First Fish

First Fish

*based on an interview by Bunnylover150

             On a sunny hot day in June, four-year-old Christopher and his father went fishing on the St. Lawerence River. Excited Christopher ran ahead towards the sparkling blue water.

            “Look Daddy, there is a Pike in the water!” shouted Christopher.

            “Try to catch it,” replied his father.

            “Okay,” replied Christopher. He took out his small children’s fishing rod and placed a big fat worm on the hook.

            “Will you help me catch the Pike, Daddy?” asked Christopher.

            “No, Honey, I’d like you to try it yourself first,” replied his father.

            “Okay, here I go,” said Christopher, taking a deep breath. He carefully lowered the hook into the water. After waiting for what seemed like hours, he felt a tug on his line. He excitedly reeled in his catch.

            “Yay, I caught a Fish!” Christopher squealed.

            “Congratulations!” his father said, his face glowing with pride like a light bulb. Then things started going wrong.

            Christopher saw a lot of splashing in the water and thought nothing of it. He kept on reeling the fish in. It felt very heavy to him.

            Christopher exclaimed, “I think I’ve got a big one!” Then the fish came into view.

            “It’s a sunfish!” shouted his dad.

            But then Christopher saw that there was a second fish on the line.  “Daddy, there is the Pike and it’s trying to eat the Sunfish,” Christopher shouted.

            “Daddy help me!” shouted Christopher even louder.

            All of a sudden there was a big tug that almost pulled Christopher off his feet and into the river. His father, not responding to his yelling, kept right on humming and looking at the view. Christopher, very frightened, dropped his fishing pole into the water, and ran away screaming.

            To this day Christopher loves fishing even though he had a scary experience his first time trying it.

 * names changed to protect the fisherman.

It Was a Clear Dark Night by Renesmee

It was a clear night. The moon's pale reflection glimmered on the placid pond and the crickets in the tall grasses struck up a chorus of chirps and hums. Lily couldn't sleep. In fact, she could barely lie still in the bed she had made herself of pine needles and grass. Something was missing. After a while, Lily got up. As she meandered around the perimeter of the pond, she noticed a dark shape sitting alone in the tall grass. As she approached the figure, it quietly whispered, "Sam?"
"No. It's Lily." Lily's voice was soft too, almost soothing.
"Listen, I'm sorry about this morning. I… " Max's apology trailed off into silence. They sat there for a while, just staring up at the stars and breathing.
"I thought you'd left for good."
"So did I. After the fight, I was furious with myself. I… I don't know. It felt different without... well… I guess I…" Max buried his face in his hands, and Lily could sense his frustration.
"It's okay. I understand. It was… different… without you around to nag me about this or that. I almost missed it." Lily meant for this statement to be kind, but she unintentionally added what she had been through with him around.
"I'm so sorry. I've been a fool, acting like I was so much better than you. I… While I was gone, I missed you too." Max's resolve shattered, and his words tumbled and tripped over each other like a small child's feet, only just learning to walk.
"I missed you like I've never missed anyone before. I… I… I guess I never noticed before, but when you hold Charles like that, and look at him that way, you remind me of my mother, and when you look at me with pain in your eyes… I just can't stand it. And when I'm near you, whenever I see you now, my heart beats wildly against my chest like it's ready to burst right through me just to be closer to you, and my mind goes blank, and I always say the wrong thing. When I left… it nearly tore me in half to know that I might never see you again, and I…"
Lily silently pressed her finger to his lips, and whispered, "Quiet now, or you'll wake Sam and Charles with your lovesick talk." Lily's teasing smile was more beautiful than ever because of the tears that silently streaked her smooth face. "If it makes you feel any better, I love you too." Lily's tone was surprised but pleased.
They lay in the tall grass, gazing up at the stars.
"Everything will be different now." Max's statement needed no reply, but Lily provided one anyway.
"Yes."
Max turned to face her. "Lily, will you do me a favor?" He was desperate now, pleading.
"That depends on what it is." Lily stretched up on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his waist, and leaned into his chest. Max's finger found her chin and gently raised her head to look at him. His other hand reached up and brushed away a fresh tear. Max ran his fingers through Lily's hair, then down to the small of her back. Their eyes met in a loving stare. They leaned closer, then paused uncertainly for a moment. Lily's eyes closed and Max leaned the last two inches until their soft lips brushed for the briefest second; then they were kissing passionately.
The pale moon watched high above as the young couple completed their walk around the perimeter of the pond, and lay once again under the stars, dreaming of what tomorrow would bring.

By Renesmee

Running from Soldiers, Ketzal Babysits

Choosing a Theme for Our Novel

Today we talked about many different themes for the novel we've been working on. Use the comments function to put in your ideas on the question. Remember that one novel can have many themes (ex. bullying, friendship, courage, independence...).

Remember to use three (3) complete sentences to express your opinion.

Breaking Dawn, a review by Muffins

Breaking Dawn

By Stephenie Meyer

(Note: may contain spoilers and all of the quotes are in Bella’s point of view)

Lately I have been reading the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer which includes the books: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. I recently finished reading the last book (so far) Breaking Dawn. Stephenie Meyer writes books that are fantasy. Along with the Twilight Saga she has also written The Host. The cover of this book doesn’t tell you anything about this book. However, the mini-story kind of does. The mini-story is just a quote from the book but it shows the love that Bella and Edward share for each other.

The most important characters in this book are: Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Bella, Renesmee, Jacob and all of the other wolves, the Volturi, the Volturi Guard and a bunch of other vampire covens. In Breaking Dawn Edward finally asks Bella to marry him. Bella says yes and they have a beautiful wedding. For their honeymoon they go to Isle Esme which Carlisle gave to Esme as a gift. While they’re there Bella becomes pregnant, but this is not your usual pregnancy. Carlisle is befuddled when he finds out because he had never heard of a vampire and a human having a baby together. What’s even more confusing is that the baby grows very big and quickly in Bella. The baby is so strong that when it kicks it breaks Bella’s ribs. When it was time for the baby come out it broke Bella’s spine and to get the baby out, Edward cut her stomach open. To save Bella from dying after the baby was out Edward bit Bella so she would become a vampire. The baby wasn’t just a human; it was half human and half vampire. Later in the book they have a problem with the Volturi but if I say too much it will give away the ending.

The author uses great description, she is very creative and uses good dialogue. A very interesting thing that Stephenie Meyer did in this book was creating three “books” in one. The first and the third “book” were in Bella’s point of view and the second “book” was in Jacob’s point of view. Stephenie Meyer uses great description in her books. Example: “The stranger-child in Rosalie’s arms had to be weeks, if not months, old. She was maybe twice the size of the baby in my dim memory, and she seemed to be supporting her own torso easily as she stretched towards me. Her shiny bronze color hair fell in ringlets past her shoulders. Her chocolate brown eyes examined me with an interest that was not at all childlike; it was adult, aware and intelligent. She raised one hand, reaching in my direction for a moment, and then reached back to touch Rosalie’s throat.” Stephenie Meyer uses sensory description very well. Like when Bella is on her first hunt and Edward asks her what she smells and she thinks to herself, “Mostly him- his strange honey-lilac-and-sun perfume. But also the rich, earthy smell of rot and moss, the resin in the evergreens, the warm, almost nutty aroma of the small rodents cowering beneath the tree roots. And then, reaching out again, the clean smell of the water, which was surprisingly unappealing despite my thirst. I focused toward the water and found the scent that must have gone with the lapping noise and the pounding heart. Another warm smell, rich and tangy, stronger than the others. And yet nearly as unappealing as the brook.” Stephenie Meyer describes Edward’s facial features a lot and I can always picture them so clearly. Examples: “His eyes were a buttery burning gold; his perfect face was almost severe with the depth of his emotion.” “I looked into Edward’s shining, triumphant eyes and knew that I was winning too.” and “His eyes looked silver in his ice-colored face.” I would keep listing them but it would take forever to finish.

Breaking Dawn, along with all of the other books in the Twilight Saga, was great. I wouldn’t change a thing about this book. Some of the things I really like were how Stephenie Meyer made you feel like you were there and how she gives you a different perspective on vampires and werewolves. I would like to recommend this book to everyone who loves to read. This series is very interesting and I love it.

By Muffins

Crazy Cows, a quickwrite by hadski213

I was breathing heavily, with my hand on my heart, my face beet red. I had just had a terrible unrealistic dream.
It was raining. A thunder storm. The biggest lightning bolts I had ever seen in my life.
Our cows were going crazy. Their eyes were bright red and they were kicking the walls of the barn. Then, suddenly they broke down the door and started stampeding out. They got faster and faster then took off into the air, without wings or anything. They were flying as if they were born to soar through the air.
The storm got worse. The lightning seemed to be coming every second. Soon the cows started dropping out of the sky. It took me a while to figure out why, but then I realized they were struck by lightning. Most of the cows were on the ground. But the ones that avoided the lightning flew higher toward the moon. I decided to go back to sleep and take a deep breath. It was just a dream anyway.
The next day there were about twenty cows spread out dead all over the pasture. And on the radio, a reporter was saying they detected life on the moon. Ironic.

The Stylish Autobiography

Last week we read Maya Angelou and Roald Dahl. These writings showed us a variety of literary devices that storytellers use to engage readers. This week we will be listening to StoryCorps interviews from the series played on NPR. At the same time students are experimenting with stylish writings of their own--metaphor, dialogue, sensory detail, & character action.

National Novel Writing Month began November 1st!!! About ten seventh graders are participating and these students will not have the same homework expectations as their classmates. Instead each will be writing 750 to 1000 words per night toward the goal of finishing a rough draft version of a novel by the end of the month.

All students should be reading an autobiography or biography every day. The next independent reading project will happen in three weeks.