No Happy Business Day
Well, I've been quiet here lately because I've been swamped with paper--about 55 first-year comp essays and now a pile of American lit tests too. Plus conferences with each of those 55 students about their essays. Whew. Their first essay assignment is to write an autobiographical narrative: a useful introduction to a course, one that you can work on integrating detail at the same time that the students are working with comfortable subjects. My daughter's fourth-grade class has been doing a stepped-down version of the same project. Laura finished her essay tonight; I asked if I could post it here, and she said fine... She's interested in seeing her work a different way, I think. So here's her first formal essay.
The Day Nothing Went Right
It was a slow morning, and when I got to school that morning, Alondra said, “What are you doing? Aren’t you doing Dragon Network News this morning?” I totally forgot I was supposed to do DNN this morning! “Thanks Alondra,” I said over my shoulder. I had to hurry it hard. By the time I got to the library in our school, I barely had time to practice my role. I was so nervous that I would mess up. I was relieved when it was over because I didn’t mess up.
Then when I left DNN as soon as I walked into the door of my classroom we had to partner up with people to do a science work sheet. Kristen and I held hands to try and be together with the project. Kristen is my best friend. We like being together a lot. It did not work. I was stuck with two boys. They talked and played while I read, and they made me do all the work. I had to do every single bit of it. I was sad when I saw that Kristen’s group was quiet when it was her turn to read, so unlike my group. The project was long and hard without Kristen. Then when I was going back to my seat, I saw that the tag on my book bag had come off and broken. The tag on my book bag is a mermaid that I made in third grade. That made me really mad because it held lots of memories.
Then at Challenger Mrs. Lockridge gave my best friend 5 minutes on the wall for talking, so I didn’t have any one to play with. Then when I got home my brother started hitting me like crazy with his bat. We were having such a blast until then “ MOM DAD HELP ME PLEASE!! [OUCH THAT HURT WILLIAM!!!]” Dad didn’t hear me because he had his headphones on. Mom didn’t hear because she was outside. He stopped hitting me when I screamed until my throat hurt. Daddy heard me then and even Mom heard me from outside. Dad came and pulled William off me. We didn’t hit each other after that. Then just when I was starting to have fun, I went to give my hermit crabs some water when I saw a dead body hermit crab body lying in the sand! It was George. I was so sad. He was one of my favorites. I cried my eyes out until I could not make any more tears. After that I put him in a plastic baggy so we could bury him.
Then Kristen called and said she was moving to another class. She also said to keep an ear out for Amy Miller to tell me that I was moving to her class too. I didn’t get a call. I felt a little bit of anger and a little bit of sadness about that.
Later that night, my mom took me to Avanti so I could order pizza for dinner. It sure reached its goal. It cheered me up. After dinner, William requested to see the ducks at the pond near Avanti. Then we went to the bookstore. I got a magazine on one of my favorite animals, horses. Finally I asked mom what was so important about Friday the 13th. She taught me that there was a word called “triskadeckaphobia” and it meant fear of the number 13. I sure think that it’s true because Friday the 13th was no happy business day for me.
The End
The Day Nothing Went Right
It was a slow morning, and when I got to school that morning, Alondra said, “What are you doing? Aren’t you doing Dragon Network News this morning?” I totally forgot I was supposed to do DNN this morning! “Thanks Alondra,” I said over my shoulder. I had to hurry it hard. By the time I got to the library in our school, I barely had time to practice my role. I was so nervous that I would mess up. I was relieved when it was over because I didn’t mess up.
Then when I left DNN as soon as I walked into the door of my classroom we had to partner up with people to do a science work sheet. Kristen and I held hands to try and be together with the project. Kristen is my best friend. We like being together a lot. It did not work. I was stuck with two boys. They talked and played while I read, and they made me do all the work. I had to do every single bit of it. I was sad when I saw that Kristen’s group was quiet when it was her turn to read, so unlike my group. The project was long and hard without Kristen. Then when I was going back to my seat, I saw that the tag on my book bag had come off and broken. The tag on my book bag is a mermaid that I made in third grade. That made me really mad because it held lots of memories.
Then at Challenger Mrs. Lockridge gave my best friend 5 minutes on the wall for talking, so I didn’t have any one to play with. Then when I got home my brother started hitting me like crazy with his bat. We were having such a blast until then “ MOM DAD HELP ME PLEASE!! [OUCH THAT HURT WILLIAM!!!]” Dad didn’t hear me because he had his headphones on. Mom didn’t hear because she was outside. He stopped hitting me when I screamed until my throat hurt. Daddy heard me then and even Mom heard me from outside. Dad came and pulled William off me. We didn’t hit each other after that. Then just when I was starting to have fun, I went to give my hermit crabs some water when I saw a dead body hermit crab body lying in the sand! It was George. I was so sad. He was one of my favorites. I cried my eyes out until I could not make any more tears. After that I put him in a plastic baggy so we could bury him.
Then Kristen called and said she was moving to another class. She also said to keep an ear out for Amy Miller to tell me that I was moving to her class too. I didn’t get a call. I felt a little bit of anger and a little bit of sadness about that.
Later that night, my mom took me to Avanti so I could order pizza for dinner. It sure reached its goal. It cheered me up. After dinner, William requested to see the ducks at the pond near Avanti. Then we went to the bookstore. I got a magazine on one of my favorite animals, horses. Finally I asked mom what was so important about Friday the 13th. She taught me that there was a word called “triskadeckaphobia” and it meant fear of the number 13. I sure think that it’s true because Friday the 13th was no happy business day for me.
The End
posted by Lisa at 9/21/2004 09:12:00 PM
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