Fun with Prompts!

with Angela Harris

Our last NaNoWriMo class on December 16 was spent sharing and discussing our partner's feedback on the first two pages of our novels. Since most students are still working on their novels, we just addressed the first two pages so that we could practice revising for content, and later proofread and edit for punctuation, spelling, and grammar. We then took a break and enjoyed finishing a fun Christmas writing prompt which our New Jersey students may remember from their 2011-12 Creative Writing class. They were so cleverly written, I offered to publish them here for all to read. We hope you like them!

Merry Christmas from the Mosaic Texas students and families!

Saving Santa...

Prompt: The alert came over the radio -- "Emergency! Santa Claus trapped in chimney. Christmas will likely be canceled." As soon as I heard it, I knew I would have to do something -- and do it fast. I quickly gathered my gear and headed out the door...

I frantically looked around the neighborhood -- where could Santa be? He was nowhere I could see. I looked to the right and saw the outline of police lights. "He must be there!" I happily thought, "Now that I found him, I can save Christmas!" I ran towards the house that was surrounded by police cars, it was easy to get past the cops, they didn't even try to stop me. They must have known that I was on a quest to save Christmas! I ran to the ladder in front of me and quickly climbed to the top.  There I saw Santa feet-up in the chimney! ''No worries Santa!'' I said to him as I thought of a way to get him out. I couldn't pull him out, he was really stuck. I snapped my fingers as a plan formed. ''I got it! Santa's reindeer!'' I said excitedly. Then I whistled as loud as I could. At first all I heard were the crickets chirping, then out of nowhere I saw Santa's reindeer flying towards me. I took out my handy lasso and lassoed Santa's feet, then as Santa's reindeer landed on the roof I tied the other end of the lasso to the closest reindeer. ''Fly!'' I told them, and with a jump they flew into the air. Santa popped out of the roof, then the reindeer lightly plopped him down, and he jumped up. ''Ho-ho-ho, I'm late! Thank you very much,'' he said as he jumped in the sleigh and flew off. Another Christmas saved! --- Alex C.

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I look up at my chimney, he's not there. I look around frantically. I can't seem to find Santa on any of my neighbors' roofs. I grab my bike out of the garage and ride down my street. Off in the distance, I see the outline of a sleigh on Steve Harden's house. I also see dozens of police lights. I ride up to the police lines and show them my badge. "Santa Rescue League, step aside please," I say. The policemen part and I make my way to the ladder that leads up to the roof. I see Santa face down in the chimney, his legs sticking up in the air. I tie my rope around his legs and tie the other end to a hover rocket. I push the button and the rocket slowly goes up and up, pulling Santa Claus with it. Santa gets tugged out and set down on the shingles, face first. "Thank you so much, what would I do without the SRL?" Santa asks. "Mr. Claus, I saw that you went down head first, you know that is not proper protocol," I say. "I know, I was just getting bored, it won't happen again." "Well, make sure it doesn't!" I wave goodbye as he climbs into his sleigh and shoots off. Another job well done for Ethan Harris, Santa Detective, and the SRL. --- Ethan H.

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Running as fast I could, I quickly remembered to grab my fat-free cookies for Santa. I knew I would need a bigger backpack for all of those cookies. I ran into my house to get a bigger backpack and went onto my laptop to track Santa on the NORAD tracker. I found the house I had to go to. Very conveniently, Santa was at my house! "Don't worry Santa, I'll save you!" I climbed the roof and pulled out my fat-free cookies. I reached down the chimney and handed him the cookies. Santa ate two of them and his stomach instantly shrunk. As he fell through the chimney, Santa thanked me. I hope this takes me off the naughty list. --- Aidan H.

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I went to the Internet for more information. MSN said that he was stuck in California. "Oh no," I thought, "I live in Arkansas. I'll never reach him in time." Then I remembered a web-site I had heard about. It was a Facebook page for reindeer. I typed as quickly as I could -- Reinbook.com. The muscles in my hands burned. "Cupid!" I typed. Cupid had to stay home because he had too many salt licks. "I need your help, Cupid! Santa's stuck in a chimney!" When I posted it, a voice bubble popped up with a "bloop!" "Ok, I'll risk the fine for flying dehydrated! Let's save Santa!" Cupid replied. I heard jingles on the roof -- "He's here!" I thought. I went outside and whistled. Cupid flew down. I jumped on his back and yelled, "To California!" He leapt off the ground and before I knew it, we were standing beside Santa who was pulling on his boots. He tumbled over onto the shingles of the roof. "Oh, thank you!" he said in a hearty voice. "Here -- for your courage and intervention." Santa handed me a wrapped box. I ripped off the paper and opened it. It was a NaNoWriMo certificate -- exactly what I wanted! 
--- Katie K.