Describe A "First"

Describe a "first." This assignment will be several days long. Day one should be an outline. Days two and three should be two to three body paragraphs. Day four should be a short introduction and conclusion paragraph. Day five should be editing and adding a photo.

When I was four years old, I got trampled by a horse. I nearly died and had to go to the hospital to get stitches in my head. It was very painful. After that I never wanted to get near or ride a horse again.

One day I went to my friend's house. Her name is Hannah. She has two ponies named Grey and Loretta, and I wanted to ride one. I decided to try Grey, so Hannah's mom put on his saddle and got him ready to ride.

Grey was fun to ride! It was bumpy but I didn't care; I was having a good time. We rode around the yard two times, and then I got off and let my brother and sister have a turn. Afterwards, we went inside and had dinner.

I got a bunch of "congrats," and "good jobs," after dinner, which made me feel happy. Now, every time I go to Hannah's house, I ask if I can ride their pony. Who knows? Maybe next time I will ride a horse!

Family Traditions

Write about Hinton Family Traditions. You may write about one, or more than one. Please remember to use paragraphs if needed.

On December 24th our family goes Christmas caroling after dinner. We go to our friend's houses (if they are there) at night and sing one Christmas song. After that we give them a treat that we made earlier in the day and sing one more carol that they pick. After we sing to everyone we go home, and if there are some treats left we get to eat them. When we kids go to bed our mom and dad wraps our Christmas presents and places them under the tree for the next day.

Cause and Effect

Write a cause and effect paragraph (or two or three...long enough to develop your idea). Start with an improbable statement of cause and effect, and use your paragraph to connect the dots. This should be humorous.

Did you know that beautiful springtime flowers can relate to an embarrassing water spewing episode? It happens because of cause and effect. Let me explain...

Flowers in the spring that just bloomed can spread a lot of pollen. Some people have allergies to pollen, making their eyes itchy and their noses stuffy. It happens with kids too. Let's say one girl has allergies and she wants to take pills instead of syrup because she is ten years old. She buys some pills at the drug store and takes them home. That night, before bedtime, she tries to swallow her first pill with some water. She gets too much water in her mouth, then drops the pill into her mouth. She tries to swallow but she spews water on the kitchen floor instead.

And that is how a flower can cause a mess on your floor.

Picture Prompt

Assignment: Find a picture in a book. Write a story about the picture.

 A dragon was soaring over the ocean, looking for fish to eat. The dragon soon found a school of tuna and dived into the water, feasting on it like a king. But the dragon wasn't the only one who wanted fish. A giant shark appeared and tried to eat all the tuna before the dragon did. The dragon was infuriated and attacked the shark, trying to kill it! The shark struck back with his tail but missed the agile dragon. The two beasts clawed and bit and wrestled in the water until the shark pushed the dragon down to the ocean floor. The dragon wrestled and fought but it was no use and the dragon drowned. The shark swam away and left the dragon there to rot. But suddenly, the dragon opened his eyes! He was only pretending to drown. The dragon had gills that he turned on in the water; he could turn them off in the air and on land. The dragon swam after the shark, sneaked up on it, and killed it! The dragon flew out of the water, victorious. He roared and breathed fire into the cloudy sky, as a sign of victory.

Hugo

Hugo the tangerine cat
He hated the Santa hat
He came from Mexico
Ate a lot of burritos
And now he's anoyingly fat

What Is A Dragon?

Short tempered intelligence
Fiery destruction
A cold-blooded devil
An active volcano
A shadow in the night
A growing red stain on a white cloth

Ms. Arabella Tries to Get a Husband

There once was a lady named Ms. Arabella
A kindly young auntie with money to spare
Lonely and sad, she wanted a fella
(Her husband had died when he fell down the stair.)

With hair like the sunshine and eyes like the sea
It shouldn't be tricky to find a new man
But she had some trouble with singing in key
In fact, she quite sounded like banging of pans

In came a man who was rich and of fame
He was handsome all over, from head to his shoes
Henry McRoberts, he said, was his name
But when she started singing he blew up like a fuse

Poor Arabella! Will she ever wed?
Or will she live in a house all alone?
She married her butler in a dress colored red
And in California they made a new home

Birth of a Dragon

Ever wonder how a dragon is born? Well, luckily for you I made a biography about just that!

First the mother dragon lays an egg and deserts it to live on its own. The egg is very thick and you can't see the dragon inside of it. The dragon makes it's own body heat and it is curled up inside of the egg like a snake. After one day the egg has changed to look like a thick fog but you can only see the outline of the dragon. It remains still.

On the second day the dragon has woken up, is making low rumbling sounds, and you can see more of the dragon. The next day the dragon is angry for being in the egg so long. Not only is it making more rumbling sounds, but it is thumping around in the egg and also scraping the shell.

On the fourth day the dragon breaks the egg with its horns and uncurls from the egg. When the dragon hatches  from the egg it is very hungry. So the dragon's instincts lead it back to its family so the father dragon can feed the baby. If there are any other siblings in the family the baby might eat them while the father dragon is out hunting!

A Dragon Ear Cuff's Story

My name is Amy and this is the story of me. I was a gold nugget that lived in California in 1849 under-ground in fresh soil. The soil smelled great and I didn't need anything else to make me happy.

One day a hairy farmer dug me up from the soil along with dead vegetable plants. His hair felt like dirty wool and his breath smelled like garlic. He put me in a car and drove me to a queer looking building that had a diamond on it. He gave me to another man with a bunch of tools and he gave the farmer money. After the farmer left the other man took some tools and crafted me into a golden dragon ear cuff.

A woman came in the store and gave the man some money and took off with me. Ever since then I have been around her ear. I am glad that I have been turned into an elegant dragon.

Dr. Seuss

Theodore Geisel was born in 1904. Because his father was a superintendent at the zoo, he sketched the animals there. Theo graduated from Dartmouth College but later dropped out of Oxford. At some point he joined the army. When he started writing books he made bizarre animals like a camel with a feather duster on its head. He wrote lots of childrens books but he didn't have any kids of his own. He wrote 47 books like The Cat in the Hat, which have been translated into 20 languages. Most kids know him as Dr. Seuss, but when Theo illustrated his own books, he used the name Theo LeSieg. (LeSieg is Geisel spelled backwards!). This wonderful man died in 1991 but will always be remembered as a great writer.

(Note from Jenny: This is Katie's first real report. She chose a subject, gathered information, planned her paper, wrote two rough drafts and two final drafts, and typed it all herself.)

Practice Makes Perfect

When I do school I sometimes mess up but that's okay. If I keep practicing I'll get better at it and I won't mess up that badly the next time I do it. I was six the first time I started piano and I wasn't that good. But now that I'm nine I'm better at piano because I practiced three years and got really good at it. I was also six when I first started art lessons and all I could draw were shapes. I'm still taking art lessons now that I'm nine and I can draw all sorts of things like animals, now that I had a little practice. So if you're having a lot of trouble at something keep practicing and you will get better at it.

My Cat Hugo

If you ever met Hugo I think you would like him. He's very fluffy and he's a Mane Coon (a Mane Coon is a kind of cat). Hugo is orange and white (not to mention his feet are black from walking in the flower bed) and is very cute...but he's not a girl. He's very big, very heavy, and also very fat. Hugo wants to go in the attic even though he doesn't know that there's rat poison in there. He purrs very loudly and when he's really happy he gets in weird positions on the bed.

Hugo is crazy about birds, but he's too chicken to get a bug. His most favorite things to eat are tuna, chicken, and cat food. Every time my mom goes up the stairs Hugo races her. He was born in Mexico and we got him for an early Christmas present. Now, since he's gotten used to us, he runs away from my little sister Audrey, who is four years old. Hugo knows why to run away from her: because she clipped off his whiskers and she shut the door on his tail. Don't worry, he's a nice cat. But beware if you are like my sister.

Mary's Birthday Party

Mary's birthday party was really fun !!!!!!!!!!

I hid in the curtains when Mary's friend Caroline went down the hallway, and when she got near the curtains I jumped out of the curtains and said "BOO!" It was soooooo funny! Then when Mr. Chris came home, Mrs. Laura brought out the cake and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Mary. The cake was carrot cake but I don't remember what the frosting flavor was. Some of the presents were funny and cute. Mary got a sleep mask that had big eyes on it and she looked like a monkey when she put it on.

Then when it got dark we played an American Girl game. Right when I was about to go to bed, we played Killer in the Dark. The next morning, we went to the store right across the train tracks and Mary spent her birthday money on us so we could get a snack. When we got back, Mary's friend Carly was there. Then Mary's mom and dad drove us to Trivia Night and we watched The Secret of Nimh. I can't wait 'till the next birthday party!

When I Grow Up

When I grow up I want to be a stay at home mom, 'cause if I work I won't get to see them much and they go to school for eight hours. And when they get home, they have to do lots of homework. When I grow up I want to be a stay at home mom so I can see my kids a lot.