Generosity Poem/Stargirl

Original Paragraph:

Arnold.
I've been thinking about him. I picture him as a child. Or should I say, a younger child. Little Arnold. Here's what I see: pudgy little kid in a moss-green knit cap with a tassel. Summer. After dinner. Playing with the neighborhood kids down by the cement plant, the stone piles. Playing hide-and-seek. Almost every time they play this game, Little Arnold is the first one to be caught. This time he's determined that won't happen. While the It boy covers his eyes and counts aloud to one hundred, Little Arnold takes off. This time he doesn't go to the usual places: behind a stone pile, behind the great wheel of a cement truck. This time he runs and he keeps running. Down the railroad tracks and over the canal bridge and down by the river's edge until he can't even hear the It boy counting anymore.

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Now I'll re-write some of the sentences and add vocabulary words to them.

This time he doesn't go to the usual places: behind a stone pile, behind the elaborate wheel of a cement truck.

This time he runs and he keeps prevailing.

While the It boy restrains his eyes, and counts aloud to one hundred, Little Arnold takes off.
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Generosity Poem:

Generosity, the root of all things good,
like the root of the trees in the wood.
Everything you need to be
caring, kind, and thinking thoughtfully.
Never ceasing to give,
this is the way to live.
Ever think you're giving too much?
well here's news for you, that's a star you can't touch.
Ready to give to those in need?
that's the attitude we kids should heed!
Open your heart and don't be afraid,
your generosity to someone will come to their aid.
Special are the things you can do today,
you do know you are paving the way.
I speak from experience when I say,
a good deed will make you feel better today.
There are so many ways to show generosity,
to count them all would take a century.
You may have thought you're generous enough,
but when people say this, I just laugh.

Love, Stargirl- Jerry Spinelli

Original Paragraph:
Dootsie jerked back--but only to protect her new donut. She held it behind her chair. She was not the least bit afraid of Alvina. Their eyes were locked into each other's, but they showed neither fear nor hatred. Their stares were more probing than clashing. Dootsie brought her face forward until it was again in front of the fist. She opened her mouth as wide as she could and, still staring up into Alvina's eyes, closed her teeth slowly, gently, on Alvina's knuckles. Alvina did not pull away. Dootsie did not bite down hard. Something was happening that I didn't understand, and somehow that made it all the more special. I looked at Margie. She was staring, openmouthed, the coffee urn in her hand poised above a cup. When I turned back, Dootsie was releasing her bite and Alvina laid her hand flat upon the table.

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This passage was very confusing to me. I almost couldn't picture it because it was so out of the ordinary. I can't decide if Alvina was going to punch Dootsie or not. If so, why would you gently bite your enemy's fist? Very odd. If I would have been there I would have considered them pretty much, well, freaks. One normally doesn't bite another girls hand... much less gently. Very interesting.

Words in Red are Prepositional Phrases

Adolf Hitler

Original Paragraph:
On 20 April 1889, an unseasonably overcast and chilly spring day, Adolf Hitler was born at the Gasthof zum Pommer at Braunau am Inn, a charming town of pastel-coloured historic houses, on the south bank of the River Inn which separates Austria and Germany. Today the house is unmarked except for a large stone of Mauthausen granite, standing by the front facade, which was erected in 1989 and bears the legend, 'For peace, freedom and democracy, never again Facism, millions of dead admonish'.
Adolf was the fourth child of six. His father, Alois Hitler, was a self-made man with little or no formal education who, by dint of hard work and diligence, had become a customs officer in the Austro-Hungarian civil service. He was well respected in Braunau but bore the marks of his caste. He was pompous, intensely jealous of his hard-won status, stingy, short-tempered and totally devoid of humour. His passion was bee-keeping, and it appears that the stuffy customs officer was more fond of the inhabitants of his apiary than of the members of his household.

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From what we read in this article, it is an obvious possibility that Adolf might not have had the ideal childhood. Realistically, this may have been part of the reason that Hitler turned out "bad". His father pretty much sounded like a huge jerk with a bad temper. If I were to guess, I think Alois Hitler may have been physically short. You know the saying, "Short guys have big tempers," or something to that affect anyway. To the normal human, the name Adolf Hitler puts an image of fear and hatred in the brain. Overall, he was a very evil man. He led the Nazis and was a terrifying leader. I think he is very interesting to read about, but it's a little scary to think that one man could kill all the people he did and do all the bad things he did.