< by Jill >

When I taught second-grade, I began each writing lesson with a game. I’d draw six pictures, and ask my students to write a story using one sentence per drawing. The game always ended in giggles because it yielded a broad range of silly interpretations. After the children shared their versions, I’d tell the true story behind the images.

After Thanksgiving 2010, I returned to school with the perfect story to tell. I gave the children the following six images (If you want to be a sport and play along, write your own interpretation and post it in the comments!):

The kids composed a suite of amusing tales, but Leah’s submission put me in stitches (the spellings are all her own):

Ms. K’s hands swolled up becus she ate Glootun. So she put the glootun in the oven to burn it up. The glootun burnt up. Ms. K took the glootun out of the oven but it tuched her hand. Ms. K blewt up. She turned into five smaller pepel.

By comparison, the real-life story went like this:

On Thanksgiving day, my mom made stuffing. After she stirred it up, she put the stuffing in the oven. Next, the stuffing baked for an hour. My mom took it out of the oven and set it on the countertop. The hot glass dish exploded when it touched the cold countertop. We checked to make sure everyone was okay.

Though I favor Leah’s interpretation,  the explosion did not, in fact, dice me into five smaller people. Thank heavens.