Powerful Paragraphs: Backwards Animals!

  After mastering parts of speech and parts of a sentence, it was time to write powerful paragraphs.  When teaching writing to young students, I always make sure to include a lesson on how to vary one's sentence patterns.  To avoid lulling your reader to sleep, a good writer wants to vary sentence patterns, throw in some strong vivd verbs, and make sure there are descriptive words like adjectives.  Of course, it is also important to remember that a paragraph should be about ONE topic.  No rambling and getting off topic allowed!

To teach Paragraph Writing, we brainstormed the names of animals forwards and backwards.  We then got our creative juices flowing thinking about the animal's appearance, diet, habitat, and even personality.  Enjoy these samples from across the grades, and see if you can challenge your brain and read backwards to see what the animal's original name was!

The Effarig

by Ella (2nd grade)

        The effarig is a cute, fluffy, tiny, and funny baby. It has green stripes and two purple triangles on its forehead. This creature eats paper cups outside its home. It lives in dirty places far from here. One fun fact about it is it likes to walk on its head! Clearly, the effarig is the best animal ever!

The Htols 

by Rhys (4th grade)

        The htols is a cute, quiety fuzzball. It is rainbow colored and eats pom poms. (It especially likes the yellow and pink ones). You can find it in the cities and it sleeps on the rooftops. Its snoring sounds like a yarn ball hitting the wall. It likes games and hanging out in the shade. If you think its soft (which its body is), it actually is not because if something tries to hurt it, it zaps lightning out of its antennae. It gets around by taking little hops. The htols is a one-of-a-kind creature!

The Niugnep

by Annabelle (5th grade)

        Appearance:

        The niugnep is fluffy and always looks confused. It has a giant beak and blue and green polka dots on its wings. It also possesses two tiny antennae on its yellow fur, placed on the top of its head. Because the niugnep wears a blue jump suit and has very thick fur, it is always warm in the winter. The niugnep is a very adorable and puffy animal.

Diet:

        The niugnep loves munching on cookies. Its favorite flavor is chocolate! Eery night before going to bed, it eats two bags of chocolate chip cookies. A cookie sandwich is its favorite breakfast. For lunch, it gobbles down salmon, and for dinner, it has beef. Obviously, it has cookies for dessert! The niugnep loves cookies, and likes all kind of food.

The Hateehc

by Momo (6th grade)

Appearance:

        The hateehc is a very interesting animal. It has four yellow webbed feet, hot pink spikes, and orange, fluffy, cotton candy-like fur. At first, the appearance of it may seem a little intimdiating, but don't worry. The hateehc is very lazy, and would not like to spend its time eating or attacking humans. Another thing is that the hateehc has purple teeth, and in order to keep them purple, they must brush their teeth daily. Overall, despite the intimidation at the start, the hateehc is a pretty cute animal!

Diet:

        The hateehc has a very fascinating diet. It has to eat a different meal every meal time. First, breakfast can only consist of dry Honey Nut Cheerios or bacon crisped to perfection. Second, for lunch it must eat a salami and lettuce sandwich or a Pink Drink from Starbucks. Lastly, for dinner, it must have a pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut, or a whole loaf of garlic bread. It might be fun to go out for a meal with a hateehc!

PEAC paragraphs: What noun do you love?

 In honor of Valentine's Day, my classes wrote PEAC paragraphs on a noun that they love.  Some of them took the challenge of drawing the words "person," "place," or "thing" out of a bag, and some of them wanted to choose for themselves.

A PEAC paragraph is:

P- Point (Introduction):  Make sure it has two strong adjectives

E- Evidence: Give a reason for what you just said.  Try to use at least one vivid verb.

A- Analysis: Go deeper!  An example works great here.  Vary your sentence patterns with a dependent clause or prepositional phrase at the beginning.

C- Conclusion: Wrap it up.  Experiment with giving the reader something to consider, or use ? or ! instead of a period.

Each section can have more than one sentence!  

Here are some great samples across the grades.  Each student had to label the parts of their PEAC paragraph and color code it.  Enjoy learning about nouns these students love!

People we love:

by Vianna (2nd grade)

Places we love:

Las Vegas, by David (3rd grade)

        Las Vegas is the best place for an amazing family vacation!   It has a smaller copy of the Statue of Liberty, Pharoh, the Pyramid, Eiffel Tower, and even the London Eye!   When I took a trip there, I saw all of those things!  There was a sphere with a picture that changed that I saw up close at the Cosmopolitan.  Then I went to the Grand Canyon and saw Mic!  Obvioulsy, Las Vegas is the most wonderful place to take a family vacation!

The glorious Hawaii island, Kauai

By Jojo (5th grade)

         Kauai is the most beautiful and mesmerizing place, a God’s paradise. This island has mountains with green foliage and swaying palm trees, and crystal clear water with soft sand and rushing waves. When I go on trips there, I hike up a mountain where excitement comes rushing through me, knowing the moment has come. A second later, I am swinging through the beauty of the Kauai forest, which is gazing at me beautifully. After ziplining is over, I run down to the silky sand of the beach, where I stare at colorful blue and red fish in the gleaming ocean. I watch as a pineapple-orange sunset starts, knowing that the end of an adventurous day is over. This paradise is so dazzling to me that when I visit here, I feel as if I am on a different planet.

by Chuyu (5th grade)

Things we love:

Romeo, by Matthew (4th grade)

        My cat Romeo is the funniest, fluffiest feline that has ever lived.   He jumps over bags like a frog.  At night, he gets so sleepy, he yawns.  You can even see his tongue and the roof of his mouth!  No doubt, my cat is the cutest and most entertaining animal ever.

Pom Pom, by Diba (4th grade)

        My bunny Pom Pom is the cutest, most adorable, food-begging bunny that has ever lived in the universe.  She has the most beautiful chunky belly ever that is filled with all sorts of food and treats.  In the morning, Pom Pom happily wakes up to some delicious hay and veggies all just for her to eat.  When she hears her plastic bag with veggies, she begs to eat right away.  Clearly, Pom Pom is the best, cutest, chunkiest bunny ever!

The Ocean, by Audrey (5th grade)

        The dazzling, majestic ocean is oh so interesting! It is home to many colorful and unique sea creatures. Ranging from the weird and scary sea lamprey, to the agile and graceful dolphin, the ocean is teeming with amazing life! Obviously, if you are a fish-lover, going to the ocean will enrich you more than going to the aquarium.

Backwards Land Paragraphs and Postcards

 Our second and third assignments blended beautifully together.  Assignment #2 was Paragraph Writing.  The students spelled various places forward and backwards to create a new imaginative land.  They then constructed five unique sentences, to give their paragraphs a nice flow and to avoid sounding "boring" by using the same formats.

Assignemtn #3 took the students on an adventure to their backwards land.  They wrote a 1st person story with a clear beginning, middle, and end about their journey to their imaginative place.  I have included both the paragraphs and the postcards, so you can see how nicely the students used what they had written in Assignment #2 to make Assignment #3 beautifully connect.

Can you read backwards and figure out what these places were originally?  And would you like to vacation here yourself?  Enjoy!

Aidni, by Vivia (4th grade)

Rendrag, by Leo (5th grade)

Powerful Paragraphs: Backwards Animals!

 After mastering parts of speech and parts of a sentence, it was time to write powerful paragraphs.  When teaching writing to young students, I always make sure to include a lesson on how to vary one's sentence patterns.  To avoid lulling your reader to sleep, a good writer wants to vary sentence patterns, throw in some strong vivd verbs, and make sure there are descriptive words like adjectives.  Of course, it is also important to remember that a paragraph should be about ONE topic.  No rambling and getting off topic allowed!

To teach Paragraph Writing, we brainstormed the names of animals forwards and backwards.  We then got our creative juices flowing thinking about the animal's appearance, diet, habitat, and even personality.  Depending on the age of the writer, the goals for the project were different.  My 1st graders filled out a very simple fill-in-the-blank style, while my older writers were given sentence style challenges.  Enjoy these samples from across the grades, and see if you can challenge your brain and read backwards to see what the animal's original name was!

The Ynnub, by Skylar (1st grade)

The Adnap Der, by Emily (2nd grade)

        My animal's name is Adnap Der.  Her colors are purple, blue, pink, green, dark blue and light blue.  She has light purple fur, dark purple eyes, and a violet tail.  She eats berries, seaweed, and leaves.  My animal lives in the rainforest and the water.  My creature can turn into a mermaid.  My animal is like a dove because it is graceful.

The Igroc, by Natalie (3rd grade)

        The igroc lives in the wild forest called Target.  It can shape shift into whatever it wants.  Its enemy, the child, is a foe, not a friend.  The igroc is actually not cute.  It is actually scary.  Igrocs come in all different colors.  They usually sleep, break dance, and hide in the restroom.

The Nihcru, by Grayson (4th grade)

        The nihcru hunts by rolling up into a ball and rolling over prety with its sharp spikes.  It thrives in jungles near the beach.  Its diet consists of snakes, monkeys, and sometimes bamboo.  Whenever someone passes one and it hisses, it means it is protecting a young one.  It's cute, but nut cuddly.

        The nihcru has black spikes for hands and all along its back.  It has green fur on its back, but under the fur is a hard shell.  It resembles a watermelon.  When it touches a shadow, it glows.  It may look delicious, but don't eat it!

The Hateehc, by Laila (5th grade)

        The Hateehc is very unique-looking.  It has yellow spots on a black coat of fur.  When the hateehc runs, it looks like a black and yellow blur.  When it jumps, its huge vivid yellow hat weighs it down.  Clearly, the hateehc attracks a lot of attention.

        The hateehc has a couple of abilities.  Its first ability is awesome.  While the hateehc runs, it can shimmer out of sight.  When a passerby looks at it, all they see is a puff of smoke; that is how fast it is!  All in all, the hateehc has amazing abilities.

The Ruasonid, by Ben (6th grade)

        The reasoned is a surprisingly fast runner.  It can run at speeds of sixty miles per hour, so it can escape from other ferocious creatures.  As you speculate how the ruasonid runs so fast, you will realize that it is almost running on the air.  Whenever it starts voraciously eating coconuts, you will discover that its two heads are asynchronous; it has two completely different brains always contradicting each other.  Ultimately, the ruasonid is regarded as slick and mysterious.

Powerful Paragraphs!

 After we mastered strong sentence writing, we moved on to paragraph writing.  The goal was to vary our sentence styles to make every sentence interesting to read.  As you read these paragraphs, you'll notice that no two sentences have the same pattern, word length, or start style.   Topic options varied, as there were ten choices of topics kids would be interested in, from:

~ building a snowman

~the best kind of weather

~ the yuckiest food

~ a favorite class

~ the best holiday

~ my least favorite chore

And more!

Enjoy these samples!  (More to come as more work gets turned in!)

The Worst Chore, by Connor (4th grade)

        Folding clothes is boring and dreadful.  It requires me to go slowly and be careful.  In the morning, when I have to fold clothes, I feel super tired.  Because folding clothes is so boring, I try to do it carefully, but as quickly as I can.  When I am done, I shove my clothes in my drawer.  Clearly, folding clothes is the worst possible chore ever!

        My Least Favorite Chore, by Natalie (4th grade)

        Cleaning my room gives me a horrible, tingling sensation as my mom yells at me to hurry up and finish cleaning THAT corner.  "Oh, the pain!" I said, as I groan and moan as all the dirty clothes and things in my closet fall out on top of me.  Because the stink was too much for me, I quickly tried to shove the dirty clothes and the unidentifiable, dusty things back into the closet.  Oh, when will this suffering end?  I slowly slumped back on to my moldy chair as I stared at the piles of junk.  Incredibly, I managed to haul four toys off my unmade bed.  When I finally finished this hard ordeal after severeal hours, I fainted on my hard wooden floor.

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.

Powerful Paragraphs!

 Once the students got good practice with strong sentence writing, it was time to move on to paragraphs!  In this assignment, they were given a sheet of paper with 10 options for sentence styles.  For example, they could choose:

~Use two or more adjectives

~Start a sentence with "Because"

~Replace a boring verb with a vivid verb

~Vary the punctuation

~Use a "when" or a "where" clause or phrase

And more!

The subjects were nature pictures they got to choose on their own.  The students could write a paragraph describing their picture, a mini science report, or a short story about their photograph.  After students did one paragraph on their own, they could write another with a partner.  Enjoy these samples, and see if you can spot how many different sentence variations there are!

 Cheetahs

by Cho (4th grade)

    Cheetahs are magnificent, lightning quick animals. They are the fastest animals in the world on the ground and can run up to 75 miles per hour. In the hot savanna, cheetahs live alone except when they’re mating and having cubs. Sometimes, brothers live together to help each other hunt and bring down prey larger than they are. Because of humans chopping down their territory, hunting cheetahs for Instagram likes, and predators over-powering them, there are only 10,000 cheetahs left in the world. Only 40% of cheetah cubs survive to adulthood. To ensure their survival, will you help keep them safe?

By Jioh and Zibo, 4th grade

Powerful Paragraphs!

     One of my favorite paragraph writing assignments is "No Boring Sentences."  I present my students with 10 sentence starters/styles, and they are to pick 5-7 of them to form an innovative, powerful paragraph that is exciting to read, because no two sentences are alike!  They get to choose from three choices:

1. Describe an animal/nature picture.

2. Write a one-paragraph informative "animal report" paragraph about your picture.

3. Write a one-paragraph short story about your animal picture.

    In the following paragraphs, you will find all sorts of awesome sentence styles.  You will find vivid verbs, sentences that start with "Because" clauses, strong adjectives, cleverly placed adverbs, a variety of punctuation, and more!  Enjoy these three samples representing the three choices above!

Choice #1:                                         The Wolf, by Claire (6th grade)

This beautiful grey wolf has his eye on some mysterious prey.  He has his tongue stuck out, as if he can already taste his meal. Abruptly, he pounces on the prey, killing it with one well-placed scratch. Dragging the body of the dead animal in his mouth, he lumbers clumsily through the snow towards the cave he has come to call home. The day, as well as the life of the prey, has come to a timely end.

Choice #2:

The Deepest Diver

by Nirav (5th grade)

    Sperm Whales are enormously powerful creatures. They are 66 feet long and have the heaviest brain in the world. These massive creatures are also the deepest diving mammals, and one Sperm whale can dive down far enough to see the wreck of the Titanic. Because of their amazing diving abilities, a Sperm Whale can hold its breath for 100 minutes! They use echolocation to find enormous squid to power their huge bodies. They live in the frigid water of the Arctic and Southern oceans. Truly, these are such magnificent dwellers of the deep!

Choice #3:

A Funny Hamster

                                         by Samuel (4th grade)

    My dad bought me a tiny brown dwarf hamster with fluffy fur and long whiskers for Christmas. Obviously, it was super hard to take care of, because the hamster would climb the cage and poop outside of the bars. One day, the hamster did something I didn’t expect it to do: it climbed the bars on its cage, all the way until it reached the top.  I screamed, “Mom, the hamster’s climbing the cage!!” Just when my mom came to my room, the hamster leaped down from the bars and landed on its wheel, and started to run normally again. Because of that, my mom got mad because I started chuckling. It was such a funny moment!

Choice #3: The Fox's Meal

by Theo (5th 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.

Powerful Paragraphs

     Once we mastered sentence writing skills, and focused on paragraph development in "Snowman Draw Game," the students were ready to expand their paragraph writing skills with this fun assignment.  They were to bring a picture from nature to class, and choose one of the following themes:
1. a descriptive paragraph about their picture
2. a short, scientific "report" style paragraph
3. a one-paragraph "story" about their picture

     Students were not allowed to use the same sentence pattern twice!  Some of their choices were:
1. Use two vivid adjectives in the predicate
2. Begin a sentence with "Because"
3. Start a sentence with an attention-grabbing adverb
4. Include a "where" or "when" phrase or clause in the sentence
5. Include a quote
6. Use ? or ! at the end of the sentence
7. Include a strong verb (no boring ones, like "go" or "is"
And more!

     I was so impressed with the beautiful pictures the students chose, and what they did with them for this project.  Enjoy these samples across the grades!

1. Descriptive Paragraph Sample:

Nature Rocks! by Dhruv (6th grade)

     Stumpy, thick, strong brown trunks extend into thin branches with lovely green foliage.  Two rows of these muscular trees line a trail with long, vivid green grass extending high up.  The leaves from the rows of trees join together to form a sort of tunnel.  Obviously, there is some space in the roof of this tunnel, letting in beautiful stunning views of an unusually, extremely bright white sky.  Because of the incredible sunlight, the trees as well as the grass, are illuminated stunningly.  The trail, with some grass in it, leads to an amazing forest.  This is a wonder of nature!

2. A scientific "report" paragraph

The Predator, by AnaRose (5th grade)

     This powerful and fast barn owl is hunting a bird.  Barn owls have the best hearing of the owls, due to the fact that one ear is bigger and lower than the other.  It flies very silently, because the feathers are like knives.  Barn owls, like other owls, eat their food whole.  Because of this, their digestive system extracts the fur and bones.  Later, they throw it up, and this process is called "yawping."  Barn owls are medium sized.  When they hunt, they move their bodies back and push their legs and claws forward.  This helps them slow down when they get the prey.  These sharp claws kill instantly when they catch prey.  Barn owls are truly magnificent creature.  There is so much more to them than their appearance!

3. A one-paragraph "Story" about a picture

An Adventure with a Tiger, by Theo (4th grade)

     One day, I was taking a safari jeep through the dark, wet rainforest.  Because it was wet, my coat was drenched!  We were driving, when all of a sudden, an enormous orange tiger boiled incredulously out of the bushes.  It had bulging muscles and sharp teeth.  Then the tiger changed direction.  It started running towards us.  "RUN!" I yelled.  We started running for our lives!  I thought I was dead meat!

Paragraph Writing: Backwards Animals!

After learning what makes a great sentence, we moved on to paragraph writing.  The theme was variation of sentence patterns, to keep the reader interested.  Our topic?  Spell real animal names backwards!  Then write a paragraph on their habitat, diet, appearance, or personality.  There were five steps the students were to follow:

1. Write an interesting introduction, which includes your animal as the subject, and an expressive adjective in the predicate.

2. Replace your subject with a pronoun, and give a reason to support your first sentence.

3. Continuing to support your topic sentence, make sure this sentence has a super strong verb.

4. Start this sentence with a "where," "when," "while," "because," etc. to vary the sentence patterns.

5. End with a super conclusion that connects to the first sentence!

Kelly Anne (5th grade) spelled "Phoenix" backwards, and imagined this creature in her mind:

       The xineohp is quite magestic.  It has colorful and shiny scales, which appear to be very reflective.  It always tends to its scales very carefully, and polishes the wicked, curved spikes at the bottom of its tail.  When the scales become dirty, the xineohp always remembers to wash them, because for the xineohp, fashion is always first.  Clearly, the xineohp is a unique creature.

     My "Budding Authors and Artists" also came up with some very creative animals!  Being the younger class, they were given sentence starters to use to vary their sentence patterns.  The use of adjectives was emphasized, as you will soon see.  Here are two 3rd graders, Charlize and Kyler.  Their animals are VERY different!

Powerful Paragraph Writing!

The "Awesome Authors and Artists" class was given a challenge to write a descriptive paragraph based on a nature picture brought in from home.  They were given a list of possible sentence patterns.  Some of these included:
~Include two vivid adjectives.
~Use a phrase or clause that tells "when" or "where."
~Start a sentence with "Because."
~Use a strong adverb in the sentence.
~ Use a quote style sentence.
~ Use a very strong, vivid verb (no "is," "go," etc.)
~ A sentence that has unique punctuation

And more!

In addition, they were given three options for the topic of their paragraphs:
~ Describe your picture.
~ Tell a short story (only one paragraph!) about your picture.
~ A nature lesson on the subject of your picture (this was by far the hardest one.)

Here are some of my favorite samples across the grades.  Enjoy these beautiful pictures and paragraphs!  (See if you can find the technique in each sentence that makes it different from the other sentences!)

Picture Descriptions:

by Kayla (3rd grade)

     This graceful, shiny dolphin is jumping out of the air.  Because of its incredible strength, it can easily fly out of the water.  As it leaps, the sun is beautifully setting.  The sky is blue and orange with puffy clouds.  Obviously, dolphins are interesting creatures.

     by Izzy (4th grade)

     This is a family of three cute penguins in the snowy cold weather.  Because the baby penguin can hardly walk, he is using his daddy's feet and body for support.  When the dad walks, the baby penguin walks, too!  "We are so grateful to have you, aren't we?" the mother asked.  "Yes, we are," replied the father.  "And I'm so lucky to have you as parents," added the toddler.

 by Adam (5th grade)

     Because the cheetah was going faster than anyone has seen before, its prey couldn't seem to get away.  The unlucky gazelle was taken to the magnificent tree, where the two cheetahs got ride of every part and piece of the gazelle.  After the poor animal was devoured, the cheetah started to look for another prey.  He soon spotted a frightened gazelle, and sprinted, making sure he would catch it.  I was lucky enough to catch a perfect photo, which reminds me of the precious moment.

by Niki (5th grade)

     On a sunny morning, a big brown bear soared into the air with a salmon in its paws.  The fish flapped its flippers in the bear's face, keeping it from being devoured.  "Just keep flopping!  Just keep flopping!" screamed the fish desperately.  The bear closed its eyes and dug its paws into the salmon, finishing it off.  Righteously, the bear sunk its teeth into the silver and pink flesh.  What a delicious meal!

Story Time!

by Nicole (4th grade)

     One day, I took a walk through a large forest.  Then, I spotted a small, red-eyed frog sitting on a leaf.  As I went down to get a closer look, I felt like I'd seen this sort of frog before, I just couldn't remember it.  So I leaned over to pick it up, but to my surprise, it leaped onto my hand!  Suddenly, I remembered its name: It was a Red-Eyed Tree Frog and..... it's poisonous!  I shook my hand to try and drop it, but unfortunately I figured out what it was a little too late.......

by Bette (5th grade)

     I walked through the woods on a cold winter day.  Snowflakes pattered down on my warm winter coat.  I looked up at the sky, but frosted trees blocked my view.  "This forest is deserted," I thought.  I looked around once more, when I spotted a bird.  "Here, all alone, like me!" I thought.  I walked up to the bird.  Who knew that nature could be your best friend?

by Mira (6th grade)

     From a high perch in some foliage, the scene pans to a small trio of drenched, maroon bears wandering a pebbly beach.  Warily, two brothers protect the lookout, and a smallish sister, who gazes out into the distance, surveys the murky and eco-rich waves.  They slowly wade in shallow water, as if yearning to reunite and find a family member of tasty meal in time to frolic together a little longer.  Growling and murmuring drifts between the cubs, which are discussing a way to brave the turbulence!  Like anticipatory spies, the triplets eagerly race to the other shore, clawing and pushing the water with lengthy claws; a technique that causes them to bob and advance rapidly through the choppy resistance.  As I always say, "Determination along with teamwork creates a success."  These persistent, young brown bears exemplify a symbol of childhood and bonding like no other animals.

Scientific Facts:

by Lucy (5th grade)

     The Kakapo is a cute and friendly animal, which was once at the brink of extinction.  It is the world's heaviest parrot at about twenty inches, and four to nine pounds.  It gets its name from Kaka, which means owl-like.  The Kakapo feathers are green on its back with yellow at the end of each feather.  Moreover, they have long nails that are great for climbing, since this bird can't fly.  This ia g great and beautiful creature that was thankfully saved from extinction by the Kakapo Recovery Team.