Tuesday • Jan. 24, 2012 — D1
The Sentinel at www.cumberlink.com Megan Bollinger Copy Editor Phone 240-7111
Kids World
Fax 243-3121 Email mbollinger@cumberlink.com
When kids speak out, The Sentinel listens
Kids Speak Out
Tell Me A Story
It was snowing all day and I decided to... It was snowing all day and I decided to go outside. I am a kid police officer and I would go outside and drive all around on my toy motorcycle. I would arrest people who were speeding and not following the laws. I would put them in kid jail. Ten-four, this is Charlie! Charlie Pluta, 8 (WINNER) Bellaire Elementary Second Grade
It was snowing all day and I decided to get some hot cocoa, bring it outside, pour it in the snow, and watch it all dissolve. I’ve done it before. It’s so cool! Hannah Culp, 9 (WINNER) Fishing Creek Elementary Fourth grade
It was snowing all day and I decided to make a snow club house. I had lots of people and things when we were done everyone thanked me. Carrie Wickard, 7 Bellaire Elementary Second Grade
It was snowing all day and I decided to go outside. When I opened the door my dog flew out, I looked at the snow and when I found him he looked like a big snowball. This is what I would do if it was snowing all day. Summer Brown, 9 Mt. Holly Spring Fourth Grade
It was snowing all day, and I decided to jump into my snowsuit and get out there! So I did. A huge snowstorm came! It blew in circles. Then it stopped and it was sunny. “Wow!” I smiled. Then I smiled again and it was cold. I think that when I smile it turns cold or hot. I smiled again, so it would be sunny and I left it like that forever. Madeline Linebaugh, 7 (WINNER) St. Patrick School Grade 2A It was snowing all day and I decided to play outside with my wooden train figures in the snow. I would put my bundle-up clothes on. Then I would ask for my little brother to come outside and come play with me. P.S. My wooden train figures are magnetic. Owen Andrews, 7 and a-half Bellaire Elementary School Second Grade It was snowing all day and I decided to throw ten snowballs at myself and I laughed my pants off. My Aunt Starlee and my cousin were laughing at me and I was laughing, too. Delainey Patterson, 7 Bellaire Elementary Second Grade It was snowing all day and I decided to make the biggest snowman ever. So I did. It took me so long. It took a 50-foot long carrot and two 20-foot long sticks for the arms, 50-foot long mouth and two pieces of coal for the eyes. “I am done!” I said in a proud voice. Then my brothers came outside to play in the snow with me, but when they came out, they stared with their mouths open and said, “Can we play on it?” “Yes,” I said. So we all hopped on the snowman and played the rest of the day.
It was snowing all day and I decided to go inside and drink hot chocolate with my family dip cookies in the cocoa then eat them. Alexis Rhine, 8 Mooreland Elementary Third Grade
It was snowing all day and I decided to build a gigantic cyclops that breathes fire.
Kate Williams, 7 St. Patrick School Grade 2A It was snowing all day and I decided to drink hot chocolate. I sat on the couch and snuggled with my mom. We were watching a Christmas movie. Then we turned off the TV and went to bed. Mom gave me a good night kiss. Hayley Furfari, 7 St. Patrick School Grade 2A
KJ Keane, 10 Fishing Creek Elementary Fourth Grade
It was snowing all day and I decided the build the world’s largest hot chocolate. So I climbed up and dived in. I drank all of it. Ouch! I don’t feel so good! Abby Spahr, 7 St. Patrick School Grade 2B
It was snowing all day and I decided to sneak out the door. I made a snow puppy. He lived in the freezer. He came alive. He’s so cute, so I lived in an igloo with him forever. Amy Syverson, 7 St. Patrick School Grade 2B
It was snowing all day and I decided to build an igloo. A man with a rocket came and I wondered how he got off the moon. He crashed into the igloo. This time I just built another one, but he crashed into it again. We did that ten more times. Then I got really mad. I got in his rocket, pushed him in, and flew to outerspace. I pushed him out. Then I put on a spacesuit and jumped out. The rocket fell. The spacesuit had a jetpack, so I flew home. I had hot cocoa and sat by the fire. Ryan Craig, 8 St. Patrick School Grade 2A It was snowing all day and I decided to go outside and have a snowball fight at my neighbor’s house. When I threw the snowball, it crashed. My neighbor came out and said, “Did you do this?” “No,” I said. “My sister Avery did it.” “Okay.” My neighbor went to Avery and Avery got grounded and I ate ice cream. And that’s what happened.
It was snowing all day and I decided to jump out the door! Ouch-e-wawa! This was not snow, it was a cloud. Far away I saw a castle. It was big and pink. I got up and ran toward it. I got to the door and ran inside. I went up the stairs. Wake up! Ahhh! The end.
Reagan Keys, 7 St. Patrick School Grade 2B It was snowing all day and I decided to go back to sleep.
Gina Ledermann, 7 Hillside Elementary Second Grade
Coleman Miller, 8 Bellaire Elementary Second Grade
How you can get involved with Kids Speak Out Want To See Your Name Here?
Hey, kids! How would you like to get your story published in Kids Speak Out? Just write a short story on one of our prompts and send it to The Sentinel. You can also draw a picture to go with your story. Each week, The Sentinel will publish some of the stories we receive in KidsWorld and on www.cumberlink.com. Only the top three essay writers, published on this page, will receive KidsWorld T-shirts. To claim T-shirts, visit The Sentinel during normal business hours. You must be 5 to 13 years old to enter. Stories must be 150 words or less. Be sure to include your full name, age, address, school and grade. Mail your entry to “Kids Speak Out,” The Sentinel, 457 E. North St., Carlisle, PA 17013, drop it off at either Sentinel office or mail it to frontdoor@cumberlink.com with the subject “KidsWorld.”
Attention Teachers!
Request the new Kids Speak Out writing prompts; email mbollinger@cumberlink.com.
Upcoming Topics Due Jan. 27 I was ice skating on a lake when... Due Feb. 3 I made a gingerbread house and then my dog... Due Feb. 10 I’m going to give my Valentine a... Due Feb. 17 My favorite thing to do on the weekend is... Due Feb. 24 If I had a million dollars I would... Due March 2 When I’m riding the school bus I like to... Due March 9 I was eating lunch with my friends when...
The fool and the tallest tree Austrian tale adapted by Amy Friedman illustrated by Jillian Gilliland
Once upon a time a peasant had three sons, and everyone called the youngest boy, Hansel, a fool. Hansel was different from his brothers, and whenever he tried to do the things they did, he failed. When he failed, his father punished him. He thought that punishment would make his son wise. It did not, but Hansel didn’t mind. He was a cheerful boy. One day a strange tree began to grow in the center of the village, and everyone was talking about it, for no one knew who could have planted it. The tree grew so fast, before long it was taller than the tallest building, and the next day it had reached the sky. Soon people’s necks were aching, for they were always looking up, watching the tree growing taller and taller until the top was lost in the clouds. Word of the tallest tree spread everywhere. When the king’s daughter heard about it, she said she would not be happy until she had a piece of fruit from this tree. “But,” her father argued, “it’s the middle of winter. Nothing will bear fruit until spring.” The princess insisted she must have fruit from the tallest tree, and so the king offered a great reward to anyone who would climb to the top and bring his daughter the fruit of the tallest tree. Naturally, people from across the land offered to try. Many climbed, and climbed, and climbed, but they all eventually came down. “It’s far too tall,” they said. “No one can reach the top.” And some people disappeared forever. Hansel’s brothers gave it a try, but they too failed, and so one day Hansel told his father he wanted to try. His father laughed. “But Hansel, your brave brothers failed. How can a fool reach the top?” Hansel insisted. So he packed 12 pairs of shoes, some loaves of bread, hunks of cheese and his little hatchet, and he began to climb. One day passed, and everyone thought Hansel would simply return, but he did not. The next day a pair of Hansel’s shoes, very well worn, came tumbling down, to everyone’s amazement. But still there was no sign of Hansel. The next day another pair of Hansel’s shoes came down, and these were full of holes. “He’s climbing hard!” his father gasped. His heart sank, for even though Hansel was a fool, he was a lovable lad. On the third day another pair of shoes fell to the ground, and on the fourth still another tumbled down. Meanwhile, Hansel climbed and climbed. When night fell, he found spots to rest. One evening he saw a light shining from a hollow in the tree, and he glanced in. There sat an old woman rocking in a rocking chair, tending a pot by a fire. Hansel could not resist; he walked right in. “Good evening,” the woman said, “come have some supper.” “I wonder if you know how far it is to the top of this tree?” Hansel asked the woman. She began to laugh. “I’m only Monday, son. You must climb all the way to Saturday, and then you shall begin to understand.” And so Hansel ate and he slept. The next day he began to climb again. Just as night was about to fall, he spotted another hollow in the tree. Inside, he saw another old woman, this one even older than the first. “Come in,” she said when she saw the lad. Fearless, foolish Hansel walked right in. “I’m Tuesday,” she told him, “but let me caution you. Do not enter Wednesday’s hollow or you’ll be sorry.” The next day he began to climb again, and when he saw the light in the hollow, he sighed. He was terribly tired, but he remembered the warning, so he climbed on. At long last he reached Thursday, then Friday, then Saturday, and each old woman was older than the one before, and each offered him supper and a place to rest. When Hansel departed from Saturday’s hollow, he no longer had any shoes, and the hatchet he was using to carve his way upward was so dull it was worthless as a feather. Still, he was determined to go on, and as he did, he noticed that he felt stronger with each step. Now he saw the tree had grown into a stone wall. When he reached the wall, he noticed a door with a golden lock and a golden key. He turned the key and the door opened, and there before him was a wide, green meadow full of wildflowers. It was so beautiful that he nearly fainted with pleasure. As he walked into that field, he saw, in the distance, a great city made of gold. It gleamed beneath a golden light, and there he saw the very top of the tree. On every branch there grew great golden fruits, as round and as bright as the sun. “I’ve reached heaven!” he cried. Perhaps he had. No one knows. Some people say Hansel stayed just where he was, amid the flowers and the fruit, the green and gold. “Only a fool would leave such a place,” they say. Others say he came back to Earth to tell the story of all he’d seen up there. They say, “Only a fool would not return.” What do you say?