Oakland Terrace Writing

Why Cheetahs Chirp Instead of Roar by Andrew It was a hot day on the savannah, warmer than usual and cheetah was chasing a gazelle, WHAM. Cheetah hit the gazelle hard and bit the throat. That is how it usually happened unless, the gazelle got away or, like that day when twenty hyenas popped up out of nowhere and stole cheetah’s food “He He He hoohoo kaslubeybun”, a usual remark for a hyena. In the shade of a tree about fifty meters away, lion watched lazily. “Crazed cat always losing his food, is a disgrace to our kind”, he whispered. He came over to cheetah and sneered to her, “Why are you so silent. Why not roar like me? ROOOOOOOAR! Cheetah has sensitive ears and shuddered at the great noise. “You could scare them away,” lion laughed at cheetah. Cheetah got annoyed and tried to roar but chirped. “Irp, irp, chirp ”Lion and the hyenas rolled over laughing. “Chirp hoohoo he he he chirp,” one hyena bumbled. “Why are you so slow and lazy,” thought cheetah. “She chirps!” Lion managed to blurt out. Just then, a bird flew down from a tree and asked “What’s wrong with chirping? I chirp?” He’s a cat, to be more specific a wild cheetah!” Said lion. The hyenas have been laughing ever since and cheetahs are still trying to roar and lions are still slow and lazy.
Why Dogs Wag Their Tails By Julia Long ago, in the fields of Ithaca, New York, there was a dog named, Lilly. Lilly had lots of friends but her best friends were Wolf and Cheetah. She always yelled to them in the morning, “Wake up, time to have some fun!” One day when they were playing tag in the sunny fields, they told Lilly, “WOW, you’re getting to be as fast as Cheetah.” When Lilly heard this, she was very happy and said, “I agree, I can even fell the wind blowing faster against me.” Every day, she became faster and faster. Sooner or later every one said to Lilly, “You’re the fastest in the land, I bet no one could beat you.” A few days later on a very windy day, Lilly saw something humongous in the sky. A few seconds later, she pictured the wind god. Then she yelled up to him, “ That wind you’re bowing is pretty fast but I bet I could run faster!” The wind god came swooping down and said, “So you think you’re faster than me?” “Yep!” said Lilly. “Ok, then I challenge you to a race tomorrow same time, same place, and if I win I get to annoy you forever.” “Ok” said Lilly then she went running to her friends to tell them the news. When Wolf and Cheetah heard this, they bounced up an down, said to Lilly “ I can’t believe you’re so fast.” Then went running off with Lilly to start her training. They also planned to tell the wind god to do two races just in case. The next day when the first race began the wind god and Lilly shot off but still the wind god won the first race. After Lilly finished resting and training, the second race began. Again they both shot off but this time Lilly won. After she won she screamed, “Yay, Yay I won, I won, I won the race.” Wolf and Cheetah were cheering and jumping up and down for Lilly. Then the wind god said, “We both won once, but I still won so I shall still annoy you forever, but not as harshly as I would have,” and Lilly said, “I agree.” Lilly soon realized that the wind god was right, because all he ever did was make Lilly wag her tail back and forth. So that is how dogs came to wag their tails.
Why Leopards Have Spots By: Lisha Leopard was mourning in the jungle on a hot sunny day because he was plain yellow. All his friends said, “You are so ugly. Get away from us.” His wife made him some soup which was hard to do in the trees. She yelled to the servant Parrot, “Give the soup to Leopard.” But Parrot said to himself, “Leopard ate my fried ends. Oops. I mean friends. I want revenge.” So, he dropped something into the soup so it was spotty. Then he dropped the soup onto Leopard, crying, “Yahooooooooo.” The spots stuck onto Leopard though and the sun dried the spots on Leopard. Leopard cried out, “This hurts so much. I’m going to eat that naughty, dumb, idiotic Parrot today.” Leopard liked the spots and Parrot. He told Parrot, “Parrot meat is my favorite.” Parrot screamed, “ Why did this have to happen to me!” Then Leopard ate Parrot. He said to his wife Cheetah, “ I forgive you because you didn’t mean for Parrot to drop boiling hot water on me.” That is why Leopards have spots.
Why Horses Whinny By Meredith One day at Maple Hill farm, Horse was loudly complaining to himself that he wanted to be Chicken and Ducks friend again even though he was already Duck and Chicken’s friend. So he went and said to Duck and Chicken,” I want to be your friend again.” Then chicken said, “But you’re already my friend,’’ and duck said, "Oh you want to trick us.” “No,’’ said Horse, “I want to play ball!’’ “Okay,’’ Duck and Chicken said together. “What should we play’’ said duck and chicken? “Lets play soccer!’’ “Okay,’’ Duck said. “Okay,’’ chicken said. “Lets play ball’’. Afterward, Chicken and Duck admitted they were his friends again. But they weren’t quite his friends because they didn’t like that Horse talked too much! One day Chicken and Duck couldn’t bare it any longer. They both decided to tape Horse’s mouth shut to stop Horse from talking! The next morning Chicken brought the stickiest tape in the world. Then Duck called Horse over to tell a story. So Horse told a story, and in the middle of the story, Chicken took a piece of tape and stuck it on Horse’s mouth! Now Horse tries to talk, but it comes out like a whinny! “This is why you need to talk less,” said chicken. “If we leave the tape on, Horse wouldn’t talk anymore! Lets leave it on!” This is why horses whinny.
Why Giraffes Have Long Necks By Scot One day in the peaceful jungle giraffe, kangaroo and monkey were playing. Then kangaroo accidentally kicked giraffe in the back of the neck. “I’m sorry I’m sorry!! I’ll do anything”, said the kangaroo. “Okay then put my neck back”, said the giraffe. “Okay we will do that”, monkey said. The monkey and the kangaroo tried to put his neck back. The kangaroo tried jumping on giraffe’s face to push his neck down, but it didn’t work. The giraffe panicked. He said, “What if my neck is stuck like this forever.” “Stop whining, you big baby,” said the kangaroo. “Hey you don’t tell me what to do,” said the giraffe. They kept trying, but nothing worked, so they decided to leave it like that. So now whenever there’s a giraffe without a long neck, kangaroo kicks it so every giraffe is the same.
Why Zebras Have Stripes by: Sarah One day Zebra was taking his daily walk, through the colossal jungle, when Kangaroo came and teased Zebra because he was all white. “You don’t have strips ," teased Kangaroo. Zebra was tired of being plain white. “I wish I had stripes," said Zebra. The next day Zebra fell in a tar pit “ow, that hurts,’’ said Zebra. Bird and antelope came. “ We’ll help,” said bird and antelope. By the time Zebra was out, he was all black. Zebra was trying to get the tar off, shh, shh, shh. “ I hope tar isn’t permanent,” said Zebra. When bird was about to be eaten by a snake ’’wasawusa, wasawusa,” snake said, “dinner is served.” Zebra came and smashed the snake. “Zebra you are a hero,” said bird. Bird told antelope, “We’ll paint him with white permanent paint,” said Antelope. At night, they snuck over and painted Zebra with white permanent paint. That is why from this day on, Zebras have stripes.

Why Cheetahs Chirp Instead of Roar
by Andrew

It was a hot day on the savannah, warmer than usual and cheetah was chasing a gazelle, WHAM. Cheetah hit the gazelle hard and bit the throat. That is how it usually happened unless, the gazelle got away or, like that day when twenty hyenas popped up out of nowhere and stole cheetah’s food “He He He hoohoo kaslubeybun”, a usual remark for a hyena. In the shade of a tree about fifty meters away, lion watched lazily.

“Crazed cat always losing his food, is a disgrace to our kind”, he whispered. He came over to cheetah and sneered to her, “Why are you so silent. Why not roar like me? ROOOOOOOAR! Cheetah has sensitive ears and shuddered at the great noise.

“You could scare them away,” lion laughed at cheetah. Cheetah got annoyed and tried to roar but chirped.

“Irp, irp, chirp ”Lion and the hyenas rolled over laughing.

“Chirp hoohoo he he he chirp,” one hyena bumbled.

“Why are you so slow and lazy,” thought cheetah.

“She chirps!” Lion managed to blurt out.

Just then, a bird flew down from a tree and asked “What’s wrong with chirping? I chirp?”
He’s a cat, to be more specific a wild cheetah!” Said lion. The hyenas have been laughing ever since and cheetahs are still trying to roar and lions are still slow and lazy.

Why Dogs Wag Their Tails
By Julia

Long ago, in the fields of Ithaca, New York, there was a dog named, Lilly. Lilly had lots of friends but her best friends were Wolf and Cheetah. She always yelled to them in the morning, “Wake up, time to have some fun!” One day when they were playing tag in the sunny fields, they told Lilly, “WOW, you’re getting to be as fast as Cheetah.” When Lilly heard this, she was very happy and said, “I agree, I can even fell the wind blowing faster against me.” Every day, she became faster and faster. Sooner or later every one said to Lilly, “You’re the fastest in the land, I bet no one could beat you.” A few days later on a very windy day, Lilly saw something humongous in the sky. A few seconds later, she pictured the wind god. Then she yelled up to him, “ That wind you’re bowing is pretty fast but I bet I could run faster!” The wind god came swooping down and said, “So you think you’re faster than me?” “Yep!” said Lilly. “Ok, then I challenge you to a race tomorrow same time, same place, and if I win I get to annoy you forever.” “Ok” said Lilly then she went running to her friends to tell them the news. When Wolf and Cheetah heard this, they bounced up an down, said to Lilly “ I can’t believe you’re so fast.” Then went running off with Lilly to start her training. They also planned to tell the wind god to do two races just in case. The next day when the first race began the wind god and Lilly shot off but still the wind god won the first race.

After Lilly finished resting and training, the second race began. Again they both shot off but this time Lilly won. After she won she screamed, “Yay, Yay I won, I won, I won the race.” Wolf and Cheetah were cheering and jumping up and down for Lilly. Then the wind god said, “We both won once, but I still won so I shall still annoy you forever, but not as harshly as I would have,” and Lilly said, “I agree.” Lilly soon realized that the wind god was right, because all he ever did was make Lilly wag her tail back and forth. So that is how dogs came to wag their tails.

Why Leopards Have Spots
By: Lisha

Leopard was mourning in the jungle on a hot sunny day because he was plain yellow. All his friends said, “You are so ugly. Get away from us.” His wife made him some soup which was hard to do in the trees. She yelled to the servant Parrot, “Give the soup to Leopard.” But Parrot said to himself, “Leopard ate my fried ends. Oops. I mean friends. I want revenge.” So, he dropped something into the soup so it was spotty. Then he dropped the soup onto Leopard, crying, “Yahooooooooo.” The spots stuck onto Leopard though and the sun dried the spots on Leopard. Leopard cried out, “This hurts so much. I’m going to eat that naughty, dumb, idiotic Parrot today.” Leopard liked the spots and Parrot. He told Parrot, “Parrot meat is my favorite.” Parrot screamed, “ Why did this have to happen to me!” Then Leopard ate Parrot. He said to his wife Cheetah, “ I forgive you because you didn’t mean for Parrot to drop boiling hot water on me.” That is why Leopards have spots.

Why Horses Whinny
By Meredith

One day at Maple Hill farm, Horse was loudly complaining to himself that he wanted to be Chicken and Ducks friend again even though he was already Duck and Chicken’s friend. So he went and said to Duck and Chicken,” I want to be your friend again.” Then chicken said, “But you’re already my friend,’’ and duck said, "Oh you want to trick us.” “No,’’ said Horse, “I want to play ball!’’ “Okay,’’ Duck and Chicken said together. “What should we play’’ said duck and chicken? “Lets play soccer!’’ “Okay,’’ Duck said. “Okay,’’ chicken said. “Lets play ball’’. Afterward, Chicken and Duck admitted they were his friends again. But they weren’t quite his friends because they didn’t like that Horse talked too much! One day Chicken and Duck couldn’t bare it any longer. They both decided to tape Horse’s mouth shut to stop Horse from talking! The next morning Chicken brought the stickiest tape in the world. Then Duck called Horse over to tell a story. So Horse told a story, and in the middle of the story, Chicken took a piece of tape and stuck it on Horse’s mouth! Now Horse tries to talk, but it comes out like a whinny! “This is why you need to talk less,” said chicken. “If we leave the tape on, Horse wouldn’t talk anymore! Lets leave it on!” This is why horses whinny.

Why Giraffes Have Long Necks
By Scot

One day in the peaceful jungle giraffe, kangaroo and monkey were playing. Then kangaroo accidentally kicked giraffe in the back of the neck. “I’m sorry I’m sorry!! I’ll do anything”, said the kangaroo. “Okay then put my neck back”, said the giraffe. “Okay we will do that”, monkey said. The monkey and the kangaroo tried to put his neck back. The kangaroo tried jumping on giraffe’s face to push his neck down, but it didn’t work. The giraffe panicked. He said, “What if my neck is stuck like this forever.” “Stop whining, you big baby,” said the kangaroo. “Hey you don’t tell me what to do,” said the giraffe. They kept trying, but nothing worked, so they decided to leave it like that. So now whenever there’s a giraffe without a long neck, kangaroo kicks it so every giraffe is the same.

Why Zebras Have Stripes
by: Sarah

One day Zebra was taking his daily walk, through the colossal jungle, when Kangaroo came and teased Zebra because he was all white. “You don’t have strips ," teased Kangaroo. Zebra was tired of being plain white. “I wish I had stripes," said Zebra. The next day Zebra fell in a tar pit “ow, that hurts,’’ said Zebra. Bird and antelope came. “ We’ll help,” said bird and antelope. By the time Zebra was out, he was all black. Zebra was trying to get the tar off, shh, shh, shh. “ I hope tar isn’t permanent,” said Zebra. When bird was about to be eaten by a snake ’’wasawusa, wasawusa,” snake said, “dinner is served.” Zebra came and smashed the snake. “Zebra you are a hero,” said bird. Bird told antelope, “We’ll paint him with white permanent paint,” said Antelope. At night, they snuck over and painted Zebra with white permanent paint. That is why from this day on, Zebras have stripes.