Quite a while ago I posted pieces written by students in grades K through 3 to demonstrate the competence of young children who were learning to write without being taught the rules of English grammar. What they did was to write there own ideas based on pieces of adult writing they had studied. Unfortunately however, some readers assumed that those students were just copying material they had read and not learned anything about writing.
Today I hope to erase that assumption by offering pieces of writing by fifth grade students from a school in Oregon where I was principal. Here you can see what they wrote, and I hope you will recognize that it represents the thinking and language of heathy and hard working fifth graders.
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Haiku
Sniffing the spring air
A pika scans for danger
Before venturing on
A Solitary ram
Awaits the coming darkness
Standing strong and tall
Prayer of the Eagle
DearGod,
I appreciate the keen sight you gave me,
And the wings that let me soar high 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
I wonder
Do books read themselves?
Maybe when the lights are out
And so am I.
The Great Depression
Every one for himself.
No jobs available
Poverty stricken towns
Low pay. No pay
A sore spot in history
Hand me Downs
But It’s not my style
I don’t like the color.
And it doesn’t go with my shoes
Mom, I don’t like it
Do I have to wear it?
Why always hand me downs?
Can’t I ever get something new?
I don’t want to wear Lisa’s old dress
The Treasure Hunter 
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