Childrens Stories by G8 LeoBaeck Students

Children’s Stories A School Project by Marvelous English Students

Authored, Illustrated, and Designed by: Leo Baeck Junior High School Grade 8 English Class

Introduction Tools for a Lifetime 1 January, 2009 Everybody has a chance to write their story - in school, in university, or just for fun - but not everybody has the chance to write a story with a message. For this project, we were very glad to be given the opportunity to write stories with a personal touch and with real passion.

This chance wasn’t all about writing stories. It was about developing a tool for a lifetime. This tool doesn’t need to be as advanced as a microphone or camera; it’s as simple as a pen or pencil. And this pencil doesn't need to have an advanced eraser; it just needs to pass your thoughts onto paper. As simple as this may sound, the results can be amazing.

The process of creating your own message and melting it onto paper, then adding some pictures, gives people a sample of your feelings, thoughts, and your life.

We are very thankful to have had this opportunity to express our feelings in the right why. It is a tool that many other teenagers never get to develop. Using this model of self expression, we were "saved" in many ways.

Now all you have to do is to read what we wrote. We hope you enjoy our stories and remember that you are looking into us – the marvelous Leo Baeck students from 4'‫ח‬.

With love, The Leo Baeck 4'‫ ח‬Class

Teacher’s Note 1 January, 2009 For this project, Grade 8 students authored, illustrated, and designed their own children’s stories. There were multiple goals connected to this multi-week course of study. Most importantly was that it gave students the rare opportunity to construct their own ideas and have it honored by others.

The principle goal of this project was to develop students’ English skills, as this was completed in an English class. As such, the following English skills were taught explicitly: storytelling, writing effective dialogue, vocabulary, punctuation, symbolism, character development, ‚showing‛ instead of ‚telling,‛ and editing. Secondary explicit skills covered illustration and working with Microsoft Publisher. Finally, social and emotional competencies were developed through the refinement of each student’s personal values and by giving students creative/imaginative freedom over their work.

In all, roughly 20 class periods were spent producing these stories, from generating the ‚seeds‛ of ideas to a final, digitally compiled version. Undoubtedly, the work involved by everyone, students and teacher included, required a serious time investment. Seeing the result made it well worth the effort.

Regarding class composition, it quickly becomes clear to anyone reading the children’s stories that both English fluency and commitment played a role in the final product. In this class alone, some students were virtually native English speakers, while others struggled to compose full sentences. The project design was very sensitive to this fact, allowing students to work toward their own differentiated potentials.

As for commitment, while naturally there were various levels of it, there were occasions when students demanded to stay after school to continue their work.

As a teacher, it was truly my pleasure to see these stories develop and take a life of their own. I learned and was inspired by the students’ values and creativity. I urge all educators to consider this when designing curricula or planning lessons. It is my belief that respecting a student - in the form of giving authentic tasks, valuing their work, listening to their ideas, and encouraging them positively – increases their self-confidence and motivation in the classroom. This, in turn, ultimately helps them learn.

If you are interested in doing a project like this in your classroom, make sure to check out the last section in this booklet, which explains the steps taken and includes support materials. Feel free to copy the steps exactly or make adjustments as you best see fit. You can also contact me at yotamhod24@gmail.com. Enjoy!

- Yotam Hod, Teacher

The Stories (1 of 3) The Story of the Boy and the Town page 7—11 Dina Gorodnitski A story about questioning poor leaders and celebrating differences Perry the Parrot Amit Hershkowitz A story about believing in your ideas and making friends

page 12—23

Pen Pal page 24—30 Dor Kleinfeld A story about believing that you are smart and capable of learning What will Help Nemo and his Tribe?

Roee Ben Amara A story about being a good leader

page 31—35

Todd and the Moon Sa’ar Matalon A story about being good to those around you

page 36—42

The Little Garden Gabriela Udovich A story about the importance of friendship

page 43—52

The Boy Who Never Laughed Hagar Sahar A story about friendship and laughter

page 53—57

Gvanian Yosef Raisman A story about truth, lies, and love

page 58—63

The Stories (2 of 3) The Glowing Necklace Shira Labin A story about self-confidence and believing in yourself

page 64—68

The Magical Mouse Tidhar Shosrad A story about sacrificing yourself to help others

page 69—71

Beary the Bear Inon Starovieschic A story treating your friends nicely

page 72—74

The Magical Envelope page 75—79 Batel Mankovsky A story about trusting your friends and putting their interests ahead of yours The Art of Dedication Yoni Halatnik A story about giving and making something of your life

page 80—82

The Key to Success Maoz Karasenti A story about what a person needs to do to succeed

page 83—86

The Imaginary Dog Goffer Oded A story about having the courage to make friends

page 87—90

Missy page 91—93 Katya Mogilevsky A story about treating others the way that you want to be treated

The Stories (3 of 3) The Man in the Lemon page 94—100 Nithay Yarnitsky A story about loneliness and the changes a person can make to have friends Jake the Grey page 101—104 Avshalom Cohen A story about treating people of all ethnicities, religions, and races equally Timmy the Tractor Nithay Duek A story about including others so they don’t feel lonely

page 105—106

The Underwater Sea Class Osher Ninno A story about telling your friends the truth

page 107—109

Anna, Dana, and Johanna page 110—113 Nimrod Boker A story about jealousy, admitting your mistakes, and forgiveness The Sheep on the Hill page 114—123 Yuval Mendelson A story about how money corrupts leaders and can destroy a society

Student Reflections Reflections about the development of their writing and thinking.

Pages 124— 128 Steps to Creating Children’s Stories in Your Classroom Teaching Materials by Yotam Hod (Teacher) Pages 129—143

By: Dina Gorodnitski

In a little town lived a boy, not so little, but also not so big. His name was Tommy. Tommy loved his town. He liked the people, the houses, and the parks. But what he liked the most was the colorfulness and the differences between the houses. Each house was different and had its own style and touch. Each street wasn't like the other. That's why Tommy liked to go out with his skateboard and wander around.

One day, Tommy went out with his skateboard and skated across the streets. The sun shone over the windows and made them sparkle like diamonds. All sorts of flowers - roses, tulips, violets, sun flowers and many more, grew in front of the colorful houses. Everything was calm and beautiful.

In the main street Tommy met all his friends and neighbors. ‚Hello Mrs. Smeet!‛ called Tommy to the baker. ‚Hello Tommy. How do you do?‛ A little later Tommy met their neighbor, Mrs. Kukarlota. ‚Hello Tommy, how is your mother? Yesterday, I was planning to come and visit her." (Tommy knew that "visit" meant come and gossip for an hour or two). In the end of the main street was a big gathering of people. Tommy saw his Friend Timmy. ‚Hello Timmy! What's going on here?‛ he asked. ‚It's the new ideas of Mr. Potato. Listen to what he is saying!‛ answered Timmy.

And indeed, in front of his house on a little stage, stood Mr. Potato, the ketchup factory owner, and he spoke to the people. ‚Dear neighbors!‛ he called, ‚Look at my new house!

This sort of color, these plants, the shade for my car, the porch< All these nice and ele-

gant, new things, are really necessary for a normal and honorable family.

From today all the people should plant roses, roses only. Look at the color of my house. If we all choose grey and yellow as the colors of our houses, that would be nicer and more homogenous. Also, from today, it is popular to put white curtains with stripes and shades from bright wood only<" and so Mr. Potato went on, telling everybody what to do so that everybody else could match his new ideas.

Tommy went home. ‚That’s ridiculous, nobody will listen to him,‛ he said to himself.

The days passed, and some people started to act like Mr. Potato and listened to what he said about being alike. They colored their houses in grey and yellow colors, made their shades and stairs look like they were made from bright wood, and so on.

After some months, the nice, colorful town became all grey and yellow. All the houses were the same, like if they were made in a factory. Even the flowers in the garden were all the same: roses.

In one of the grey houses of the little town sat Tommy's family to dinner.

Tommy's mother liked cooking and her cooking was wonderful and really tasty. ‚This is really delicious, thank you Mom,‛ said Tommy, "very soon your cooking will be the only thing that is different from all the other houses," he muttered. ‚Don’t be so annoyed. It's not the most terrible thing in the world. I am

sure this will pass after some time,‛ promised Tommy's mother. ‚I know Mom, but now I even don’t like to go out. You feel like you can get lost in all these streets! They are all identical!" cried Tommy. ‚It is true. But they aren't ugly, they are newly colored and well kept," said Tommy's father. ‚Yes, it's true,‛ admitted Tommy, ‚but the problem is that I feel that not only the houses are all the same, it looks like the people in the houses are also identical. They don’t have opinions, they can't stay themselves!" replied Tommy. ‚Yes, we know," sighed his parents.

After dinner, Tommy requested to plant some new roses in the garden. ‚In the storeroom you will find some bags with rose seeds,‛ his mother told him. Tommy went to the storeroom and found the place with the garden equipment. He found the bags with the rose seeds and behind them he found one half-empty bag a bag with orchid seeds.

Tommy knew that his mother liked orchids very much; he remembered that before all the strange ‚house fashion‛ started his family always planted only orchids. ‚Why should we listen to what they say? Why can't we stay ourselves?"

Tommy thought.

Tommy took the half-filled orchid seeds bag and planted the seeds in the garden. From that day on he took care of the plants and just couldn't wait until they grew and bloomed.

One day it happened. The little orchids grew and showed first signs of blooming. Everybody was amused and surprised when it was clear that no roses but orchids were growing in the garden. Some people agreed. Some people argued, nagged their heads and clicked their tongues. The neighbors started to gather around the house as if they never saw orchids. Tommy went out to the garden and explained his decision to everybody. He spoke to the people, exactly as Mr. Potato spoke a year before. But in contrast to Mr. Potato's speech, Tommy spoke about staying yourself, loyal to your

opinion and to your style. ‚Why should we all be the same?

Our streets look like factories, long grey factories. These factories are making the people look grey and very much the same. We don’t need to listen to what somebody else thinks about our houses. If we like orchids, why won't we plant orchids?" he asked. ‚And you, Mrs. Kukarlota,‛ he spoke to his neighbor, "your house was always colored in pink, that was the color you chose and the color you liked the most. Why should you live in a grey house if it so not like you?‛ ‚He's right!‛ admitted all the neighbors, "we all should stay ourselves and not try to be somebody else because somebody told us it's better.

In one of the houses of the little, colorful-again town Tommy's family sat for dinner. ‚I am so glad that everything came back to its course," said Tommy's mother, ‚and that’s all because of you, Tommy.‛ ‚No, it isn't mom,‛ said Tommy. ‚Yes it is,‛ confirmed Tommy's father. "Maybe, if you didn’t plant those orchids in that evening, we would all still be living in grey houses with white curtains with stripes and planting roses all day."

The End

By: Amit Hershkowitz

A long time ago, in a peaceful and quite place, lived a family of parrots. Mr. Parrot was the father, Mrs. Parrot the mother, and there were three brothers: Ben, Jim and the smallest one - Perry. They all lived happily, helping each other. Mr. and Mrs. Parrot were taking care of the kids while the kids helped to take care of their home. Ben, the strongest one, helped to lift the heavy furniture, Jim cleaned the house and Perry sat and thought how to make the cleaning and lifting easier. As he sat and thought, he came up with an excellent idea.

Our story begins on a peaceful day, while all the family prepared for the coming holiday of Hanukkah. Everyone was busy.

Mr. and Mrs. Parrot did the shopping, Ben lifted the Hanukkah lamp, Jim made a bunch of doughnuts and Perry planned where to put the "Fire-Maker". The "Fire-Maker" was one of his inventions; it was a big, black and red lighter that lighted the candles of the Hanukkah lamp. Each candle was a different flame color. Some flames were red while others were green, some were purple and some were white. It was a big celebration of colors.

Near noon, the house looked great, Everything was decorated with straps that Mr. and Mrs. Parrot bought. The Hanukkah Lamp stood in the middle of the house; she was big and colored silver. The doughnuts smelled so good, making the air sweet and the feeling even more. The "Fire-Maker" was placed right in front of the Hanukkah lamp, ready to light the candles. When the afternoon arrived, everything was ready for the candle lighting. All the family started to sing Hanukkah songs, spreading happiness and joy in the afternoon air.

Between the singing of the family members, Perry noticed another voice, a moan, a stretch of a back, like some sort of animal, lurking to her prey, ready to jump and devour him. He looked at his brother Ben, who noticed it too. The family sang another song, but there was a gargle, some sort of a howl. Now Mr. Parrot noticed it too.

Another song, and the voices started to get stronger, closer. Another song and there were many voices, much stronger, much closer. Perry looked at his father, and his father looked back at him. The voices were so strong that the family stopped singing, listening to the frightening voices, waiting. A few more seconds, all of a sudden...

They heard a blood-freezing howl! The wall fell apart and they could see the source of these voices - a group of cats! All the family members were scared and frightened, they flew for their lives, and they didn't look back.

They heard the cats running behind them, trying to catch them. Their wings couldn't move faster than that, and the cats couldn't move faster than them. Perry's heart was beating so fast and he almost couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t breath, but he managed to run away. Finally the cats gave up and stopped chasing them. The family was still scared and shocked; they spent the night outside, warming each other's bodies with their own. "Tomorrow we'll come back", said Mr. Parrot, right before Perry fell asleep.

When the family came back to their house everything was ruined. The decoration straps were all scratched by the big and sharp cat's nails. The Ha-

nukkah lamp was broken on the floor, filled with the oil of the doughnuts.

On the side of the room stood the "Fire-Maker", broken apart by the cats, making all the gas escape.

The whole family was sad because of their broken house, but they couldn't wait too long- they had to rebuild their house. They gathered some blocks and started to put them down, one-by-one. Everyone worked together to complete their mission of building the house once again. Mr. and Mrs. Parrot bought the materials while Ben and Jim did the physical work; Perry was responsible to design the new house.

After a hard day of work, the family decided to rest. They sat in a circle, talking about the hard labor and the materials they needed for the new house. Perry was quiet this evening, he thought about the attack the whole day, looking for answers. He remembered the idea that he thought about this afternoon, wondering if he should suggest it. Finally, he had enough courage to say it. â&#x20AC;&#x161;I have an idea,â&#x20AC;&#x203A; he said loudly.

"Well, tell us," said Mr. Parrot.

Perry took a deep breath, and told them his idea. For a few seconds everybody was quite, and then they burst into big, loud laughs.

"Don't be so funny," said Mrs. Parrot.

"This idea is for dreamers only," said Jim. "Try again," said Mr. Parrot.

Perry didn't speak again the whole day. At night, the sounds of laughter wouldn't leave Perry's ears.

His mind was full with thoughts, so full that he couldn't sleep. He got out of his bed and went to one of the closest tree tops. One thought bothered him really hard, he wanted it so much that he couldn't hear those laughs anymore. "I'll show them," he thought. Finally, after a lot of think-

ing, he decided to do it. He decided to run away.

The next morning, Perry was very far from his home. He arrived at the big city, breathing her fresh air. Everything was loud in he city. Cars were beeping, humans talked loudly and their steps were heavy and made a lot of noise. Other birds were whistling to the beat of the human's legs. Perry called it "The Music of the City." He flew on top of the high and grey buildings. Everything looked so unvaried in the city. After a long flight, Perry decided to land in one of the alleys. He landed and looked around him; the trash cans, the sidewalk, everything was grey, like the whole city. "Can't they use some green?" he asked himself.

All of a sudden, he heard a whisper from behind the trash cans.

"Hey, you!" said the thick voice.

"Me?" asked Perry.

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm Perry, and who are you?"

"I'm the big scary monster!" said the voice, echoing in the whole alley.

"I don't believe you!" said Perry, as his heart beats became stronger.

"You can see it by my shadow!"

Perry looked at the big shadow that arrived at the wall, it's seemed like a big creature. It looked like a dinosaur with a huge shell on top of his back.

"I'm... I'm not scared!" lied Perry.

"Really then, come closer," the voice ordered.

"Okay," said Perry as he started to walk towards the trash cans.

"Okay, stop!" said the voice, but Perry didn't listened to him. "Stop I said!" he said once again, but Perry didn't mind. "Stop right now!" the voice begged.

"I'm not scared, I'm scared..." repeated Perry while he came closer and closer, collecting courage with each step that he took. Finally he arrived behind the trash can and discovered a small, green creature, with a big shell on top of his back. It was a turtle.

"This is a smaller form of mine!" said the turtle.

"Don't lie," said Perry, "I know you're not a monster."

"Okay, Okay," admitted the turtle.

"So, what is your name?" asked Perry.

"Sheldon," answered the turtle.

"Well, if you don't mind... I need to go," said Perry.

"No, wait!" screamed Sheldon.

"What?" asked Perry.

"Why are you here? You don't seem the city-type of creature."

"I ran away from my home," sighed Perry. "Nothing important."

"Why did you run away?"

"My family laughed at me so hard, I couldn't take it."

"Why did they laugh at you?"

"Because of one of my ideas."

"Oh, you look like a very smart guy."

"Maybe," Perry sighed again.

"I need your help," said Sheldon.

"My help for what?" asked Perry.

"I need an idea, my shell, it's really heavy, what can I do?"

"Well," said Perry, "let me think of it."

And so it was, Perry thought night and day about how to make Sheldon's life easier, sketching, thinking, planning every little detail. Finally, after a few days of work, he came with an idea. "Why won't you take off this shell and become a lizard?" Perry suggested.

"How I never thought of it?!" wondered Sheldon as he took off his shell. "From now on, I'm a lizard!"

Perry laughed.

"Thank you so much!" said Sheldon.

"My pleasure!" said Perry, "Well, I think I'll go now," and he continued.

"I'll meet you again someplace, good-bye!" said Sheldon with tears of joy at his eyes.

"Goodbye," said Perry as he flew away from there. He kept flying until he arrived at a big, green forest. He landed on one of the trees, hearing all the beautiful sounds of nature - the songs of the birds, the howls of the foxes.

He was also glad to see the green color unlike the grey color of the city. Everything was much more peaceful in the forest. The sun shined up in the sky, making the air warm and nice.

"The forest is sure better," said Perry, feeling the air stroking his color-

ful, red wings. Finally he landed on one of the tree tops, slowly jumping down to the ground. He looked around him, green-and-brown trees were everywhere, from the ground you couldn't see the sky, but you could feel the sun. Perry stopped to rest on a leaf, relaxing his stressed muscles. The voices of laughs didn't leave his mind yet. He sat and pondered.

He looked up, searching for a solution how to make his family believe in him and their voices echo in his head. He didn't notice that his eyes followed after a mysterious wing flight - big blue wings. He was hypnotized by those big blue wings; he couldn't keep his eyes off them. "What is this creature?" he asked himself, and kept looking at those amazing wings. Finally he decided to ask the creature himself.

"Excuse me," he said. But the creature didn't answer. "Excuse me," repeated Perry, a little louder.

"Oh, me?" asked a small, female voice.

"Yes, may you come here?" he asked.

"Oh, sure," answered the creature before flying down to the ground, as it came closer, Perry could clearly see it was a butterfly, a female butterfly.

"I just wanted to look at your beautiful wings," said Perry.

"Beautiful?" asked the butterfly.

"Of course!" said Perry.

"They're not that beautiful," mumbled the butterfly.

"They are!" jumped Perry. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Betty," said the butterfly, "and yours?"

"I'm Perry," he said and smiled.

"My... my wings aren't so beautiful," said Betty.

"They are!" repeated Perry.

"Well, I don't like them."

An idea popped on Perry's mind, "I'll make you love those wings!" he said with confidence. So he flew onto a high branch and started to design and draw, one idea, two ideas, three, four - a flow of ideas came to him. He was inspired by the red and yellow sun, by the green trees, by the voices of the forest. After a few hours of drawing and painting, he finally had the final design. Then he turned to find the right materials: colors, brushed; everything he could find in nature. After a few hours of searching all the materials were there.

"Close your eyes," he said to Betty while he started to paint her wings.

"Okay," said Betty and closed her eyes. Line after line, dot after dot, and finally Perry finished painting her wings.

"Take a look," said Perry.

Betty looked at her wings and almost couldn't breathe. They looked beautiful.

"Well?" asked Perry.

"They look wonderful!" said Betty, a big smile on her face.

"I thought you'll like it," said Perry.

"How could I thank you?"

"No need," said Perry, "but I have to leave now."

"Bye," said Betty.

"Goodbye," said Perry and he flew away from there, leaving the beautiful, happy butterfly and the green, magical forest behind him.

The next morning he noticed a wave of smoke coming from somewhere close to the mountains.

He flew there and saw a village. It was not as quiet as the forest, but not as loud as the city. It was somewhere in between. There were a few small houses with red roof tops and small divisions of grass. Perry could smell and feel the unity of the village people, small children playing with each other, grown-ups talking about the hard day of work that was waiting just for them. Perry could smell the cup of coffee that everyone drinks in the morning, and the smell of hard work's sweat.

All the village people seemed so peaceful and happy, smiling and talking with each other.

Suddenly he heard a wail behind one of the houses. He flew there fast to find the source of the wail. He saw a big, skinny dog, sitting on the floor. The dog wailed in pain.

"What happened?" asked Perry.

"Go!" the dog barked at him.

"I'm just trying to help," said Perry.

"Oh, excuse me, I'm just a little hungry," said the dog.

"What's your name?" asked Perry.

"I'm Dag, and you?"

"Perry," he said.

"Again, excuse me," said Dag. "That's okay," relaxed Perry, "are you looking for food?"

"Yes, I haven't ate for days," cried Dag. "Did you try to take food from the humans?"

"I tried to steal some food but I got caught."

"I meant, did you try to be nice and ask for some food?"

"No," hesitated Dag. "Then try that."

Dag went to a group of humans. He was as scared as them, but finally one boy decided to stroke him, and Dag babbled with his tail. "Oh, he's so cute!" said another girl, and soon he was surrounded by many children. After lots of strokes one kid gave him a piece of meat.

"Eat it", he said. Dag ate the meat and a big smile arrived on his face.

Soon he got another piece of meat, and another one, and one more, and so on.

"How could I ever thank you?" asked Dag. "Don't thank me," said Perry, "just keep being nice."

"You have great ideas!" smiled Dag. "Thank you," commented Perry. "Well now, I'll have to go."

"Goodbye," cried Dag.

"Goodbye," said Perry, pondering, and he flew away from there.

Perry's thought about the last weeks, and from the moment he left until then, he couldn't miss the message that someone was trying to tell him. He should trust himself and not listen to what other people say. He also understood that sometimes, as the idea is much more unique it's also better, and he was ready to show his family he was right all along. He decided to come back home and execute his idea.

After a long flight home, he could see his house, exactly the same way he designed it, with little windows and a big door. The rooftop was blue, and there were flowers in the back of the house. He landed on the grass in front of the house.

"Perry!" screamed Mrs. Parrot loudly. The whole family gathered up at the door, everyone was there - Mr. Parrot, Mrs. Parrot, Jim and Ben. "Where have you been?" asked Mr. Parrot.

"I'll tell you later," said Perry.

Mrs. Parrot hugged him with a big warm hug. Ben and Jim smiled as they came closer to their brother. All the family started to sing for Perry, as they were very happy. Between the songs the family heard those familiar voices, the stretch of backs, the wails, and everything came back to them.

Perry looked at the other family members, who were frightened. Jim started to shake, while Mr. Parrot hugged Mrs. Parrot and Ben strongly.

Quiet, a few seconds of quiet. All of a sudden, the cats jumped up from their hiding place, threatening the family with their big sharp nails and smiling, showing their big dangerous teeth. They looked hungry, as they licked their lips. This time there weren't any doughnuts, but they seemed hungry enough to eat chickenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or parrot actually. The cats gargled with joy, looking at their prey.

"Fly away!" Mr. and Mrs. Parrot whispered. Everybody flew, everybody but Perry.

"Are you crazy?!" asked Jim while he looked back at his brother. Perry kept standing; the cats came closer and closer, smelling the prey. One cat jumped at him, showing his scary nails.

"Stop!" screamed Perry.

The cat stopped and looked at him with shock.

"I have a deal for you," offered Perry.

"Speak, lunch," laughed the cat.

"What about a peace treaty?" asked Perry.

The response was quiet at first, and then followed by a wave of laughs.

"Peace treaty?!" laughed the big scary cat.

"At least I tried," said Perry and closed his eyes.

The cats came even closer and smelled his body. Some cats still laughed at the idea of peace treaty. "That's what happens when you let your food talk," giggled one of the cats; the other cats laughed after him. Perry was thankful for each breathe he took, he was scared and frightened, he knew no one could save him now after he took that risk.

He's eyes were closed for a few more seconds, and a few more, and a few more. He wondered why it was taking so much time and he opened his eyes. He saw the cats were hypnotized by some sort of flying painting. After a few seconds of staring at it, he saw it was a butterfly.

"Betty!" he screamed, smiling. He was so happy.

One cat lost his focus on the butterfly and turned his mouth to Perry. He got his head closer to Perry's body and was about to bite it, but a big shell separated them; the cat's teeth broke in a horrible cracking noise.

"Sheldon!" Perry was surprised.

The other cats removed their eyes from the beautiful butterfly to the red Parrot and the green turtle.

"We are doomed," cried Sheldon. The cats came closer and closer, smiling with pleasure, smelling the fresh meat.

All of a sudden, they heard a frightening howl; a big scary dog came out from behind one of the bushes.

"Dag!" Perry screamed, feeling so safe.

Dag caught one of the cats' tails, playing with it, "Well, well," he laughed, "I can see some food here, huh?"

All the cats gathered together, scared.

"Should I eat them?" asked Dag. "No," said Perry.

He came closer to a black, green-eye cat.

"Are you the leader?" he questioned.

"Y... Yes," he hesitated.

"I'll offer it one more time," said Perry clearly. "Do you want a peace treaty?"

The cat thought for a few minutes, feeling Dag's foot on top of his tail. He was scared and he shook his feet strongly, "Well, why not?" he laughed, but he wasn't happy, he threw a look of scorn.

"Great then," said Perry. "Now go away and don't ever come back."

Dag removed his foot from the cat's tail, who ran away with the others, still shaking.

"Haven't you taken off the shell?" asked Perry.

"I couldn't leave it," said Sheldon, "family property."

"Thank you so much!" said Perry.

"No problem," said Sheldon, "you helped us - we helped you."

"Well," sighed Betty, "see you some day."

"Goodbye," said Perry with joy, but he also was sad to leave his new friends.

Betty flew away, Sheldon went to the city and Dag left back to the village. Perry knew he will never forget them. After that, the family's life became normal once again. They all took care of the house, like they always did. They never had a doubt about Perry's ideas once more. Sometimes Perry flew to visit Sheldon, Betty and Dag, which were his new friends. And they all lived happily ever after.

The End

By: Dor Kleinfeld

One normal day, in a small village a kid named Will was woken up by his mother. Except it was not a normal day because Will's mother woke him up so he would go to school, and it was not just any day at school, it was the first day of first grade. Will unwillingly woke up and grunted, "I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to go to school! I am tired and I want to stay at home and play!"

"But you knew for over a year now that you will go to school this year and you know that everyone has to go to school." His mother said.

Will got up, got dressed, ate his breakfast and finally picked up his new backpack.

He walked to the bus stop which was near his house with his mother. When the school bus finally came, Will said goodbye to his mother and complained again that he doesn't want to go to school and learn, and said he will fail.

Then Will got on the bus, with a frown on his face.

When Will entered his classroom he still had a frown on his face. He thought of the awfulness of having to work all day instead of playing. He thought of failing every single quiz and test, and unfortunately for him that is exactly what happened after the teacher introduced herself. She decided to give everyone a quiz in which they would write whatever they could about themselves and about every subject they would learn this year. After a few minutes, the

teacher finished going over the tests and she gave the tests back. Even though she said they only represent what they know now and that they would learn more at school, many students were unhappy with their grades. Between them was Will, who failed miserably. How was he supposed to know? He didn't even know all of the letters! After the test, Will passed the rest of the day's introductory lessons sad and he waited for the end of the day. School was as bad as he thought it would be.

A week already passed since the first day of school, and during that week Will didn't have fun at all. During that week he didn't make any new friends and didn't listen to what he was taught. One day, the bus was late so Will had to wait after school. The teacher invited Will to talk until the bus came. She told Will she noticed he wasn't willing to learn and she asked him why he wasn't willing to learn.

"I just don't want to learn when I know I can play at home instead." Will complained.

"But you know that everyone has to learn." The teacher said.

"I know but I can't, I just can't understand what we learn!" he whined.

"Don't worry, you don't have to know everything instantly, but first you need to agree to learn." She said.

"You know what? I have an idea.

How about I give you this pen, maybe it will help you learn? It helped me when I was your age and it helped other students."

And the teacher took out a beautiful black pen with silver lines that somehow reminded Will of a smiling mouth.

When Will held the pen it felt heavier than it looked and somehow he felt better while holding it. "Thank you!" Will said, "I already feel better!"

And Will got on the bus with his new pen, happy for the first time since he started learning at school.

The next day Will went to school with his new pen. He was happy to go to school for the first time in his life. When they started learning, Will used his new pen, and surprisingly he didn't only understand what he learned, he knew what the teacher taught before the teacher even spoke! He answered every question on the work sheets he got and finished them before everyone else. Later that day, the teacher gave everyone a quiz, which Will finished first and all of his answers were completely correct.

For the first time in over a week, Will actually knew the answers to the questions he was asked. Because Will finished the test, his teacher let him wait in the hallway. Will was bored, so he decided to take apart his pen, just out of curiosity to see how it worked. He started pulling the pen from both sides to break it open, but with no success. He tried to twist it, to see if it screws open, but again with no success. The beautiful black pen just did not open. Finally he tried hitting it on the wall and heard some grunts from the pen that sounded like someone said, "Stop it, stop it!"

Will stopped hitting the pen and checked where the sounds came from. When he found nothing, he tried hitting it on the wall again. Again the moment the pen hit the wall he heard, this time definitely from the pen, "Stop hitting me on the wall!"

Will turned the pen around and saw the silver lines on it moving. He heard, "Yes, I am a talking but don't worry, I am also the one who helped you learn today."

"Am I crazy or is this pen talking?" muttered Will. â&#x20AC;?Yes I am a talking pen" the pen answered, "I am the all-knowing pen

and it is my job to teach kids how to learn. I know it's hard for you to understand, but I need to help you be as good in school without me."

Will thought for a while and said, "I don't know if I am crazy, but I just know keeping you is a good idea."

For the next few months of school Will had exceptionally good grades.

His pen helped him learn, but whenever he held the pen he could know almost anything he wanted. He knew which kids to befriend and how to run in physical education class to outrun everyone. He was simply the most successful kid in his class. All was good until one day when the teacher told the class they would have a test that would be a big part of their mid-year report card grades. Will wanted to take out his pen to consult him about the test.

But, he couldn't find it! He panicked and almost screamed, but then remembered that he needed to keep the pen's secret because if he didn't, others might get jealous. He decided that he might have left it at home and that he should look at it when he gets home.

When Will got home he couldn't find it. Now he really panicked. He asked his parents if they saw it and looked all over his room and he didn't find it anywhere.

He spent the next month until his test searching for his pen, at studying for the test but more than both he panicked. Finally by the day of the test he was com-

pletely demoralized. He was sure he will fail the test. When the teacher gave out the tests he almost screamed in despair. The minutes it took him to finish the test were the worst in his life. He answered the questions as well as he could, but he wasn't sure if his answers were correct without the pen to guide him. The days he waited to get his test graded were the second worst time in his life.

It took his teacher one week to check all of the tests. Will was once again sad about going to school. He waited all day for the teacher to give out the tests. When she finally called him to take his test she smiled at him. He did not know why she smiled at him until he took his test and saw a big A written on it. And was he dreaming? No, he really saw his beloved pen connected to the test! He asked permission to go to the bathroom, and when he got there he spoke to the pen.

"Where were you? I almost failed without you!" he told the pen angrily.

"I am sorry but I needed to test you, to see if you could learn without me. And obviously because of your grade you are ready." The pen replied.

"But I panicked and nearly failed!" said Will.

"But you didn't fail even under these tough circumstances, which proves my point even better." The pen retorted.

"Okay, I guess you are right. I really can't have you with me forever."

Will admitted.

"Good, then now is a good time to tell you that I will need to leave you and help another kid instead." The pen said.

"Well I guess I have to let you go. Maybe we will meet again, or maybe I will be the next Einstein thanks to you." Will happily said.

"Oh, I remember Einstein. He didn't think his future was bright before I helped him," the pen said.

They both laughed knowing that it is the last time they will

be able to laugh with each other.

A few more months passed and it was the best part of the year again â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the end of the school year. Will continued to be the best student in his class since the pen had to leave him. By now he had lots of friends and lived out of school better. It was already the last lesson and in it they talked with the teacher about what they will do next year. Everyone was at the edge of their seats, waiting for that final bell ring. But Will thought what he will do next year. He thought about how fun it will be to learn new things and how helpful it will be. He thought of what new friends he will have and what new things he will do. But then as the bell rang and everyone left the classroom Will thought that in any future years when the teacher will ask what they did in previous years, he will always have one answer. He learned how to learn thanks to a certain black pen with silver lines.

The End

By: Roee Ben Amara

Once upon a time, there was a mean jumping-ball machine named Mean. Mean always tried to tease the balls, but because the jumping-balls were much smarter, they never listened to him.

The leader of the jumping-balls, Gwizzle, always tried to figure how to escape from Mean prison and go free. Gwizzle had a son, named Nemo.

Nemo was the cutest, smartest, biggest, and most more colorful of all, not because he tried to be like that, but because of Gwizzle. His father always taught him to be nice and kind to others. Because of that, he was the most beautiful jumping-ball, from the outside, but also from the inside.

Mean's home was in the big shopping center called, "Shop in the City."

Every time that a human watched Mean and the jumping-ball tribe, they had to pretend they couldn't move and talk. This was because if the humans knew it, the humans will operate on them, cut them up, and so on. Because of that, Mean and the jumping-balls slept during the days, and woke up at night.

One night, when it was almost sunrise, Gwizzle couldn't sleep. This was because a great plan about how to get rid of Mean came to his head. The plan was to keep Mean busy, so one or a few jumping-balls could try to escape, then find a plan to free them all.

The next night was very exciting. A bunch of Jumping-balls, called "The Specials," had a meeting where they made important decisions.

They agreed that only one jumping-ball will escape, because this way Mean wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice.

If a group of jumping-balls escaped, Mean would surely notice and chase them. They also decided that the escaping jumping-ball will be Nemo, the son of Gwizzle, because he was the bravest, smartest, and fastest jumping-ball out there.

When they told the tribe, every one wanted to applaud, but they kept silent, because they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to keeps Mean's attention.

After one week, the day to make the plan work had come. Everyone was so nervous that they barely talked. The time had come. Everyone went to the other side of the machine, where Mean could see them, and started to fight. When Mean laughed at them, Nemo snuck out of the machine, and started to run away. The problem was that Nemo's path walked through an area that drew Mean's attention.

When Nemo almost succeeded to escape, Mean noticed him. "Hey!

Come back here if you don’t want your friends to be hurt!" Mean shouted.

Nemo knew that Mean won’t try to hurt the jumping balls, because then he would have to catch another tribe of jumping-balls, or gums, which is known as a hard mission. Mean turn around to tried to run after Nemo.

"COME HERE, YOU LITTLE USELLES JUMPING-BALL!" he screamed. But Nemo ignored him. Mean started to chase Nemo, but Nemo already escaped at the next intersection, and he hid there, between the flowers. When Mean reached the intersection, he giggled out-load "Come out, come out where ever you are, you little annoying toy!"

Suddenly, a thin pink line started to rise from the ground and got bigger and bigger, until an orange appeared, followed by a clear blue sky.

"Oh no, the sunrise! I'll have to catch that little creature later<" Nemo turn around to relax, but instead, a dragon head looked into his eyes.

Nemo almost fainted. "Heya, buddy," the dragon said.

Nemo noticed now that the dragon was only a head, and on a white background.

Nemo wanted to say, "Who are you?" But instead he said, "What are you?"

The dragon head laughed, and said, "I'm Taghiare, the sticker."

Nemo relaxed. I just got away from that machine," Nemo said. "He always annoys us, and teases us so we get angry at him,‛ he said.

"Don't worry friend, I'll help you find a way to get rid of Mean," and Taghiare relaxed him.

"The problem is that this is what I am supposed to do, but I don't have a plan," Nemo admitted.

"Shhhhhh! Here comes a human! Be quiet!" Taghiare whispered. The human past by, and Nemo and his new friend restarted their conversation. ‚How can we do it?" ‚I think I have an idea, but I'm not sure if will it work." ‚Ok, let's hear it". ”Fine. First, we need to go get a friend if mine, named Tayra."

Taghiare whispered, "She's on the other side of the shopping center." ”Why, do you need something?" Nemo asked

‚Eh< kind of<‛ So Nemo and his new friend walked their way to the place where Tayra lives, from one hideout to another, running and crawling, walking and jumping. The days came and passed like a butterfly. Because the jumpingball and the sticker were very little, they needed days and days to reach their destination.

Finally Nemo and Taghiare reached Tayra home.

It was near the field, so there was a beautiful view, (that belonged to an old farmer and his daughters, who convinced him to fill the field with wild and rare flowers). Tayra was a good-looking jumping ball machine, with shades of pale-blue and blue, as opposed to Mean (who was red and black). She lived in peace with her tribe.

"Hey Tayra!" Taghiare shouted so Tayra could hear him.

"Who said that?" Tayra asked.

"It's me, Taghiare! I'm down here!" he replied.

"Oh, Taghiare! I haven’t seen you for a long time! What's up?" she whispered, because a human almost heard Taghiare's shout. ‚Listen, can we go inside? We didn't have a good morning’s sleep since last week. Can you wake us up later tonight?" Taghiare asked.

"Sure," she said, "But, why did you say us? You aren't alone here?" she asked.

"My new friend, Nemo, is with me," he said.

Nemo and Taghiare climbed up to Tayra's mouth, and got inside. Inside the machine, there where a lot of Jumping-balls, much bigger than those that were inside Mean. The nice jumping-balls offered Nemo and Taghiare the best food and beds, but it was too late - Nemo and Taghiare already curled up and had gone to sleep.

After a long night of talking, Nemo and Taghiare explained the plan to Tayra, and the moment had come. Did Tayra agree to their plan, or not?

"Sure!" she said shortly after. If some human were close to there, he would have thought that a bomb exploded right there. Every jumping-ball (and there were a lot) cheered and clapped.

And so our story ends. Taghiare's plan worked, Nemo and his tribe

were released, but they preferred to live with Tayra. Tayra made Mean think she loves him, but there was a mistake there: Tayra did fall in love with Mean. Mean learned how to be friends with the jumping-balls, because his new girlfriend Tayra had a lot of those little devils.

The End

By: Saâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar Matalon

Once upon a time there was a little kid named Todd. Todd was only 8 years old, but even at that age he wasn't nice to other people, including old people. One day, Todd walked in the street, and as usual he picked on a little child. The child screamed, "Leave me alone, Todd!"

You are always picking on me. â&#x20AC;&#x161;I will tell my mom! She will teach you how to behave!"

Todd knew that the child's mother will tell his parents, and they will ground him for the whole week. So, Todd just walked away, to his school.

A few days after that, Todd sat under the big oak tree near by his school. Todd always hung out alone there, alone with his daydreams. Todd looked at the sky and saw the stars and the moon. Todd looked at the sky almost every night, so he learned all the constellation.

He saw Scorpio,

and Leo,

but Todd never noticed that the moon wasn't full.

Todd started to worry because that night he saw that the moon is only half full, and the night after that, he saw it a little smaller.

Night after night, the moon became smaller and smaller<

When Todd saw that the moon was almost gone, he ran to his father screaming! "The moon disappeared! The moon disappeared!"

Todd's father knew that Todd wasn't nice to others so, he told him, "The moon disappeared because you weren't nice to people."

"But how did it affect the moon?" Todd asked.

"Every time a person isn't nice to others, the moon tries to run away from him" his father explained.

Todd was amazed. He decided that he will change his ways! He told his father that he will be nice to the other people from now on.

Todd's father told the whole story to Todd's mother because he didn't want her to tell him the true. They were both happy about Todd's decision.

Todd was nice to the little child.

He showed him how to whistle

and they became best friends.

Two weeks after that, Todd sat under the oak tree. He wanted to see his progress, but shockingly the moon still wasn't full! Todd was sad.

He went to his father again and told him that he was nice, but still the moon wasn't full. His father told him that every month the moon gets bigger and bigger, and then smaller and smaller.

Todd understood that his father just wanted him to be nice to other people. He decided that being nice is the most important thing.

The End

By: Gabriela Udovich

In a little town far, far away there was a house with a garden. In this house lived a boy. That boy had a little lot in the garden, in which he planted daisies, roses, and tulips. But there was one flower that the boy liked the most, and it was the most beautiful and special flower in the whole little lot a sunflower. Every day the boy went to the garden, watered all the flowers and just sat there, looking at the beautiful colors and shapes of the flowers.

Every day the sunflower waited for the boy. When the boy came the sunflower felt great. He felt like he was the most beautiful, special and wonderful flower in the whole world. Much better than the other flowers in the garden, that's for sure. At these happy moments of the day the sunflower was a king. He was at the center of the boy's attention, and the boy gave him everything he needed.

The boy never wanted to leave. He always wanted to stay and enjoy a little bit more from the flowers. "It is wonderful to look at the amazing flowers I grew," explained the boy to his mother when one day she asked him why he likes being out side the house so much.

Every day, when the boy left the sunflower was sad. He was just a regular flower that had to give and share with his community everything he had. But one day, after the boy went, the sunflower felt very lonely. He wanted to cheer himself up. ‚I’m the best flower in the world. The most beautiful, colorful, wonderful and amazing flower!‛ He kept saying to himself while sitting in his bed. ‚All the other flowers aren’t as great as me!‛ Then, a mischievous smile spread across his beautiful little face and he stood up. ‚I’m the most amazing flower in the whole world in the boy’s eyes, so he treats me like a king,‛ the flower thought as he started walking from one side of the room to another. ‚But when he leaves I become a normal flower, just like every other

flower in this community. I have to give, and even worse, share!‛ the sunflower thought disgustingly. ‚But I should be treated like a king all day long!

So,‛ now the sunflower stopped, ‚The other flowers should give me, share with me, do as I want!‛ The sunflower smiled with pleasure and wondered how could it be that he never thought about this before. ‚Fooooh,‛ panted the sunflower while he went to his bed and checked what time it was, ‚It’s way past bed time, and I got so tired from all this thinking!‛ The sunflower went to sleep, deciding that he should share this wonderful idea to all the flowers in his community.

A knock on the door woke up the sunflower. ‚Knock- knock!‛ said a happy voice outside the door, ‚Wakey-wakey!‛ ‚Oh, come on,‛ muttered the sunflower, still half asleep, ‚Who could be awake so early?‛ He walked to the door and slowly opened it. He saw his neighbor there, Donny the daisy. ‚Good morning, sleepy boy!‛ said Donny happily and entered to the sunflower’s house. ‚Hey you too,‛ mumbled the sunflower, while rubbing his eyes. ‚Oh, your house is so untidy,‛ sighed Donny. ‚You know I have few things to tell you about this!‛ (every time when Donny came he said something about cleaning up the sunflower’s house. He really enjoyed cleaned houses). ‚But my house is always untidy,‛ admitted the sunflower. ‚Not like my house!‛ Bragged Donny. ‚So clean it up for me!‛ Commanded the sunflower. ‚What!?‛ said Donny, who was shocked. ‚Explain it right now!‛ he demanded.

‚Well,‛ explained the sunflower. ‚The boy treats me like a king.‚ ‚Yeah, we can see that,‛ acknowledged Donny. ‚So I thought, why shouldn’t I be treated like a king all day long?‛ asked the sunflower. ‚You must be kidding me!‛ said Donny. ‚No, actually I’m not,‛ admitted the sunflower. ‚But you can’t do that!‛ argued Donny. ‚This is very selfish, not fair and an unfriendly thing to do!‛ He exclaimed. ‚It seems very fair to me,‛ said the sunflower, and then he threw Donny out of his house.

The next day, every flower in the garden already knew that the sunflower and Donny argued, but nobody knew the reason. ‚The rumor says that you argued with Donny,‛ Rosa Rouge the journalist asked the sunflower. ‚About what?‛ But the sunflower didn’t answer her. ‚Mr. Sunflower?‛ Rosa tried again. ‚I’m hurrying, don’t bother me now!‛ said the sunflower and walked away.

Apparently, the sunflower didn’t have to tell Rosa what happened, she found out herself. One of the neighbors that heard the argument told her. On the next day, every flower in the garden read in the newspaper what the argument was about. Today, when the sunflower was sitting in his house and

drinking his cup of tea, he heard a noise outside the house. ‚Who could make such horrible noise during tea cup hour?‛ Wondered the sunflower.

He opened the door and saw at least ten journalists. ‚Don’t you have a cup of tea to drink now?‛ asked the sunflower. ‚Do you really want the whole community to serve you?‛ Questioned one journalist. Dustin Daisy was his name. ‚Oh, I understand what makes you bother me during the tea cup hour,‛ said the sunflower. ‚Well, yes.‛ he answered to Dustin.

Silence fell on the house. ‚Then we shouldn’t talk to you any more, if you are so unfriendly and selfish!‛ said a journalist named Risotto Rice. ‚She is right!‛ agreed the journalist Tony Litt, and all the journalists left. ‚At least nobody will interrupt me while I’m drinking my cup of tea!‛ Thought the sunflower. ‚Oh great,‛ he said after he tasted his tea, ‚Now it’s cold!‛ The next day, the fourth day from the horrible argument, the sunflower walked slowly to the center of the lot (where he meets the boy every day), enjoying the wonderful, warm sun rays. ‚Oh, hey Danfort!‛ waved the sunflower. Danfort looked shortly at the sunflower and walked away fast. ‚I wonder what happened to him,‛ thought the sunflower and continued walking. While he walked, all the flowers walked as far as they can from him. But the sunflower didn’t pay attention to this. The sunflower arrived

to the center of the lot. ‚The boy isn’t here yet,‛ thought the sunflower, ‚Or maybe I’m too late?‛ He hurried and asked a daisy that stood near, ‚Sorry, could you tell me what time it is?‛ The daisy looked at the sunflower, and said with astonishment, ‛You are the sunflower that thinks he is a king! I’m not your servant!‛ The sunflower didn’t understand, why did she act like this? He went home, thinking about what just happened.

Four days later the sunflower felt a little bit lonely.

Nobody spoke to him these days, everyone looked at him angrily and walked away when he said something to them. The sunflower started to get a little worried, too.

Nobody shared with him water and food, and the sunflower didn’t have so much of this.

A week later, nobody looked at him. Everyone behaved like he wasn’t even there. Now, the sunflower felt very lonely. He was very worried too. He almost finished all his water and food. Even though the boy tried to give the sunflower everything he needed, he couldn’t give him enough. The most important thing was that he couldn’t give the sunflower love and care as the flowers could give him. He couldn’t talk to him, hug him, laugh with him.

One morning, when the sunflower brushed his teeth and looked at the mirror, as always, he accidently swallowed his toothpaste. ‚Look at me!‛ he said to his reflection in the mirror, ‚I’m not so colorful as always! My beautiful bright yellow and orange colors became almost white yellow and ugly orange! This is so horri-

ble!‛ The poor sunflower looked at every detail on his little body. ‚Oh no!‛ he said, terrified. ‚My stem dried, and now it’s not as straight as always!‛ The tears dripped on his face. ‚I’m not so beautiful and perfect as I used to be,‛ he realized. ‚Now, I’m not the most beautiful and amazing flower in the whole world.‛ On that day, in the house, the boy talked with his mother. ‚Mommy,‛ he said, ‚now it’s Spring, so would you like to go with me to the garden and see the most beautiful sunflower in the whole big world?‛ His mother smiled. ‚Of course, dear. Lets go, but tomorrow, fine?‛ The boy nodded with his head.

A day later, the sunflower walked to the center of the city, feeling very sad. ‚If I’m not so wonderful,‛ he thought, ‚than the boy might not love me any more!‛ ‚You will see,‛ said the boy to his mother five minutes earlier, ‚My sunflower is amazing!‛ While they walked to the little lot, the boy told his mother how great the sunflower is. It has beautiful colors, a great green straight stem and of course a wonderful smell. ‚Yes honey, your sunflower is< nice!‛ said the mother when they arrived, with a little smile on her face.

The boy saw the sunflower and sat down quickly, with big astonishment in his heart. ‚What happened to my sunflower?‛ he asked his mother. ‚It was a lot prettier!‛ The mother sat behind him. ‚I think it’s sick, honey,‛ she said gently. ‚Does it have a fever?‛ asked the boy worriedly. ‚No, dear,‛ answered the mother. ‚It is sad. Maybe nobody likes it.‛ The boy looked at her, surprised. ‚But I really like him! I take care of him every day!‛ he said. ‚You are a boy, dear,‛ explained the mother. ‚The sunflower also needs

flower love! You have nothing to do about it, so now,‛ she said, while standing up, ‚Let’s go home. I made great lemonade!‛ She smiled, and thought that she has to uproot this poor flower as soon as possible.

The sunflower, of course, heard the whole conversation and became even sadder than he was. ‚What have I done?‛ He asked himself miserably. ‚Why do I deserve this?‛. He walked back to his house, understanding that the boy doesn’t like him anymore and he is alone now, more than ever. All the way back home the sunflower tried to find answers to only one question: Why? Why? Why?! ‚I know!‛ said the sunflower loudly, a few minutes after he started walking. All the flowers around looked at him, wondering who he was talking to. ‚I’m not the most beautiful flower in the whole world,‛ he thought, ‚Because I’m sad. I’m sad because I don’t have friends.‛ He started walking around. ‚And I don’t have friend because I was very unfriendly!‛ Now he stopped. ‚So that means that I need my friends to be happy and beautiful! But because I was so unfriendly nobody likes me.‛ The sunflower smiled. ‚I have to apologize in front of all my friends, and I will start immediately!‛ The sunflower started with Donny. He came to his house and explained him, for at least half an hour that he is very sorry about what he said and that now he understand that it was very wrong. "Would you please forgive me?" he asked at the end. Donny didn't answer.

"Of course I forgive you!" said Donny after a while. "You are my best friend!". They hugged each other, laughing with joy.

The sunflower came back to his house, and called Rosa Rouge. "Hey, Rosa?'" he said on the telephone, "I need you to write in the newspaper that I apologize."

"What?!" she asked, while bringing a pencil and a paper.

"So, write that<" said the sunflower and dictated to Rosa that he is

very sorry about what he said, and he wants all the flowers in the little lot to forgive him.

"Finally you understand that it was very wrong to want to be our king; to be better than us!" Rosa said from the other side of the telephone.

"You are right," agreed the sunflower, "I guess I had to feel lonely for some time. Just then I understood that I need you, my friends!"

At the next day, when the sunflower walked to the cafĂŠ in the center of the lot in the garden, still nobody talked to him. "But why?" He thought, "The article is already in today's newspaper!".

A little tulip girl then approached the sunflower. "Mr. sunflower?" she asked, "Did you really mean what you said in the newspaper?"

The sunflower smiled to the little tulip girl and nodded with his head. "I meant," he said and lifted the little girl, "That now I understand how important it is to be friendly, not hurt othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; feelings and not being selfish! And now," he asked the waiter, "Please give this adorable little girl a nice, tasty candy!â&#x20AC;&#x203A; All the flowers that few minutes ago looked at the sunflower angrily now came closer to him, with smiles on their faces.

"Thank you, Mr. Sunflower," said the little girl, licking her big candy, "Now you are nice again!"

At that day, the sunflower understood that friendship is the most important thing in the world, more then being beautiful and wonderful and amazing, and more then being a king. Also he understood that you have to give and share if you want to be a good friend in your community.

The boy understood that nobody is perfect, even the most beautiful flower in the whole world.

And the other flowers in the little lot in the garden? Well, everybody promised that they will do everything so that this story never happened again.

The End

By: Hagar Sahar

A long time ago, in a small town, lived two kids, a boy and a girl called Michael and Jenny. Michael and Jenny were best friends. They were neighbors, and met each other every day. They liked to play together with their toys, watch TV, and play outside.

Even though they were best friends, Michael and Jenny were very different; Jenny was very funny and had a great sense of humor. She loved to laugh and tell jokes. On the other hand, Michael was very logical and serious. He never understood funny things, and never laughed.

Jenny didn't understand why Michael never laughed, and hated that he was always so serious. She wanted him to understand her jokes, and laugh at them. So, one day she decided that she will try to make Michael laugh, no matter what.

Later that week, Jenny and Michael met at Jenny's house. Jenny was planning to tell jokes to Michael, the funniest jokes she knew. She was sure it will make him understand that the world is very funny, and very different from what he knew. ‚Hey Michael, I have a great joke to tell you," she started. "What is there in hell that frightens the kids so much? At the entrance to hell there's a sign that reads: 'Welcome back to school!'" ”What?" said Michael, who was very confused. "I didn't understand.

What's so funny about that?"

Jenny was surprised. She always thought that joke was really funny, and she couldn't understand why Michael didn't laugh. ”What? You didn't understand it? Kids don't like school, so the joke implies that school is like hell!" ”But school isn't like hell! School is very important, and I don't think we

should laugh about it!" â&#x20AC;&#x161;But it's a joke, Michael, I don't really think school is like hell." Jenny said. "That is the point of jokes, they aren't serious."

"I don't like jokes." Michael said. "I think they're stupid."

"So let's do something else, there's a great TV show now!"

Jenny said.

She was disappointed that her try didn't work out, but she thought that maybe a funny TV show may make Michael laugh.

She turned on the TV and the show started. Jenny understood every joke the characters said and laughed all the time, but Michael didn't understand, and after a few minutes he said, "I don't like this show. Let's watch something else."

"But Michael, it's so funny!"

Jenny said, amazed.

"No, it's not funny! All of the people in this show say and do stupid things, and it's not funny at all."

Jenny was very confused, but she didn't give up. She knew there must be a way to make Michael laugh, she just needed to try more things, and then she will find it.

After they watched TV, Jenny and Michael went to the park. They loved to go to the park sometimes. The park was very big, and there were a lot of people there. Some of them were kids like them, which came to play in the park, and some of them were adults. But when Michael and Jenny came to the park, it was almost empty. Most of the people were now at home, eating lunch. But there were some little kids with their parents that were having a picnic.

One of the little kids ate a banana and threw the peel on the ground. His parents didn't notice that, and after a few minutes, when his father rose up

to throw away his peel, he slipped and fell. Everybody in the park laughed, except for the father, who was angry. He told his kid that he needs to throw away his garbage. Michael said to Jenny, "That wasn't funny! You don't need to laugh about that! This man could have got hurt!" " But he didn't get hurt, so it's funny." Jenny replied.

"What's so funny about watching people slip and fall?" Michael asked.

He was very confused, because everyone laughed and thought it was funny, not just Jenny.

"It's just funny, not everything needs a reason to be funny," Jenny said. "Maybe now he will understand," she thought.

After a few hours Michael and Jenny went back home. Jenny was desperate. She didn't know what to do. She tried everything she thought could work. She thought now that maybe Michael will never laugh.

Maybe he just isn't able to laugh.

Michael still was very confused.

He tried now to understand what's funny about all the things he saw. He wanted to know what you feel when you understand something funny. He wanted to understand funny things and laugh of them, but he just didn't know how.

When they returned to Jenny's home, Jenny's mother made them two cups of tea. Jenny and Michael started to drink, but then they noticed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the tea was salty!

They were both disgusted, but then Jenny started to laugh. Michael looked at her. It was weird she was laughing because her tea was salty. Her mother probably put salt instead of sugar. "Why is she laughing?" He thought.

Maybe it's because her mother got confused and made a mistake. When you think about it, it is funny.

And then, Michael started to laugh. "Now I understand!" He said. "Your mother made a mistake, and made our tea salty. It is funny,

and there isn't a logical reason for it, it's just funny."

"Finally you understand!" Jenny said and smiled. She felt relief. She succeeded to make Michael laugh.

From this day on, Michael was still serious and logical, but he also developed a sense of humor.

He always laughed from jokes, and even told jokes sometimes. Jenny and Michael remained best friends, and now they were even closer, because now Michael could understand one of the most important things to Jenny â&#x20AC;&#x201C; humor.

The End

By: Yosef Raisman

One day, on a high mountain, far away from here, was a hut. In this hut was an old woman, wearing black clothes, smiling a terrible smile, with yellow teeth. She had blue glittering eyes and huge fingernails. She was a witch. Down the mountain was a forest, with high trees, and a few red flowers. There lived a tall and beautiful man, who was the forest guard. On one particular day the witch from the mountain saw the forest guard for the first time. This is where the story began.

It was a normal day in the hut. The witch made a murky potion and her frogs seemed to jump into her cauldron. The cook book, with her recipes, was talking to her and the old tree was yellow as always.

"Now," screeched the cook book, "add five feathers." " O.K," she replied quickly.

"And one fir branch". â&#x20AC;?Oh! I'm sorry," she cried, "I forgot..."

â&#x20AC;&#x161;So go to the forest and get it!" barked the cook book.

She left the hut with a frightened facial expression, and started to go down to the forest. After three hours she finally got to that cursed place. She was very tired, very exhausted. "Here you are..." she mumbled, looking on a big fir tree. She took one branch, and climbed back to the hut.

"What are you doing!" someone screamed. The witch turned back. She saw a beautiful young man, with green eyes, and a lovely smile. She disregarded it and started to run to the mountain.

"I don't know," she admitted, when she got home, "it was an unusual moment."

I know this feeling," said the cook book. "It is love." ‚Love,‛ she agreed.

A few day later she had a plan. She decided to make something that will give her his attention. Something unusual, like dinosaur, something amazing, something special. This "something" was the lie seed, a tree that nobody saw before, and nobody knows what its effects are.. ”I don't think that that is a good idea," whined the cook book.

"I do think that that is a good idea," interrupted the witch.

Making a lie seed is very hard effort. Without any rests and with many many things to do, the witch was decisive, and after two months she finished the work.

The lie seed was small and blue, with a flame engraving. The witch liked to think about the forest guard, and to think that he will touch her beautiful lie seed. That thought gave her the strength to go down the mountain on the second time. She wanted to plant her lie seed.

The way down was boring and the lie seed was heavy because it grew up to a giant size. "You are so heavy," complained the witch. ‚I know," it answered. The witch was dumbstruck. ‚I imagined," she thought.

She stopped near the fir tree, and dug a big pit. She sighed, put the seed in the pit and sat on the ground. The forest guard found her sleeping, beside an ugly tree that he never saw before. He took her to his lonely house, in the middle of the forest.

The house was green as the trees and high as them. The forest guard liked his house. The witch started moving in his arms. He opened the house door, and moved inside. A telescope was on the cupboard, watching outside.

A bird model slept beside it. The forest guard laid the witch on an ancient sofa.

Where am I?" asked the witch when she woke up. "And who are you?" ‚Oh, I'm Eldon, the forest guard, and you are in my home." ‚You have a nice home.

"I know, I like it to," Eldon agreed.

They talked for a long time, and Eldon felt that the witch is very nice, and kind. She looked ugly, but he could see what was behind this mask. After they finished with the talking, Eldon carried the witch back her hut.

Smiling to himself, he returned to his house.

But that is not the end of the story. The lie seed, that became an ugly tree with complicated branches, started to do some unpleasant things. ‚Disaster!" howled the cook book, "Look what you have done!" ‚I haven't done anything!" lied the witch. ‚You are telling lies!" Reviled the book.

When she met the forest guard, two hours after this argument, she was uneasy and excited. It was on a hill near the fir tree, near the lie tree. The forest guard was funny and polite as always, but he couldn't start talking. He tried many subjects: Magic, Cooking, Clothing< ‚Look!" He said pointing to the close hill, "A new tree grew up there."

‚I know..." mumbled the witch. ”I love trees, but I don't know which tree it is," said Eldon. "Do you know?"

"No." " I saw you planting it!

You should know!" snarled Eldon.

She disregarded and started to run to the mountain, just like on their first meeting.

When she got home she went to her room, and started to cry.

"What have I done!" Sang the witch. ‚I think you should go to him," barked the cook book. ‚I don't need your recommendations!" Sobbed the witch. ‚You gotta make something that will stop the lie!“ ”I know," she agreed.

It was a long night for the old woman. She couldn't sleep, and all the night she thought about the ugly tree and about all the events from the beginning. She woke early in the morning and went to Eldon's home. She waited until he woke up, and then she told him about all the events.

"I love you," he said, after she finished her story, "But we need to stop this disaster".

They sat in his home until a very late hour. At the end they had an organized plan. "It is going to be hard", said Eldon, "but we should make it." He went to the cupboard and watched the lie tree through the telescope.

"I'll meet you tomorrow," he said, "bring your cook book."

During the night the witch slept. In the morning, she took the book and ran down to

Eldon's house. â&#x20AC;&#x161;Making a true seed is not as difficult as making a lie seed," said the cook book. It was the first time he saw the forest guard. He thought that Eldon is a really beautiful man. "You just need to believe."

Eldon and the witch looked at each-other's eyes. Explosion! A yellow seed was on the table. The witch smiled and her old skin fell. Her teeth became white. Eldon smiled to. It was the seed of love, the seed of trust, the seed of truth.

Eldon and Gvanian, the witch's real name, got married in a huge enchanted wedding ceremony, wearing white, shining clothes. The cook book, nervous as always, and the new happy couple lived happily ever after, with an unusual level of honesty and an unusual love.

The End

By: Shira Labin

In a little town, somewhere on the planet, lived a girl named Jane. Jane was ten years old and learned in the elementary school in the town. One day in June, Jane's teacher told the class about school's traditional talent show. ‚Each student can take part in the show. You can sing, dance or do anything!‛ The students were so excited that the teacher had to knock on the table with her pan, so the class will be quiet. ‚Remember,‛ said the teacher, ‚You have two weeks until the show!

All the students that want to join must write their names on this list by the end of the week!"

The lesson ended and they all went home, excited and happy.

Only Jane was quiet. ‚What happened?‛ asked Lilli, Jane's best friend. ‚Oh, nothing,‛ replied Jane. ‚I’m thinking about the show.‛ ‚You will be great!‛ said Lilli. ‚You are the best dancer in class!‛ ‚I don’t know,‛ sighed Jane. ‚I’m too scared to perform.‛ ‚Scared?!‛ wondered Lilli. ‚You have to go to your grandmother! She will help you!‛ ‚Great idea!‛ agreed Jane. ‚I’ll visit her today!‛ In the afternoon, Jane went to her grandmother's house. Molly, Jane's grandmother was knitting gloves when Jane arrived. ‚Hello dear!‛ said Molly. ‚Hello Molly!‛ replied Jane. ‚I’m so happy your here because I need your advice.‛ ‚Come and sit next to me and Ill try to help you,‛ promised Molly.

Jane sat down on the brown sofa and told Molly about the talent show.

‚I need to decide by the end of the week and I don't know what to do!‛said Jane. ‚I think I have the solution for your problem,‛ hissed Molly. ‚Really?‛ wondered Jane. ‚What is it?‛ Molly stood and went to her bedroom. After a few moments, she came back with a fine jewelry box, made of wood with flower pattern on it. She sat down and took out from the box a lovely heart shaped medallion. ‚I got this medallion from my mother. She was an actor and when she retired she gave me this medallion.‛ ‚What so special about it?‛ inquired Jane.

Molly smiled. ‚My mother said that the necklace can help you to contend with your fears. She was right.

When I lectured in front of a big audience, the necklace helped me.‛ Jane looked at the transpert medallion.

"Unbelievable," she whispered. ‚Take it until the show,‛ offered Molly. ‚I’m sure that it will help you.‛ ‚Thank you very much!‛ said Jane. ‚I’ll take good care of it!‛ She put on the medallion and went home to practice her dance.

On the next day, Jane showed the medallion to Lilli and told her its story. The medallion amazed Lilli. During the history lesson, the teacher gave an oral exam. ‚I’ll ask one student and he will answer in front of the class,‛ explained the teacher.

She asked all the students and then it was Jane's turn. ‚What if I make a mistake?‛ she asked herself. ‚They will all laugh at me.‛ Jane held the necklace. ‚With the necklace I can do it!‛ When she said it, something strange happened. The necklace started glowing. ‚It is awesome!‛ Jane thought to herself. ‚Molly was right!‛ She quickly answered the question and started thinking about the special necklace. After she discovered that about the necklace, Jane was sure that she will perform in the show. She wrote her name on the list and went home, thinking about

the show.

Time passed, and Jane woke up on the morning of the show. All the students came to the main hall to organize the show. The students were very busy, they did the final rehearsal and everything was great. During lunchtime, Jane sat next to Lilli and told her about her dance. ‚I’m sure you will be great!‛ promised Lilli. ‚I hope so...‛ replied Jane. She put her hand in the pocket, looking for the necklace when... ‚The necklace!‛ screamed Jane, ‚I can't find it!‛ ‚Are you sure that it isn't in your pocket?‛ asked Lilli, trying to calm Jane down. ‚I’m sure!" sobbed Jane, "We have to find it before the show starts!‛ All the students helped Jane to look for her necklace.

It was an hour before the show when they all gave up and returned to the preparations. ‚I can't perform without this necklace!‛ whined Jane to her teacher. ‚But what about your parents? They came to see you!‛ replied the teacher. ‚And Molly too,‛ mumbled Jane. ‚I can't disappoint her!‛ ‚I told you,‛ said the teacher, ‚You have to perform!‛ ‚I’ll do it!‛ declared Jane, and she ran to get ready.

The show was very successful and all the performers were great.

Jane was the star of the show. She danced like a little fairy and her eyes were glowing from happiness. When the show ended Jane came to Molly, ‚I have to tell her about the necklace,‛ she muttered to herself. ‚Dear Jane! Your dance was amazing!‛ said Molly and hugged Jane. ‚Thank you Molly,‛ replied Jane, ‚But I have to tell you something important.‛ ‚I'm listening, ‚said Molly calmly. ‚It about the necklace....‛ ‚You don't need to tell me,‛ interrupted Molly. ‚Your teacher told me that you lost it, but it doesn't matter! When you danced, you were glowing without the necklace! When you are sure about what you are doing and have self confidence you are glowing, and everybody can see it!‛ ‚So... you are not angry?‛ Jane wondered. ‚Of course Not!‛ answered Molly. ‚And look what I found under my chair!‛ It was the necklace, transparent and glowing. ‚I’m so happy to see it!‛ said Jane. ‚But I don't need it anymore. I can glow without it!‛ The End

By: Tidhar Shosrad

One day, like every day, Ben walked from his school to his house, the same way he went every day. Suddenly he felt something in his leg, and this something went up until he reached his neck. Ben saw that this something is a little animal, a mouse, and the mouse said, "Please don't hurt me! If you don't hurt me I will help you to help other people and make you feel better with yourself."

And Ben said, "Hey, you can talk, are you a magical mouse or something?"

"Yes, and I help people, I can to do magic. Do you want to transfer me to help people?"

"Of course, I love to help people." And then it all began...

They continued to go and on the way they saw a little cat stuck on one tree. Ben said, "Oh look the little cat, he is stuck on the tree and can't get down,.

Can you help him?"

"Yapp," said the mouse and the cat got down. It seem like ropes got him down. â&#x20AC;&#x161;Thank you that you got the cat down," said Ben and he felt better.

The next day, Ben saw in the newspaper that five people robbed a bank.

Ben said to his mouse, "Hey, you are a magical mouse, lets go and stop the robbers!" and they went to stop them.

At first they went to the scene of the crime, to the bank that just yesterday was robbed. They went around the bank, searching for a hint, but they didn't find anything. "Hey, I think they are near the port, I can feel it" said the mouse and they went to the port to catch the robbers.

They came to the port, and Ben saw a suspicious ship. They checked the ship and heard a conversation. â&#x20AC;&#x161;We did it! We robbed the bank, let's escape from here. Come on peo-

ple, we must to hurry, let's go! Everybody to the ship! Come on!"

And then every one of the robbers went up to the ship, and Ben followed them and went up to the ship too, but he hid from them. The ship almost went away, but then one of the robbers noticed Ben. He said, "Hey, look here! There’s a little kid here!" And then all the robbers noticed Ben and came to him.

Hey kid, what are you doing here?" asked one of the robbers.

I heard you and I know that you robbed the bank and I'll stop you!" answered Ben. ‚You are so wrong, come on guys, tie him!‛ And all the robbers came and tied him, and put him in the prisoner’s room. ~~~ In the Prisoners Room~~~ ‚What a stupid person I was, why did I come here at all?‛ Ben said. Suddenly, Ben heard something move, and he said, ‚Who is this?‛ ‚I am the magical mouse, you already forgot me?‛ said the mouse. ”You don't know how happy I am that you are here,‛ sighed Ben. And then the mouse released Ben from his tie. The mouse moved him and Ben to the police station. There Ben told the police all he knew and the police came and stopped all the robbers. ~~After Two Days, Ben Talking to his Mouse ~~~ ‚Hey mouse, why do you look like that? It seems like you're gone.‛ ”You don't need me anymore, I did what I needed to do. You are now a better man and you are helping to the community. Now I need to help another person and I must go,‛ said the mouse and he was gone. So, Ben was left alone and continued helping the community.

The End

By: Inon Starovieschic

Once upon a time there was a small town called Springfield. In the town there was a small house.

In the small house there was a small family. Mom, Dad, and a small boy called Gary lived there.

He had many toys with names Tracy the Tractor, Cary the Car, Dolly the Doll, and Beary the Bear.

They were very good friends until one day something happened.

Beary was eating at Dolly's house when he shouted, "I don’t like your food." ”I'm sorry," cried Dolly.

"I don’t want to be your friend if that is your food," Beary bellowed and left Dolly's house.

Dolly didn’t know what to do. She was terrified from that incident and decided, along with the other toys, to ignore Beary. And so every time that Beary talked to them they went away from him. After three times he thought, "Why did this happen?" But he understood why – it was because he wasn't nice to all the toys. So he wanted to be nice again.

Beary decided to help Cary to clean her house. He made a big dinner for all the toys. After a few days he asked Cary, "Can I play with you?"

Cary answered, "Yes, but only if you will be nice."

"I'll be nice," Beary said. They played for a long time until Beary needed to go home. And they played also in the day after and after and after.

On the fourth day, Cary talked with Dolly and Tracy and they agreed that they can play with Beary again. And the toys were happy that Beary was nice and they could play with him again.

And all was back to normal until one day< But that is another story...

The End

By: Batel Mankovsky

Bill is ten years old and he lives in a little town, with his mother, father and grandmother. His best friend is Oliver, and they live very near to each other. They play together, study together, and do almost every thing together.

The story began on a very cold day of January, while Bill and Oliver were talking in the play garden near their school.

“We’ve got so much homework to do for tomorrow, I don’t know if I can do it all,‛ sighed Bill.

“Yea,‛ agreed Oliver, ‚And I still need to finish the work about the dinosaurs<wait a minute! I forgot the book about the dinosaurs in class.‛ “Well, go and take it, I don’t think they already closed the gates,‛ suggested Bill. Oliver nodded, and hurried to the school, leaving his bag near Bill.

Bill sat on the ground, waiting for Oliver. He opened Oliver’s bag and searched for his English notebook that he gave Oliver earlier that day. He found the notebook and was about to close the bag when he saw a little note in the bottom of the bag. He took the note and opened it. The note was wrinkled, but the words were still visible. “Don’t tell Bill about that, ok?” ‚Tell me about what?‛ wondered Bill. ‚Is there something he is hiding from me?‛ And then he remembered that he saw a couple of his friends talking quietly, and when he came closer they immediately stopped and looked at him with a strange expression. He didn’t know what that was all about, but he started to get angry. He looked up and saw Oliver walking toward him, holding his book. ‚Thanks for waiting<why did you open my bag?‛ Oliver asked, looking at his bag that Bill forgot to close. ‚I wanted to take my English notebook, but when I searched I found this,‛ accused Bill, showing the note with an angry look on his face.

Oliver looked confused.

After a moment he said, ‚Why did you take it?‛ ‚Because I saw it!‛ said Bill, almost yelling. ‚What is the

meaning of that?‛ ‚I<I can’t tell you<‛ muttered Oliver. ‚Why not?‛ demanded Bill to know. ‚Are you hiding something from me?‛ ‚No, no<really, it’s not important!‛ replied Oliver. ‚So why can’t you tell me?‛ questioned Bill. But Oliver didn’t say a word.

“Fine! Don’t tell me!‛ shouted Bill. He took his bag and ran from the play ground before Oliver could say another word.

Bill was angry. He couldn’t believe that Oliver would hide something important from him. They were, after all, best friends. He walked to a little grove near his home, because he didn’t want to go home yet. He walked quietly on the path when he saw a little hut between two trees. He stopped. It wasn’t there before. The hut was small, with one little window. There was no sign that someone lived there.

Bill was curious. He knew it could be dangerous, but he took a deep breath and entered the hut. It was pretty dark there, and very dusty. The only thing that was there was a small table. Expect for this, it was empty. When he came closer to the table, he saw a big envelope there. He took it and peered inside, but there was nothing inside. Suddenly, the door of the hut opened and a man came in. Bill almost yelled. He was startled. ‚Don’t be afraid boy, I won’t do anything to you,‛ said the man calmly.

Bill looked at him. He was an old man, and he was smiling at him. ‚I see you found this envelope. Do you know what it does?‛ asked the strange man. ‚What can an envelope do?‛ wondered Bill, but he answered, ‚No, sir.‛ ‚Ah, this is a very special envelope. You see, if you’ll write some request on a piece of paper and place it into the envelope, that request will be realized,‛ the man told him.

Bill almost laughed. Did the man expect him to believe to that? But the man looked serious. ‚I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not joking with you,‛ said the man, looking directly at Bill’s eyes. Bill didn’t know whether to believe the man or not. ‚So<what you’re saying is that I can write anything I want and it will come true?‛ asked Bill suspiciously. ‚No, not exactly,‛ replied the man, with a little smile. ‚Only if you ask for a favor for a friend, and not for yourself, it will work.‛ ”So I can’t ask something for myself? Why?‛ wondered Bill aloud. ”Oh, I don’t know why<but this is how it’s works,‛ said the man, looking a bit amused. ”But I don’t have anything to write!‛ said Bill, more to himself than to the man. He thought about Oliver and the argument they had earlier. Why would he do something good for Oliver after today? ‚Well, that is your choice,‛ sighed the man, and without warning he left the hut. ‚Wait!‛ shouted Bill as he ran after him, but when he opened the door, he didn’t see him. The man was gone.

Bill was angry. Angry because of Oliver and because he was confused.

But then he looked at his watch and saw the hour. It was late and his parents may be worried. So he took a last glance at the hut and left, leaving the envelope behind.

For the next two days Bill didn’t talk with Oliver at all. They sat near each other in class, but talked just with other pupils. On the third and the fourth day Oliver didn’t come to school, so it was easier for Bill.

The fourth day after their quarrel was Bill’s birthday. His mother sent him to buy a cake while she was making dinner, and they planned to celebrate Bill’s birthday with a magnificent dinner. When he opened the door he couldn’t see anything because the room was dark. He wondered why his parents turned off the lights when suddenly the lights turned on. ‚Surprise!!!‛ The room was full of people. He recognized his class mates, and his parents and grandparents. And they all were singing ‚happy birthday to

Bill, birthday to Bill<‛ Bill smiled. And then he suddenly thought, ‚What if that was the thing that Oliver didn’t want to tell me? Probably it was< I need to apologize!‛ He went searching for Oliver among the celebrators, but didn’t find him. ‚Where’s Oliver?‛ he asked Michael, his friend. ‚His mother fell ill, didn’t he tell you?‛ Michael wondered. ‚What? No!‛ cried Bill. ‚Yeah<and now he and his family are in the hospital with her. He wanted to be here but he couldn’t,‛ Michael informed him.

Bill felt horrible, but he knew what he needed to do. After all the guests left he told his mother that he is going to take a walk. He ran to the hut, hoping the envelope was still there. It was, exactly in the place he left it. He took a piece of paper and a pencil, and wrote quickly, ‚I wish Oliver’s mother will recover soon.‛ He took the paper and put it into the envelope. He still wasn’t sure if it will help, but he had a feeling it would. He left the envelope there and ran back to his home.

The next day Oliver came to school. Bill talked with him, apologized to him and they made peace with each other.

Oliver told Bill that his mother was about to recover quickly. ‚It seems that the man knew what he was talking about,‛ thought Bill. The next time Bill was in the hut the envelope was gone, but it didn’t really bother him.

The End

By: Yoni Halatnik

Dana was a young girl. She had a lot of friends and a very busy day so she went to sleep early. She woke up early in this ‚Shabbat.‛ She loved to think that she had a long free day to do whatever she wanted to. This was because she hated school and she loved to give from herself. Dana didn’t understand why she had to be in a cage. (She even tried to drink RC FREE but it was no good).

Dana had a small hut; every time she felt trapped in the world she went there. ‚Why are people so busy?

Why can’t we be free? Why are we so eager to work ourselves to death?‛ She was a really smart girl. She was a ‚B‛ student but had the smartness that will lead her to good life.

One day, after school, Dana came home and saw a 2030 years old male sitting near the house entrance. He was all dirty and it seemed that he didn’t shave for a long time. ‚Mister, are you looking for somebody?‛ Dana inquired. ‚No< I’m just sitting here, thank you!‛ The dirty man said. ‚Are you sure?‛ ‚You know what ‘kiddo?’ Do you have some water?‛ ‚Sure! Dana put her bottle on the floor with a lot of excitement; she loved to help other people.

For the rest of the day Dana felt warm feelings of giving, the same warm feeling everybody has when they doing something for universal values. ‚It’s like everybody has one thing they need to bring to the world, and in my case it is the art of dedication,‛ Dana told herself.

The next morning she woke up all mad. ‚Oh, I need to go to school once again! I am spending so much time sitting in a class

when there is a great world outside the window.‛ Those were her regular thoughts.

She came home very tired that day, feeling that the world was all gray. ‛I want to do something with my life.‛ She went to her small hut. ‚I want to make my life special,‛ she shouted to herself. ‚I’m sorry,‛ Dana heard from outside the hut. ‚Hey! You are the man from my house.

What’s up?‛ ‚It’s all good, kiddo. I heard you want to do something special in your life< well? Do you have a plan?‛ She choked, and the man disappeared.

Dana ran home at full speed, not stopping at all! Suddenly she fell, and the man was on top of her. ‚You know kiddo, many people are afraid of me, they run from me. I think you are running to me. They, people, see me one time. I think you earned the chance to see me twice.‛ The man continued, ‚You are on the right road, kiddo. Remember, if you want to feel free from time and space you are always welcome to our hut, it is always open for you. But, I have some problems with the door; you may be locked inside if you stay there too long.‛ Dana woke up with a bitter-sweet smile. ‚One more day in school I guess.‛ She knew that she had a dream, but she also knew that there is a real-life lesson beyond it!

The End

By: Maoz Karasenti

Once upon a time there was a kid named was Tom. Tom was a horrible student and he had no mom. His father was unemployed. One day, instead of going to school, Tom walked in the street. Near the road he found an old key. Tom didn't ask anyone for the key, he took the key and ran to his tree house. Tom liked to be in the tree house because he could be there alone and think by himself. Tom climbed on the tree and sat on the sofa and looked at the key. There was a big S engraved.

At 3:00 pm, Tom came home. His father was in the kitchen, making lunch. Tom put his bag in his room and sat at the table. His father served the food and started to say, "Your principal called."

But Tom didn't react.

"She said you didn't come to class today." his father said firmly.

"This is not acceptable! After lunch you will go to your room to do homework and you won't get out until tomorrow. And you will not get dinner."

Tom went to his room and slammed the door nervously. Tom went into his room nervous and fell on his bed and thought, "Why can't I be good at school? I just can't learn. The material goes in one side and gets out from the other."

Tom bore the key and he noticed the key was smaller. "What happened?" Tom thought to himself. After one hour Tom decided to escape from his room. Tom's father was in the living room, watching television.

Tom's house was on the second floor. He climbed out the window and caught the rail of the emergency steps and climbed on them. After he climbed, Tom went down and ran away to his tree house.

When Tom reached his tree house, he looked at the key. It was now even smaller, like his eye. Tom was thinking when suddenly, a little cat jumped in from the window, took the key, and ran away from the tree

house. Tom jumped from the hole in the floor and struck the ground. He didn't care about the pain. He stood up and ran after the cat.

The pursuit after the cat was long, but Tom recognized it because of its white hair and black tail. It was a special cat. After ten minutes the cat flung the key away and disappeared. Tom, exhausted and tired from running, stopped to catch his breath. Between his legs, he found the key waiting. This time, it was bigger.

Tom looked around him and saw a big house. The house was huge and in the entrance had a little lock on it. Tom thought to himself, "Maybe the key opens this house?"

He approached to the door and tried to open it, but the door didn't open and a loud alarm started to ring. Tom ran away as fast how he could.

When Tom came home, he climbed into his window from the emergency steps the same way he escaped. The minute Tom reached into his room, his father called him for dinner.

The next day, Tom woke up and went to school. In school there was a new student. Tom was the only one who talked to the new student, Charley. Soon, Tom and Charley were best friends. They met after school and did homework together. One day, Tom's father got a phone call from the principal who said that Tom started to invest in his studies. When Tom came back from school his father said, "Your principal called."

"But I didn't do anything!" Tom defended himself. â&#x20AC;&#x203A;No! She said you are investing in your school work and I'm proud of you," his father said.

The next day, at lunch, Tom felt that his pocket was close to rupturing.

He pushed his hand into his pocket and he grabbed the key. It was huge like his palm. Tom understood! When he succeeds at something, the key grows larger and larger.

Months after the phone call Tom was on his Hanukah vacation. One day, Tom decided to find out what the key opened. He looked at the key and saw an arrow on the key. He started to go to where the arrow pointed. After a long time, Tom came to an old house. Tom was scared to enter because he thought the house was full of spiders. Tom was brave and entered the house anyway. The key signaled to Tom to go up to the second floor. When Tom climbed, the steps were close to breaking. In the second floor, there was just one room. Tom entered the room and saw a little box. He inserted the key into the lock and opened the box. In the box, there was a note. It read: If you read this note it means you succeeded

Well Done!

The End

By: Goffer Oded

Mike was a young boy that lived in a small town near the ocean. He had two big brothers that were in the army, and they didn't live at home.

His parents worked all the time and came home late at night. This situation taught him to be very independent; he made his own food and watched TV alone after school. Because of this he created an imaginary dog that relieved his loneliness.

One sunny day, some boy in Mike's class invited him to see a movie with him.

"Go with him," said Mike's imaginary dog.

"No, I can't, I'm too shy," mumbled Mike.

"Do it!" screamed Mike's imaginary dog.

"I can't come to your house today," said Mike to the boy. "I< I< I have a family dinner today, maybe tomorrow," he stuttered. The boy said goodbye to Mike and went home, and Mike was lonely again that day.

Some other day Mike's parents came home early because his brothers came for a vacation from the army and they all ate a family dinner together.

"So Mike, how was school?" asked Mike's father, giving a look straight into Mike's eyes.

"Okay," replied Mike without even looking at his father's face.

"Why don't you go to sleep at one of your friend's house tomorrow? Dad and I are going to come home very late tomorrow, and we don't want you to sleep all alone in our big house," said Mike's mom looking at Mike, trying to get a clue about his answer.

"Um< Um<, I will think about it," murmured Mike.

Late in the evening, when Mike and his imaginary dog went to sleep,

his imaginary dog asked him, "Would you promise me that you will go sleep at someone's house tomorrow? Don't be afraid, I will come with you and help you talk to him."

"I promise," said Mike and he began dreaming. Mike woke up in the morning and got dressed up for school. He was very nervous because of what he promised his imaginary dog.

"Look! Here is Ike! Ask him if you can go sleep over his house tonight," said Mike's imaginary dog loudly.

"No, he is too evil," replied Mike while he was trying to get out of his promise.

And that went over and over again until Mike didn't agree to ask someone if he can sleep over his house. Then, the bell rang for the end of the day and Mike had to find someone to sleep at his house.

"Here is Dan!" said the imaginary dog, "the guy that invited you last week! Ask him! He is your last chance!"

Mike gathered all his courage and started talking to Dan. Dan said that he would love it if Mike sleeps over his house and they decided that Mike will come to Dan's house at eight o'clock. Mike started to become friends with Dan and the imaginary dog started to fade.

At eight o'clock exactly, Mike stood at Dan's front door. Dan opened the door and Mike didn't know what to do.

"What should I do?" asked Mike to his imaginary dog, hoping for an answer.

"Just start talking to him," said the dog, and Mike started talking to Dan without stopping. He didn't even notice that his imaginary dog almost

disappeared.

In the morning when Mike woke up and went home he realized that he didn't see his imaginary dog! He called him all day long and he found nothing.

At night, when he was very tired from searching and went to sleep, he found a note on the bed. It said, "Dear Mike, I was very glad when I found out that you have a friend. My job is to

go to every lonely boy in the world and make him feel better. Now that you have a friend there is some other boy that needs me. I had a very good time with you and I'm sure that we'll meet again. Your loyal friend, The Dog.â&#x20AC;&#x203A; The End

By: Katya Mogilevsky

Missy was the cutest, funniest, prettiest cat in the whole neighborhood.

She belonged to the Manor family, but she knew the whole neighborhood and sometimes got out of the house and circled the street to get some treats from people who passed by. All she had to do was wave her tail and she got a big piece of sausage or some fish. No one could resist her long furry tail and her big blue cute eyes. She got anything she wanted.

But the other cats didn’t like her as much as the kids. They were jealous of her, and never got so much food as her.

She never shared anything with them and always bragged for having people’s attention. When she got food in front of other cats, she always looked at them and laughed while eating. And not just with food! The kids always played with her.

She was joyful and small, and they liked watching her chase mice or jumping on two feet to catch the ‚flying‛ paper ball above her. The owners also got her a cozy bed with a warm nice blanket. She was slept a lot inside it and never let the other cats use it.

One day, Missy was in the middle of a little walk around the street.

She kept looking for a quiet, shadowed place to eat the sausage she was given. It was a hot day in the summer, the sun was shining above, and the plants were dry. All the people were inside. Because of that, it was a little harder to get some food this day.

Missy stopped in the shadow of a big tree. It’s branches hid the sun.

But when she finally found a peaceful and quiet place, she heard a loud barking noise from across the street. A big, dirty street dog was running in her direction. Missy was scared to death. The dog was running really fast, and when it came close she did something that she wouldn’t do if she wasn’t so afraid – she flew up the tree right to the top. Sitting there and holding the trunk with her claws, with her heart beating faster than a motorcycle on the highway, she saw the dog under the tree, trying to climb up and still barking loudly.

After a few minutes that seemed like hours to Missy, the scary dog left, disappointed and tired. But missy couldn’t climb down from the tree. She could climb pretty well when it’s about saving her life, but now she was

stuck with no way to come down. The ground looked like a million miles away. She cried for help and nobody heard her. The sun hit Missy’s head; she was now on the top of the tree where there was no shadow. She started crying softly. Maybe she will be stuck here forever? Maybe she will die from hunger or something else will happen? Where are her owners, aren’t they worried about her? She’s probably hasn’t been home for a really long time! But no one came there. Just after a long, long time, when the sun started setting, some of the street cats came out of their hiding places. They saw Missy on the tree and came to see what happened to her. ‚What are you doing up there, Missy?‛ said Sparky, a grey old cat. ‚How did you get there?‛ ‚I climbed up to run away from a dog. Please help me! I don’t know how to climb! Hurry!‛ The cats stared at her. Missy was trapped and couldn’t come down.

She looked poor and sad. Though, on the other hand, she was unpleasant and mean to the cats and never shared with them. Most of the cats thought she deserves to be stuck on the tree until her owners come looking for her. ‚You deserve this Missy!‛ said Creamy, a young white kitten. ‚Let’s see you bragging now!‛ And so they left. Some of them sat under the tree and watched how Missy sat there, totally terrified and also a bit angry.

Later, Missy’s owners found her sitting on the tree and took her down. ‚Poor Missy!‛ said the kids. ‚She must be really tired and hungry!‛ Soon they were in the kitchen. Missy got a big bowl of milk and a whole chicken breast.

Missy took the food. She was going to eat it, but then she remembered how the cats under the tree treated her. She was really ashamed at herself.

She never wanted to hurt the cats, but she just enjoyed the way the kids treated her. She knew she had to do something about it, so she took the food, carried it all the way out and shouted, ‚Come here everyone, I brought food!‛ At first, the cats were suspicious. They thought Missy did something to the food, to punish them for leaving her on that tree. But then they tried the food and it was just regular, delicious, juicy food. Missy and her friends sat under the tree, eating meat and drinking milk, and everyone was happy.

The End

By: Nithay Yarnitsky

Our story happens in a kitchen, a regular kitchen, like the one you have at home. In this kitchen, there are lots of fruits.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to tell you a secret so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell anyone else. If you look very carefully at the fruits you will see little people.

All the people live peacefully together except one—the man in the lemon. The man in the lemon is sad because everybody else lives in a sweet fruit, and he has the only sour one.

One day, all the fruits decided to make a birthday surprise party for the lady in the cherry. They invited everyone to the sweet cherry, except one—the man in the lemon. No one wanted the sour guy to ruin the sweet party. The man in the lemon didn’t know about the party but when he saw everyone else going to the cherry he was very, very sad.

The man in the lemon didn’t know what to do. He was very sour and his personality was also sour. He didn’t want to listen to the others because he knew that he was right and they were wrong. ‚What is bad about being sour? They should be sad, because in the end they will all want to be like me. I have a better life,‛ said the main in the lemon.

The man in the lemon decided to go far away to a place without annoying people.

He walked in the street and then he found another lemon. ‚Hey,‛ he thought, ‚Here is someone with whom I can talk.‛

‚What do you want from me?‛ muttered the other main the lemon. ‚I want to be with someone, I do not want to be alone,‛ explained the first man in the lemon.

‚And do you want me to help you with this?‛ the other man in the lemon asked. ‚I am the loneliest man in the world and I am happy with it,‛ he said. ‚And you are not welcome in my home, so leave!‛

The original man in the lemon went back home. ‚I don’t want to be l ike him,‛ he thought to himself. ‚Now I realize that’s who I am. I have to change myself immediately.‛

‚I don’t know what to do,‛ the man in the lemon thought to himself. ‚How can I make myself sweeter?‛ The man in the lemon could not sleep. ‚What can I do?‛ But after a while, it came to him. ‚I should make my lemon into lemonade!‛ The man in the lemon started to cut and squash the lemon, and in the end he made a beautiful glass of lemonade. It was so sweet that all the other fruits wanted to go there.

And, one day, when the man in the lemonade had his birthday, everybody came to him home and made him a surprise party.

The End

By: Avshalom Cohen

Our story begins in the 1940's of the previous century in New York City. Jake was a white boy, his family had a lot of money. It is really important to tell that in those times, the difference between whites and blacks was huge.

One day, Jake schemed a little trick just for his own fun. He came to the class earlier than usual, he took a baseball bat out of his bag, and he crashed and destroyed all the equipment in the class. After he finished he went back home.

Later that morning, when Jake and all his friends and the teachers came to class, they saw the disaster. The teacher asked if someone knew who did this. Jake, because he hated black people, blamed a black boy named Josh for what happened.

Because Josh was a black boy, the teacher believed Jack.

Josh was expelled from school and Jack was very happy.

The next morning, when Jake walked to school something weird happened.

When he looked at the park the grass wasn't green. It was grey, and so was the tree. Jake saw everything that should be green as grey, but the rest of the colors he saw normally.

Jake didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand this but he guessed that it only his imagination.

During the afternoon of that day, Jake went with his buddy to the park to play baseball. There they meet two Latino boys. Jake and his friend hit them and made them leave the park, all because they were different from them in color and origin.

The next morning was even weirder than the last.

Jake woke up and opened the window. He looked at the tree and he was surprised to find out that it still looked grey, the same as the grass. When he looked up, he was so shocked, he had to step back and sit on his bed. Now not only what should be green looked grey, but so were the sky and everything else that should be blue.

And so it continued, day after day. Jake hurt people without reason just because they were different. He hurt blacks, Latinos, Jews, Chinese and others. And each time he hurt someone, he lost one color from his sight, even black and white.

Until one day when Jake woke up, everything was grey. He even couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell black and white people apart. Jake went to the park, he sat on one of the benches and he started crying.

Suddenly a man appeared from nowhere. He got close to Jake, and Jake could recognize that this man was old, and that it looked like the old man had a halo around

his body.

This old man sat next to Jake, and said, ‚Listen to me Jake.‛ Jake was surprised. ‚How do you know my name?‛ he asked. ‚It doesn’t matter,‛ answered the old guy. ‚Now you can see the truth,‛ said the weird man.

Jake thought a little bit and then looked around himself and at all the people in the park. They all looked just the same. And then Jake screamed, ‚Now I understand. Now I can see the truth that all the people are the same. It doesn't matter what their color, religion or origin it!‛

From this forward Jake was a different person. And today, he works for Amnesty International.

The End

By: Nithay Duek

Once upon a time, beyond the great green forest, there was a small country. In the country there was a small town with small houses and small children. But one of the children was different. He was a tractor. His name was Timmy.

Timmy didn’t have legs; he had wheels. And Timmy didn’t have hands; he had a lever. Timmy also made weird noises while he spoke. Noises like, ‚trrrrrrrrrrr chu chu chu, trrrrrrrrrr chu chu chu.‛ The other children didn’t like Timmy because of these differences. But mostly, they didn’t like him because of the noises he made while he spoke.

When the children were playing, Timmy usually couldn’t play with the kids. He was able to play only in the sandbox. He was barely able to play ‚hide and seek,‛ because of his size and the noises he made.

So, when the kids were playing, he usually watched them and was sad and jealous. The kids laughed at him, and they teased him.

Timmy was all alone and he didn’t have friends at all. But, there was a fgirl that didn’t just laugh and tease like all the other kids. She especially annoyed him on purpose to make him feel even more sad and lonely. Her name was Gloria, and Timmy hated her for her behavior towards him.

One night, when Gloria fell asleep, she had a dream. When Gloria came back to the playground, she told all the other kids about the dream. And the kids called Timmy.

From that day forward, all the kids and Timmy played only games that kids and tractors could play as one.

The End

By: Osher Ninno

Two hundred miles under the sea level, there was a great kingdom.

In this magical kingdom there were a lot of sea creatures like fish, starfish and jellyfish. They had a shop, an office, and a school, just like on land.

In the school there were some students. One of them, called Star, was a big starfish. Star was a good friend of Fishy, another student. Mister Octopus was the teacher of the underwater sea class in this school.

Fishy had an interesting book.

Star wanted to read the book so he borrowed it from Fishy. Star was reading the fascinating book for a few days until he finished it. After he finished the book, he wanted to return the book to Fishy, but he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remember where he put it.

He was looking for the book but he couldn't find it anywhere.

At school, Fishy asked Star about the book. Star didn't want to tell Fishy that he lost the book, so he told him that the book is interesting and that he is still reading it. Fishy really wanted his book so he asked Star to bring the book in the next day.

The next day, Star told Fishy another lie. Star was sad because he didn't like lying to Fishy. After one of the lessons Mister Octopus asked Star what happened, because he saw that Star was sad.

Star told him about the book.

Mister Octopus talked with Star and explained to him that he would have liked to know about the book, even if it is gone.

The next day, Star told Fishy the truth about the book. He apolo-

gized to Fishy. Fishy was upset because the book was lost. He was angry with Star for losing it and lying, but he saw that Star really regretted lying and felt sorry about the book.

After school Fishy went to Star's house. They found the book together under Star's bed. They were both happy and they were still good friends.

The End

By: Nimrod Boker

Anna and Dana were very close friends. Every day they loved to go to kindergarten together and play many games, like hide and go seek. On many days they met at each others’ homes. If one of them wasn’t in the kindergarten, the other called and asked how she was doing.

One day, a new girl arrived to the kindergarten class. Anna approached the new girl and asked her, ‚What's your name?‛ ‚My name is Johanna,‛ she answered. ‚Do you want to visit me today?‛ Anna asked.

To this Dana reacted sharply. ‚But today I am supposed to visit you!‛ Dana got upset. ‚But we meet almost every day!‛ Anna argued. ‚So what,‛ Dana shouted. ‚You are so selfish,‛ Anna yelled. ‚I don’t want to be your friend anymore,‛ Anna screamed. ‚So Johanna, do you want to visit me today?‛ Anna asked again. ‚Yes, I will arrive.

See you in the afternoon,‛ Johanna answered and went home.

Dana was jealous. In the afternoon, after she finished crying, she decided to take revenge on Johanna. ‚I must take revenge on Johanna, she thought to herself.‛

The next day, when Dana arrived in the kindergarten, Anna was already there. Dana approached her and asked, ‚How do you do?‛ ‚I am fine,‛ answered Anna, as though nothing happened. ‚Yesterday,‛ Dana lied, ‚I met Johanna in the playground before she visited you. We began talking,‛ she continued, ‚and then I asked her if she will visit you. She laughed and answered that she thinks you are a flatterer and a nagger. She doesn’t really want to be your friend, but her father makes her. He forces her to be friends with you.‛ Dana finished talking and saw Anna’s eyes fill with tears. Crying, Anna ran away from Dana.

Dana did not like the sight of her best friend crying; nevertheless she was happy because she got her revenge. She thought to herself, ‚Now everything will return to what it was, to how things were before.‛ Later that day, when Johanna arrived to the kindergarten, Anna approached her, shouting, ‚You are a liar.‛ Then, she added, ‚I hate you! I was nice to you when you didn’t have any friends and you speak bad things about me behind my back. I don’t want to see you again!‛ Anna finished shouting and screaming and went away with tears in her eyes.

Johanna was astonished. ‚I didn’t gossip about you,‛ she shouted towards Anna.

‚You are a liar,‛ Dana said.

Johanna (who then started crying as well) said to Dana, ‚Don’t interfere. It’s surely you that interfered between Anna and me. You are evil!‛ When Dana came back home she began to feel bad. ‚Maybe, I should not have done this,‛ she thought. Anna can make friends with whomever she wants to.

Dana decided suddenly that she had to make up for the damage she had done. She called Anna and confessed. ‚I have to tell you something. I lied to you about Johanna.

She didn’t gossip about you. I was very jealous and I am sorry.‛ Anna replied, ‚I am very disappointed with you. You have to ask forgiveness from Johanna.‛ Thus, they finished the conversation.

In the morning, when Anna, Dana, and Johanna were back in the kindergarten, Dana asked the two other girls, ‚Do you want to come over to my place today?‛ Johanna and Dana answered together, ‚Yes.‛ Then Dana asked Johanna, ‚Do you forgive me?‛ ‚Yes,‛ she said hesitantly and the three of them were really close friends from that day onwards.

The End

By: Yuval Mendelson

Once upon a time, atop a big hill, lived a fleet of sheep. The sheep were very happy on their hill. Many types of sheep lived in the fleet. There were the rich sheep, the modest sheep, and the poor sheep. The rich sheep had a lot of weeds to eat from. The middle sheep didn’t have a lot of weed but they could live from what they had. The poor sheep had a gust for life. The rich sheep’s names were Bosh and Pride. Some of the middle sheep were Frank, the artist, Abraham, the scientist, and Mr. John. It was like that all the time, but one day Abraham discovered< THE FIRE!!!

Abraham was the sheep that discovered the fire. After the discovery Abraham wanted to tell Bosh.

Bosh was so enthusiastic from the discovery that he said, ‚The sheep must use it always.‛ Not long after there were a lot of bonfires all over the hill. With the fire all the food was better. It were easier for Bosh and Pride to build their villas, in the night the sheep weren’t cold, and overall the sheep just had a lot of preference for fire.

Because Bosh and Pride were the sheep that had the bonfires, all the sheep needed to pay them. Bosh and Pride became more and richer.

One day, while Frank was walking alone in the forest for inspiration, he smelled the smoke of a fire. ‚Why does the smoke of the fire have such a strong smell?‛ he thought to himself.

The second he thought that, he heard ‚Ahhhhhhho!‛ ‚The wolves came back,‛ he thought. ‚But why?‛ He ran back to the hill. ‚Maybe it’s because of the smoke? Yes, it must be because of the smoke!

I must tell Bosh and Pride!‛ He thought and ran.

When Frank reached the hill, he saw Bosh stand and count his weed. ‚Bosh!‛ screamed Frank while he ran towards him.

‚What?‛ Bosh answered. ‚They came!‛ Frank panted. ‚Who?‛ asked Bosh as he approached. ‚The wolves!‛ Frank said as he fell down, because of his effort. ‚Why do you think?‛ Bosh started to press. ‚I heard them while I walked in the forest! I think it’s because of the smoke,‛ Frank said.

"I don’t think so,‛ answered Bosh in disbelief. ‚I don’t think the smoke is what calls the wolves, if they really came.‛ After this conversion, Frank went to sleep. He was very tired after the meeting with the wolves.

During the night Frank dreamed of the wolves. They come to the hill and shouted at all the sheep. He saw so many of them, they were everywhere! All of them were big, black, and with sharp, glaring teeth! The sky was red and clouds of smoke flew there! He didn’t know what to do! One wolf was running towards him; he knew it was the end. He knew he was going to die!

Frank woke up. All his wool was wet, as he was so afraid of the wolves. The dream was so clear that he thought he was there. After he recovered, he saw a lot of sheep congregated in one place. Frank joined the other sheep. ‚What is going on?‛ Frank asked. ‚Oliver wasn’t here in the morning,‛ someone said. ‚But this was<‛ Frank looked down at wool on the ground. Frank ran to the villa of Bosh. When he arrived to the villa he knocked on the giant door so hard that he thought it will brake. The door opened slowly, and an old sheep stood behind the door. ‚What do you want, Mr. Frank?‛ asked the old sheep. ‚I must talk with Mr. Bosh!‛ Frank demanded. ‚Ho, I’m sorry but Mr. Bosh is very bu<‚ ‚Who is it, John?‛ Bosh interrupted Mr. John.

‚Mr. Frank is here,‛ Mr. John answered. ‚Come in Frank! We are all waiting for you,‛ Bosh screamed. ‚Come in, Mr. Frank,‛ said Mr. John. ‚Thank you,‛ answered Frank. As he entered, he saw the villa. The entire thing was gilded and it blinked. Frank saw all magnificence; the entire weed. There was a chandelier made of diamonds on the ceiling. ‚How can he be so relaxed with all the wolves coming here?‛ Frank thought.

Behind the table, Frank saw Bosh, Pride and Abraham. ‚Sit down, Frank.‛ Bosh said. Frank sat on one of two chairs that were empty. ‚John, please sit down too, you can help us,‛ said Bosh. ‚Thank you‛ answered Mr. John. ‚So, where we were?‛ asked Pride. ‚We started to think of the reasons why Oliver disappeared,‛ answer Abraham. ‚Because the wolves!‛ shouted Frank, who couldn’t wait. ‚What?‛ wondered Abraham and Pride, ‚Why do you think that?‛ ‚Because I heard them!

They smelled the smoke and the food. They are coming! They grabbed Oliver!‛ Everybody was in shock; everybody except Bosh. ‚If you are right, we must stop the bonfires!‛ Abraham mumbled. ‚But he isn’t!‛ shouted Bosh as he stood up. ‚Sir, Mr. Frank is writing, maybe it is the answer for Oliver, and you know that the situation can be like what happened before ten years ,‛ said Mr. John politely. ‚We won’t close the bonfire!‛ said Pride. ‚But<‚ ‚No, and that is the end!‛ interrupted Bosh.

Frank and Abraham left the villa. They were very angry. ‚We must go away. We will die if we will stay here,‛ said Frank. ‚But how? If we will go we will be killed outside. The wolves, the foxes and the dogs will eat us. We must stay here!‛ answered Abraham. ‚We can go with more sheep. If we do that, we will survive,‛ said Frank. ‚Maybe,‛ muttered Abraham.

During the night Frank dreamed anther dream. He was in the forest, like the one in his thoughts. All he saw were trees and trees; all the things are very peaceful and clam. He lied down on the weed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he saw a bear, but not a regular bear, a very little yellow bear. The bear started to climb the tree. It climbed and climbed until he was on the third branch. Now Frank saw there was a beehive.

The bear took honey from the beehive and ate it.

At this moment, Frank woke up and saw a lot of sheep beside him. ‚Another one!‛ someone screamed. Frank jumped to his legs. Again there were a lot of sheep in one place. But this time, Frank knew why. ‚Who disappeared?‛ asked Frank. ‚David,‛ someone said. A little piece of wool was on the ground.

After a few minutes, Frank moved away from the crowd. While he was walking a little bit he heard someone call, ‚Pssst, come here.‛ He went to the bushes. Mr. John was there! ‚What happened, Mr. John?‛ hissed Frank and entered to the bush. ‚I think you are right,‛ whispered Mr. John, ‚about the bonfires.‛ ‚Oh, so, what do you think we need to do?‛ asked Frank. ‚Didn’t you say you have a plan?‛ asked Mr. John.

‚We have one, but you have a lot of experience<‛ answered Frank. ‚What is your plan?‛ asked Mr. John again. ‚Well, we thought to go away with other sheep,‛ Frank said. ‚And why do we need to go?‛ asked Mr. John. ‚What do you mean? If we will stay here we will be meat for the wolves!‛ said Frank. ‚Think Mr. Frank!‛ said Mr. John in a cunning way. ‚Why do we need to go?‛ "What? Because if we will stay we will be dead!‛ said Frank , this time a little angry. ‚Mr. Frank, why must we go if we can win? We can try to extinguish the bonfires!‛ snarled Mr. John. ‚But how?‛ asked Frank. ‚Ask Mr. Abraham,‛ answered Mr. John and he went out.

Frank ran to Abraham. Abraham was exactly where Frank thought he would be, in his laboratory. ‚Abraham,‛ screamed Frank. ‚Please, can you be a little bit quiet?‛ asked Abraham angrily. ‚Sorry,‛ whispered Frank, trying to be quiet.

Frank waited a few minutes. ‚What do you want?‛ asked Abraham. ‚I just want to ask you how we can extinguish the bonfires?‛ mumbled Frank. ‚Oh, it’s very easy. You just need to spill water or sand on the fire,‛ answered Abraham. ‚So, we can do it tonight!‛ said Frank in happiness. ‚Yes, but why?‛ asked Abraham warily. ‚Because, if we will extinguish the bonfires, we won’t need to run away from here!‛ yelled Frank in happily. ‚Oh! Good! So where and when we will meet tonight?‛ asked Abraham, excitedly. ‚We haven’t decided yet,‛ mumbled Frank. ‚I can understand you, but why we?‛ asked Abraham, very surprised. ‚Mr. John is with us too,‛ answered Frank. ‚Okay, he can help us,‛ said Abraham ‚We meet here when the sun sets. I will tell Mr. John.‛ Ten minutes after the sun set, Frank and Mr. John were near Abraham’s laboratory, but Abraham wasn’t there! ‚Why would he be late?‛ asked

Frank, more for himself than to Mr. John. They waited there for ten more minutes, but Abraham never came. ‚We need to go. We waited a long time for him and we can’t wait any longer,‛ whispered Frank. ‚I think you are right. He isn’t coming,‛ answered Mr. John. They started walking to the first bonfire. ‚Wait!‛ Abraham screamed. ‚Where were you?‛ asked Frank, ‚I was in the laboratory. I worked on a new project,‛ answered Abraham.

Frank was angry, but he didn’t say anything.

While they were arriving to their aim, they saw some guards on the bonfire. ‚What are we going to do now?‛ asked Abraham. ‚We will wait a few minutes until they will move,‛ answered Mr. John.

They waited, then the guards moved from the bonfire. That second, Abraham, Frank and Mr. John ran to the bonfire. They turned their backs to the fire kicked the ground. Sand scattered on the fire, and after several minutes the bonfire was put out. ‚The bonfire was extinguished! The bonfire was extinguished!‛ one of the guards screamed!

At this time all the sheep came to see what happened. Abraham, Frank and Mr. John ran to the second bonfire. Now there weren’t guards, as all of them were at the first bonfire. The team worked together to extinguish this bonfire too. ‚The second bonfire was extinguished! The second bonfire was extinguished!‛ the sheep yelled.

Abraham, Frank and Mr. John ran to the bushes. ‚I can’t do this any more, I’m tired,‛ mumbled Abraham and he fell on the ground. ‚How do you think I feel?‛ whispered Mr. John. Frank felt that he can put out one more bonfires, but there were still another three! ‚We can’t put them all out! We must do it tomorrow,‛ said Frank. ‚We can’t do it tomorrow because tomorrow the bonfires will have more guards!‛ answered Mr. John. ‚We need to find other plan,‛ said Abraham. ‚We can go away! We can take some sheep with us and anyone who stays will die alone,‛ advised Frank. ‚I think this is the only option we have,‛ said Abraham.

So, during the night, Frank went to sleep alone. All the other sheep

were at the bonfires. He thought a little bit of the escape. After that he went to sleep. In his dream he was alone on the hill. The entire hill was green. He loved it. All the things were so beautiful. He started to draw the hill. He drew all that he saw. He didn’t think of what he was drawing.

After he finished the picture, Frank looked at it. It was so nice. But what was it? At the side of the picture there was something red! He looked at the hill and he saw something red at the end of it. Then he understood - it was a bonfire! After he saw this bonfire he saw another bonfire, and another one. Slowly, slowly, the entire hill was red! Frank didn’t know what to do!

He was so scared of the fire! Now he looked at his picture and it was burning! ‚Two sheep! Two sheep!‛ screamed the masses of sheep. Frank woke up and he ran to the sheep. Abraham was there. ‚Can you see them? No! Why? Because they have disappeared!‛ Abraham addressed the crowd. ‚We must extinguish the bonfires! But, because Bosh and Pride want our weed we can’t! What do I advise? I advise that we get away from here!‛ ‚Why do we need to go? We can close them alone!‛ someone shouted. ‚You can’t, Bosh and Pride have a lot of guards!‛ answered Abraham. ‚The sheep didn’t disappear because of the bonfire! Last night there were fewer bonfires and the wolves ate two sheep, not one, but two!‛ shouted Pride.

Abraham was very angry. ‚If someone wants to join me, come to my laboratory today,‛ Abraham said. ‚Good job,‛ Frank said to Abraham. Both of them started to walk to the laboratory. ‚No, Pride destroyed everything,‛ Abraham answered. ‚But all the sheep want to be with us,‛ said Frank. ‚Well, we will know this evening,‛ said Abraham and he entered his laboratory.

The day passed by. No one talked about what happened. Frank napped on the grass. He thought of the escape. He wanted to go away from the hill, but he loved the hill at the same time. He was so angry at Bosh and Pride that he wanted to move away from them. Now, after the dream it was clear to him how much he loved the hill, as the hill was the place he was born. The hill was his home. He wanted to stay in the hill but he couldn’t.

This made Frank was very sad.

At the end of the day, Frank went to the laboratory. When he came in, a lot of sheep were there. He was very happy. Half of the tribe was in the laboratory. Frank started to search for Abraham and Mr. John. ‚I told you,‛ he said to Abraham when he saw him. ‚Yes, I think I will start to talk now,‛ answered Abraham. ‚Everyone, please, be quiet!‛ he shouted. ‚I’m very happy to see so many of you here tonight. All of us know why we here?‛ Abraham asked ‚To try and decide where we will go,‛ answered Ron. ‚Right! So, like everyone knows, because of the bonfires, wolves started to eat our sheep. We tried to talk to Bosh and Pride but they didn’t want to extinguish the bonfires. So, we thought the only option was to escape from here. Now, the question is to where. Does anyone have an idea?‛ asked Abraham.

Everyone was quiet. ‚OK, I thought it will be like that. I thought of a place in the forest, it is nice. But we must go to there quietly,‛ Abraham said. ‚But when will we go there?‛ asked Tom. ‚I think we should go tomorrow, before the morning,‛ answered Mr. John. ‚But every night the wolves eat one sheep!‛ someone shouted. ‚We must save our energy for the walk! If we walk now we will be very tired before we reach the place that Mr. Abraham is talking about!‛ answered Mr. John. ‚He is right,‛ said Abraham. ‚We will go tomorrow before the morning.‛ ‚Where we will meet?‛ Tom asked. ‚Here.‛ Abraham answered.

During the night Frank dreamed of an exhibition. All his pictures were there. He saw Bosh and Pride there. However, he wasn’t there himself; all the pictures were there alone. Now he understood, Bosh and Pride were the only sheep there, and all the other viewers were wolves! He saw it

and was shocked! Bosh and Pride were together with the wolves didn’t care.

Then he saw the picture - the picture that he never drew. He saw the hill with a red point! Then he saw the fire in the room! He saw the fire ‚eat‛ his picture slowly! ‚Wake up!‛ Abraham shouted at him. ‚Yes, I’m coming,‛ Frank said while he stood up. They walked to the laboratory. ‚How many came to the laboratory?‛ Frank asked ‚Everyone,‛ Abraham answered and he opened the door.

Everyone that was yesterday was there. ‚Did someone disappear?‛ Frank asked. ‚Tom,‛ someone said. Everyone was sad, but ready to go to the new place. ‚Is everyone here?‛ Abraham asked. A piece of wool flew in the air. ‚Yes,‛ some sheep answered. ‚OK, let’s go.‛ The End

By: Selected Students

Student Reflections To reflect on this project, several students answered the following three questions: How did you write your story? What classroom activities helped you the most?

What changed about your understanding of story-writing now that you have authored one of your own? These were there responses: *** I wrote the story with lot of help from my friends and family. My teacher, of course, also taught us important things about writing and life along this assignment. It took a very long time, but I can say that I'm satisfied and proud.

I think that the most useful activity was "The Shape of a Story" that helped with the story plot planning. The one about "Show Don't Tell" helped too, and will stay forever in our brain, I hope.

It is a different experience to stand on the other side of a story. During the assignment I felt that writing is a wonderful way to extrovert our emotions and thoughts. "Creating another world" is a great way to imagine, to think, to dream and to excite others.

-Yosef Reisman *** Before I started to write, I thought about the plot and the details in it.

When I finally decided what is going to happen in every part, I started to write, and sometimes I changed some of my ideas. It was really easy to write when I knew exactly what was going to be in every part.

The activity about the dialogues helped the most because it really helped me to write the dialogues well. The class when everyone presented their stories helped too, because after I told others what I'm going to do, other students gave me ideas about things I can write about.

Now I know that to write a good story I need to know most of the plot, so I won't have to decide everything while I'm writing. Also, now I know that it's not so hard to write a short story.

-Hagar Sahar

In the beginning, my story was boring. But, as I progressed through the writing, it started to be easier to write. Suddenly a whole flow of ideas came to me about how the story should continue. It began to be harder to choose from all of these ideas. Finally, I picked the plotline that seemed the most interesting.

The classroom activity that helped me the most was the one about our values and how to choose them. This activity gave a certain direction to my story.

Now, after I authored a story of my own, I understand how tough the "art of writing" is. Writing is not just throwing random words and hoping the story will be good. Writing has to do with expressing your opinions and feelings. Writing takes a lot of thinkingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; thinking about the plot and about the dialogues. Each of these has to be perfect for a good story.

- Amit Herschkovich *** I wrote my story based on the activities we did in class, and from past experiences of story writing I had in school and when I learned for two years in the U.S.A. I wrote the story mostly in one day, other than the assignments we needed to complete earlier. Also, I drew all the pictures and put the book together in one day, so I created the story in concentrated work periods. I think that way of work is good for me, because then I can concentrate on the story and create it with the same point of view all the time. All in all, I had a great time writing the story.

The classroom activity that helped me the most was splitting the story to chapters and writing, in short, what they are. Until then, I only had a blurry image of the story in my head with many ideas to put in it. Thanks to that activity, I finally had it organized. Also in my opinion that activity was the first activity that helped to write the story itself, and not only the key elements like values and characters.

Although I did have story writing experiences, this story changed my understanding of story writing. Unlike the other stories I wrote, this one was longer and its writing process was more complicated. This mainly made me realize that I can write stories better than I thought. But even with all of this said, I still don't see my career as a writer. Nevertheless, I still had a great time.

-Dor Kleinfeld

At the start, I had to think about an idea for my story. I had doubts between some ideas but finally, with help from the class, I chose my top value and symbol, and wrote the first draft of the story guidelines. After that, I wrote a draft of the whole story and corrected it a few times. When I had the final version, all I had to do was draw the photos and put them together.

The activity that helped me the most was the group discussion about symbols. I didn’t know which symbol would be the most suitable for my value. Another activity that helped me was the ‚Show, Don’t Tell‛ activity, when we read a story about King Tadashi. It helped me understand how I should write to show the readers, instead of telling them.

Now, after I wrote my own story, I appreciate the editor’s work more.

Before that, I thought that the editor had a minor role and the author worked harder. After I trying editing, I understand that the editor is really important and he works very hard.

-Shira Labin *** After class, I thought about how to say what I wanted to say in my story, and then I thought of a flit of sheep that had a problem with wolves.

But why did the wolves come to the sheep’s hill ? After this question, I thought of sheep that enjoyed fire and because the smoke of the fire, the wolves came to the hill. Then, after a lot of questions and answers that I asked myself, I started to write the story.

The class that helped me the most was the first class, when we said what values we wanted to write about. I think that this classroom helped me the most because it helped me to start thinking about all the story and what will come later. After I knew what value I wanted to write about, it was very natural to think about the characters, the story, and all of that. All the other things came very naturally, but I needed to think about what I wanted to do first.

Now I know that if you want to write a story you need to think about all the things, from the very little to the very big, before you start to write the story. If you don't do something like this, in the middle of the writing you will need to think about how to continue with the story.

-Yuval Mendelson

At first I tried to do my best but I didn't have any ideas. Then, I wrote my first draft of the story and it came out very lame, so I took the plot and changed it a little bit. This made it as interesting as a real story. In the end I changed it again so the message would be very clear and this was the last draft.

I think that the value matrix helped me the most because it helped me think what values I want to present in my story. I can even say that after this activity I knew what meaning I wanted to include in my story. Before this activity, I didn't have any idea about what the story was going to be about, and what massage will be passed to the reader.

Now I understand that to write a story, you need to think and to find the plot and the rising action. You don't just write whatever comes out of your mind. Until this activity I thought that writers have a good life. I thought they just bring something from their mind to the paper without actually thinking about it beforehand, but now I realize I was wrong.

-Goffer Oded *** In the beginning, I following the instructions that we covered in class.

But, then I decided to change my plot. I did all the levels [that we did in class] for the new plot.

The activity that helped me the most was the activity about how to write plot. It helped me write my story faster.

Now I know that before you start to write your story, you need to have a finished plot.

-Batel Mankovsky

By: Yotam Hod, Teacher

10 Steps to Creating Children’s Stories The following steps document the process used to achieve these stories.

Though there are 10 steps described here; in sum the project took roughly 20 nonconsecutive class periods (about 15 hours of class time). Some steps require more time than others, from one period to at least several periods. Providing an exact timeline is moot because every class learns and works at a different pace. The teacher should follow each step and only continue once they are convinced that most students have sufficiently progressed. As this project is broad and creative, in my opinion it is best to not enforce strict deadlines, but rather to frequently suggest rough benchmarks (saying, “you should be about here by now”) throughout the project. While it is a good idea for students to submit their work for periodic review, allowing them to work at their own pace is a key ingredient of making a safe, nurturing classroom where they can produce such imaginative work.

STEP 1: Introduction to Children’s Stories After introducing the unit idea and sharing the aim of authoring, illustrating, and designing their own children’s stories, read several famous children’s stories to them. Make sure these stories have some sort of moral to them, which they usually do, as well as a symbol that somehow represents the value. As you read the story, ask students both basic comprehension questions, such as, ‚What happened?‛ as well as higher-ordered questions, such as ‚What does the tree represent?‛ Two suggested stories are, ‚Finding the Green Stone‛ by Alice Walker, and ‚The Giving Tree‛ by Shel Silverstein.

STEP 2: Identify Values Recall the read stories and point out that children’s stories often teach a lesson, always connected to some value. Everyone has values, and you are interested in hearing theirs. They will use these values when creating their own stories, so should start thinking about what is important to them.

Generate a list of values with the students on the board. Then, give them a ‚Values List‛ (Attachment A), followed by the ‚Value Matrix‛ (Attachment B) to help them identify their 3 most important personal values. Follow the instructions on the worksheets.

Have students share what their values are with the class and why they are important to them. Give them a homework assignment of asking their families how they exemplify these values. They should write one or two sentences for each value.

STEP 3: Generating Symbols Symbols are used to give meaning to values so that readers can better understand them in a story. Have students think of a symbol for each one of their three most important values. How does the symbol change when the value is and isn’t manifested? Have students draw symbols for each value (see Attachment C – Symbols). Take turns with the class sharing what they have come up with. Be sensitive with this activity and remember to honor students’ viewpoints. Before having them share, you may want to talk to the class about the importance of respecting one another.

Students that have trouble generating symbols should be encouraged to think and develop ones on their own time. At the end of the lesson, tell students they will ultimately have to settle down on one symbol and value, so they should think more about the one they see as best for their story. No final decisions need to be made just yet, though many students may already have story plots worked out in their heads. Just remember that the creative process works at a different rate for everybody.

STEP 4: Character Development Every story has characters, and often there is one lead character and several supporting characters. (The symbol can even be one of the characters, or something that influences the character somehow, such as the tree in ‚The Giving Tree‛). For readers to connect to a story, they need to identify with the character’s thoughts, feelings, struggles, etc. Look back at the stories and characters you read at the beginning of the unit. Who are they?

What were their thoughts, feelings, and struggles? Choose two or three different characters that you read about, and complete a character analysis chart together with the class, on the board (Reference Attachment D – Character Analysis Chart).

Have students think of 4 characters for their own stories. They should complete the character chart (Attachment D) either in class or for homework.

STEP 5: Plot and the Shape of a Story Look over one of the stories that your class read, and prepare a one sentence description of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution (See Attachment E – Shape of a Story). Write these on the board in a mixed order, and have students work out the correct order.

After completing this task, draw the ‚Shape of a Story‛ graph on the board and label the 5 main parts. Now, read the second story together and have students decide which what events in the story’s plot match the shape.

Finally, have students complete their own plots (Attachment E) based on the shape of a story covered in class. Have them submit this to you and look it over to make sure they include all 5 parts. Give them feedback in the form of questions and encouraging comments.

STEP 6: Writing a Strong Introduction / “Show Don’t Tell” Read the introduction to one of your stories. Ask students what is the purpose of an introduction, or exposition, which includes providing a setting. Reread the introductions to the stories that you chose, and ask them to point out how it was written. Make the point that good writers follow the idea, ‚Show, Don’t Tell.‛ Ask them how they could change sentences into ones that show and don’t tell (Attachment F – Show Don’t Tell) Have students write an introductory paragraph that explains the setting of their story whilst showing and not telling details. Have them share their introductory paragraphs, with the rest of the class looking for the details of who, where, what, when, and also examples of ‚showing and not telling.‛ STEP 7: Dialogue Read the dialogue attachment together with the students, having them point out the differences between each section (Attachment G). Have them write a sample dialogue between two or three (if they are up to the challenge) characters in their story.

After they have completed it, read through a section of one of your stories that has dialogue with the class. Have students point out the various dialogue tags used. Discuss with students the reasons for using various dialogue tags.

Hand out the dialogue tags sheet (Attachment H), and have them rewrite their dialogue using some of the tags. You may need to translate (or have them translate) many of the tags before beginning.

STEP 8: Story Draft Assign students a firm due date to write a first draft of their story.

Give them approximately one week to hand it in. Review the drafts and provide feedback for the students. You may want to have two rounds of drafting. The first round of drafting should focus on their value, symbol, characters, ‚showing‛ details, introduction, and dialogue. After they have made these corrections, then have a second round that works on their English (spelling, grammar, mechanics, formatting, etc.)

STEP 9: Illustrations While they are working on their stories (at home), use in class time for students to illustrate their books. You may need to bring in supplies such as paper and markers. Students that absolutely refuse, often citing poor artistic skills, can either find pictures from the internet or have a friend draw for them for extra credit (to the friend). Bring in several books and show them examples of good illustrations.

Before students get started, have them decide on 5 parts of their story that they would like to illustrate. Have them complete an ‚Illustration Draft‛ before getting permission to draw their final versions.

To keep the focus and momentum on getting their stories submitted on time, have volunteer students at the beginning of each class read or share both their pictures and parts of their story.

STEP 10: Putting it all together Scan in the students’ photos (or have them do it). Bring the class to the computer lab and give them a quick tutorial of Microsoft Publisher. Have their work (stories and pictures) available on the computers. Have them format their stories, with the images, to make a final product. You can collect their documents at the end and put finishing touches on it (or have interested student volunteers do that for extra credit). This section requires a lot of work, but seeing all the students’ work together is a great motivator. Once put together, it can be sent to the Principal, parents, all the students, etc.

Have a class day or two when students read their stories to each other. Or, if you are ambitious, invite students and parents for a reading one night after school.

Attachment Aâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Values List

Attachment Bâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Values Matrix

Attachment Câ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Symbols

Attachment Dâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Character Analysis Chart

Attachment Eâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Shape of a Story

Attachment F— Show Don’t Tell

Attachment Gâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Writing Effective Dialogue (1 of 2)

Attachment Gâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Writing Effective Dialogue (2 of 2)

Attachment Hâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dialogue Tags

Attachment Iâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Illustration Draft

For questions or comments about this publication, please contact Yotam Hod at yotamhod24@gmail.com