Megan Writing Strands assignment

Megan’s mother writes, “Here are a few Writing Strands assignments from my daughter, Megan, that I am quite proud of!  The rough drafts were done on paper, so they aren’t available (no scanner).  I helped zero on the guinea pig piece, and helped her correct her rough draft on the cat story (mechanical things, like “What needs to go here since they’re talking/thinking?” ).  Both  assignments are from level 3.   Megan is 10, and about to complete the 4th grade.”

Mr. Tubbie and His Barking Cat, Elmo

Mr. Tubbie owns three cats: Elmo the silliest, Oscar the meanest, and Sneaky the sneakiest.  Elmo has a problem: he thinks he’s a dog!  He sleeps in a dog house, eats dog food, and barks.  Oscar and Sneaky laugh and call Elmo bad names. They think he is funny.  Mr. Tubbie thinks that Elmo is sick, so he calls the vet.
“Hello?  Dr. Scooby?”
“Hello?  Who is there?”
“This is Mr. Tubbie.  My cat Elmo is sick!  He thinks he is a dog!  He sleeps in a dog house, eats dog food, and barks.
“Maybe it’s the dog food,” replied Dr. Scooby.
“You may be onto something,” said Mr. Tubbie.  “Maybe we should create something for cats to eat so they won’t act like dogs,” said Mr. Tubbie.
“Maybe,” said Dr. Scooby, “We should call it cat food!”
“Sorry, Dr. Scooby, I’ve got to go.  I think I hear Elmo barking.  Why don’t you come over and have a look at him?” asked Mr. Tubbie.
“ When should I come over?” asked Dr. Scooby.
“ Tomorrow at ten o’clock sharp,” said Mr. Tubbie.  “Good-bye!”
The next day Mr. Tubbie worked all day on his new invention, cat food.  When he was done, he gave some to Elmo.  In five minutes he meowed.  Mr. Tubbie got so excited that he called Dr. Scooby as fast as he could.
“Hello?  Dr. Scooby?  This is Mr. Tubby.”
“Hello!” said Dr Scooby.  “How is your cat?  Does your cat food work?  Does your cat still bark?”
“Whoa, slow down, Dr. Scooby.  My cat is fine, my cat food works, and he doesn’t bark, he meows!  He even likes milk.”
“Wow!” Dr. Scooby said excitedly.  “I’m sorry I forgot to come over earlier today.  My office was full of people and their sick pets.”
“That’s ok,” said Mr. Tubbie.  “I didn’t even notice.  Well, I’ve got to go.  Bye!”
Right when Mr. Tubbie got off the phone, he thought,  “Maybe I can open up my own cat food factory, and every store in the world can sell my cat food.  I’ll be a millionaire!  I better get to work.”
Finally, every store in the world did sell Mr. Tubbie’s famous cat food.  To this very day, when you find Mr. Tubbie’s famous cat food in stores, you will think about Mr. Tubbie and his cat, Elmo.
Ten years after Mr. Tubbie’s cat food sold, he was so rich he opened a cat reserve where he kept all the stray cats in the world.  If you see a stray cat, you need to call Mr. Tubbie!  He will take good care of all cats, along with the help of Elmo, Oscar, and Sneaky.

Megan Smith
Final draft
May 31st, 2001
Writing Strands 3
Lesson 9

Chloe

My favorite rodent is a guinea pig named Chloe. Chloe is orange like a pumpkin and black like the night, and has white on the tips of her feet. She chases the other guinea pigs, and squeals when she hears a plastic sack or needs her water bottle filled. She is about nine inches long and is very fat and fluffy. Chloe also squeals and purrs. Her plastic cage is in my room, and has pine bedding, her food bowl, and her water bottle in it. Chloe has three friends: Beth, Claire, and the water bottle, because she sleeps by it! She loves apples and cantaloupe, but her favorite food is lettuce. When Chloe walks, she kind of waddles! Chloe’s favorite game is running around the cage, but she also likes to shake toilet paper tubes. Chloe is a funny pet!

Megan Smith
4th grade
1/8/01
Writing Strands, Level 3
Lesson 2

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