Thursday, December 11, 2014

write

 
I wrote a little story frame, but wasn't sure of an ending. After explaining it to my kiddos, they started to work. They have the sweetest ideas! Instead of just kittens and puppies in our animal shelter, we had to add a fruit bat.
After some revision, on Day 2 the children came up with some alternate endings and names for characters. Our Principal read it aloud, we revised some more and then some more. Today, we took out a lot of adjectives- our word count is 348. Oh, so close.
Our weather is not extremely wacky, just worrisome. Without further adieu...
 
Hopeful Christmas Eve
 
     The wind howled outside. The Kringles added a warm blanket to each animal's cage. "Wasn't it nice of the first-graders to donate blankets to our Animal Shelter?" asked Mrs. Kringle.
     "Did the kittens get some cream?" asked Mr. Kringle.
     "Yes. The puppies got a dog biscuit and Nightshade got an orange," answered Mrs. Kringle.
     The snow had piled up all day. The Kringles pulled on their coats and hats to leave early because of the blizzard. Mr. Kringle checked the heater and left on the Christmas tree lights.
     "Sleep tight little friends!" Mrs. Kringle said as they locked the door.
     The kittens, puppies and fruit bat were content in the shelter, but Christmas Eve was still a lonely evening.
     They drifted off to sleep, then heard the front door open. It was Mr. Kringle. He wasn't alone! A daddy, mommy and little girl were with him.
     "We're sorry we waited until the last minute. We couldn't disappoint Carrie."
     Carrie walked to Snowflake's cage. "This is the kitten I played with when we volunteered. Can I have her Daddy?"
     "Of course!" said Daddy. Mommy gently packed Snowflake in a basket. She meowed good-bye to her friends and left with her new family.
     "What a happy Christmas for Snowflake," said Jingle. "I wonder who will be next to find a family?
     "I wonder how Santa will make it with all this deep snow?" asked Snowball.
     "Santa's sleigh has strong runners. He always makes it through," said Nightshade. The animals said goodnight and snuggled down to dream of Christmas morning.
     "Wake up little friend. Let's go!" said a sweet voice.
     Sprinkles, Jingle and Snowball rubbed their eyes. Nightshade stretched out his wings.
     "Go where?" asked Jingle, yawning.
     "My sleigh! Three special children asked for a cuddly pet this year. You are going to live with them," said Santa. "Nightshade, you are going to live in the attic in my castle."
     The animals were so happy! Santa unlocked their cages and they climbed aboard his sleigh.
     "Hang on!" Santa exclaimed and they flew through the sky to find their forever homes.  
 
 In other news...
 
Colton and I are taking a red-eye bus trip to New York City tomorrow night! Make sure to watch the Today Show Saturday morning- we're gonna try to be in the crowd. So excited!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a warm and satisfying story. :)

Kate said...

Well done! Love the story.

Teresa Robeson said...

What great fun to have a bat in the story! I'm glad everyone found good homes. :)

Tina Cho said...

How neat to have the Kringles run an animal shelter!

Leslie said...

I liked the animals' names - especially Nightshade. Sweet story

Sylvia Liu said...

A sweet story with a nice ending.

Patricia T. said...

Love the animals shelter idea! Now that has a strong Christmas message.

Susanna Leonard Hill said...

Aw! So sweet! How nice of the first-graders to donate cozy blankets, and how kind the Kringles were, making sure everything was snug and Christmas-y for the animals, and how wonderful that all those sweet homeless animals found forever homes on Christmas Eve. This is just the kind of story I love :) Great job on the names, and I LOVE that Nightshade the fruit bat was included! - animal shelters aren't just about puppies and kittens :) Thanks so much for joining in the holiday fun! Such a talented group of writers! Happy Holidays to you all! :)

Cassandra said...

I hope you had fun in NYC!