Friday, October 28, 2011

Reflections

I am tempted to go through and correct for grammatical errors. What if a kid reads these and doesn't realize there are mistakes! Then I would feel guilty... like a bad teacher.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Reflections

I started this kid story project because I thought the stories were funny, but I'm finding the more of my stories I read, the more I am getting to know a part of myself I forgot about. It's actually kind of deep and emotional... and unexpected. Also, I'm realizing these stories probably aren't as funny to other people as they are to me. But, that's ok.

10 Spelling words - 3/19/81

The Popcorn Dragon

One day when Dully (the popcorn dragon) was walking in some green grass near the farmer's crops, he was breathing and he blew a smoke ring. OH BOY! I'll run and tell my freinds, my mom, and myself! He walked along until he saw his friends hiding in a bush. "You can blow smoke rings!" yelled giraffe. We can reach high up in the tree! yelled brantasauras. SO CAN I! I'll show you! Top Crop Drop make me copy what they do! Ha! Ha! Just then he thought of somthing. I know what you cant do! Then he picked up a piece of corn, then he blew on it. "POPCORN" cried giraffe. Can we have some? If you say sorry. SORRY! So they all had a popcorn party!

If I Could Do Anything... - 3/4/82

If I could do anything, I would go to ballet class every day, and have math after that. And I would have art every day and maybe spelling bee. And Maybe I'd have skating shows every other day! And, every Monday it would be winter, every Tuesday it would be spring, every Wednesday it would be summer and every Thursday it would be fall! And the rest of the days would be mixed! But, best of all the ice would never melt from the rink, and you could still have relay races in the winter and I would have them every day too! I'd like it if I could have powers that all the "GOOD" people could come alive, I have wished that a long time. Havent you?!?! Well what would you like?!

The End
By, Pamela Igelsrud
Bye!
Bye!
Bye!
Bye!
Bye!

A Note - c. 1982

The Golden Valentine - c. 1982

One year, on Monday, February 14th, there was an old lady, 50 years old, named Thelma. Thelma happened to be a very special woman because of the work she does everyday. She works at a university as a teacher teacher. Thelma had lots of friends, she deserved them, too. But this day was a special, very special day to her because that on that day she had a baby. She named that baby Valerie. Valerie Leonore LeCasino. Valerie was the most beautiful baby that Thelma had ever seen in her whole entire lifetime. Valerie had blue eyes, red hair, a smile, and a heart shaped birthmark on her right cheek! Thelma was very proud to have her.

By the time Valerie was 6, she was starting kindergarten and as soon as she took a test to see what she knew, Valerie's teacher almost fainted, because Valerie was such an excellent student she knew how to write in handwriting, read a book, do a 7th grade math book, and she even knew all about soc. studies: explorers, famous people, indians, presidents, etc. She even knew about Science-Health! WOW! She was immediately sent up to 7th grade!!!!!

Valerie loved hearts, but she got sick of the name. "What could we call it?" she wondered. "Everybody knows me, I know! VALENTRIE! It looks like Valerie!! I will go tell my friends!" For the next couple of days Vantrie hearts and Valerie were spreading around the world, and when it got back to Valerie it was Valentine hearts. "Oh, well" she thought. "That is a good name too." The people thought that Valerie was such a super-young lady that they called that day "Valentine's Day."

The next day at school she was with all the boys & girls. They all loved her and called her VCC (Valentine Cupid Child).

One day Valerie was out in her favorite park, Park Valentine. Sitting on a park bench she saw, a tree with 3 hearts (as leaves) on it. Then she saw a sparkle behind her. 3 hearts were singing a melody (Valentine Waltz), the middle one was gold. "Who are you?" she asked. "We are the Valentine trio!" they said. "Are you Valerie?" they asked. "Yes, I am Valerie." she said. "Then you may have 3 wishes." the trio said. "Oh Goody." she said. So, Valerie told then her 3 wishes and sure enough they came true. So, Valerie lived happily ever after!

Reflections

Reading these stories has given me a fun glimpse into the world of my nine year old self. It's so interesting to me not only to see what misconceptions I had about how the world works, but also what things seemed normal to me because of my home life and what aspects of popular culture excited me.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What I Would do if E.T. wandered in my Backyard - 12/4/82

My name is Pamela Igelsrud, I am nine years old and I have brown hair, blue eyes and I collect stuffed animals and post cards. I live in Syracuse, New York.

Now you will never believe me, but one night after I came home from the movie "E.T." I saw "E.T." wandering in my backyard. I nearly fainted, but I saw him.

On December 1st, 1981, I had just come home from the movie "E.T." Then my mother asked me what time it was and I said, "It's 7:35, Mom." My father asked me to take my dalmation named "Suzie" outside for a walk in the backyard. Of course you have to be careful outside at nighttime. When I got in the backyard I saw a rabbit and a squirrel run away from the bushes along our house. So, I went over to the bushes to see what was the matter. I nearly fainted and I actually saw "E.T." in person.

Could it have been a dream? No. I don't think anyone would believe me, but I was wrong! The next day I told my friend that I saw "E.T." in my backyard last night and she believed me! I couldn't believe it! Then she asked me what happend and I told her the whole story and she said to me, "Why don't you tell a newspaper reporter this story?" "Well," I said, "I don't think they would believe me. Do you think so?" I guess I should ahve taken her advice, but I was so stupid I told my mother that "E.T." was sleeping in the bushes along side of our house. So, of course the next night she almost killed me because she went out to the backyard with me in the bad winter weather and all we found was a letter from "E.T." saying:

Dear Pamela,
I find you very nice and I am giving you this precious magic wand. It will make you able to turn yourself into anything in the universe.
Love,
E.T.

I hope my mother forgot that.

The next morning my mother couldn't find her drinking glass. So I had to be a drinking glass. I put my hopes up that it would work first, though. I didn't even have to go to school because my mother couldn't find her contacts that she wears everyday. "Pamela Igelsrud at your service." But now, in 1982 of course I go to school. Everytime someone loses something I seem to be the pencil rolling on the floor (or whatever!) The next day at school I felt wierd because I forgot my math book so I had to turn into a math book! And a rolling pencil, a yellow cap eraser and whatever someone was missing.

That night I found another surprise from E.T. He was invisible and living in my closet! No wonder he gave me magic powers so I could do anything in the universe there was to do. I didn't tell anyone this time. So everytime I forgot something or had to go to the bathroom I could do it in less than one second!

I was in luck that week. Everytime I wanted someone to say something, give me something, or even if I wanted the whole world to stop for a second, I could make it happen. Well now I just can do everything. Wait, my mother is calling me. The telephone is ringing. The baby is crying. The doorbell is ringing. Oh! I think this would be a good time to...

STOP!

Thanks to E.T.!

THE END

The Friends and the Time Machine - 10/5/82

Once there was a family of fifteen children and their mother and father. There were also three dogs, four cats, eight kittens, nine rabbits, five parakeets and ten canaries. The fifteen children were 3 sets of quintuplets eleven, twelve, and thirteen years old. They all looked alike and their names were all "Pat". The parents names obviously were Patrick and Patricia. As you may have already guessed the animals names too were "Pat". The Pat family lived on 5 Elbridge Rd. in Massachusets. (We call them the Pat family.)

Part I: The Time Machine

One day a peculiar thing happend, when the fifteen Pat children went to school. On their way to school Pat number one saw a time machine. Not wanting to share this with her sisters, she quickly went in. The other Pats continued on to school. Having closed the door to the time machine, she found she was not alone; a person called Zalord was standing next to her. They became good friends.

Pat discovered three dials, eight buttons, and six strings sitting on top of the time machine. Zalord noticed three windows, eight speakers, nine keys, and tons of year buttons. The years were from 1 - 10,000. Then, Pat found a book that read, "Instructions pour le Machine de Temps - PERSONNEL!" (They were glad they studied French.) Zalord grabbed the book out of Pat's hand and opened it up. He read a few instructions and Pat worked the time machine the way the book said to. "If you want to explore new lands, press the year, pull one of the strings, push three buttons, pressing the keys down at the same time as dialing," he read. "If you want to explore old lands do the opposite of that." At that point, they decided to stop for the day.

The next day, their teacher, Miss ça va wanted Pat and Zalord to do some research on the island of Krakatoa as it had been in 1775. After class Zalord said, "That means no more time mach-" "Wait!" Pat cried. "Time machine, we can explore Krakatoa in the time machine!"

So, after school they went to the time machine. They followed the instructions exactly. BLAST! "We are taking off!" Zalord exclamed. In five minutes, they landed on Krakatoa. Zalord exited the time machine first; Pat followed. Zalord found a sign that said: EX2LVM TVLVMD ZZX2352. They could hardly read it, the ground was shaking so much. They stumbled a little farther on until they saw a guy standing there that looked like a monter.

Part II: Was this Krakatoa?

"Are you a monster?" Zalord and Pat asked. "How can you insult me like that?" the monster cried. "We want to be friends with you," Pat said. Suddenly many more monsters appeared. "Don't go after these two," the first monster said. but it was of no use, for all of the monsters started chasing them. They finaly escaped back to the time machine. "What was all that wierd writing for?" asked Pat. "I think it was to scare Columbus so that he wouldn't stop there on his way to America." said Zalord. The time machine stoped at the place where it took off.

Pat ran home and asked her father for a computer. She refused to tell the other kids where she had been. Pat's father went to D.C. Computers and bought her and elegant computer and printer. Pat typed some research on the printer and hurried to school to give her teacher an early look. "Why Pat this, this is excellent!" Miss ça va said. Pat hurried back home and told her parents and they both gave Pat a big pat!

Part III: The Black Hole

One day the mother of the Pat family had to get a babysitter. Mrs. Pat called her and she was there in exactly five minutes. Cindy, the babysitter, and the Pat kids decided to go outside. This time they all noticed the time machine. Before Pat number one could say zip, they were all locked in the time machine. Cindy read the instructions (She read French too) and they headed toward ten thousand. They tried to land in ten thousand on a planet called Zippy Zula, but they couldn't. At this point they relized a black hole was pulling them away from Zippy Zula. "We are being pulled into the black hole!" Cindy cried. "We cant get out!" all the Pats cried. Looming straight ahead was a time warp. Pat no. 15 tried to steer away. They only had thirty seconds to get out. They rushed and rushed and rushed. Now there were only five seconds left, 5-4-3-2-1-0. Everything was black. It was too late.

Part IV: Conclusion

Cindy and the Pat family are still in the time warp. Nobody else knows what happend - only you & I.

George San Francisco - 11/5/82


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CLICK HERE to hear me read this story!
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One day in Holland, on November 22nd, 1765, there was a family of four people - a 12-year old boy named Willem, another boy, 13 years old named Pieter, a doctor, 41 yrs. old, named Henk, and a teaacher, 41 yrs. old, named Katrina. This family was very brilliant and every Friday they would set up an assembly of dancers. At that time of year this Dutch family decided to have the assembly inside instead of outside. (This family wasn't sure of their last name, because their grandfather had died before he thought up a name. Their old name was, "Bading.")
(Turn paper over, please)

Chapter I: A Weird Walk in the Woods

One day at 2:30, Willem and Pieter went for a walk in the woods. Immediately Pieter spotted a tree with different colored marks etched in a circle on it. It looked at Pieter as if it were a rainbow, or one-hundred different colored crayons. Willem decided to be the person to figure out which it was, so he ran as fast as he could. When he got to the tree, a birch tree, he could see that one hundred and one butterflies were sitting in a circle and three hummingbirds were circling the tree at one hundred miles per hour! Quickly Willem tried to touch the tree, but then eight Dutch dancers came out of the tree, which was without doors. Willem didn't know how, but they just walked out of the tree! "Pieter!" cried Willem. "Help!" he cried even louder. "What!" asked Pieter after running as fast as he could over to the tree. "I - I don't know - ow what thi - this is!" shouted Willem frightfully. "What is?" asked Pieter. "I don't see anything." "Let's go home!" cried Willem.

Chapter II: An Unwelcome Visitor

Willem and Pieter went home, and when they did reach home it was nearly 5:00. Pieter and Katrina made spagetti, and Willem and Henk set the table and made asmall salad filled with lettuce and tomatoes. In five minutes dinner was ready. Willem, Pieter, Henk, and Katrina sat down, said a prayer, and ate their delicious dinner.

The next day Henk decided to walk in the woods. Henk was thinking of when he was a kid, when all of the sudden he started getting this clear picture in his mind about a kid he had known. Then he started seeing a picture of a man planning tricks to pull on kids. Just at that very moment, he saw that very man standing in front of him. "Who, Who are you?" Henk questioned. "Are you new?" "Are you good?" "Are you bad?" "Henk went on. Feeling wierd about saying that, Henk just simply asked, "Will you give me some identification?" "I realy can't." the man tried to say. But all that came out of his mouth was, "George, San Francisco, 24 years old. I work for Salmon Fu Shoe." Henk couldn't wait to see what this man did for a living. "Working for Salmon Fu Shoe? What a person to work for!" Henk thought. "What do you do for a living?" Henk asked. "Do you promise not to tell?" the man asked. "No." Henk whispered. Not noticing that Henk said "no" and thinking that he said "yes", the man said, "Hurting kids, and I am trying to urge the police to stop helping kids find their mothers, but they won't listen." "Why would you do that?" Henk questioned. "Well, I saw some kids and I think their names are Willem and Pieter. Yes, that was it! Willem and Pieter were tricked by a 3-D movie in the middle of the woods. And that was how I got started. Wasn't that a good joke?" "George, Willem and Pieter are my sons!" Henk cried

Chapter III: The Plan

Henk ran home and warned the rest of his family to be careful of Mr. George San Francisco. Then the Badings decided to have a meeting about being careful of him. "I know!" Katrina shouted. "We can stay out of the woods and we will stay inside all day!" "But what about the assembly?" asked Pieter. "I have an idea!" cried Pieter. "If Mr. San Francisco comes to the assembly, we will have the Dutch dancers dress up as monsters or mean creatures so that Mr. San Francisco will be afraid. We will also have the police come and watch so we can trap him on his way out. And then the police can capture him and take him to jail." "GRRRR-EAT!" Willem shouted. "I can hardly wait!" cried Katrina. "Let's have dinner!" Henk said cheerfully. "Let's have a vote!" Pieter suggested. "O.K.!" everyone shouted. "I'll hold it," Willem cried. "Who wants macaroni and cheese?" "Who wants - " "Willem, you must ask for five things to vote for first." Pieter complained. "O.K.," Willem said. "What vote, I mean what to have, Katrina?" "Pancakes." said Katrina. "What do you want, Henk?" "Macaroni and cheese." said Henk. "I want spagetti," said Willem. "What do you want, Pieter?" "Bacon and eggs," Pieter shouted." "Why did you shout?" asked Katrina. "I don't know," Pieter cried. "Who has any other suggestions" "Soup!" cried Henk. "Let's vote, Willem." Pieter said. "O.K." said Willem. "Who wants Pancakes?" asked Willem. "Who wants Macaroni and cheese?" "Who wants spaghetti?" "Who wants Bacon and eggs?" "Who wants soup?" "Soup wins!" cried Willem. "Katrina and I will make soup." said Henk. "willem and Pieter will make salads," said Henk. Again this night dinner was ready in five minutes. Henk, Katrina, Pieter, and Willem, sat down, said a prayer, and ate. Willem and Pieter went to bed right away and Katrina and Henk cleared off the dishes and went to bed.

Chapter IV

The next morning Willem and Katrina got up at 5:00 a.m. to make a net to trap George San Francisco. Henk and Pieter got up at 5:30 a.m. and make scary masks for the Dutch dancers. At 7:00 a.m. everything for the trick was set. At 8:00 a.m. They started the assembly and sure enough there was Mr. San Francisco. At first Mr. Ssan Francsico wasn't scared, but when those masks started moving they looked real. George leaped into the air and before he could say "oops" he was caught in the trap. The police caught him. And that was the end of Mr. G.F.S.

The End
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How Pig Latin Began - 11/9/82


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CLICK HERE to hear me read this story!
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One Winter in Italy, there was a girl named Susan. She had long, curly brown hair and always wore barrets with the word "Artist" on both of them. Susan never knew what that meant, but she wore them because she thought that they were good luck. Susan didn't have parents or brothers and sisters and she didn't know any of her reletives. She wanted to at least live in an orphan home but she didn't know where any orphan homes were. Susan didn't have a last name, but she always called herself "Susan Pig Latin."

Part I

One day an old man came down the street and noticed Susan. (He knew Susan.) "Susan!" he shouted. "Hi!" Susan shouted back. Susan ran over to the old man and extended her hand out. "Glad to see you, Susan," he said. "Long time no see." they both said happily.

"Watch out!" cried Susan. "What?" asked the old man. "That saucer is heading for your head! Watch out! Duck!" cried Susan. The saucer went over the old man's head, but it rebounded off the ground and smashed into an apartment building. And luckily a friend of Susan's was watching. Her name was Marie. Just at that very moment Susan thought, "Since I don't have anything to do I will invent a secret language." "Pig Latin!" she shouted. "Why did you shout your last name!" asked Marie. "Because I have an idea. I can invent a secret language. And Pig Latin would be perfet." That night Susan stayed up and thought, "Pig Latin, take the first consonent bring it to the end and add "ay." "No, I think if there is a vowel at the beginning then you just add "ay". "Good! I am done!" "Now I will sleep. Where should I sleep tonight? Look! There is a nice spot right in a cozy alley." Susan went to sleep and kept thinking of the language and how maybe people would like it.

The next morning a newsreporter came dancing down the street looking for a story. "I have one!" Susan cried. "What is the story?" asked the newsreporter. "I just invented 'Pig Latin.'" "How does Pig Latin go? What is Pig Latin?" asked the newsreporter. "You take a word like "eat" and add "ay". If the word begins with a consanent then bring the consanent to the end and add "ay", like the word "then" would be "hentay!" Get it?" "Yes! Excellentay torysay!" "I will report it!" he said. They spent one hour doing the report and the newsreporter had finished his report and he read it on the five o'clock news.

Susan did not know it but Princess Diana and Prince Charles were watching the five o'clock news in England and they tuned in Italy. So they saw that she was an orphan and was famous so they called up the five o'clock news station and said, "This is Prince Charles and my wife and I want to adopt Susan." "Oh! Susan?" asked the newsreporter. "Yes!" said Prince Charles. "I will arrive tomorrow. Bye!" "Susan! Guess what! You are going to be adopted by Prince Charles and Lady Diana!" cried the newsreporter. "I am? Honest?" asked Susan. "Honest," siad the newsreporter.

The next day Prince Charles and Lady Diana arrived and Susan took off with them. The rest of Susan's life Susan was stuck to Lady Diana, as if they were Siamese twins!

The End!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Family Ties (c. 1983)



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CLICK HERE to hear me read this story!
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Deb curled up in the den's most relaxing chair, and started back to her book. Deb Ivyland had read so many books, that she had thought about writing her own book. But with a baby, and a very curious husband, it is very hard to write a book. The only time she had to write, was her spare reading time, when Bob took Sandy to the Nursery School, where he taught three times a week.

"Four hours, three times a week. Twelve free hours to write each week!" Deb happily thought.

After Deb had been writing for a period of several weeks, she realized that Bob fell asleep two hours ahead of her. Two more free hours daily! The next day, she tried to write. It worked out fine!

Wednesday was a nursery day. By the time Deb was up, Sandy and Bob were long gone.

At the nursery school, classes had ended at exactly eleven thirty-five p.m. Sandy was very good, so Bob gave her a lollipop in return.

"Tank ou fow du olyop, dayie," Sandy tried speaking.

"Your certainly welcome, dear." Bob replied. Deb pulled up in the front of the nursery.

"I have some business to take care of, Sandy, you go home with mommy," Bob said gazing sternly at the green grass in front of the White House, across the street. He also was thinking about how nice it'd be if Sandy was president some day. Just as Bob took a long, deep breath, President Reagan walked out of the White House. Just as Mr. Reagan got to his car, Bang! Shots rang through the air. Someone was trying to shoot the president. A man ran around the corner. Bob tripped him, and grabbed his gun. Just at this moment, the F.B.I. came around the corner.

"You're under arrest!" A police officer yelled, clamping Bob's hands with handcuffs. They took the other man as a witness.

"Me? But... But I -" Bob started.

"You have the right to remain silent," a lady officer kindly stated admiring Bob's handsome outfit. They all jumped into a police car and headed for the Washington D.C. police department.

As soon as they got to the station, one of the police officers called up Deb. When she heard the news, she fainted.

The next day, Deb decided to come and visit Bob.

"What happened, dear?" Deb asked.

"Well, I saw a man trying to shoot Mr. Reagan. I tripped the guy as he ran, and grabbed the gun from him. Unfortunately, the F.B.I. came around the corner at the moment I had the gun, and they arrested me. Not even considering the other man," Bob explained.

"Look at this, Bob." Deb said picking up a file from Officer Conway's desk.


"Gee... Now I know why they thought I did it." Bob sadly said. "The bad guy looks just like me." Bob continued.

"WAIT! YOU DON'T HAVE 5 STITCHES ON YOUR RIGHT LEG! SO, PROVE TO THEM YOU'RE INNOCENT! PROVE TO THEM THAT YOU'RE NOT BOB WHAT'S HIS FACE! See here, after it tells he's male, it tells that he has five stitches. Right? Well, you don't! Show em, Bob! Show em you're an innocent man! They'll find fingerprints on that gun from the other guy some day!" Deb cried.

"What we need, is a trial!" Bob agreed.

The next day was Sunday. Bob remembered that he had to attend Elder's Day. But there was nothing he could do about it. Even though Bob didn't get his religious freedom, he was able to arrange a trial. The trial was to be held that Tuesday.

Finally the time came, bob was to stand before the judge.

"Order! Order!" Judge Hamilton cried, as she pounded her gavel on the table.

"Prosecutor, call your first witness!"The judge added.

It all went very quickly. As soon as Bob showed his leg, (he didn't have any stitches) the judge knew that Robert Ivyland wasn't the notorious Robert Lucas, even though they looked identical. He was finally off the hook. Quickly they turned to the other suspect and the case was solved.

In the meanwhile, Deb had been catching up on her writing. With Bob away all weekend, she finished her novel before Bob arrived home, and before Bob got back to reading books, it was on the best-sellers list!

"Deb! I'm running over to Walden Books to find a good book to read!" Bob hollered. Before Deb could catch him, he was off. He saw the novel, "Gee nice, Deb wrote it! Let's look inside. Oh my...." Bob faintingly said feeling like screaming. When Bob got home, the telephone rang.

"I'll get it!" Deb sang.

"Don't you dare get that PHONE 'TILL YOU EXPLAIN WHY YOU WROTE THIS NOVEL BEHIND MY BACK! YOU HAD NO PERMISSION WHAT SO EVER!" Bob screamed. "Get that telephone if you care."

"Hello.... yes.... yes.... yes, he is.... all right.... one moment.... Bob?! President Reagan wants to speak to you!" Deb called. Bob walked into the telephone room.

"Hello!.... Yes, I know.... sure.... (LONG PAUSE).... Really??... hang on.... Deb! Deb! We just won $1,000,000.00! Come here! Hello?.... Oh yes!.... Delightedly!.... Bye!" Bob happily cried.

Deb came to see Bob.

"I love your novel, Deborah!" Bob said.

"But -" Deb started.

"You didn't let me finish! - from Mr. Reagan. He also suggested you write a book about two young and happy millionaires!" Bob laughed.

THE END