My Brave Moment

By Felipe Hernandez Jr.
3rd Grade

When my dad asked me, “Do you want to go parachuting?” I said yes. But when he said that about going parachuting, I thought he was just kidding with me.

The next day I went to a bridge, and then people got my stuff ready and I was nervous. They carried me up onto the bridge, and when I looked down I got scared because it looked like the Grand Canyon. But when I put on my backpack I found out my mom packed me a lunch so that when I got to the bottom I could eat the food and my tummy wouldn’t be starving.

When I was falling I felt scared. I was feeling that I had never done it before. And when I went down I thought it was dangerous. I needed to be brave because it was scary and high ground. I felt scared because I am scared of high ground. I was brave because it had a river and rocks and I was worried I could hit the rocks.

It was awesome when I jumped. When I was falling I saw the colors of my parachute and it was all blue colored. I was feeling that I could fly. When I looked down I was looking at the rocks and the river. When I was flying I heard the wind. The rope was shaking because of all the wind. My belt was falling and almost fell into the river. There were birds flying and one of the birds pooped on my shoulder. And the bird passed through my parachute.

When I pulled the right handle I smelled the rocks. I smelled nature and my costume. And I smelled the food that they packed in my backpack. I touched the bridge, the rocks, and the river, and I even touched the parachute strings and a bird. When I got all the way down I was tasting the wind and the river and it tasted like sugar. I tasted the bananas and grapes.

For a second I felt nervous, but I did it, and I want to do it all over again because it was super fun. I never want to be scared. And I don’t want to be one of those persons who stay inside their houses. When I grow up I want to be a soccer player, because when I write I don’t get stuff right. When I did my brave thing and jumped, I felt that I can do anything and that I can beat my cousin at heights. When I was back on the bridge I felt awesome.

All Aboard the Hospital

By Haven Hill-Schmick

3rd Grade


I remember I’ve been outside playing in the garden or in parks many, many times before. I remember this one time in the garden when I was really young, hanging from the railing by my knees and swaying from side to side, front and back. And many times, even to this day, I walk along the top of the cement wall surrounding my garden. But one time, I did a dangerous thing:

“Please?” I asked my mom.

“Sure,” she said. “But Dexter and Roman are coming, too.”

“I know. I know,” I replied.

I zipped back into the living room and asked my brother, who was on his Nintendo, if he wanted to play outside with me.

“Okay,” he said as he looked up from his electronics.

“Well, put your shoes on,” I said as I went past the kitchen and down the stairs.

“Hey, Dexy, want to come and play outside with Roman and me?” I blurted out when I fell on the floor. I had run down eleven stairs and jumped 12 and 13.

“Sure,” she replied.

Yes! I thought dreamily as I skipped up the steps to get my shoes on.

When I looked out the clean, clear window, Roman and my mom were already out. I took a sparkly princess step toward the door. I felt my heart bumping fast like thunder in a sprinkly storm of snow. Something inside me told me that I love going outside. I pressed down on the handle and the door flew open. I jumped out. The moment my sneakers touched the ground, wind gushed on my pigtails and they flew backwards like worms that come up for rain and fall back down when the dark cloud vanishes. I took a deep breath and stepped down to the garden.

I watched as my sister came down also, step by step. “Let’s play tag!” I said.

“You’re it!” Dexter said as she pushed my shoulder back.

“Now you’re it, tag!” I said as I lunged forward, swung my arm, and missed. “I’m gonna go play something else,” I said as my eyes slowly turned mischievously toward the railing across the garden, like a spider slowly preparing to pounce on its prey and vanish again back into the shadows.

“Fine,” she said. “But Roman and I are going to keep playing tag.”

“Sure,” I said, as I skipped off to the railing, which gave me the happy memories of those other times long ago when I would swing on the railings like a coo-coo crazy baby gorilla in its happy tree. Yep, I was used to it.

I carefully got on and slid down. “Weeeee!” I thought. A couple of runs later, I was halfway through when suddenly, BOOM!

My head was down, half because I was scared and upset, half because I didn’t want blood to drip down my clothes and on the chair of the hospital waiting room.

Then a nurse came pushing a bed and put my gently on it and pushed it to the emergency room. I saw lights flashing. I felt dizzy. I heard my family’s voices. Then a masked nurse came in and put a weird paste on my head. He said it was like toothpaste. I guess it was like sleeping paste, because right after that, I fell asleep.

My Brave Story

By Ruth Havey
3rd Grade

It was night. I looked out the window. I could see the bright white moon. It looked like a big glowing egg. I saw a few stars shining so bright, like star cookies I would make on Christmas. That night I heard my little sister, named Annie, coughing her brains out. My mom told me it was a sickness called croup. I was very annoyed. So I turned away from the window to go brush my teeth and to go to the bathroom.

When I spread the toothpaste on my toothbrush it glittered. After I brushed my teeth for a minute (which actually was probably 45 seconds), I went to the bathroom. Then I clicked off the light and headed straight for my room. I noticed the dark purple walls of the hallway. Suddenly I realized that, since I was six years old, I should be a good big sister and say goodnight to Annie. So I turned around and headed for her room.

When I entered I saw my mom huddling around her like a polar bear protecting her baby. “Good night, Annie. I really hope you feel better in the morning.”

Finally I headed to my room with the pink silky walls. I climbed up to my bunk and got into my nice and comfy bed. While I was in the nice comfy bed I asked my mother if I could sleep with her. My wonderful mother said…no. When I got in bed my mom went into the living room to read a book.

While I was still sleeping she carried me into her comfortable big fat bed. She called my dad and told him that I was beginning to have an asthma attack. She called him because he was all the way in Chicago. I bet that that was a tough time for my mom. After she called me dad, she called the hospital and told them what was going on. The doctor replied, “I believe that she’ll be okay, just call again if anything happens.” Beep, the conversation ended.

Finally I woke up. I felt absolutely terrible. But I was glad to see my grandmother beside the bed. She was saying comforting words to me such as, “No worries. You’ll be okay,” and “Just take a deep breath and let it go.” That was helping, sort of.

My mom said, “Come on honey, get your shoes and we’ll go to the hospital.” I guess she called the doctor again.

In response, I said, “I am waaaaay too tired.”

So she said, “Oh, all right, I’ll get them for you.” She disappeared upstairs to my room.

When she came back downstairs I put my shoes on and we got in the car. The street light flashed my life before my eyes.

When we got to the parking garage I said, “Mom, I think I’m going to throw up.”

She exclaimed, “Oh goodness! Here’s a shoe box. It will have to do.”

So that is what I did. I threw up in a shoe box.

We stepped out of the car and walked toward the hospital. My mom quickly threw away the shoebox. We stepped through the sliding door and into the lobby. It had green speckled seats like little speckled puppies. My mom rushed over to the manager and told her all that was going on. The manager stood up and left the lobby. She came back with some medicine. I drank it and then I threw it up. This happened several times.

Then we all stood up and entered a small room with a bed and a TV. I lay down and watched some TV. After a while, some doctors came in with a big machine. They spoke calmly, like it was no big deal. This is what they said: “We’re going to put a needle in your arm. It’s called an I.V.” I did not, and I mean DID NOT, want to get that I.V. thing or whatever it was! All the doctors, even my mother (How could she do this to me?) said, “Just look at the TV and everything will be okay.

I started crying and fussing. “NO, NO, NO!” I yelled.

One moment. Here is something really strange about some grownups: they never listen!

Okay, back to the story…So as I said, grownups never listen. Well, these grownups were that type. So they stuck the needle in my arm. YOUCH! Did that hurt!

After that, I moved to a separate room. There I stayed that night and the next. And here I am reading this to you (or at least I was writing it.) I survived and I tried to be brave.

Tooth

By Diego Berumen
3rd Grade

One day my dad was picking me up from school. My hands were sweating. My tummy was growling. We got into my dad’s car. It was a GMC and it was gray with an LEI sticker. We got into it and drove to the dentist.

The dentist’s office was green, pink, and white. When we went in to see the dentist, my dad checked me in on the clipboard. I needed to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was small and it had a picture of a guy taking a tooth out. When I came out I saw a fish tank. I saw yellow fish and gray fish with orange. Finally they called my name.

My hands were sweating. I always got checked by the same doctor. His name was John B—. He was kind of old. I saw the chair. It was green and white. The room was white. It had a black screen, so when they took x-rays it would show on the black screen. He checked my teeth and he said these are all good. He moved my teeth to see if any were loose. I told him I had two that were loose. He grabbed some kind of gray thing and it kind of looked like the claw of a crab.

He said, “Tell me when it hurts.”

My dad was holding my hand. My hands were so sweaty that I couldn’t even hold my dad’s hands. I was saying a prayer in my mind so everything would come out good. I looked at everything in the room as if I was going to give a lung to somebody. I also had a napkin on top of my clothes so no blood could get onto my clothes. I was wearing my school clothes with my sweater. My hairstyle was up, like spiky. The dentist also had a mask on that was like the ones other doctors wear.

He gave me some shots so I couldn’t feel anything. I also heard some noises that were like clinking because of the claws that look like a crab. I also heard some noises that were from other doctors. The noises sounded painful. Some people were even screaming. I thought this was going to be the worst time of my life, but it wasn’t. It was the greatest time of my life.

The Math Test

By Ana Vega
3rd Grade

It was a normal day until I got my test back. It was horrible. This ruined my whole day. I felt as if I was going to cry. I felt as if I was going to cry so hard, harder than I cried ever before. I was bummed out. I just acted happy so nobody would come questioning, like, “Why are you sad? Why are you crying?” because that annoys me so much.

When it was time to go to recess that got my mind off it. But when I got more graded papers it reminded me of my math test. I felt so mad. Then I felt so bored, so that got my mind off it again.

I was walking in the front door. I heard it squeak. I changed into my PJs. I did my homework. When I finished it, I started watching TV. But I remembered something: I had to give my papers to my dad. I did, but I was still holding the last ones. I was scared to give them to my dad.

The grade was bad. I got eight wrong on the test. It was a C. I never got a C before. My heart was beating fast and my palms were sweaty. I tasted my tears. I went to the bathroom to wash off my tears.

When I came out, I saw the tables and my brothers. When I looked down I saw my shoes. When I raised my head I saw my dad waiting for me in the kitchen. When I passed by it I heard my mom and dad talking and I smelled their perfume. And I heard and smelled my mom’s food. I hugged my mom and dad. I touched the table and sat down in the chair. I felt mad for some reason. I heard myself crying again. My mom started sweeping. I tasted and smelled dust. I saw my dad in front of me. I tasted my dry mouth with some saliva and air.

I feel as safe with my dad as the sun in the sky. But now I felt nervous and embarrassed. I didn’t think, “I’m gonna do a good job.” I felt in danger. I had lots of fear. I haven’t ever before given my dad bad grades. I thought my dad was going to be angry. I also thought that he was going to take my things away. I thought I could hide it from him, but that wouldn’t be something right to do.

So I gave the test to my dad.

When I gave it to him I felt sad, mad, and happy. After I gave it to him and he signed it, I felt happy. So I felt more calm after that.

One Awesome Christmas

By Fernanda Salcido-Beltran
3rd Grade

We always celebrate Christmas at one of my cousins’ houses or my house. My brother had a good idea for something to do with a trampoline, but it wasn’t a good idea for me. My brother and I made a bet that if I jumped off of my cousin’s roof then he wouldn’t play video games for one week.

So I went on top and I grabbed my brother’s hand. And then he told me, “If you grab on tight to my hand, everything will be alright.”

BOOM! I jumped off a roof. I screamed. And I was very proud of myself. And my brother almost broke the trampoline in the snow. I couldn’t believe that I actually jumped off a roof.

The Zoom

By Yanely Hinojos-Robles 
3rd Grade

I went to the park to eat pizza. I was super happy. I began to beg my mom to go now. But she said no. Giselle and I were running around and scaring the ducks that were in the lake. Then we sat down to eat salad, vegetables, and pizza. We drank water and juice.

Giselle makes me happy. She makes me feel not left alone and that I belong. But sometimes she makes me feel bad because she gets mean with my brother and makes him feel lonely and that makes me so mad at her. Sometimes she makes my brother as lonely as a penguin in Antarctica.

This day Giselle and I felt nervous about going on the ride.

When we finally went to Lakeside I saw lots of things: like rides, a dirty floor, my family, other families, and people’s phones making videos or taking photos. I heard ride noises and the cars in the street. Also fake cars at Lakeside. I smelled popcorn of all kinds and other types of food. I smelled fresh air and dirt. It was fresh because it had the smell of a breeze. It was cold. I was touching my legs, ears, and arms. They were cold. I was happy.

I finally saw the ride I wanted to get on. I ate ice cream, popcorn, and cotton candy, and drank soda and a lot of water. I had sweaty palms. I felt like I was going to throw up. My heart beat fast. I could barely breathe the fresh air. I thought that it was going to get stuck all the way at the top. But I really, really wanted to get on it. Two of my friends were able to get on it. My mom would be so happy if I could not get on it, because she was worried and scared for me.

The line was suuuuuper long. When there were three more people I got nervous. Then two, then one. As I got closer, the more scared and nervous I got. Finally it was my turn to go. They said yes!

I needed to be brave because I was about to get on the ride. The ride goes up high. It gets stuck, and when you don’t know it’s going to go down it goes down. I got so scared because I thought it was going to get stuck up there forever and was going to break. When they were tying my friend Giselle and me, it was so high I could barely breath. I felt I was going to die. I wanted to get off because I’d never done it before, but I really wanted to do it. For me it seemed dangerous.

Okay, I was on. We went up high. Then it got stuck. There was a squeaking noise. I thought I was going to fall down. When it fell everybody screamed, even my mom, even though she wasn’t on the ride. The reason she was screaming was because she was worried for me.

Finally it was over. I felt proud of myself, like a bee feeling proud of himself for getting a lot of nectar. I was so brave.