Child’s writing is just a glimpse of my son’s growth over time as a storyteller and writer. He is currently in elementary school. Sharing this is not so much for his benefit or anyone else’s but mine.
This is my record of how his writing samples and projects came to be and a place to share my pride in his development. I treasure Aidan’s thoughts and opinions even when we are not in agreement.
Perhaps there are other parents out there who might just enjoy these too as much as I do. Not because of the content but because it brings back memories of their children and the reports and projects they conquered together.
THE FIRST STORY – Imaginative Child’s Writing
The first time my child was assigned to really write a story. He had all these great ideas and such a vivid and wild imagination. When it came time to sit down and write it all down though, he stumbled with writer’s block. My son was frustrated. He didn’t know what to write. Hours of unending encouragement met with further frustrations and moments of tears and giving up.
Finally, I determined it wasn’t that he didn’t have or know the story, it was he struggled to write it down. He was so concerned about the written aspect he froze on the storytelling. Not that he couldn’t write either, but that it takes so much focus to write neatly and make sure punctuation was perfect and so on.
Naturally, I couldn’t do the story for him though either. This was his assignment. Thankfully, the teacher had left us leeway to present his final draft either hand written or typed. So Aidan told me the story as he had it in his mind and I typed his words, word for word. I absolutely LOVE this story. By the time we were done, Aidan wanted to write several more because after all…a cat does have 9 lives! (Yah…we didn’t get that far, but maybe someday we will come back and make this a short series)!
Bobby The Detective
Back in 2011, December 11th, there was a crime by a famous thief named Sylvester. Sylvester stole 500 diamonds from a bank. And there was a detective named Bobby. Bobby and Sylvester were both cats. Bobby is 19 and Sylvester is 25 years old. Sylvester has black fur, and Bobby`s fur is tannish multi-colored. One Friday night in New York City, Sylvester and Bobby left to Honolulu. When they were in Honolulu they were spying on each other.
After that Bobby was chasing Sylvester down across the city. In that time Bobby went to quick Taekwondo class, and Sylvester went to a Kung Fu class. Bobby decided he will have his magnifying glass with him all day and Sylvester decided he will have latex gloves with him on December 20th.
Bobby decided he was going to a Chinese restaurant and he ordered pork and seeds with hot mustard and when he bit in to it it was so spicy he asked himself, “Why he didn’t get wet tuna?” One hour later he went to Las Vegas on a boat and went to Las Vegas hotel and went to sleep and woke up in heaven so he quit because he was dead and he found Grumpy cat in heaven!
The End
By Aidan B. written Spring 2016
I wonder now looking back if I had invested in an early learning education program such as ABCMouse.com Aidan might not have been so hesitant to write. It might have given him a more solid foundation and more confidence with his writing skills.
THE FIRST REPORT
One ordinary afternoon Aidan brought home his folder with the usual papers for me to review, sign off and return to school. Only this day there was a sheet a bit different than normal. It was an instruction sheet for his first research report and diorama. I began to palpitate. Of course, all you parents out there know what this really means, right? Yah, the parent is also doing the research.
Trips to the library, or if that is not likely to happen, then ordering randomly selected books on the topic from internet resources. Along with using the internet AS a resource (citing many internet resources). And a diorama to boot? I hadn’t done one of those myself since 4th grade. Okay, so I did some other craft modeling later in my education but not a diorama based on my book report.
Topic and Materials
The topics had been assigned in class too. This wasn’t an open ended report where we could choose something we were already familiar with or may have even had the resources on hand. Oh…and we were only allowed to purchase one or two things of small value to help with our diorama.
The rest of the materials had to be gathered from our homes and yards (or the neighbors or grandma’s house). We used spices from the cupboard, grass pulled from the yard, cut up toilet paper rolls, printed out pictures of horses, cotton balls for clouds. I must say, the diorama really did smell of cumin (dirt). We used a lovely blue glue for a river and sand from our driveway. It took quite a few hours to put it together but we managed.
KOOTENAI TRIBE REPORT
By Aidan B. written Spring 2017
This is a Native American tribe. The Kootenai`s have lived in this world for over three thousand years. There used to be tens of thousands Kootenai`s. The tribe’s original name was Ksunka meaning “People of the Standing Arrow” but British Columbia people called them Kootenai which might mean “Water People” or “Deer Robes” This is according to Snow owl www.snowwowl.com/people kootenai.html.
Kootenai`s said they were created by Quilkka Nupika to keep and protect the land. Quilkka Nupika is their technical GOD. Some of the rules from this god were treat everything well because it is all sacred and has a purpose, take only use what you need and don’t waste anything, don’t kill anybody, be helpful and respectful to each other cherish kids and elders in the future and the past, never break a promise and never lie, work as a team, and most important is protect and take care of the land.
Their Shield and Their Location
According to the tribe website at www.kootenai.org/main.html. They have a circle they call a shield which is a symbol for their tribe. “The paintings which decorate the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho`s shield tell the story a people with rich history and a proud future. Chief Three Moons, who was a former chief and legendary leader of the people, is represented by the drawing of three moons.
The tribe has status as a non-treaty nation, depicted by the empty arrow quiver, an unsigned treaty and another shield to show perpetuity. The nation’s ongoing relationship with the State of Idaho is shown by the state map wrapped in a red ribbon with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho inscribed on the ribbon.” At the bottom of the circle they have seven feathers that represent each band of the Kootenai`s. Only one band lives in Idaho. One lives in Montana. The rest live in British Columbia Canada. The band in Idaho is referred to the lower band.
Location
This tribe lives in North Idaho in Bonners Ferry in Bonners County. It’s the county’s seat in Boundary county, with their population of about 2,500 of Idaho`s friendliest people. It is near the U.S.A. and Canada border. Bonners Ferry is west of the Rockies. The Rockies means the Rocky Mountain Range. Bonners Ferry is also by a river called the Lower Kootenai River. It is on a plateau. The Upper Kootenai lived on the plains. Bonners ferry grew out of a river that was a crossing for prospectors going to discover gold in Canada in the 1960s.
Food and Shelter and Clothing
The Kootenai’s hunted for moose, elk, deer and birds. After the 1800’s they had horses. They rode horses to go on buffalo hunts on the plains sometimes. The Kootenai’s fished using a spear and basket traps called weirs for salmon, whitefish, trout, suckers, sturgeon and squaqfish. They also gathered berries, bitterroot and camas root. Their cups and bowls were made of grass and wood and clay and stone.
The Kootenai`s lived in lodges shaped like teepees made of pole and rush mats. The lower band made summer teepees out of plants from around the river. Teepees are shaped like an upside down ice cream cone without the ice cream or designs. In the 18th century, they started replacing the rush mats with buffalo hides sometimes. Later they found a waterproof cotton material.
The Kootenai tribes wore clothes made of bark and hemp that were plain with long fringes. The first traders brought glittering color beads.
Tools and Transportation
The weapons the Kootenai`s used were knives, scrapers, bow arrows, and spears. The bow arrows were made of cherry and cedar trees. The knives were made of stone. They also used clubs with antler spikes. The first traders were the fur traders. Fur traders exchanged fur and got from them steel weapons and tools with other materials.
The Kootenai`s made canoe`s out of 6 different wood types. The canoes were called dug-out canoes and the outside was tree bark such as birch white pine and douglas fir turned inside out.
Ceremonies and Rituals
The tribe believed everything has a spirit and there is one master spirit. In the winter they had ceremonies and smoked tobacco. They had a Sun Dance and a War Dance. Around the 1800`s the Kootenai`s smoked a sort of tobacco plant in ceremonies. When the first traders came, they brought real tobacco. They also liked to play games and gamble.
They buried dead people after they were sewn into blankets and then never spoke of their name again.
More Recent Times
The Kootenai people were peaceful until the white man came and brought new diseases and alcohol. They have never ever killed any white man ever. Basically government made new rules and changed how they lived. The diseases killed their people and the alcohol made them drunk and sick in the early 1900s.
I learned the Kootenai tribe has Never ever signed any treaties from tribes or people. The oldest member of the tribe to receive an allotment was NIXKUXLISSIE at 83 years old. I know someone in the tribe named Gabriel Reyes who goes to my school in Riverside Boise Idaho USA. He is 9 and a half years old and is a very good friend to me. In 1990 Indian population was 5,110 and most of the Kootenai’s were descended from the upper division.
In 1974, the Kootenai went to war with the federal government for land. It was a non-violent war and they won. So the Kootenai Reservation became officially their land.
The Kootenai`s have a sturgeon tank full of young and small sturgeon. They are fixing the Kootenai River right now by rebuilding the sides of the river to make safe pockets for the fish to lay their eggs.
RESOURCES
Kootenai Tribe of Idaho brochure
Century of Survival: A brief History of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho by the Elders of the Kootenai Nation and the Members of the Tribe. 1990.
http://what-when-how.com/native-americans/kootenai-native-americans-of-the-plateau/
http://www.snowwowl.com/peoplekootenai.html
http://www.kootenai.org/history.html
The Animal Report
Every kid gets to do a report on an animal during elementary school. I had picked up on the fact my son had a fondness for wolves in previous years. He didn’t have to do any formal kind of report but had to do some research and be able to verbally report back to class about an animal. So we had some great books on hand.
Of course, wolf pups are as cute as can be too. I even purchased a small little stuffed animal wolf pup for him. Wolves are in Idaho, we live in Idaho. It seemed like this would be a natural pick for him. To my skin crawling disappointment, I was wrong! VERY wrong! He chose to report on rattlesnakes, also here in Idaho. Ugh! I hate snakes!
The diorama that almost made it!
I was pretty much worn out from the last diorama and dreading this one horribly. Thankfully, we had a special friend ready and willing to help Aidan build this. They found just the right box. Then went on an excursion for environmental material that would be what you would find for a rattlesnake. Even collecting LIVE plants which I thought was very cool and creative.
About Clay…
The two of them then molded a clay rattler and a clay bunny (rattlesnake prey) and positioned them in the diorama. The clay just needed to continue to set so we needed to not disturb it too much. With all the excitement, we all had missed the diorama wasn’t due for over another week, nearly two weeks. We didn’t want the plants to dry and well, they had used a plastic bag beneath the dirt as a barrier to the cardboard box. So Aidan watered the plants lightly to keep them alive.
Now, if you are one of those people in a hurry and just need to get on with it, then skip this next paragraph. Otherwise, for those who are curious as to what happened next, in detail, go ahead and read the next paragraph.
What Happened Next
Back to watering the plants, the LIVE plants in the rattlesnake diorama. The diorama really was quite neat. The guys, Aidan and his friend, had done a really great job molding the snake and the rabbit. Well, with all that extra time before the diorama was due, we just didn’t worry too much about it.
We knew the animals still needed to be painted but time was on our side and we wanted to be certain they had time to set. Then all of a sudden, the due date was tomorrow! Yikes! The painting still needed to be done and dried overnight. It’s okay, we’ve got this. Have you heard that phrase before?
Last Minute
Uh-huh…we get the paints out. Sit down to the table and I have Aidan bring the diorama out to the kitchen table to do the painting. This is when we realize all that plant watering we had done was keeping the plant alive, the dirt slightly moist, cardboard okay, but the snake and the bunny were DOUGH! Practically dough anyway. The pieces are crumbling apart, painting out, coloring out, not even nail polish. But we weren’t going to give up.
Attempt to Solve the Diorama Dilemma
Grandma had brought over her hot glue gun just in case we needed it for anything. Which we really didn’t until I had this brilliant idea I would attempt to hot glue the wet dough back together with the other wet/semi-dry dough if I could hold and pinch pieces long enough to connect.
So the snake took a little different form than had been the original plan. Not sure the rabbit actually ever made it or if just sported the one ear, one foot. I emailed the teacher to explain my accountability for the failure of the diorama and relay the steps we had taken to try to save it. It wasn’t fair for Aidan to take the whole heat on this one.
The Snake Report Result
He received an A on the diorama and an A+ on the report. Unfortunately, nobody knows what happened to the report. The teacher insists it was sent home, confirming the fantastic score but Aidan insists the report was never returned to him and he didn’t even know his score. I just know I never did get to see the actual report again. Being it was on Rattlesnakes, maybe it was just pure luck for me.
Rattlesnake Report? Still searching for it!
The First Movie Review
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Yes! Oh, I was sure we had this one in the bag. Easy-peesy! Aidan and I enjoy watching movies together. The first part of the assignment, watch a movie. Check. Aidan chose “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”. The second part of the assignment, answer a list of pre-written questions pertaining to the movie. These questions were organized in a manner that was strongly reminiscent of an essay outline, already organized…did I mention that? Anyway, check.
Part 2
The next part of the assignment was even spread out as “Day 2”, write a rough draft using the answers from the questions completed the day before. For the next five days, we had to repeat watching the movie, review the questions and re-read each sentence of the directions for all parts of the assignment. This is still a work in progress but now the final draft is being completed during classroom time. This fact is most likely saving tears and pulled hair at home. But I can report before the final report…the movie did spark an interest in other movies from the series as well as possibly into the remaining books that don’t have a movie attached.
Update
Update. The report was completed at school. I did not see the final draft but did see teacher’s had issued an A grade written on his preliminary work. Another missing final draft. I know the school keeps some sort of portfolio for the kids to be returned to the parents years later. I am wondering if these final reports are finding the way to the portfolio or if Aidan is helping them find a way to the round file.
Until next time…
Next time…is it going to happen?
It’s been awhile now since my son has made mention of a report. What he has done has all been accomplished at school. I don’t regret or resent this fact. Honestly, I am a little relieved. He has been able to focus so much his school work is completed at school and he does not bring home work to do at home.
Response Magic