Example for Grade 5: Narrative – Whales - ID: 5503
Whales
- Purpose:
Narrative - Grade: 5
Student Response
One day the Foster family decided on going on a vacation. As soon as they packed their bags, they were of to a wonderful hotel in San Fransisco by the beach. Once they got there, they went down to the beach to surf, tan, and play. “Danny!” called Ana to her brother. “Do you want to build a sand castle?”
” No, sandcastles are for little six year old like you,” Danny called. He thought that he was to old to be doing that. A twelve year old can’t play baby games.
” Fine then, I’ll go find a better person to hang out with,” Ana said back.
Ana couldn’t find any friends to play with so she sat by the beach counting shells. After finding thirtytwo shells Ana went to ask her parents if they could rent a boat.
“Sorry, honey. We can’t go get a boat right now, but maybe we can later,” Walt, the kids’ dad said.
” Walter, we’re on vacation to have fun. Why don’t we get a boat. Just for an hour or so,” Lena, the kids’ mom asked her husband.
“Please, daddy? Please, with whipped cream and a cherry on top?” asked Ana.
” Fine. Go get your brother and tell him we’re getting a boat,” Walter said.
Ana ran to her brother, who was sitting on the beach playing his video game. She told him that they were getting a big, gigantic, awesome speedboat.
” Yea, right,” Danny mumbled. He really didn’t want to go on some boring old boat trip with his annoying sister. He got up and followed Ana back to their family’s beach chairs and towels, though.
Walter and Lena rented a nice small boat. It was about four feet by seven feet in area. It had a speed engine and looked like it was from an eighties action movie.
As soon as they got on, Danny made the boat go fast. He was steering it around until they got far from the beach. His dad took over the controls and let Ana help, too. Lena had brought a little lunch on the boat with them. It was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Danny and Ana’s favorite. All was very dull until they saw a big whale jump high into the air.
” Hey, I know what that whale is doing. We learned about whales in class. It’s breaching,” Danny said with excitement.
” What does that mean?” Ana asked Danny.
” Breaching is when a whale jumps into the air then, it crashed back down. Scientists believe that they do this to shake off barnacles and other growth on a whales body. growth mean bacteria by the way. They also think it might be to scare predator or to have fun,” Danny explained to the family.
” Wow, you must be really good at learning about whales. What else do you know?” Lena asked Danny.
” Do you see that circle of bubbles forming?” Danny said, pointing in the distance. ” Well, in a couple of seconds, you’re going to see whales come out with tons of fish in their mouths.”
Just like Danny said, in a few seconds, whales came jumping out of the water, their mouths filled with fish.
” You really know your stuff,” Ana told Danny. ” If you’re so smart, than what is keeping them warm when they’re under the cold water.”
” It’s called blubber. It’s a thick layer of fat that keeps the whale’s body warm, gives it energy when it doesn’t have much food, and is used to keep the whale floating,” Danny responded.
With a grumpy look on her face, Ana asked,” If it’s a fish, than how does it jump in the air and breathe?”
” It’s not a fish. It’s actually a mammal like you and I. It breathes through a hole in its head called a blowhole. Even though whales are in the water, they still have to breathe. They can hold their breath for over an hour, though,” Danny said, finally enjoying himself.
” But, then how does it sleep without drowning?” Ana asked, beginning to become interested.
” Good question, it sleep with only one half of its brain. It does this so it knows when to go up for air, but it can still get some rest,” Danny told the family.
The rest of the day was like this. Danny told the family about what they eat. Walter was fascinated that they ate sea lions, seals, and porpoises. Ana was very surprised when Danny told them about how they migrate in the summer to get food in cooler waters. The day was so fun that the family rented the boat for another interesting day.
