Showing posts with label DJ McKenzie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DJ McKenzie. Show all posts

Poetry





There once was an odd looking cat
Its tail was so round but so flat
Its ears were both big
It smelled like a pig
And looked a good bit like a rat.





Santa is jolly
His elves are too
They make all the gifts
And bring them to you.




(assignment for lesson #5 - poetry)


If you are between the ages of 4-12,
(or know someone who likes to write stories)
I would like to post your story here.
Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!
Signed,
Wiggles the Polliwog

Through the Hoop




THROUGH THE HOOP
by
DJ McKenzie 
(age 12)

The clock was ticking down quickly. There wasn’t much time remaining. It was Saturday, December 19th, 2015, at the basketball court at the Stafford High School. Our first playoff game was coming to an end, and we were ahead by two points. The other team had possession of the ball. Five seconds on the clock, four… three… two… The other team chucked the ball towards the basket and missed! We won the game! With the final score of 36 to 34!

My name is Alex. I live in a mansion with my mom, my dad, and my older sister. As you can probably tell, I play basketball. For a hobby, I race remote control cars with my best friend, Jason Fields. Jason plays basketball too, and he is the best player on our team. He often makes most of our baskets. Then there’s Michal. He’s our comedian on the team. He makes lots of puns and jokes.
During Christmas vacation, Jason spent the night with me. The next day, we took out my sister’s and my snowmobiles for a ride.

We were driving around for about five minutes when Jason had an idea. “We should make a jump!” Jason Exclaimed. At first I didn’t agree, but Jason persuaded me to do it. So we started making a jump.

Once we were done building the ramp, we couldn’t decide who would do it first. So we did rock paper scissors, and Jason won. He got on to his snowmobile and started towards the jump. He flew into the air, and was nearly fifteen feet in the air. Everything was going fine, until the snowmobile flipped over. Jason let go of the handle bars and hit the ground with the snowmobile landing on his foot. “OW!” Jason yelled out in pain.

I ran over to him. “Don’t move, I’ll go get my dad.”

I ran to the house and burst through the door. “Dad! Jason tried to go over a jump, but he fell off, and the snowmobile landed on his foot!” My dad quickly called 911, and followed me outside. We rushed towards Jason and knelt down beside him.

“Calm down, Jason. The ambulance will be here soon,” my dad calmly said.

A few minutes later we heard a siren and saw an ambulance pull into our driveway. Two men stepped out. Without a word, they gently lifted the snowmobile off Jason’s foot, brought out a stretcher, and carried him into the ambulance. We got into my dad’s truck and followed the ambulance. “Will Jason still be able to play basketball next week?” I asked my dad. My dad hesitated for a few seconds.  “I’m not sure. I don’t know how bad it is.”

I couldn’t bear the thought of Jason not playing next week. He was the one who made us win every game.

We were in the waiting room at the hospital. Jason’s mom, dad, and his little brother Max came through the door. Max pointed at me and yelled out. “You made my brother get hurt, it’s all your fault!”

“Hey, stop it! It wasn’t his fault,” Jason’s mom said to little Max.

“Please excuse him. He’s only 4 years old,” Jason’s dad said.

“I understand,” I said.

Just then the doctor walked through the door. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Fields?”

“Yes?” Mrs. Fields replied.

“I’m Dr. Gordon. Your son has broken his ankle in two places. He will need to come in for a checkup tomorrow. We highly suggest that he doesn’t play any sports for the next four to six weeks. When his ankle has healed, he will be in therapy for probably another four to six weeks, just to get it strong again.”

“Can we see him?” Mrs. Fields asked.

“Sure, right this way,”

We walked down a long hall and into a room and saw Jason lying on a large bed. He looked towards his parents with a bland look on his face.

“Mom, will I be able to play basketball next week?”

“I’m afraid not, Jason. Your ankle is too badly injured.”

It was game day on January 2nd. We would play our playoff game, and then if we won, we would play for the championship that same day. Jason was there watching, but I wished that he could be playing. “I wonder if we can win without him.” I thought to myself.

The game started, I dribbled the ball down the court and called out a number. I passed the ball to Michal, but the pass was batted down, and taken by the other team. Grant Friller, a player from the other team, got an easy layup. Five minutes went past in the first quarter. The score was 28-14. The other team was in the leading position. By the fourth quarter, we were taking the leading position, 56-54. Michal passed the ball to me, I shot, and made a basket. The game was over the final score was 58-54. We won the first game but it was hard, and I had a feeling the next game would be even harder.

My mom and dad took Michal and I to get some ice cream before our next game. I got cookies and cream with hot fudge. Michal got one scoop of strawberry, one scoop of chocolate, and one scoop of coffee, with hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles, and peanuts, and a cherry, or something like that.
“Michal, you’re going to get sick if you eat all that before a basketball game!” I said.

“No, I’m not. I’ve eaten three cheese burgers and a whole whoopie pie before a basketball game, and I didn’t get sick!” Michal said with ice cream all over his chin.

The next game started, the championship. We made the first shot, but that didn’t make a difference. By the end of the first quarter, the other team was in the lead 16-4. It didn’t look good. Jason was there cheering us on in a cast and crutches, wishing that he was playing.

It was the fourth quarter, and we were just about to collapse. We didn’t have very many players, some were sick, some were on vacation, and some had hurt themselves. We only had seven people, so everyone was exhausted. The score was 47-43. We were close. Michal made a three pointer to make the score 47-46. Ten seconds were left on the clock. The other team had the ball. They passed it and shot… they missed! Michal got the rebound with four seconds on the clock. He passed it to me, and from half court, I chucked it at the basket. The buzzer went off as the ball went through the hoop! The final score was 47-49. We won! I never would have thought that we would win a championship game without Jason, but we did!

Six weeks later Jason got his cast off, and the doctor said that he was free to go back to regular activities! I hope nothing happens before soccer season starts.
                                                                               

                                                                                 THE END

(Assignment for Lesson #5 - Settings) 



If you are between the ages of 4-12,
(or know someone who likes to write stories)
I would like to post your story here.
Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!
Signed,
Wiggles the Polliwog

The Alpha Squad


THE ALPHA SQUAD
by 
DJ McKenzie
(age 12)

Hello! My name is Alpha. I’m a dog, and I’m going to tell you a story about me.

When I was just a puppy, I lived in a big white house, owned by the Mcfowler family. They had three dogs. One was a German shepherd named Dex, and the other was a foxhound named Bruiser. And then there was me, a very lively Jack Russel. I was the leader of them all—hence the name Alpha.

One day there was a fire at the house. Everyone got out except for me. I was in the fire, and I couldn’t get out. I found a small hole in one side of the house, but it was too small for me. I heard sirens blaring outside. I needed to get out. I finally found a hole big enough for me, but right as I was starting to run towards it, a big beam fell from the ceiling, and barely missed me. I ran out the hole, and unfortunately it was very slippery outside, and I slipped right into a river in the back yard. I tried to swim, but the water was rushing too fast.

I finally hit dry land, but I had no idea where I was, so I started to follow the river back the way I came. It was a little hard, because the river had a few sharp rocks, which cut my legs. I came to a part in the river that split into two different ways. I didn’t remember which one I came from, so I just had to guess. I chose the one on the right and started walking.

A few hours went past, and I was getting tired. But before I could lie down, I saw someone, it was a man, and he was coming towards me. I tried to run, but my legs were too sore. The man reached me and said, “Poor little pooch, you’re all scratched up. I’ll take you to the Lost and Found Pet Store.”
With that he picked me up and started walking. I didn’t know what he meant by, “Lost and Found Pet Store,” but it didn’t sound that great.

A few minutes later we approached a big pink building with a blue roof and a sign that I couldn’t read. We entered the building and came to a desk. There was a woman with a chihuahua next to us.
“How did you get here, amigo?” the chihuahua asked with a Spanish accent.

“My owner’s house burned down, and I slipped into a river, and washed up near somewhere, and started walking, and this man brought me here,” I told him.

“Oh. I was chasing a bunny and got lost,” the chihuahua said. “My name is Chimicanga. What’s yours?”

“I’m Alpha.”

Three days went past and Chimichanga and I became best friends.

                                                                                      *****

One day two new dogs came, and guess who they were. Yep, Dex and Bruiser. “What happened guys?” I said.

They were all surprised to see each other, and before long Dex started talking.

“The Mcfowlers are now living in a small house, and they can’t afford to have us there, so they gave us away. We escaped from our new owners, and someone brought us here.”

I introduced them to Chimichanga. We were there a few more days, when a man came with his son and said,

“My son wants the two smallest ones you have.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, because Chimichanga and I were the smallest ones.

“There, those two,” the man.

So they took us out of our cages, put us in a bigger cage, and brought us out to their car. I was very mad, because Dex and Bruiser had just gotten there, and now I would never see them again—or would I?

We reached our new home. I thought it was too big, but that was a good thing because Chimichanga and I had made a plan to rescue Dex and Bruiser from the Lost and Found Pet Shop. We just needed to see the inside of the house so we could find a way to escape. It actually wasn’t very hard to escape because they had a doggy door, but they had a fence, so it would be a little harder than we thought. And another unfortunate thing—they had a cat, and we had a strong hunch that he wouldn’t let us leave.

Two nights passed, and we still couldn’t think of a plan to get past the cat. Then we found out that the cat had a vet appointment that day and we were staying at the house, alone. It was perfect.

When the humans and the cat left, we ran through the doggy door and out onto the front lawn. Then we found out that they had two cats. So we decided we would just have a talk with the other cat.
“Hello, mind if we jump over your fence?” I said.

“No, don’t mind at all. Of course I mind. Do you think I’m just going to let you leave?” the cat responded. “May I ask you your names?”

“How do we know we can trust you?” Chimichanga asked.

“Oh you can’t trust me at all.” Just then five other cats surrounded us. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Split up!” I yelled.

 Chimichanga and I went in two different directions. We met up on the other side of the house, and quickly came up with a plan. The cats came around the corner of the house, and once again, Chimichanga and I split up and went separate ways.

This went on for quite a while, but finally, the cats ran out of stamina. The gate in the fence was barred, and the bars were spread apart enough for us to get through.

We had gotten through the gate and were on our way to the Lost and Found Pet Shop when we saw a car we recognized. It was our new owner’s car.

“Daddy, aren’t those the dogs we just got the other day?” the boy said out the window.

“Yes they are! We need to catch them, before they get away!”

The car turned around and started towards us.

“We need to scat.” I announced to Chimichanga

We began running, and before we knew it, we were at the pet shop. But the car was not far behind, so we needed to act fast. Chimichanga looked back to see where the car was. Luckily, the car had been pulled over by a police car, probably for speeding, so we had plenty of time.

 I walked up to the door and gave a howl. A man came to the door as I hid. He looked out, and before he knew it, he was on the ground. Chimichanga and I had tripped him. We ran past him and into the pet shop. We entered the room where all the cages were. We looked around and found Dex and Bruisers cages. We ran up to them, and tried to open the cages, and we succeeded. Dex and Bruiser were very happy to see us, but we needed to get out of there.

Just then the man we had tripped approached the room, he looked angry, very angry. We ran forward and tripped him again and got out of the pet shop. We couldn’t go back to the house because the cats would be there, and they would not be happy. But while we were running, we saw something. The cats! We were now surrounded by them, and there was only one thing to do—we needed to fight them! One of the cats ran at me. I barked and showed my teeth. The cat stopped, and backed up slowly.

“You coward, get back in there!” the alpha cat commanded. As he pushed the other cat back towards me, I nipped at him and he ran away. All the other cats started towards, me but Dex jumped in front of me and gave a loud bark. All the cats ran except for the alpha cat. He stayed where he was, not realizing that he was in the middle of the road. A car came around the corner, and was headed right for the cat!

Now I hate cats, but I hate to see any animal hit by a car. I ran towards the cat. He hissed at me, but I didn’t stop. I reached him when the car was only inches away. I pushed him off the road and jumped, the car hit my leg, I cried out in pain, and hit the ground. Just as that happened, our new owners came, and put me in their car. They took me to the vet. The vet put a cast on and said that I should keep it on for about four weeks. Until then I wouldn’t de able around or anything like that.

The cat told us his name was Marshal, and we became friends. Our new owners bought Dex and Bruiser, and we were all together now, and we were happy. My leg healed, and I was able to go back to regular activities. We named ourselves The Alpha Squad.


                                                                               THE END


(Assignmet #4 of Polliwog Writing Lessons - Adjectives)

If you are between the ages of 4-12,
(or know someone who likes to write stories)
I would like to post your story here.
Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!
Signed,
Wiggles the Polliwog

Tiny Hero (part 2)



TINY HERO
by
DJ McKenzie
(age 12)

(Click Here for Part One)

So one day when his mom and dad were gone, Nibbles sneaked out of his bedroom and out of the house. He made his way through the wood and came to the house. Wally and another old man were playing horseshoes. Nibbles walked up to Wally and made a squeak.

Wally looked down and said, “Hello, little mouse. This is my brother Harold. Harold, this is the mouse I told you about.”

“Ew gross! A mouse!” Harold screamed.

“He’s not gross. He’s my little friend,” said Wally.

“Well, make sure he doesn’t come too close,” Harold said. “I don’t want rabies.” Nibbles didn’t know what rabies was, but it sounded terrible.

“Oh, little mouse,” Wally started. “My grandchildren are coming to visit me, so you’ll have some more people to play with,”

Nibbles was very happy that he would have some playful kids to play with. On his way home he tried to think of games he could play with the kids. When he got home no one was there, so he went upstairs and pulled out a sheet of paper and started writing down game ideas. He was almost finished when he heard the door open, and his dad coming upstairs. He had to hide his picture so his dad wouldn’t find it, so he hid it under his pillow.

Unfortunately it was his mom, not his dad, and she was carrying new sheets for Nibbles’s bed. “Here are some new sheets for your bed,” his mom said. “We need to take your pillow and old sheets off.”
Nibbles quickly ran over to his bed and picked up his pillow and the picture. “Let’s get started,” he said.

The next day Nibbles headed off towards Wally’s house, with the sheet of paper he drew the night before. He reached the house and saw two kids riding bikes on the driveway. The boy wore a black t-shirt, blue shorts, and sunglasses. The girl wore a pink shirt, pink skirt, and pink sunglasses. They both looked very mean, but Nibbles had a motto- Don’t judge a book by its cover.

So Nibbles ran towards them ready to play, but when he got there, the girl shrieked. “EW! A MOUSE!” The boy ran to the garage and came out with a baseball bat. He ran towards Nibbles and swung the bat. Nibbles dodged the bat and ran towards the woods. The kids followed him, and when he got back to the village he ran into his house, up to his room, and shut the door.

 A moment later he looked out his window. He saw the boy swinging the bat at another mouse. Luckily he missed. Nibbles was thinking to himself, that since he had led the kids, here he would have to scare them away.

He ran outside just as a warrior mouse was about to throw a spear at the boy. Nibbles knocked the warrior over stopping him from throwing the spear.

“What are you doing?” the warrior said. “I had a clear shot.”

“We don’t want to hurt them,” Nibbles said.

 “Then how are we going to stop them?” the warrior questioned.

“We need to scare them!”

The rest of the day was pretty miserable, because the kids had destroyed a lot of the village. Nibbles told his dad that they needed to tell the mice not to hurt them. They just needed to scare them. Nibbles dad agreed that this was the best idea, so that evening Nibbles came up with a plan, and told everyone. The only problem was nobody ever listened to Nibbles, so Nibbles told them that it was his dad’s plan.

                                                                                  *******

The next day all the mice went to the house. The two kids were blowing up army men with fire crackers. Nibbles walked out from behind a bush and over towards the kids. The kids looked up. “Hey, it’s that mouse that we attacked yesterday,” the boy said. “How dare he come back?” They started running towards Nibbles. Nibbles started running. When he reached the tree line, two warrior mice passed him and ran towards the kids and ran up their legs.

“AH! They’re climbing on us!” the girl said. “EW run!”

The mice fell off as the kids ran back to the house and grabbed some fire crackers. Nibbles was not expecting the kids to have fire crackers, so he had no idea what to do. Nibbles thought of something. “You two, go climb that tree. When I tell you, drop on their heads. You four, go along the tree line and find as many acorns as you can. And you-“

“Whoa! Hold it! Who said you were in charge?” a warrior interrupted.

“I did,” Nibbles’s dad said. “Nibbles keep going.”

Nibbles continued. “You two, we need some time go distract them.”

When the distracters left, they were chased by the kids for a few minutes, and then the kids gave up. By that time the ones gathering acorns got back. The kids started running back, and when they got there, Nibbles yelled out, “ACORNS!”

With that, the mice let go of their acorns and they went flying.

The kids yelled out, “Hey!”

The acorns didn’t stop them, but they slowed them down. Then Nibbles yelled, “JUMP!” and the mice jumped out of the trees and landed on the kids’ heads. The kids tried to get them off, but they couldn’t. Then all of the mice ran out of the woods towards the kids. The kids screamed and ran back to the house.

Back at the mouse village, they had a big feast in honor of Nibbles. The next day Nibbles and his dad walked to the house just in time to see the kids leaving. “Good job, son. You saved us”. 

                                                                               THE END                                      


(Assignment for Lesson #3 - Verbs)


If you are between the ages of 4-12,
(or know someone who likes to write stories)
I would like to post your story here.
Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!
Signed,
Wiggles the Polliwog

Tiny Hero


TINY HERO
by
DJ McKenzie
(age 12)

There once was a tiny field mouse, whose name was Nibbles. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. In other words… he was a runt. He always got picked on, and was left out of the games. His dad was the leader of the field mouse kingdom, which was the only way Nibbles was popular. But he still didn’t get much attention. Every time he was in line for breakfast lunch or dinner, other mice would cut in front of him.

 Nibbles would often take walks in the field, where there was no one to pick on him. One day when he was bouncing along in the field, he noticed a building. He wanted to get a closer look, so he crept up quietly and hid behind a box on a driveway. Just then he remembered that his father wanted him back by dinner time which was coming up soon. But before he could move he heard something coming. He started to run but it was too late. A big moving van was starting to creep over him. He froze as it suddenly became dark. He waited and watched as two humans stepped out of the van. As they did, a car drove into the driveway. A man and a woman stepped out. The man looked very old. Nibbles remembered that his father had taught him a lot about humans and said that most men that looked that old were most likely crippled. The old man shuffled across the driveway with the woman helping him. Nibbles was so frightened he forgot that it was past dinner time. He waited and waited, fearing someone would see him if he ran out. He hoped that the van would leave soon.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 *******

Nibbles’s dad walked out the door to find his son. He was hoping that he hadn’t gotten snatched up by an owl, or gulped down by a bobcat. But he tried to put those thoughts behind him. He took six warrior mice with him in case there was danger. They set off in the same direction Nibbles had gone. They didn’t know exactly the way he had gone, so they had to take a wild guess. At first, they went the wrong way, so they went a different way and kept on looking.

*******

Nibbles had fallen asleep. He opened his eyes to a loud roaring engine. He didn’t know how long he had been asleep, but he figured it was a long time for it was almost dark. He saw that the van had now gone and there were no humans in sight. So he ran back the direction he had come and nearly ran into his dad.

“Nibbles there you are!” His dad exclaimed. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine, “Nibbles replied.

“Come at once. Your mother is very worried, and she will most likely ground you,” his dad said. “And you missed dinner.”

“But Dad I –“. 

“No buts” his dad interrupted.

So Nibbles followed his father and the warriors back to the field mouse village. After a week of lying in his room Nibbles was allowed to go on walks again. He was very happy because he really wanted to explore around that house more. But someone had to go with him, this he was not happy about.

 One of the warriors volunteered to go with him. They were walking one day and Nibbles knew the warrior wouldn’t let him go to the house, so he had to think of a plan. First he grabbed a long sturdy stick. Then he pretended to trip and fall with the stick in his hand. He yelled out, “OW!”
 The warrior turned around and saw Nibbles on the ground. He went to help him, and as soon as he was close enough, Nibbles tripped him with the stick, got up and started running. He knew he could outrun the warrior because he was much lighter than him.

 He soon reached the house, but before he went any farther, he looked back to see if the warrior was still there. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen, so Nibbles went up to the house and saw the crippled man sitting on his porch. He had a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck, and Nibbles assumed he was watching birds. Then Nibbles remembered the whole reason the warrior was with him. The wood was full of predators.

 Just then an owl swooped down towards him. Nibbles started to run, and then he heard a yell. “Get out of here you owl! Don’t go eating mice on my property.” The man threw a rock at the owl and missed, but it was enough to scare the owl away.


Nibbles stopped and looked over towards him.

 ”Hello, little mouse,” the man yelled.

Nibbles automatically liked the man because he had saved him, so he ran up the stairs on the porch and walked up to the man.

 The man looked down at Nibbles and picked him up. “My name is Wally,” the man said.

Nibbles wanted to tell him his name, but he knew he wouldn’t understand him.

 “That sure was a close call,” Wally said. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Nibbles tried to say, but to Wally it was only squeaks.

“My, you’re a bit small for a field mouse, aren’t you?” Wally questioned. “Oh my, I must be stupid! You can’t talk, yet I’m asking you questions. Oh well, you’d better be getting back to where you belong, I have to get to bed myself. Well bye bye, little mouse. Come back any time!” Wally went inside the house and disappeared.

Nibbles had totally forgotten that it was starting to get dark. He ran back the way he came and half way there he heard voices. It was his Dad and three other mice. One of the mice was the one he had tripped. He was limping a little but otherwise he looked ok. Nibbles popped out from a bush and nearly gave his dad a heart attack.

When they got home, the first thing that happened was… his mom grounded him again! Another week passed, and this time no one had to go with him on his walks because he wasn’t allowed to go on walks.
(to be continued)



(assignment for Lesson #3 - Verbs)

If you are between the ages of 4-12,
(or know someone who likes to write stories)
I would like to post your story here.
Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!
Signed,
Wiggles the Polliwog

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