Sherburne-Earlville Elementary School News      
Camping and Canoeing
Principal Mr. Douchinsky 
Issue 2 2009-10
to the campsite after pushing the canoe awhile.
I’d picked that campsite because my uncle, little
By Jackson W. 5-Dain
brother and dad had been there before on a day
I wanted to take this trip because I like
trip.
camping. I had to get up at six AM to pack a lot
As we got unloaded, we saw a big bird
of clothes. At eight AM, my whole family rode
with straight wings, a white head and tail.
down to the place where we were going to put
Suddenly, we realized it was a bald eagle. We
the canoe into the Chenango River. Then we
watched him for almost ten minutes until he
loaded all of our gear, two tubs of stuff, a cooler dropped down behind a hill. Then, I had to get
and a tent.
firewood until I thought I had enough and then
At first, we had to push the canoe because get ten times more. We didn’t want to run out.
the water was shallow and all the gear was
Wood burns fast. We started the fire to cook
weighing it down. When the water started to get
dinner. We brought steak, chili and baked beans.
deep, I sat in the canoe and pushed my paddle
It took a really long time to cook. So I kept
along the rocks. As we got farther from the
eating the Nutter Butters while we were waiting.
bridge, we saw more and more wild life. There
We also had baked potatoes but those took so
was a lot of trout and birds. Soon we started to
very long to cook. So we ended up having them
hit the real rapids. That was when it really got
for breakfast. This dinner was the best ever. We
fun. After four or five fast runs, it slowed down.
roasted red peppers to go with the steak. It was
so very good. After we ate, we sat around the
fire until we were tired. It was cold outside. We
put all the food away, cleaned up the chairs and
went to bed. Once we got into the tent it was
warm because we had on all our clothes in the
sleeping bags. We slept on an air mattress inside
the tent. We slept well.
Past the Blanding Road Bridge, the stretch is
In the morning, we had breakfast, packed
called Long Level because it is level with has
up our stuff and paddled about ten minutes to
very little current. We had to paddle there.
Later, we passed the farms and saw several where we parked my Dad’s truck. We took the
canoe out, loaded up and drove home. This was
flocks of domestic geese. We were able to get
one of the best ways to celebrate my birthday.
so close to them that I could have reached out
I am happy to have gone this trip with my Dad.
and touched them. The rapids started up again
This is something that I will remember for a
but the canoe was dragging on the bottom more
very long time!
than it had when we first started. We finally got
Playing With Friends
Ian L. 3-Lindridge
Elizabeth B. 5-Johnson
Fishing With
Grandpa
As told by Blaine B. K-Pudney
5-Johnson
Mikaila G.
2
Lisa R.
5-Johnson
Sierra B. 5-Johnson
Last weekend, my grandpa,
my cousin, Austin and I went
fishing in Smyrna Lake. My
grandfather’s friend owns land
there. He and his son came
too. We fished. We caught bass
and sunfish. We had fun!
One day, I decided to go to my friend’s
house down the road. When I got there,
I saw my friends were doing stuff like
flips and dives. So when I got to them,
we all said, “hi” and played basketball. I
stayed a while. We jumped in the leaves
and each person took an action shot.
After a while, my friend went to get
another friend. While he was gone, we
played a basketball game. We thought
we would play them when they got back.
We played them and won 15-0. Next we
looked for fossils. After five minutes,
we got scared. We heard crackling and
howling in the woods. We decided to
play Wii. We also played Madden 08.
Then we got bored so we were thinking
and thinking. We wanted to wrestle. We
made up a Kung Fu game and it was so
much fun. We got obsessed! We played
Kung Fu at home. We were having so
much fun! We taught my friend’s little
sister a Dora game. It was actually fun
too. We stretched again and tackled more
Kung Fu and Karate. At last, we all went
home to rest for the next day.
One Hot Day
By Sal M. 5-Johnson
One hot day, my cousin, my uncle
and I went to Pulaski to go salmon
fishing. My cousin and I slept the
whole trip. When we woke up, my
uncle told us to put on the waders
and the boots. After we were ready,
we walked towards the river. We
found our spot next to fifty other
people and started fishing. There is a
special technique to catch salmon. It
is illegal to snag. You have to hook
it in the mouth. First, you cast your
line and let it flow downstream.
Then when you hook a fish, you reel
it in almost like fly-fishing.
I stood on a rock that was sticking
out of the water.
It was slippery and a fish dragged
me into the ice-cold water. I sat in
the car for one hour to get dried off.
Then I got out of the car and went
back to the river to try to catch a
fish. I went back to the rock and
tried again but this time I sat down
on it. After a little bit, a salmon
came out of nowhere and slammed
into my feet knocking me into the
freezing water again. I had to go
back to the car for another hour.
After I dried off and came back
to fish, I decided to stand in the
shallow water. I found a place where
it was only one-foot deep. I cast my
line straight out into the water and
as soon as it touched the water, I got
a bite. It took twenty minutes before
the fish got tired out. Then I started
reeling him in. My cousin netted the
fish for me. I looked to see where
I hooked it. It was in the mouth! It
was over three feet long! It was a
monster. We stayed until we caught
our limit. Then we packed up and
went home to clean the salmon. 3
Color This Fish by Abbie M. 5-J
Thanks to all the contributors!
Editors:
4
Jackson W. 5
Abigail M. 5
Salvatore M.5
Elizabeth B. 5
Sierra B.
5
Mikaila G. 5
Lisa R.
5
Ian L.
3
Blaine B.
K
Advisor:
Ms. Hammond
We try to preserve
the student’s voice
during editing.
Copies online at www.secsd.org