Fourth Grade Writings - The Headless Rider

The Headless Rider in the City

On halloween I will a headless rider. I will run around a subdavison and shout "I am the headless rider of Denham Springs." Everyone will come out and get so frightend they'll run back in a jump under the T.V., Their beds, couchs, hide in their gun cases and all that, when they come out on the porch they will run back in and start all over again. My Daddy will race after me on his mule, but he'll never catch up. But I know one thing, I'll stop at people's houses and get some candy and run as fast as I can. Oh, I forgot to tell you I'll be riding my horse. So long!

Fourth Grade Writings - The Haunted House

The hauted house that had a Ghost.

One night I went to an old, old, old house. behind it was a cematary. I had a freind with me. It was very haunted. My freind's name is Penny Ann Ballard. Well lets get out of that part. That night we were walking in the cematary. The wind was blowing, "Whoosh" the wolves were howling, "A-r-r-r-r-r-r-r". As we walked we saw a knife glittering in the moon-light. I thought we should go and see what it was. Then I said, "No we'd better not go, unless we want our heads choped off". In an hour my freind wanted to go over and see what it was. so I had to say "Alright, you go and I'll stay here". She wnet and looked she hollard, "Ra-Ra-Ra". The knife swung at her and chopped her head off.

I ran to get her mother, but the man got me and tied me up. Then he put me in the haunted house and when Goofus saw me he untied me and saved me. Thank to Goofus Ghost. Three cheer for Goofus, "Haray, Haray, Haray for Goofus".

The End

Fourth Grade Writings - Honk! Honk!

Honk! Honk!

Hi! My name Cynthia Twenty-two, my freinds names are Sonya Eighty-four and Carolyn Ninty-three. We each live in the country. One day they came to spend the night with me. When we went to the living room to watch "Spiderman" we had to turn it off the very minute we turned it on. We went to bed about an hour later. The next morning we made a plan to go hiking. We packed our stuff and started out the door. We didn't know it but we found out the street we lived on turned into a super highway. We went back in then we came back out and we were in the country again. I was glad to.

The End

Fourth Grade Writings - The Deadly Cave

Here's another one.

"The Deadly Cave"

One day my freind and I went in a cave. We thought it was an ordinary cave so we went in. My freind, Darla, and I Cynthia, were not afraid. But an hour later our batteries ran down. We didn't know but there was a door on the end of the cave. The door shut and we were traped. We were afraid then. We heard some spooky sounds. We went to see what it was. There was another vally called "Weirdo". Some little people were daning around a king. The(y) shut us up and never fed us for ten years.

The End

Fourth Grade Writings - New Worlds to Explore

New Worlds to Explore Underground

One of the most interesting discoveries was in Lascaux, France. There, in the year 1940, four boys were walking across a field, as they often did. With them was their pet dog. Suddenly, he disappeared as if he had dropped into the eart. They shouted and whisteled, but the dog did not come. They looked and looked but still no dog. Then at last they found the answer to the puzzle: there, beside a bush, was a small hole. The dog really had dropped into the earth. Down they went after him, and found themselves in a deep cave. One of them had a flashlight. Immediately they started to explore. Almost at once their flashlight showed them stags and herds of horses painted on the walls and on the ceiling.

Fourth Grade Writings - That Burn Me Up

Here's another of my 4th grade essays from 1977.

"That Burn(s) Me Up"

What makes me made is my sisters and my brother. My brother always hits me, he thinks he's smart. What I do is I take his knife away from him. He tries to get it back and I kick him down and I run away from him. He gets up and follows me to hit me. I climb a tree. He doesn't look in tree's cause last (year) I couldn't climb trees. He still thinks I can't climb tree's. I hide in trees and I sist all day in tree's and it's fun.

The End

Fourth Grade writings - My Horses

I was digging through some old boxes tonight and was excited to find some writings that I did in the 4th grade (many, many years ago). I'm stunned that the paper held up so well! This one is titled "My Horses". Just in case you can't read the photo, I'm going to type the essay here; complete with misspellings, after all, I WAS in 4th grade!

But before I do, let me share a thought or two. As I was reading these, and doing a little time travel, I was astounded to remember and know exactly what it was I was writing about! The other thing I noticed was how my handwriting changed so much in such a short time period. I thank my mom for keeping these papers for so long!

I'm gonna share an essay a day for the next few days. And now, My Horses:

My Horses

I love to ride horses it is fun. I have one myself, and her name is Gypsy. She is a good horses. She does not kick. You can walk up to her she will not run away.

I love her she loves me. My brother and I we ride her a lot. We have mule and she is mean. Her name is Sugarfoot. We like her but she hates us. Yesterday she kicked someone. My Daddy goes coon Hunting on her.

The End

Well, there ya go. My Horses. :D

Rockin' with Literacy - 50's Day

Last night at 7 p.m. I happened to go to my refridgerator to get a drink of juice. As I placed my hand on the door, I noticed a note that I had placed there last week. I had forgotten all about it. It was about tonight's Rockin' with Literacy Book Fair at my Little Bird's school. The children were encouraged to wear 50's garb instead of their uniforms to school.

After a brief panic attack, I dove under my bed for the box of fabric I have stored there. The creative juices started flowing and in less than 2 hours I had created a poodle skirt for my dahlin' girl.

Isn't she the cutest?

Here's a poodle closeup.

Am I good or what!!!!? Sometimes I amaze myself! :D

Field Trip to the Farm: The Rest of the Story

I know there's a lot of pictures here. But I'll try to keep the typing short so you can look at the pictures. Now, here, we have the group listening politely as Mr. Bryant of Red Bluff Farms talks about the milk cow and how she affects our lives.

After explaining the old fashioned way to milk a cow, Mr. Bryant introduces the children to the mechanical milking device. He explains that this does not hurt the cow but in fact, gives her some udder relief.

Look at how much milk she's given us in just a few minutes!

My little farmer!

The group marches to the back 40!

Mr. Bryant explains about hogs and how they affect our lives with the various products they provide.

Did you know? When a hog has babies, the piglet chooses a "nursing station" (that's what Mr. Bryant called it) for all of the entirety of their nursing days.

Little Bird absorbs all the educational information she's learning today.

Mr. Bryant talks about beef cattle and the products they provide. I knew about gelatin and glue, but I didn't know about toothpaste!!!

Marching to another learning station.

Lunchtime!

Lunchtime guests!

All lined up like little rows.

Seed corn!

Ready? Set?.....

Goooo!

Walking around the hay maze that is laid out in the shape of the state of Louisiana. Notice the Lake Charles sign? There were similar signs marking the location of the bigger cities of the state. There was also other state information at each hay bale, such as the State Fish, the State Insect, the State Crustacean, etc.

This butterfly garden was so intriguing! See the signs? They tell all about the life cycle of the butterfly.

Okay, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the field trip to the Farm with us. If you'd like to know about the beginning of our day, read it here.

Field Trip Day to the Farm: The Beginning

My Little Bird and I woke up this morning looking forward to our first Kindergarten field trip with the school. We've been on field trips before with the local homeschool group last year, but this one was special because it's the first one with the public school.

My day started with my going into Little Bird's room to wake her up. She responded, "I donwanna." Then I said, "But you HAVE to. We're going to the Faarrrrm!" She sat straight up, grinned from ear to ear, and said with a little shake of her head, "Oh, I'm AWAKE now. Thanks mommy!"

She hopped out of bed (literally!) and went straight to the breakfast table for a bowl of Frosted Flakes. I got her school uniform ready. I had bought her some new pants just because the weather was beginning to get cooler. Skirts, skorts, and shorts were soon not going to be enough to keep her legs warm. After she ate breakfast, I instructed her to get dressed. She put the pants on and I immediately noticed that they were too big in the waist. Soooo, out comes the sewing machine for a quick alteration.

Now that she's dressed, she asks me to fix her hair the way Jessie wears it in Toy Story. That little task takes a little longer than I thought it would and as a result, we're now behind schedule...but not too badly. We head out to the surburban to hit the road. We have to be at school by 8 a.m. We get loaded up and on our way.

About 6 miles down the road, for some strange reason my thoughts turn to whether or not I have everything I need. Lunch...Check...Camera...Check...Bottle of water...need to stop at the store...Purse? Arrghhh! Where's my purse!? Shoot! I left it at home. I look around for my cell phone to call hubs to bring my purse to me. guess what!? I left my phone too!!! A quick glance at the clock tells me that I do not have time to run back to the house. I'll have to get Little Bird to the school, come back home to retrieve the forgotten items, and then try to catch up with the Field Trip caravan in route to the Farm. Yeah, that sounds like a plan!

After dropping Little Bird off at school, I hit the ground running, driving no faster than 85 mph. Once I got home, I got my purse and cell phone, double checked the address on the computer for the Farm, and made a potty stop. Great! Aunt Flo has decided to drop in on me....TODAY of all days! Early!!! This day is just keeps getting better!

Finally, I'm out the door.....again....and again I drive no faster than 85 on my way back to the school. Now that I have my cell phone, I call ahead to see if the group has left the school yet. Nope, they haven't but they will shortly. I breathe a sigh of relief....and hear a "ding ding ding" sound coming from my dashboard. Well, hmmph, I seem to be low on fuel. It's a good thing the gas station is right THERE!! I stop, insert debit card, key in my zip code, and put the nozzle into the gas tank. I begin pumping the gas, and look up to see the school buses and following parents going past me. Okay, no biggie....I pump about $15 dollars worth, snatch the receipt from the pump, toss the nozzle back on the pump....oops! I need batteries for the camera. That task taken care of I exit the store, jump into the Surburban, and catch up to the caravan....just like I had planned!

We got to the farm and I put my lunch on the trailer with all the other parents' lunches. I got my camera and trotted over to where the children were sitting. I turned it on and got a little flashing message, "Low Battery". Since I had just bought some new batteries, I thought, "Hopefully, nothing cute will happen while I change the batteries."

Those brand new batteries I just bought? Dead. As a doornail. What else could go wrong today? This is soooooo very frustrating! Now I have a dilemma. Should I leave my angel with her class while I hunt down a store somewhere to purchase some more batteries? I don't want to miss anything. After dwelling on the problem for a fairly short amount of time, I decide to go search for a store. I ask one of the tour guides, er, farmers where the nearest store may be. As it turns out, there's a Dollar General only 5 miles up the road! Perfect!

So, having made up my mind, I leave the field trip to get the needed batteries. Upon my return, I learn that I had indeed missed the cutest photo op ever! My baby's Kindergarten teacher had kissed a pig!!!

Oh well, the day isn't over yet. More photo ops abound and now that I have fresh batteries, I intend to make the best of it!! See Field Trip: The Rest of the Story to see the photos.

Oh, and thanks for listening. I really needed to vent after the morning I've had!!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, we did it. We got Little Bird enrolled in public school. I had to take her to take a little test on Monday. I was both excited and relieved when the teacher enthusiastically told me that Little Bird already knows about 3/4 of what they're gonna cover this year. She just didn't know many of the sight words or her home address and phone number. Otherwise, she recognized all the alphabet letters, knew the sounds they make, counted to 30, and many other things. Plus, since she turns 6 in September, she'll be one of the older students in Kindergarten. The teacher said she couldn't begin to tell me how smart the decision to wait was/is. I look forward to a very positive Kindergarten experience for my Little Bird.

I'm a tad concerned that she may get bored with the material at the school, butI have stuff here at home to supplement her with as well as her involvement in 3 extra curricular activities this year (BTW, is 3 too much ? - choir, dance, and piano lessons).

I still have my reservations about putting her in public school since I wanted to homeschool my little ones. However, I felt that I haven't been as diligent as I should have been. On the other hand, I must've done a decent job seeing that she did so well at the testing. I also have Kangaroo at home for 2 more years also. I can still homeschool her and get her prepared. I'm also planning to allow her to play hookey for education field trips with a homeschool group that I have Kangaroo in. Hopefully, that won't offend anyone.

All that being said......on the first day of school yesterday, Little Bird was so excited that she couldn't sleep the night before! She was awake and out of bed before the alarm!

Hugging Kangaroo Bye Bye

Hugging Daddy Bye Bye
At her classroom door.
Settling in for the morning.

When I picked her up from school, she just chattered all the way home about her day. She told me how they went on a tour of the school (disquised as a bear hunt). She told me about how they played on the playground. She mentioned a red box on the playground that the children stand in.

If they're quiet, they receive a blue ticket to be used at the end of nine weeks for the purchase of treats in the Positive Behavior Store.

She also told me that for lunch they had Salad (with Ranch dressing), Fish Sticks, Fruit Salad, and Mashed Potatoes which they apparently make better than I do (according to Little Bird). She was so excited about the Salad!

When we got home for the afternoon, she didn't want to change out of her uniform and even begged to sleep in it for the night!

She's even more excited about her upcoming "cheese wagon" ride on Monday morning!