The Slipper Cat Visits the USA
by Ms. Mathes’ 1st Grade, Maine, USA
The Slipper Cat found out that her friends in the USA were not taking care of their
backpacks. They were throwing them on the
floor instead of hanging them on hooks. She flew across the Atlantic Ocean on the Ljubljana Dragon to visit Maine.
She found the backpacks all over the floor. “Meow, meow,” said the Slipper Cat. “I
don’t like this!” When we came in from lunch recess, we found all of our backpacks were gone! The Slipper Cat said, “I will give you clues to find them.” The Ljubljana Dragon said, “I will fly you around.” We love dragons, so this was a very exciting idea. The first clue: “Find a statue so big that you can climb up inside of it.”
The Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall; about 93m! This is New York City Harbor. We
climbed way up to the crown. The Slipper Cat liked being up so high, and she ran up the stairs faster than we could! We looked and looked, but we didn’t see our
backpacks. The Slipper Cat said, “This was too easy! You knew your teacher grew up in New York City.”
The second clue: “Find a piece of the moon.”
There is a piece of the moon, in the Space Window of the National Cathedral, in
Washington, D.C. The National Cathedral is a house of prayer for all people, and
services are held in every religion. The Dragon flew us up to the window, and we saw beautiful colors. The Slipper Cat liked seeing the moon rock, but we didn’t see our backpacks.
The next clue: “Find an alligator.”
Alligators live in Everglades National Park in Florida. Alligators are interesting, but
very fierce, so we warned the Dragon not to get too close. We noticed the Slipper Cat had disappeared. We think she was afraid of the alligators. We took a special boat to look for our backpacks, but they weren’t here either. Maybe the alligators ate them? The next clue: “Cross a very big river and go to the Heartland.”
The Mississippi River is over 2,000 miles (3,220 km) long, and 4 miles (6.5 km) wide.
It’s fun to go on steam boat rides on the Mississippi River. The Slipper Cat liked riding on the top deck of the boat because it’s sunny up there. We think she took a nap too. Iowa is USA’s Heartland, and is famous for growing corn. The corn grows way over
your head. It was hard to look through the cornfields because the corn was so tall, and the Dragon kept wanting to stop and make popcorn. The Slipper Cat liked running
through the corn to hear it make noise. We looked and looked, but we didn’t see our backpacks.
The next clue: “Find a cowboy.”
Wyoming is cattle country. Cowboys take care of the cattle. There is lots of open
space. We rode horses all over Wyoming, but we didn’t find our backpacks. Some of us got saddle-sore. The Dragon just watched. He said, “Horses and dragons don’t
get along.” The Slipper Cat liked riding on a horse, because she had never done that before. She said, “Horses and cats do get along.” The next clue: “Find the biggest boot.”
This is L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine. The
Slipper Cat is standing in the doorway and she was excited. We think she is going to tell us
about our backpacks now! We are going inside the store to look around. Dragons are not
allowed in stores, so he waited outside for us. The Slipper Cat said we could choose a new backpack if we promised to take care of it and hang it up. There were SO many backpacks, we didn’t know which one to choose! The Dragon wanted green, and the Slipper Cat chose blue. Which one would you pick?
Hayden & Corey Emilia & Heavenly
Chris & Ben Jenna
Michael & Dylan Cody
Hailey Harley, Ashley, Mary, Lauren
Charlotte
Ashton Matthew
We are excited about having new backpacks. We promised to hang up our backpacks every day. We thanked the Slipper Cat for our new backpacks, and waved goodbye.
She flew home on the Dragon. We have good friends in Slovenia, and we’d like to visit some day. Maybe the Paper Bag Princess could arrange it....
The End
The authors all live in Oakland, Maine, USA. Lauren - I’m 7 years old, and I like to write about whales. Heavenly - I’m 7 years old and I have a cat. Mike - I’m almost 7 years old and I have a kitten named Smokey. Ben - I’m 7 years old and I like to play on the computer. Chris - I have a dog, Sebastian, and a cat, Taz. Harley - I am 6 years old and I have a cat named Hemside. Ashton - I’m 7 years old and I like to look at our Book Blog at home. Jenna - I’m 7 years old and I like to jump on my trampoline. Matthew - I’m 7 years old and I like to play basketball. Cody - I’m 7 years old and I like to play football with my brothers. Ashley - I’m 6 years old and I like to ride my bike.
This is a picture of us with our favorite
Mary - I’m 7 years old and I have 2 dogs and a bunny named Henry. Charlotte - I’m 7 years old and I like to play ball. Dylan - I’m 6 years old and I like to play outside. Corey - I’m 7 years old and I like to play cards with my baby twin brothers. Hayden - I am 6 years old and I like to write stories. Hailey - I am 7 years old and I like to play with LPS toys. Emilia - I am 7 years old and I like playing on the monkey bars.
student teacher.