A Walk with a Dog

A 10 year old boy's response to this prompt:

One day while you are out on a walk with a dog, the dog suddenly starts talking about where he used to live and how he would like to visit that place again. Write about what happens that day.

USE ONLY A NO. 2 PENCIL TO WRITE YOUR NARRATIVE.
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"A Walk with a Dog" tells about me and a dog that take a walk in the big city. We walked so far that we got lost in another city that looked nice. Suddenly the dog told me that he remembered something and as I stepped up to it, it was a movie theater that I had gone to 2 years ago. I peeked inside a window when I saw people buying tickets and going inside to watch a movie. The dog was peeking in too. We left because we didn't have any money or tickets to watch a movie.
Then I settled off to home in a forest with the dog beside me. By 4 hours, it was dark out. Then I spotted something in the distance and it became an old log cabin. We became excited. Next, we went inside, got firewood, and started lighting up a fire in a small room. The dog walked into a small kitchen and made fresh toast and hot chocolate. We ate and drank it all up until our tummies became really full. After that, we put out the fire, washed the dishes, and found a comfortable bed to sleep in. Then we went under the covers as the dog turned out the light and snuggled in with me and fell asleep.
By the next morning we decided to go for a little walk in the forest as we pulled our clothes on and slowly walked out the door. Then we saw a pretty river in the distance and we wanted to get across the river, but it was too wavey to get across. Just then we saw a canoe sitting on a sandy beach. We climbed in and started towards the water then started down the river very fast. We were going so fast and there were big falls ahead of us, then the canoe was starting to tip to the other side. Just then, we fell down the falls but the dog grabbed on to something. It was a big branch and I pulled on it then it broke. Next, we fell all the way to the bottom and went beneath the waves and swam to shore and we were lost again.
We slowly walked along the shore very carefully then started walking back to the cabin, but there was no way to get back but across the dangerous river. The dog agreed to swim carefully then we swam back into the river and made it to shore safe.
After that, our clothes were soaked and wet. We put on clean clothes and went out of the door and ran home as fast as we could and saw the river again and smelled food somewhere. We saw a small town. We saw lots of food, but just as we started to walk in, the dog spotted something on the deck. It was money, a $5 bill. We saw a snack shop and went inside the little shop. We found a lot of interesting stuff inside, candy bars, salt, sugar, and chocolate. We gave the clerk the $5 bill. We even got a drink and some chocolate and a sandwich at the lunchshop and snackshop. After that, we found a sunny spot in a field and had a little picnic. By 2 whole days later, we remembered this place near the city, it was a street that led us into the forest.
Just then a sign said ..."Big City" -------> We turned right at the road then we saw the city and the theater again. We turned left and went into our own city and back into our neighborhood. We saw our house and went inside. We were very happy to be home. The dog and I thought of something we could do, watch a movie about a boy and a girl who get lost in the state of Nome, Alaska. That was the best thing we ever did, and that was the best day of the year ever.
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I only edited this very slightly for clarity. The spelling was correct (unless I made a typo). I thought this was very well done for a 10 year old who is "on the spectrum" as they say.

Too Cool!

I open my mailbox today and find the latest Scientific American with "The Dazzling Future of Plasmonics" on the cover. I'm not gonna lie, I mostly just look at the pictures in the articles about physics and maybe read the take home points if I feel very ambitious. I prefer to read about the genetics of alcoholism, the intelligence of ravens and the role of maternal serotonin on the fetal development. This was just too fun to pass up.
Here's the title and subtitle:

"A technology that squeezes electromagnetic waves into minuscule structures may yield a new generation of superfast computer chips and ultrasensitive molecular detectors

The Promise of PLASMONICS"

Later, in the blogosphere: I find Diesel as part of the new generation, delighting geeks everywhere, with his Picard transformation. Could he possibly know something about plasmonics that the rest of us are simply not privy too?? Hummmm.....?

Do Over: And Now for Something Completely Horrible

For about 12 hours yesterday I posted pictures of my oldest son's completely offensive t-shirts. I mentioned that I banned him from wearing them at home. I woke up this morning and deleted that post and the most awful pics of the collection. These are a few that aren't quite so bad. Test Case has a friend whose shirt is so bad his own grandma pays him NOT to wear it!
This is obviously done for shock value. And it works...
I don't think any girls would like these, but Test Case had a bad break up fairly recently so he is not happy with girls right now. Mostly these guys wear the (offensive)shirts under other shirts and sweatshirts. They wear them hanging around each other. I think there might be a secret contest to see who can be the most disgusting! The other issue that bugged me was that I posted a warning as to the rated "R" nature of the post, however, blogger being the bitch it can be decided the warning needed to come after the pics. Then it wouldn't let me edit. Argh!

I Want Your Reaction: California 4th Grade Writing Test

It is that time of year again. Time for the big state of California 4th grade writing test that all 4th graders are given. I am probably going to do something illegal here and post the writing prompt these kids were given. (But rest assured the testing is over so no tricky 10 year old can read my blog and get an advantage.)

Writing a Narrative

One day while you are out on a walk with a dog, the dog suddenly starts talking about where he used to live and how he would like to visit that place again. Write about what happens that day.

Well, whaddaya think my fellow blogging buddies? I don't want to reveal what I think but I am originally from the east coast where I was raised to believe California was 'the land of fruits and nuts'.

Later I may published an excerpt from the essay one of my special guys wrote. It reads more like an epic novel than a mere essay. It is highly creative and quite entertaining. This kid has a good imagination, a beginning, middle and end plus he uses descriptive language. I can hardly wait to see how it is scored because it doesn't follow precisely the prompt. (It is way better in my ever so humble opinion!)