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You Read it Here First! - read "Take My Word For It!" students' work

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Oakton Elementary School

Here are some writing excerpts and photos from students working with instructor Ben Wilkins at our far-flung outpost in Oakton, Virginia.

In our Six Word Story exercise, the goal was to imply a whole story with a beginning, middle, and end, in just six words.  Here are a few samples that could almost go together:

By Bailey

Help me now because God won't.

By Erin

Scary murderer chasing me. No! AHHHHHH!

By Tristan

The beast broke out: none survived.

  Bailey and Tristan

Secret Poetry

By Aida

My secret is made from

the sweetest fluff,

melting chocolate everwhere,

sugar pouring on it.

You take a bite of the sweetest thing.

If I lost this secret, 

my parents would cry with joy.

  Aida

By Jason

A triangular prism staring in the night

Hard to follow its lazy light

It has been hidden far far away

It's secret hidden since then

People stare its prism hairs

People run away from its bears

The secret stamp has been pealed

The secret of the prism has finally been revealed

  Jason and Bayan

By Lyana

A face which mine is not

Hidden behind something genuine

Fall in love with me

But "me" is not who you look at and love.

Pull off a smell

Underneath it's dark...black

I can't breathe.

 

Don't pull it off

You'll find someone you see only in your nightmares

I'll see you again soon

Goodnight.

  Erin and Lyana

...And an excerpt from the story "Jimmy and the Bellybutton" 

by Bayan

There was once a boy named Jimmy Joe.  One day, while he was taking a shower, he learned that if he pressed his bellybutton he could turn invisible.  He also learned that when he was invisible, if he touched anything it would turn invisible too...

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Check us out! Grattan Elementary TMWFI student writing samples

Odes to Food

“Everthing was lasagna, lasagna everywhere dripping like rain.”

-Roshan

Roshan

“A crunchy goodness/a wave of taste/a plate of flavor/as big as a mountain of deliciousness/it explodes in crumbs…”

- Ben

“Crispy crunchy/crackles crisply/fried as perfect…delicious when you bite it/on the inside/and out.”

Asher

Zoe, Asher, and Hana

Personifcation

“Once there was a man and he was name was Candyman. His friend was coconut man…the were walking and fell into a hole. Candyman said, ‘I think we are in the gutter…’”

- Noe  

  Noe

“Alice apple and Huny the Cake were best friends, they met at the bakery. They always had lunch together. Whenever they were sick they took care of each other.”

-Hana

“Ginny Gummybear is a yellow gummy bear with blond hair that she usually wears down. She always wears yellow pants and yellow shirts.”

- Lilo

Recipes of Me

“14 oz Noise, 10 lbs concentration, 15 kg Adventure…stir caution and adventure together for 30 seconds and cook.”

- Niall  

Niall and Ben

Similes + Metaphors

“Fudge looks like a hot melted nightmare. Jello looks like a colored skating rink.”

- Zoe

Descriptions

“I hate peppers. The texture is mushy, sometimes hard, lots of seeds…ewwww! It smells horrible like mold.”

- Alisa

Lilo and Alisa

 

 

 

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Check us out! Montclair Elementary TMWFI student writing samples

Ode to French Fries by Izzy

Oh you crispy, golden potatoes

You must be my weakness how I love you.

The smell of salt and olive oil,

the taste of a golden award.

But when you leave, I dream of more.

 

"Timo the Taco" Personification by Sophie

Yo! Hey you! I'm talking to myself! And you're gonna listen!

I was born in the Tarantula Taco Tiki. I was made with the finest ground beef, the most expensive cheese, the glossiest lettuce, and the spiciest salsa! Long story short--I'm "rich." But I'm lonesome! I am the taco who dropped out of Taco school two years early. I want to be a detective! But so far all I am is...Timo, the taco detective that never was, or will be!  

  SophieIzzyAva

Ode to Broccoli by Ava

You are like mini trees to

be hacked down by my teeth

with a slight rain of ranch

even though you make my friends gag

I love you.

 

Recipe of Me by Victor

talk a lot

football books

parks

two sisters

1 brother

blue and gold

strawberries

1. Put all ingredients into a big blender.

2. Push fast.

3. Don't forget to put the lid on.

4. Pour in a pot.

5. Turn on the flame.

6. Cook for 7 hours.

7. Pour into bowls.

8. Serve it hot.

9. Serve brownies for desert.

  Victor

Ode to Tea by Laila

Tea, hey you tea, you are my best friend. You are nothing when you are just simple water. You are tasteless and you have no reason to drool. But when your flavor is dropped in, your fabulous self begins in a split second and that is something to lick your lips for. The tea bag swills and the soon-to-be-tea gets its deliciousness by the ticking of the clock. I take the tea bag out and suck it, this is my first taste of your exquisite self. Green, chocolate truffle, lemon, chamomile, vanilla chai, and much more flavors you come in. So tea, hey you tea, I'm talking to you. You are my favorite and I need to taste you again.

  TiaraLaila

Ode to Calamari by Tiara

As brown as gold, so crispy that it's sometimes crunchy. It's flavor is dancing on your tongue. Soon the flavor pops then your stomach has a fiesta as it yells "come on, throw more calamari down," but then it stops and every things back to normal.

 

Food Fright by Miles

I hate peanuts! Those ugly crunchy little things. They're moldy and wrinkley. I bet they come from the underworld. Devils made those ugly little peanut things to infect tongues and anything that touches them. Those little meanies. If I eat them one more time I don't know what I would do! I might turn into a devil. Miles the devil. It sounds horrible.

  Miles

Recipe of Me by Lillian

Add the quart of smartness to the 2 cups of memories into a bowl carefully. Put the gallon of love in a bowl with the 5 pinches of silliness and the pint of talkativeness. In the last small bowl, put the bright blue eyes with the teaspoon of cuteness. Then add all of it together and thoroughly add in the 3 tablespoons of athleticness. Once done, bake in a pie plate and put in an oven for 5 hours to bake slowly. Before eating, place on a golden plate. Then eat up.

  Lillian

Similes and Metaphors by Allison

The fudge was the deep, rich color of a redwood tree deep in the forest.

The jello shook like a belly dancer in Morocco.

The avocados bumpy skin is like a toad preparing to leap. The avocado is like an oyster, waiting to be opened for its inside beauty.

  Allison

Personification excerpt by Maya

There once lived a tiny cupcake named Babycake. Babycake decided to go on a cruise to Kauaii. She didn't want to leave her home in Mariposa Bakery because she loved it there, but she said goodbye to Papa Pizza, Cindy Cinnamon Roll, Flora Foccacia Bread, Wendy Whoopie Pie, and Chunk Chocolate Chip Cookie and started on her way.  The next morning she was looking at a map and discovered she had made a wrong turn. Babycake tried to go back, but the wind was too strong. It pushed her into an island. When she got off she discovered it was Marshmallow Island. All of a sudden a marshmallow came running up to her...

Maya

Recipe of Me Elizabeth T.

Pour the 1 quart of a British accent into a gold plated mixing bowl with the mostly American and German background. Then whisk the batter together while slowly adding the pinch of clumsiness. Then take out a small bowl and grind the 1/4 Cup of talkativeness and the 2 tablespoons of teenage girl show off together. Then pour the gallon of crazy, funny, and random stuff into the pan and saute it with some olive oil and then evely cut it to put it in the bowls that will serve 14.

Elizabeth T

Similes and Metaphors by Szophia

As the piece of chocolate heaven slips past my lips, I feel the deep cream dance across my tongue like a ballet dancer, with footsteps light as a butterfly's wings.

The jello was the color of a blooming rose, red as the depths of a volcano, it slides around my mouth like a new born colt.

The sweet vanilla ice cream slips down my throat like a breeze on a hot summer day, reviving my throat as if it were a potion made by faeries.

Szophia

Recipe of Me by Elizabeth G.

1. Put journals and books in large deep bowl. Pound and blow about until all oages are mixed up. Save spines for further use.

2. In a separate bowl drop sugar, spice, fire, and ice. You will see spurts of flame, ice crystals, sugar white marzipan unicorns, and spice demons. DO NOT touch the bowl for at least five minutes or until demeons and unicorns stop trying to kill each other and start to meditate.

3. Go back to where we left off with step 1. Add in the blue something if liquid. Boil over low heat. Add awesomeness 2 cups at a time.

4. Dump the solution of "de laughs" in all at once. You should hear tremendous laughter. This is good.

5. Take bowl off heat.

6 . Return to where we left off with step two. Dump in the Italian food.

(...to be continued)

Elizabeth G.

Ode to Peaches by Talia

I love peaches. They're fuzzy and soft. Inside they're full of juicy peach sweetness. When I take a bite of a yellow crunchy peach, I feel like I am sitting on a big puffy cloud loving my peach.

Talia

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