Clare's blog: 2010

Clare was team captain for the winning Battle of the Books team in 3rd grade. They had to read 8 books and be an expert on them. They competed against other teams by answering questions about the books.

Clare won the Georgia Young Authors' District competition

for the 2nd year in a row. Here is her story:

A Day in the Life of a Squirrel

Quickly running, running, running, “aaaaaaaa!” It was getting closer! “Scamper for your life!” Gold fur of a fox all around!

And finally, I woke up and my nightmare was over. I had a warm cover of leaves all around me. Then I said goodbye to all of my siblings and scampered joyfully away. It was the first day of fall and the first day out of my mommy squirrel’s nest!

First I tried to find my own nest. I looked and looked till I found hole in a tree. I took in my surroundings. This hole was near lots of other nests. The best thing of all was that it was actually in an oak tree. I had to find some comfy leaves, newspaper, grass and branches to make a comfortable living area. So I went to a back yard, blue recycling bin and found some newspaper and put it in my nest. I found leaves already in my hole and sticks were easy to find considering where I lived. Last of all, I took in dead grass.

I got out of my hole and then I saw some gold fur behind me, so I ran really fast all around. I was thinking of what awful things could become of me. I ran and ran till my legs gave way. Then when nothing came after me, I figured out it was my tail all along.

Since it was fall, I went to find food. To find the best acorns, I had to cross the street. So I did, sort of. I did what my mom taught me. I ran into the street, and back out. In, out, in, out, across. The only thing I wanted to know was how boxes on wheels actually move.

Now I was going to find the best acorns. I climbed on the nearest telephone wire to look. I found the best oak tree and jumped from the wire, the breeze ruffling my fur. I scampered from branch to branch to more branches. I tried to find a just right acorn that wasn’t too green and wasn’t too brown. I got 10 of them and stuffed them into my mouth.

After all that, I scampered back to my oak tree.

I climbed in and spit out the acorns I had been holding.

I got ready for a long nap in my new nest. So I curled up in newspaper and everything went dark.