Nature Essay

I fly off the buss my skin burning with the sun's rays. It feels exactly like home

down on the river. The plants are the same, the animals are the same, the water is the

same it is just on the opposite side of the river. I loved paddleboarding, kayaking and

riding boats down at the river, being on the water gives me a sense of well being. On

land I love riding four wheelers and riding gators (like a four wheeler, but with six seats).

I have had many memories with family and friends down at the river and I was ready to

make a new memory. This time with my classmates. This time it was going to be on the

opposite side of the river, and I had no idea what was going to happen.

We started walking down to the river and I was sitting and observing. I saw the

green grass, the brown trees, the water flowing smoothly and my classmates talking.

Suddenly I saw a fish, It was a bluegill and I had to catch it. Bluegill also known as

lepomis macrochirus are very common in virginia. They have dark blue, green and

yellow gills on the side of the fish. Females have orange throats and males have yellow

throats that is how you tell the difference between the male and the female bluegills.

Most bluegills are caught in lakes when I saw him swimming in the river I knew this was

our opportunity.

I ran to Paul, Kayla and Shawn and we found a stick. Then together tied it to a

long piece of grass. After we used Mr. Norvell's pencil to hold are hook together. Then,

together we had put together a fishing rod. I climbed over the water on the tree and

Kayla handed me the rod and I sat and waited for the fish. It was funny, we didn't come
close to catching anything, but we had brought back many memories for Mrs. Marchetti

and created some of our own.

After we finished fishing we saw the rest of the class moving. I took of my sock,

hopped through the water and jogged to catch up with the class. During my walk I had

seen a Cardinal. The cardinal was beautiful, It was ruby red with a black head and a

faded red beak. The beauty of the Cardinal showed me why it was the state bird.

We hiked through the woods coming closer to the bridge. When we saw a blue

jay soar through the sky and went nestling into his tree. This was one of the coolest

sights ive ever seen. The blue jay is a songbird that normally chirps beautiful sounds.

blue jays are not only instrumentally they are very smart and know how to survive.

After, I got over the sight of the blue jay we headed back to the busses. I got on

and we rode off, on our way back to school. When we arrived, I grabbed my notebook

studied it and saw what amazing things I had observed that day. I had learned a lot

about my teacher, classmates and myself all through one trip down at the river.

Reflection

This piece was inspired when I was on my nature field trip. I wanted to describe

my feelings and emotions when being on the field trip. I was inspired to write how Kayla,

Shawn, Paul and I created the fishing rod. This was a very happy time for me I loved

making this and really wanted to talk about it in my piece. I also wanted to talk about my

home related to the river wwe went to. How it is similar and different. I focused on

sticking to all of the events in the order they happened. I also focused on adding
research and still making the paper flow. I want my readers to know the feeling I had

being on the field trip. I want readers to experience what I felt when being down at the

river with my friends.

 Literary Analysis Review Stone Boy

The reason I think Arnold decided to pick peas is because he went into shock after the

accident, and didn't know what happened. He needed to take his mind off the situation.

One reason I think this is because he kept repeating the phrase Hey Eugie and his

tone changed every time. He started out with a normal tone and every time he said Hey

Eugie his tone got lower and more fearful about his brother being dead. Eugie is

scared. Hey Eugie :an anxious nudge in his voice, and that is how he knew his brother

was dead(22). This quote shows Arnold's voice changed and he got more fearful when

calling his brothers name. When he saw his brother I think a trigger went off in his head,

and at that moment he knew his brother was lifeless.

Another reason I think Arnold went into shock was because he didn't realize his

fingers were numb when he was picking peas. I think this was because he was thinking

about the accident and how he killed his brother. He was picking peas: So he didn't

realize his fingers were numb, I think this quote shows he went into shock (19). The

quote expresses, that Arnold had something else on his mind because he didn't realize

his fingers were numb. Arnold was probably thinking about how he killed his brother in

the horrible accident and what he could do to fix it.

Reflections

I chose to write this piece because I loved reading the short story in class. We had the

option to choose between The Stone Boy, Love and Checkouts. Although I could

have picked any of these I felt like I had a connection with Arnold in the Stone Boy.

When I was writing I tried to focus on why Arnold picked peas. I went back and got
evidence and proved why I believe Arnold pick peas. I hope readers understand why

Arnold picked peas and didn't go and tell his parents about Eugie. This is a major scene

and most people would have gone and told their parents, but Arnold didnt. I want

readers to understand why he did this.

Sarro Brierley: Lion
By Saroo Brierley
234, Publisher Penguin's Publishing Group, $8.99, (Juvenile)

The Author of Saroo Brierley; Lion is Saroo Brierley. This is his debut novel. The book
is about a boy who lives in Africa, in a small town called Ganesh Tali. He decides to go
to the train tracks with his brother one night and falls asleep. His brother Guddu says he
will be back before he awakes from his sleep and never comes back. Saroo goes on the
train and gets locked in he is sent away to a city called Calcutta. Where he is very
scared, he needs to learn to live on the streets and is very far away from home!

Saroo has to overcome many of obstacles in order to see his mother and family again.
When he is living on the streets of Calcutta he is taken into an orphanage, where he
stays and becomes very good friends with Mrs. Snood the person in charge of the
orphanage. She finds him a family in Australia, soon after Saroo soon became a
Brierley. When he got older he again, continued his search for his mother and
hometown. When he recognizes a train station he thinks leads to his home town.

This book made me feel excited and I was very interesting when reading it. I normally
am not excited when reading books, but this book kept making me want to read more
and more. I felt like I had a connection with Saroo when are lives are nowhere near the
same. The book was very interesting and everyone should read the book, especially if
you like happy endings.

Reflection

I chose the book Saroo Brierley because I wanted to read about a true story. When
Mrs. Aux was telling us about the books, I listened closely and when she told me about
Saroo Brierley; Lion I feel in love with it. I went straight to the library and checked it
out. I was inspired to write this piece because I loved this book and I wanted readers to
know about the book so they could read it, and enjoy it as much as I did. The focus
when writing this piece was to keep it short and sweet and not give away any major
scenes. I want readers to read the book after reading my book review because it is a
great book and every reader young and old should read the heartwarming story.
 Interview

I would say what

makes me the
most happy is
being with my
family and to play
sports and just be
outside. I have
some memories
when I was young
playing baseball
with my dad and
on teams that won.
It just love to be
outside. I also love
sunlight. It is just
really big for me
[laughs].

My parents are
awesome. They
are really
supportive, but can
be hard on me
when I make a
mistake. They always want me to do my best. When I feel like giving up they push me to keep
going.

My biggest fear is sharks or spiders. They could just eat you or bite you. I have also seen a lot
of movies where people die from being bit by sharks. Those movies freaked me out.

I am big in my faith. I try to go to

church every sunday, and I try to pray every night before I go to bed. I go to church with my
family but, we just recently joined our church, so I don't know many people yet.

I like the fact I feel like I am very nice to people. What's really changed my life is new
experiences. Like trying new foods and traveling. I love to travel. I try to travel as often as I can
because I love to discover new places to see where I want to live when I grow up.

My earliest childhood memory is when I was at the beach with my family and we were playing in
the ocean. My life has been a blast so far and I would like that to continue.
 Matthew K, Burnside., age 14
Richmond, Virginia

blue=things I want to keep

red=things I want to delete
[]=brackets

Reflections

In this piece I worked with Matthew to talk about his life and how it has been for him so
far. This piece was inspired when I was picking partners and I really wanted to work with
Matthew. I wanted to learn more about him. It turned out he was really interesting and a
very cool guy. I focused on telling Matthew's life story, I wanted people to show people
how awesome Mathew is. He is quiet and that is why people don't know how awesome
he is, I hope I showed them he is a great person.I hope readers see how cool Mathew is
and they hang out with him often.