Copyright © 2015 The Writers’ Exchange This book was created by Division 7, Ms. Friesen’s grade 4 and 5 class, at Strathcona Elementary, in the spring of 2015. The Writers’ Exchange makes literacy exciting and accessible for inner-city kids through free mentoring and creative writing projects like this chapbook. All Writers’ Exchange programs are free for the children and families we serve, so we could not exist without the support of generous donors, including Bernard MacLeod, Marily Mearns, Megan Abbott, Linda Louis, Lindsay Mearns, Nancy and Ted Maitland, anonymous donor, Social Venture Partners Vancouver, the Waterbury Foundation, TELUS, BPS Wealth Management at CIBC Wood Gundy, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union, SpencerCreo Foundation, the Vancouver Foundation, the Grayross Foundation held at the Vancouver Foundation, RBC Foundation and the CKNW Orphans’ Fund. Thank you. And thank you to the amazing volunteer mentors who work with the kids in all Writers’ Exchange programs so that each child can succeed to the best of his or her ability.
881 East Hastings Vancouver, BC V6A 1R8 To read more great student writing, visit vancouverWE.com Writers’ Exchange mentors: Connie, Frances, Joe, Randy, Sarah, Susan, Taylor and Tess Editorial support: Melissa Design and layout: Larissa, www.larissa.me Writers’ Exchange in-school projects are made possible by:
Printing for this chapbook was generously donated by Hemlock.
The Writers’ Exchange is a project of Tides Canada Initiatives Society.
INTRODUCTION Division 7 at Strathcona School created this book about our favourite places in Strathcona and favourite things that we eat or use. We are going to put this book in our 2015 time capsule so people in the future will know about our lives. We took five weeks to write and draw about these things that we chose. —By D.N.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48
School Map The Library and Computers, by Steven The School Office and Songbirds, by Daeshawna The Auditorium and Hockey, by Eric The Gym and Macarons, by D.N. The Cafeteria and Television, by Caden The Park and Drawing Books, by Monique The Auditorium and Pizza, by Vincent The Gym and Stuffed Animals, by Chloe The Playground and PlayStations, by Casey The Gym and Cheese, by J.K. The School Building and the iPad Air, by Stephanie The Gym and Superheroes, by Tyson The Park and the Haunted Bathroom and Me, by Seleena The School Building and Optical Illusions, by Lola The Park and Honey Garlic Sausage, by Arius The Gym and Minecraft, by Saboura The Gym and the iPad, by Jin The Cafeteria and Root Beer, by Jason The Girls’ Bathroom and Pokémon, by Keira The Gym and Basketball, by Pasha The Play Park and iPad Games, by Vanaya Mrs. Kwan’s Classroom and Jell-O, by Margarita The Library and Books, by Paige
SCHOOL MAP
This is a map of our school in 2015. If you’re reading this in the future, draw what’s new on the map.
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A Time Capsule from the Year 2015
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The library and computers By Steven
Library I like the library the most because you can read many books about drawing, puzzles, non-fiction and fiction. You can play games. You can play board games and computer games, and you can play with puppets. You can borrow books with a library card. You can keep the books for three weeks, and if they are overdue you have to pay a fine for the books. This is what the library is like in 2015.
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OMG! The Ultimate Guide to Strathcona History (and Cheese and Root Beer)
ComputerS The computer is a machine that runs on electricity. You can play games on it, watch videos, check your bank account online and do many other things. It costs a lot of money and it’s big. You can buy stuff on it, find information and talk to people online.
A Time Capsule from the Year 2015
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The School Office and Songbirds By Daeshawna
Office In the office you can actually send emails through actual computers (machines that send information in particles to other computers). You can also use a phone (another machine like the computer) to talk to other people. You can also pick up your child in the office. The people in the office will try to answer all your questions. The principal (the person who runs the school) has his/her office in the office. The principal will also try to help answer your questions. There is also the vice principal (the second in command). He/she helps the principal with school stuff.
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OMG! The Ultimate Guide to Strathcona History (and Cheese and Root Beer)
Songbirds Songbirds are a musical type of bird. They are small and come in many colours. They are very afraid of humans and other bigger animals. Songbirds are a type of animal. They are in the bird family. Animals in the bird family lay eggs and feed their babies food they have already digested (eaten). Songbirds are important because they sing beautiful songs and look beautiful. They eat seeds, berries and insects. Insects are a type of bug that can eat/kill other bugs/insects. They are 10-20 times smaller than songbirds. Songbirds are colourful. They have colours like red, yellow, green, orange and purple. They help keep the bug/insect population at bay so THEY DO NOT TAKE OVER!
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The Auditorium and Hockey By Eric
Auditorium I picked the auditorium because it’s like a gym but smaller. There are lots of plays and assemblies. Little kids play in the auditorium. I was in a play in the summer and I remember at the start I fell. My cousin was in it as well.
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OMG! The Ultimate Guide to Strathcona History (and Cheese and Root Beer)
Hockey Rink Hockey is a game where you have to score on the other side’s net. It starts with a faceoff. A faceoff happens at the start of a game, and at the middle and the end. The faceoff happens in the middle of the rink, and there is a ref that has the puck and drops it on the ice. The puck is a black circle thing. Ice is a cold floor.
A Time Capsule from the Year 2015
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The Gym and Macarons By D.N.
GYM The gym is my favourite place. We have P.E. there, which is physical education. We also sometimes have special performances in the gym. The reason why I love the gym is because we practice sports for games, and P.E. is my favourite period of a school day. I’m on two soccer teams, so on rainy days we practice in the gym for Equal Play and on my other soccer team we practice on the field. After school sometimes we have open gym, which is when anybody can play in the gym. But sometimes it’s only open for certain programs, like the A.S.A. (After School Adventures). That’s pretty much everything about a gym in 2015. I hope this explains a lot.
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OMG! The Ultimate Guide to Strathcona History (and Cheese and Root Beer)
MacaronS This is a macaron. It is very tasty and complicated to make. There are many different kinds, but my favourite kind is the French macaron. Macarons come in many different flavours, but my favourite kinds are raspberry, chocolate, mint and chocolate caramel. Macarons have a crunchy outside and a soft chewy inside. I have tried to make macarons but they cracked and they are not supposed to crack. I ate them anyway. They tasted the same. The flavour I made was raspberry. Some ingredients are almond flour, sugar, flavour and water. (Those are all I can remember.)
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The Cafeteria and Television By Caden
Cafeteria The cafeteria is a place where you line up and get food. Once you have your food you can find a table and sit down and eat on it. I do not like the cafeteria because I tripped on the stairs there. (Stairs are things you can climb up and go down with.) I fell down and couldn’t run, and I like playing Predator, which includes a lot of running. One food I like that you could get at the cafeteria is pizza, which is basically melted cheese and tomato sauce on bread.
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OMG! The Ultimate Guide to Strathcona History (and Cheese and Root Beer)
TELEVISION TV has a rectangular shape. It is like a hologram. Kids usually love it. It makes sounds. It is not edible and not alive. You can watch mostly anything you can imagine, and if you have the right things you can play video games, which are basically like controlling a hologram. If you do not have electricity it will not work. You use a remote to control the TV. A remote control has many buttons.
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The Park and DraWing Books By Monique
Park The park is an important place where you can have fun and make friends. The park has five slides, a pole, monkey bars, three rock things, and many more things. The park is a nice place to relax, and it’s colourful. Once, someone walked on the monkey bars and that was really scary, because I didn’t want to take someone to the hospital.
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OMG! The Ultimate Guide to Strathcona History (and Cheese and Root Beer)
DraWing Books This is a drawing book. A drawing book is for drawing and doodling. You can draw anything. The notebook is important because if you don’t doodle and you’re on a hard question you will get stuck on it forever. But if you do doodle, your imagination will turn into the answers and you will not be stuck on the question.
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The Auditorium and Pizza By Vincent
Auditorium I like the auditorium. It is a big room. More than 600 students can go in it. We go to assemblies. The little kids go to P.E. There are a lot of P.E. supplies in the auditorium.
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Pizza Pizza has pepperoni and cheese. It is soft. Pizza has sauce that’s yummy. It is my favourite food. I like it hot.
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The Gym and Stuffed Animals By Chloe
Gym It is echoey in the girls’ basement and you can play games. In the boys’ basement and the other basement it is so creepy. The gym is my favourite place in the school. I pick the gym because it is so fun and cool. I love the gym so much. You can play games in the gym. My favourite sports are soccer and basketball. I wish I could live in the gym.
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Stuffed Animals I have a lot of stuffed animals. They are soft. They are animals. I also cuddle with them at night. I have 20 stuffed animals!
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The Playground and PlayStations By Casey
Playground I like the playground because I can grow stronger and I get to play with my friends. I can bash my face into poles and I like that feeling of the sun burning my back, and I can swing on the monkey bars. And my friends and I play cops and robbers. How you play cops and robbers is that one person is the cop and the others are robbers. The robbers need to try not to get tagged by the cops, and we run around the park like an obstacle course.
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PlayStations I like to play on my PlayStation. It’s an electronic that plays video games. I can play different games, but it needs to be a DVD. And you can watch movies on Netflix and on DVDs, and I can play multi-player games with my brother. It is fun to play.
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The Gym and Cheese By J.K.
Gym I like the gymnasium because we can play a bunch of different games, like dodgeball, lacrosse, gold rush, capture the flag and octopus. I love playing in the gym with my class and friends. Dodgeball is played with two teams, and each of the teams has the objective of hitting all the players on the other team with a ball.
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Cheese I like cheese because it could be put on lots of foods. It comes from cows. It’s yummy and good! You are supposed to put it in your mouth and move your teeth up and down and up and down. You can eat it with your nachos, pizza, bread, pasta and fast food. It tastes like Spongebob. I like every type of cheese except cream cheese.
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The School and the ipad air By Stephanie
School The senior basement girls’ washroom is echoey and old and creepy. The boys’ basement has one classroom in the middle of one side. Creepy, right? People say our school was a hospital, but it’s not. Our school is more than 100 years old, and the primary building is the oldest one. But school upgrades are coming in the summer of 2015, and they are already starting to make new roads. The fact is that I like the gym because you can play games. And did you know the principal said we might get elevators? And that’s all you need to know.
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iPad Air An iPad Air is a big tablet. It is big, and can play games. A tablet is important because you can call people. Calling is like communicating with other people by talking. You can also text. Texting is like moving your fingers to send text. So that’s an iPad air.
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The Gym and Superheroes By Tyson
Gym I like to play basketball. It is game with a ball that goes in a basket. Games that I play in gym are gold rush, dodgeball, tag, hunter and long jump.
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Superheroes Superheroes are men and women who decide to save the public. For example, Superman can fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes! He also has ice breath. I think he had too much mint gum! He also has super strength.
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The Park, Bathroom and Me By Seleena
Park and Haunted Bathroom The park is a fun place. I love the park, it is really, really fun. I like the slider thingy. I love the thing that is just like the monkey bars but it spins. Our park has a lot of colours, like red, green, yellow, blue and brown. We have our swings down at the field. In the school, the girls’ bathroom is haunted by Bloody Mary. If you turn off the lights in the bathroom and turn around three times and say “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary” and turn the lights back on and look in the mirror, you will see Bloody Mary and she will take your eyes out.
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Me This is me, because I go to this school. I have long hair. This is watashi ni in Japanese. This is mi in Spanish.
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The School and Optical Illusions By Lola
SchooL The gym is for sports. It was recently renovated, and it once had a dance battle. The junior building has had two fires: the first burned down the building, and the second fire was started by an Easy Bake oven*. The auditorium has school meetings, and is also used as a gym. The other gym is in the new building—the office building. The auditorium is on top of the cafeteria, beside the primary building. *a kid’s oven (extremely flammable)
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Optical Illusions Optical illusions have cool patterns but they are sometimes hard to make. But it is worth a shot because in the end it turns out really cool. There are lots of strange but cool patterns for optical illusions, and the more you mix up the patterns the cooler it is.
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The Park and Honey Garlic Sausage By Arius
Park The Park is fun. I gave “Park” a capital because it’s my favourite place. The Park has a lot of equipment. There are slides, a bridge, ladders, monkey bars, signs, a mini soccer field, a pole, a climbing wall and a web. A web is a thing you can climb on like a climbing wall. A slide is a curved seat you go down on your bottom or belly.
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Honey Garlic Sausage Eat it. It tastes good. It’s yummy. Ready. Brown. Sweet. Buy it at the store. It’s a great snack. A store is where you can buy things.
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The Gym and Minecraft By Saboura
Gym Girls can play in the girls’ basement. You bring games to the girls’ basement. You can bring games to the boys’ basement and play. It’s creepy in the junior basement. It’s an old place. In the gym, kids run and sometimes play games and do sports. My most favourite sport in the gym is hockey. I pick the gym because you can do sports and sometimes you play games there too.
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Minecraft Minecraft is a game where you can build houses, hunt animals and make machines. You can join your friends. You can do whatever you want. You can mine and more. You play Minecraft on phones, iPads, computers and laptops.
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The Gym and the iPad By Jin
Gym My favourite place in my school is the gym. We go there every Monday and Wednesday. We play dodgeball and gold rush and lots of other games. We go to the gym for 30 to 40 minutes. To play gold rush you need 20 bean bags first. You give 10 bean bags to each team and you try to get the other team’s bean bags. If you get tagged, you have to go to the jail. And you need dodgeballs to play dodgeball. If you get hit, you are out.
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iPad I can do FaceTime on my iPad. I can also take photos, and play games and videos. It is very expensive. I watch movies and videos. I also watch Netflix and YouTube. I also use it for a timer. You need wifi to play games. I have wifi at home in my room. I have wifi everywhere in my house.
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The Cafeteria and Root Beer By Jason
Cafeteria Today I’m going to write about why I think the cafeteria is an important place. In the cafeteria they serve pizza, mashed potatoes, BBQ chicken, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, Greek minestrone soup, pulled pork, mashed yam and chicken chow mein. The beverages they serve are milk, chocolate milk and juice. That is all I can think of, but there are a lot of other different foods that they serve.
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Root Beer I buy root beer at A&W* and it tastes good. The restaurant is in Metrotown. It tastes good but it’s basically liquid full of sugar. You just need to put it in your mouth and let it go down your throat. You also can combine it with ice cream, and then it’s called a root beer float! *a fast-food restaurant where you eat
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Girls’ Bathroom and Pokémon By Keira
Girls’ Bathroom The girls’ bathroom is important because girls can go to the bathroom when they need to. The girls’ bathroom is haunted because I think Bloody Mary still lives up there. Once I saw a mug in a vent moving and it was creepy.
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Pokémon I like Pokémon because some are cute and some are ugly. The cards have Health Damage, and Weaknesses too. I have very weak cards, but I have cute ones too. You can get Ex, X, Y and Mega X. I like trading cards because I can trade with kids in my class. You can buy them at Toys ’R’ Us and Walmart. They are all the same size. They cost a lot, depending on what type of Pokémon it is. It is a toy/game/card.
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The Gym and Basketball By Pasha
Gym The gym is the best because it has a lot of sports. My favourite sport is basketball. The gym has basketball hoops. The floor is new. It has stripes. It is shiny! I picked the gym because it is way more fun.
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Basketball A basketball is a ball. It is a striped ball. You shoot it in the hoop. A hoop is a stringy hole. It’s in the gym. A gym is a big, big, big, big room that you play basketball in. I like doing tricks with the ball. I bounce it between my legs. I go really fast.
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The Play Park and iPad Games By Vanaya
Play Park My favourite place in the school is the play park. It is nice and cool. I play in the park. It is fun and nice for breaks if you need it. I play grounders in the park with friends and have fun with them and hang out. You should play at the park.
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iPad Games I am playing GTA5. It is a video game. It is fun and cool. You can play it for hours! iPad Air is an electronic. It looks like a box. You can do FaceTime and play games.
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Mrs. KWan’s Classroom and Jell-O By Margarita
Mrs. KWan’s Classroom Mrs. Kwan’s classroom is in the junior building. She is nice. She doesn’t yell at the kids. I went to Mrs. Kwan’s class. Her classroom has cool stuff: books, toys, art, desks, chairs, carpet. My favourite thing to do in her class was reading. My cousin is seven years old and he is in Mrs. Kwan’s class.
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Jell-O Jell-O is squishy and slimy and a little sticky! Jell-O is yummy and tasty! You eat Jell-O. You mix the Jell-O powder with water and heat it up with warm water and put it in the fridge until tomorrow. Then you eat it with a spoon and with a bowl. You put the Jell-O in the bowl and use the spoon to scoop it up and put it in your mouth and “nom nom nom� (eat it). There are a lot of flavours: blueberry, raspberry, lemon, orange, grape, green lemon, strawberry, cherry and raspberry. That is all of the Jell-Os! My favourite is all of them!
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The Library and Books By Paige
Library I am going to talk about the library. You may not know what it is, but I will tell you. The library is a place where you read books. (Books are paper thingies.) You can get info or other things you need to know. You can play games on a computer or read a book. If you want to read it at home you can borrow it. You have to have your VPL card to borrow it. The library is always open for you to come and read. There are lots and lots of nice people. You even can be a helper. You would go through training to be one.
BookS A book is a hard paper thingy. You can read it as many times as you want. Books are in libraries and they sit on a shelf. They can be small or big, thick or skinny. Books are colourful and very, very interesting. Books are important because they can give you info. Books can be funny, serious, happy or sad. Books can teach you lots and lots of stuff. They can be bought or borrowed. Books have lots of words or pictures. Babies, teens, kids and adults can read them. They make lots and lots of books for everyone. If you are an alien, we all come in peace.
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