Teacher Tom: "And Then A Spider Eats The Mean Witch"

I haven't shared any of these for awhile. This batch of stories is from waaay back at the beginning of the school year. We've become quite a bit more sophisticated since then. If you want to learn about our storytelling process, click here.

It's just plain silly. Once upon a time there was a princess that lived with an eyeball. The eyeball kept jumping all around the castle and then it was the princess' birthday. And the eyeball was jumping around the castle too much because it was excited. And then the princess said, "Oh, please would you stop jumping around because I have my first guest." And then the eyeball said, "Sorry, this trampoline is so springy that I can't stop jumping up an down on it." And then the eyeball said, "Woo hoo! It was also my birthday present because don't we have our birthday on the same day?" And the eyeball said, "My family is coming for my birthday." The princess turned 11-years-old. ~Sylvia

"Eyeball" has become an automatic "laugh line" in our stories this year.

It's about a eyeball and a princess. And the princess' name was my name. And I had a pet chameleon dressed as the eyeball. And then he loved to bounce around. And the princess didn't mind because she liked to bounce around too. And then -- this is the part when it gets really nice -- I need a bunny and a chameleon. Only the Bunny and the eyeball knew what was in store, except for the princess who was doing what she did the last day. And they just did reminded the princess that she did it the last day. ~Sienna

The word "toilet" is, of course, another way to make sure your audience will enjoy your story.

My story is about Monster. Then a monster creeped into town. Then Jody bumped into the monster. Then the real Jody fell into the book. And he didn't know he was actually in there. And then a eyeball bumped into the wall. And then he bumped into a piece of glass. And then he bumped into toilet! And then he bumped into the words. Then he bumped into a bear. Then he bumped into the wall again. And then he bumped into the ground. And then he bumped into eye glasses. Then he bumped into the ground again. Then he bumped into the letter "J." Then the letter "O." Then the letter "D." And then he bumped into the letter "Y." ~Jody

Some of our stories are non-fiction. I particularly love how this one seems to capture the emotional content of the experience.

Play with Henry, Henry, Henry. Even longer than him. We play and play and play. And then he goes home. And then Calder does the solar system puzzle. ~Calder

A elephant comes and tries to eat a giraffe. Yes, and a monkey comes in and tries to eat a elephant. A monkey comes and tries to eat a whole jungle. Yes, and what is it down there? ~Lily

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess that was named Aurora. The princess had a crown, even the fairies. And the fairies came and said, "Why don't you fly?" The princess said, "Because my wings are broken." They went out to the pond and they got their bathing suits on. One was sparkly and one had butterflies on it. ~Sadie

When our real life friends are included in the stories, we always have to ask permission first.

My story is about me and Sadie going to pick cranberries. And then we went home to make cranberry shortcake. And then we both ate it and we both kept doing it again and again and again. And then a mean witch come. And then a spider eats the mean witch. And then there was a mean prince kitty. And then the spider ate the kitty's eye. And then the wicked witch ate the sparkles off my dress. And then she just ate you! ~Elena

Someone named Strawberry. And someone ate the strawberry. And someone ate poisonous. And they decided to paint a picture for their mom. And that's not the end. Then Calder took the strawberry. And they tried to look for a worm, but they couldn't. And then they builded a block tower. And then they painted a wall. And then they took a pen they were not supposed to have. And then they pick a flower for their mom and dad. And then Sasha came and took the strawberries. ~Simone

Sometimes you can tell what the kids did on the weekends . . . And how their parents felt about it.

Redskins beat the Seahawks. Game stole. ~Luca

And here's one with a surprise ending!

Once upon a time there was one unicorn bunny, one horse and one unicorn and pegasus. And they went everywhere they could, but each once of them got trapped in some kind of trap. The trap was too small for them all so they just stretched out. And then they got free. Then the BlahBlahBlahBlah came and said, "You can't get out of my next trap!" And they got the next trap and he opened up the bottle and they growed small and got trapped. The second trap was their home. The BlahBlahBlahBlah got the keys that they had and locked them all up. So they had a different idea and they got a golden car. And they drove to their house. And then the kitty went jumping and flipped on each of their heads. And then a big gigantic drum came and drummed them really loud. So they put their ear plugs in. And then a truck came and put them in the zoo. And a truck came and bumped them in the head. Then then end . . . Wait! There's still more. And they got free and played and played, but they never went anywhere but home again. And then they travelled again. ~Violet

If you want to read more of our stories from our 3-5's class, here are the links:

And Now The Children Tell Their Stories

And Now The Children Tell Their Stories 2

"There Was A Bad Dream In My Bed"

Where The Wild Things Are

Stories From The Edge

Short, Smart, Sweet And Silly

A Muddy Puddle Of Morality

Wearing His Cape Every Day

One Thing At A Time

And Now For Something Completely Silly

"I'm Thinking Something To Ella"