Write a story based on the tracks that you see on the drawing at the bottom of the poster. Answer questions such as: What animal(s) are in the scene? What are they doing? Are they alone or part of a family?
The Friendly Animals
dictated by Gerrick (unedited)
Chapter 1
"The Life of the Possums"
Once upon a time there was a family of possums. That family of possums loved to eat eggs. In the morning the first thing they did is go out to hunt for eggs to eat for breakfast, and lunch, and supper. Once upon a time they couldn't find any eggs anywhere. Then after a long while they found a family of turkeys. They told them where to find the best eggs. So they went where the place was and to their surprise it was right beside their home in a cozy nest. So they took them and ate them. They even took the whole nest and used it as a bed.
They also lived by a big pond. Deer drank from it a lot. The only trouble for the possums were the bears. The bears ate the deer, the turkeys, and the possums. There was also a family of great blue herons. They were the easiest for the bears to catch. The blue herons told the possums a nice place to find berries, but they warned them that it was exactly where the bears lived.
After the next day the possums were walking around by their home by the lake, and they met the deer. They went around the deer, but they went too far and found the bears. But then the grey wolf and the skunk came and scared the bears away. After the bears left, the possums picked off a stem of nice juicy grapes and put them in their home. After they had all the grapes in their home, they went in to go to sleep. When winter came they had a whole bunch of nice juicy grapes and eggs to eat. Then they fell asleep until winter was over.
When spring arrived the possums woke up. The turkeys came again and told them to go to the nest everyday. So they did--everyday! By their surprise everyday they went, they found eggs there. They asked the turkeys how it happened, and the turkeys said that that spot was a magic spot, and that it grew eggs.
There was also a big tree by the nest. It was an acorn tree. Squirrels lived in it and ate acorns everyday. Sometimes just for fun the squirrels dropped acorns on the possums' heads. Sometimes the possums moved before it hit them. Sometimes they threw it back at them.
Chapter 2
"The Bears Return"
After ten years the bears came back. The wolf and the skunk lived beside the tree near the possums, but they did not know that the bears came back. The bears came back right to their spot. They were very mad and angry with all the other animals when they saw no delicious berries on the plant. Then the only thing to eat was water and dirt.
One day they were so angry the went over to the skunk and wolf to battle again. They did! But the squirrels had lots of rocks in their home, too. They collected them. And they threw them on the bears until they ran back to their home. They dropped nuts on their heads, too. They dropped everything they had on their heads.
Chapter 3
"The Life of the Squirrels"
The squirrels had acorns and rocks to drop on the bears to defend themselves, and sometimes they dropped nuts on animals' heads just for fun. They had acorn caps to use as hats, and they had twigs to use as spears. They had lots of ways to defend theirselves. Sometimes just for fun they threw rocks and nuts in the pond. Sometimes they draw things in the mud by their tree. Sometimes they swam in the water and splashed each other.
Chapter 4
"The Life of the Turkeys"
The turkeys were very wise. They were the wisest animals by the pond. They knew a lot of things other people didn't know. There's not much they had to eat. They traded food with the possums a lot. One time they gave the turkeys an egg. It was disgusting, but they tried to be polite. Sometimes they offered them rats. But every time they offered them something, they gave berries with it, and that is the part they liked. The turkeys didn't really have a main home. They just walked around everywhere. They mainly stayed at the tree.
Chapter 5
"The Neighbors Moving In"
After a year or two the frogs moved in the pond. The frogs splashed all the other animals. They loved to eat bugs and insects, but the favorite thing they had to eat was flies. One time two of the frogs' tongues got stuck together. Then the frog king got a bucket, and he filled it up with water, and he poured it on their tongues, and they came loose.
The frogs had some trouble about the bears, too. Their pond was so big. They could go to where the possums lived, the part where the deer drank, and where the bears lived. But they never swam where the bears lived. But their trouble about the bears were that the bears could swim, so they could catch the frogs. They had no idea what to do, but the king had an idea! They stuck sticks in the ground all around the pond very closely together. Then they put sticks together to connect them. They used mud to glue them together and after a while made a big fence around the pond so there's no way in or out.
Then the bears had to hibernate again. The possums did too. All the animals that had to did, even the squirrels.
The End
The Deer Poem
The deer lived by the pond.
The deer drank from the pond.
The deer never left the pond.
