Two fish went to the deep blue sea,
One got eaten by a shark,
Then there was one.
One fish went to the deep blue sea,
One got eaten by a shark,
Then there were none.
Zero of the fish are in the deep blue sea.
Only their bubbles left,
And they pop, pop, pop.
By Rene, 2nd grade
Picture by Mark Wales via Flickr
There’s a unicorn
in my backpack. He wants
to come to school with me.
He might butt me with his horn,
and he might chase me and
the other kids in the school.
He might run in the street,
and he might ram the kids,
and he might eat the snacks,
and he might hit the doors, and
butt the little kids. The dogs
on the street will run and bark
and bark.
But he might sing me a lullaby
when I can’t go to sleep and he might
butt the intruders who try to come in.
If he stands at the door, I might let him in.
By Megan, 1st grade
Photo by paulmcdee via Flickr
I am my soul
I wonder about who I am
I hear noises from birds
I see a colorful eye from space
I am who I am
I want love to appear
I pretend to be someone else
I touch feelings in people
I understand myself
I am who I am
I say hello to family
I dream about me
I try to be a good person
I hope to live happily
I am who I am
By Emily, 4th grade
I wonder what kind of dog I will have.
I hear the ocean.
I see the beach.
I want Christmas to come.
I am kind.
I pretend Christmas is here.
I feel a thousand feet tall.
I touch winter’s snow.
I worry about my mom and dad.
I cry for my mom when she is sick.
I am kind.
I understand math and science.
I dream I am a superhero.
I fly 100 miles per hour!
I try my best.
I hope the whole world
will be made of chocolate ice cream.
I am kind.
By Alexander, 2nd Grade
Photo by wintersoul1 via Flickr
If I were the dog, at Thanksgiving I would say:
That chopped liver smells good.
I hope they drop some turkey.
I want to taste that.
I think I see dessert.
This is so noisy.
When is it going to be over?
I think I like everything here.
I will just jump on the table.
Ooooooooh cake.
I can fly like a bird. Whee!
I am invincible like a zombie.
Splat! Sorry about that.
Darn, that was strawberry icing.
By Benjamin, 2nd grade
If I were a color, I would be the color of warmth.
I would be
the color of Thanksgiving.
If you looked at the late sunset, you’d find me.
I am the color of spicy gummy bears.
I am the delicious brown spice.
I am the color of deer and old burnt treasure maps.
I would be the color…
By Rosalind, 3rd Grade
Photo by Andy Fisher via Flickr
The greatest of them
All is the mighty waterfall.
Every animal bows to him in
The morning
And the evening, with his
roaring water and mighty
Drop. Even the smallest
barnacle bows to
him. He rarely speaks,
but when he does, he says,
“Beware
creatures, someday strange
men will
come to you.”
By Ana Maria, 3rd grade
Here are some favorite Halloween stories, poems, and essays written by WITS students.
[art by Niki via flickr]
Image via Wikipedia
On a sunny savannah land,
A giraffe has a friend,
One big fat hippo,
Both sit down in the sun that glows.
Exhausted and tired, from playing all around,
The giraffe stands up and hears a soft sound,
It goes to the jungle, and into the trees,
And now the giraffe must leave to see.
He follows the sound,
And looks all around,
But now, uh oh, he’s lost in the trees,
Now in the jungle; it’s too dark to see.
The lost giraffe must find his way out,
But first he must know what the sound is about,
He looks high and low, but no luck here,
The sound, hooray! It’s back in his ear!
Now the lost giraffe knows, the sound is a hiss!
He might have had an idea of what it is,
A slithery figure comes at his feet,
The lost giraffe sees he has to flee.
After realizing he’s gone,
The big hippo knows something’s wrong,
For the giraffe is missing,
Because he had heard the hissing.
The hippo told the giraffe’s parents,
And they stopped running their errands,
They can’t find him, oh how sad can they be,
The giraffe was missing, and nowhere to be seen.
The lost giraffe ran with all his might,
But now, hoorah! He sees a dim light,
The lost giraffe is happy again,
He thinks, he will, he knows, he can!
The lost giraffe saw his home,
And saw his father, who had let out a groan,
The lost giraffe was lost no more,
He let out a mighty, happy roar.
The found giraffe had a party in his savannah,
There were lots of balloons and a big piñata,
The found giraffe was very happy,
He had lots of fun with his friends and family.
By Alejandro, 5th Grade
Red A, Blue E, Green I,
Maroon O, White U
A, a hot summer day in
The dazzling desert, coyotes seeing
Red in their eyes, kangaroo boxing in a hot stage arena.
E, an Easter day with an egg
In the green magical
grass,
With leprechauns sliding down
A colorful rhythm.
I, the eyes of an eagle
Catching its prey, feeding
The soaring of her heart, an iguana
In her interesting life.
O, an octopus under the caves
Of a shark, experiencing the underwater life
As a shark hunts to eat.
U, an amazing angel
Taking away u and all of the other
Amazing vowels over a beautiful sunset.
By Frank, 4th Grade
Cover of Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee
Grade level: Kindergarten – 1st
Genre: various
Objectives: To involve the students in listen to a story read aloud
Primary sources: Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee by Paul Galdone
Materials: a basket with small stuffed animal characters from the book Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee
Contributors: Brooke Brown, Linda Draper
This story basket activity ensures the active participation of all students in listening to a book read aloud. Originally used with Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee, it can easily be adapted to any book by printing and laminating images of the story’s characters. Additionally, the students could make representations of the characters in the book as a pre-reading, art project.
Have the students sit in a circle on the floor with the “story basket” in the center which contains characters and farm animals from the book. The students should each take one animal from the story basket as the book is read aloud, listen for the appropriate time to place their character back in the basket.
Image by Umpqua via Flickr
I have never met my grandparents before, but my mom told me about them. She told me that my grandpa got milk from the cow and made it into cheese then sold it. She told me that they had lots of animals, like cows, pigs, horses, dogs, sheep, and goats. When my mom was little, my grandpa gave her a horse for her birthday. Her name was Star. My mom told me once there was a fox that was trying to get in the chicken pen and eat a chicken, but my grandpa saw it and scared it away. My mom looked in our closet to find a picture of Mexico that they took with the animals and my grandparents and my mom when she was little. First I saw a picture of a pig named Gordita, and she had piglets that he sold. Whenever there were baby chicks, cows, horses or goats, my grandpa would sell them. My grandma took a picture of the dog playing with the chicken. There was some stuff in the box with the pictures. There was a sombrero and a little statue of a Chihuahua dancing the Mexican hat dance. She put the box away and started thinking about going to Mexico. It’s a gateway to a lifetime.
by Christian, 4th grade
Achievement is someone
with a paper in his hand and
an accomplished face with
his arms stretched out
screaming and yelling
“Yes! Yes! I did it!
I made it.
I did what everyone said
I couldn’t do.
I feel as excited as an animal
at the zoo during feeding time.
I also feel like a fierce
and wild tiger on the loose
being chased.
I feel like I’m a fire that
is just beginning
to light up.”
By Mina
8th grade
Photo by Don Gato via Flickr
Happy
Today I feel so happy.
I love candy.
Because.
I don’t know why I’m happy.
Oh, I am happy because
I stuck myself today.
Sometimes, I feel split in half,
like a sunset with beautiful flowers and
a frost with so much horror and death.
But today I feel like dancing,
like the couple in Paris and
playing like a Jack Russell terrier
and eating much too much candy
which the hospital won’t give me.
And I am sipping a cup of tea.
By DeAndrea, age 12
Collage made by the author and published in the anthology, My Hand is So Complicated and My Mind is a Mystery, published by Writers in the Schools and Texas Children’s Hospital
Going to the bright sun.
Their ideas are blank
With the background orange.
All they can think of
Is words, words, words.
By Lance, 4th grade
[photo by cosmonautirussi via flickr]
