Hurray! It is time to unveil the stories for this year’s #50PreciousWordsforKids International Writing Challenge.
The stories came from all over the United States – Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, North Carolina, Maryland, California, Iowa, Maine, and even my state of New Hampshire, plus one entry with awesome illustrations from across the pond in Northern Ireland!
I thank all of the parents and teachers who encouraged their children to participate and made it possible for us to enjoy the work of these young authors. And I thank all of the kids who shared their precious words with us!
Here were the guidelines:
- Each child, grade K-6, writes a story of 50 words or less.
- Title not included in word count.
- Story must have a beginning, middle, and end.
- Happy or sad, silly or serious, true or make-believe.
- Teachers/students choose one story to submit per class.
- Homeschooling parents submit one story per child.
- Please email story to: viviankirkfield@gmail.com by May 7 at 11:59pm.
- Stories post on my blog: viviankirkfield.com on May 11.
- Teacher receives a certificate to copy and present to each child who wrote a story.
And here are the stories!!!
I’M NENI
by Tessa
2nd grade
Maryland
I’m Neni. I moved this summer to the United States. At my new school, Ms. Santiago told me to present a talent. I danced. A boy stood and yelled, “Hey Miss African girl–you’re hurting my eyes.” I kept dancing proudly and everybody clapped at the end. Even that boy.
CRYSTAL RUN!
by Claire M
Age 10 – 4th grader
Michigan
I’m running through a forest with a crystal. I need to get it to the heart of the forest. Robots are chasing me! I got it so I could save the world which is falling apart. I see the pedestal! I place it down and the robots shut down.
Cupcake
by Dempsey
Age 10 – 4th grader
“I want a cupcake,” Ava yelled.
“No,” screamed her mom, “after lunch.”
“Fine,” Ava said.
So Ava ate her lunch and got a cupcake.
“I want vanilla!” Ava yelled, “Not chocolate!”
“You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit,” screamed her mom.
“AHHHHH.”
No cupcake.
The Lemonade Stand
by Elise L.
2nd grade
Rochester Central Lutheran School in Rochester, Minnesota.
It was a hot day. I wanted to make a lemonade stand. I love lemonade! First, I got lemons, ice cubes, and sugar. Then, I made the lemonade and the stand. Next, I put up my stand. Finally, I advertised for it. Lots of customers came. Best lemonade stand ever!!!
RAINING CARROTS?
by
Abel, Amoura, Anala, Andrew, Brandon, Briony, Carli, Eliana, Elias, George, Irwin, Josiah, Lakai, Liam, Lucy, Marvin, Nathan, Rinko, Ruca, Savannah, Sawyer, Sienna, Talia, and Wardah
Who are kindergarten students from:
David Lubin Elementary School
Sacramento, CA
In Mrs. Catherine Hashimoto’s Class
It was raining carrots at the David Lubin playground, so the students in Mrs. Hashimoto’s class sadly went inside. Suddenly, out came Super Bunny. She ate all the clouds; then swept up all the carrots into the bag. The kids said, “Thank you!” and ate the carrots at the playground.
The Dinosaur Loved the Dog
by Keagan
7-years old
Oklahoma
The dinosaur went through the woods.
Over the desert.
Swam the river and ate chocolate mud.
He had to take a shower.
Then he went to bed.
He dreamed he was walking with a puppy.
He woke up and found the puppy sleeping by him.
The dinosaur loved the puppy.
The Blue Jay Eats
by Amelia
6 years old
Oklahoma
Hi! I’m a blue jay. My name is Buster. I eat berries from the berry tree. The tree is green with lots of fruit on top. I fly around the tree. Lots of fruit is falling off to me. They are so very pink. They make juice for me.
The First Epic Adventure
by Linnea
8 years old – 3rd grade
Tom Wilson Elementary, Katy, Texas
One day two adventurous bunnies went on a roller coaster. They took control of the drivers seats and blasted to Mount Everest. Then they said “one small step for bunny, one giant leap for bunnykind.” Then they flew up on stars to conquer the Moon and hopefully reunite with Kirby.
TRAIN BLASTING OFF
by Ronen K.
Age 6
Saratoga, CA
Once there were some trains, one had rockets on the back. The train that had rockets blasted off into space. The train never came back, ever again. The other trains were worried that it ran out of fuel. But the train did not run out of fuel, it was electric.
A Comic Strip Cartoon Between Two Dragons
by Delenne
Northern Ireland
1. “Where’s the cookies? Humm”
2. “I don’t see any cookies”
3. “Well this is a job for Emerald Holmes”
4. “Who would eat the cookies except for me?”
5. “Ah ha!”
“You ate the cookies, didn’t you Lavender?”
“No, I DIDN’T!”
6. “Did you check the cookie cam?”
“Nope”
7. (shows green dragon eating cookies at 2am with the date 5/5/18)
8. “So, who ate the cookies?”
9. “Uhhh.”
TUXEDO KITTEN
by Ariah L.
Age 9
Biddeford, Maine
was nine weeks old when she got adopted at a shelter by a family.
FLAMINGO IS MY BEST FRIEND
The Vacation
by Nehemiah
Age 6
North Carolina
There was a boy who loved video games, but he only had 10 minutes to play. As soon as he started, it was time to leave for vacation. They saw cool animals and wanted a dog for a pet. They found one at the dog store, and they loved him.
The Playful Kitten
by Naomi
Age 7
North Carolina
There was a little kitten that had on mittens. It was cute and black with green, sparkling eyes. Her name was Sweet Pea, and she loved fish for a snack. She loved to play with her owner where the other cute little animals were playing in the park.
Chapter 1
“Ruff, ruff! You wana start reading? Here try a comic book. Bye! “Ruff, bark! Hello and welcome! Grr! Ra! Huh? Dog man, you’re late for work. Ruff! Bye!Chapter 2
Getting Fired
Grr! Hmm! Your’e fired!Chapter 3
The Big Blow Out
Dog man, where are you?
Dog man wins. Dog man, you’re hired.Chapter 4
Party Time!
Party at Dog man’s.
The End
These are wonderful, Vivian! Congratulations on another fantastic contest! I hope you and your family are doing okay. Sending hugs … xoxo Jen
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Thank you so much, Jen. We are doing good…and reading these super stories definitely lifts my spirits.
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❤️ them all 😃
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Hello Donna…thank you so much for stopping by. So glad you enjoyed our young authors!
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Well done Vivian!
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So proud of these young kids, Jeanine…we have some budding authors here for sure.
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Reading these brought a smile to my face! So adorable. Congratulations writers and thanks for hosting Vivian!
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Oh yes, Elizabeth…lots of smiles for me, too!
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Wonderful stories! The kids really rose to the challenge.
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Totally, Maria! I hope they all continue writing…and illustrating!
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Yay for budding writers!!
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Thank you, Beth…I hope they will get to read the comments…what a lift to a young kid to see their work ‘published’ on a blog, right?
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What talent! Thank you for hosting & sharing, Vivian. You made my day! Hope you & your family are ok. Sending love.
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Lots of talent, Patricia! And we are good..it’s definitely been a challenging time, but the love and support from our kidlit community has been incredible.
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There are some really great stories and talent. Love the 50 word count.
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So much talent, Patricia…and so much enthusiasm…I love it!
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Great entries. It looks like my sons class forgot to submit theirs. He was very excited about it too. Hopefully it works out for the next one. Thanks, Vivian. I hope you are well.
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Hello Greg…please forgive me…it’s been quite an unsettling week for me…and somehow the entry from your son’s class missed getting posted…but I have fixed that and will be emailing the link to his teacher along with a certificate of participation which she can print out for each of the children. RAINING CARROTS is a wonderful story!!!
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Thank you, Vivian. =)
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I like how the one even drew photos to make a graphic story. Dragon!
They are all nice stories. My favorite is the first one.
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Wasn’t the graphic story amazing, Linda? And all of them showed how hard the kids worked to keep their stories to 50 words or less.
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Thank you so much for organizing this 50 Precious Word International Kids Contest. I loved reading all of them and it’s so interesting to see each of their individual styles emerging in their writing. Would there be a way to suggest certain types of stories for each of them to read as mentor texts, that would help them create their next story? Just a thought. Again, many thanks to you for this.
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What a great idea, Virginia…I’ll have to give that some thought. Maybe I could have a column on my FOR THE KIDS page with certain classic picture books as mentor texts and what to look for in each…character development, pacing, opening hook, satisfying ending, etc.
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These are fabulous and made me smile. I should take a lesson from the kids—I am no good at 50 word stories. Thanks, Vivian, for hosting this and jump starting some awesome authors.
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I like the sound of that, Sherri…jumpstarting awesome authors!
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What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Congratulations to all of the young writers on their wonderful stories.
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So glad you enjoyed reading them, David. Thank you so much for stopping by.
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These stories made me smile! I love kids’ awesome imaginations.
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