LiteracyFest Zine 2023

BLAKE LitFest Zine 2023

Front Cover Original Illustration by:

Jules S., 5th Grade, Blake

Front Cover Background Art:

"Panoramas of Dreams" created by 2nd Grade (Class of 2013) and 4th Grade (Class of 2011) students of The Blake School, 2003 and The McGuire Visiting Artist of 2003, Maria Yeliseyeva. The mural "depicts fanciful castles, clowns, and winter wonderlands, representing their dreams and hopes" and currently hangs outside the PreK classroom on the Highcroft campus.

Interior Pages Background Art:

Bennett P., 2nd Grade, Highcroft

William P., 4th Grade, Highcroft

Last Page Art Collage Inside Blake Logo:

The Zine designers wanted to honor the creativity, imagination, and talent of the students, alums, and artists that have made such an impact on both lower school campuses over the years. The collage on the last page inside the Blake logo features selections of art from both the Highcroft and Blake campuses to help to preserve those memories.

2023 Literacy Fest Team:

Nadia Steele, LitFest Chair

Kimberly Stiele, LitFest Chair

Katie Liegel, LitFest Chair

Emily Berg Paup, LitFest Zine Designer

The Blake School Literacy Fest Zine 2023

Photos from LitFest 2023 with Dawn Quigley

Kitty Rescues

Noelle M. PreK, Highcroft

(Dedicated to Dawn Quigley, who inspired me to write this book)

Once, upon a time, there was a girl named Noelle. a doggie named Tootsie and a cat named Olivia. One time, the cat was at the pond, drinking, when her tail got stuck in the weeds. She was crying, HELP!, HELP!, HELP!". And an alligator was swimming quickly towards her, with its arms in a spinning motion. Olivia was feeling sad and scared. Next, Noelle and Tootsie had to save her!

To save Olivia, Noelle grabbed one of her paws and Tootsie got the other paw and they pulled and pulled her out. Noelle picked her up and wrapped her arms around the cat, to carry Olivia.

The cat was so happy, she was jumping up and down and Noelle gave her cat treats. Noelle threw them into the air and Olivia would catch them in her mouth.

Then, it was all good until a witch came. Noelle, Tootsie and Olivia were feeling scared. She was a bad witch. But the witch said, "I'm sorry for being a bad witch". She had saved the alligator from an ocean with snakes that had liked to eat alligators. She had been trying to find a new home for the alligator to live. She had put the alligator in the same pond Olivia had gotten stuck in.

The Witch was doing, "Come here, come here" to the alligator. But the alligator had noticed Olivia and went to try and save the cat. It was all a big misunderstanding.

Then, everyone played together.

The End

Zoey Axner

5th Grade, Blake

Milton V. 5th Grade, Blake

The Cute Kitten My

Dog Howie

A Typical Morning

Charlotte H.

3rd Grade, Blake

A meadow morning with a bit of breeze.

A field of glistening daffodils with rodents munching on a feast

A dewdrop falls from a leaf and hits a golden red ladybug

Mist sprays from the pond a frog has just jumped in

A gentle worm squiggles but just then and there a bird swoops down

And suddenly the worm is gone.

The sun rises

And a car starts to rumble

And this magical world has disappeared… it's lost in the day

The Pie

Jada R.

4th Grade, Highcroft

Amelia L.

3rd Grade, Highcroft

Summer Selby F.

3rd Grade, Highcroft

Summer sun on my skin, I sit in my pool on a floatie with my hair tied back. I relax, think of happy things, close my eyes, imagine a kitten sleeping in my lap, orange fur, white stripes. Imagine a peaceful pond untouched for centuries. I see koi swimming happily in colors orange, white, and black.

Open my eyes and I see my brother splashing around, like a torpedo he swims high and low. Sticks his head up and asks, “What are you doing?” I respond, “Relaxing.” Then he goes under my floatie and tips me over as if I was as light as a feather. I make a big splash. He covers his eyes.

So he wants to play? Okay…We play Marco Polo till the sun sets then we get out and sit in the cabana and I say, “What a day.” We get close to huddle to stay warm as we watch the sun set, and close our tired eyes as we fall asleep.

Blake's Kingdom of Community

Eva G.

4th Grade, Highcroft

Lucia F.

Flora

Animal Control

Mary Ellen M.

4th Grade, Highcroft

Hi I’m Ruby and I am a puppy and I have a very sad tale of my experience with animal control to tell you. A few weeks ago I was chasing a butterfly in the alley having a super, awesome, great time when a big person came I thought they were there to give my love my friend Windy said love was a real thing so I went up to them and gave them my most adorable face and guess what they did they found and put me in a net. Well the big man put me in a truck and I was thinking he wasn’t there to give me love.

Me and the big man arrived at a place full of sad dogs, cats, and lots of other animals. The big man put me in a dirty, leaky, and gross smelling cage. A while later they gave me disgusting food and that comes from the puppy that ate from a trash can her whole life.

I just wish Windy knew where I was. I was thinking for a while and I decided to think like Windy and after thinking like Windy I decided to escape but I didn't know how I knew they were going to kill me so I thought when they try to kill me I escape. I wasn’t sure if my plan would work or not but I did know it was better than nothing.

The next day the big man grabbed the key to my cage and I was ready to escape.

Well I probably should have thought a little more before he opened the cage because he opened the cage and tried to grab me and put me on a leash and I didn’t have time to think so I bit him in the arm with all my might and well his finger almost came of of him and it was pretty grouse but I was so proud of myself I forgot what I was doing that's when Windy shot through the door and me and her ran as fast as we could back to the alay well I told her what happened and then the we chased so more butterflies.

I learned that that big man is very very mean and definitely not there to give me love.

One week later me and Windy got adopted by a nice family with little kids who like to play with us.

The First Day I Got Sammy

Charlotte S.

1st Grade, Blake

Owen F. 2nd Grade, Blake

The Giraffe

Bennett P.

2nd Grade, Highcroft

Japanese Doll

Ella B,

4th Grade, Highcroft

Summer Succulents - Spikey Life

Poornima S.

4th Grade, Highcroft

Galaxy GH-99

Grant S. and Harold G. 4th Grade, Highcroft

Cardinals

Helping Others

Grace B.

1st Grade, Blake

The Beautiful Nighthawk

Eva F.

2nd Grade, Blake

A Haiku Poem

Yana S.

Blake Students Love Books

Olympia B.

4th Grade, Blake

Peace Out

Amanda T.

4th Grade, Blake

Reading Sphinx

Hattie W.

2nd Grade, Blake

Bubbles

Coconut Canoe

Hank V. 3rd Grade, Blake

If you are an inventor I’ve got something for you, You could build A coconut canoe. When you are hungry I’ve got something for you, Take a bite of your coconut canoe. And when it’s at its end –Tell it to renew. Then grow another Coconut canoe.

Mother Earth

Virginia E. 1st Grade, Highcroft

Elise M. 5th Grade, Blake

Subject: Why I’m not at school today

To: Ms. Avocado

From: Bryn Smith

Hello Ms. Avocado,

I hope things are going well at school on the first day back from break I am afraid I will have to miss some school because I am stuck in Paris with blobby pox Well, I’m over it, but my parents still have it, so I’m stuck here with them.

As you might know, blobby pox is a highly contagious disease that makes it impossible to sit still. Anyway, I think it makes sense that we aren’t allowed on the airplane.

It all started the second night while we were eating dinner at a restaurant. There was this man sitting at the table next to us. There was nothing too peculiar about him. I barely even took note of him at first. But he kept twitching. He couldn’t sit still. He got up many times: to use the restroom, to go to the bar, to talk to the waitress, and so on and so forth He once even came over to talk to us

And thinking about it later, that’s when we got the blobby pox. Because this stranger came up and talked to us. And I did feel a tingling sensation in my feet. I really only thought of it just now! I’ll tell my sister as soon as I’m done with this.

Flash forward three days to the fifth night. I was getting ready for bed when my mom called me in from the living room of our apartment.

“I’m afraid we have a little problem.”

“What?” I asked, not seeing anything problematic But then my sister twitched There it was. A blobby pox test with a big, red positive. My jaw dropped.

“I know,” my sister said, patting me on the back in an attempt to comfort me. “It’s sad, but we can still eat pastries.”

Really, things got better from there. Although we all tested positive at one point or another, we ’ ve managed to make do with what we have. Me and my sister are fine now, so we ’ re just waiting for mom and dad to get over it. Overall, it was (and still is) a fairly good trip.

I’ll keep you posted on when we’ll be able to come back

Best, Bryn

Amelia C. 5th Grade, Blake

Earth's Creatures

Virginia E.

1st Grade, Highcroft

My First Time Waterskiing

Sylvie

S.

K, Blake

I was on the skimmer board holding on to a rope that was attached to our friends Deb and Dan’s motorboat. The boat pulled me on top of the water. I felt like I was gliding. And then plop!--into the water I fell! I was still holding onto the rope as the boat pulled me through the water.

Deb called out, “Let go! Let go of the rope! We’re coming to get you!” I let go of the rope, but I was worried that the boat would run over me. The boat circled around. Jeremy, Deb’s son, was sitting on the wooden part of the boat. He pulled me into the boat where my family was waiting for me. They greeted me with a big hug and wrapped me up in a dry towel.

Gabriel S. 5th Grade, Highcroft

Charlotte H. 3rd Grade, Blake

Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat went my feet gliding on the path. “It feels like I’ve been running for years!” I mumbled as cold air raced past my face “Come on!” I screeched now we were by the honey crisp apples.

I was zipping from tree to tree until… I found this apple. It shimmered and glistened, and it was perfect!!! That's the way the whole tree was with shining apples, I took a ginormous bite out of one…crunch!!! It explodes with exuberance in my mouth! It was like I got lifted up with joy. Every bite too had love in it!!!

This felt like a magical tree. The apples felt like they were flowing into my arms, and they just kept coming until…my arms are holding six apples... “Wait I can’t hold six apples,” I said under my breath. I rushed back trying to get them in one of those bags! But I had to sacrifice an apple! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I thought I would shed a tear.T The bag glowed from the sun piercings through the trees, reflecting on the bag. I was heading back when “Wait, where was that magnificent tree?” I thought to myself frantically. I rushed through rows of trees looking for that specific tree. I could never get a substitute, none of them compare. “Yes. I found it!” I whispered to myself. I tried to memorize the path straight to the left tree down the row, turn to the right and three down from that tree. I had a problem… the apples were too high up on the tree.

This was a problem. I needed to get all those good apples, but they were too high. I jumped THUD!!!I jumped again. THUD!!! Clearly, I couldn’t reach them. I started to climb the tree. Crrr crrrr…it wobbled. I quickly jumped off an apple fell, some leaves tumbled off the tree. What could I do to get those scrumptious apples? I paced back and forth. “I think dad can reach those balls of goodness,” I thought. I started to hurry to get him, but an idea came to me when I arrived my brother was on my dad’s shoulders. He picked two or three apples from the tree and then my dad put him down and said, “You're way too heavy for me to carry you now.” My dad told him.

“What about me!” I exclaimed.

“Ya, I can do it with you. Do you have a tree to get some apples?”

“Yes!” I shouted. I raced off with my dad following. We got there, my dad leaned down slowly, I jumped up, he held up my legs down his soft hands grasped my legs. I wobbled, I picked an apple off the tree, and I examined it. It looked fine. I passed it down.

It was hard to reach his hands. Then they took the apple out of my grasp. I picked another one that did not have nearly as much glory as the first one. In fact, it had way too many brown spots. Plop! I dropped the apple. “Ooohhhh!”, l said a little too loudly. I picked another one. It was all good. It had no brown spots. So, I passed it to my dad. He gave me a smile before I picked another one.

I looked around. It was marvelous. “Dad, can you move to the other side of the tree?’’

“Sure,” he replied. With a smile, I picked yet another apple. Thunk! The apple had hit the other apple. There were three good ones. I picked two at a time. All of them were wonderful. At this point, my dad was carrying four apples. I picked two for one of my hands and two more for the other. I had apples all around me. My dad put me down and gave me a hug. “I love you,” he said softly with a slight smile. I was sad we had to go but I was tired. I grabbed one more apple and took a bite, my mouth rushed with excitement and love. “Good buy apple orchard,” I said.

I had such a lovely time I decided that we hadn't been picking apples, we had been picking JOY!!!

Prologue to our story "Souls"

Henry V. and Sam G.

4th Grade, Highcroft

A chilled scream echoed off the walls of my room. My dad’s transparent appearence filled the cramped space of my room. “What do you want?” I screamed at him. “What did you do to my mom?”

“I have a challenge for you. Friends!” All of the sudden millions of ghosts appeared–but these were not normal ghosts, they were animals. My brain seemed to be filled with ear shattering cries for help. Just as I thought it couldn't get any worse, a shadow crossed over my room and I heard a squeaky buzz. That was it. But the chaos wasn’t over. All I could see was the blur of the ghosts flying around my room. I was about to burst when the buzz faded and the motion stopped. All of the animals started forming together to form one gigantic griffin. It let out an ear shattering screech before lunging at me. Darkness.

Blake Bears!

Reagan A., 4th Grade, Blake

Instant Design Company

Nora R., 4th Grade, Blake

Raining Tacos

Harper B., 4th Grade, Blake

Kensington G. PreK, Highcroft

Mr. Gilsdorf and His Cat!

Dolphins Jumping at Sunset

Emily S. 1st Grade, Highcroft

Day and Night

Ah, Greece the land of the Greek gods of course. I’m currently on the plane to go there right now and I'm so excited. I'm reading up on the language. Yep, hello is geia sas and I’d like a pizza is taftotita aresei pitza. I think I'm all set for what could go wrong. Oh the research team leader Gabriel is talking “We’re here at the Athens International airport. I’ve called our driver so the van should be outside the airport. We need to get off the plane now so stop writing, reading, or whatever you ’ re doing,” the place was amazing. Right after we got off the plane I got a great view of Athens. It's hard to believe that this place used to be a pile of sticks and mud. We got out of the airport. My team and I went to ancient Greece to gather ancient artifacts and history. We got to the hotel, went to bed, and woke up the following day ready to start researching l was going to study and look for artifacts at a supposed opening in the labyrinth. When I got to the site I looked around for a labyrinth symbol but to no avail then I saw it as a symbol it was on one of the columns of the ruin. I pressed the entire column and fell into the ground revealing the entrance to an underground cavern. I grabbed my backpack and headed in with a torch in hand.

When I got fully inside though, the ground rose behind me and blocked the entrance. I tried to dig my way out but this wasn’t working. I was trapped in the labyrinth and I had no escape. I saw an exit but it closed as soon as I got there. I heard the sounds of heavy footsteps and wondered what it could be. Thankfully I had a string in my backpack. I got it. I dropped it and I was panicking. Then I remembered the minotaur. It was on the spiral staircase above me. I looked at the entrances. Which one was the best? I chose the left because that was the least likely to be picked. I ran with a trail of string behind me. I saw sunlight ahead but heard a bull's huffs behind me. The noise got closer and closer and then I jumped. Right at the right time because a giant creature rammed into the wall in front of me. I ran up the stairs and found out that it led to a park. I asked somebody and it turns out I was in New York. When I looked at the calendar I found out I had been gone for 10 days. I went to the airport and picked up my other researchers. I had learned one thing though, the labyrinth had spread farther than we thought.

Thad M.

5th Grade, Highcroft

Border Art

William P.

4th Grade, Highcroft

Sprinkles the Donut

Ada S.

5th Grade, Blake

had

Singing Dragon

Hattie W.

2nd Grade, Blake

W. 4th Grade, Blake

A Haiku about Highcroft and Hopkins

G. 1st Grade, Highcroft

Eliada

Anya

Raining Supplies

Miles B.

2nd Grade, Highcroft

Purple Panda

Caroline S.

4th Grade, Blake

R2D2: May the Force Be With You

Ellie S.

5th Grade, Highcroft

Emma B. 5th Grade, Blake

Caroline S. 2nd Grade, Blake

Annaliese L. 4th Grade, Highcroft

Pinewood Derby 2023

Adelaide G.

2nd Grade, Highcroft

Weather at Blake Nina B.

4th Grade, Blake

Prologue

5,000 Days in an Hour

Rose C. 4th Grade, Highcroft

“I have called this meeting to grieve the death of one of our fellow team mates, May.” Said Maya Rose, captain of the Shadow Shapers. The Shadow Shapers are evil time travelers with the power of the shadows.They are manipulative and lurk in the shadows in an attempt to find a sad soul, if they do, they will shapeshift into a form the person would like to lure that soul and earn their trust, then convince them to go to the future but when they get there they suck the energy and soul out of them and use it to power their shadows.

“Now let’s address the elephant in the room, what year should we go to this time.” Maya Rose exclaimed. Kate’s hand instantly shot up. “Yes Kate.”

“I think we should go to the year 2023!” Said Kate excitedly. “That sounds like a good idea. We go tomorrow morning.”

Chapter 1

“TIME TO WAKE UP! WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!!” Agitha screamed.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” June replied.

“Good!” Agitha screamed back.

You see June is an outcast in her family because she was 90% dragon and 10% human. But she can’t shapeshift into her human form fully so she will always have a dragon tail and wings. The weather was rainy and it was dark as if to predict how the day was going to play out. By the time June and Agitha reached school the sprinkle turned into a storm and the rain downpoured. June walked down the hall clenching her books tight, people were whispering and pointing at her as she walked down the hall. June’s tail swished with rage.

“ Juuuuuunnnnneee.” Bellowed a ghostly voice. “Who said that!” Exclaimed June.

“Juuuuuunnnnneee.” The voice said again. June jolted around and saw a girl just like her! She had emerald eyes that glittered in the sunlight. June looked out the window wondering how this could be happening. She was expecting to see rain pouring down, but as if magic the rain stopped, in fact the sun was shining bright as if to say everything will be ok. The girl also had a dark black tail and wings. She was wearing tight black leggings and a bright ocean blue sweatshirt with black straight hair.

Creative Bird and Shiny Bird

Bennett P. 2nd Grade, Highcroft

William P.

4th Grade, Highcroft

Chloe M. 2nd Grade, Highcroft

Ra, Father of the Sun and Order (Egyptian)

Jasper G. 3rd Grade, Blake

Sparkle Sushi

Winnie W.

2nd Grade, Highcroft

Everett M. 3rd Grade, Blake

Carter H. 3rd Grade, Blake

A Family

Mila B.

1st Grade, Blake

Mr. Gilsdorf's Chair

The Highcroft PreK Class of 2036