

        So if you want a president who makes your job super fun and fights for the fair rights of the people, vote for the ultimately awesome Elise!

Titus for President (4th grade)

Hi, I’m Titus, a hardworking and focused, and I’m running for president. Although I’m going to need your help to get votes. I’m going to tell you some things I’ll probably do if I win.

 

I think we should increase fines for littering on nature, or on city property, and promote recyclable material. Think about it! If you litter, that means more repairs, which cost MONEY$$$, meaning I, the president, get less money to spend on more important things, like funding and productions. Do you want that? Definitely NOT right? I know I’m so smart.

Anyways back to what I was saying, if you want a happy, stress free environment, then I STRONGLY encourage you to vote for me, TITUS!

Personification: My Life as a Pumpkin

 I love this assignment that teaches students how fun it can be to explore the concept of Personification: Giving non-human things human traits.  First, we study the life cycle of a pumpkin, from seed to final cut from the stem.  We talk about how it would feel to be a tiny seed, a vine with a yellow flower, a big or small pumpkin, and how our life would end.  After we study and discuss, we story map three chapters of our life, and then present a rough draft of our story.  Finally, after some editing, we create a beautiful final copy with pictures and three chapters.  Enjoy these samples across the grades!

By Vivia, 2nd grade

by Joon (2nd grade)

My Life as a Pumpkin

By Dana (4th grade)

Ch. 1

   I woke up as just a little seed in a giant patch of  squishy soil in late spring. I saw a man staring at me. What’re you looking at? He seemed old. I was afraid that his big, black boots would crush my delicate self. If they did, I would not be happy. Anyway, I was surrounded by grass and pebbles. And bugs. Ew! I was scared. I was trapped. What was going to happen?

   I sat there for a few hours. The man disappeared. Then I became super thirsty. Where was the watering can? I needed water! I waited. And waited. And waited. I waited for so long I became quite impatient and unhappy. 

   At last, the man came back with his watering can and I was glad. He poured the water over my head and left. I just hoped he would come back soon.

   Before long, the moon was out and the air became foggy. I was cold. I tried to sleep but the crickets would not let me. Who knew crickets were so annoying? Rain began to pour. Just as I was beginning to fall asleep, a little leg sprouted off of me. Soon came a little umbrella to help with the rain. Yay!

    Finally, the morning arrived. I felt the fresh air against my face. The sun came out and the rain ceased. My umbrella was not needed. Go, umbrella, go! It did not go. As I began my exploration, I realized that I had neighbors! We talked for a while. There was Bob, Stewart, and Tom. They were all fairly nice. Except for the one to my right. He was the naughty one from the moment his seed was buried in the dirt. He was Joe. I was no longer afraid of the big, weird world. I was excited!

Ch. 2

   Days passed and summer began. My neighbors and I had few visits with the old man, but enough that we never starved. My unnecessary umbrellas seemed to grow. The times were uneventful. Until the day when my arms arrived. They stretched out into a tangled mess around the lawn. 

   Soon enough, my neighbors got them, too. We wrapped around rocks, tree branches, pipes, and even an old chair. Joe and I decided to arm wrestle. It was a terrible idea. We had fun with our new arms. Summer was not quite over.

   Many days later, we received yellow hats. They were great for summer. I guess they were so attractive that the bees swarmed around them, collecting the strange dots. I guess they wanted some style, too. 

   It was fun, but Tom told me that the stingers were dangerous. I guess he was right because the second they poked the old man, he began to howl. Poor guy. I guessed he had to be given time to recover because an old woman took over his job of watering us.

   Night came and the last heavy rain fell before the drought. I had the weirdest dream ever that night. My beautiful green color turned orange. I became big. I grew a stem. My arms wrestled no more. I had become a pumpkin. Ha!

Ch. 3

   When I woke up, I was terrorized. My dream…wasn’t a dream! I was an actual pumpkin!

   Fall came. I had a bed of crunchy, dry leaves. But not for long. A new man with a top hat and a suit came and took me and my neighbors (who were also pumpkins) away to this giant mansion. He set me on the windowsill and took my friends somewhere else. Bye, guys!

   Later that day, a big black bulldog charged at me. His head pushed me off the windowsill into the yard! Ack! I was falling through the air. The sky seemed to grow smaller and smaller. Wind rushed past me. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the end. 

   But it wasn’t the end. I landed on familiar dry leaves. I was very dizzy, but I managed to pull myself together. The sky did not shrink anymore and the friendly breeze continued. Relief filled my mind.

   I looked around. There was Tom, Joe, Bob, and Stewart! Yay! The happy neighbors were together again.

   We grew old. Like, really old. Joe became mature. I started to, well, rot. And my last words (well, more like thoughts) were “Goodbye, world! My life was great!”

My Life as a Pumpkin, by Charlotte (5th grade)

        I started my life as a small, beautiful pumpkin seed.  I felt the warm sun shine on my white rough skin.  The tulips and daffodils leaned on my light, white body.  I saw an old couple holding hands walk out of the small cottage near me.  I felt my mouth start to move.  I started to smile, grinning from ear to ear, thinking about being baked into pumpkin muffins.  My cozy garden around me brightened in the clam, glistening sun.

        I felt my vine leaves cover my greenish, hazel eyes.  Bees were buzzing and coming extra close to my proud face.  "I am gonna be a muffin!" I whispered to myself excitedly.   I heard birds chirping and saw butterflies flying over my head.  Jocelyn poured cold water on me, making me shiver.  

        Days and days had passed.  Suddenly, I noticed long tendrils coming out of me.  They grasped onto the pretty tulips and daffodils held them hard.  "Let go of me!" the flowers say in a small, squeaky voice.

        My flowers danced around while one stayed on my head, like a sun hat.  Small brown bunnies hopped around me; their cute eyes met mine, and my heart fluttered.

        Months and days had passed.  It was November, and I was in a hot box.  It was an oven!  Suddenly, the oven opened and I saw Jocelyn greet my beautiful orange muffins with a warm smile.

        Jocelyn carried me out onto a long wooden brown table, with smiles all around.  Laughing and chattering filled the happy room.  The big turkey next to me winked happily, and so did the plates and utensils.  Happy tears filled each of my muffin's small eyes.

        "I had a great life," I thought gratefully.

I had a group of students in grades 4-8 that received a similar, but different, assignment.  Their job was to explore the concept of "Show not tell."  This is a crucial skill to learn in order to achieve that next level of writing.  An example of telling is:

"They put a candle inside me."

An example of showing is:

"After my smiling face was carved, my owners placed a chunky red candle inside my newly hollowed-out orange cranium.  The warmth of the flickering candle brought me comfort, and I felt happy."

As you can see, it is challenging to write in this way.  Enjoy these samples!

Pumpkin Life, by Siwon (4th grade)

        I am a we-be-little pumpkin, and I am in the horrifying kitchen on Halloween eve!

        The owner is getting ready to slice and carve me!  The wonderful owner's wife is getting her songs ready for this horrible "trick or treating."  Then I feel and hear a big "snap" from my body.  The blood drips from my body!

        He paints me, cuts and slices me, and scoops and hammers me really hard!  I am screaming inside out.  Now the giant lifts me to the wonderful porch and puts a royal blue candle in me!

        An hour later, I start burning to death.  Good-bye earth!  I cross over the rainbow bridge.

Life as a Pumpkin, by Alex (8th grade)

Surrounded by pumpkins, I am just one of hundreds lying on the ground, ready to be taken wherever pumpkins go. Giants are roaming about the land, and every so often one of my fellow pumpkins that I have known for many of my miserable pumpkin-years is kidnapped and then never heard of again. Everyone here knows that they will eventually be snatched, and it is only a matter of time until each and every one of us disappears.

Suddenly, the ground drops away as a pair of huge hands lifts me into the air; it is now my turn to go. I am jerked around as the giant carries me toward the skyscraper where every pumpkin disappears. I am dropped roughly on the flat surface, and the giant that grabbed me and the giant at the skyscraper have a verbal exchange. Then, I am lifted off the skyscraper roof and carried over to a giant metal machine. I am thrown in the back and, as the door shuts, the last bit of sunlight disappears.

One pumpkin-day later…

The door opens, waking me from my sleep as a beam of blinding light lances into my enclosure. I am grabbed yet again and lifted many pumpkin-feet off the ground as I am carried to a gigantic house. The giant puts me down on the towering grass in front of the concrete steps and, to my surprise, I see three of my pumpkin friends who had left a couple pumpkin-days before.

The entrance opens, and out comes three more giants, each wielding a sharp metal object that gleams in the sunlight. Each of the four takes a pumpkin; I am lifted off the ground yet again, and carried a pumpkin-mile to another portion of the grass, where I am put down and the giant leans over me. I think about my life, have I lived enough? Was it worth it? Then, a blinding flash of pain, and I find out what happens to every other pumpkin that I have seen grabbed before my eyes.

I feel searing heat around my stem as the top of my head is removed. Then, a scoop comes in and starts scraping out my brain. I don’t feel any pain except from the hole in my head, as my brain does not have any nerves. It is still a weird feeling though; I can see what is going on, but I don’t feel. These final seconds are relatively painless, and my passing is swift.

The Life of a Pumpkin by Brody (8th grade)

Surrounded by darkness and my fellow pumpkin siblings, I sit in the cardboard box that will carry me to my Doom. Honk! Honk! I feel myself flung across to the left side of the box as the truck I’m in does a sharp turn. The truck makes another sharp turn swinging me to the right. My stem hits the side of the box pushing the flaps open and ripping the tape. I feel air rush against my orange skin as I get flung into the sky before landing gratefully onto a padding of lush green grass.

I sit there for a couple pumpkin hours watching the autumn leaves fly by when suddenly I get picked up by a giant creature who has probably taken interest in me, scanning my body with huge brown and white eyes. I get brought inside a gigantic house by the giant.. I get placed on a dark brown table by the Giant. Finally feeling safe, I decide to take a nap,  happy and cozy in this new home.

Rudely awakened from my slumber, I feel a stinging pain in the top of my head slowly sneaking its way around my stem. Just like that the top of my head vanishes. Before I can comprehend what just happened, an arm reaches inside my body, pulling out all of my pumpkin organs and pumpkin children. I look up and see a giant arm toss my guts in a bin like garbage. I don't feel pain, only large amounts of sadness. The giant takes my pumpkin children and spreads them out on a pan and shoves them in a hot metal box. 

My sadness turns into anger, directed at the giant who lured me into a false sense of security before cutting me open, burning my children alive, and scraping out my guts. Now I feel empty and angry. In my pumpkin rage I rock back and forth, my stem like a metronome, until I fall off the table and splat on the hardwood floor leaving a mess of pumpkin fragments and orange goop.

In my dying thoughts I think about how my life as a pumpkin was not the best, but my childhood was nice, sitting in the fields of green grass eating up the sunlight and water like a ravenous bear. Oh well, at least my children will provide happiness to the giant.

Final Days, by Kyle (8th grade)

My pumpkin friends lie next to me in the field. The big, yellow circle is at its peak in the sky. Humans roam the patch, each about two pumpkins tall. A tall man, about two and a half pumpkins tall, snatches my friend. “Nooooooooo!” I yell. “Not Ben!” Ben was my best friend. We've known each other for five whole days, which is the longest I’ve known any pumpkin. 

Ben gets taken over to a big, blue metal monster. The monster has four circular black things on the bottom, keeping it from touching the ground. The man magically opens the back, and Ben gets tossed inside. 

A few hours later, the big, yellow circle isn’t as high, and it’s my nap time. Right as I’m falling asleep, a miniature human runs up, pointing a chubby little finger at me. He makes the same, weird human noises I often hear. Another, normal sized human, grabs me with both hands. He brings me over to another human. This human is a bit shorter than usual. They exchange pieces of green paper. Because, apparently, I’m only worth pieces of green paper. The human takes me over to another big metal monster. The back half of the monster swings outward, and the human puts me inside. The cushion under me is soft and bouncy, perfect for a nap. My eyes soon close, and I’m drifting off to sleep.

When I wake up, I find myself lying on the steps to a huge house. The sky is magically pumpkin orange again, and the big, yellow circle is shining directly at me. The wind picks up, blowing leaves and twigs onto my face. A black bird perches on my stem. It drops off something white and sticky on my head, before flying away into a tree.

The man that brought me to this horrid place, brings out a very, long green snake thingy. All of a sudden, water shoots out of its mouth, splashing me very rudely. The snake stops shooting water at me, and the human takes out something metallic. It reflects the yellow circle in my face, temporarily blinding me. I open my eyes, and I see the human leaning overy me. Pain suddenly flashes through my head. Black overcomes my eyes, as the pain knocks me out.

When I come to my senses, the sky is black, splattered with a few white dots here and there. In the sky, the big, yellow circle is replaced by a smaller, white semi-circle. I see a few small humans walking up the steps, and then they stand in front of the wooden door. One of the small humans is wearing a black robe, along with glasses, and he’s holding a stick. On the black robe, there is a red and yellow patch, displaying a lion. They press a yellow button on the side of the door, which makes a very loud sound. The door magically disappears, and the man who took me, takes out some brown and red rectangles to give to the small humans. 

Ah, I remember this. This is Halloween! The pumpkin elders told me about this event, where small humans walk up to big humans’ houses, demanding the big humans to give them rectangles. Humans have some very weird traditions. I see many small humans come and go, until eventually, they don’t come anymore. I drift off to sleep again. (What? A pumpkin sleeps a lot, okay?)

When I wake up, the big yellow circle is back, and the sky is back to its normal blue color. The man walks out of the magical door, and then he picks me up. He takes me over to a green box, which is next to a blue box and a black box. He magically opens the top (still don’t know how they do it), and drops me inside. The bottom is very squishy, with a bunch black, plastic bags, filled with stuff that I don’t know, nor want to know about. He closes the top, and now I know: I will never see the sky again.

Descriptive Writing Lesson: The Monster Draw Game!

     The "Awesome" class had a slightly more challenging task for Descriptive Writing.  This writing game is a favorite of my students!  It's a fantastic lesson in on-demand and descriptive writing.  I teach my students that their job is to create the perfect picture in their readers' minds of exactly what they want them to see.  If a writer misses ONE adjective, the picture is altered!

Here is how this game is played:

Step #1: Draw a monster.

Step #2: Write about your monster with vivid and descriptive language.  Size, shape, color, number!  These types of adjectives were our theme of the day.

Step #3: Trade papers with a partner, and try to draw each other's monster with zero talking!  The only assistance I offered was if someone's handwriting was a little challenging to read.  Othewrise, the students were on their own with reading and drawing their partner's twin monster!

These usually have a few that turn out hilariously different, but of course, the closest ones (voted on by the class) make the blog.  Check these out!

Dana's Monster (4th grade)

        My monster is an upside-down tear drop shape.  He has two red horns on either side of the top of his head.  They are not very big.  He has two small brown arms on either sie of his body (the upside-down tear drop shape).  They are both cone-shaped.  He has two big gray eyes, with one eyebrow above each one.  Then, at the bottom of his body, there are two small, cone-shaped brown legs.

        His body is separated by three wavy diagnonal lines, all going fro right to left.  The first line is a little above half of his body.  It is all blue.  Below that is a line just above the bottom of my monster.  This section is green.  The rest is black.

        For his face, there are two small gray dots for nostrils just below his eyes.  And below that, he has a U-shaped mouth that is gray.

Dana wrote so clearly that her partner Cho (5th grade) drew this!:

Armin's Monster (5th grade)

        My monster is a big triangle cut into three portions, just like a candy corn.  The top section is all blue.  The middle section has two giant oval red eyes in it.  The rest of the middle section is green.  The bottom section has a very tiny circle for a mouth.  That tiny circle is red.  The rest of the bottom section is purple.  The background is all yellow.  The triangle, or monster, is as big as you can draw it on the paper.

Armin and his partner Irene (5th grade) debated on the effectiveness of the "candy corn" part of Armin's writing, and were pretty entertaining to listen to on the day we judged the winners!  However, the class voted these as practical twins!

Connor's Monster (4th grade)

        My monster has one big brown head with two big light green horns.  Also it has five gray eyes and eight yellow teeth.  It has red inside of the mouth.

        My monster's torso is blood red.  There are four long arms.  On the left side they are orange, and on the right side, they are blue.  The small hands are the same color as the arms, with sharp claws

        The monster has four small legs that are gray blue.

Connor's partner Liam (4th grade) was able to draw this close match!

Arielle's Monster (6th grade)

        My monster is called a Trog, and he looks like a tree.  He is a long, medium sized tree, colored brown.

        He is a bare tree, so the top of the tree ends in three different sized spikes.  Think of how tree braches look like at the top of the tree, and draw three of them.  Other than the top of the tree, he is completely branchless.

        My trog, also known as a tree dog, is pretty cute.  His eyes are half circles pointing down-ish.  Just think of the normal scary ghost eyes.  My trog eyes are completely colored black.  My trog has a regular smile, but it's a smile with two white fangs.

        My trog has two sets of paws.  Think of two u's and another two u's below.  My trog has a tail.  It kind of curves up, then has little lines (representing the fur) down.  His tail is a little bit below the second pair of paws, but not at the very bottom.  The tail is on YOUR right.

        In the first pair of paws on YOUR RIGHT, he's holding an ice cream.  He has a brown cone, a pretty longish triangle with left diagonal lines.  Then there is a red scoop of ice cream, then a blue scoop of ice cream, then a purple ice cream scoop.  Then a cherry.  And then there are two ghosts.  One next to the purple scoop, and one on the left side.

Arielle got Mika (6th grade) to draw this tree twin!

Max's Monster (5th grade)

        First, draw a large circle in the middle.  Then draw twenty black stubby lines on the top of the circle.  Now draw a cookie-sized circle in the top middle of the other circle.  Under the cookie sized circle, draw an orange triangle the size of a penny.  Under the triangle, draw a horizontal red banana.  Now draw two blue vertical half bananas under the red banana.  Under the large circle, draw two light blue skinny legs.  Under the legs, put 3-toed feet that are red.  In the two corners, put two medium size orange pumpkins, with a green stem on the top of them.  On each side of the big circle, put two red spikes.  In the cookie sized circle, put two oval yellow eyes.  Color the rest of the cookie sized circle black.  Color the rest of the big circle light blue.  

        Now to the background.  On the top two corners, draw simple black bats.  Now color the rest of the background dark purple.

With such an explicit "how to" essay, Max got Justin (5th grade) to draw this twin!  

Congratulations to our winners!

Descriptive Writing Lesson: Pumpkin Draw!

 The "Budding Authors and Artists" learned how important it is to use adjetives in their writing!  This game involved them creating a jack-o-lantern with some art supplies, and then filling in an "Adjective Help Sheet," where they filled in the blank for adjectives telling size, shape, color, and number of nouns like "eyes," "nose," "mouth," "teeth," and more.  They then used this to create sentences describing their pumpkin.  The next meeting, I hung their art up and read their descriptions.  Pumpkins that were guessed on the first try were winners, because that meant the writers wrote vivid, clear sentences with enough adjectives to make guessing easy!

Enjoy these awesome creations!

by Noelle (1st grade)

by Naya (2nd grade)

by Jilly (2nd grade)

by Jaye (3rd grade)

Postcards from Backwards Land

 In the previous post, you saw some of the creative places the students came up with when they spelled real places backwards.  Our next assignment was to then pretend we went there on vacation, and wrote a postcard during our trip.  Some of these places are lovely to visit, and others are not!

It was fun for me, as a teacher, to teach the art of postcards and how to address a letter in this era of text and social media posts!!  Enjoy these creative stories!

Momo, 3rd grade

by Lydia (4th grade)

By Adeline (5th grade)

Powerful Paragraphs!

 After exploring sentence writing, we moved on to paragraphs.  The "Budding Authors and Artists" (grades 1-3) spelled the names of animals backwards, and the "Awesome Authors and Artists" (grades 3-6) spelled the names of places backwards.  Both groups were taught the importance of varying sentence styles and starters, with the "Awesome" students following a precise recipe for 5 distinctly different and interesting sentences.  Enjoy these samples from across the grades, and see if you can figure out what the original animals and places were spelled forward!!

The Drazil, by Rhys (1st grade)

The Arbez, by Vivia (2nd grade)

The Krots, by Liam (3rd grade)

Assure, by Liam (4th grade)

        Assure is a very prestigious land.  It has a variety of cultures, foods, and people.  Because it's very fancy, the people enjoy classical music with books and seperc (editor's note: "crepes" backwards!), which is Aissurian native food.  In the mornings, doves who are owned by Sruatnec (editor's note: "Centaurs" backwards!), a tribe of the outer regions, wake the people up with their beautiful cooing.  As you can see, if you want to have a peaceful vacation, Aissur is the place for you and your family.

The Land oF Emor, by Emily (5th grade)

        Emor is a land of fantasy.  It has magic everywhere, and gnomes, phoenixes, and hippogriffs populat the vast greenlands.  Whenever the people of Emor go outside, they will see phoenixes flying in the brilliant blue sky, the ends of rainbows with pots of gold, and wizards creating fireworks with their wands.  In the morning, phoenixes wake the people of Emor up with their beautiful, clear voices.  Emor is definitely a magical land for relaxation and great adventures.