Filed under: Writing
After enjoying our tadpoles for a few weeks, we decided it was time to let them go into a world beyond their tiny bowl. (Actually it was mostly a teacher decision. I did not want to be surprised in the wee hours of the morning by coming in to a room full of frogs!) We watched them morph from tiny clear things into dark creatures that were beginning to look very froglike. Before setting them free, we tried to find our tadpole “voices” and pretend for a moment that we were one of the tadpoles. Here are what a few of our “tadpoles” wrote:
Have you ever felt like you were trapped in a bowl of water with kids staring right at you? I have. It isn’t so much fun. I would rather be in a creek with my friend tadpoles. Kids love to have us as pets but it isn’t too much fun for us. We would rather be swimming free. Kids think it is sad when we leave. Lots of us tadpoles are free and some of us are not free. It is much more fun to swim in a nice clean creek. If you are a captured tadpole, your wish is to be free. We will like to hear water rushing through the creek than hear kids learning. We don’t like being in a scary bowl because you don’t get so much room to swim free. Swimming free is my dream. I can’t wait to be free, but I will miss the bowl with my friends. Allison
Finally! Today is the day I’m moving out of a gross bowl. And in a pond I go. I’m on my own now. I’m just about there, and now I’m here at the pond. Hey! But first before I jump in, I need my floatie ducky. Now I can jump in. 1, 2, 3 splash! Ahhhhhh! Something touched my foot! Get out! Get out! Get out! Uh oh! There’s another tadpole coming to jump in or coming to make fun of me. He he comes. Gotta jump in. Where’s ducky? Uh…ok, let’s look in the bushes. Oh, I know. I can go to the stoere and buy a new one. Wait. I don’t have any money, but I have garage liver. I’ll just use that. But I don’t have anything to get there in. I’ll skip to the store. Skip, skip, skip, skip. Here we are: a ducky. Now all Ihave to do is pay for it. Here you go. Thank you. When I got back to the pond, I jumped in the nice pond with my very own new ducky. Emily
One day I was swimming in a baby pool, and I got scooped up by a big net and thrown in a bowl. The next morning I got taken to a classroom full of kids. They started to come to the glass bowl and tapped it. I made a horrible sound. All of us started to swim around. After about 10 days, we heard that we’ve got to go. The kids started to write a story about how we would do int he creek. Here is one: “I think that the tadpoles will like it better than the glass bowl. The tadpoles are going to like going home to see their friends. The End” Nick
One day I was in a bowl. My name is Bigdaddy. I was in a bowl because one diver caught me and brought me back. My mom died in a shark accident. My dad sacrificed his life for me. Five minutes later he got shocked by a sting ray. Now you know how I feel living alone. I’m in a room full of smiling, learning children. I get fed three times a day. One meal is a monstrous cookie!
Now I’ve been released and am six years old. I was going down to the market today. So it’s not bad living on my own. Now I’m free to live in the ocean! Finn
I had fun swimming in a bowl. I don’t like big fat meanies. It was fun sleeping here. It was fun eating here at school. I want to stay here. It’s fun being here with you. It was fun watching you write stuff. Antoine
It’s really fun to be a tadpole. We get to see things that people can’t see. I will turn into a frog. After that, I will hop around. It feels scary to go to the pond. Well, I’m on my way to this pond. I really loved it here. The food was great! Also, what’s the name of the dude that has the grassy hair? He scared me when I first came here. Well, I’m here right now packing my suitcase. I will really miss you all very much! Raneem
What would it be like to see the world through the eyes of a tiny tadpole? If you could metamorphosize into something, what would you like to be? Where would you choose to live?
