Writing at Avenues 2025

Writing AT

Avenues

A PROGRESSION OF WRITING SKILLS FROM NURSERY THROUGH FIFTH GRADE

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Contents OF

Nursery Pre–K Kindergarten First grade Second grade Third grade Fourth grade Fifth grade

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If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

Si hay un libro que quieres leer, pero no ha sido escrito todavía, entonces tú debes escribirlo.” 心向往之，尚未问世， 提笔撰写。” TONI MORRISON FROM NOBEL PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

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Writing

Philosophy

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.”

J.D. SALINGER

As Salinger so beautifully captures, the written word still wields the power to connect us across time and space.

The right words pull us in. They captivate us. Even before we were able to read, our elders whispered the written word into our young ears and brightened our eyes with worlds and possibilities we had not yet imagined.

At its core, writing connects us to what once was and to the hopes of what tomorrow will bring. It preserves our knowledge and wisdom. It lends shape to our most complex thoughts and internal experiences, allowing them to be shared across space, time, and potential lines of difference. Through writing we explore, challenge, honor, decry, topple, mend, and love. Through the written word we can take others on journeys they had previously never imagined and center ourselves in cozy spaces that feel like home.

One of the most essential aspects of writing is that it is a deeply human experience.

Yes, we can now enter a thought into a computer, and it can return something increasingly complex and accurate. But there is a reason that these words are called artificial. They lack the soul that can only come from our lived experience. And it is in the act of creation, discovery, and refinement that we develop understanding and find our own unique voice.

For all these reasons, we have designed a curriculum that weaves writing instruction, focused practice, and celebration into all parts of our students’ daily education.

We guide them to write every day with purpose and passion. In the pages that follow, we have captured an inside view of the major milestones of our writing curriculum in our Early Learning Center and Lower Division, as well as examples in English, Chinese, and Spanish of the voices and creations of our amazing students.

Beatrix Potter once wrote, “There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” We believe that these are truly words to live by.

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Nursery

IN NURSERY we ignite a passion for writing that illuminates the path to a student’s lifelong literacy in two languages. Before picking up a pencil, students engage with sensory-rich materials such as play dough, sand, and a variety of other manipulatives to develop their fine motor skills and growing awareness of letter shapes and patterns. Students then use these playful explorations and early understandings to practice name writing, fostering in them a sense of pride, ownership, and identity as budding writers.

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Pre-K IN PRE-K students continue on their duallanguage writing journey through multiple, rich modes. They learn foundational skills by closely examining print in their environment as well as through explicit instruction in both phonics and mechanics.

Through the joy of listening to stories, they expand and refine their oral language skills and phonemic awareness and then employ these new skills while engaging in imaginative play and storytelling with peers.

Each of these modes helps students increasingly master the foundations of a writing life—writing their names more expertly, learning high-frequency words, and telling their own early stories.

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Writing has shown me a broader sky.”

Escribir me ha mostrado un cielo más amplio.” 写作让我看到了更广阔 的天空。” 鲁迅 LU XUN

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Kinder– garten IN KINDERGARTEN students transition from writing single words to crafting complete sentences that allow them to communicate and experiment with a wider variety of genres.

Along the way they expand their vocabulary and growing knowledge of phonics, letters and characters, and high-frequency words. They also continue to build their spelling knowledge and transition from uppercase letters to more grammatically correct usage of both the upper and lower cases.

Across the year, students use their newfound skills and understandings to compose narrative stories, sequential “how-to” texts that detail multistep processes, and reflection pieces that help convey their ideas, opinions, and experiences.

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ENGLISH

A kindergarten student writes about their weekend in English.

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SPANISH

A kindergarten student writes about their weekend in Spanish.

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ENGLISH

A kindergarten student writes an informational text about how to make a cupcake in English, sequencing steps and using transition words to connect her ideas.

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SPANISH

A kindergarten student writes an informational text, explaining how to take care of her dog in Spanish, sequencing steps and using transition words to connect her ideas.

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CHINESE

A kindergarten student writes an “All about Me” book in Chinese.

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CHINESE HERITAGE

A kindergarten Chinese heritage student writes an “All about Me” book in Chinese.

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First grade IN FIRST GRADE students continue to grow their writing skills by crafting lists, personal letters, and stories with greater purpose. First graders write sequential narratives that include illustrations, key story elements, and a wider array of transition words and phrases. They work on shaping complete sentences of increasing length and demonstrate increasing command of punctuation and correct spelling.

In addition to narrative writing, first graders also develop their nonfiction writing skills. They write informational texts about expert topics that include multiple chapters, a table of contents, and basic text features that teach their readers all about their chosen topic.

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NARR ATIVE: ENGLISH

A first-grade student writes a sequential narrative about a weekend adventure in English.

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NARR ATIVE: SPANISH

A first-grade student writes a personal narrative about a family trip in Spanish.

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NARR ATIVE: CHINESE

A first-grade Chinese heritage student writes a personal narrative titled “My Spring Break” about a family vacation in Chinese.

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NARR ATIVE: CHINESE HERITAGE

A first-grade Chinese heritage student writes a personal narrative “My Spring Break” in Chinese.

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EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A first-grade student writes a nonfiction book about making a cake in English.

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EXPOSITORY: SPANISH

A first-grade student writes a nonfiction book about their bedroom in Spanish.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE

A first-grade student writes a nonfiction book describing their community in Chinese.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE HERITAGE

A first-grade Chinese heritage student writes a nonfiction book that shares information about Avenues in Chinese.

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Second grade SECOND-GRADE students polish a wide range of writing skills. They learn to carefully shape and organize their writing around a clear beginning, middle, and end. They use a variety of transition words to signal shifts in time, place, or logical direction. In their stories, they experiment with different types of details to describe the setting, actions, and characters.

In their growing study of genre, second graders explore fairy tales by reading and studying classics and well-known adaptations from different cultures. Then they use all they have learned to dream up and write their own unique adaptations. This unit of study pushes them to develop and lift the complexity of their writing by using more varied vocabulary, descriptive language, and dialogue.

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Little Red Broadway Hood In a far away land in the busy streets of New York lived a little girl named Little Red Broadway hood. She had a red bow that her grandma gave her when she was little. She always wore it and she lived right on broadway. Her sheets were read and white they matched her wall paper and her name! People called her Little Red Broadway hood and for short just Little Red. Little Red was so helpful and joyful.

She loved walking around the streets of New York and saying hello to everyone she saw. She also loved passing out flyers to everyone she saw too. Her house was beautiful just like her and she lived with her mom.

Her mom was as sweet as a gummy bear and so was Little Red. Everyone who met her loved her and her mom. If you near her door there’s people all around it because New York is so busy and the streets are narrow. New York is smaller than you think.

One day her mom said, “You know how you and granny have been starring in so many plays? You have one tonight and granny needs you to bring her a costume.

Will you bring it to her?” her mom begged. “Of course I will,” said Little Red. “But remember stay in Times Square don’t go far. Don’t dilly dally on the way and no short cuts! I have your basket,” said mom. “Bye mom,” shouted Little Red. So Little Red shot off. She walked right down the street passing out flyers and saying hi to everyone she met. She was humming and skipping “Hmm mmm mm,” hummed Little Red. Suddenly, a big rat jumped out of the subway. Little Red tried to hand him a flyer. “No, I don’t want a flyer!” “Hey, that was rude. I am only trying to give you a flyer,” Little Red cried. “Well I am a subway rat, I get what I want in this city! So don’t talk to me like that,” the rad said rudely. “You don’t get what you want around here.” Little Red tried not to be rude. “By the way, where are you going?” the rat asked. “Ok, I’m Little Red. I am bringing a prop and costume to my grandma because we are going to star in a play today in the big new theater,” Little Red said politely. “Well you can’t go to a play without a gold sparkle microphone there’s a store down the street you might want to buy a microphone,” the rat convinced her. “I’m going to go get a microphone for a present for granny because granny’s voice is not too loud because she has had a cold. I hope it works. But I need to be in time for the show,” Little Red shouted while running to the store.

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Meanwhile the rat took a shortcut to the new theater on the way to the play the rat sang to himself. “I’m so smart and clever da da da!” On the other hand Little Red was just getting out of the store while the rate was opening the door and rang the theater bell.

Granny said, “come in Red”. Granny came down the stairs and then “grrrrrr” the rat shouted! He locked Granny in the closet with a booom!

The rat got in Granny’s costume made his voice sound like Granny’s “because I’m great at acting” the rat grinned. The rat heard a knock. “Come in Little Red Broadway Hood,” whispered the rat.

“Oh Little Red cried, “Why did you call me Little Red Broadway Hood?

I thought you call me just Little Red.” Little Red was surprised. “Oh my what big ears you have,” Little Red whispered. “The better to hear my fans clap,” the rat replied. “Why do you smell like the subway?” Little Red said.

“Because I travel all over to practice for the show,” the rat was thinking of something to say. Little Red could see that it was not her Granny. “What big teeth you have,” whispered Little Red. “The better to eat your food and you!” cackled the rat.

Little Red backed away with her microphone. The rat jumped out of the costume and almost got Little Red and the microphone but instead the rat humped into the wall and was quite dizzy and fainted. Meanwhile, little Red was looking for Granny all over the place. Finally she heard something in the closet. So Little Red followed the voice and got Granny out of the closet.

The rat started to get up, “The only reason I did all of this is because I wanted to perform in the play too,” the rat said.

Little Red and Granny whispered to each other and decided that the rat could perform in the show too. Granny shared the news with the rat. “You can perform in the show.” Granny whispered because she had a cold and by now could not even speak a lot. “But I hope you have learned your lesson, Little Red never go off the path again,” Granny whispered to Little Red. So Little Red and Granny and the rat performed in the show and after the show everyone loved it the director said. “You can all perform in another show.” Even Mr. Rat was pretty good himself. So from that day on they all performed together and lived happily ever in the busy streets of New York.

NARR ATIVE: ENGLISH

A second-grade student writes a narrative adapting the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood in English.

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NARR ATIVE: ENGLISH

A second-grade student writes a personal narrative about a fun adventure with friends in English.

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NARR ATIVE: SPANISH

A second-grade student writes a narrative about a special day with friends going to the movie theater in Spanish.

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NARR ATIVE: CHINESE

A second-grade student writes a narrative that details a summer trip in Chinese.

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NARR ATIVE: CHINESE HERITAGE

A second-grade Chinese heritage student writes a personal narrative about summertime activities in Chinese.

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Second graders also write informational texts based on research and personal interest.

They compose more developed chapters with precise introductory sentences, multiple supporting facts, and guiding text features such as titles, subheadings, and tables of contents.

EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A second-grade student writes an expository piece about owls in English.

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EXPOSITORY: SPANISH

A second-grade student writes an expository piece about sharks in Spanish.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE

A second-grade student writes an informational text about their favorite food in Chinese.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE HERITAGE

A second-grade Chinese heritage student writes an information text about pizza in Chinese.

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Third grade IN THIRD GRADE students learn to apply their writing skills in increasingly sophisticated ways.

They craft sequential narratives with clear openings, meaningful conclusions, and a range of details such as dialogue, inner thinking, and descriptive language—all in support of the message they want to communicate. Their writing also includes longer, more complex sentences; begins to experiment more with paragraphing; and follows appropriate conventions, such as using quotation marks and commas to indicate dialogue.

Third graders continue to hone their informational writing skills through research papers on topics of their choice. They organize their research and original thinking to progress through an in-depth exploration that includes multiple chapters and a meaningful conclusion. They use text features such as section headers, pictures, captions, and diagrams to more fully develop their overall idea and its subtopics.

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The Diving Adventure One day we screeched out of the house and into our car we were going diving.

I thought to myself, I was so glad that they let me dive today even though you had to be ten and I was only seven. I was so excited! When we got there I gazed down into the water and saw eels “Eech!” I screeched. We met our diving instructor who helped us into the water. Our dads also helped us in.

As soon as I was in we went a little deeper I saw a parrot fish. We went a little deeper and spotted a shark! It was a gray fin shark. They are about one meter big!

We also saw a puffer fish. Our dive teacher said “Guys watch out for the pufferfish.

I think it is laying eggs so if you get too close it might bite you.” So we swam past and we saw the pufferfish eggs. They were so small and cute. We kept swimming and saw a baby seahorse. It was so tiny and an amazing sight. “Yaaa”, I shouted.

We swam a lot further and saw other miraculous animals.

After we were a lot further we went past some amazing old rocks. It was an incredible view! My diving teacher shrieked in shock and said, “guys look how interesting the rocks are.” I looked to my right and saw rocks. “They are so unusual,” I said.Then the diving teacher noticed my little brother snorkeling right next to us. “It looks like a heart,” my little brother screamed pointing at the rock.

My little brother surprised us when he shouted and almost scared us to death.

Then I noticed he was right it did look alot like a heart with a face.

There were alot of fishes twirling around and swimming around us. The fish were colorful and different shapes and sizes. Then I noticed there was a huge eel.

I got so scared I asked, “Can we swim a little to the left? There’s an eel right next to us!” But, the diving teacher exclaimed, “It’s okay.” So just to be safe I stared at the eel. About three seconds later the eel ate three fishes at once. I got even more scared and asked again “please can we move to the left?” The instructor announced “Okay”. So we moved to the left away from the eel.

After that we swam back to the starting point. When we got there I saw our dad waiting for us. I felt so grateful about diving. But I was also a little sad because it had ended. I shouted that it was the best day ever! At first I was scared but at the end of the day I felt proud of myself and I really wanted to do it all over again.

NARR ATIVE: ENGLISH

A third-grade student writes a narrative about a diving experience in English.

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Barcelona Yo empezó a brincar para sentar en la montura. Era la primera vez que yo montare un caballo. El caballo que yo era montando fue Barcelona. Tenía un color de piel que era bayo con un rayo blanco en su cara con blanco en los patas y con pelo negro. Yo era muy muy nerviosa.

Mis manos eran mojados porque yo era sudado. Tambien mi cabeza era muy sudado porque yo tenía un casco negro en mi cabeza.

Yo era en la montura haciendo nada. –Yo no está lista.– Yo pensaba. Pero la instructor le di a mi para tener calma y le dije a mí: –Ivy, dice WALK a Barcelona. Y después Barcelona va a mover.Entonces yo dije:–¡WALK!–¡Yo era sorprendiddad porque Barrecelona estaba caminando! Entoncesy yo grito al otro lado del arean y dije:–¿Como vueltas?– Ella le dije cómo vueltas:–Si mueve tus manos en la dirección que quieres mover a tu caballo, que es Barcelona muévete a este dirección.– ¡Entonces yo traté y Barcelona moví! ¡Fue alrededor del arena y este tiempo no di para ayuda!

Era la primera vez que yo montado un caballo. Mis manos no eran mas sudados.

Yo sigue montando Barcelona, yo pensaba que era mejrando en la segundo. Mis manos eran en los riendas y cuando accidentalmente se hacía un pequeño halar Barcelona se para. Pero yo sabía como caminar.

Entonces yo dije -¡WALK!- Y con mis piernas yo hice un chiquito dando pierda en la montura a Barcelona para caminar otra vez. Sentí corgullosa porque yo parendí algo nuevo. Pero yo tenía quince minutos mas.

Una de los instructores enseñe me como hacer 2 point. ¡Y yo era haciendo 2 point y caminando al mismo vez!

–Buen trabajo, Ivy.–Una instructora le dije Ezra tiempo para dejar las montura y yo era muy nerviosa porque yo no sabía como bajar de las monturas.

Pero yo tenía que hacerlo porque otros personas querían montar Barcelona.

Entonces yo dije: –¿Como debes bajar la montura?– –Ivy, tú tienes que tener tu pierna izquierda en la estribo y con tú pierna derecha tú vas a ir arriba de la montura y al tierra.–Dijo una instructora.

Entonces yo giré mi pierna derecha muy despacio al tierra con mis manos en el riendas y yo di un gran saltó al tierra.

Yo era orgullosa que yo aprende como montar caballo.

NARR ATIVE: SPANISH

A third-grade student writes a narrative about her first time horseback riding in Spanish.

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和朋友一起玩 你有和朋友一起过夜吗？ 我有，我还记得我和我的朋友白球一起 过夜。 今年八月的一天，我，妈妈和弟弟开车去了白球的家，因为我 要接白球。 天气是晴天，也很热。 我们和白球回家踢足球。 我很开心， 因为我可以和白球玩。 我们踢足球，可是我们忘记了足球！我们快快的回家拿足球。 白 球和我的弟弟在海边找到了我们以前我们找不到的足球！所以我们 会到海边踢足球。 我们踢足球的时候白球把球踢向球门！是一比零。 然后我的弟弟踢向球门。 现在是一比一。 六十分钟到了，我们回家吃 饭。 我们吃了寿司。 我们吃了三文鱼寿司，牛油果寿司和吞拿鱼寿 司。 接下来我们去了海边游泳。 我们看到一个海盗船的残骸写了1334在上面! 我们抬起来的时 候我的手黑色了。 我不知道为什么有黑色。 但是我和白球要在水里 洗我们的手。 所以我们游泳了。 海浪非常大，是我看见的最大的！海 浪比我大！我和白球游泳的时候，我们看见鱼。 海浪倒在我的头上， 很好玩。 我们玩了羽毛球。 是我和白球和我的爸爸和我的弟弟。 我和 白球一比九赢了！一个小时之后我们回家因为我们要玩一个游戏。 最后，我们吃三文鱼，白球很喜欢三文鱼，白球喜欢睡觉，他也喜 欢赢。 吃完的时候我们睡觉了。 我们很开心，因为我们可以和我们的 朋友玩。

NARR ATIVE: CHINESE

A third-grade student writes a personal narrative story about a sleepover in Chinese.

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我去太阳城的一天 你去过太阳城吗？ 太阳城是南京的一个很大的商场。 我还记得我 去太阳城玩儿的一次。 今年夏天八月的一天下午，吃完午饭十二点半，我和弟弟赶快换 了衣服，因为我，弟弟，妈妈，和爸爸要准备开车去太阳城。 我很激动 因为这是我的第一次去太阳城。 到车上以后，我都可以闻到外面的 暖气。 天气是晴天。 我们慢慢的开下山。 上了高速的时候，我们没有开几分钟就 到了。 太阳城好大！有好多玩儿的地方。 也有很多吃饭的地方。 里 面其中一个玩的地方是Meland。 我一看就觉得好玩儿。 我冲进了 Meland。我们赶快的报到，脱了鞋子，迫不及待的跑进了放海洋球 的地方。 我看到了一个又大又黄的滑滑梯，看起来很好玩儿，所以我 就跑到滑滑梯的楼梯下面，然后慢慢的开始爬上楼梯，到滑滑梯的 最上面的时候，我坐在滑滑梯边边然后快快地划下了黄色的滑滑 梯，我觉得很玩儿，所以又玩儿了一次，我要玩儿第二次的时候，我 的弟弟跑过来对我说： “你想跟我玩儿吗？ ”我说： “可以。 ”我们玩儿 的很开心。 我们玩儿到一半的时候，妈妈叫我们选冰淇淋。 我说： “我 想吃饼干和奶油。 ”我的弟弟说了： “草莓冰淇淋。 ” 妈妈给我买了饼干和奶油。 妈妈给我的弟弟买了草莓冰淇淋没 有几分钟，我们的冰淇淋都到了。 我和我的弟弟慢慢的吃我们的冰 淇淋。 我们吃完冰淇淋后，我们又玩儿了一会儿。 我们的妈妈叫了我 们回家，所以我们跑到妈妈那边然后穿了外套然后穿了鞋子。 我们 走到了电梯口，按了大堂。 电梯到了后，我们走进了电梯按了到了一 楼的时候，我们走到了我们的车然后开回家了。 这就是我去太阳城的第一次的故事。 我希望我下一个夏天还可 以再来玩儿一次。

NARR ATIVE: CHINESE HERITAGE

A third-grade Chinese heritage student writes a story about their trip to a mall in Nanjing, China in Chinese.

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“

Instructions for living a life: Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

Instrucciones para vivir la vida: Presta atención Asómbrate.

Cuéntalo.” 生活指南：

发现美， 欣赏美， 分享美。”

MARY OLIVER FROM “SOMETIMES”

EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A third-grade student writes an expository text about ice skating in English.

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Third-grade students also advance their persuasive writing through a formal study of essay structure and style. In their own work, they learn to produce clear thesis statements supported by evidence and examples drawn from personal experience and research alike, all in service of growing the quality and volume of their writing.

Why More Recess is Essential for Students Imagine you are in class all day doing your best working and focusing. You have so much energy in your body. When you go to lunch you get another burst of energy. It gets worse, and then you only have twenty to thirty minutes of recess. That’s definitely not enough time to get all of your energy out. This is why kids have so much energy when they get back to class after recess. Well, I am going to tell you why we should have extra recess and why we need it. I strongly believe we need more recess because we work so hard all day and we deserve it, it helps us be more productive in class and most importantly it helps us be a better friend.

One reason we need more recess is we’re learning non-stop all day. I think we deserve to have more recess time. Imagine you are working all day nonstop on writing, math and reading. With all the work we do we definitely deserve more recess. Since we are working this hard in class we should get more time to hang out with our friends outside and play. Do you wonder how much work we actually do? We actually do a lot of work every single day. We are doing our school work from 8am until 3pm with just one short lunch and recess break. That isn’t fair! Studies show that it is important for kids to have a balance of work time and free time. I strongly believe that since we work so hard all day we should have a little more free time to be creative, socialize and give our brain a break from schoolwork.

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Another reason we should have more recess is recess helps us be more productive in class. For example, if we had more recess, it would allow me to focus better during work time. If we have extra recess, we can be more calm and focused during class.

Now, we only have twenty to thirty minutes of recess because of transition time. When we get back to class, we still have lots of energy so we can’t focus. When class starts teachers need students to not be running around during work time because they need to be focused while doing their work. Here’s the thing, if we have extra recess, we wouldn’t be making sounds during work time or talking with a friend. If we had more recess, we wouldn’t be fooling around. Just the other day so many kids in my class, including me, were not focused on their work and just talking and playing games. I think if we had more recess we wouldn’t be doing this, we would be more focused and we would be able to learn even more!

Finally, one more reason we should have more recess is it helps us to be a better friend. For example, it helps us with friendship because we are playing with other people and we can make new friends. When we go to recess we get to spend time with friends that aren’t in our class who we don’t see all day. I bet you really want us to make more friends. With the more friends we get, we can introduce them to other friends that we have. With all the friends you make, you can make an even bigger and better group of friends. Recess also helps us with teamwork which is an important part of being a friend. For example, if we are playing a sport such as soccer, our team has to pass the ball around and try to score goals. This will help us with group work in school as well. Recess also helps you to learn how to include people.

If you are playing tag and someone asked to play with you then you have to say yes.

Almost every day the teachers have to tell kids to include other people and that is important. So if we have more recess, kids can practice including people and learn how to be a better friend.

In conclusion, I really believe we need more recess in our school day. As you can see recess helps us be more focused and productive in class. We try our best every day in class in all different subjects so we totally deserve a break and more time to run around and play. Recess also helps us learn important skills like being kind, inclusive and overall a better friend. Therefore, when you make the schedule in the summer, please seriously consider adding more recess time to our school schedule.

EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A third-grade student writes a persuasive essay about recess in English.

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EXPOSITORY: SPANISH

A third-grade student writes an informational text about chocolate in Spanish.

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EXPOSITORY: SPANISH

A third-grade student writes an informational text about birds in Spanish.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE

A third-grade student writes an information text about chameleons in Chinese.

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Fourth grade 54

IN FOURTH GRADE students expand their narrative writing with engaging leads, meaningful and connected conclusions, and details such as feelings, inner thinking, and more vivid descriptive language.

For sequential tasks, they practice using paragraphing and more complex transition words and phrases to organize their ideas and guide their readers.

A Trip to the Delaware River It was a hot summer day in New Jersey. The grass was so green it looked unreal.

Me and my family were going kayaking in the Delaware River. I wasn’t really sure if I was nervous or excited. All of my emotions were just swirling around in my mind like ingredients in a pot.

When we got there, we weren’t surprised that there were so many people.

And we waited. And waited. And waited. Until… “Leon Wang.” The clerk called.

We got a backpack full of supplies, and slung it over our shoulders. Next, we got our life jackets, but I didn’t like it, because it was so tight, but the clerk said it was for my own protection.

After we got on all our gear, we walked down a rocky cobblestone path to listen to instructions. I wasn’t really paying attention, but my ears perked up when I heard the instructor add something like: “—five drownings, but all of them didn’t have life jackets, or they wanted to swim.”

At that point that pot was pretty much full of nervousness, but I forgot all about it when we got in our kayaks. Me and my dad went together in a beautiful blue ocean wave kayak, and my mom and Kara went in a blood red sunset kayak. As soon as we started rowing, we immediately realized that rowing was useless. The river current pushed us downstream, so either we were relaxing, or we were trying to stop us from going too fast because we wanted to enjoy it.

“Woohoooo!” I yelled happily as I flailed my arms in the air. So far, I was enjoying it.

After that, it was just scenery, and that is exactly when I realized why my parents were so into the view of everything. It was so beautiful, it looked like an amazing utopia.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE A while later, we saw a broken bridge that apparently was really important, because it was an artifact from a long time ago. We saw a graffiti hill, which was really cool, because we could see a bunch of people still spray painting the hill. We also saw an island in the middle of the river, and it reminded me of those tropical island paradises. But sadly we couldn’t get off to check it out.

An hour passed by, and we never got bored of the river. There was simply too much to see. At one point I spotted a piece of kelp.

“Hey, what’s on that piece of kelp?” I wondered as I saw something small standing on it. I looked closer, and I saw that on the piece of kelp was a blue dragonfly with an iridescent broken wing. My instincts kicked in, and next thing I know, there’s a dragonfly on my fingers. I held my breath, because I was afraid it would fly away, but it didn’t, probably because it had a bended wing. I looked closer, and I saw a sparkle in it’s humongous eyes.

“Guys, look!” I yelled as he (I decided it was a boy) started to slowly crawl onto my palm. “I’m holding a dragonfly!”

“Whoa!” Kara yelled back. “Can I see it?”

“Come over here then!” I shouted. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was holding a dragonfly, or that the animals thought I was talking to them, because suddenly, a crowd of dragonflies went everywhere on the kayak, and now the kayak looked so different it reminded me of a chameleon with sea green scales.

After a while they left, because I guess they got bored. Then we started to get tired because we’ve been on the kayak for so long, our legs were getting cramps. We went to the side of the river to take a break. As we were resting, I realized that the river current wasn’t as strong as it was before, because we were getting to a flatter part of the river, so I knew that I had to put the dragonfly on the side, because I needed to paddle. Plus, I can’t do that with a dragonfly on my hand. I put the dragonfly on a leaf, hoping that the other dragonflies would come and take care of it.

Once we got back on the river, my parents decided to head to the finish. The instructor said we would have to get to a little beach that was sunken into the side of the river, so we just headed down the stream.

On the way, me and my dad decided to go a scary route, which was going through branches and tree trunks. We made it out safely, and we also saw a school of tadpoles that were swimming around. I thought it was really cool, so I stood up and started rowing like the time that I went to the lake house in the Poconos.

At last, we saw the beach that would represent the end. We got on the bus that brought us back to our car. It felt like it ended so fast, it felt like it was the speed of light. But I knew that even though it ended as fast as a snap, I knew we would come back for more, and more, and even more breathtaking surprises.

NARR ATIVE: ENGLISH

A fourth-grade student writes a personal narrative about a trip to the Delaware River in English.

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Mi Amigo Peludo Mi perro Baxter murió tres años atrás.

El era negro con una barriga blanco y el era un chucho. Yo, mi hermana y mi mamá estaban pensando que era hora de un nuevo perro, pero mi papá no estaba de acuerdo. Pero yo, mi hermana y mi mamá ya encontramos un perro en un sitio de web de encontrar perros. La mamá de Foster vivía en Chappaqua que era cerca a donde estaba viviendo. El perro se llamaba Sinatra en este momento pero a mi hermana le gusta el nombre Lenny.

Lenny tiene pelo dorado con una barriga blanco, una nariz blanco con cachetes, una línea blanca entre sus ojos y él era muy lindo. Eventualmente yo, mi hermana y mi mamá convencemos a mi papá a decir si.

Era el día que yo estaba esperando por tres años, era el día de conocer a mi perro. Yo no pude controlar mi energía. Yo estaba escuchando la música de Hamilton mientras ordenaba cosas porque eso hacía yo a parar a pensar en él pero. El viaje a la casa del perro fue brutal porque yo ya no tenía ni una onza de paciencia en mi cuerpo. Después de tres años finalmente llegó el momento de conocer a mi amigo peludo. No puedo sentarme quieto, una de las experiencias más importantes de mi vida estaba en dos respiraciones.

Mi familia y yo estábamos entrando al parque de coches de la casa de Lenny. La casa era grande con un jardín pequeño y había dos perros en ese jardín. Uno de los perros era… ¡LENNY! Yo abrí la puerta del carro cuidadosamente para no asustar a los perritos. Los dos perros empezaron

a ladrar el otro perro era un bernese mountain dog, el tiene pelo negro y marron con un naris blanco y un estomago blanco.

Yo empecé a caminar muy lento en dirección de los perros. Lenny era el más lindo perro que yo había visto en mi vida.

Lenny era un cachorrito muy energético y el estaba muy emocionado de conocerlo y a mi familia pero él no sabía que él iba a permanecer con nosotros por toda su vida.

Los dos íbamos a cambiar por siempre.

Lenny camina con nosotros lentamente hasta la carro la mamá de foster estaba diciendo adiós Lenny salte en la carro y empecé a manejar.

El viaje a la casa era muy divertido para mi y mi hermana pero para Lenny el viaje era muy triste. Lenny estaba muy nervioso en el carro porque el no sabia que estaba pasando. En cuanto llegamos a la casa, Lenny hizo pipi en la alfombra. Era obvio que no se sentía cómodo en su nuevo hogar. Para ser lo peor, Lenny era muy aventurado pero él todavía era un bebe.

Entonces él no sabía que podía caer en la piscina. De repente Lenny corrió para la piscina y saltó —¡Noooooo!— yo exclamé.

Salté en la piscina detrás de Lenny pero él empezó a nadar y no era problema.

Después de eso Lenny, empezó a calmar un poco.

En el final del día Lenny estaba muy agotado porque eso es un gran día para una pequeño cachorrito como Lenny.

Yo estaba muy emocionado por las experiencias que voy a tener con Lenny entonces yo aprendí que yo amo a Lenny pero extraño a Baxter.

NARR ATIVE: SPANISH

A fourth-grade student writes a personal narrative about their experience of getting a new puppy in Spanish.

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蘑菇青蛙 今天我会给你说一个好玩的故事,这个故事发生在 2022 年的春 天,在我的学校——爱文学校的美术课上,在美术课上,我们做了一个 很可爱的,绿色和蓝色的蘑菇青蛙。

首先,我躺在床上,睁开了我的眼睛,“是什么时间?”我问妹妹。 我 我穿完了以 的妹妹开心地说:“7:23!”我跳到地上,然后穿我的衣服。 后,我去刷牙,然后穿上鞋子和爸爸,妹妹和弟弟一起来到学校。 接着, 我把我的书包放进柜子里走进教室。 “你好!”我说。 张老师说:“你好, 刘天晶,你要做早上练习。 ”我拿着我的早上练习纸坐在我的椅子上, 然后我开始用铅笔写字词。 做完早上练习后,我们班去了美术课。 “你 好,胡老师!“我高兴地说,“今天我们会做什么?”我问。 “今天我们会 用橡皮泥做动物。 ”她说。我们走进美术教室里坐下来。 胡老师又说:

“你们先要用不同颜色的橡皮泥做不同的动物。 ”所以我拿了一个 绿色的橡皮泥,做了一个大圆球和两个小圆球,我把这些圆球放在一 起,做了一只绿色的青蛙。 “少了一个东西!”我想,“哦,我知道了!”我 又在青蛙的头上加了一个蘑菇帽子。 我笑了起来。 美术课上完以后, 我带着我的蘑菇青蛙回家了。 今天我很开心,因为我做了一个我最爱的蘑菇青蛙!我希望你也 会做一个可爱的蘑菇青蛙。

NARR ATIVE: CHINESE

A fourth-grade student writes a narrative story about a memory from art class in Chinese.

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Alexandra’s Angel 今天,我要来说一说我的文物的故事。 我的文物是一张收养马证 为什么我要写这张收养马的 书。 我是在 Assateague Island 得到的。 证书呢?因为它让我想起了我的马 Alexandra’s Angel 的故事。 我记得那是一个冷冷的一天。 “铃铃铃!” “快起床!”听到我 爸爸叫我,我飞快地起床。 我快乐地跳上跳下,因为我和家人要去 Assateague Island 看马。

到了 Assateague Island 后,我和家人首先看到了一匹野马。 我 从来没看过一匹野马,就快快地给它拍了一片照片。 然后,我们到了 游客中心, 我看到了一个文件夹,里面有很多野马的照片,上面写着 它们的名字、颜色和它们几岁。 我爸爸说:“你要领养一匹马吗?”我兴 奋地说:“要!”

我选了一匹漂亮的马,但是爸爸说:“这匹马快死了,请你选 另外一个。 ”我伤心地说:“好的。 ”我再看了一次文件夹,找到了 Alexandra’s Angel。我选了它,因为它很漂亮,它的毛的颜色是浅棕 色,它的毛很长。 最后我们去 Park Ranger 买了 Alexandra’s Angel。

这就是我的文物的故事。 虽然我没有看到真的 Alexandra’s Angel, 但是我有一个照片。我很开心,因为我领养了一匹马,我也拍 到了很多马的照片。 我写这个故事是想让你知道更多关于我喜欢的 东西,比如我喜欢马,也喜欢和我的家人一起玩。

NARR ATIVE: CHINESE HERITAGE

A fourth-grade Chinese heritage student writes a narrative story about their favorite personal artifact in Chinese.

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Fourth-grade students continue to hone their analytical skills through literary essays. They shape claims, gather relevant and compelling text evidence, and weave in summaries, examples, and theme analysis to expand and deepen their thinking and essay-writing skills.

Fourth graders also produce historical fiction diaries.

They conduct in-depth research in two languages and across a variety of sources and then weave their findings into their work. By writing from the perspective of societal roles—such as a pharaoh or scribe in ancient Egypt— students gain a deeper understanding of the period, the lives of those in it, and the writing skills to bring it alive.

Dangers of Littering Imagine the streets filled with disgusting terribly smelling garbage. Many people only clean up litter because they think it is just ugly, but litter has terrible impacts on the earth and all living things. Many people know that littering is bad for the environment, but do they really know the true and bad impacts of littering? I’ve come to know that littering is one of the worst things for our environment because litter kills animal habitats and animals themselves, people will eventually need to wear oxygen masks due to litter, and litter can poison drinking water and can also clog drainage systems.

One reason why litter is one of the worst things for our environment is litter kills animal habitat and animals themselves. When cans are left in the wild or water for a bit, the aluminum on the outside can peel off and go into the water that people might use as their water supply. Then after the aluminum peels off the can it goes into ocean habitat and kills animals in the ocean. When animals drink this water they can be poisoned and maybe die, animals that swim in this water can also be poisoned by the environment that surrounds them. When trash is thrown away animals sometimes eat it. People who eat meat or swim in the ocean have been scientifically proven and written in the article, “Why we need to stop litter” from Youngzine, that they have millions of microplastics in their internal gut. If animals have microplastics in their body and people eat these animals, more micro plastics can transfer into their bodies and affect the breathing of the person that the micro plastics have infected. Study has shown that multiple people that litter regularly have no idea about the effect that litter has on the environment,from the article, “The Impacts of Littering” Litter affects everyone and everything that is living.

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Another reason that litter is terrible for our environment is that litter can clog drainage systems.When litter is thrown to the floor and especially in places that have stronger air

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE currents (Which means air that is moving) Litter can be moved by the wind to the lowest part of the street,the drain. Have you ever seen drains in big cities with lots of litter like NYC, well if you haven’t they have covers on them with lines so that litter can not go into the drains and clog the drainage systems, but water can still enter and prevent flooding.

Small towns or countries whose drains do not have these covers that prevent flooding have yearly active and current floods that continue through the 365 days of the year. In the small island Trinidad And Tobago, they have multiple floods a year because of their drains. Their drains do not have covers, their drains are on the side of the road and are big long and thick lines on the road. Additionally, most sinks have food disposals. These food crushing machines are not made for garbage. As a result, when people put their foul smelling garbage in their food waste disposal this can lead to clogging their water pipes and when multiple people are doing this it can lead to neighborhood clogging and flooding in homes and streets. What is neighborhood clogging? Well, it is when a neighborhood is flooding due to the people that live in it. People that do not litter or try to help by cleaning up have to experience the floods caused by litter. This is why WE should stop littering.

The last reason that litter is terrible is that it pollutes the air. In a short period of time people will need to wear a life support machine. By 2040 if we do not change how we treat our environment our world will be black, everyone will be constantly coughing.

This statement is scientifically proven to be true from “Texas disposal systems”. Micro plastics are also a big problem. When litter decomposes into micro plastics it can transfer into the air that we breathe and transfer into the human microbiome and can infect the human system and breathing. So when you breathe imagine little tiny miniature pieces of plastic entering your microbiome. Additionally when litter decomposes it can go into the soil and poison it and kill anything that is planted there.

When it rains and the water goes inside the soil and it evaporates the litter will be picked up into the sky and pollute the air. When this cycle ends it repeats until the air is black and polluted. Another reason that we will need to wear oxygen masks are cars, gas powered cars in specific. When an engine starts gas is released, when cars were first invented the air was filled with gas, people thought that cars were the new trend, in this period of time the air was filled with killing carbon dioxide, the air was fixed and now it’s falling apart again. Deforestation. What is this word? Deforestation is when large areas of trees are harvested, when trees are cut down, they release the carbon dioxide that they have collected. When we breathe we release carbon dioxide, trees take in this gas and turn it into oxygen, what happens to the carbon dioxide that they have collected?

Well it stays inside of them, so when trees are cut down they release carbon dioxide that they have collected and turn into the air that we can breathe.

People can learn that littering is bad in many ways, articles, people and many more.

One has to wonder, why is littering unacceptable, well litter is awful for the environment, can jam up sewers and in a short amount of time we will all need to wear breathing apparatus. People like me care about the environment, I believe that everyone needs to.

Stop trying to make litter happen. Put waste in the right place. Keep our community clean. Clean for today, clean for tomorrow. Do you care about the environment?

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A fourth-grade student writes a persuasive essay about littering in English.

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Drawn Together Under a Magnifier Some moments of you with your family can often be special, not only to you, but to others too. The memories of that moment will always be there, unforgettable and irreplaceable. Like the moment you have just uncovered a connection, even after years of persevering to try and find it. Or the moment where all the things you could never say come pouring out, not in the form of words, but drawing. The book Drawn Together by Minh Le is about the struggle of a young boy and his grandfather trying to communicate with each other. After being dropped off at his grandfather’s place, the boy is unhappy. Then, once both boy and grandpa start drawing, a new world opens in front of them. Drawn Together teaches us about how perseverance, fighting past your differences, and trying to find connections can help us get through multiple challenges in life.

After persevering over and over, the boy and his grandfather finally figure out their common ground, drawing. This is a very important breakthrough in their relationship, they can finally find a way to communicate with each other. In the book it says “This time, I’m not afraid, because I know that together we can make our way across.”

This quote shows the result of continuously persevering through challenges. You must both have the self control to not give up, and the confidence to keep you going. The boy and his grandfather probably wished to not have had the major differences that they did have, yet they didn’t complain over it. They kept preserving and in the end, succeeded. This shows that perseverance is the main key to unlocking the door of hard relationships.

The boy and his grandfather had many differences, some very rare and some very common. The rare differences separating them from connecting with each other, while the common differences are barely visible. The rare difference is mainly different languages. Although many families speak the same language, some families with immigrants in them cannot learn the home country’s language. Most likely, the boy’s grandfather is an immigrant and cannot speak the

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE language of the boy (who had time to learn the home country’s language). For example, when the boy says “ So, what’s new Grandpa?” and the grandpa responds by saying “..............?” in a different language. Skipping to the end, that grandfather and son finally communicate.

One of the main reasons for this is because the grandfather and son accepted their differences and life the way it was and kept persevering in spite of this.

Something that is common between both the grandfather and son is that they both were trying to find a connection between themselves. As John Heywood once said “ Two brains are better than one.” An example of this statement in the book is when the boy thinks “Now, after years of searching for the right words, we find ourselves happily speechless.” This means that their search for a connection/ for common ground has finally succeeded. The boy and his grandfather have succeeded not individually but together. Before trying to uncover their connection, they did not have a purpose to continue going/persevering. The idea that there might be a connection between them served as their purpose for years, until they found a common ground. This proves the point that you should always try to look on the bright side, and keep trying to connect with someone you have a bad relationship with, especially if it is family.

The book Drawn Together by Minh Le is about the struggle of a young boy and his grandfather trying to communicate with each other. It teaches us about how perseverance, fighting past your differences, and trying to find connections can help us get through multiple challenges in life. Drawn Together is an honest example of the relationships you can make, just from one connection. The boy and his grandfather prove this by expanding their relationship, only using drawing as their tool of communication. The book shows everyone that you should never give up, and instead of complaining about a problem, search for a solution to the problem.

EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A fourth-grade student writes a literary essay highlighting the important themes they recognized after reading a short story in English.

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EXPOSITORY: SPANISH

A fourth-grade student writes an informational text about an aspect of Mayan Civilization.

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“

The duty of writers is not to preserve language, but to pave its way in history.”

El deber de los escritores no es conservar el lenguaje, sino abrirle camino en la historia.” 作家的职责不是保存语 言，而是在历史中开辟语 言的道路。” GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ CIEN AÑOS DE SOLEDAD (100 YEARS OF SOLITUDE)

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE

A fourth-grade student writes an informational text about dolphins in Chinese.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE HERITAGE

A fourth-grade Chinese heritage student writes an informational text about the Great Wall of China in Chinese.

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Fifth grade IN FIFTH GRADE students compose their narrative writing with growing precision and intention. They skillfully employ action, dialogue, inner thinking, feelings, and figurative language to provide characterization. They use paragraphing to clarify transitions and advance their plot. They study mentor texts to learn and try out more complex narrative strategies, such as establishing clear problems, shaping plot around rising action and resolution, and weaving in openings and conclusions that establish and then expand upon a larger meaning or theme.

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HYDRA “Bruh, you going?” I inquired, fidgeting with a bottle of Coke.

“Prob,” replied Liam, mouth stuffed. He was finishing up his ice cream. Our camp was on a field trip to Dorney Park, a first-rate amusement park. I gazed at the Talon as we sat on the rusty, steel chairs of Dippin’ Dots. I was still quite dazed from riding on it. I pulled out the glossy map, trying to find a worthy ride to go on. I gulped down my last spoonful of those tiny specks of ice cream and chucked it in the bin.

As I watched the paper cup soar into the trash, “Done,” informed Liam, making me jump. I heard the dull thunk that told me my cup made it into the trash.

“Nice throw,” he complimented, still trying to find eye contact with me.

“Alright,” said a deeper voice, “let’s go.” I plummeted off my chair. Twirling my head, I noticed that Ollie, my counselor, had sneaked up on us.

“You good?” asked Liam, dazed from the jump-scare.

“Ollie…” I scolded jokingly, “you shook us!” Just then, Nugget trotted over.

“Whatcha doin’?” asked Nugget, somehow joining the conversation.

“Uh,” muttered a confused Liam. “Dunno.”

“Ready to go?” requested Ollie. Squawk! I suddenly heard. Looking up, I saw a flock of dust gray birds, contrasting against the fluffy white clouds, flying off somewhere beyond the Cyclone. As I looked up, I took a deep breath, taking in the aroma of fresh air. It was normal for me to smell that now. My mouth feeling dry, I opened it to get some breeze in it, suddenly tasting the faint remains of my Dippin’ Dots, mixed with the fresh wind taste.

“Max…” said Liam, his head shaking in disbelief, “what are you up to now?” I jerked my head back, out of my daze.

“Uh, yeah?” I questioned, “I don’t know.”

“Kay, let’s go now,” hurried Nugget.

“Hold up!” said someone behind us. We looked back and saw Sonny coming over.

“Heard you were gonna go on the Hydra,” informed Sonny, apparently joining the rides group.

We finally paced towards the Hydra, eager to ride it.

When we arrived at the gates of the Hydra, the operator beckoned Nugget over and pulled out a multicolored height stick.

We held our breath as Nugget trotted up to the stick.

“Too short,” grunted the operator. I looked at the stick. Disbelief washed over me.

Nugget was just an inch short!

“No!” cried Nugget hysterically. “No!” “Sorry, but you wouldn’t fit in the seat safely,” droned the operator, with no sign of empathy whatsoever.

“Aww, does that mean we can’t go on the ride?” questioned the rest of us, worried that we wouldn’t have any other rides to go on. The petite baby birds up in the tree hanging over the gates started chirping, though somehow sounding melancholy like they could understand what was going on.

“Uh,” started Ollie. Just then, as if he heard our pleas, Matt, our other counselor, came over.

“Can you look after Nugs?” asked Ollie discreetly, like he didn’t want Nugget to hear him. Ollie seemed to then tell Matt the story. A gust of wind flew by.

“Okay,” replied Matt, adjusting his Nike baseball cap he always wore.

“Nugget, here,” nodded Matt, with a face of understanding.

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE “Nugs, tell you what,” said Liam, “we will ride the Talon after we’re done.”

“Fine,” grumbled Nugget, still looking miserable. I could feel the guilt in the air.

As we watched Nugget and Matt stroll to the arcade, Liam and I looked at each other.

Liam shrugged.

“Let’s go in guys,” said Sonny, shaking his leg impatiently. We walked into the gates, glancing over our shoulders for a few seconds, then getting into line.

The line was quite long, and it snaked around some bushes of mysterious plants.

I saw another camp in front of us. They were wearing red shirts with their camp name on the back.

“What’s that camp doing here?” inquired Liam, looking at Ollie with a confused face.

“They came here I guess?” replied Ollie, questioning himself.

Finally, as we got to the front, I chugged down the rest of my Coke I was storing in my bag and binned it.

“Put your bags in this thingy,” instructed Ollie.

“Erm, ok,” said Liam, heaving his bag into the rusty metal locker that was labeled “Blue”.

“We’re gonna go on the Blue train,” explained Ollie, noticing the questioning gaze Liam wore.

I pushed my worn out bag into the locker and headed to the platform.

“Sonny and I will share a section and you guys will share the one in front of us.”

We headed for our section gates.

I heard some rumbles as the train screeched into the station. It wasn’t what I expected.

The train wasn’t on any tracks, instead, it was hanging on a metal bar in the air.

“Everybody off!” hollered the ride manager. We waited until the train emptied, then walked in.

I gulped. This was going to be the longest time I’ve ever been upside down.

The train started scaling a steep slope. I kept looking up, expecting to drop any minute.

Looking to my right, I saw the stunning landscape of Allentown. The breezy air engulfed me as we climbed up. Birds soared in the sky. Suddenly, we jerked down! All I saw now was a blur of green and blue, with a dash of white. I felt like I was in a painting.

After a minute or so, the feeling of being disoriented swept away as we went back right side up. We were in a forest of some sort, with tall, rough trees. We rumbled forward.

The light blue sky peeked out again as we shifted ahead. Fluffy clouds hovered in the air.

“Wow!” said Liam, clutching his stomach, “That was fun but nauseating.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

NARR ATIVE: ENGLISH

A fifth-grade student writes a personal narrative about their experience at an amusement park in English.

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Pies bajo silla ¡Crash! ¡Boom! Yo podía oler la espuma de la ola Tumbleweed, la ola más grande del Cañón Alberton. Desde las aguas de corriente rápida yo apenas podía ver los árboles sobreviviendo contra todo pronóstico en la inclinación de la gravilla suelta.

Yo podía sentir la suda en mi frente aferrándose allí con las gotas de agua. Mis manos apretaron en mi remo acercándome a Tumbleweed y puse mis pies bajo las sillas de la balsa.

—¡Adelante todos! —gritó nuestro guía, empezando a remar.

Nuestra balsa chocó contra la ola.

Todo el tiempo paro.

Yo recordé mi error gigante hace tres días. Mi papá me había preguntado —yo quiero ir de rafting por el cañón alberton, ¿qué tal tu?

—Si, eso es una idea muy buena —había respondido.

Mi mente planeaba a otra escena, mi papá contándome la historia de cuando él fue por el cañón Alberton.

Sus palabras se repitieron en mi mente: «Cuando mi kayak chocó contra la ola, yo fui volando en el aire. no sabía dónde iba, mi cuerpo se chocó con el agua y cuando llegué a la superficie, ¡me encontré cara a cara con un castor gigante!»

Esa historia no me había afectado en el momento cuando lo había oído pero ahora, viendo la ola en vida real, yo podía imaginarlo perfectamente.

También podía imaginar mi destino.

Yo recordé en nuestro viaje en carro al cañón Aberton, cuando vi a los cárteles perturbadores con fotos de profesionales en kayaks y balsas gritando en la misma ola que yo estaba chocando contra.

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Un splash gigante me tomó a el presente otra vez.

Yo podía ver las aguas agitadas de cerca ahora.

No se veía como una ola en el océano. Era como una catarata ​​ de siete pies con un remolino gigante de aguas tan agitadas que eran completamente blancos con espuma.

Yo vi al camarógrafo en una roca en la costa del río empezar a tomar fotos de nuestra balsa acercando la catarata.

Nuestra balsa cayó por la catarata.

Cayendo, yo podía sentir la espuma del remolino debajo de nuestra balsa.

Caímos con un ¡Splash! gigante en el remolino. Nuestra balsa retumbaba por la ola como era ropa sucia en el lavarropas.

La ola escupió a nuestro barco, haciendo vueltas de la ola a las aguas calmadas.

Todo el tiempo, yo estaba gritando. Pero no con miedo, con emoción.

«Yo no sé porqué estaba tan nervioso por esto, era tan emocionante!» pensé a mi mismo, negando la cabeza.

Ahora Tumbleweed no se mire tan grande a mi.

NARR ATIVE: SPANISH

A fifth-grade student writes a personal narrative recounting their experience on a white water rafting adventure in Spanish.

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独角兽哈巴狗

“我家的地下室里有一个门，在那个门后面有一个很漂亮的地方叫哈巴角兽的 魔术森林！那里住着独角兽哈巴狗，它们有多种颜色的皮肤和彩色的尖尖高高的可以 做魔术的东西。 有大有小的，有瘦有胖的。 它们都很可爱！ 今天是寒假的第一天！我跟我的朋友们要去公园玩。 但是有一个问题，我觉得我 不可以去，因为在哈巴角兽的森林有一个坏的龙！ “我觉得我要给我的朋友说我不可 以来，因为我要帮助我的独角兽哈巴狗。 ”我和我自己说。 我给我的朋友打电话说我 不可以来。 但是，我说的是我的妈妈要我的帮助。 我说假的，因为我不要让人知道哈巴 角兽！我很快的穿衣服然后跑去哈巴角兽的门。 我进去哈巴角兽世界里面，看见每个 树上都有火！

我很着急的去问我最爱的独角兽哈巴狗为什么树上有火。 “因为红大龙很生 “为什么他生气？ ”我问。 “我不知道。 ”Pugi回答。 我走到森林的最高的 气！ ”Pugi 说。 树，爬到最上面看到红大龙在有火在树上 ！ “哎呀！ ”我叫。 每个树上都有很多很多的 火！我很快跑到水独角兽哈巴狗旁边，问她“你看到了红大龙吗？ ” “看到了，但是他放 了太多火，我的水不够了！ ”她的水不够，我现在要做什么啦!?

我回家，关门，走到我的卧室躺在床上想： “我现在不可以帮助我的朋友了，因为 ”星星说。 “你是谁？ ” 他们水不够。 ”这个时候一个彩色的魔术星星飞来啦！ “你好，Ari。 我大喊。 “你跟我来。 ”我想一想，然后说： “好。 ”我跟星星走下楼梯到地下室。 为什么星 星要我跟他去地下室？星星打开了一个彩色的门，为什么有一个彩色的门在我的地下 室？ “来。 ”星星说。 “好好。 ”我回答。 我们进了门，门关了！我们走，走，走很久。 一个小时 以后，我们到了一个树下。 “打开！ ”星星说。 树变成了两个树人。 我们进了一个很漂亮 的地方！ “欢迎来独角熊猫的魔术森林！ ” “喔！ ”我说。 独角熊猫森林有很多会飞的独角兽熊猫，它们有白色和黑色的皮 肤，他们的翅膀是金色的，还有它们有一个尖尖，高高，做魔术的东西。 星星变成了一 只独角兽熊猫啦！ “我带你来这里。 因为我们要帮你救独角兽哈巴狗！ ” “谢谢，谢谢！我 要帮助。 但是你的名字是什么？ ”我问他。 哦，我的名字是小星！ ”小星回答。 “我们要开 始帮助你！第一，我们要去找水独角兽熊猫！ ”小星说。 “但是，我怎么飞？ ” “我带你！ ” 小星拿着我的手飞起来了！我们飞到水独角兽熊猫的家。 “小水，这是Ari，我们要帮她 救独角兽哈巴狗！ ” “好，我有很多水我可以帮你的。 ”小水说。 “跟我走Ari！ ”小水接着 说。 “好！ ”我跟小水走到一个灰色的房间，那个房间里有一个大大的东西。 “那个是什 么？ ”我问。

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE “那个里面有很多水！ ” “谢谢，谢谢小水！我们可以救独角兽哈巴狗啦！ ”我很兴 奋的说。 “但是我们怎么可以拿这些水？ ”小水说了魔术的词，然后水杯变成了小小的 书包。 我拿起书包跟小水走到小星等的地方。 “你们好了吗？ ”小星问。 “好啦！ ”小水回 答。 小星打开了彩色门，我们都进去。 门关了...

我们走了很久然后我们到了门。 我们进了门看到火在树上。 “好，我要拿水杯飞 到天上，倒水在树上。 然后，你们要跑到红大龙旁边。 用这个笔画一个圆圈在地上，你 们要红大龙飞在那个圆圈上面。 等他飞在那个圆圈上面的时候，要快快抓住他。 ”小水 说。 “好！ ”我们说。 小水拿了书包飞到天上，我和小星跑到了红大龙旁边，我们画了圆 圈。 但是，红大龙看到了我们，他飞到我们这里，他没有声音，我们没有看到他来！但 是他不可以飞了，因为圆圈抓住了他！这个时候，树没有火了。 小水飞到了我们这里。 “谢谢Ari，你救了 我们救了独角兽哈巴狗啦！我们很高兴了！Pugi飞到了我们这，说： 我们，我们都很开心！ ” “不要谢，小水和小星帮了我，他们很棒！ ” “再见Pugi我要回家 了！ ”我说。 ”我们也要回家了，再见！ ”小水和小星飞走了。 我打开了门，走到家，关了 门。 结束了！

NARR ATIVE: CHINESE

A fifth-grade student writes a fictional story about an animal they invented, a unicorn bulldog, in Chinese.

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孙悟空⼤闹地府

“我⼀定要逃出去。 ”孙悟空边喊边用⼿砸着墙。原来孙悟空家很有钱，导致孙 悟空从小就被绑架了，已经过去很多年了。孙悟空的⼒⽓非常⼤，墙才被砸了⼀下， 就砸出来⼀个很⼤的深坑。 孙悟空看了⼀眼被他砸出来的坑，发现里面竟然有⼀小 块地⽅闪着耀眼的⾦光，他赶紧把东西扯出来，看了⼀眼发现这是根很小的棍⼦， 还是唯⼀让他举着有⼀点费⼒的东西。⼀看，上面赫然写着如意⾦箍棒这五个⼤字。

忽然，门哗的⼀下被打开了，⾛进来的是⼀名身材魁梧的壮汉。 “小⼦，赶紧跟 我出去，我们老⼤要见你。 ”孙悟空听见这句话，赶紧把这根棍⼦塞到⼝袋里，跟他⾛ 了出去。 眼前这⼈他并不是打不过，只是他准备储存⼒量，等他的⼒量储存好了再逃 出去。 现在他的⼒量还没储存好呢，不敢轻举妄动。

很快，他们便到了绑匪头目在的地⽅。 只见这是⼀个非常奢侈豪华的房间，绑匪 老⼤正舒舒服服地躺在中间最⼤的沙发上呢，旁边还有⼈在给他按摩。他身边的数 百个保镖正在死死地瞪着孙悟空。 “说，你究竟把你们家的宝藏藏哪⼉了？ ”绑匪老⼤ ⼤声地吼着。 “我也不知道！ ”孙悟空也⼤声地吼了回去。绑匪老⼤见此情形，⽣⽓地 让⼗个保镖打他，⼗个保镖得到了命令，⼀下朝他袭来。 孙悟空再也忍不住了，下意 识地把⾦箍棒从⼝袋里抽了出来，他看了⼀眼自⼰⼿中的棍⼦，在⼼里想：要是这根 ⾦箍棒能变⼤⼀点就能当武器了。瞬间，这根⾦箍棒哗的⼀下⼤了⼀点，孙悟空看到 了这⼀幕，顿时惊呆了。于是又在⼼里想：要是能再变⼤⼀点就好了。这根⾦箍棒又 瞬间变宽了⼀圈，变长了⼀些。 “这样就可以了。 ”孙悟空说。 说完，他便举起

跟自⼰差不多⾼的⾦箍棒，朝哪⼗个保镖冲去。 他们很快就打起来了，孙悟 空惊奇地发现这根棍⼦把它的⼒量，速度等⽅面都增强了⼗倍不⽌。只需 五秒钟，他就把这⼗个保镖都给⼲倒在了地上，径直朝绑匪老⼤冲去。很快 他就把绑匪老⼤和他身边的数百个保镖都给⼲翻在地，逃出了这个地⽅。

孙悟空逃出去后的第⼀件事就是找他的⽗母，他问了⼀下以前在他家 ⼯作的管家，得知在半年前又⼀个穿着⿊衣服、长得像鬼的东西和⼀个白衣 服，长得像鬼的东西把他的⽗母带⾛了。 原来，他的⽗母以前和地府许下了 ⼀个约定，他们让孙悟空有很⼤的⼒⽓，但是代价是⼗年后他们就得去地 府。 根据⾦箍棒的记载，这两个鬼叫⿊白⽆常，是地府的⼈，专门负责拉应该 死的⼈去地府。 孙悟空⽣⽓地⼤叫： “竟敢抓我的⽗母去地府，我⼀定要让你 们有命抓，没命要。 ”说完，他便跟着⾦箍棒传送去了地府。 很快，他便到了地府，他到地府之后⼀直往前⾛，直到他看见了两个小 鬼看守着⼀扇非常⼤的门。 “应该就是这里了。 ”孙悟空⼀边说⼀边查看⾦ 箍棒的记载，发现就是这里没错以后，直接提着⾦箍棒破门⽽⼊，往里冲了 进去。 但是他很快就遇到了⼀些小鬼的阻拦。 “站住，你是谁？你要去哪⼉？

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE 你来这里⼲什么？ ”这些小鬼⼀连串地抛出了好⼏个问题。 孙悟空可没时间 跟这些小鬼玩，挥起⼿中的棍⼦就朝他们杀去。 “拿命来！ ”孙悟空⼤声地喊 道。 很快，他就把外围的鬼魂全都消灭了，往里面冲去。但是他忽然发现有 ⼀处地⽅，全都是⼈。 他往那边⼀看，发现那些⼈身上疑似有⼀些神威，孙 悟空不知道是什么，于是他赶紧查看⾦箍棒的记载，发现那是天上的天兵天 将。 孙悟空非常疑惑： “天上的天兵天将为什么会在地府呢？ ”可孙悟空不知 道的是，他的⽗母其实是天上两位非常厉害的神仙，逃到了下界，⽣下了孙 悟空。就算逃到了下界，法⼒被禁锢了⼀些，也需要⾄少⼀万天兵才能将 其打败。孙悟空非常好奇，于是决定过去看看。可他到那里之后，惊奇地发 现这些天兵似乎在围着什么东西⼀样。当他仔细透过那些缝隙查看他们究 竟围着什么的时候，他突然愣住了，他愣了⼏秒钟，突然⼤喊： “爸爸！妈妈！ 是你们吗？ ”瞬间外围的三万天兵猛地回头⼀看， “什么⼈？竟敢到这里来。 ” 在空中战⽃的另外七万天兵和孙悟空的⽗母停下了战⽃，齐齐往孙悟空那 边看去。当孙悟空的⽗母看到来者是谁时，顿时像疯了⼀样⼤喊： “孙悟空， 你怎么来了！我们给你⼒量是想让你逃出绑匪那里，在家里呆着！你跑这里 来⼲什么？ ” “我必须这样。 ”孙悟空回答。 说完他举起棒⼦与⼗万天兵战⽃了 起来。 奈何⼗万天兵实⼒过于强⼤，孙悟空很快便和他的⽗母⼀起被逼到了 死角。 “你⼿上拿的是什么？ ”孙悟空的⽗母问。 “如意⾦箍棒。 ”孙悟空回答。 孙悟空的⽗母对视了⼀眼说： “难道是那件神兵！ ” “应该是。 ”他们说： “你赶 紧感受⼀下看看里面有没有什么东西。 ” “好！ ”孙悟空说。

过了⼀会⼉，孙悟空又说： “确实感受到了里面有很强⼤的东西，但好像 被封印住了。 ” “你试试滴⼀滴⾎在上面。 ” “好”孙悟空边说边滴了⼀滴⾎在 上面。 忽然⾦箍棒瞬间闪出了璀璨的⾦⾊耀眼的光芒，然后从中浮出了很奇 怪的⽂字，全都飞快地钻进了孙悟空的脑⼦里。 随后，孙悟空突然闭上眼睛 跳了起来，飞到半空中，浑身顿时被⾦光覆盖，形成了⼀套⾦光闪烁的战甲。 ⼗万天兵见势不妙，顿时⼤喊： “快阻⽌他。 ”边说还边往上面冲去。 在他们与 孙悟空只剩⼀米的距离时，孙悟空顿时睁开了眼睛，那强⼤的⽓场，把⼗万 天兵都给震到了地上。 他又瞬间提着棒⼦往下冲去， “拿命来！ ”他⼤喊道。 他 们很快就扭打在了⼀起。 但孙悟空有战甲和各门法术的加持，很快就把⼗万 天兵⼲翻在地。 孙悟空把⾦箍棒收起来，然后对他的⽗母说： “我们⾛吧。 ”孙悟空的⽗ 母非常激动，因为他们终于见到了他们的孩⼦了。 “想不到你都长这么⼤ 了” “是呀，⽽且都变得这么厉害了”他们对孙悟空说。 闲聊了⼏句后，他们就 被⾦箍棒传送到了地上，从此过上了幸福的⽣活。

NARR ATIVE: CHINESE HERITAGE

A fifth-grade Chinese heritage student writes a narrative story about The Monkey King in Chinese.

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Fifth-grade writers also continue to develop more sophisticated analytical writing skills.

For opinion essays, they present a research background based on multiple types of reliable sources and then communicate their own stance on the topic through clear claims and wellresearched evidence. They learn to tailor their writing for an audience by including reasonable counter-arguments and experimenting with different craft moves.

Toward the end of the year students marshal all these strategies to write expository essays about noteworthy changemakers and persuasive essays about high-interest topics.

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Marie Curie Introducción “La vida no es fácil para ninguno de nosotros. Debemos tener perseverancia y, sobre todo, confianza en nosotros mismos. Debemos creer que estamos dotados para algo, y que esto debe ser alcanzado.” Declaró Marie Curie, una mujer que nunca dejó que nada le parará. Marie Curie nació el 7 de noviembre de 1867 en una ciudad llamada Varsovia, Polonia con el nombre Maria Salomea Skłodowska. A toda su familia encantaba la ciencia, y desde que ella era pequeña, siempre estaba aprendiendo. Las mujeres no podían ser admitidas en ninguna universidad Polaca, porque los soldados rusos estaban en todas las escuelas, y tenían leyes muy estrictas. Por supuesto, Maria no permitía que esto le paraba de poder llegar a ser una científica. Marie Curie afectó el mundo de una manera positiva, porque nunca paraba de experimentar y tratar nuevas ideas aunque usualmente no sería correcto.

Vida temprana En el área de Polonia en que ella vivió, estaba bajo dominio ruso, y su lenguaje nativa, Polaca, no podían hablar en la escuela. Su madre era una maestra de una escuela, y su papá era un profesor. Es posible que su mamá viviera en otra lugar que si permitía que las mujeres fueran a la escuela, y después, cuando conoció al papá de Maria, se mudó a Polonia para estar con él. Tal vez, su mamá sólo era inteligente y aprendía mucho de Władysław Skłodowski, pero en unos libros, a veces dicen que ella fue la directora de una escuela. En los tiempos que los soldados no estaban en clase, trataban de no hablar ruso, pero había un castigo severo si el gobierno descubriera a alguien que no los obligara. Después de completar la escuela secundaria, era un estudiante tan bueno, que le darán una medalla de oro. Decidió mudarse a París, donde pudo estudiar física en la Universidad de la Sorbona.

Mientras Bronia estaba estudiando en París, Maria trabajó como una institutriz durante alrededor de cinco años, ahorrando dinero para el viaje que ella quería hacer. Una posibilidad es que Maria siguió estudiando durante la noche, pero si no, es cierto que ella tiene una memoria genial. Es concebible que Maria siempre ha querido ser científica porque cada día, su papá estaba haciendo diferentes experimentos, y ella fue una niña con una curiosidad muy grande, entonces probablemente ella pregunto que él estaba haciendo, y ella trató a hacer. Por un lado, su mamá era una figura importante en su vida en la vida de Maria, pero entonces, ¿porque ella decidió no visitarlo desde París cuando se graduó? (Pierre ofreció mudarse a Polonia.) Maria pensaba que Marie sonaba como un nombre más respetado en París, entonces ella cambió su nombre a Marie Skłodowska.

Posteriormente, ella se graduó en la Universidad de la Sorbona, y empezó a trabajar en esa escuela como profesora de física. En el otro lado, los padres de Marie también podían visitarlo, pero puede ser que ellos pensaban que no sería seguro allí, o que no tendrían un buen lugar para vivir. Podría ser que simplemente no tenían suficiente dinero para cobrar el viaje, porque Marie solo estaba trabajando para ella y Bronia. Muy pronto después, Marie encontró a Pierre Curie, un hombre que también trabajaba como profesor de física. Rápidamente se enamoraron y en ese mismo mes, le propuso matrimonio, y Marie Skłlodowska se convirtió en Marie Curie. Pasaron muchos años trabajando en la Universidad, pero para Marie, era demasiado simple.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Los años profesionales Ella quería hacer un descubrimiento totalmente nuevo. Había escuchado a otro científico decir que después del siglo XIX, habían rayos misteriosos que salieron del mineral pechblenda. Nadie sabía exactamente cómo pasó, pero Marie tenía una teoría de que los átomos estaban cambiando dentro del elemento desconocido.

Todos los hombres en el mundo de la ciencia pensaban que era imposible; los minerales empiezan con unos átomos que nunca cambian. En el mineral pechblenda, ella encontró que había uranio, y después de extraerlo, le hizo pensar que eso era “radioactivo”. Llegó a ser una tema grandísimo, pero Marie Curie descubrió que la pechblenda en sí misma tenía más radioactividad que el uranio extraído de él. Ella extraían los elementos radioactivos desde un mineral llamado pechblenda. Pulverizaron las piezas, pusieron en ollas grandísimas, la cocinaron, revolvieron, y finalmente, convirtieron en un polvo con ácido. En 1930, Marie fue diagnosticada con leucemia y anemia. Ahora sabemos que fue causado por la exposición prolongada a la radiación que ella estudió. Ella usualmente llevaba uranio o radio a su casa para usar como luz en la noche, y a veces, dormía con radiación pura. En los 1900, no sabían que podía pasar si estuvieras con radiación por mucho tiempo. Solo sabían que las personas que tenían el uranio misterioso, empezaban a tener enfermedades desconocidas. Probablemente, después que Pierre murió, ella pensó que no había razón para vivir, entonces puede ser que ella sabía que la radioactividad era malo para su salud, solo no le importaba, y seguía trabajando, sin duda.

La muerte Marie Curie murió el 4 de julio de 1934, pronto después que ella fue diagnosticada con cáncer. Ella no se dio cuenta que trabajar con materiales radioactivos fue mortal, antes de sus meses en la cama.

Su impacto En el 9 de marzo de 1910, se promulgó la Real Orden, que dispone que las mujeres sean admitidas a los universidades en Polonia. Fue años después que Marie encontró los dos minerales radioactivos nuevos. Quizás pensaban que la historia de Marie comprobaba que mujeres si deben ir a universidad, no ser ama de casa.

Conclusión Sin Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie, el mundo no sería lo mismo. Ahora sabemos que nunca debes juzgar a nadie por su apariencia, y que no importa de donde vienes, o tu género. Marie mostró que si tratas lo más duro que puedas, alcanzarás algo. Puedes hacer una diferencia. Ahora en tu vida, como Marie Curie hizo, no permites que nada te haga parar. Todos estamos hechos para hacer algo importante, hazlo tuyo.

EXPOSITORY: SPANISH

A fifth-grade student writes an informational report about Marie Curie in Spanish after weeks of thorough research and note taking.

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Nuclear Energy:

Terrific Source of Energy or Terrible Idea?

Introduction Albert Einstein once said, “The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made it more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.”

His words represent the way that many people have protested against nuclear energy because they believe it is too dangerous and because it releases radiation that if not controlled can affect many people. Contradictingly, it is an amazing source of energy that can mass produce and power millions of homes without releasing carbon dioxide, and would help reverse climate change. Our dependence on fossil fuels has created immense problems for our planet and everyone on it, and nuclear, or atomic, energy is a green, no-carbon alternative.

Splitting an Atom Fission is a complicated topic that includes the splitting of a nucleus of an atom.

When undergoing fission you use heavy elements such as uranium and plutonium.

In fission uranium-235 (U-235) is used. To split a uranium or plutonium atom you pound it over and over with a neutron. When the nucleus of the atom splits, the mass of the two remaining fission products is less than the original amount and that leftover mass is converted into heat. That heat is used to create steam in nuclear power plants, afterwards that steam creates movement, which then creates energy by going through electricity generating turbines. Think about it as a water balloon, when you split it it releases water, in nuclear fission that water would be the energy being released. In nuclear power plants people use control rods with elements such as boron, cadmium, silver, hafnium, or indium to control the reaction. These elements can absorb neutrons and therefore control the reaction so it does not happen so rapidly that people cannot manage it. One struggle with fission is that it produces radioactive waste that is difficult to store and keep concealed from humans, but scientists have ways to store it underground safely. Upon analyzing the evidence it is clear nuclear fission is a complicated but very useful and marvelous source of energy.

Fusing Atoms Fusion is different from fission but involves the same concept. In fusion you combine two light atoms to create a heavier one. The atoms which you use are hydrogen, tritium and deuterium (which are isotopes of hydrogen). When the atoms collide the mass of the heavier nuclei is less than that of the lighter two. This leftover mass, again, is converted into heat. It is much harder to create fusion because both nuclei have a positive charge and as a result they repel each other strongly. These forces that repel each other are called electrostatic repulsive forces (ERF). The interacting nuclei have to move at incredibly high speeds in order to collide, which is why it is rare that more energy comes out from fusion then put in. If you have had two magnets that don’t touch it is because they both have the same charge. Same with nuclear fusion. To get them to touch you have to move them with a lot of force towards each other. Imagine that when they touch they release energy, that is what happens in nuclear fusion. Stars use fusion to create heat and keep burning. This is why stars are able to burn for so long. Fusion causes a chain reaction and, resultantly, is almost limitless because there are almost an infinite amount of atoms and they do not run out.

Fusion also does not create radioactive waste as fission does. If we are able to improve our technology, science and eventually receive more energy from nuclear fusion than we put into it, nuclear fusion would be a stupendous source of energy able to power countries without releasing carbon.

The Invention Before nuclear fusion originated nuclear fission was an amazing discovery made in 1934 by a man named Enrico Fermi. He hit a uranium atom with a neutron over and over and ended up splitting it. Not only did he discover nuclear fission he also created the first nuclear reactor. He found that when inserting rods of cadmium slowed the

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE reaction down and accordingly the reaction was more controllable. Later in 1942 he led a team and created the first nuclear chain reaction. This would lead to more discoveries on nuclear energy.

The Safety Issue Though there are many pros to nuclear energy there are also the cons. Many people fear the health effects of radiation which can be deadly. Radiation only tends to escape in the case of a nuclear meltdown. Nuclear meltdowns are the worst type of accidents.

Debatably the worst one was Chernobyl in 1986 on April 26. It was a human caused accident when an experiment went wrong. The rods in the reactor caused the reaction to speed up and go out of control, which is the opposite of what they usually do, (explained in the previous paragraph). The cooling system could not keep up and caused reactor four to melt. A nuclear meltdown. Beta, alpha and gamma radiation were released into the air and did cause health problems for many people including the people who were sent in to attempt to shovel rock and debris to cover up the melting reactor. Even today scientists believe that Chernobyl is still radioactive. Unlike Chernobyl, Fukushima was a nuclear meltdown caused by natural causes. It began with an earthquake that provoked a tsunami which flooded the cooling systems of reactors 1-3. Since reactors 1-3 were unable to be cooled they began to melt. This was another nuclear meltdown. Three Mile island also had a nuclear meltdown, though it was nowhere near as bad as Chernobyl or Fukushima and was not shown to affect any people in health related ways. So with nuclear energy’s benefits also comes its flaws.

How Nuclear Energy has Increased and Declined As with all sources of energy, nuclear energy has increased and decreased from time to time and it is important to know how and why. From 1969 - 1991 41% of the nuclear power reactors in the global nuclear fleet (GNF) were from U.S. based vendors, disappointingly by 1991 - 2017 that number dropped to 8% because the cost of nuclear energy was so high and natural gas was available and cheap. Then, later in 2019 the U.S. produced 2675 TWh (2675 TeraWatt for one hour) of nuclear energy. Once in 2020 it decreased to 2553 TWh (2553 TeraWatts for one hour). One of the largest reasons nuclear energy ceases to increase is due to the government not investing in it. When investing you must take into account three factors. Potential gain, risk, and time it will take to get a return on an investment. When choosing where to invest in infrastructure, many decide not to invest in nuclear because it usually takes around six years to build a nuclear power plant which leads to a relatively long time to get a return on an investment. Furthermore people also think about how many people are against nuclear energy because they are afraid of accidents. “Nuclear deserves better than the anti-nuclear prejudices and fears that have plagued it.” Writes Richard Rhodes, who works at the Yale Environment 360. “It’s a valuable, even an irreplaceable, part of the solution to the greatest threat in the history of humankind.” The greatest threat in the history of humankind being climate change. Some reasons why people do invest in nuclear energy is because once it gets started nuclear energy can produce massive amounts of energy and hence also make massive amounts of money. Knowing how and why nuclear energy increases and decreases can deepen your understanding of it.

Nuclear Energy vs. Fossil Fuels Our economy is built from fossil fuels because they are mostly cheap and can produce energy rapidly. The problem with fossil fuels is they release carbon into the air and, so, they pollute. The question is can we find another energy source that can mass produce but also, does not pollute. The answer is yes, there are many sources that can mass produce and do not release greenhouse gasses that grow the hole in the ozone layer. What we need to do is invest in these sources so that more can be produced and so we can find new sources which will end up making that source cheaper. It is clear that nuclear energy should be one of those sources. Not only does pollution from fossil fuels affect our environment but also us. The W.H.O. (World Health Organization) says that 4.2 million people die each year from air pollution and of course the burning of

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CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE fossil fuels contributes to that. Out of all the deaths from lung cancer 29% is from air pollution, out of all the deaths from heart disease 25% is from air pollution. From strokes 24% is from air pollution, from respiratory infections 17%, and from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) 43%. Nuclear energy does not release carbon dioxide and would save many lives from the pollution of fossil fuels if we used it more often, and it creates energy more efficiently. Fission of 1 pound of uranium is equal to the burning of 3,000 tons of coal. Even in the case of a nuclear accident such as Fukushima where no more than 1 death can be directly pointed to the nuclear part of the disaster (though the real numbers will never be known) or Chernobyl where it was estimated 50 people died (not including radiation) it does not kill as many as the effects from fossil fuels. Ultimately even with some mishaps nuclear energy can surpass and produce energy much more efficiently than fossil fuels.

Growing Nuclear Energy We need to help grow nuclear energy so that one day it can become a widely used source to help battle climate change more than it already is. We need to come up with more reactor designs to make it safer. The IAEA (international atomic energy association) has already begun to think about how we can take more precautions to make sure that no nuclear accidents happen. The IAEA have begun to build smaller reactors such as, Small modular reactors (SMRs), High temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs), Lead fast reactors (LFRs), Sodium fast reactors (SFRs), Molten salt reactors (MSRs), and Micro-reactors. Since they are building smaller reactors they also decided to expand their TSR (technical safety review) for nuclear programmes to add to their conceptual design. By expanding their TSR they can make more rules and boundaries that will keep people safer and prevent experiments like the one that provoked the Chernobyl disaster. We also need to invest in nuclear energy to make it cheaper so that people will use it more frequently. It is important to raise awareness about nuclear energy so that we can open up people’s minds to this new amazing alterternative. You can donate to nonprofit organizations who will give the money to help with nuclear energy. Vote for leaders who will invest in not only renewable energy but nuclear energy to help patch the hole in the ozone layer and keep our environment clean.

Conclusion We need to lead ourselves away from fossil fuels in order to stop climate change, and nuclear energy must be part of the solution. We need to take actions to make nuclear energy safer and grow it and later use that to replace using fossil fuels. Additionally we need to increase not only the power nuclear energy produces but also the study and science used to make nuclear fusion happen receiving more energy than used.

It is urgent that we switch from fossil fuels so that we don’t harm the environment more than we already have and close the hole in the ozone layer which we have created by releasing a tremendous amount of greenhouse gasses. Nuclear energy is a very controversial topic, meaning there are a lot of different opinions on it, and if we are able to make it secure it will be a miraculous source of energy that could change our economy for the better. We are the cause of climate change and now we need to take full responsibility and find solutions, one of them being nuclear energy.

EXPOSITORY: ENGLISH

A fifth-grade student writes a research essay about nuclear energy in English.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE

A fifth-grade student writes an information text about polar bears in Chinese.

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EXPOSITORY: CHINESE HERITAGE

A fifth-grade Chinese heritage student first outlines and then writes an information text about polar bears in Chinese.

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Across all their years, our students study, try out, and hone an impressive and always growing set of writing skills, and they do so through two languages and cultures–launching them in a life of thinking, reading, and writing to help them be at ease beyond their borders and on their way to lives that transcend the ordinary.

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GRADE 5 STUDENTS VISITED KINDERGARTENERS

Through joint writing activities, our students naturally demonstrate the Avenues writing continuum as our learners progress and reflect on writing together.

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WE WILL GRADUATE students who are accomplished in the academic skills one would expect; at ease beyond their borders; truly fluent in a second language; good writers and speakers one and all; confident because they excel in a particular passion; artists no matter their field; practical in the ways of the world; emotionally unafraid and physically fit; humble about their gifts and generous of spirit; trustworthy; aware that their behavior makes a difference in our ecosystem; great leaders when they can be, good followers when they should be; on their way to well-chosen higher education; and, most importantly, architects of lives that transcend the ordinary.

WE WILL SHARE OUR PROSPERITY with those who need it, initially through traditional financial aid and, as we grow, in more innovative and broader-scale ways that leap the walls of our campuses.

WE WILL PROVIDE OUR FACULTY AND STAFF MEMBERS a special place to pursue the science and art of teaching. We want to align the rewards of teaching more closely with the value it brings to society, provide teachers opportunities to deepen their skills and be a place where careers, in and out of the classroom, can flourish.

WE WILL ADVANCE EDUCATION by setting an example as an effective, diverse and accountable school; by continuously investing in ways to become better at what we do; and by making available our discoveries, large and small, to colleagues in the cause of education.

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