On Sunday I posted several pieces of writing by children in grades K-3 to demonstrate the competence of youngsters who have learned some important things about written language without being taught the rules of English grammar. However, the pieces I chose relied strongly on examples of adult writing the children had studied in order to produce their own work. For that reason some readers might have assumed that the children were just copying and had not really learned much about writing.
Today I hope to erase that assumption by offering pieces of writing by students in grades 4-5. Although their writing still echos the genres they had been studying, it is clear that they were also using much of their own ideas and language.
Two Haiku
Sniffing the spring air
A pika scans for danger
Before venturing on
A solitary ram
Awaits the coming darkness
Standing strong and tall
A Monologue: Hand Me Downs
It’s really not my style
I don’t like the color.
And it doesn’t go with my shoes
But, Mom, I don’t like it.
Do I have to wear it?
Why always hand me downs?
Can’t I ever get anything new?
I don’t want to wear Lisa’s old dress
A Diary Entering: Heading West
Tomorrow is the day we leave for Oregon, the day we gather all our courage, hope, and luck and start on a long journey toward our destiny. After many days of arranging, packing and buying we still aren’t quite ready for this trip into the depths of danger and darkness, fear, and death. All of a sudden I feel like a coward, and I want to back out and go home to Tennessee. But I know it’s too late now. I’ve already traveled for more than two weeks to get here and tomorrow we are leaving. But I trust in God and believe that he will watch over us.
A poem: Losing a Friend
My kite just dove and crashed in the treetops
It looks like it’s broken—a goner I think
I loved that kite; I called her Ophelia.
Her body was purple; her tail was hot pink
I have possessed her for over a year
I bought her in Shopko the first day of fall
She’s flown very well, riding high when ‘twas windy
Now I cant fly Ophelia at all
It looks like she’s breaking away from the treetops
She’s pulling away with a wish for the sky
Pop! Her string broke; at last she has freedom
Now I must wish a dear friend goodbye
Introduction to a Writer
Rita Young is sharing a home with her parents, three sisters and a cat in Madison, Wisconsin, where she will soon graduate from Crestwood School
Miss Young has been writing for five years and has published many poems in “Pencil Power” and “Soaring and Exploring”, which are the school’s collections. She is now publishing “The Latest from Rita’s Writings.
Besides poetry, Miss Young is also interested in gymnastics and the violin. She hopes to train under Bella Karolyi and win the Gold Medal in Women’s Gymnastics in 1992.
Book Habits
I wonder…
Do books read
Themselves, maybe
When the lights are out
And so am I
A Business Letter
Dear President Reagan:
I think the biggest problem facing the world is nuclear war or World war III. These days the build-up of weapons is enormous and is getting very dangerous to continue. One nuclear missile can destroy all civilization and the technology that we worked so hard for. Man would have to start all over again from scratch. The delicate balance of life and death, the food chains, the relationships between plants and animals would be ruined forever.
The U.S.A. should negotiate heavily with Russia, using a highly demanding person. What you should do is make strict laws, bann bombs and missiles of any kind from staying in any country in the world, and disarm all the bombs and missiles remaining from the arms race.
Sincerely,
Chester Chang
Prayer of the Eagle
Oh, God,
I appreciate the keen sight you gave me,
And the wings that let me soar above the clouds
Will you please keep my nest safe from man
and his machines?
And make salmon spawn in great numbers.
Also, if you would, God, please wipe out
DDT from the face of the earth.
Amen.
The Treasure Hunter 
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