1. “Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Blast off!” My Friend Eric pushed the button and a red rocket, about as long as my forearm and less than half as wide, whooshed into the sky. It almost disappeared from view before we saw the opening of a small white parachute that would bring it safely back to earth. “Wow-ee,” Eric and I shouted as we sprinted toward the landing site as fast as our eleven-year-old legs would move. Another successful launch by the founders and only members of the Linden Street Junior Birdman Club!

2. In this day and age environmental problems are very important worldwide topics of discussion. These controversial issues have a great effect on all of society. I am very concerned about what is happening to or habitat.

3. Badda Bing Sentence: Where your feet went What you saw What you thought When I walked into the kitchen, I saw my mom at the kitchen table crying and I knew my father had finally left her. As I pulled into the garage, I heard a loud crunch and I panicked.

5. Dialogue: bits of a conversation, name calling, conversations When I opened the kitchen door, I saw both of my parents sitting at the kitchen table with my report card in front of them. I knew the speech. It would go something like “ Megan Elizabeth ” (my parents always use my middle name when they mean business), “ Megan Elizabeth, these grades will just not do. How do you expect to get into college with 70s? How do you expect to get a good job, if you don ’ t get into college? ” And then my mom will add “ Honey, are you depressed? ” Knowing what ’ s coming makes it somewhat easier to sit down and face my parents. “ It ’ s her. The one who landed on her face this morning.” ‘ What an idiot !” “ What a klutz !” “ There ’ s no way anyone ’ s taking her to the dance !” These were the words I imagined my classmates whispering as I walked down the hall.

7. Figurative Language: non-literal comparisons- such as similes, metaphors, and personification- It was a hot July morning, and the last few days of freedom before school were slipping by faster than a greased ten-foot- long boa constrictor at the ice capades. In other words, I only had a week and a half to play my brains out, both inside and outside, and a week and a half before the evil schoolwork monsters took over my time, a week and a half before life as I had known it these past two months was over.

9. Magic 3: three parallel groups of words, usually separated by commas that create a poetic rhythm or add support for a point, especially when the three words have their own modifiers. If I had a sticker on my shirt that said “ loser ” or if my hair looked like a zombie ’ s or if I had spinach stuck between my teeth, she would tell me the truth no matter what. Sometimes I wonder why the boys pick on me so often. It ’ s always, “ Hey look it ’ s nerd girl again, going to her daily session of the chess club ” or “where did you get that shirt, Nerds-r-us? ” or “ brain on feet, do my homework for awhile! ”

11. Repetition for Effect — Writers often repeat specifically chosen words or phrases to make a point, to stress certain ideas for the reader. She said it as though I had money to spend. She knows my mom hasn ’ t worked for months. She knows my father hasn ’ t sent child- support in over a year. She knows I ’ ve been eating Ramon noodles three times a day for the past 5 weeks. She knows all of this and yet she still turns up her nose when I tell her I can ’ t afford to go on a road trip with her.