<p align="center"><strong>Zoo Stories</strong></p>
<p align="center"><em>By the Children in Room 413 After Their Field Trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo</em></p>
<p align="center">*********</p>
<p align="center"><em>Zoo Train</em> by Carter</p>
<p align="left">Once upon a time there was a boy named Carter. He liked Legos Zoo Train. An elephant and a monkey and a lion and a giraffe and a tiger and a flamingo.</p>
<p align="left"></p>
<p align="center">*********</p>
<p align="center"><em> The Zoo </em> by Austin</p>
<p align="left">A dolphin. The tiger. The baby jaguar. The pumas. The penguins. The monkeys. The speckled bear. The gorilla. The sharks. The whale. The animals on the train.</p>
<p align="center">*********</p>
<p align="center"><em>The Hippo</em> by Kahlil</p>
<p align="left">The hippo was really sad cause he can't swim. He can't swim because he's too fat. Cause he ate too much. He ate too much because he was hungry. He was hungry because he liked to be strong.</p>
<p align="center">******</p>
<p align="center"><em>The Farm</em> by John</p>
<p align="left">I went in the farm. And I saw cows washing and milking at the same time. And I saw them poop. And it was yucky. I got to pet the goats.</p>
<p align="center">*******</p>
<p align="center"><em>Lion</em> by Ian</p>
<p align="left">It was on the rocks. It roared. It got off.</p>
<p align="center">******</p>
<p align="center"><em>The Hyena Gets Eaten By the Lion </em> by Rikesh</p>
<p align="left">Once upon a time there was a hyena. And a badger. Soon the badger was gone. Soon a lion came. The hyena said to himself, &quot;Maybe that lion late Badger.&quot; Soon the lion made and awful ROAR! The hyena started to run. The lion chased after the hyena. The hyena started to run superfast. But the lion was catching up. The lion wrapped the hyena with its giant claw and pulled him up with all his might. The hyena couldn't escape. The lion squeeze the hyena's leg harder. Soon the lion ate him in one gulp.</p>
<p align="center">*******</p>
<p align="center"><em>The Lion</em> by Ahmad</p>
<p align="left">The lion was sleeping and then he woke up and he ate a bird.</p>
<p align="left">(Editor's note: we really witnessed this! Poor pidgeon shouldn't have landed 2 feet from the lioness ....)</p>
<p align="center">********</p>
<p align="center">By Arthur</p>
<p align="left">I saw a dragon and it and the lion bit the flamingos. Then the lion got out of his cage and then it tried to bite all the animals, but not the animals that were in the glass, and not even the Kapuchen monkeys.</p>
<p align="center">*********</p>
<p align="left">(Editor's note: We saw a zebra that was having seizures. The veterinarians had been there to check on it. The following stories are reflect the children's fascination with this.)</p>
<p align="center"><a title="Direct link to file" href="http://413.rayblogs.org/files/img_6578.JPG"><img src="http://413.rayblogs.org/files/img_6578.JPG" alt="img_6578.JPG" width="170" height="128" /> </a> <a title="img_6579.JPG" href="void(0)"> <img src="http://413.rayblogs.org/files/img_6579.JPG" alt="" width="172" height="131" /> </a></p>
<p align="center"><em>Zebra</em> by Auden</p>
<p align="left">It was sick. It was lying down. It was in a truck. The zebras were standing up. Because they weren't sick.</p>
<p align="center">********</p>
<p align="center"><em>The Surgery Truck for the Zebra</em> by Ben</p>
<p align="left">The surgery truck was feeling the zebra's heart. And it was not beating at all. And the surgery truck knew it was sick. Then they put it in a hospital bed. And it was so sick it rolled over.</p>
<p align="center">********</p>
<p align="center">By Sean</p>
<p align="left">A zebra was walking. And then it bumped into a lion. The lion was walking but then the lion bumped into a African wild dog.</p>
<p align="center">********</p>
<p align="center">By Niel</p>
<p align="left">Once at the zoo there was a zebra that was sick. Then the mother zebra was very sad. And they lived happily ever after.</p>
<p align="center">*******</p>
<p align="center">By River</p>
<p align="left">That's the zebra laying down. A truck came. The doctor got out the truck. And she checked the zebra's whole body.</p>
<p align="center">*******</p>
<p align="center">_______________________________________________________________</p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p align="left"></p>

September 10, 2007

Ria’s Birthday Story

Once it was my birthday. And her name was Ria. And she had a cake, a chocolate cake. I was really hungry because I wanted lunch.

Rosie

Once upon a time there was me and my dad. I was sleeping  and then there was a bad guy in my room. Then there was a bad Ms. Jane (it wasn’t you). She take my mom and dad! And she hurt my head. It fly and hurt my head, and put the building down. And Bad Ms. Jane fired all the town, and even blocked the tree! And fired the tree! And fired the dress and the shirt. Then it broke my body.  The End

Mila

About a kid and a monster. Once upon a time there was a monster. The kid’s mommy and daddy hugged me and took them to the water fountain. And they live happily ever after.

Becky

I go to preschool and I go to Spanish class.

Jacob

The monsters were taking me and then I got away and then they were all over the place.

Ian

There was monsters and they were all over the place and then they got dead.

September 4, 2007

Mila:

Once upon a time there was the monsters all over the place. And then the monsters were tearing my head and putting me on the bed. Then I was laughing all over the place. I was landing all around outside. Then I saw the monsters over there and then my mommy and daddy hugged me very much and my mommy and daddy took me home.

Arthur:

My story is monsters were all over the place and there were ghosts all over the place.

River:

One day I saw a monster with my daddy and me and him were all over Chicago. the ghosts were still in the plane and we weren’t in the plane.

Carter:

There was a bat upstairs in my old school. I gave Ben woodchips so he could get it away. And then one day it was still in there! And then I went upstairs so I could see it and then I run downstairs cause it was still up there.

Rosie:

When I was sleeping there was a monster that took my mom and dad away. And he was trying to put me away but my head was hurting. And then a sky was on my head. And then the bacterias eat the bad guy away. But it was just a dream.

2/15/08

JACOB’S STORY ABOUT THE MURAL ON THE WALL IN THE HALL- told to me while I was trying to get him to calm down for nap today. He told me a lot more before I realized that I needed to go get a paper and pencil to write down what he was telling me.

The people in the box [he had earlier described them as tall or long which they clearly are] actually they—the rain [he also described the raindrop as a tear at one point but decided it should be rain instead]—the orange rain is gonna break the box—break it open and then they [the people in the box] will fall near the cheetah and the spider. [I have to admit I hadn’t noticed most of the items he was describing after almost 5 years of passing that wall but he was into all the details].  When they first drop they’ll have to fight these guys but they don’t have a weapon. But they can swim, actually they can’t swim that water cuz that water goes too fast. But actually they will have to  stay and fight those guys until they fall into the pit. Actually there is a pit but you can’t see it near the edge. [This was in response to my query about where the pit was.]

There’s a volcano, see right there, and when they go inside the volcano they will not die because the volcano fish and not go in the water.

The creature actually, the little creature that has cherries in his mouth. It’s actually gonna give it to that creature right there. That face is gonna such up the cherries and the stars in the sky.

(Deirdre)