Those amazing fifth graders

I present the following - word for word - excerpts from biographies written by fifth graders.

These are the first drafts!

This one was a biography of the student's grandmother:

It was September 19, 1939 in Wanne Eickel, Germany and many sounds could be heard. The pitter patter of rain on the decorative shop windows. The clip clop of the horses’ feet on the depressing gray cobblestone streets and an unusual laugh of a tiny baby.


I love the choppy cadence of the next one. It's a student's biography of her father, who grew up in Kenya:

On a hot summer day, picking out weeds. Hearing the chickens. Bock bock bock. The goats munching on bright green grass and milk splashing down into the silver rusty bucket. Plop plop plop. Corn stalks taller than him and the small vegetable garden.