YWP 06-07

From time to time, we get a bunch of great entries from one class. We don't have room for them all on the newspaper pages, so we post them all on the Web. Here then, are the entries from Mrs. Marie Ayer's Grade 3 class at Richmond Elementary School:

Halloween night
By Tory

Halloween is spooky.

Students had a lot on their Halloween minds this week. Here is a sampling of the best entries. Some of these appeared in the regular weekly newspaper page now appearing in the Burlington Free Press, Times Argus and Rutland Herald. Beginning Nov. 8 it will be appearing in the Brattleboro Reformer and on Nov. 14, The Valley News

Too old
By Jeseca Wendel
Mount Abraham Union High School, Grade 10
“You are too old to be trick or treating.” My mother said, fussing with my younger brother’s pumpkin costume.

“Well you see, that is why I have dressed up as a Little Bo Peep. The point of Halloween is to be someone else, right?” Mom didn’t respond. “Am I right?” She grunted, which I figured was her way of saying, ‘Yes, my dearest child you are certainly right. What a clever girl you are.’

“So, since I am dressed up as Little Bo Peep, I technically am Little Bo Peep, which means that I am a little girl, which also means that no one can deny me candy. I laughed at my own brilliance. “I have outsmarted the system once again!”

By Erin Audet-Greene
Middlebury Union High School, Grade 10

Good Times

A picture holds
A good moment,
Pauses it,
So that later,

By Eman Hayyat
Middlebury Union High School,Grade 10

Those who don’t understand Arabic or the culture say we are bad people. Those who listen to the news and watch the destruction assume we are terrorists. The walls come crumbling down and so do our lives. They see the dark skin, the dark hair, and the dark eyes and think we are monsters.

By Noah S. Gray
Woodstock Union High School, Grade 10

It is election day and all the flags are flying. People are walking toward the Town Hall with intent, purposeful expressions on their faces, determined to help elect the person they believe will best serve and protect their country.

By Ed Darling
South Burlington High School, English teacher

I wish that as a high-school student I’d been assigned to write a reporter-at-large piece. That would have given me an opportunity to choose some place of business or other enterprise in my community to visit, write a report about it and make my report available for others to read. Many of my readers would have learned something from my report that they didn’t know, and a project like that would have enhanced my confidence as a writer.

This is an example of reporter-at-large writing techniques.
By Paul Mercurio

Have you ever gone more than a day without eating? Nobody wants to go without eating, and fortunately here in America most of us don't have to. There is plenty of food here in Burlington, and there are generous people who donate some to the poor. However, on Saturdays the Food Shelf and the Salvation Army have always been closed, and hungry people have been left without options.

By Sadie Moody
Peoples Academy, Grade 9

Your past keeps coming back to pierce you
It’s like a sharp pain that keeps bringing you down
And there’s nothing in this world you can do
You just let it be and live in much misery
Wishing it would just disappear
So you wouldn’t have to live in such fear

Day after day the memories buzz around you

By Heather Horgan
Lake Region High School, Grade 12

If I were an angel
Who would I be?
I would be the one who makes everyone see

That no matter what, life is always worth living
This is the advice, I would always be giving
If I were an angel

I would be flying high above the clouds
Watching all the people down below me
I would be the one who makes everyone see

By Rachel Lanz
Homeschool, Essex, Grade 8

This was one of the 10th grade essays that won the 2005/06 Vermont Honors Competition for Excellence in Writing put on by the University of Vermont. (For the list of winners, click here.) Students in 10th grade were asked to respond to this: Someone once said, "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those special moments that take our breath away." Reflect upon your life thus far. Then, in a thoughtufl, well-developed essay, discuss those moments that have taken your breath away. (Students were allowed to write fiction.)

By Kayla Gatos
Champlain Valley Union High School

Her skin was chapped like a river bed during a long drought, and yet the wrinkles around her yes were soft. There was a certain hidden sparkle to her shriveling physical presence and a sweetness to her chocolate skin. Every day on my way to school she would be in the same place on her old front porch in taht rickety rocker just creaking back and forth to a smooth, steady rhythm.

Sometimes, in the eventings, if I didn't have too much to do, I would pick my way up her withering front walk and onto her porch. Ms. Howard knew I was there for I could see a shimmer in her glazed eyes. She never would stop rocking, though.

"Ava," she said, her voice splashing on rough stones, slowly dispersing through the air.

"Evening, Ms. Howard," I would reply. "The sunset's especially vibrant this time around."

By Elisabeth Arnold Siddle
Language Arts teacher, Milton Middle School
and Katri LaPointe
Business Technology teacher, Milton High School

Week 11: Dec. 19, 2006
Week 11
Student Writing: Winter Tales, Part II.
Student Writing: More Winter Tales.
Download a PDF of the newspaper page.Grandma

Week 10: Dec. 12, 2006
Week 10
Student Writing: Winter Tales, Part I.
VPR Essay -- Reigle
Download a PDF of the newspaper page.Nightmare

Week 9: Dec. 5, 2006
Neat feetStudent Writing: Seven.
Student Writing: Object.
Download a PDF of the newspaper page.

Week 8: Nov. 28, 2006
Marionette 2 -- Kelly NyhagenStudent writing: Fractured fairy tales.
Student writing: What's in a name?
Download a PDF of newspaper page.

Week 7: Nov. 14, 2006
FallClassroom Exercise: Creating a classroom trust -- Nick Brooks, teacher.
Student writing: Responses to "Place."
Online Challenge I: The six-word stories.
Student writing: Responses to "Eavesdropping."
Download a PDF of the newspaper page.

Week 6: Nov. 7,2006
The labStudent writing: The Room
Student writing: Shopping
On voting
Download a pdf of this week's page: CLICK HERE

Week 5: Oct. 31, 2006
SisterStudent writing: Halloween
Student Writing: Halloween entries from Richmond Elementary School class.
Download a PDF of the newspaper page.

Week 4: Oct. 24, 2006
ShadowsClassroom exercise: South Burlington teacher Ed Darling on reporting
A student reporter
Call for your Winter Tales
Student work by ... Erin Audet-Greene ... Eman Hayyat ... Noah Gray.
Download a pdf of this week's page.

Week 3: Oct. 17, 2006
ON WRITING: Young songWriters Project: Jon Gailmor on creating words that beg for music ... Pete Sutherland on songwriting ... Diana Winn Levine on writing lyrics ... Call for lyrics
BY STUDENTS: Rachel Lanz ... Sadie Moody ... Heather Horgan
DOWNLOAD a PDF of Week 3 page


Week 2: Oct. 10, 2006
What's that blog doing in my classroom? Two teachers explore the use of Web technology.
A sailor's sea by Sarah Guillot -- winning essay in statewide competition. ... Another winning essay. ... List of essay winners.
Special projects ... Download PDF of page



WEEK 1: Oct. 3, 2006
DancerStudent art by Kelly Nyhagen.
Writing skills help learning and earning. ... Big changes at YWP
YWP Writing Prompts for 2006-2007 ... Special projects
Download PDF of page