Year 5 on FIRE

Year 5 students studied natural disasters this term. In their library lessons with Mrs Hegarty they looked at Jackie French and Bruce Whatley's wonderful picture book, Fire. Here are some of the students' responses to the book and other stimulus materials they were immersed in during "familiarisation" sessions.

Students wrote a paragraph in "first person" point of view, imagining they were fire itself. Four students' written work is accompanied here by the pastel wash art works they created. We are certain you'll be impressed!

When asked about the written task, these children commented:

Kayla: "I love this piece of writing because I think it shows that my writing skills are improving a lot. The task was to pretend you where a fire, and you could be a good fire or a bad fire. I was a bad fire. I used Pages because it's easy and quick and I know how to use it well. I leaned lots of different words and my vocabulary has improved a lot as well spelling and punctuation."

Max: "I used pages because we could make the font bigger and its a good typing app.  I learnt that I am a good descriptive writer." 

Abby: "In library we were looking at similes, metaphors, alliteration and onomatopoeia. We had to write about either being the fire or the victim of the fire."

Rosie: "I wrote this piece of writing because we learned from Mrs Hegarty about the fire and we had to add some metaphors, similes and figurative language. I used pages becuase it's really easy to use and you can change the font or the colour of the writing. I learned  about what damage fires to to people and their houses. I also learned how to use pages better and more efficiently. I loved doing this task and here is my picture I painted myself."

Now sit back, relax and enjoy the students' work...

I am leaping like a cheetah over houses and I can't control my temper. I see lots of cabins so I stretch over to them and scuff them down like a lion. I feel like exploding I am a giant towering over the trees. I can smell everything in my path burning into ashes. I love it. I can just hear everything burning and crackling. I can make every thing go boom. I love to taste the ashes as I make the trees shrivel to little pieces as I grow. Now I'm surrounded by trees. There is nothing in sight but trees and hills. It is so much fun being evil and a bully. The trees tall and tough so they think, but when they are compared to me, they are nothing.

By Max 

I was started by a camp fire, and spread my body to coat the land in flaming, flashing fire. As I spread my body around the vast deserts of Uluru I became bigger and bigger like a balloon . l heard a call like a screeching monkey from the house. I grew more furious. I flickered like a flash light. I was crackling as I was licking and devouring the trees. I heard a boom and loud screams when I hit the car, I was crisscrossing the forest like a fish out of water.

My goal was to destroy the land as much as I could but I felt a vibration on the ground and I saw flashing lights, could this be the end of me? As the fire men worked their way I became extremely angry. I couldn't control it. I couldn't control my body. As they pulled the long hose that was as long as a pine tree, a tree almost fell on them but they kept moving, sturdy and steady . They squirt water on me and I'm losing my steam fast. I taste the cool water against me and then I melt away like a chocolate. Now I am gone forever.

by Kayla W 

I am burning on the stove but then, they left me all alone. Never leave me because II'll leap off and I'll come creeping around the house furiously. I flicker like a damp light bulb and make the ashes crumble like stardust. I make people start screaming and cry for lots of help, but I am powerful because I am a nightmare. I flicker fast , I sprint like a cheetah but you will never escape because I am watching you, always. The fire alarms go off but never worry I'm not scared. I can hear the sirens and my time may be short - but you always know that I might visit again, always. A way to know that I am back is to hear the sizzle, a crackle, a boom and a roar and your friend has come back knocking on the door.

By Marissa

I am the fire, flickering flaming fire. I simmer beneath the tree and the burning house that I have made to burn. I am horrible to lots of people because I make their houses burn off and snap into millions of pieces and now they all hate me. I am the bad fire, I make the houses crackle, snap and CAPOW there gone, I am very damaging and powerful. I can taste the scorching hot flames of the flickering fire. I am like the burning hot sun in the bright and boiling sky on a summers day. I am as bright as neon colours on the people around me. My arms and legs crawl like a baby around the trees and grass. Peoples lives are lost, I can
hear the boisterous sirens coming...
...closer, closer and closer.

My fire starts from a little cigarette and children playing around with me like I am a toy but here's a tip I am NOT a toy I am the blazing blistering FIRE! 

by Rosie

I am one thing that you don't want to be near.  I can break into your house and destroy it by simply dancing around.  I move around the bush, creeping up trees and then scratching them down.  Can anything stop me? No. I am stronger than an elephant and I can annihilate anything that comes my way.  There is only one thing called water, who is my number one enemy.  It tears me down by the long hose connected to a red truck.  When I hear the truck's droning sound, I try to escape, leaping from tree to tree.  Sometimes I'm fast enough but then overhead in the smoky sky, I feel a helicopter spitting water at me.  The last thing I hear in my little life is a sizzling sound as I hit the ground.  I am gone.

by Abby