Cheese from the Sky Writing from 826michigan’s Summer 2021 Wee-Bots
826 National Commitment to Inclusion As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which the great leaps of learning occur, we commit to inclusion: We will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, martial status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.
826michigan Staff Dr. Naimah Wade, Executive Director Judy Tipton, Development Director Catherine Calabro Cavin, Education Director Frances Martin, Operations Director Megan Gilson, Program Manager Michael Spaeth, Development & Communications Coordinator Caitlin Koska, Volunteer & Program Coordinator
Copyright © 2021 by 826michigan and Blotch Books. All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Drs. T & G Blotch, the illustrators, and the authors. The views expressed in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826michigan. We believe in the power of youth voice and are thrilled that you picked up this book. No part of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher, except for small excerpts for the purposes of review or scholarly study.
826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Acknowledgments This program and publication would not have been possible without the following incredible individuals: Claire Stano, Mackenzie Simon, Angela Yoon, Ray Ugaz, Doris Lanzkron-Tamarazo, Allie Beach, Vada Murray, Mikaela Trowbridge, Maddie Agne, Noelle Sciarini, Ana Kiran, Sarah Bigelow, Milly Ash, Aidan Connolly, Libby Flower, Madeline Sklar, Neena Dzur, Fatima Bazzi, Lily Grantham
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Cheese from the Sky
Table of Contents Acknowledgments iii Introduction vi Maggie Han
1
Tanushka Hariharan
2
Arohi Kulkarni
3
Maria Jarid
4
Amelia Barczak
6
Simona Taralunga
7
Clyde Musehl
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Six Layer Mansion
Cannon Blast Off Donut Toy to the Rescue
Finding My Glasses The Feeling Happy The Butterfly and Ferret Became Best Friends A World Full of Candy Letter to Tess Changing Animals
Letter to My Best Friend, Aria Roller Coaster Broken Bike
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826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Ruth Musehl
Turtle the Turtle and Bullet the Fish A Cake at Vacation
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Reyhana Ali
10
Elizabeth Osgood
10
Izayah Whitehead
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Melissa Lee
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Davina Parker
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Lizzy Parker
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Adalin Parker
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About 826michigan
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The Supermarket What I Like to Do The Dinosaur Baseball Game
This Is What Makes Me Smile Chicago Trip
Letter to My Teacher Letter to My Mom Letter to My Teacher
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Cheese from the Sky
Introduction
Wee-bots Summer 2021 Meet the Wee-bots, a group of elementary school-aged writers. In the summer of 2021, we adapted to meeting over Zoom rather than in our writing labs. Meeting over Zoom presented challenges, but it also allowed writers and volunteers from all over Michigan to learn and create together. Through these tough times, the Wee-bots kept their senses of creativity, humor, and whimsy. Each week we read a book, discussed it, and practiced a writing technique used in the story. All ability levels were invited to these fun, informal sessions where we played around with writing—from the physical act of writing to the creative ideas involved. In the summer session, the Bots explored feelings, change, setting, problem solving, perspective, everyday experiences, and adventure. We know you will enjoy these delightful stories! –Claire Stano, Wee-bots Facilitator
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826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Maggie Han
Age 7
Six Layer Mansion Hi, my name is Maggie the raccoon. Once I visited my mom’s and dad’s mansion and it had six layers. I got lost in it. Since it has a lot of elevators, I didn’t know which one to go in. So I walked around the house and saw some staircases. And I went up the first one. And then, I got to the fourth layer and I saw two elevators and I went into the second one. And it only had one button, so I pressed it. Then, I went to the fifth floor and saw five elevators. But the second and the first one smelled like cheese. So I went in the fifth one instead. Then, I got to the last layer of the big mansion and I found my dad there studying. And he was so excited seeing me that he actually burst out laughing. And then, he showed me up to the secret lab. Then, I got lost in there again. Then, I found my mom. And then, my mom found my dad and we all went together again.
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Cheese from the Sky
Tanushka Hariharan Age 10
Cannon Blast Off One day Eliza, a ten year old girl, went to her grandfather’s black mansion that was old and creaky. When she went into the main hall, she saw a cannon. She touched the cannon and boom! The cannon went off. The ball flew all the way, almost hitting her grandfather’s departments. Suddenly, Eliza saw a very long rope, and she was good at catching things with the rope. So she got the ball with her rope and put it back in the cannon.
Donut Toy to the Rescue One day a dog got a new toy, a donut toy. But the dog did not like it. The dog owner put the donut everywhere the dog went. The dog thought the donut was a real donut. And when the dog found out it wasn’t real, he threw it away. Then, one day the dog and its owner were crossing the road when the truck driver almost hit the dog. The dog felt scared and afraid. Then, out of nowhere, the dog toy stopped the tire from moving. From then on, the dog and the donut were friends. The End. 2
826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Arohi Kulkarni
Age 7
Finding My Glasses Today I lost my glasses. I looked and looked but I still didn’t find them. And then, I looked in my room, and then I found it.
The Feeling Happy Happy is a feeling that can ride a bike, or go in your car and go to a happy place. Or, draw happy or dance happy!
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Cheese from the Sky
Maria Jarid
Age 8
The Butterfly and Ferret Became Best Friends A thousand-year-old ferret saw a butterfly on a flower for the first time after not seeing a single butterfly in all the years he’s been living! These ferrets can live for millions of years! One ferret year is equal to one thousand human years so he is still very young! He tried to catch the butterfly with his fake sword that looks like a soccer ball. Unfortunately, when he tried to catch the butterfly it flew away! The next day he got a net, and then he saw lots of butterflies and tried to catch one, but they all flew away before he could catch one. He continued to try every single day for a whole month but had no luck! Then one day, he saw a butterfly with an injured leg and he decided to pick it up. His papa ferret took the injured butterfly and treated its injury. The butterfly and ferret became best friends, and he was so happy that he was finally able to hold a butterfly after so many years! Now since he has a butterfly, more butterflies began to come to him and more and more butterflies started to come to his house. There was not enough room in his house anymore, so he decided to sell some of them and release some of them. However, he would always keep the monarch butterflies! Most of the time he sold it to a flying creature animal, and other times, he sold it to the zoo. The one butterfly that he 4
826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
was friends with was never given away due to the fact that the butterfly would go crazy, and he had never seen a crazy butterfly. Even if the butterfly was left alone by the ferret, the butterfly would start banging all around the cage since it never wanted to leave its best friend. Then the butterfly that was his best friend found another butterfly, and then they had baby butterflies! The ferret then looked for a cage with holes so that the baby butterflies could fly around and roam free!
A World Full of Candy A world full of candy, unicorns, and diamonds. Then, a winged unicorn pops up in the candy world and the seas are made of melted chocolate. So she comes, and because it is super bright because of all the diamonds reflecting in the sunlight, she becomes blind for a second. She lands on a piece of cotton candy. And then, she decides to go look for a friend. She sees giant gummy bears and the diamonds are very pretty in their own way. 5
Cheese from the Sky
Amelia Barczak
Age 9
Letter to Tess Dear Tess, Can I ask you something? Can you be really good at the jump rally in Kentucky? If you can do that, that would be awesome. I really want to get number one for our second jump rally. Are you ready for it? If you are, I’m the same. I’m really excited for it. Be ready! But this time, don’t run off. –Amelia
Changing Animals One day, a girl named Ava was woken up by a cat that was a stray. She went downstairs to get breakfast. Then, Ava said to herself, “I wish I was a cat.” Then, POOF! She turned into a grey and white cat. But she realized she had gotten powers overnight while she was sleeping. Then, POOF! She was human again. Whenever she said an animal’s name, like “dog,” she would turn into that animal.
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826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Simona Taralunga
Age 6
Letter to My Best Friend, Aria Dear Aria, You are my best friend. Keep doing our secret handshake. We’ll always be best friends. –Simona
Clyde Musehl
Age 10
Roller Coaster Once upon a time, a guy was at a fair. Then, he decided to ride a roller coaster, so he walked up to the line.
Broken Bike Once upon a time, a boy had a brand new bike. It had different gears and it went so fast. But one day, it broke.
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Cheese from the Sky
Ruth Musehl
Age 7
Turtle the Turtle and Bullet the Fish Once upon a time, the fish sped through the reefs. Then he napped in the seaweed in the coral reef. He ran into a shark while hunting jellyfish. The shark was a hungry shark, and you know what that means. NOM NOM. But the speedy fish had the advantage. ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM. He’s bullet speed. And that’s how he got his name, Bullet. The shark with his razor sharp teeth chased the fish through the reef up to the top of the surface and he thought he had trapped Bullet, but Bullet had lungs and gills and could breath above water. He gets away! And then the shark teamed up with two other sharks. And Bullet teamed up with Turtle the turtle. Turtle shielded Bullet as long as he needed it, and then Bullet ZOOOOOMED at the sharks and poked them with his pointy mouth. CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOOPITY CHOP. He poked them. He beat the sharks. And then the Manteray came to take the sharks away. The Manteray was the police of the ocean. Finally, Turtle the turtle and Bullet the fish could nap in the wide open ocean. The End. 8
826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
A Cake at Vacation Once upon a time, a cake was at a birthday party. When it was time to eat the cake, the cake escaped to a beach, where it found the cake factory built by the pink flamingos on the pink beach. And the cake built a cake army with the cake factory to scare other people who want to eat cake. But then, somebody ate the cake army because it’s made of cake. And then, the wind blew the rest of the cakes away back to the birthday party. But then, they march off again, leaving more cakes. Then, a fox steals the weapons and the kids chase the cake around the lake. Then, the cakes jump into the lake and their frosting falls off. They get out of the lake and climb up the tree in the forest. Then, they eat cake. 9
Cheese from the Sky
Reyhana Ali
Age 7
The Supermarket One day I got lost in the supermarket. I got very scared, so I tried to call my dad. Then, my dad answered. Then, I heard his voice so I followed it. Then, I found my dad. That’s how I got lost in the supermarket.
What I Like to Do Some days I like to go color. Some days, I like to go biking. Some days, I like to play. They make me feel happy. I like swimming sometimes.
Elizabeth Osgood
Age 6
The Dinosaur The dinosaur said, “Ror! Oh no! Ror Ror Ror!”
Baseball Game There was a baseball game. The player hit the ball so high it went into space. The aliens threw the ball back to the stadium. 10
826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Izayah Whitehead
Age 9
This Is What Makes Me Smile I get happy when I lose. I love robots. If I have fun, I will play with my sisters. I love Muscle Legend, Car Legend, and YouTuber Simulator. I love reading books!
Melissa Lee
Age 10
Chicago Trip I went to Chicago for a trip. I went to Chicago with a Starbucks with five floors, and I got a tumbler. I can see the word “CHI.” Then, I went to the pool in the hotel. It was fun. I remember I went to the Nutella dessert shop. It was very sweet. This is my top one. I like it there. I like Chicago.
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Cheese from the Sky
Davina Parker
Age 6
Letter to My Teacher Dear Teacher, Happy summer! I hope you had fun. I love you so much. From, Davina
Lizzy Parker
Age 10
Letter to My Mom Dear Mom, Hi Mom! I miss you a lot. You haven’t seen me in a while. I hope you can pick us up for lunch soon. I can’t wait. I have so many bug bites though. How are you? I’m good by the way. Anyways, I love you, Mom. Love, Lizzy P.S. Miss you so much
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826michigan Summer 2021 Wee-bots Writing Workshop
Adalin Parker
Age 7
Letter to My Teacher Dear Teacher, Thank you for teaching me. I love doing math, and you are a good teacher. Love, Adaline
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826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.
Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing. Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members.
ONLINE LEARNING LAB
For the 2021–22 school year, our programs will remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to our virtual program opportunities as well!
SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT
The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18.
WORKSHOPS
We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementary-aged writers.
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IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS
Our trained volunteers go into local public schools every day to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry.
FIELD TRIPS
Students come as a class to our writing lab to join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff in order to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is our editor Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home.
OUR STORES
Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. Please visit us online at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!
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Cheese from the Sky
826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities. We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards. Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization. We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands. As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability. The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start. And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion.
by Gerald Richards, CEO
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WRITING IS
A way to figure things out by ourselves
We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking)
A way to help us connect to our world
We study the writing we want to do so we can try it We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose
A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become
We work with a group of writers who help and support each other
A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world
www.826michigan.org
