F.

Mendoza Memorial Elementary School

PROJECT
in
ENGLISH
( Short Stories )
Submitted by:
Rhaldz Jacob C. Ramos
III - Loyalty
Submitted to:
Johanna C. Vistan
Teacher
 Helping Hally
Sam was sitting on the couch, watching television. His mom walked in
the door with Hally, their dog. Hally walked right over to Sam and
licked him hello.

“Hi Hally! How was your checkup?” Sam asked. Hally just looked at
Sam.

“We have to help Hally,” said Mom. “Help her how?” asked Sam.

“Do you remember when we went to pick up Hally from her litter? We
picked her because she looked like her mom. She is brown with spots,
with long ears, and she was energetic, so we thought she’d be strong,
like her mom. But how does she look now?” Mom asked.

“Well,” thought Sam, “She’s still brown with spots and long ears, but
she’s not very energetic or strong anymore.”

“That’s what the vet said, too. We haven’t been letting her exercise as
much, and we’ve been feeding her a lot. She would probably look just
like her mom now if we had walked her more. We have to start walking
her more often, so that she’ll stay healthy for a long time. Will you
help?”

“Sure!” said Sam.

He decided that he could play fetch with her every day in the yard,
because then she could run and run and run until she was tired. The
first day, they only played fetch for about 10 minutes before Hally was
tired. But Sam kept playing with her every day.

Soon, they could play for an entire half an hour! Hally looked stronger
every day, just like her mom. Sam felt great about helping Hally get
strong again.
 Anna and Her
Basketball Adventure
A group of teenage boys was playing basketball on the court at the park. The
basketball court didn’t have a fence around it. If one of the boys missed the basket,
someone had to catch the basketball quickly so it wouldn’t bounce too far away.
One of the boys was showing off, and he tossed the ball with all of his strength from
the one end of the court toward the basket on the other end. The ball was flying like a
rocket over the heads of all of the other boys. Then it kept right on flying. It flew
straight over the basket and out into the field.
Anna was sitting at the end of the field near the pond watching the ducks swim. She
heard some yelling and turned to see a big orange object headed her way. The yelling
was coming from the teenage boys.

“Stop the ball,” one of them shouted.

The ball landed a few feet away from her. It started rolling and was heading right for
the pond. The ducks saw it nearing and started flapping their wings wildly in fear.
Anna saved the ducks and the ball. She threw her arms out to stop the ball just as it
was about to splash into the water.

“Bring it over here,” called one of the boys.

Anna shyly walked the ball over to the court. She was only in grade school and older
kids made her nervous. They ended up being very nice though.

“Thanks kiddo,” they all said at once.

“Can I try a shot?” Anna asked the boys.

The boys said, “Sure,” but they all chuckled because Anna was so much younger and
shorter than them. They didn’t think she would be able to toss the ball even halfway
to the basket.
Anna took the ball and stood at the free throw line. She concentrated hard and
focused on the basket. Then she gave it her best shot. The boys watched with
amazement as the ball whooshed straight into the basket. Anna smiled as the boys all
cheered loudly for her.
 Tag Rules!
“You’re it!” Nevaeh shouted as she tapped me on the arm. I spotted Raymond
and charged after him. He veered to the right and I just missed him. Nevaeh was
just past him, so I started chasing after her, but she shouted, “No tag backs!”

“Yeah there are! We didn’t make rules for this tag game, so I can tag you!” I said,
out of breath as I ran toward her.

“Then I’m not playing anymore,” replied Nevaeh. And just like that, our tag game
was over. How annoying, I thought. Raymond and I stopped to talk.

“I guess this is one reason that people make rules for games,” said Raymond. “We
could still be playing if we had agreed on the rules with Nevaeh before we
played.”

“I guess,” I said, “but rules are boring. I just want to play!” I decided to try playing
with someone else, without rules. I played football and tackled Domingo, who hurt
his arm. The other kids didn’t want to play football with me anymore.

Next I went on the monkey bars, and went on before Amelia

"Maybe there is a reason we have rules." I said to myself as I walked back over by
Raymond, who was on the slide. If I would have used rules, Nevaeh would feel like
the tag game was fair, so she would still be playing with me. If I had played by the
rules and done touch football with the other players, Domingo would not have
gotten hurt, and the other kids would still be playing with me. And if I had waited
my turn on the monkey bars, Amelia would not be mad at me and could have
broken her record, then I could have had my turn.

"Raymond, you're right, rules are important. They help keep things fair, safe, and
fun for everyone. Let's go talk with Nevaeh about some fair rules for tag." And off
we went
 The Solver
Kevin loves to read mystery books. He reads mystery books because he likes to try to
solve the mystery himself before he gets to the end. Solving puzzles is like solving
mysteries, so he likes working on puzzles too. He also likes solving problems. Kevin
can usually solve any mystery, puzzle or problem.

One day Kevin’s mom was trying to find her glasses. Without her glasses, she could
not drive. This was a problem because she was going to drive Kevin to his friend’s
house. It was also a mystery and a puzzle. Kevin really wanted to solve this mystery.
Kevin sat down with his mom. “Where do you last remember seeing your glasses?” he
asked.

“I had them on while I was watching the news this morning,” she said.
“Where were you watching the news?” asked Kevin.

His mom thought for a minute, and then she answered that she was in the family
room. She remembered sitting in her favorite chair and taking off her glasses when
the news ended. She thought she placed her glasses on the table, but they weren't
there.

"Are you sure you didn't put them on again after the morning news?" asked Kevin.
"Maybe I did," his mom replied.
"Let's walk through your day, Mom," said Kevin.

Kevin had his mom describe everything she remembered doing during the day so far.
She mentioned watching the news, making breakfast, folding laundry, working in her
home office and then gardening. It was after gardening that she started looking for
her glasses.

After hearing about his mom's day, Kevin retraced her path through the house and
yard. He looked under the cushion of her favorite chair, in the kitchen, in the laundry
basket, in her office and around the garden. He didn't find her glasses.

Kevin doesn't give up easily though so he looked in each place again and he looked
even harder. It was on his second go around of the kitchen that he thought to open
the cabinets instead of just looking on the counters. Kevin solved the mystery, the
puzzle and the problem. He found his mom's glasses in the drawer with the silverware.

"Thank you, Kevin," said his mom, "I wouldn't be able to see anything without you."
 Max’s Good Habit
Max reads more than anyone he knows. He loves to read during all of his free
time. His friends tease him because he would rather read than play video games,
but his parents and his teachers are proud of him. They say reading is important,
and it will help him learn about the world around him. They also tell him it is a
good habit to read on a regular basis.

One day Max was reading a magazine article about volcanoes. He told his friends
all about volcanoes and what causes them to erupt. The very next week, his class
was assigned a science project about volcanoes. Guess who everyone wanted in
their project group? Max’s friends weren’t teasing him anymore.

Max ended up being in a group with Liz, Anna and Josh. The assignment was to
create a poster board with information about volcanoes and to build a volcano
model.

Max made copies of the magazine article about volcanoes so his project partners
could read about them too. They also went to the library to look for more
information about volcanoes.

The group met at Anna's house that night to organize the information and decide
what they wanted to put on the poster board. They all asked Max what he
thought was most important. Then they decided on the following together.

What causes volcanoes to erupt? The release of pressure when magma rises up
through cracks in the Earth's crust causes volcanoes to erupt.
How do volcanoes form? Lava from eruptions cools and forms new crust. The crust
builds up after several eruptions to form a volcano.
How hot is lava? Lava can get as hot as 1,165 Fahrenheit.

The next night they met at Josh's house to build their volcano. They used
cardboard and modeling clay. First they made a volcano shape with the
cardboard, and then they covered the shape in brown and red clay. The red was
lava flowing down the volcano. They also attached red clay to the top of the
volcano to make it look like it was erupting.

The volcano looked great. Max, Liz, Anna and Josh were very proud of their hard
work. When they turned in their project, their teacher was proud too. Thanks to
Max's good habit, they earned an A+ on both parts of the project.