R-Sounds
Favorite Teacher
My science teacher, Mr. Kerr, is my most favorite teacher in the world. Every class period we do the coolest experiments. We have made paper planes, studied what spiders eat for dinner, learned the molecular differences between dirt and butter, and looked at germs under a microscope.
At first, most of our class was nervous to do all of these crazy things, but after studying butter and dirt we were amazed at how cool science is. We told Mr. Kerr our concerns and he reassured us if we would give the experiments a chance, we wouldn't be sorry.
Mr. Kerr is dedicated too. Last year he hurt his shoulder playing basketball. He had to have surgery on it and I'm sure he was in a lot of pain. He didn't care though. He still came to school and taught our class how to make a liquid into a solid by stirring specific materials together. Then he had us climb a ladder and pour it off onto the floor.
He also likes to surprise our class with opportunities to learn. During November, we had a lesson about what has to happen to a turkey before we can eat it. The class thought it would be gross, and some of it was, but we learned a lot about the process. The girl next to me and I agree that we will miss Mr. Kerr's science class.
Sailboat
Last December I was sad because my favorite baseball team lost in a tournament. You should have seen my face, it looked like someone erased my smile.
To cheer me up my dad took me out on our sailboat. It was a little messy so we took some soap and cleaned it up first. We took some sandwiches, soup, and juice and left the house early on Saturday morning.
We spent a few hours sailing around the lake. It was relaxing to just sit and listen to the water against the boat and soak up some sun. Dad told me he was sorry about the baseball team losing.
"They will have more chances to win in the future," he said. I told him I wasn't too sad anymore. "I just really wanted them to win," I said. Dad suggested that we sing the team song. He thought that would help us get excited for next years tournament.
"Next year we will sit outside on the grass behind the fence to watch the game," dad said. "We can take some salad, popsicles, and your toy dinosaurs. It will be the most fun we've ever had at a baseball game." I love my dad. He is so good at helping me be happy.
Bride
Lucky Bride
My brother is getting married on Friday. He wants the wedding day to be perfect for his bride. He is planning to visit her house early and make her breakfast in bed. Two of her favorite things to eat are brownies and cornbread, so he is actually going to make her brownie oatmeal and cornbread muffins.
She loves zebras and he bought her a picture of a baby zebra from a store, just east of the Brooklyn Bridge. He bought her a beautiful bracelet to wear at the wedding.
He has other gifts that he wants to bring her, but I told him to wait until after the wedding for some of them. She is really smart so he is getting her a squishy foam brain that she can put on her desk at work. He also wants to give her a new set of paintbrushes for her studio.
If he treats her this good all of the time, I'm sure she won't break his heart.
Flowers
Zach went over to Zoe's house on Thursday. She was outside with the hose. Her house had tons of flowers around it. There must have been a zillion. It was so beautiful that Zach thought she deserved a prize for the most beautiful flower garden ever!
Zoe took Zach around each of the flower beds and told him what the flowers were called. He didn't sneeze once. His favorites were the zinnias. They felt so soft on his fingers when he touched them and, besides that, zinnias were the coolest name. Any words that started with a Z like "Zach" were the coolest.
Zoe asked him if we wanted to help water the flowers. He took the hose and began watering. When he got over to the zinnias they were surrounded by bees. Zach had zero love for bees, so he dropped the hose and ran as fast as he could. He zigged and zagged, but there was still one bee zooming after him. Zach yelled, "Please, please, please don't sting me!" Just in time, Zoe zoomed in with her fly swatter and zapped that bee to the ground.
Zoe shrugged her shoulders and said, "You want to go in and have some cookies?" Zach nodded and said, "Yes please!"
Thunder
Thatch's Goals
The boy playing third base is good. His name is Thatcher, but his friends call him Thatch. His baseball team is called "Blue Thunder". He is from South Dakota and he's very athletic.
Thatch plays third base on the baseball team. He also plays basketball, tennis, and youth soccer - not bad for a thirteen-year-old. He has been playing sports since he was three. Thatch wants to play one or all of the sports professionally someday.
Last month I asked him if he had thought about which sport he wanted to play.
"I'll play anything if I can get paid to do it," he said.
I told him I thought he would be a pro baseball player and he gave me a thumbs up.
He is on the right path if playing pro sports is his dream. He was voted third for the best player in the state and tenth for best player in the region three weeks ago. His parents think he will play tennis, but said they don't have the authority to make that decision.
The earth has a lot of great sports players and I think Thatch can play with the best of them. I hope nothing gets in his way. It will be fun to say I knew him when he was only thirteen.
Farm Life
When you live on a farm, your day starts early in the morning. The alarm goes off around 4 a.m. It is always dark outside when we wake up, but the stars are pretty to look at.
Some days it feels like your heart needs a jump start. My dog, Barney, helps me wake up by licking my face. Sometimes he will bark at me too. He makes a great guard dog.
Once we get our hearts going, we go downstairs and eat a big breakfast. When breakfast is over, we pick up the yard a little and head to the barn. Working in the barn is like being in the army, there are a lot of rules to stay safe. The barn is quiet in the mornings.
When morning chores are finished it is time for lunch. After lunch we work with the crops until dinner. After dinner we relax from a hard day's work. We like to look at the stars, play marbles and cards, and sometimes we take a ride in the car. Then we go to bed and get ready to do it all again in the morning.
Ice
My family and I want to see the ice house. It is really called "IceHotel", but I call it the ice house. It is located in a small town in Sweden called "Jukkasjarvi", I don't know how to say it but that's o.k. Everything inside of it is made of ice. Really!
There are ice sculptures, ice beds, ice walls, an ice roof, ice chairs, ice couches, and even an ice restaurant. People get married there, see the Northern Lights, snowmobiling, dog-sledding, and learn how to ice sculpt. It looks like so much fun, if you don't mind the cold.
Some of my friends have wondered how someone would sleep on a bed of ice. I told them you sleep on a bed of ice the same way you sleep on your bed at home...with blankets! I have wondered if the hotel has ice showers with ice soap but my mom told me it would be too cold for people to do that. I did read that they have a sauna in one of the deluxe rooms though.
Our family is going to save our money this year so we can go to Sweden in December and experience everything the ice hotel has to offer. We are so excited that we have already started packing!
World Record
The Guinness Book of World Records is full of amazing facts that will raise your eyebrows. From broken bones to tiny brains, it covers the world's most interesting, fanatical, and dedicated people.
Some records have never been broken even though many people try. There are records for people who own entire houses full of brown fabric, barns full of toothbrushes, and cars full of moldy white bread. One person holds a record for riding a broom over a thousand miles.
Some records are held by more than one person. Like the four bread store owners who sold a bridge, or the three brothers who hold a record for having cobras on their head for the longest amount of time.
Why would anyone wear a cobra on their head? Some might think that is brave, but I would think something was wrong with their brain.
If you visit a city with a Guinness Book of World Records museum, I recommend getting up early, eating a big breakfast and spending all day in one. You will have fun and wild stories to bring home to your friends and family.
Treasure
There once was a lizard name Zorro. He used to live all alone in the desert, but now he lived in the park with a few other lizard families.
He was an unusual lizard because he loved to collect human things. Zorro even had his days planned out so he could be productive and find lots of things.
Monday was his lazy day. You could say it was his day for "picking daisies."
Tuesday was his exercise day. He used his human items and lifted them as weights so he would be the strongest lizard. He never wanted to find something he couldn't carry back to his cave. He would be doomed!
Wednesdays, he searched for food. He would find little beans, bits of cheese, and lost raisins. Sometimes he found broken cookies and colorful candies. One time he even found a whole slice of cheesecake. He had to be "Zorro" strong that day to lift the Tupperware off so he could eat it.
Thursdays, he got "in the zone" and hunted for treasure. So far, his collection consisted of lost keys, broken glasses, missing puzzle pieces, rusty scissors, buttons, and a men's razor. His prized possession was a soft, nameless, fuzzy thing he used as a pillow. It made his nights so relaxing and wonderful!
Friday was his washing day. He would sing music all day long and wash his new found treasures.
On Saturdays, he opened his cave and let the other lizards in to look at his prizes. It was zero cost to enter, but if they wanted to eat some of his food, they had to bring him a treasure to keep. Those were his best deals!
His week ended with Sunday. He would pick fresh flowers, eat dessert, and do a puzzle. He loved to think about how he did not miss the desert at all! You could say he was one zany lizard!
Python
Exploding Cake
Thad liked to prank and scare people. He played the most jokes on people when he was in the fifth grade. He put thumbtacks on chairs, thickener in drinks, and told the class that their pet python had escaped. His favorite pranks were to turn the thermostat down really cold to try and freeze students out and to replace student's soda with mouthwash.
A few days ago, Thea brought in a cake to celebrate her birthday. Somehow, Thad got a balloon inside of it so when the teacher tried to cut the cake, it exploded all over everyone.
Thad had a lot of fun thinking of new ways to prank his classmates. His teacher, Ms. South, didn't think it was healthy. She knew Thad was a very thoughtful writer. He was also very smart in math. She thought his writing was so good that he could become an author someday.
Overall, Thad's grades were in the top three percent of his class. Ms. South didn't want Thad's talent and thoughtfulness go to waste. She thought about what methods she could use to help him focus in class and not cause so much trouble. Thad wanted to be in theater after he graduated high school. Ms. South told Thad that he could be in theater after he graduated.
"You're so smart! I think a thousand theaters would want you to work for them, but you have to stop the pranks," she said. Thad started to rethink his actions and what that would mean for him in the future. He apologized to the class and Ms. South, and said he would not prank anyone anymore.
Storm Chasing
Jordan has a cool but dangerous job. He is a storm chaser. He never gets bored. A few times per month, he and his four person crew jump in their cars and chase tornadoes. Jordan wasn't always interested in storms though, he has an interesting story about why he became a storm chaser.
He grew up farming corn with his mom and dad. He rode horses, played sports, and was a typical kid. When he was 17 years old, a tornado touched down in the city he lived in. It traveled four miles south of town and wiped out his family's farm.
Jordan and his family hid in their storm cellar and were not hurt from the tornado, but the tornado destroyed everything his family had. His family was poor for a few years following the tornado while he and his family looked for ways to earn money. Jordan made doors, worked at the grocery store, and even sold popcorn to make money to pay for food.
It was a hard time for Jordan and his family. As a result, Jordan decided to go to college to become a meteorologist. He studied weather and weather patterns. He wanted to learn how tornadoes moved so that he could warn people when they were coming.
About one year ago, all of his hard work paid off when he received funding for his research. Many storm chasers don't make much money, but Jordan didn't care about that. He had lived without a lot of money. Jordan wanted to help people. He was excited about how the money he received would help gather enough information to help more people in the future.
Kiss
No-Kissing Club
Kissing is gross. It makes me sick. On Valentine's Day my dad gave my mom some sunflowers in a glass vase. But that wasn't all. He also bought her a new purse, a bracelet, and a red dress. Mom was so surprised! She was so excited about all of her gifts that she threw her arms around dad and gave him a big kiss.
Yuck! It's one thing for them to say that they love each other all the time, but the kissing is too much for me. I have decided to start a club called "Anything But Lips" for people like me who don't like kissing.
I posted a sign outside and told all of my friends to come. We are going to meet in my dad's office once a week at six o'clock. We will talk about anything that is not related to kissing.
I have put a list of different topics together that we will discuss which includes: grasshoppers, motorcycle's, seat belts, soccer, tennis, soup, car racing, and insects, to name a few. Before I will let them come in the office, everyone will have to sign a contract saying they won't talk about kissing.
We have our first meeting tomorrow. I hope some people come.
Unique Drummers
My cousin Drake is a professional drummer. He's not the typical kind of drummer though. At his shows, he and the other drummers will drum on almost anything.
I have seen them drum on people's drink cups, drill bits, drain pipes, a washer and dryer, and a hundred other things. His drumming group is very entertaining to watch.
They mostly perform on stage in concert halls. They perform outside concert halls too though. They have performed at a driving range, in someone's bedroom, at a drag race, and at a drugstore.
The drummers usually don't ask questions about where they play, as long as they get paid for their time. They have dreams to play in New York City some day. The band is saving their money to drive there, but don't have enough yet.
Next month they are holding a special performance at the drive-in theater. It is a Halloween based concert so one of the band members is going to dress up as Dracula and drum on a mummy. The drummers hope this concert will raise the extra money they need to drive to New York.
As a band of drummers, they are very driven to meet their goals and dreams.
That's what it takes to be a performer.
Blizzard
Zander was in the kitchen with his sister Zaria. She was making a present for him.
On the counter was the blender, raspberry juice, refried beans, cheddar cheese, pretzels, leftover tacos, raisins, crackers, zucchini, and several seasonings. Zaria began dumping things in the blender.
First she put in the beans, cheese, and pretzels and mashed them down with a spoon. Next she put in the tacos, raisins, and crackers. Then she let the blender zing for about 10 seconds. Zaria cut up the zucchini with scissors and dropped it in too. Then she said, "Hand me those seasonings!" so Zander did. She sprinkled them in a crazy zig zag pattern over the top of the blender and Zander sneezed the biggest sneeze of his life!
Zaria looked up with a crazy look on her face and said, "Sorry Zander, but I know you are going to love this blizzard! It's called the Zillion - because you can put a zillion things in it and it's still to die for!"
She poured the raspberry juice in until it reached the top and the blender zinged again. "It needs one more thing," she said.
She took a frozen slice of cheesecake out of the freezer and put it in the blender. It zinged again and Zaria poured the mixture into a glass. Then she held it out for Zander.
Zander held it up to his nose and sneezed again. He did not want to drink it, but Zaria wanted him to so bad that she said please about a zillion times. He did not want her to be sad so he plugged his nose and took a drink. First he tasted the refried beans, then the raisins, and then everything else followed.
The Zillion blizzard was the perfect name for it because it felt like there was a horrible blizzard going on in his stomach. He was about to hurl so he zoomed to the bathroom. He leaned over the toilet and thought, "My sister is right. This is to die for!"
Moth
Thelma's birthday was on Thursday and she couldn't decide how to celebrate. She was turning thirty and wanted this birthday to be special.
One idea she had was going to a steak house. A thick juicy steak would be part of a perfect meal for her birthday. Going to the spa and getting a massage would be therapeutic. Of course, that can be expensive, so if necessary she could just take a warm bubble bath.
Something she really wanted to do was sit outside and eat popcorn during a thunderstorm, but she couldn't control the weather, so she would keep that as a backup plan. She had always wanted to visit South America too, but would have to save her money for a trip like that. Thelma thought about a short trip she could take and remembered the zoo was close by.
"The zoo had pythons, panthers, and a new mammoth exhibit, and those would be fun to see," she thought. All of this thinking was taking her strength. Thelma only had three hours of sleep last night because she had been up reading a case study for her ethics class. A moth had flown in her house and distracted her while reading. The distraction had kept her up later than she planned.
Thelma thought for a minute and decided that she would take a nap. "Everything will fall into place on Thursday," she thought, "As long as I know what I want to do, everything will work out." She closed her eyes, her breath softened, and she fell asleep on her couch.
Scientist
Whenever I have free time, I race to my garage. I have all kinds of crazy experiments going on in there. I don't mean testing rats or anything. I mean really cool experiments.
For example, right now I am experimenting to see if carrots can recharge batteries. I have had other experiments that have gone longer. My experiment to see if raisins will make the speakers in my radio louder has been going on for over a year now.
There are so many more ideas that I want to experiment with - making a fireproof door, testing to see what rainbows are made of, trying to see if I can teach rats to read.
If my brain was made of trees, it would be a forest of ideas. Science is radical!
Ski
Scarlet had been scared to ski since high school. It had been 3 years since her skiing accident. She twisted her knee while skiing down a steep hill. She still didn't remember what had gone wrong.
All she remembered was that she was wearing her red scarf, black ski mask, and sky blue snow coat. She had brought a basket with some home made biscuits for her and her friend Skip to eat at lunch.
As she skiied down the hill she remembered one ski caught an edge in the snow and the next thing she knew her knee was in a lot of pain and she was being rescued by the ski patrol.
While she was in the hospital, the doctor asked her a few questions about how she was skiing on the hill. She remembered he had a deep husky voice. He told her that skiing accidents happen all the time and sometimes for no reason.
As she sat at her work desk she rubbed her knee just thinking about how bad it had hurt. She wanted to ski again, but she couldn't escape the fear of hurting her knee again. She didn't like feeling scared to ski. She had skiied for almost 10 years and didn't want to give it up.
She decided she would go skiing the coming weekend. "If I take it easy and go with a friend, maybe I can get past being scared," she thought.
French Toast
Fran's boyfriend, Fred, enjoyed making her breakfast on Friday.
This Friday he said he would make her French toast with frosting, fruit, and whip cream. Fred's French toast recipe was amazing. It had been passed down from his great grandmother who made French toast in France.
Fred never told anyone the recipe.
All Fran knew was that he deep-fried the bread in a special mixture that had frozen grape juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in it. The French toast was so good it was freaky.
Being Fred's girlfriend was great and getting French toast every Friday was a huge perk. Fran hoped that Fred would tell her the secret French toast recipe one day.
Until then, she would just enjoy how frequently she could eat them.
Mother's Day
It was Mother's day. I did not have a gift for my mother. Neither did my brother. So we went to my father and asked him if he would take us to the store to look for a gift. He said he hadn't bothered to get one yet either so we all went in the car together.
The weather was bad and the smog in the city made it hard to breathe. But in the end our trip was worth it because we found the most perfect gifts for mother.
There were some salts to help you bathe, some lotion for smooth skin, and some feather pillows to help you relax. All of those sounded very soothing to me.
My brother found some rubber, squishy toys. I told him they were for babies who are teething.
My father found a lathe and a leather belt for mother. I told him that she would absolutely loathe them. They trusted me and put their gifts back. They helped me buy the soothing gifts I found and we drove home together.
I was happy because my mother was going to love them much better than the gifts my father and brother had chosen. And I learned something. People often pick out what they want for themselves instead of thinking of what the other person would want. Don't you think that's silly?
Pirate
My sister has a friend who thinks he is a pirate. He wears a red bandana on his head, has a pet parrot that he keeps on his shoulder, and walks around saying, "Arrr matey."
As if this wasn't strange enough, he also has a really big collection of earrings. Not normal earrings either, weird ones.
He has earrings that look like rocks, wrenches, raccoons, cameras, walrus, and even a pair that look like rakes. I understand that some pirates wear earrings, but I thought they would be scarier like hooks, or circles, or daggers.
I feel like I should tell my sister's friend to research the type of earrings that pirate's wear. Without the right gear, a person who is trying to look like a pirate will just look strange. If he ever met a real pirate, the pirate would probably make fun of him for how he looked.
Skylar is the most unique skunk you will ever meet. She wears pink skirts and likes to sky dive. Her favorite color is pink. If you ask her why she likes to sky dive she will simply say "I like the wind in my face." Skylar likes the wind in her face so much that she also ice skates, water skis, and scuba dives. She isn't scared of anything.
I asked Skylar why she scuba dives because you can't feel the wind in your face under water. She just smiled and simply said "I like the water in my face, as long as I have my mask on, it feels good on my whiskers."
I asked Skylar how she learned to do these types of sports. She told me she has been interested in ice skating since she was in preschool. As she got older she began to water ski and scuba dive. "I only started sky diving last year after I finished high school," she said.
I asked her where she gets the money to pay for these sports. She told me she works two jobs. She sells biscuits and other breads at the bakery during the day. At night she makes computer desks and sells them to furniture stores.
Skylar works hard and she plays hard too. I told her to have fun and be careful.
Grizzly Bear
My grandpa and I ran away from a grizzly bear in the woods. We were camping near a stream. We had caught some fish and put it on the grill for dinner. When the grizzly ran toward us, grandpa said he could tell it wasn't angry. It was just hungry.
We both agree that the fragrance of the fish was strong and was all the grizzly wanted. We are grateful he wasn't hungry for us and that the fish and our other groceries were enough to gratify his hunger. We are also grateful that we parked our truck close to camp so we could get in it for protection.
It is the best camping story my grandpa and I have together and, even though it was scary, I don't regret going.
Teeth
Look at that! I said to my mother. I pointed at my baby brother's mouth. It was red and I could see something tiny and white poking up.
"That is a tooth," my mother replied. "He is teething. Those are called his gums and that little white part is the top of his tooth. Poor guy. Babies don't feel good when they teethe."
My brother started crying. His nose was runny and it made it hard for him to breathe. His eyes were watery and not shiny blue like usual. I felt bad for him. I could tell that he did not feel well and those teeth coming up were worse than having a cold.
My mother and I worked together to help him feel better. We bathed him and clothed him. Then we wrapped him in his favorite blanket which he loved more than anything else. It seemed to soothe him for a little while, but then he started crying again. Poor guy.
"This is going to be a very long day!" sighed mother. "It will be so good when your father gets home!"