Reading (Short Stories)

 

Luke, Jay and Zach’s Winning Game

It was the last game of the regular season, and Luke’s baseball team, the Wildcats, had to win to make it to the playoffs. Luke really wanted his team to win because he had never been to the playoffs before.

The coach called the whole team into a huddle before the game began. He said, “Whether we win or lose, it has been a great season. You should all be proud of yourselves. Let’s give it our best effort. But remember – a loss won’t lessen the greatness of our team. We have all worked well together and deserve to be proud of our accomplishments.”

The team really was a good one. All of the teammates got along well and encouraged each other. Luke’s best friend, Jay, was on the team too. Luke and Jay were two of the best players on the team, and their teammates looked up to them.

The Purple Sox were the Wildcats’ opponents. They had a pretty good record going into the game, but the Wildcats had an even better record. Both teams and all of their fans were super excited about the game.

The Wildcats got off to a good start. They had three runs by the end of the second inning and had prevented the Purple Sox from scoring any runs. Unfortunately the Wildcats had a scoring drought after the second inning. By the end of the fifth inning, the Purple Sox had take over the lead and were ahead of the Wildcats by four runs.

Luke and Jay were starting to worry, but they knew they had to remain positive for the sake of the team.

“Don’t give up, Wildcats,” urged Jay.

“We can do it!” cheered Luke. “Be proud and give it your best effort, like Coach

said,” Luke reminded the team.

Over the next few innings, the Wildcats were able to overcome their scoring drought, and by the bottom of the ninth inning, they were ahead of the Purple Sox by one run, but the Purple Sox had the last at bat for the game. Could the Wildcats hold them off?

There were two outs, and the Purple Sox had one man on first base. The way their lineup fell, their last batter was one of their weakest players. His name was Zach. Everyone liked Zach, but he was known throughout the league to be an easy out. It wasn’t looking good for the Purple Sox.

Zach approached the plate looking very nervous. His Purple Sox teammates cheered him on with hollers of support. Then they started chanting, “Go Zach. Go Zach. Go Zach. Go” Before too long, the fans joined in on the chant too. Even the Wildcats started cheering because they knew how hard Zach always tried, and they knew what it felt like to not be able to hit the ball. Everyone wanted to see Zach succeed with a hit.

Zach started to feel a change flow through his body. He was ready to hit the ball into the stands to help his team win the game.

Zach swung hard at the first pitch but missed – strike one. He watched the second pitch coming and knew it was the one. He focused hard and
swung the bat nice and smoothly.

All of a sudden he felt a powerful connection and heard the thwack of the bat hitting the ball. The ball flew just beyond the pitcher’s reach and landed short of the outfielder.

Zach ran as hard as he could to first base. He made it. He finally had a single, and his teammate was able to advance to second base. Everyone was tingling with joy. 

The next Purple Sox batter was up. Zach felt the excitement; he was ready to run. They might just win the game after all. The batter watched the first two pitches pass by. The third pitch was a different story though. The batter hit a fly ball far into outfield.Unfortunately it wasn’t far enough. Luke was able to catch the ball and save the game for the Wildcats.

When the game ended, both teams shook hands and congratulated each other. It really was a win for everyone. Luke, Jay and the Wildcats made the playoffs, and the Purple Sox saw their teammate Zach have his first hit. They were thrilled for him. Zach was thrilled too.

First Day

Here we go again, I thought, the first day of fourth grade. I always got a little nervous on the first day of school. I knew a lot of the other kids who would be in my class, and I had heard that the teacher was nice. There would still be a lot of new things, though. We would have new rules and new routines. We would have new information to learn in all of the subject areas. There would also be some new things that I wouldn’t expect, like maybe they moved the classes to different hallways. It was exciting, too, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t anxious.

We lined up outside, and for the first week the teachers held up signs with their names to help us find the right spot to line up. I knew where the fourth graders lined up, and quickly spotted the name “Mrs. Richardson” on one of

the signs. She would be my new teacher for the year. As I got in line, I said hello to the friends I hadn’t seen all summer. Mrs. Richardson walked down the line, introducing herself to her new students.

She stuck out her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Mrs. Richardson. What’s your name?”

“Allison,” I answered, and shook her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Allison. How was your summer?”

“It was good. I got to go to the pool a lot,”I said.

“That’s great, Allison. Thanks for speaking in complete sentences! That shows me that your writing is probably very nice,” complimentedMrs. Richardson

before she moved on to the next student.

It felt great to be complimented by my new teacher!

As we entered the classroom, Mrs. Richardson showed us where to put our supplies. Then we gathered on the carpet.

“Our class needs to work together very closely in order to complete the

many exciting projects we’re going to do this year. You’ll be working with each other frequently, so I want to make sure we’re all on the same page. I want to know what is important to you, what you value, in your classroom, teacher, classmates, and yourself. Please take a minute and think to yourself about your values.”We all sat quietly. Then Mrs. Richardson gave us a partner, asked us to introduce ourselves to each other, and asked us to share our thoughts with each other. The ideas my partner and I came up with were respect, honesty, teamwork, and fairness.

After sharing with our partner, Mrs. Richardson asked two pairs to work together to decide on three values and write them down. Our group chose respect, cooperation, and fairness. When the groups were done, each group had a chance to present their ideas, and we voted on which three we would use as our classroom values. I liked how we worked together to choose the values that would guide our classroom! 

Liza’s First Spelling Bee

Liza has loved words for as long as she can remember. She loves the sounds words make, the shapes of words, and the way letters are arranged in words. Some of her favorite words are lollipop, balloon and purple. When Liza has free time at school, she likes to write down words and doodle on the letters to create fun drawings. Sometimes she takes the drawings home to her parents, and sometimes her teacher pins them to the classroom bulletin board.

One day, Liza’s art teacher, Mr. Jordan, walked into her classroom and

noticed one of Liza’s recent pieces of word art. He was very impressed with her creativity and her word choice. After all, not many fourth graders know the word sanctuary and how to spell it, let alone know what it means.

Liza’s word art turned the word sanctuary into a beautiful image with birds, rabbits and butterflies in a natural, undisturbed setting with trees and a pond.

Mr. Jordan waited until the class went to recess, and then talked to Liza’s teacher, Mrs.Roberts, about Liza’s talent. Mrs.Roberts said, “She is a very good artist, and she is also quite talented at spelling.”

“I’m sure the fact that she turns the letters of words into characters and images to form her artistic pieces helps her remember the spellings. She could do very well in a spelling bee, and her doodling would help her study,” said Mr. Jordan. “I could help her too by creating word art with her,” he added.

“That’s a great idea. I will ask Liza if she is interested in entering the spelling bee,” Mrs. Roberts replied.“It is only three weeks away, so she would have to study pretty hard,” she added.

Later that day Mrs. Roberts asked Liza if she could stay for a couple of minutes after class dismissal. Liza asked Mrs. Roberts if she was in trouble, and Mrs. Roberts replied, “Quite the contrary.”

Liza was still nervous, but she stayed to see what her teacher wanted. When Liza found out Mrs. Roberts wanted her to enter the spelling bee, she was thrilled and honored. Usually only fifth graders enter the spelling bee. Liza was even more excited when she heard that Mr. Jordan was going to help her study with the use of art.

Liza and Mr. Jordan met every day after school for the next three weeks. Mrs. Roberts had given them word lists to study. Liza studied hard by turning each word into a drawing. When she wasn’t sure what a word meant, Mr. Jordan would tell her and help her come up with an idea for the word art.

When the big day arrived, Liza felt well prepared, but she was still nervous. There were 26 fifth graders and 3 fourth graders in the spelling bee.

After the first three rounds, there were still 21 contestants; Liza was one of them. Liza was holding her own and continued to successfully spell difficult words including economy, avenue, tissue and station over the next several rounds. She knew her word art was helping her succeed because she could visualize the words.

After six more rounds, there were only three contestants remaining – Liza and two fifth graders.

It was Liza’s turn to spell. Her word was migration. She remembered drawing flying ducks for the word. She pictured her art, and spelled the word correctly. One of the fifth graders wasn’t so lucky during this round, and it was now down to Liza and one other contestant, a boy named Ben.

Ben went first in this round. He was given a word that Liza knew very well, valley. Ben knew the word too and spelled it without a hitch.

Now Liza had to spell her word correctly to stay in the bee; otherwise, Ben would win. She listened carefully as her word was announced. The word sounded familiar, but it wasn’t one of the words she had studied. The word was tolerable. Liza thought about words that contained similar sounds. She knew how to spell tolerate and notable. Could she use that knowledge to spell tolerable? 

She did, and it worked. Liza made it to the next round.

Ben listened to his next word and hesitated for quite a while. He took his time and eventually spelled ceremony correctly.

Liza’s next word was deception. This too was a word she had not studied. She thought and thought about the word and listened to the sounds, but in the end, she was one letter off in her spelling. Liza was slightly sad she didn’t win, but at the same time she was proud of herself for making it this far in her first spelling bee. Plus she knew she could come back next year and try again. 

Open for Business

Zion really wanted to open his own business. He loved watching shows on TV about people who invented great things and helped other people love their inventions, too. He tried to learn about how people started their own businesses and how they got their great ideas, but a lot of it was too hard for him to understand yet. His mom suggested that he look around the community for a business leader who might be able to help him understand, so that he could start his own business one day.

One day, he and his mom were out getting ice cream, and the shop owner, Mr. Warner, was the one serving them. Zion’s mom asked if he had a few minutes to talk, and Mr. Warner sat down with them.

“Mr. Warner, Zion really wants to open his own business one day. Do you think you could help him understand how to run a business?” Zion’s mom asked.

“I can try,” replied Mr. Warner, “but a lot of it is hard to understand. There is a lot of math, and plenty of things you just have to learn through trial and error.”

“A lot of math?” asked Zion. “Whydo you need to know math to run a business?”

“Where do I even start? Well, when you own a business, you need to think about money flow. You have to know how much it costs to make or buy your items for the store, how much money you have to pay for your office space, and how much money you have to pay your workers. There are other costs, too, but we can just start with those. Each month, you have to make sure that you make enoughmoneytocoverthosecosts.”

“I know that when you sell the ice cream that is how you get the money back from buying the ice cream, but where do you get money for the other things?” Zi on asked.

“We actually have to sell the ice cream for more money than we bought the ingredients for. This is one time when math comes in. I have to total up how much I spent on all of the ingredients. Then I have to figure out how many servings of ice cream those ingredients will make. Next, I have to divide the cost by the servings, and add in extra to pay for the building and for my workers’ paychecks,” Mr. Warner responded.“But, I also have to make sure that it’s not too expensive, and that it tastes delicious, otherwise no one will want to come to my shop. When I make really good ice cream that brings in a lot of customers, then I know I’m running my business the right way. If I don’t make good ice cream, then I don’t make any money. That would be awful, because I have to be able to pay all of the wonderful people who work here!”

It was time for them to go, but Zion was very thankful for Mr. Warner’s explanation. “Thank you, Mr. Warner. There’s a lot for me to learn!”

“Anytime, Zion. You’re welcome to come back and ask more questions, I’m happy to help a future business leader!” 

The Merchant’s Caravan

Once there was a merchant who sold fine silks and rugs. He needed to send his goods to a country on the other side of the sandy desert.

The merchant owned a large caravan of camels, and he employed many men. Camels were the only animals strong enough to travel over the desert with the heavy loads.

For many days, the merchant and his men had been preparing for the journey. The canvas tents and the poles were placed upon one camel. Great leather bottles of water were loaded on another camel.

Firewood and bags of rice and barley meal were placed on still another. It required many camels to carry the merchant's goods.

At last the caravan was ready for the journey. The sun shone steadily, making the sand so hot that no one could walk upon it in the daytime. At night both men and camels could travel easily.

So the merchant said to the men, “ Be ready to start after sunset tonight. Give the camels plenty of water to drink, and feed them well because we will have a long, hard journey.”

The merchant and his men traveled all that night. One man was the pilot. He rode ahead because he knew how to navigate by stars, and he could guide the caravan by them.

At daybreak they stopped. They spread the canvas tents and fed the camels. They built fires, cooked the rice, and made cakes of the barley meal. During the day, the men rested in the shade of the tents.

After the evening meal, the caravan started again on its way.

They had traveled like this for three long, silent nights. Early on the third morning, the camels raised their heads, stretched their nostrils, and hastened eagerly forward.

The pilot cried, “ The camels smell water and grass. An oasis is near!”

Before long they could see palm trees with their spreading leaves waving in the soft breeze.

Joyfully they rested during the day. The camels drank freely from the cool spring. The men filled the great leather bottles with fresh water. In the evening, refreshed and happy, the men continued the journey.

So they traveled night after night, resting during the heat of the day. At last, one morning the pilot said,“ We shall soon reach the end of our journey.”

The men were very glad to hear this because they were weary, and the camels needed rest.

After supper that night the merchant said, “Throw away the firewood and most of the water. It will lighten the burden on the camels. By tomorrow we shall reach the city.”

When the caravan started that evening, the pilot led the way as usual, but after a while, weary with many nights of watching, he fell asleep.

All night long the caravan traveled. At daybreak the pilot awoke and looked at the last star fading in the morning light.

“Halt!” he called. “ The camels must have turned while I slept. We are at the place from which we started yesterday.”

There was no water to drink. There was no firewood to cook the food. The men spread the tents and lay down under them saying, “ The wood and the water are gone. We are lost!”

But the merchant said to himself,“ This is no time to rest. I must find water. If I give way to despair, all will be lost.”

Then the merchant started away from the tent watching the ground closely. He walked and walked. At last he saw a tuft of grass.

“There must be water somewhere under the sand, or this grass would not be here,” thought the merchant.

He ran. back to the tent shouting and calling,“ Bring an ax and a spade. Come quickly!”

The men jumped up and ran with the merchant to the place where the grass was growing. They began to dig in the sand, and soon they struck a rock.

The merchant jumped down into the hole and put his ear close to the rock. “Water!Water!” he cried. “I hear water running under this great rock. We must not despair!”

Then, raising his ax above his head, he struck a heavy blow. Again and again he struck the rock.

At last the rock broke and a stream of water, clear as crystal, filled the hole almost before the merchant could jump out of it.

A shout of joy burst from the lips of the men. They drank the water eagerly, and afterwards led the camels to the spring. Then they set up a pole and fastened a flag to it so that other traders might find the well.

In the evening, the men again started on their journey, and they reached the city the very next day.