Here are few examples of work done by Kenji at his 6^th grade ('00-'01) at Calvary Christian School. Great works, Kenji!! I especially like the Freedom piece. - Your Dad.

Kenji's Work *

Kenji’s Areas of Improvement *

Freedom is one of the many important rights that we have in this country but we often take it for granted. To me freedom means that you have rights and you can speak for yourself. Slaves are not free in the sense that they cannot do what they want. But, they can still think freely so in a way they are still free.

I think you can be free when being held captive because they cannot control your thoughts and what you think. When the Devil takes over your life, you are truly imprisoned because he will control your thoughts and actions. That is I think is the only way to surrender your freedom.

Kenji (1/16/01)

In search of a black cat,

We hurried to five stores.

But they all closed their doors.

Coyotes lived too near,

So they said, "Sorry dear,

There is too much to fear."

On our very last try

Mommy told a white lie.

We found such a cute guy-

He came with nasty fleas,

And a gross eye disease.

Sharp are his claws,

Strong are his paws.

He loves a good tussle,

To show off his muscle.

.

At night he circles my head,

Sleeping at the foot of my bed

Romeo’s his name,

And fun is his game.

He comes when he’s called;

Romeo, Romster,

Omeo, Omster,

Pussums, Chum Chum,

And finally Poochie and Poochum.

What is going to be his ninth name?

By

Kenji Suzaki

11/9/00

Loneliness was everywhere for Brian. He had just run away from home the day after his thirteenth birthday. His angry parents had sent him to his room because he had disobeyed them once again. Brian had decided to run away from home because he was outraged at his parents for punishing him unfairly. He had been playing with the pocketknife his kind grandfather had given him for his birthday when his father surprised him. He shouted furiously at him, "Brian, go to your room immediately. Your grandfather was wrong to give that knife to you. Here give me that knife," he said, grabbing it and stomping out of the room.

*****

In anger, Brian crawled out of the window and ran into the forest. Deciding to wait there until dark, he thought his parents would come back and look for him or at least search next to the house. When it became dark, he tried to find his way out but he could not. He sat down and tried to fall asleep. Because of all the spooky and creepy things around him, he could not fall asleep. He was about to get up and try again to find his way out when a Unicorn and a Dragon popped out of the trees and started talking to each other.

Scared to death, Brian almost fainted. He started to say something when they finally noticed him. The Dragon asked, "Who is sneaking into our territory?" "It is one of those humankind," replied the Unicorn.

They, went on over to Brian and asked him, "What might be your name?"

"My name is Brian," he said.

"Why hello, it is a pleasure to meet you," said the Unicorn. The Dragon then whispered something that really scared Brian. "Should we eat him?" asked the Dragon."

"What are you talking about? Eat a poor young innocent child?" shouted the Unicorn outraged at the thought of it.

"It was just a small idea," said the Dragon "We have been starving for months on end."

"Can't you see that this child has no place to sleep and has run away from home?" exclaimed the Unicorn. "You should be more careful with your choice of words there you big bumbling Dragon."

After the Dragon and the Unicorn talked for a little bit, the Dragon finally gave in and decided to let Brian come into their lair.

"You should come to lair because you would never find your way out at this time of night plus there are many dangers in the forest." the Unicorn turned to Brian saying. "Well I do not know if I want to," said a very frightened Brian. But what other choice do I have.

By now, the sun was beginning to rise over the top most mountain peaks. It would have been a long trip to the lair for Brian but he got to ride on the Dragon's back. It was awesome. As they crossed over the mountain peak, Brian was totally amazed at what he saw. The forest was awakening. All of the animals were having their breakfasts and getting up from their beauty sleep. It almost looked like the trees were moving because of all the animals stirring about. Brian was starting to feel that he might like it at the lair. During the terrific flight, he remembered what his parents had done to him. He thought that being here with his new friends was a lot better than being at home. Well he thought at least I am having fun here and I don’t even have to worry about school. . When they got to the lair, the nearby dwarves and elves came in and showed Brian his room where he would sleep for the coming days.

*******

Brian had stayed in the lair for a week already. The Dragon, Unicorn, elves, and dwarves were having a council. You see, the elves had just returned with bad news. A host of orcs recently invaded the forest and had captured many elves and forest dwellers.

The, elves and dwarves asked the question, "What should we do?" "The forest is surrounded by orcs and the only way is over the Lonely Mountains but that is much too dangerous during the winter." explained the Unicorn. "We are going to have to stay in the forest and fight.

"Now Brian", they said, "We shall make you a sword, a shield, and armor. Then, we shall teach you to be a good swordsman and you shall kill many orcs." Brian was excited to start his training right away.

In just a few days, the dwarves had made him a good sword of mithril, which is true silver, more precious than gold. His suit of armor was also made of precious mithril. Soon they taught him to ride on the Unicorn's back while fighting with his razor sharp sword. At the moment, elves were arriving from all around the area, training for the coming war against the orcs and maybe even other terrible creatures. Dwarven forges were very busy making swords, battle-axes, and many other kinds of shields and weapons. Brian was a very skilled swordsman by now. He could deflect almost any blow. He also was a very speedy horseman and could out ride anyone on the Unicorn.

The elves had just called Brian for a council of war where they would decide their battle plan. Once they had decided what they were going to do, they dug trenches and traps in which the orcs were to fall. Dwarves were also surging the forest by the thousands. Elves were watching day and night in readiness for the orc’s onslaught. One day, they saw at least a hundred thousand or more orcs only a day's march from the forest. When they came a day later, Brian and his friends were ready for the onslaught. It was chaos! Everyone who was fighting against the orcs was doing quite well at holding them off. But there were way too many orcs coming at them and after a couple hours it became harder to hold them off. Everyone was fighting for their lives.

Finally, Brian and his friends had to drop back to the trenches. In the trenches they were throwing spears at the oncoming orcs. When the first wave of orcs was impaled upon spears, the second got scared and ran back down the hill. Then, as Brian started to charge back down the hill, his friends all followed him. When the full impact of the charge upon the enemy forces was calculated, their losses were a third of their total forces. It was an absolute massacre of the orcs. We circled the remaining orcs. Since their fear of dying was so strong, they gained more power forcing their way through Brian's ranks. They managed to flee to open space and run away. They ran like the wind until they could run no further. Brian's side did not run after them, but just let them escape because they were so tired from the battle.

Brian and his friends were happy thinking they had won. In about an hour the orcs returned with heavily armed reinforcements. They were now about twice big as when they fled before. They charged up the hill pushing Brian's force back to the trenches before they could regroup and force the orcs back down the hill again. Brian and his friends held the orcs off, but they kept on coming and the number of Brian's forces was starting to dwindle. Brian felt cheated out of victory because he didn't run after the escaping orcs. They were losing about a man every second. He felt that he was failing as a leader and a friend. Now, the odds were three hundred to one in favor of the orcs.

Brian and his friends were overwhelmed. If it weren't for the Dragon, they would have totally lost all hope and most likely their lives. The Dragon shot fireballs that killed ten to a fireball. But the problem was that he was starting to lose his energy. Shooting those huge fireballs and flying was taking its toll. He was going to have to land and regain his energy. Flying was his only advantage over the orcs other than spitting his immense fireballs. The orcs did not have any arrows to shoot at him. Since the Dragon had to land he was pretty much defenseless against the orcs. So what he did will never ever be forgotten. He sacrificed himself just to save Brian and the Unicorn, his really good friends. He flew high above them. Making a huge dive, he crushed all of the enemy forces except for the orc king who was riding a huge horse. Brian and the Unicorn chased the orc king but he had too much of a lead. Brian felt immense sadness that the Dragon had died and that the king of the orcs had escaped anyway.

Brian had a tough decision ahead of him. Should he leave now that the war is over or should he stay? He had some fun memories of the lair and also of his home. But he was kind of worried about his parents. Would they think he was dead or something like it? Maybe he should go home and comfort them. Maybe he could convince them to come back to the forest with him. He would have to teach them the ways of the forest. Maybe they also could learn the ways of the warrior and join him. Yes!!! That was what he was going to do. He would go comfort them and bring them back to the forest. But it was not going to be as easy as he thought.

Just a few moments ago, an elf had come back panting and exhausted. He said," A host of orcs has just appeared in the north. Goblin archers and aviators are coming from the West appearing at top speed." Brian and the Unicorn soon discovered that there was also a barbaric group of humans coming from the east. The last army was made up of wolves coming from the South. All of the enemies were heading straight for our meager force that was made up of only a few elves and dwarves. "Well we better start preparing again," said Brian.

Brian felt like this was never going to end. He needed to go back home and face his angry parents. Feeling that he almost belonged to the wonderful forest, in a way, he wished to come back to it. The Unicorn on the other hand wanted Brian to be happy but also needed him to stay and help with the invading armies. To make sure that Brian would come back he made a deal with him. Brian agreed to return to the lair after his visit with his parents if the Unicorn would help him escape before the invading forces arrived. They vowed that they would make it together. Or will they die trying!!!

*** To Be Continued ***

* In this assignment, Kenji created a story that contains math problems.

1. Once upon a time a young egg named Humpty Dumpty sat on a square wall x feet in height and width, and y feet in depth. What was the volume of the wall he sat on?

2. Then, some crazy guy shot a bazooka and made a huge hole in the wall 2 feet in diameter. How much of the volume of the wall was taken away?
3. What is the volume of the wall now?
4. Just in case the wall tumbled over, he got down but he tripped and started to roll down the hill. He fell off the cliff, hit the bottom and broke into 64 pieces. If he was an 8 by 8 by 8 feet cube, how big is each piece?
5. How many places will they have to use glue to put him back together?
6. After they glued him back together, he ran into the middle of the road and got smashed by an on coming car. If two of his sides were extended by 1 and 3/4 feet each, how much did his volume increase?
7. After that, Humpty Dumpty became smarter so he decided to go for a swim. If he swam at 15 yards per second and got to the other end in one hour how long is the pool?
8. If he does 83887 laps how far did he go?
9. He got so tired that when he got out of the pool he just sat down for 8475843 seconds. How many hours is that?
10. Then he took a nap on his bed that was 8 feet in length and by 8 feet in width how much would he have to extend his bed?
11. If the bed is 2 feet in depth, what is the volume of the bed after he extended it?
12. When he went to sleep, it was about 96 degrees out what is that in Celsius?
13. When he woke up it was 30 degrees Celsius out what is that in Fahrenheit?
14. Then he went over to his computer and played for 5 and a half hours. How many seconds is that?
15. Then he called a friend for 467 seconds. How many milliseconds is that?

1. X squared times y
2. 3.14 times y
3. Volume of wall minus 3.14 times y
4. 8 cubic feet (=8 x 8 x 8 /64)
5. 144 (=4 x 4 x 3 x 3)
6. 224 (=8 x 8 x 3.5)
7. 54000 yards (=15 x 60 x 60)
8. 9059796000 yards (=83,887 x 54,000 x 2)
9. 2354.4008 hours (=8475843/60/60)
10. 3.5 feet (=1.75 x 2)
11. 184 cubic feet (=11.5 x 8 x 2)
12. 35.6 Centigrade (= 5/9(96-32) ) C=5/9(F-32)
13. 86 Fahrenheit (=30 x 9/5 +32) F=9/5 C +32
14. 19,800 (=5.5 x 3,600)
15. 467,000 millisecond (1,000 milliseconds =1 second)

(3/11/01)

Sometime in the fall, 2,000, Kenji and I came up with this list of improvement, what, when, where, why, and how. Perhaps, I tried to implement my management idea on him. The result so far is not something I can be proud of. Still, wishing the best…

Clear table

Leave shoes around the house

Lose things, e.g., homework, cello bow, Santa’s hat

Not turn on the light

Leave light on

Eating candies upstairs

Forget to put away balls

Forget to do cello

Forget to check backpack for homework

- writing, capitalization, name, date

Not handing in report on time

Forget homework

Play outside too long

Forget to study, e.g., spelling words for the test

Keep on doing when told no to do, TV, book reading

Delay to do the job, e.g., homework

Talk back to Mom

Not telling the truth, e.g., eating candy

Lose play time for a day

Before Going to School (What to bring to school)

• Homework
• Letters to the teacher, e.g., Mom’s letter
• Utensils, e.g., rulers, pencils, compass, protractor, geometry temperate

At the School

• Turn in homework
• Give the letters to the teacher

Before leaving school (What to bring back home)

• Homework
• Sweatshirt, hat
• Write homework in assignment book
• Put up the chair
• Clean off the desk

After coming back home

• Check assignment book for homework
• Show letters from the teacher
• Do the homework
• Go and play if there is no penalty