Award Winning Entries May 2001

Writing Sparks! The Fourth Annual HP Young Writers' Contest!

       Hewlett-Packard and Lifetime Learning Systems sponsored a writing contest, which all of my students entered this year. Hewlett-Packard provided the story starter and story elements. My students provided their imagination and creativity. I am proud of all of their efforts!

      Two of my students were awarded a second place prize. Only 1500 students across the country were selected for this honor and recognition. Congratulations to Danny and Devin!! Please enjoy their stories below.

Daniel                                             March 8, 2001

The Magic Kingdom

One afternoon I decided to play on my computer. I walked over to the computer and pushed the power button. But, instead of the computer coming on, something amazing happened...

A girl who asks a lot of questions and a very noisy mouse went into the magic kingdom and they couldn't believe their eyes. The girl and the mouse saw a gold kingdom. Then the girl and the mouse saw a lonely young prince.  The girl asks why are you so lonely?  The prince explained I have no friends anymore because I am the prince.

      I need someone who is honest and responsible and to take care of my city. The girl said we'd help you your highness. So the girl and the mouse made an announcement. The announcement was to bake a lot of seeds and give it to the children. If you see anyone who comes back with no flower, that's your kid. So the prince made an announcement that the kid who comes back with a beautiful flower with these seeds will be the prince.  The prince gave the children four seasons to grow their flowers.

There was a child named Timmy. He was the best at growing plants. One season went by but there was no sprout. The third season went by. Still no sprout. The fourth season went by. Still no sprout. The last day of the season the kids went to the prince's kingdom.  Everyone went to the kingdom except Timmy. He said that the prince wouldn't like his flower. But remember the prince baked the seeds. Timmy went anyway with his pot of dirt. The kids laughed at Timmy when he went by them. He finally got to the kingdom and waited for the announcement. The prince looked at all the flowers. When he got to mine he made his decision. He said the boy with no flower please come up.  The prince said that Timmy is the new prince.

     One of the kids said Timmy has no flower. That's right because I had baked the seeds and a prince has to be honest and responsible to take care of the city. Baked seeds will not grow. No one should have been able to have a flower today.  So that's why Timmy is the prince. So the girl and the mouse went home.

     I told my mom what happened. She told me that those video games have already rotted my brain. I told everyone. No one believed me. They laughed at me. The girl and the mouse told his friends and the mice squeaked at the mouse. At school everyone called her coo- coo. But her best friend said she believed the girl because it happened to her too.

     The girl's mothers turned on the computer and it made a loud sound. Their mother quickly turned it off. The screen was different last time. She still didn't believe the girl's story but she believed the sound. The girl asked the teacher for a field trip. The kids went to the girl's house and showed the kids and the teacher around until they got to the computer. The kids yelled turn it on, turn it on, turn it on!!!!!!! Then the girl said no just as many times.  She said do you want to hold my rabbit and then the kids said yeah. But one kid wanted to turn the computer on. And he did. Then something amazing happened...

Devin                                             March 8, 2001

My Computer

One afternoon I decided to play on my computer. I walked over to my computer and pushed the power button. But, instead of my computer coming on, something amazing happened...

I went inside my computer! Inside my computer I found a talking bird, a dog carrying a note, and the computer monitor was talking to me! It was dark inside my computer. Then I saw a light. I asked the computer monitor what it was. He said, " The dog's note will tell you." I took the dog's note. It said, "Follow the light." So I followed the light as the note said.

When I got to the other side of the light I was in a different part of my computer. It was the game part of my computer. I liked this part of my computer a lot. The three characters from the first part of my computer are in this part and the dog has another note.

      Everything was the same except it was light and there was a dark hole. The monitor said, "Take the note from the dog." The note said jump on the button in front of each game to play it or go follow the dark... I decided to play solitaire. I tried to win but I just figured out I had a problem! I was being timed and I was running out of time! I ran out of time but I had another problem!! I was stuck inside the game!! Then all of the sudden I heard the bird. I found the bird and told him "good boy" and then I noticed the bird had a note. I hugged the bird and took the note. It said to jump on file and walk down to close and jump on it. I jumped on file and close and me and the bird got out.

When we got out of the game I told the monitor all about our little adventure. Then I decided to go into another game. Before I went in, the monitor said, "Take the bird with you." I said, "Ok" as I laughed.

The game I went into was called Hearts. My mom and dad taught me how to play Hearts. I jumped on the button and started playing the game. In this game I came in second place. The bird beat me by eleven points.

After we played three times I didn't want to play anymore. I won once and the bird won twice. I jumped on file and then I jumped on close and we got out.

When we got out the monitor said, " I'm glad you got out with no problem this time." We all laughed hard. I told the monitor I was having lots of fun in the computer. The monitor said, " Do you want to go to the painting room?" I said, "Sure!"

When we got to the paint room I told everybody that I would draw a picture of them. They all said that would be terrific. I said, " Great!"

First I drew a picture of the bird. When I was finished the bird said, "It looks great Devin." I said, "Thanks." Then I said, "Is there a printer in here?" The monitor said, "No, but there is a way we can get the printer to print it." I said, "Before I do that I will draw you and the dog." So I drew the monitor and the dog. Then I said, "Ok, now I can get the printer to print my pictures."  I asked, "How do I get the printer to print my pictures?" The monitor said, "You have to give him a signal."  I said, "How do you do that?" The dog's note will tell you. I took the dog's note and read it. It said find the magnifying glass and shine it through the monitor. I said, " Where do I get the magnifying glass from?"  The bird said, " Look in the paint game."  So I looked in the paint game. I found a small magnifying glass in the tool bar. I said, "How do I get it out?" The bird said, " You jump on the magnifying glass in the tool bar and it will appear on the screen."  Hold on to the magnifying glass and jump on file and close. I did as the bird said. A couple of seconds later the small magnifying glass and me were out of the paint game. I held up the magnifying glass to the monitor. The monitor closed his eyes. The light shined through and all of a sudden my printer appeared in the computer. The printer took up a lot of space!

I went back inside the paint game and put back the magnifying glass. I jumped on file and then print for each picture. When I finished printing all the pictures I gave them to each person. Then I told the printer I was finished. Then I saw the printer go back out of my computer!! I was very amazed! I told the monitor I wanted to go back outside my computer. He said, " Ok, but you have to go through two screens to get there." I said, "Sure." We went through the black hole and appeared in the Internet screen. I said, "Before I go back I want to play on the Internet!!!!" So I played on the Internet.

When I finished playing I said good-bye to everyone and went to the next place. It was outside my computer. I told my family about my adventure. I had another problem, no one believed me! So I decided to go down in my room and write a story about my amazing adventure in my computer.  

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