My Bay State Baseball team had been selected to play in Trophy Weekend, which is a tournament for the four best teams in Massachusetts. I was so excited; my heart raced like a NASCAR driver was driving it. We were in the top four teams in Massachusetts!

The day of the first game, our team was ready to play. It wasn’t the best day. It was one of those dull, grey light days, where all you want to do is stay in bed and sleep. It also was fairly cold. Some kids were wearing long sleeve shirts. Jacob Hayward pitched to start the game, and I played shortstop.

Warm ups started at 1:30, but the game did not start until 2:15. Boy, can opposite teams’ coaches argue about the dumbest things before the game!

“Your pitcher threw 25 pitches last game,” my coach says very calmly.
The other coach says angrily, his face redder than a tomato. “No, he threw 24!”
 “25!” my coach repeated, looking embarrassed that they made a huge scene.
“24!” the other coach boomed like a protective lion, defending its cubs. Just the excitement and drama of the game I guess!

Finally, the game started. Jacob Hayward did a great job in the first three innings, only letting the other team score two runs. But we scored five runs. I hit a single, and another single. So I was two for two. I was up twice and got a hit both times. It got to the top of the sixth inning; their last at-bats. The score was still 5 for Medford, 2 for Malden. Then, the Malden batter hit a rocket between the center and left fielder, and he was running to second when the left fielder finally got the ball. He threw it to me, and the runner was not at second base yet! I ran as fast as I could, to try to tag the runner out, but he ran back toward first base, I threw it to the first baseman, but he dropped the ball! The runner slid into first base. He was safe by a mile. The next pitch was a ground ball to the second baseman. I felt like I had a giant, heavy, boulder, resting on my shoulders. I could make a great play, but I could also mess everything up. Oh god, I thought, I always cave under pressure! The second baseman fielded the ball, tossed it to me who was covering second base. I caught it, tagged second base, jumped over the runner who was trying to take my ankles out, and threw it to first. “Out!” said the first ump.

“Out the other ump screamed in a high pitched voice. A double play! Now we were one out away from playing in the championship. I got lucky there, I thought. The next batter hit a high line drive that was sailing over my head. I had a very slim chance of catching that ball. I timed my jump, leaped like a kangaroo, and felt the hard ball fall into my glove. “Out!” the ump yelled. That was the end of the game. We are moving on to the championship!

It was the nicest game I had ever played in. the weather was 85 degrees, but it felt like 180. The game was in Framingham, but we were playing Weston, and I was pitching. Darn, I thought, another pressure situation. I pitched a bad first inning. My first pitch of the game was a ground ball right to the second baseman. But it went right through his legs! He looked as embarrassed as if his pants had just fallen down in front of the whole crowd. The next pitch was one of my best pitches, my curveball. Right when I threw the pitch I knew I shouldn’t have. I was desperately hoping that he would miss it, but he was their best hitter. CLANG! Was the sound when the bat hit the ball. The ball was sailing deeper and deeper, I hoped that the ball would hit the wall, but I knew it wouldn’t when it sailed right over the wall. A home run! Oh no, two pitches, two runs. At that point I didn’t even want to be on the mound anymore. The kid’s dad went bananas like he just won the lottery. He started criticizing our team. “looks like this one is already over,” he said. I saw my brother sneak him a mean look. I smiled. My brother knew this game was far from over.

Check out students' posters! Students researched an animal and created a poster that cleverly displayed the information they learned. 

I’m going to compare Harry Potter, from the Harry Potter Series, and Ender Wiggin, from the book Ender’s Game. These two characters are alike in many ways, but still two very different characters.

First, I’ll name the things that they have in common. First, they both have very violent lives. Harry Potter’s whole life has been violent, when he was a baby, his parents got killed, and now he is trying to kill the person who killed his parents (Voldemort).Ender, has to fight space aliens like a pro, when he’s only six. They also both go to violent schools. Ender goes to a school to give him practice fighting aliens, and Harry goes to a school of magic. They both also had to leave their parents. Harry Potter’s parents were killed when he was a baby, and Ender Wiggin had to leave his parents when “The Army,” needs him to help them fight.

Those were some things that they had in common, now I’m going to name the differences. One of the biggest ones is that Ender is SUPER mature for his age, six. He always thinks things through. On the other hand, Harry Potter could be a little bit more mature, and think things through a little better. Another difference is that Harry Potter doesn’t use guns and swords, he uses his wand and spells, but Ender uses laser guns and swords.

You can see that Harry Potter and Ender Wiggin have a lot in common, because they’re two similar characters in two similar books! 

Don’t you love to sit down on the couch and watch the big game? Don’t you love to watch your favorite player hit a home run? Well I do, and it’s fun to watch. But since ballparks are tough, it is hard to see a very fair game. If your favorite team plays in a small ballpark, and your favorite team is playing against a team with a big ballpark, and that team is playing at their home ballpark, your favorite team is likely to lose. I think all baseball parks should be the same size because of trophies or awards being handed out, team advantages, and player reputations.

I think all baseball parks should be the same size because of trophies and awards being handed out. This is because some players are awesome; they work hard, and play well. But some players don’t work hard, and don’t play well, but they still win more awards for home runs because it is too easy to hit the ball out the park for a home run.  They still win more awards than the players who work hard and play well. They win more awards because their home ballparks are smaller than the average sized ballpark. The players who don’t work hard are the players who play at small ballparks. The players who work hard are the ones who play at big ballparks. So the players who get awards and don’t work hard pretty much get awards for showing up. That is not fair. If a player wins an award, it should be for working really hard for something that they win. An example of someone who just shows up is Chris Davis. He could hit an out-of-the-park home run with one hand if the ball hit the ground first. An example of someone who works so hard is Miguel Cabrera. He works so hard, but it is hard to win awards for home runs at that ballpark.

I also think all baseball parks should be the same size because of team advantages. Doesn’t everybody like to watch their team work hard and win? I certainly do. I was watching the World Series, Cardinals vs. Red Sox, I thought it was unfair. When the Red Sox played at home (Fenway Park), the Red Sox had the advantage. Not because of the ballpark, but because they could play David Ortiz (Big Papi), and Mike Napoli. But when the Cardinals played at their home ballpark (Busch Stadium) the Cardinals had the advantage because their ballpark is bigger.  The Red Sox had trouble hitting home runs out-of-the-park because the ballpark is so big. I remember when my baseball team played Everett at home, we won by a lot. But their ballpark is so small that when we played them at their home ballpark, three kids on their team hit home runs. But when we played them at our home ballpark, they could barely hit off the wall. This is because my home ballpark is much bigger than theirs.

Another reason why all baseball parks should be the same size is because of player reputations. Can you imagine playing in the MLB and being a great player, but still not getting any fan attention because your ballpark is so big? This is how some players play. They are great, but don’t get much attention because their ballpark is so big and hard to hit home runs out of. But some other players don’t have to play well to receive a lot of attention. What does this have to do with ballpark sizes? Well the reason the players hit home runs is because their ballpark size is small and easy to hit home runs out of. And if your ballpark is easy to hit home runs out of, then you receive a lot of attention. It’s not fair that the size of your ballpark decides how much attention you receive.

I think that all baseball parks should be the same size because of awards being handed out, team advantages, and player reputations. This is not fair to baseball fans because your favorite player might play great, but since he might play in a big ballpark, he could crush the ball, but not win any awards for home runs. His team might lose because they are not used to smaller ballparks, and could play great but not receive much fan attention. Those are the reasons why all baseball parks should be the same size. 

Students task was to write a well-structured opinion essay filled with evidence supporting their claims. Special features include:

• A strong, clear thesis statement
  
• Three unique, powerful reasons
  
• Meaningful personal experiences
  
• Facts and evidence from others
  
• A strong introduction and lasting conclusion

Students could write about any topic that they felt strongly about. We hope you enjoy our essays!

 KABOOM!!! AHH!! Some kids screamed after the bus went over a huge bump. The bus driver was an awful driver, so bad I wouldn’t even call him a bus driver. We were on the bus on the way to the Museum of Science. I was sitting with my friend Marc, and on the other side of the isle were my friends Peter and Joe.

EHH! Everyone screamed after we went over another huge bump. One girl pretty much hit her head on the ceiling. Ouch! That would hurt; it might even ruin her day.  

We were now entering the highway, and some of the windows were open.  …“like the ceiling can’t hold us”… one of my favorite songs was coming on. They got that right I thought, I don’t think the ceiling can hold much longer. Eventually some kid is going to go flying through the bus ceiling after going over a huge bump. Now some kids were starting to sing along.

I was starting to get scared that we were going to crash because the bus kept swerving from side to side. All of a sudden, I felt a huge breeze. Then I noticed that all the windows were open. “Well this sure feels safe,” I said to Marc. Two kids’ heads were out the window.

“If you didn’t say that I would’ve,” he said. “It’s starting to get hard to breathe,” he said in a squeaky voice.

Some guy in a black truck honked at the bus very loudly. It felt like he held the horn for a minute. Then, the bus honked back. It felt like they were honking at each other forever. It was so loud.

We were now entering the Museum of Science parking lot. The guy was still following us. Then, he took a left and we went straight. “I think that guy was following us,” I said to Marc.
“I know,” he said. “It was starting to freak me out.”
“We’re staying up all night right?” I asked.
“All night,” he said.       

CRUNCH!!! Ahh! I yell, oh, I just stepped on a leaf. I see haunted tombstones as I walk toward the possessed house. I see a disturbing skeleton hanging out the window. I feel paranoid as I hear the howling wind. It’s 4 stories tall but it looks like it could topple over at any second. As I walked toward the possessed house, I see a disturbing skeleton hanging out the window. As I walk in, terrified bats fly away. I look and see a witch, but it’s moving so I think it’s just for show. I turned around and hear from the witches direction a very faint “he he,” I look and the witch isn’t moving, but it’s in a different position than before. I don’t just walk up the stairs, I run up the stairs! All of a sudden I bump into the disturbing skeleton from out the window. Then he charged at me, but I stuck my leg out and he tripped over it. But a bad thing happened. I’m still running away from the skeleton today.

One time I was in my classroom planning to go on the water slide, then on the roller coaster. We were watching Despicable Me 2, a hilarious movie. We all just laughed the whole time, for one funny scene, and it was hard to here. After class was over everyone stampeded down the hallway for the water slide. Then when we got there, everyone lunged for 1st in line. I got 4th in line. A couple of kids bashed heads. When it was my turn for the water slide, I got a chill down my spine as I step into the raft. It leaves when I’m not ready! Oh no! I feel like I’m going to leap out of the raft! I ended up being fine, but terrified! The roller coaster was a blast, but again, scary. The drops got me every time. It also went underwater, and up so high I couldn’t breathe. I almost screamed. It was so scary! I ended up going on more rides like the pirate ship that swings all the way around. I also went on the Go Karts, and beat 6 people and tied for 1st place. I played a game of soccer, and my team lost by 1 and I almost scored the tying goal with 7 seconds left. I also played baseball and I hit a home run to win the game. I also hit another home run and stole second base. I also pitched a 3 hitter (which means I only gave up 3 hits). I had a great day at my perfect school.