Interview With a Leaf

All of my classes, from grades 1-6, enjoy pondering the life cycle of a leaf, from bud to death, and then personifying a leaf in their imaginations!  What would that leaf think about being a tiny bud?  How about the prime of its life, in summer, when the weather is great and the leaf would be big and green?  And then, there's autumn to think about, when the leaf would change clothes and eventually, fall to the ground.  What would a grumpy leaf think about that?  How about a happy or optimistic leaf?   What if a leaf lived its life in constant fear?  We had a great time learning the format of interviews in the "Awesome" class, while the "Budding" class wrote their longest pieces yet: Three whole chapters!  Enjoy these samples.

My Life as a Leaf, by Vivian (1st grade)

My Life as a Leaf, by Sara (2nd grade)

SPRING

        When I was born, I was a bud.  I lived in a flower field.  I was small and green.  I saw flowers, leaves, other new buds, and acorns.  I felt scared around the other buds.  That day it was rainy, and I was happy.  I was as happy as a little bud could be.  I felt warm inside.

SUMMER

        In Summer, I felt different.  I felt stronger and braver.  I saw flowers that were every color of the rainbow!  I also saw my family.  After that, I decided to talk to my friends.  We talked about a lot of stuff.

FALL

        Now I am read, orange, yellow, and crunchy.  Now everything looks different.  Even me, I am a little brown.  I was holding on to my branch as tight as I could, but I couldn't hold on anymore, so I fell.  I felt scared and happy at the same time.  My life ended when somebody came and picked me up.

           An Interview with a Leaf

by Adeline (5th grade)

Gracelyn: Hello, Miss Leaf!

Miss Leaf: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! 

Gracelyn:Um…

Miss Leaf: Uh… sorry…. I’m just not used to, like, real things like you talking to me.

Gracelyn: It’s okay. My name is Gracelyn, and I’m going to interview you! My first question is: what was it like being a bud?

Miss Leaf: It was great! A little crowded at times, but always fun. Also, what I saw was so cool! There were beings like you walking around and inspecting all sort of things.

Gracelyn: Cool! 

Miss Leaf: Also, I saw a BEAR!!! The wise leaf said bears don’t eat leaves, but I decided to be careful anyway. I had tried to escape, but it didn’t work. Then the bear climbed up to my neighborhood and he ACTUALLY sniffed me!!! Thankfully, he climbed back down.

Gracelyn: Oh no! I’m glad you’re okay! What happened as summer came by?

Miss Leaf: Well, I saw more things like you, and another BEAR!! He knocked off a few leaves and I was afraid the same thing would happen to me. By that time, I was a nice bright green, medium sized leaf. 

Gracelyn: Got it. What else happened when you were still young?

Miss Leaf: There was this bird that this wise leaf calls a woodpecker. Well, it actually pecks wood. It was so annoying! None of the leaves in my neighborhood could ever take a nap! Thankfully, he left. Then, it was the change of clothes! 

Gracelyn: Please tell me about that!

Miss Leaf: So, first of all, there were less beings like you, and all around me my brothers, sisters, and friends all turned brown, red, orange, yellow. I was very excited to change clothes myself. 

Gracelyn: I bet you were!

Miss Leaf: Also, the wise leaf said it’s called “fall,” but I didn’t know I would actually fall! When the other leaves around me fell, I heard them screaming in terror. And when they reached the ground, I heard them moaning in agony!!

Gracelyn: *Gasp* How was your fall?

Miss Leaf: Well, I’ve always been kind of scared of heights, and so I was kind of afraidto fall, but at the same time I was happy to get my feet on solid ground.

Gracelyn: Please tell me what happened!

Miss Leaf: So one windy day, I felt I couldn’t hold on to my branch anymore, so I let go. Oh my! I was horrified! I closed my eyes tight and I felt myself twirling all around! Soon, I felt that I was on solid ground and opened my eyes to find myself here. Giant trees towered above me, and it was a strange experience.

Gracelyn: I think it was!

Miss Leaf: Yes! I am glad I am here. The wise leaf said leaves on the ground will die soon. I’m not really worried after the flying experience.

Gracelyn: Don’t worry, I can help you! I can press you in a book to preserve you!

Miss Leaf: Really??

Gracelyn: Yes! And that concludes our interview! Thank you for the discussion!

An Interview With a Leaf

by Vivian (5th grade)

SPRING

Interviewer: Good evening, Leaf Girl! How are you today?

Leaf Girl: Good evening. Why are you here, among the grasses?

Interviewer:  I am curious about your life, as a leaf.

Leaf Girl: What would you like to know? I am just the average leaf.

Interviewer: Well, to begin with, I’d like to understand your first memory.

Leaf Girl: Ah, that. So long ago. The very first thing I budded to was raindrops. They pitter-pattered on the thin branch supporting me. The twitter of quarreling birds drew my attention. One screamed, “I want the nut!” The other screeched, “Too bad!” It went on for quite a while. Most amusing. As everyone should know, leaves do not mature. We are born with varying levels of wisdom, and cannot increase our knowledge. Quite luckily, I was brighter than several others.

Interviewer: Lucky indeed! But I must question, did much excitement happen in the early stages of your life?

Leaf Girl: Very little happened when the cherry blossoms bloomed in full splendor. I suppose I can recall once when a group of children played with a strange circular object. They yammered about uselessly, ramming into each other and screaming their heads off. This happened several times. It was all extremely annoying. 

Interviewer: Did you have any main interactions with nearby leaves?

Leaf Girl: Things like these are always complicated. I specifically detested my younger sister, younger by 0.0007600323432 seconds. Yes, leaves require precise measurements. However, I could go farther; 0.00076003234320000682376843598565 seconds. She was spoiled; she was sheltered and surrounded by her admirers. Most were younger by approximately 0.0003547345265424387 seconds. Much younger. I could go in the binary system, too; written in binary, it would be approximately 0.000–

SUMMER

Interviewer: Er… Let’s continue! We are, um, running out of time! Let’s hurry on. What about summer? How did you feel?

Leaf Girl: I noticed that all the nearby flowers had bloomed at last. The rain had ended, and the blistering sun dried up the topmost and exposed leaves. But I found myself still a fresh, young springy green. I realized that my reach was expanding. I swayed in the breeze along with my friends. The birds were more common in the summer. Of course, they were quite annoying with their squawks. Some of the songbirds were annoying, but the nightingale was kind to us leaves. 

Interviewer: I see. Did any events happen? 

Leaf Girl: Well, there was this young girl that was, to say the least, evil. She tore off the bottom parts of the lowest leaves and scattered them on the ground. It’s comparable to decapitating some of his own kind. How merciless!

Leaf Girl continues and describes the girl with quite a lengthy explanation.

Interviewer:  Hmm… (I thought I knew her… She’s super-nice…)

Leaf Girl: WHAT. DID. YOU. JUST. SAY?!

Interviewer: Uh… Nothing at all. NOTHING. I SAID NOTHING.

Leaf Girl: Doubtful. You said something. 

Interviewer: You are getting very sleepy. Now forget I said anything!

Leaf Girl: I am getting very annoyed. Now continue with the interview if you want to keep your job!

Interviewer: Yes, yes, immediately, yes. Let’s continue…

AUTUMN

Interviewer: So, let’s go on with autumn. Did you notice your change of colors early in the season?

Leaf Girl: Yes. With so many others surrounding me, I obviously found the change. Alas, I was in despair when I saw the eldest leaves shrivel up and drop. But I realized that my colors were truly magnificent, and I enjoyed the feeling. 

Interviewer: As usual, did anything extraordinary happen?

Leaf Girl: Obviously. My siblings all dropped until I was one of the last lucky few. I saw them littered on the ground there. Remember my annoying younger sister? She was, ironically, terrified of heights. So she screamed as she went down, then yelled at the top of her lungs, “IT’S AWESOME DOWN HERE!!!” 

Interviewer: So how did you fall?

Leaf Girl: We leaves prefer to call it the voyage.  I already knew what would become of me, so I didn’t panic. Then the graceful fall was peaceful. And now I am here.

Interviewer:  Thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview. 

Leaf Girl: Farewell.

Pumpkin Draw!

 The "Budding Authors and Artists"had a different game to play.  This game will prepare them well for "Monster Draw" in the future!  In "Pumpkin Draw," the students started out with drawing pictures, of course.  Then, they used fill-in-the-blank prompts to make sentences to describe their pictures with lots and lots of adjectives!  (All my students learn very early how important adjectives are in excellent, vivid writing!). We taped pictures up on the wall, and as I read the descriptions, students had to guess which picture I was reading about.  Of course, being such excellent young authors, the pictures were easy to spot, because the writing was so clear!

Enjoy these samples, and we hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Samit's Pumpkin (2nd grade)

        My pumpkin is heart-shaped, orange, and blue.  It has two yellow triangular eyes.  I don't have a nose for my pumpkin though.  It has two tiny triangular teeth.  It has a small, yellow, and fangy mouth.  On top of its head, it has a triangular orange stem.  There is a dark blue sky.  I think my pumpkin is amazing.

Vihaan's Pumpkin (2nd grade)

        My pumpkin is funny looking and enormous.  It has two tiny yellow oval eyes.  It has one oddly shaped tiny yellow mouth and twenty-three tiny triangular black teeth.  It sits on green grass with the blue sky.  I think my pumpkin is enormously silly.

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, and this year, all happened to be 5th graders!  Enjoy!

Jessie's Monster (5th grade)

        My monster is not like a normal monster; it has an oval shaped body, with the face and legs and arms all connected to it.

        He has a furry, light mossy green oval for his entire body, with small triangles on the edge to represent the fur.

        In the upper area of his body, there is one eye, medium-sized, but compared to a human eye, very large.  It is shaped like an oval, with a dark-ash green pupil right below the center.  It also has bright curved yellow horns sticking out of the top of the head.

        In the lower area of its body, there is a wide mouth, not touching the end, but just a little lower than the center point.   There's a bright red tongue sticking out of the middle of the smile.

        The arms of the body are slanted downwards, but not completely, with a trick-or-treat bag, like a jack-o-lantern, with pencil colored triangular shaped eyes.  The point is facing upwards.  The nose is slightly smaller with the point facing downwards.  The mouth is a half circle, lying horizontally, with one uncolored tooth in it.  The bag is colored orange with a handle.  The monster is holding the bag to YOUR left.  The legs are on the bottom of the body with sticks connected to red colored half circles, with the flat part facing down.

        On YOUR left is a crescent moon, with three stars on the right.  The pine tree is on the right side of the paper, with bright green on the top, and a brown trunk.  The ground is outlined in brown and a little lower than the center.  

Wow!  So descriptive!  Check out this twin Vivian (5th grade) was able to draw!

Audrey's Monster (5th grade)

        My monster is circular and green with buff arms.  It has three eyes that are in the air.  One of the eyes is large, the second one is small, and the third one is medium.  The eyes have Ong green sticks to hold them up.  The eyes are white with black outlines.

        The chest of the monster is green, but is mostly covered with a black suit and blue tie.  The monster has two arms and he his flexing his muscles.  He also has a mouth above his suit.

        His legs are medium sized and also green.  On his legs he has some blue shoes that go up to his ankles.

        The monster also has a propeller hat that is on top of his eyes.  The propeller hat is red, yellow, blue, and green.  The background consists of five clouds scattered in the back of him.

        He is yelling, "I'm going to be late for work!  Where are my pants?"

Wow!  Such clear descriptive language!  Erin (5th grade) was able to draw this close match!

 

Colby's Monster (5th grade)

        My monster doesn't know it's creepy, or half of it doesn't know!  My monster has two pink circular heads with orange hair, which is in two pigtails.  Both heads are the same, but one head is smiling and one is frowning.  The left one is smiling, and the right one is frowning.  Both heads on my monster have two purple eyes and no nose.

        The middle part of my monster is a rectangle that is missing the top corners.  It is wearing a shirt that is half black with a moon that is a crescent.  It kind of looks like a banana.  On the other half it is blue with  a sun.  Each side has two handless arms reaching for tables.  On the smiley side, the table is a thin rectangle with a black lining and blue legs.  My monster's legs are like carrot noses with an orange outline and green polka dots.  There are four of them.

        A gray cloud lingers above the monster with gray mist everywhere.  Above the smiley heads head, there is a small green plant.  It has a small colorless stem, and above the frown one there is a brown plant with a black stem.  Both plants have four long clover-like leaves.

        The frowny head's table has small black dots on it and is identical to the smiley one's.  The smiley one has a present and a new shoe on i.

Sasha (5th grade) is such a careful reader!  She drew this picture for the win!

Congratulations to our winners!

Story Writing: A Day in the Life with My Backwards Animal

 After the "Awesome" class completed their paragraphs and research papers on their backwards animal, it was time to write a creative story.  The theme was "The Day I Met My Animal."  The students story mapped the beginning, middle, and end to their day.  They worked on setting, and a clear story line with a fabulous ending.  Would their animal become their pet?  Would it return to the wild where it came from?  Enjoy these samples across the grades.  And don't forget to quiz yourself on the name of the animal forwards!

These samples are from the same students whose research papers or paragraphs are on the blog posts before this, so that you may see how the students applied their factual writing components to their creative story!

The Day I Tamed an Effarig

by Mark (4th grade)

It was very early in the morning and I was relaxing at the highest ski resort in the Alps. It was the type of vacation which gets boring very quickly, so I decided to climb higher and explore.

After about three minutes of toilsome climbing, the landscape started getting very desolate, and I would have turned back had I not heard a loud chomping noise.

Curious, I proceeded towards the noise, and suddenly I saw a hideous bird with a ferocious look on its face. It was mostly brown, with a white head and white feathers at the tips of its wings. It was devouring a young mountain goat.

Upon seeing me, the bird attacked. Instinctively, I fought back with my bare hands. Landing a powerful blow on its beak, I made the bird squeal, announcing my victory.

The poor bird seemed upset and in pain, so I comforted it and we soon befriended each other.

When I returned to the ski resort, I asked a local tour guide about this remarkable bird. He said it was an Effarig, the most dangerous bird in the world!

My First Encounter with an Arboc

by Anna (5th grade)

     One warm day, I was hiking in the marshy forest of Flabberswamp. I felt a little hungry, so I opened up my backpack and took out a little jar of jelly beans. For some reason, there were quite a few chilli pepper ones. How strange!

     I smelled a hint of spicy food in the air, and sniffed in confusion. How come I smelled spicy food in the middle of a muddy forest? I preferred sweet food to spicy, and I was sure I didn’t bring any spicy food. 

     Suddenly, I heard a wet squelch in the mud. I stopped, feeling a little scared. I knew that sound was not from my boots. 

     I yawned drowsily, but stopped when I realized that I didn’t feel sleepy at all a minute ago. Abruptly, a shadow loomed over me. My heart thumped fast against my rib cage. What was happening? 

     An enormous Arboc towered over me, its dark amber eyes looking rather gleeful. Was it going to eat me? I shuddered and backed away slowly. While I didn’t know anything about the Arboc except that it was related to cobras, I was quite sure that it was ferocious. The snake followed me with a (suspiciously) friendly look in its eyes. I stopped, my blood running cold. 

     The arboc slowly moved towards my jar of jelly beans, which dropped to the ground with a thud. The arboc bent down and vacuumed up the red, spicy chilli pepper jelly beans with a happy smile. I started to relax. Maybe this was a friendly creature after all! The arboc smiled warmly at me and disappeared into the nearby bush.

     The next morning, I drove to the nearby grocery store and bought a big jar of jelly beans. I painstakingly picked out all the chilli pepper treats, and put them in a covered container. Then, I drove back to Flabberswamp Forest. 

     I unscrewed the jar and put it down on a fallen tree’s log. A couple seconds later, an arboc popped up beside me and gave me a toothy grin. It devoured all the candy and smiled in gratitude at me. I stroked its slightly cold scales and smiled back. What an amazing creature I had stumbled upon!

A Day with the Tibbar, by Charlize (5th grade)

        Have you ever seen a tibbar? I bet you haven't! When I met one, it was a very exciting experience. It all started on a Saturday morning...

        In the morning, I woke up and got ready for my first day of going into the forest to meet animals. I was excited, because they said on the news that there was one animal in particular that would appear in "Animal Forest:" The Tibbar! So that being said, I was going to meet a new animal!

        As my mom drove me to "Animal Forest," I was unsure because I didn't know what to expect from the place. Would I find the tibbar? Would I get lost? I shoved those thoughts out of my head, and tried to think of something else. I thought about meeting the tibbar, and other animals. That made me happy and excited for my journey!

        We finally stopped driving. I got out of the car and bid good-bye to my mother. Then, as I was walking towards the forest, I saw a baby panda-like animal toddle out of a bush!  At first,  I didn't recognize it, but then, I realized it was the tibbar!  I held my hand out and it came up to me and snuggled me.  I knew that it was going to be my best friend forever!

        Suddenly, the tibbar summoned some burgers and we ate them together.  We talked about the forest and the city in comparison.  Then, it invited me to live with it.  Of course I said yes, but only if I could see my family for a few holidays, and weeks for a time.

 

Research Papers

 For our third assignment, we took the concept of paragraph writing, and then applied that skill to writing a Research Paper on our Backwards Animal.  Research papers can be very daunting to students, but teaching them to have the fundamental outlining skills required for organization is key.  They learned a research paper is simply:

1. Introduction

2. Body Paragraphs 1-3

3. Conclusion

Their body paragraphs were to include the same themes from assignment #2: habitat, diet, appearance, or personality.  And the research came straight from their imaginations!

Enjoy learning about animals you never knew were possible!  And make sure you quiz yourself and figure out what these animals' names are forward!

A New Level of Predator: the Effarig

by Mark (4th grade)

The Effarig is an extremely dangerous animal. It has a terrifying appearance, scaring tourists away. It has a carnivorous diet, and looks very ugly when eating. It lives in the world’s largest—and highest—mountain ranges.

The Effarig closely resembles a large bird-of-prey. It also has a ferocious facial look, scaring away anything that has eyes. As to its color, it is mostly brown, with a white head and white feathers at the tips of its wings.

The Effarig eats anything it can find, but it especially loves young mountain goats. When it catches its prey, it devours it right on the spot. This is a profoundly disgusting scene. When hunting, the Effarig is very dangerous, for it eats anything that gets in its way (even humans!).

The Effarig can be found in the Himalayas, Alps, Andes, and Rockies. It especially likes cold, desolate mountain peaks. To hunt for food, it flies lower, because there is no food that high—evidently.

In conclusion, even though the Effarig is very dangerous, I think it deserves attention.

The Interesting Arboc

by Anna (5th grade)

     The friendly Arboc is a puzzling animal. The shy and sweet Arboc is distant relatives with the fierce cobra, but is nothing like it. It has a menacing appearance, a singular diet, and a marshy habitat. 

     The omnipotent Arboc has abilities full of potential. It has a secret ability known to very few: it can put even the most energetic people into a deep, drowsy sleep. If the ravenous Arboc vacuums up 3,000 pieces of its favorite meal, then it can stay awake for up to two energy- filled days. When the Arboc feels intense heat, it remains unharmed, but if cold rain touches its scales, it will yelp in fear. As one can see, the Arboc is quite mighty. 

     This fascinating creature’s meal usually consists of carolina ghost reaper curry and orange juice. Its favorite snack is the rare chilli pepper jellybean. It has an enormous appetite for spicy, flavorful food, but often cannot obtain them because it is far away from human civilization. 

The clumsy arboc does not do well with dry ground, so it is commonly found in dark, wet, marshy forests where it can easily slither in the mud. The forests must be dark so the arboc can easily fall asleep. The arboc has adapted to its surroundings and can stay underwater for up to two hours. 

  The sweet arboc has a surprisingly tough appearance, most likely to ward off possible predators. It has black and dark red scales to blend in with the forest, dark amber eyes, and a towering structure. The thick body can be up to ten feet long!

In conclusion, the arboc has mighty abilities, a peculiar diet, a wet habitat, and an awe-inspiring body.

Powerful Paragraphs

 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!

Enjoy these samples!

The Abilities of the Hsifyllej, by Zibo (4th grade)

        In the barren desert, the hsifyllej is a fierce hunter.  It kills pretty by slashing powerfully using its four large claws.  When dueling with humans or its own kind, the hsifyllej can fire spikes off its shell.  Since it does not have much food, it travels around a lot, and it is able to make dense extremely quickly while keeping an eye on the rocks that fall from cliffs.  Those are the ways the hsifyllej can get prey.

The Appearance of the Hsifyyej

        Hsifyllej look quite exotic.  It is most tan and brown with plates covering its scorpion-like body.  It has four claws, and four pairs of legs, with twelve limbs in total.  The spikes on its shell and tail sharpen with it is on high alert.  Its teeth even go lower than its head!  What a cool looking beast!

The Niugnep, by Arielle (5th grade)

        The Niugnep is a very funny looking.  It has a giraffe neck, antennae like a ladybug, a dog-like body with dragon wings.  You'll also discover he has a fluffy bunny tail.  Because he is so big and sweet, he loves cupcakes!  The Niugnep is the most unique animal I've ever seen!

The Tibbar, by Charlize (5th grade)

        The tibbar is a cute-looking animal.  It is shaped like a tiny baby panda, except it has deep blue arms, legs, and ears, and an aqua green body.  It wears a pink bow at the top if its head.  Whenever it walks, its blow sparkles brightly and boldly.  The tibbar is quite the adorable animal!

        The tibbar's habitat is in a place called "Animal Forest."  "Animal Forest" is loaded with all different kinds of animals.  However, unlike the other animals' dens, the tibbar's den is magical.  The inside of its den is rainbow and sparkly.  It has a blue dining table and chairs.  It also has a red bean bag and a purple TV.  The tibbar is really quite lucky to have all of these accessories, because no animal in the forest has cable TV!  Because the tibbar lives in a secretive place, it has a lot of advantages!

Super Sentence Writing!

It has been another great session of "Authors and Artists" classes!  The "Budding Authors and Artists" are in 1st-2nd grade, and the "Awesome" classes includes 4th-6th grade.  I love starting every session with a strong sentence writing activity.  My classes learned that a sentence needs just a noun and a verb to technically be a sentence, but there is so much more that can be added!  They turned their base sentences into a sentence that had adjectives, adverbs, where's, and when's!  The "Awesome" class even learned how to correctly start a sentence with "Because," as they learned the difference between phrases and clauses.  It was also fun to do art to match!  Enjoy these samples.

by Momo (2nd grade)

by Katherine (4th grade)

by Ziggy (4th grade)

by Mika, 5th grade