January Stories

My First Instrument and Forever

By Andy

When I was a kid in school I played the trombone. I was the best trombone player in the band so I decided to become a trombone player. In high school I was still playing the trombone. In college I took a class for brass instruments. They told me that I needed to buy the instrument that I wanted to play. So I went to a music store. I looked for a trombone. When I found it, it cost $350.

I decided to run errands for my friends for money. One of my friends told me to run into an international store so he could make salsa. On my way there, I passed a pawnshop. In the front of the window was a trombone just like the one in the music store. It cost $150 so I just raised money for the trombone that was in the pawnshop. I worked for two weeks every day. I had $130. I just needed $20. So I ran back to my campus and got the money. Then I ran back to the pawnshop, went in, and gave the money to the owner. I said, “I want that trombone!”

He counted the money then gave me the trombone. Then I said, “What, no case?” He said, “Sold separately.” I asked, “How much?” The owner said, “Thirty dollars.” I said, “I’ll buy it tomorrow.” I went back to campus and when I left college I had a good career. I was a trombone player. I had a lot of money. My first concert was in California at Walt Disney Symphony Hall. It was the biggest hit ever in my career.

My First Concert

By Jose

One day I was walking on the sidewalk. There was a store that sold instruments. There were beautiful clarinets in the window. They were silver and black. It cost $5 dollars. We were poor. I was looking in the trash for onions to go to sell to restaurants. I had numerous onions. But I only sold five. They cost $.25. I have one dollar and twenty-five cents. When I was going to my house, I was tired but happy. The next day I found produce. This time I sold it for three dollars. Now I have four dollars and twenty-five cents. I ran many errands to my house.

My mom was out side on the steps. It looked like she was worried. I sat down with her. She was worried because today was my sister’s birthday and she didn’t have any money. She was broke. She asked me if I could give her a quarter. I gave her a quarter so she could make jambalaya bowls.

The jambalaya was so good that I ate five bowls of jambalaya. The next day I was outside on the steps. My mom came out and sat with me and she asked me if I was saving that quarter for something else. My mom gave me a dollar. That completed my $5 dollars. I went to the pawnshop running as fast as I could. I just threw the money on the counter. I told the man, “I want the clarinet.” I got a gravelly voice from the excitement. And I played. The first try sounded like ppphhh. The next try was a high “C”. The next day there was a concert. I signed in for the concert.

It was my first one. My family and friends were there. I played the song that my mom and dad loved, “Jingle Bells.” The rest were not that good and I won $1,000 dollars. I was so proud of my clarinet and family.

The Day I Was in the Symphony

By Oscar

The day I saw the symphony for the first time I was just sitting watching TV and playing video games at the same time. I changed the channel and saw my friend Javier on TV in a symphony as a conductor with a goofy suit and a goofy tie. He was playing the Nutcracker. He was really cool conducting it.

The next day I was my friend Javier saying to me, “Do you want to be my accompanist for the sonata?” Then I said, “Don’t you need to audition?” He said, “No, because I told them you played a baritone international so they said yes.” Then Javier said, “They also need a man with potential.” They were giving me a full scholarship. But Javier said, “You need to apprentice for the sonata.”

When the day of the symphony was here, I thrived when I saw it was a full house. Then Javier told me immigrants from around the world were here. I was very timid and scared at the same time. But I remembered with my flexibility I will calm down. Then when I got on stage I said, “I devoted my free time for this symphony.” That was the best concert ever.

The First Concert By Myself

By Gisselle

It all started when I was in band and I played the clarinet. My band teacher, Mrs. Hammel, told me that if I had permission to go to the Symphony Hall, I could play a song by myself. The song that she said I was going to play was the song Rite of Passage and I already knew it. She encouraged me a little.

So I was at home and I asked my mom for money to go to the pawnshop to buy some reeds for my clarinet and to go to the market to buy produce for the next day because that was the day of the concert and I want to be healthy. When I bought the reeds, they had numerous kinds to choose from. My mom told me to run errands and buy some eggs.

Last, I woke up and said, “Good thing I didn’t have a gravelly voice.” So we were at the Symphony Hall and Mrs. Hammel asked, “Did you know this is an international concert?” And I said, “Yea!”

Then they called my name to play Rite of Passage. So I was playing and everybody was quiet and I finished playing and everybody clapped. Mrs. Hammel said I did a great job. My friends were giving me balloons that said congratulations and little presents. That was the happiest day of my life.

December Stories

My Rocket Ride

By Hernan

One day I was at the lab. We went for a rocket ride to the moon. It took a long time to get there. I was jumping like a monkey. My brother was ridiculing me because I was throwing myself to the ground. There was a bulky asteroid. We were trying to move it to the rocket. It was funny. I had lots of energy. So we were playing wrestling. I vowed to my brother that I wouldn’t hurt him. It was incredible. My brother jumped higher than me. I started to take pictures.

The astronaut was a pro. He said that he had been on the moon three times. He said that eons ago lots of asteroids crashed on the moon. I was trying to plod but it was hard. I was wondering if my destiny would be to become an astronaut.

It was time to leave so I went around looking for souvenirs. I was going to show the whole class everything I got. It was time to go home so we took off and went to the lab. We landed safely. No one got hurt. My brother and I went home. We told them everything that happened. At last I showed them the photos we took. That was the best ride ever.

My Mars Adventure

By Maricela

One day I was playing outside with the rocket that I built. Then it suddenly started to move like an earthquake. I blasted off into space. “I could not believe that my rocket could fly,” I said. It started to veer from one place to another. I think it used some of the energy of the sun and generated some power to blast off.

Suddenly I landed. “Which planet or moon is this,” I wondered. Then I recognized the planet. “It’s Mars,” I shouted. I was the first one to go to Mars. When I was looking, I saw and inlet on Mars. “I can’t believe it,” I said. The inlet lead into a lagoon.

When I was ready to go home, I couldn’t. It felt like something was pulling back. Then I remembered that Mars had a gravitational pull. “Do not pull my rocket. My rocket is not water,” I shouted to Mars. “Oh sorry,” she said. I was in shock. Then I told the barren Mars, “I am so sorry if you felt bad because I shouted to you.” “It’s OK,” she replied. Then I blasted off to earth.

Aliens

By Brianna

One day I was in my room watching TV when I heard something from outside. So I turned off the TV and then got a flashlight to see what was going on. Then I saw something green glowing. It looked like a person.

Then I slowly took a step towards it and then I tried to touch it but I felt nervous. I got a stick and carefully touched it. It had enormous features and a big head.

Then it was running toward a shining light in the sky. Then I saw it closely and it was a UFO! I could not believe my eyes. I took photographs of the alien and the UFO. I thought if I gave the photographs to the president, I would get publicity and everyone would know me.

The next day they brought some big machine to translate with the humans. Then I told them if they hurt anybody they can’t be here. They said they were just here to buy a PS2 so they wouldn’t get bored on their way to the moon. When they went back to the moon, they gave me a souvenir to remember this day!

Alien Invasion

By Joel

A long, long time ago there was a happy couple. The woman’s name was Nicole and the man’s name was Mark. They were scientists. They worked in a laboratory in Wisconsin. They studied aliens. They had three different kinds of aliens in each tank. They are in some kind of liquid so they won’t die. They are really, really rare.

One day when Mark and Nicole went into the laboratory, they saw that the glass was broken. That’s when all of a sudden they heard bombs going off. They were under attack. They quickly called the police station. They said they were sending jets.

They started shooting missiles. The aliens had some kind of sensor because that made more aliens come. It was a war between human kind and aliens. Mark and Nicole got out safely through the back door. Mark and Nicole knew their weakness. It was really loud screeching. So they sent a lot of screeching parrots to the aliens. They ran like crazy. They climbed into their flying saucers and took off in a blink of an eye. And since then, they have never been seen again.

November 7 Stories

A Simultaneous Wave and Hurricane

By Nayeli

A simultaneous wave and hurricane took place in the mid 1990's when my accompanist, Ace, who is an expert on gravitational bulges, comes with me to explore an inlet.

We were having fun relaxing in the shallow water when a hurricane generated waves and I was almost drowned. But, thanks to my life-saver, I was safe. We got out of the water.

Trying to escape the hurricane got worse. Thinking it was inconsequential, we ran into a spooky cave. Then we recognized how important it was to be in the cave. Because of the hurricane the light did not go out. There was a lot of energy. The cave was magic. It could stop the waves and hurricanes.

At first we didn't know anything, but our curiosity didn't stop us from pushing the button. Then after we pushed the button, we went out of the cave and saw the waves and hurricane had stopped simultaneously.

The Ace and I started playing tag in the water because what could we do? We were drenched.


My Wild Boat Ride

By Jesus

One day we were on a boat to go to Hawaii for a vacation. It was a long trip. I sat on a beach ball and it made a bulge. There was high tide because the moon has a gravitational pull on the ocean. Then there was a tsunami. It was generated by a volcanic explosion in Hawaii.

The boat went in all different directions. We had to use our energy to stay on the boat. The the tsunami stopped. I was so dizzy that I fell off the boat. Good thing that the water was shallow.

Now we were close to Hawaii. We were excited. When we reached the inlet, I found 7 starfish. Then we reached the shore we went to eat. And I will never forget that day for the rest of my life.



Buffalo Herd

By Jordan

Here I am in the middle of the fire storm as the leader. I have to lead the herd to safety but the problem is, I don't know how to be a leader. My herd dwindles each time we walk 5 miles. Embers fly like we were in a war. The policy was not to pass waterfall property. If it is the only way to safety, I will break the policy. The canopy of the trees is on fire.

Since leaves are tinder, we try to stay as far away as possible from trees. We veered a lot of times. So we got to the waterfall property. We thought we were safe but it is hunting season. There are hunters everywhere. Even the the famous hunter, Andy, is here.

Soon something good happened. Geysers shot out. The geysers were cold water and turned the fire off. That was good for my herd, but bad for the hunters. Andy, the hunter, got shot into the air by a geyser and is crying and yelling for help.


The Fires

By Dominique

I remember last summer when the forest had a lot of fires. There were always firefighters coming every day. Trees dwindled and there was hardly any grass and plants. There was a big fire in 2008 when the firefighters came, the trees were full of embers. Every time I went I would see bison. And the tree's canopy was all gone.

When I saw a fire I veered to another side. They made a policy to always take down fires. On June 15 there was the worst fire in the forest. It killed animals. Everything was dying. After that fire nobody went over there. Not even the animals. It was tinder dry. There was a geyser shooting up in the air.

But one day a miracle happened. It started to snow. Trees were growing, grass was growing, and plants were growing. Animals were comming and people were coming. Since then no more fires were in the forest.

New Stories for 2008

Island of Adventures

By Carlos

One day me and my dad decided to go on shore and gather up some abalone and a couple of fish, so we did. We got on a canoe and started to hunt. Then suddenly the canoe started pitching all over the place. A big wave splashed right on top of us and the canoe flipped over.

When I swam to shore my dad wasn’t there. I tried to go back home but I didn’t know the way back. I went on my own. When I was walking, I felt forlorn thinking that my dad died back on shore but then I got over it.

That night I gorged down the abalone like a filthy animal. Then four wild dogs came and tried to get my abalone. I took a stick and whooped one on the head and the rest ran off to their lair.

The next day I was exhausted and overcome with all the walking I did.

The Dangerous Shark Cove

By Yetzamy

Once upon a time there was a girl names Jethzami. She had two pet sharks. She even had to put harnesses on them. When she woke up, she would always say that it was her destine to guard this island. Her sharks thought so too. Every morning she would swim with her sharks and when she was done swimming with them, she would take them to the lair and she pitched herself on the sofa made out of kelp. She would eat abalone for breakfast and fish for lunch and abalone and fish for dinner. She would get overcome from eating the same thing every day.

One day she went to play with her sharks and she saw that Sammy was the vainer sister and Monica was very nice and looked forlorn. She was going to feed them. They gorged their food. Jethzami thought about writing a book about a forlorn shark. She would dedicate it to Monica. So she did. She wrote the book and she kept her promise.

Then she went to New York where they were selling the book and they wanted to make a movie and she used Monica as the lead and they lived happily ever after.

Dangerous Island Adventure

By Mario

Once upon a time there was a kid named Bob. He was vainer. He used to be my best friend until we got into a fight. Now we are best friends again and we go on adventures and discover new stuff. Once we were thinking of going on our greatest adventure yet. He thought of sharks and I thought of caves. We thought of the greatest adventure ever. Bob’s dad once told us about a treasure under the sea but he told us not to go because it was dangerous.

Ten minutes later we were thinking of going but Bob was afraid of drowning. So, I told him, “You need to overcome your fear.” He said “OK.” I am an ace at swimming. Bob is too, but he is afraid of drowning. Before we went to the underwater lair we ate abalone. Bob gorged himself with his food. We saw a boat and then the cave pitched the boat back to the cove.

When we went under water we felt forlorn because the sharks were eating bountiful little fish. Then we kept on swimming until we got to the treasure. Then I got one necklace and I put it on. The next thing we knew we were surrounded by sharks. We fooled them and got away but the bad news is that we didn’t get the treasure but I still kept the necklace for a souvenir.

The Dangerous Island

By Kalyn

Sara lives peacefully with her family and friends. Her father is kind of handsome and has some money. He is the chief of their tribe. One day some people came from another island. They asked if they could have some abalone. Her father said, “Sure.” So they got some abalone. They turned their weapons on them. Sara was so scared. They said to give them all the abalone that was in the store. So they left after they got most of the abalone and killed her father. After that she was very forlorn.

So the new chief’s name was Chief Acedo. He insisted they go somewhere else to a safer home. So they packed up some things in baskets. Sara and her sister Jenny packed two boxes of jewelry. Jenny was vainer than Sara. Their little brother Andres helped them carry the baskets. They waited for the ship on the sand.

Soon the boat came. They all went aboard the ship. They were all aboard or so they thought. They were so hungry they gorged themselves until they couldn’t eat another bit. The boat started to pitch wildly. They were out about one foot when Sara noticed her brother wasn’t on the ship. She was overcome with sadness when he wasn’t on the ship.

No one would turn around to get him so she left her things on the ship and dived into the sea. When she got to shore, she was worried about Andres. When it was night they went out for food. Then they saw bountiful wild wolves. They ran off to their lair. They were very bulky animals. Sara and Andres were so tired that they plodded to find a place to sleep. Sara made an error to leave her things on the ship.

December Stories

The Ocean

By Joaquin

If you visit the shore, you’ll soon notice the daily rise and fall of the water, which we call tide.

One hot summer day my friend and I were playing soccer in my back yard. It was really hot. Then we went inside for a drink of water. Then my friend asked me if I wanted to go to the ocean. I said, “OK, let’s go.” I asked my mom if I could go and if I could invite my friend. She said “OK, but only if his mom lets him.” So we went to go ask his mom and she said “OK.”

He got his stuff and we went straight to the ocean. We were happy. When we got there, my little niece went to the shallow water. We climbed the mountain and we saw a bulge on top of the mountain. It was cool up there. We lost our energy so we drank water and rested to beg back our energy. We climbed back down and went straight to the ocean. We saw a boat move to the inlet. My dad brought a boat too.

We were getting hungry so we ate some sandwiches. It was good. Then my dad said we could ride the boat. It was cool! There were lots of fish. My friend and my family had lots of fun at the ocean.


China

By Erick

China is one of the oldest known civilizations. Beginning thousands of years ago, powerful families took control and ruled this enormous region. A family that ruled for a long period of time became known as a dynasty. Influences from many of these great dynasties have survived to this day.

I am trying to convince my friends Valentin and Abraham to come join me on a trip to China because inhabitants of China are very cool. The people there eat food that I’ve never seen before like bugs, rats and other animals I can’t even think of. I guess their food is like that because they don’t have anything else to eat or they will have famine.

Many people wear elaborate clothes because that is part of their culture or civilization. In China there are many farm lands. Some people make terraces for their crops can grow better.

The governor of China is part of a large administrative group. There are thousands and thousands of people living there.


Torres Fun Land

By Daniel

Visit the shore of the Torres. Lie down and relax or get wet at the water park. It’s shallow so kids won’t drown and there is a pool for grown ups too.

We can give you a relaxing massage and we have a spa for girls and women. Men, you can go to the sports room and work out at the gym. We will give free Gatorade to give you energy.

We have a fair next to the inlet. It has a ferris wheel, bumper cars, basketball, small games, a haunted house and a big jumper. Be careful, it takes a while for it to generate the bulge.

It is fun here. Come visit us. Call us at 000-000-0000 or visit us at TorresFunLand.com. Hope you visit us soon.


The Beach Vacation

By Jesus

If you visit the shore you’ll soon notice the daily rise and fall of the water. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.

My dad told me “Well, I’m off to work now.” I said “OK, bye.” My two friends came to invite me to the pool. I went to ask my mom. She said “OK.” We went on bikes. When we got there, we put our swimming clothes on. We jumped in. It was no shallow like last year. We were there for three hours. My dad called and said, “We are going on a trip to the ocean.” I asked if my friends could go. He said “OK” and they asked their parents. We packed up and one hour later we got there. My dad said the car needs more energy to run. We were on the ocean. We put on our swimming clothes. We started to walk around. We saw the man that generated more power to make the viper go faster.

We saw an inlet. There were about 35 boats. Luis and Jorge started to swim. I didn’t because I had to fix the bulge part of the boat. Then we fixed it. I went in. The water was fresh. We left at 7:00 at night. When we got home I went to sleep. I was very tired after fixing the boat.


The Ocean

By Reyna

If you visit the shore, you soon notice the daily rise and fall of the water which we call tides. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.

One Saturday night at 6:00 my best friends Leidy and Mayte and I went to the ocean because we had a lot of things on our mind. We couldn’t get them out so we were just laying down watching the boats in the inlet.

Leidy and Mayte and I went swimming. Mayte was losing her energy so we took her out! The ocean was beautiful and the waves pitched the small boat in the inlet. Some places in the ocean it was shallow and you could barely swim or get fish. Mayte and Leidy and I were playing beach ball. The ball bulged because the air was coming out.

The wind generated high waves. Mayte was telling us that the moon’s gravitational pull affects the tides. She said, “Did you know that?” We said yes and then we went inside to go and eat some abalone with salsa and lemon.

November Stories

This week's writing guidelines required that students write a story with this week's vocabulary words while actually imagining that they were a character in the story.

Adventure in the Everglades
By Luis

There was a man called Juan Manuel Marquez. People call him the “Adventurer” because he likes adventures. The only adventure place he loves is Lake Everglades. There is no day that he forgets about the Everglades.

He always wrote a multitude of poems, books, and he also makes “Figurative Language” about it. He especially uses “Hyperbole” because he also likes to exaggerate. He never loses time there in the Everglades.

Since he was little he was always in his little canoe. Now that he is an adult and he has a wife, he spends more time with his wife that in the Everglades. When he was little, he made a promise to himself that he will be in the Everglades for eons. Now he told his wife, “Let’s move to Baja, California because I want to know another peninsula. I got tired of this one.”

They moved to Baja, California and then they had kids. The kids heard about the Everglades and one of the kids said, “Dad, could we go to the Everglades please?” Juan pondered and said, “Let’s go then.” When they got there the kids scurried to the lake. Juan still had the canoe and they barely fit. They took a little tour and on the way they saw a plentitude of white egrets. The kids were amazed. Their eyes almost popped out and their couth was as big as a hippo’s mouth. They saw all kinds of animals. Now those kids will pass to their kids and those kids will pass on the experience.









The Island
By Jose Carlos

In the 1860’s a girl named Karina and her brother named Carlos lived on an Island named Island LYR. They lived in a lair. Carlos ate a lot of abalone and gorged carbs and Karina felt forlorn because they did not have any family. Karina was overcome by the sharks.

One day a lot of people came to the island and asked if we wanted to go to another place. We said yes. So we went aboard. I took my equipment. Carlos did too. I knew he forgot something. I thought he was just going to leave it there so I did not worry about it.

When we left the Island, the boat started pitching and it pitched and it pitched. Carlos said, “How come you have more stuff?” Carlos didn’t understand. He jumped to the land and got his spear and some clothes. The boat started going fast and he tried swimming but there were sharks.

He returned to the Island and we never saw him again.









Trapped by the Ice
By Hillary

It all started in 1874. I was going to see the penguins with my family and my friends. We realized there was a hole under the ship and we were sinking. We had to jump out because the ship was hurting the penguins. It was perilous. If we jump with lots of stuff, we will maybe not make it to the ice and fall in the water and freeze to death.

The penguins were getting hurt so we bailed out and made it. One of the penguins got hurt so we took care of it. It was a good thing that we tool everything out. It was impossible to walk the ice because it might. We had to start walking because we were standing next to rancid things and it was freezing cold.

I was starting to get dehydration from not drinking anything or eating. I was starting to catch a fever and the ice was melting. We had to get to a safe place because we could drown. We saw a ship but it was so grueling to get on so we started lunging each other into the ship. We were safe and the penguin was happy with his family. It was the most grueling adventure I had ever had!

9/11 Stories

On the six year anniversary of 9-11 we did a writing assignment in the form of a Personal Narrative. Students were to imagine that they were there the day it happened and describe what they felt and what they did while using this weeks vocabulary words.


9/11

By Rosa

I am a volunteer in New York City. It was a Tuesday morning when I was playing with the children that I heard a big sound. Then the other volunteers called me and said, “Hurry, hurry.” I didn’t have a clue of what was happening. Then they told me the Twin Towers fell. I couldn’t believe them.

I rushed where they were. I couldn’t believe it. Those people had done so many violations. I got in but I couldn’t be in there too much so I went outside and helped some people with all the injuries they have. Some even threw themselves out of the windows. It was so sad seeing all the family crying.

When we were finished, everything was destroyed. Although that happened a long time ago, people have an issue why they did that. Now people are funding money to rebuild it but bigger. I wish they didn’t postpone this for later and rebuild buildings on ground zero. I hope people don’t come with a plan to destroy them again. If I would have a job to help, I would do effective work. I don’t have in my agenda for this to happen again. I hope they make an ordinance saying that if this happens again, it would be safer.


September 11, 2001 (9/11)

By Sophia

9/11 was a very sad time. I don’t remember it very well, but as I get older I hear more and more about it. When it happened, I was only 5 years old. For every person that died there is a flag and this year for every child that died they will get a pink rose.

Why does there have to be war and how can somebody just kill other people including themselves and believe they will go up to their God and be OK with it. I could never do anything like that. So many people died including children. So many families, friends, husbands, and wives died.

I am just so happy no one in my family died. I feel very sad though for those whose families did die. I just wish that one day there will be no wars, but my wish probably will never come true. I only think this because there has been war since the beginning of time, even just small fights just over who’s right and who is wrong. People fight over religion, skin colors, and even who is the strongest town, country, city, and state.

I am sure that when it came down, everyone glared and ran away. Many mementos were found. Fire fighters rummaged through the building after it had fallen and miraculously they found a man still alive and breathing. By the end of the day everyone was exhausted I’m sure from flexing their muscles while picking up heavy things and fumed that someone did this to these families or friends. Policemen and firemen effectively cared about what happened. We knew this was an issue that needed to be fixed somehow.

The Terror of 9/11

By Perla

I would like to be a volunteer in on 9/11 because I want to help clean all of the damages. The volunteers have an agenda full of things to do. I feel real sad because many people died because the Twin Towers fell down. We won’t be so effective picking up heavy things.

We are getting funding to build a building called “Freedom Towers” where the Twin Towers used to be.

An issue we talk about is about the funding. It is not an ordinance to do it, but we want to do it as a memento of the Twin Towers. We will not postpone any meetings. We hope there will be no more violations.

9/11

By Aracely

I remember I saw the territory fall down. It was a disaster. I had to make people go away from near there.

I glared at how the territory fell down. I’m sad for those people who died.
The families were crying because family members had died and I consoled those families.

My favored people to console were the ones who need it the most.

I felt guilty when the airplane fell because we could have stopped them.

Everyone trotted when the fire got closer and closer. I couldn’t even run for how scared I was.

The last thing that I have for a memento is to remember how people died for us, and to be thankful that we have life.