Petals: another Spring Fling Writing Contest sample

Hey all,

Hope you’re thinking of awesome ideas for the Spring Fling Writing Contest! Don’t forget to share with all your writing friends. Submissions start April 17th.

Here’s my second example for the Spring Fling Writing Contest. Haven’t hear of it yet? No worries! Check it out here.

This story encompasses more of the top-end of the age range 11-12 year olds. I hope you enjoy.

Petals

(Word count 140)

I watched as the little pieces of flower floated in the wind. I closed my hand tight, scowling, trying to figure out why my hand would let the color leave, why it wouldn’t protect them.

My dad put his hand over mine, “It’s what she wanted.”

I jerked my hand away and threw the flowers to the ground. As I kicked them, a memory hit me.

I had just kicked the bucket. She said, “Feel better?” And I said, “Yeah, actually.” We stared at each other. Then, we just laughed and laughed. She said, “Let me try!” She pulled her leg back further and further, when she finally drew it forward, she missed the bucket completely. We laughed even harder, bent over, holding-our-stomachs kind of laughter.

I wind up to kick the petals again and think I miss you, Mom.

The end.

Where’s the math? Everywhere, of course!

My first thought here was the number of kids who have to deal with such horrible loss at such a young age. This quote is from the National Center of Biotechnology Information: “Kliman ⁸²estimates that 5 percent of children in the United States—1.5 million—lose one or both parents by age 15; others suggest that the proportion is substantially higher in lower socioeconomic groups.”

Also, as someone who went to college to learn about math (yep, I’m a mathematician, and proud of it!), I immediately think of my Principles of Geometry class and how the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequence can be found naturally in flowers. Here’s one of my favorite websites to help student comprehension in math: Mathisfun. It explains this idea in a very easy-to-understand way.

Hope to see all your entries for the Spring Fling Writing Contest in April! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or just want to share your ideas.

Sincerely,

Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez