After six months, it is of dubious obviousness how far the writing skills of Mrs. Thompson's first graders have advanced since "A Witch" (see previous post). This time around, the exercise is exactly the same, only it opens with "I Am the Easter Bunny," and the stories which some students plaigarize include Peter Rabbit and some generic story about the Easter Bunny almost not delivering his eggs on time.
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| From Stories By Mrs. Thompson's First Grade Class |
Dime-a-dozen short stories from students include Easter Bunnies extemporizing at length about how they are white, furry, fat, fast, nice, happy, love children, and must deliver X many eggs by Y day. Some of the more tense, gripping versions include the following:
"I got caught. I got saved. I was happy."
Phew!
"One night it was very dark and I couldn't see. And that night I ran into a tree and broke all of the eggs. That morning the children were very sad and were mad all day and didn't like Easter any more."
Oooh damn. This Easter Bunny is fired.
"One day I had to deliver a chocolate bunny. My eyes started to water. I had to eat it. But I couldn't eat it. Finally I delivered it. I was happy I did not eat it."
And that's how the Easter Bunny learned maturity.
"I live in Bunny Town. Do you like my eggs? I like Easter. Do you like Easter? I do like Easter. It is fun. Some of my eggs break."
Bunny ADHD.
"I saw a crab, it pinched me so I had to give it an egg."
Conflict and resolution.
Bunny names are predictably suitably bunny-y: Floppy, Hoppy, Gilbert (again??), Spotty, Fluffy, Swifty, Floppy, Easter, Fluffy, Heather, Easter, Gilbert, Smarty, and Fluffy.
Meanwhile, let's look at what little Gordon has written...
"I am the Easter Bunny. I have pink ears and whiskers that are droopy. I have a long fluffy tail."
So far, so good. But then:
"My name is Rainbow Egg."
The first sign that something may be amiss! Next...
"One day on Easter Eve I hopped to the planet Jupiter."
YESSSS!!!
I'll let you see the read the rest yourself. It includes a space monster and linguistic difficulties with space monster language.
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| From Stories By Mrs. Thompson's First Grade Class |
The corrections are from the actual handwritten manuscript. I'm severely disappointed, in retrospect, at whoever transcribed the stories and didn't pay enough attention to distinguish one space monster from many, one easter egg from many, and monster language from space monster language.
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