Check out some outstanding student work from the first homework project of the school year, All About Me. I've listed the requirements of the project here; below is what some especially creative students did with it.


Job 1. Mini-biography: Choose two from the following:

• Writing about yourself, your life, and your family – funny stories, sad stories, amazing family facts, etc.
  
• Describe the best book you have ever read.
  
• What was one of the proudest moments in your life?
  
• Describe a turning point in your life.

Job 2. Predictions: Write predictions about where you and three of your friends will be, and what they will be doing with their lives in: Ten years time & Twenty years time.

Job 3. Compliments: Write a page of compliments to friends and family, the kind of thing that you may have thought but never said. Try to include as many classmates as possible.

Job 4. Portraits: A page (or pages) of photos and/or artwork expressing your personality and what makes you YOU.

One of the most proud moments of my life was when I won the Little League World Series for my team.  There was one out and I was stranded on third with the score tied.  Teddy was up at bat.  “What if he strikes out?” I thought.  WHIZZ.  Strike one. ZOOM.  Strike two.  “Looks like my wish came true,” I mumbled.  THWACK.  “You’re out!” said the Ump.  

Great, now Nick was up.  He rarely hits it and when he does, it cruises along at 1 mph to the pitcher.  WHIZZ.  Strike one.  My coach turned to me.  “Stef,” he said.  “When the catcher catches the ball, go halfway down the line.  He’ll follow you back to third base.  Then, when he throws the ball to the pitcher, sprint home.”

So, ZOOM.  Strike two.  I go halfway down the line.  The catcher jumps at me but I stay where I am.  He starts running.  When he is just out of arm’s reach, I slide back to third follows me all the way there.  I tag the base and the catcher throws it to the pitcher.  It’s my big moment.  Now I see why Coach George wanted me to do this.  The catcher was at third and there was no one at home for the play. 

 My cleats dig into the dirt.  My legs are pumping and my heart is racing.  I’m sprinting.  My foot hits something hard.  I hear the crowd explode.  My teammates race out of the dugout and tackle me.  The fans burst through the gate and start rushing at me.  I’m lifted off my feet.  When I land I start running because 1) the paparazzi; 2) my brother’s rushing at me (which is always a bad sign); and 3) my coach is rushing at me with the water cooler.  

Dad is a great engineer because he can use the machines at his work with no hassle. I admire that because I want to invent some type of new electronic but to do that I need to have great engineer skills. He helps the house to because he gets us all of the hi-tech equipment.

My sister is a good sister because she gets me fun stuff for my birthday.  She also looks out for me when I am in a real fuss or when I am in trouble with my parents. She is always just very nice because… she just is. I could go into a very long story about how nice she is but I’m not, she just is a wonderful sister.

Ben is awesome because he always cheers me up in my toughest of times. He is always the most hilarious kid in the class. He is very fast, which is good because I like a challenge in the tag games. He is also a very nice kid, I can tell.

Peter is probably the best kid at football and flag football in the class. He always includes people who want to play what he is playing at recess and after school. He always shows respect to everyone by helping them pick up something that isn’t his but theirs. He just is always very nice.

Stefan is a helping machine at school. If I can’t remember the answer to a question in math, etc. he is the outlet to all of my answers. He is great at almost every sport there is even baseball. He is so very thoughtful.  He is also a great pod buddy.

Paul is the best friend I have ever had and probably will ever have in my ever so long life. He is great at Minecraft CPU and Xbox edition. Even though he isn’t in my class this year we will always be best friends possible to ever have in the world.

Hi. My name is Anna Mercina. I am nine and a half years old. My Birthday is on November xx. I was born in Medford, MA. in the year of 2003. I am a fifth grader at Brooks Elementary School. I am also an only child. I have two amazing parents. John and Patricia. I have been on many trips with them. We have all been to Buffalo NY, Orlando FL, Greece, Canada, New England and Cape Cod. A couple of those places have relatives of mine in them.  I have many friends and relatives. I also have three pets. One cat and two fish. The fish are goldfish. Their names are Swimmy and April. I am not sure if they are boys or girls. My cat’s name is Lucy Belle. She has grey fur, yellow eyes and two very thin ears. You should know a couple of interesting facts about me. #1, I absolutely love to sing. #2, I love to dance. #3, I am an animal lover. #4, I love to do art. #5, I am a musician. Those were some interesting facts about me. Now I will talk about my hobbies. My hobbies are learning Greek, doing gymnastics on my front lawn, drawing, go to Greek festivals, reading and much much more ! Now I will tell you about my mom and dad. My mom works for a financial company. At home, she is a kind mother, amazing cook, game player and reader. She is one of the best mothers in the world. Now the best part… my dad. He is the best dad in the world! He is loving, smart, funny and nice. If somebody knows of anybody more loving and funny than my parents, name it. Anyway, my dad tells me super funny stories of when he was a kid. They are HILLARIOUS !!!!!!!!!!! My face can’t stop bursting with laughter when he tells me one of the stories.

Now, another part of this biography is to tell you about one of the proudest moments in my life. The proudest moment in my life has to be my very first violin recital. It was scary. I forgot two of the songs! I didn’t know what to do, but I just practiced a lot. Then I remembered the two songs and I played them well. When it was time to get on stage, my legs were shaking! I was so scared. All the cameras flashing in my eyes, people shouting good luck to their kids then, I had a seat. It was my classes turn to perform. Then I played the songs with no fear. When the recital was over my parents were so proud of me! Then I knew I had completed my very first violin recital.

That was a very long Mini-Biography and I hope you enjoyed it.                                                                                                                                                                                        

My name is Olivia. I’m going to tell you a little about myself. I’m a strong, flexible, and happy person. I love a laugh, and like to have fun, especially with my friends, but I also like a challenge. My favorite subjects in school, are math and writing. I like math because it’s one of my strong subjects, and I think that it’s kind of fun to learn, so I can practice all the different strategies for all the different subjects in math. I like writing, because I like to express my creativity, with a piece of paper, and a pencil. Also, all the tips and strategies for writing I think are really helpful, and have made my writing a lot better.

      Now, I’m going to tell you about my life. Gymnastics is my favorite thing to do. I LOVE it. I’m on a team, and love to do competitions. I do gymnastics all the time at my house, and wish I practice more at the gym. I also like dance. I take modern lyrical, which is like ballet, but loose and flowy. I’ve also been to lots of cool places, like Italy, France, England, Spain, and Mexico. I’ve gone to England though, more than five times! 

      Next, about my family. I have an older sister, Sarah, (who had Mr. Allen) and is now a freshman in high school. Then there’s my mom, dad, two cats, and a hamster.  I’m going to tell you a funny story with my family. We were in Rome, in a square called, Campo de Fiori, and had just finished our gelato. We were watching these glowing mini rockets soar up in the air, and then come down with barely any direction, so it could hit someone, but it was slowly coming down so it wouldn’t hurt you if one fell on you. All these people bought them, and there were many flying in the air. Then, a street vender comes up to us, and says to me, “try it out” in an Italian accent. He hands me one glowing mini rocket, and I take the rubber elastic, and say, “I don’t know how to” then, he shows me how, and I finally get it. It soars through the air, and then lands in the middle of a table in a restaurant, that two people were sitting at, but they laughed. My family did too. Then the street vender finally walked away, and he was smiling too. 

Hi my name is Isabella. I was born on December xx, 2003. My favorite activities are dancing and swimming at the beach. In my family I have 2 moms, 2 brothers, and 1 foster brother. A fun fact is that I am the oldest child in my family but the youngest child in the fifth grade at the Brooks School! We also have many family pets. My dogs are Harry and Sally, they are Cairn Terrier mixes. My cats are Kristin and Merry. My fish are Cupcake and Cutie.

My mom’s names are Laura and Paula. Paula works at Harvard University as the Chef Production Manager for the Graduate School and Laura works as a stay at home mother and professional photographer. My brothers are Brady and Jameson, and my foster brother is Carlos. Brady is the oldest he is 6 years old. He loves to do karate and just started kindergarten this year. Jameson is 2 years old and will be 3 in October. He loves all kinds of sports especially soccer. Carlos, my foster brother, is 3 years old and he loves basketball. I also love living so close to my grandparents in Medford. In fact, my Nana lives right across the street from the Brooks! My family and I like to travel during the summer. Every July we have a family vacation in Old Orchard Beach with thirty five of my family members. I love spending time away with all of my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle come from Jensen Beach, Florida. We like to do family activities like paddleboarding, going to the beach, eating at sushi restaurants and shopping.

A turning point in my life is a situation that is happening right now. We are a licensed foster home and like to help out children that need safe loving homes. My first foster brother Carlos is preparing to transition back to his mother after being with us for7 months, my whole family his going to miss him. We drove to Willamsburg, Virginia with him, we went Old Orchard Beach, Maine with him. He is a very sweet little boy, my favorite part about him is his big and soft hair whenever he is cuddling with me on the couch I just have to rub my hands through it! We will be very very sad when he leaves us to go back to his mother. We have grown so close to him and we will always consider him a part of our family. Carlos’ play buddy is Jameson. They are six weeks apart in age and they both love to watch Team Umizoomi and they both always have a lot of energy. Even though he is leaving us we hope to always keep in touch with him.

Prediction:  10 years
Boing, Splash

I just bounced off of one of the “big, red balls.”  Paul made at scrunched up face at me after I made this big and glorious entrance in the water and I looked up from the pool.  Paul and I were on one team and Sean and Bryce on another on the friends’ edition of the show “Wipeout.”  The team who wins will get $50,000 and we need it.  Since we’re still in college, we need the money for a college fund.  We both have to finish the obstacle course and get a good time to move on.  Paul is waiting for me at the other side of the “big balls”.  Sean and Bryce are just ahead at the “Trippity, Skippity, Flippity, Do”.  Most of the other teams are behind us.  We catch up to Sean and Bryce.  We make an attempt at the “Trippity” thing and we get wet.  Paul and I make it to the finish pad with a time of 9 minutes 13 seconds.  We move on.  Sean and Bryce score a minute higher, but they move on too. At the end of the competition, they shall announce who wins $50,000.  After all that pain from the obstacles and belly flops and after all that water, Paul and I win the 50 grand.

I want to be a LEGO designer.  I study engineering at Tufts University.  Paul, my best friend since first grade is studying robotics at Tufts. We live together in a dorm room right now, because we can’t afford a house.  Sean and Bryce are at a college in Boston.  Sean has a job to pay for college as a drive-through manager at MacDonald’s.  Bryce and Sean both live at home right now and they take the train to school.  I think we’re all going to graduate on time next year.

20 years:

I am 30 years and I live in Encino, California.  California has weird cities.  I work on a LEGO design team.  One of my designs includes a LEGO Star Wars Republic Tank.  I have wife and a golden retriever and two kids. Paul also works for the LEGO company and sometimes we play around with some of the bricks.  We build random stuff and show it to the boss and see if they can become products.  Another one of my creations is for the LEGO minecraft series called the Desert Temple. Paul has a dog too.  Sean lives in Hollywood.  He is a lights manager on movie sets for live action movies.  Sean has a wife and two kids.  Bryce still lives in Massachusetts, but has moved to Lowell.  Bryce does animation for TV shows.  He works for Nickelodeon but can work from home on his computer.  We each have a nice job, a happy life and a nice pay amount for our work.  I think it all came out well.