CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2.A

Rules One day, on the way home from school, my mom told me she was going to make up some new rules for me and my brothers and sisters. Before this, we knew she wanted us to be good, but we really didn’t have any rules. Well, Mom took care of that. On Sunday, she started giving us the “house rules.” Clean your rooms every other day. Be ready for dinner at 7:00 p.m. (that means sitting at the table, with clean hands). If Mom is having a meeting in the house, be very quiet (that means turn down the music and the TV). Be ready for bed at 9:30 p.m. (that means lying in bed, with clean faces).

My Mother Do you have someone who is great, spends time with you, cares for you, and is an important person? Well, I do, and she has black hair, brown eyes, and a caring touch. That’s my mom. My mom talks to me about many things. One of the things she talks to me about is what will happen when I grow up. She tells me what to do in case of an emergency. And one day I had a really bad day with my friends, and she told me what to do about it. My mom and I spend a lot of time together. We play games, bake cookies, make necklaces, and draw doodle tricks. But our favorite thing to do is read.

My Favorite Place to Go Do you have a favorite place to go—a place with family, good weather, and fun things to do like crabbing? I’m glad I do. New Jersey is my favorite place for many reasons. The first reason is my family. Over half of my family lives in New Jersey. When I visit, my cousins and I laugh and play all day and night. My uncles and aunts take me to the boardwalk where we ride roller coasters. We devour juicy caramel-covered apples and foot-long hot dogs. My family is fun to be with. The second reason for New Jersey being my favorite place is the weather.

Shadow Fort I have a place I love to go. It’s a fort, or a clubhouse, where I can go with friends. We can hang out there, plan neat stuff, eat, and rest. Shadow Fort is my favorite place for lots of reasons. First of all, there’s plenty of room for a few kids. It’s large (gargantuan to me). The fort is 3 ft. 8 in. high, 5 ft. 3 in. long, and 3 ft. 6 in. wide. There’s a place in back (we call it the pantry) for crackers, grapefruit, avacadoes, potatoes, carrots, berries, and Spanish moss. The roof is made of 4-ft.

A Story of Survival “Brian Robeson was stopped and stricken with a white flash of horror, a terror so intense that his breathing, his thinking, and his heart had nearly stopped.” This quote from the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen shows why this book was too good to put down. Brian Robeson, an eleven-year-old boy, left his home in New York to go to Canada to see his father. He was on a plane (a two-person plane) in the middle of the Canadian forest when the pilot had a heart attack. Brian was stranded in the air with no real knowledge of how to fly a plane.