The sky is blue the sky
Is talking bird-like cloud
And cloud like a leaf
And a happy and a joyful
Place like a big dream
Continue reading “Sky”Archive
Hopeful
By: Johnae'
Be the One
Be the one that doesn’t give up
Be yourself no matter what
Grade 10
Untitled First Draft
Melissa sighted at her newfound situation, sitting under the table with the intention to overhear what Julian, her brother, said about her to his friends when she wasn’t there.
She, for one, already knew Julian talked about her to his friends, they’d giggle when she passed by them in the school halls, so it wasn’t that hard to notice.
Although she wasn’t sure of what she was even trying to accomplish by snooping into their conversations, she was already waiting for them to come into the living room, so what else was there to do?
As soon as she heard close steps, she moved to the middle of the table in case they sat down too, which turned out to be a good idea, since Julian and his friends all immediately sat down.
“So, about the Melissa thing,” Xavier, Julian’s middle school friend muttered.
Melissa could hear Julian groan in what she thought was irritation before he spoke, “Enough about that! It’s stressing me out, man.”
Stressing him out? Why would it? Melissa was the stressed one if anything. What were they talking about?
Luo Yi, Julian’s friend, hummed before adding to the conversation a comment that made it all bittersweet. “I think she’ll like the cake decorations, why stress? Don’t be silly.”
Huh?
Melissa popped her head out from under the table to find the three friends staring at her and giggling. When she looked in front of her, there was a cake propped up by a small table.
“Happy birthday, Melissa,” Julian said with a laugh.
Luo Yi was right, she loved the cake decorations.
This was a writing exercise from a Young Authors’ Book Project session at Phelps ACE High School. Here’s the prompt that the student used:
Write a story about what is happening in the picture below. Be sure to describe the setting, character(s), the main action of the story, and how it is resolved.
By: Idris, Samara, Sy, Pearl, Leo, and Ruby, Grades 1-5
After-School Writing Lab on Pandas
When the giant pandas left the National Zoo, 826DC shared panda-themed writing prompts with AWL. Here’s what they wrote!
Continue reading “After-School Writing Lab on Pandas”By: 826DC After-School Writing Lab Students
Letter to an Alien Pen Pal
Dear Geeblegorp,
How are you? We are so excited to be your new pen pals from Earth! Continue reading “Letter to an Alien Pen Pal”
By: E'Niya, Grade 7
The History of the Musical Genre Go-Go
If you stand on any corner in our nation’s capital, close your eyes and listen to your heartbeat. You will feel the blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and old school hip-hop…the pulse of Go-Go.
By: Abner, Grade 4
Good Hope
In the grass
A brass band
Plays
I’m kneeling
And I hear the music singing
From my hand. Continue reading “Good Hope”
By: Heran, Grade 3
Stinkey and the Rose
Stinkey really wants to be respected. Continue reading “Stinkey and the Rose”
By: Niya, Grade 10
Haiku
Stop asking fools for
acceptance when they are the
ones who need guidance
Originally published in “Spit Fire”
By: Ivan
Dear Freshman Self
Dear Freshman Self,
I know that, reading this letter, you will only be able to understand maybe half of it. This means you have to pay more attention to Mr. Tobron, your first-ever English teacher. Don’t you worry, because you will master that English language and you will be able to say a thousand words a day, instead of just “good morning.” However, the effort will have to come from only you. Find the wanna-learn attitude in you and everything will be fine. The school is changing fast, and so are the people. You will hear it in the news: the fights and killings near the school. You will see and smell it in the hallway: the weed and the pregnant girls. You will get that sour and bitter feeling in your guts.
As the new principal settles in, as the test scores grow higher, the school will mature like a tree that lost its bad fruits in the winter to grow good ones in the spring. Make friends that do not speak the same as you. Don’t stick only with the beginning English learners. I know how much you want to fit in, so you want to be around the ones that speak fluently and have good grades. Join sports teams, and you will receive the MVP Award at the end of your senior year, because I know you’re good at everything you do. Let your style be selective and your mind be reckless. Do not worry about how you look on a daily basis because this will hold you back.
I will fast-forward a bit because your life will get interesting as you move on. You will have someone. She will make you feel handsome when you think otherwise. She will make you laugh when the strong wind outside slaps your lips and freezes them. She is not your mother, nor your sister, but her ravishing inner beauty will attract you more than any of her body parts. Her life story will be inspiring, and she will make you write poems. You will dream of her now and then.
I can imagine your heart pounding as you read this, and it will be helpful if I give more details—but, believe me, her Louisiana accent will be a sweet sound in your ear. She will be your girlfriend. I’m not capable of telling you for how long. I don’t have much time, so I will leave you with this: Your character will make you, but your roots will never be loose.