US Common Core ELA

Personal Narrative·Anusha Ranjan, age 7 — A malfunctioning air conditioner drips water into bowls and buckets, inspiring a child to create paper boats, invent ocean adventures, and sing along with the dripping sounds.

Poetry·Woody Szydlik, age 12 — A young poet contemplates the Continental Divide, finding excitement in the engineering feat and the symbolic boundary between watersheds and oceans.

Story·Zoe Kijak, age 11 — A girl who never backs down from a challenge breaks her arm climbing the neighborhood's tallest tree during a game of Truth or Dare she wasn't supposed to play.

Poetry·Woody Szydlik, age 12 — A meditation on escaping into TV shows versus facing the messy reality of life, ending with the speaker choosing to walk into 'fresh, impure air.'

Poetry·Lily Kasius, age 10 — A poem guides readers through a forest meditation where soil grasps, moss chains, and nature's spirits reveal themselves through sensory immersion.

Poetry·Woody Szydlik, age 12 — A student calculates how to spend the six minutes before online math class, watching pedestrians replace morning birds while time takes on new meaning.

Personal Narrative·Lila Carpenter, age 11 — A girl struggles with anger and sadness as she helps her sister move into a college apartment in Bar Harbor, finding clarity by the ocean.

Story·Lydia Young, age 11 — Four friends venture through Star Forest to save the Tree of Life from the Eternal Cloud of Doom, discovering Mother Nature needs help protecting the environment.

Poetry·Grace Zhuang, age 6 — A young poet captures summer through garden flowers, beach dresses, and ocean waves, ending with a wish for the season to stay.

Poetry·Grace Zhuang, age 6 — A lotus flower announces summer's arrival through flying petals, not knowing she herself embodies the season she proclaims.