Writing and Technology Workshop Part 2

Here is some of the writing my boys created while at the Writing and Technology Workshop:

The Mysterious German Shepard
By: Trevor

Dark and silent, the mysterious and joyful dog smiles all alone.
Black with little light to be found, the dog smiles all around.
The sound of the dog's soft gasp is hushed into the distance of darkness.
Why is it so dark? Where did the dog come from? So many questions, but, no answers.
Alone in the dark, excited but at the same time loaded with fear.
Happiness is everything.
Happiness is everything.
Happiness is everything.



Tips on How to Make your Brother Mad
By: Trevor

Little brothers are always getting picked on, usually by the older brother. I have a big brother so I’ve been through a lot of being picked on. My brother is 13 years old and I’m only 9, so whenever he gets the chance to pick on me, he does. I happen to have a couple of tips on getting brothers back

Tip number (1) If he tries to bug you, act like you don’t care and when he says something to you that you have no idea what it means, you say, “Congratulations” or “cool” and he will get confused why you aren’t getting mad and will soon stop.

Tip number (2) Say you and your friend were playing and made a big mess in your brother’s room. When your brother gets home, you stay normal. Soon when he’s not looking, you go away and act like nothing ever happened. In time your mom will suspect your brother made the mess and not you because by that time no one will remember you and your friend in his room. You won’t have to clean the mess!

Tip number (3) Every day when you go to school, instead of him bugging you, you bug him. If school starts at 8:30 bug him by saying something like “c’mon it’s 8:15 we have to go!” If you keep that up he will give up and go to school a little earlier then usual.

Tip number (4) If he makes you mad don’t say a word to him for about 30 minutes. He will soon forget he made you mad. Then it will be your turn to strike back. What do you do? Push him! When he least expects it, push him. Lightly at first, then harder and harder until he does it back; that’s when you stop and be silent again. Wait another 30 minutes for him to forget again. That’s when you come in to the room where he is and push him with all your might then just run! Trust me when I say Run!

Tip number (5) Sometimes if brothers are mad at you, they will laugh at you for the things that aren’t funny at all. Even if you tell your parents it won’t do you any good and he will keep laughing. So you laugh with him. He will soon think you’re mocking him which is just what you will do. If he stops and frowns at you, then you stop and frown at him. If he says something like, “Gee you’re funny” you say, “Gee you’re funny” then he will probably say something like “I know I am” and you just keep on copying him until he stops trying to make you mad.

Now that you know my tips you can use them against your brother to get him back for making you miserable all the time. However if your brother is not over the age of 10 it won’t work, so don’t try.


Stormy Hurricane
By: Cameron
Faint depressing sky, swirling winds violently beating the earth
Murky black sky, dusk of the wild shower touching the ground
Weeping winds attack the earth yanking trees and throwing them elsewhere
How would you respond to this scene? Would it hurt thousands of people?
Dread, gloomy harsh blaring winds
I wouldn’t want to be there
I wouldn’t want to be there
I wouldn’t want to be there



The Top Three for the Jr. Olympics
By: Cameron

It was my last qualifying race for the Jr. Olympics. It was a race that only 1st 2nd and 3rd place can go to Nebraska. About three weeks before that my 4 by 8 team qualified top eight in Central Valley and now we were racing for the top three in California. I also was racing in the mile run. I ran against 27 kids in the mile and qualified 8th and we ran against 5 teams and took 3rd in the 4 by 8 to qualify for this meet (the top 3).

The first event came, the mile run. Coming into this race I was just going to try and run a time faster then my best time. I knew I couldn’t qualify because I was the youngest of my age group. I had just moved up so now I race against 13, 14, and some 15 year olds. We all lined up on the line as the announcer is making his boring speech that we hear every race. I take a deep breath as Bob (the announcer) says, “To your marks”. I run up to the line to get in front then “Bang” I elbow the two people next to me to make them fall back and I burst out with nervousness. After the 1st lap I was in 9th place. I noticed that my legs were smoldering! They felt like jelly. I was hurting really bad as I came around the announcer said, “Two more laps!” then I remembered I went biking all day the day before up hills and off roads. “One laps left!” Bob yells, as I am trying so hard not to come in last place. Finally it came down to the last 200 meters. I gave it every thing I got. I caught up to the 8th place runner with 100 to go. But as I picked it up to pass him he ran faster. Then it was a battle for 8th place. We were both running with everything we had. I finally got two steps in front of him and he gave up. I came in 8th place. I didn’t run very well. I ran a 4:53 when I should have run a 4:35. Even if I ran a 4:35 I would not have qualified anyways because the top 3 runners ran a 4:24, 4:26, and 4:27. So after my race was over I just forgot about how bad I did and was concentrating on the next race.

The next race was the 4 by 8. Our new member of the team Andrew is a mile and 2 mile runner he doesn’t normally run this event. But all we needed was one more person to have a full team of 4. And since he runs the mile and two mile an 800 meters (half mile)it should be no sweat for him. He has so much endurance from doing all of those miles that he runs; we say he has 8 lungs.

So the race came… I ran against four people. Two of the four are some of the fastest kids in the nation. I stuck with the 4th guy as I ran. When he started to pull away I sprinted as hard as I could to catch him. By the finish line I caught him. I handed off the baton as I walked off the track gasping for breath. Jordan takes off! Jordan ran with the guy for the whole 1st lap, after that he started to die away slowly. When it came to the last 100 meters he was dead (couldn’t run any further, but, gave it all he got). He was trying as hard as he could. The other team got a 30 meter lead on our team. Now we were in 4th place.

He finally hands off to Andrew, our 3rd runner on our team. Just as I thought we were done, Andrew sprints out of the gate. We are all surprised because we have never seen him sprint before. By the first lap he caught up to them and passed them. Then when he handed off the baton to Casey. We had a huge lead. This is good because if Casey isn’t in the lead, he gives up. So now Casey is running all of the way around the track. With 200 meters left the other teams starts to catch up. But because of how fast Andrew ran there was too much ground to catch up. We had done it. We were going to the Jr. Olympics!

We started to celebrate. And our couch made us brownies. We were all happy. I ran a 2:21, Jordan ran a 2:30, Andrew ran a 2:16, and Casey ran a 2:27. Our final team time was 9:37. And we got metals. Now I have 10 days to train and then I’m off to Nebraska.