We had our first parent-teacher conference of the first grade today. Jake got raving reviews!

The Grade One Report summary starts with:

“Jacob is a happy go lucky little boy who loves school. His transition to the academic expectations of the first grade has been a smooth one. He is a bright child who approaches his assignments with confidence.”

It goes on to give details about his reading fluency, his obsession with Star Wars and how much he loves math. Regarding the subject of writing:

“As an emergent writer, Jacob is comfortable expressing his thoughts on papers. He has an active imagination and enjoys the brainstorming process.”

Yeah – you think?

Here are two stories Jake had me transcribe for him this morning. It was part of a series he titled “How to Kill People – Lego People”

STORY 1
How To Kill The Skeleton That Doesn’t Die

Chapter 1
This skeleton never dies because he’s already dead. So here’s a few rules to be careful about. First he has two thorns. Then he has so many bones it’s hard to count so he may break his ribs off and hit you with them and you’ll die.

Chapter 2
Here’s how you kill him. You take the red thing off the top of his head. It’s hard to do because he won’t let you do it with his thorns. The only way to kill him is to chop off his little red thing on top with a lightsaber or a sword or a really big gun. Then his head will pop off. Then fire will come out of his neck and his arms will pop off and he’ll drop his thorns and boom, he’ll die.

The end.

STORY 2
How Do You Kill Bane

Chapter 1
It’s pretty easy to kill Bane but it’s pretty hard also. First all you have to do is cut the tubes on the back of his head and back then it will just explode but it is hard to do that. He won’t let you because he has a big gun and is very strong also.

Chapter 2
Here’s a few rules to kill Bane:

• First get a big lightsaber or sword or gun
• Then shoot the gun at his back. He might block it away with his elbow or just turn around and block it with his chest.
• The easiest way is to sneak up on him, get out the sword and swing at his tubes.
• The hardest way is to get the lightsaber, swing, he’ll shoot at you, you’ll block with the lightsaber, you’ll swing with the sword, knock the gun out of his hand, chop his legs off with is lightsaber, chop his head off, dead.

The end.

How’s that for an emergent writer?