Fire on Cave Island, by Christian

Fire on Cave Island

"I believe what I see and I don't believe what I don't see." Billie Wind said this because she doesn't believe in animal gods, the giant serpent and the little people who steal stuff and live underground. In the book, The Talking Earth, by Jean Craighead George, Billie Wind is a Seminole Indian girl who lives in the Everglades in a village called Panther Paw. She's the only one in the whole village who doesn't believe all of those things. She gets punished by the elders for not believing and they ask her what she thinks her punishment should be. She says, "'I think I should go into the Pa-hay-okee, the Everglades, where the spirit dwells, and stay until I hear the animals talk, see the serpent, and meet the little people who live underground.'" (page 3) A new door opens for Billie Wind when she begins her adventure.

Cave Island was one of the most important parts of the story, especially when it got burned. In the book, Billie Wind got stuck in a cave about one or two weeks. She was lucky that she was safe from the fire. Billie Wind learns a lot on that island, especially in the cave that was full of tools that she could use. She learned that her ancestors lived there and she discovered that they dug a hole in the cave to get fish. Billie Wind says, "'Petang, you have told me how the fish got into the pit. When the glades dry up, the fish are not dead, as we've always assumed; they are down in the underground pools and rivers waiting for the rains to return and fill the pa-hay-okee so they can come back to the saw grass.'" (page 47) She also discovered one of the medicine bundles and decided not to take it. A lot of medicine bundles were missing, there's only three of them left, and there's already one in her village. Billie Wind also learned that the fire was the great serpent that her village was talking about. It is also a important to her that she uses her patience until the fire is out.

I chose this part because it really was exciting. I also like that part because she met a new animal friend, it was a river otter who she called Petang. Petang is the same meaning as river otter, but it's just Seminole Indian language. I also chose it because Billie Wind thought that she would die on that island. It was getting sad, a little. I also chose that part because Billie Wind's adventure would have been shorter if she didn't get stuck on that island. It is also one of my favorite parts of the whole story.

I also remembered some connections in that part of the story. One is when the island got burned. It reminded me when I was in the Philippines. On the other side of the street from where I lived, a house got burned. It made me feel scared and unhappy because the power was out for almost a day. I think Billie Wind felt scared just like me. It also reminded me when I got stuck in a basement for around 45 minutes. I was playing pool and the door was locked. It was like when Billie Wind got stuck on that island. I felt angry and trapped just like Billie Wind.

I hope that we could continue on the story. I learned a lot of things so far. I hope I could learn more things in that story. It was one of the best animal and traveling books I ever read. I really hope you’ll like it.

Christian, grade 5
June 2008

Gray Foxes

Gray Foxes

Gray foxes have gray fur with a little white on their ears and a little on their sides. They have a little black on their tails. They are as big as a dog and have bushy tails and ears like a cat. Baby gray foxes are cute.

Gray foxes live in caves and around forests. They like to live near trees and farms because they eat chickens. The dad watches the babies while the mom goes out to get food. Foxes eat hares, eggs, chickens and rabbits.

Gray foxes are the only foxes that climb trees. They climb trees to get away from predators like hunters. Owls, hawks, bobcats and eagles eat baby foxes.

The gray foxes in my picture are eating hares. The mom is back with two more hares for the babies because they're still hungry. The daddy is still watching them at home in their cave.

I like gray foxes because they can climb trees and cats can too. Gray foxes are soft and furry.

June 2008

Beaver Habitat by Kory

Beaver Habitat

There’s lots of different habitats and my favorite habitat is the beaver’s because they’re cool. I like how they make their dam and then they make their house. They have a lot of predators and one predator is a bear and in my little picture, a bear stole a beaver because it was hungry. If a predator is coming beavers quickly go under water and go in their lodge. They do cut down trees and this is how they make the pond. They cut trees down and then they use the branches and the wood to block off the water so the water that was going to go further down the stream all stops and makes a pond and that’s where they make their lodge.

Beavers have small ears and a back flat tail that is about one foot long. Their front feet are smaller than their back feet. Their back feet are webbed. Their body is about 3 feet long. Beavers can block their nose and when they close their eyes in the water they can still see through their eyelids. Their mouth is cool because they can eat in the water like this. Like you know how if we took a lip and we put it on the roof of our mouth and where our tongue is and some of our teeth would stick out. If they were not in the water then they could be endangered because all of the other animals would be eating them and eating them and they would hardly be alive.

Kory
June 2008

The Mommy Dinosaur Protects her Babies by Adilet

The Mommy Dinosaur Protects her Babies

T. Rex was trying to eat the apple tree and he sow something relly taste. It was Mommy’s dinosaur eggs. T. Rex loves to fight. He first he ate the apple tree but he can’t cros the volcano. He jumpit over the volcano and hes gonna fight now weth the mommy dinosaur. But he saw a beyoudeful brontosaurus dinosaur trying to be his girlfriend. The mommy dinosaur, T. Rex and the brontosaurus will fight. Three dinosaurs are engry and the mommy dinosaur rely engry. The mommy dinosaur kild thos two dinosaurs. She bit them on there legs and hede to. The egg crakt and mommy dinosaur brot the two ded dinosaurs and they had a good lunch time.

Adilet, grade 2
June 2008

A Carnivore Dinosaur and Herbivore Dinosaur, by Linh

A Carnivore Dinosaur and Herbivore Dinosaur

I tell you my story. One sunny day in North America in the forest, it is morning. There is a bird called Peteinosaurus flying. He looks like he has a little hair and has long wings with little sharp claws. T. Rex is drinking water. He is very big, and he has sharp claws and sharp teeth. And Panoplosaurus is drinking water too. He has eleven sharp spikes on his back. This dinosaur doesn’t have a big tail. T. Rex dad is waiting to T. Rex to finish drinking. Then another T. Rex attacks Diplodocus and he kills him. Blood comes out. T. Rex eats Diplodocus.

Linh, grade 2
June 2008

My Dinosaur Art Story, by Thomas

In my scene that I made, my art, the scene is a Spinosaurus battling with a Sauroctonus. Before they met, the Sauroctonus was drinking its fill, but not, however, as you might think he would drink -- like us. I imagine he had to scoop up the water and then swallow it because his mouth was a beak, sort of. Right when the Sauroctonus took its third gulp of water, the Spinosaurus did its deed. And here’s how: suddenly, the Spinosaurus dashed at the Sauroctonus. It wasn’t lucky enough, the Spinosaurus was too fast and locked his 66 teeth onto its victim’s neck. It only took a few seconds and it lay before him, dead. Finally, after one day of not being able to find prey, he could begin his feast.

The Spinosaurus’s habitat is sort of in the middle of the whole forest, because there most dinosaurs hide from predators. And the Spinosaurus was just about as big and as strong as the T. Rex. It had a big beak and daggerlike teeth, like shark teeth. It was pretty much a walker because most of its prey was not that fast. And it was a strong creature.

Why did I choose the Spinosaurus? Because it’s my favorite predator, except for the Velociraptor, of course. They’re both my favorite. All raptors are my favorite because they’re interesting. They had claws, and they were a type of bird. They were just an unusual predator.

But the prey that’s on there, I just made, and later I looked at all the dinosaurs in the book, and found the one that was most similar to the one I made. And it was the Sauroctonus.

Thanks for reading. But you should look at my friends’ pictures too, and you will learn some very interesting facts about dinosaurs.

The Therizinosaurus and the Gallimimus Friendship, by Cheickna

I make a dinosaur habitat and the dinosaur that I made is the Therizinosaurus and he is the king dinosaur for me. I’m going to tell you a little story about my art.

There was a beautiful sunny day and the Therizinosaurus was drinking water and two Gallimimus came for fighting him. And he doesn’t want to fight with them because he’s gentle but the little two said they want to fight. So he fight with them and the big one win.

The big one cry because he doesn’t want to fight the little two. He take care of them til when they were okay. And he told them that he apologize that he fight them.

The king dinosaur told them they could go eat something and drink water. So when they were done with talking, “Blah, blah, blah,” the king dinosaur told them goodbye and he go back where he lives to join his family. And he told the little two that he might see them later.

If you want to learn more about dinosaurs, you should look my other friends. They have some beautiful dinosaur habitat.