Penelope's Writing Portfolio

Current Publishing 

During our poetry unit, we had the privilege to collaborate with graphic design students from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Each graphic designer set out to design forms and distribute our poems in unique ways that addressed the central message of each poem. Below you can see my poem’s design by Taylor, which were hung in a LGBTQ+ owned cafe in Knoxville, TN. Enjoy! 

Previous Publishings

As a class we recently finished reading the Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor. This book tells the story of a Black family during the 1950’s during the civil rights movement. These diaries were written by students from the perspective of one member of this family, either ‘lois, the youngest daughter, father, or mother as the family faces discrimination, segregation, and racism. 

  The  SW  Zoo

Part I

My brother climbed up my ladder and yelled, “ WAKE UP PENNY!” We were going to the Southwick zoo today, so I jumped out of bed and got dressed. I had been dreaming of petting a deer and the zoo all night. Then I ate breakfast and ran downstairs. I jumped in the car and we started driving.

I was in the car for at least an hour, dreaming the whole time of petting a deer. We whizzed by a bunch of houses.

Then we were at the zoo! We parked and got out of the car. Then we went to the information booth and showed the lady there, our tickets and received a map of all the animals and activities. Before anything else, my mom and dad looked at the map for the deer.My Mom and Dad, plus me had tickets. My brother was free because he was under three years old..

The first animal we saw were Kangaroos! Then We saw: Macaws, Monkeys, Flamingos, Cheetahs, Zebras, Alligators, Ostriches, Giraffes and Hyenas! While We were seeing the animals my mind kept going back to the deer.

Then we went on a walk where little deer come up to you! When we walked into the gate, we went to the deer food dispenser. Then my mom said,”Sorry Penny, I don’t have any Quarters.” In my head I said to myself,”Aw man! I was hoping I could feed the deer, at least I might get to pet one!” We were walking for a little bit. Then we saw a big rock and Me and Peter sat down. My Mom and Dad took pictures. “Cheese,” I said. “ Cheese puff,” My brother Peter said. We did not get to pet any deer until the end of the walk. Then I found a deer at the end of the trail! The deer was beautiful ! She was pretty and soft. ( I know that the deer was female because she did not have any antlers.)My mom kept taking pictures of her, and I kept wanting to pet her! I wished that I could stay there all day.

Part II 

Then we went to go eat. I ate a sandwich, a Juice pouch and Funions. Peter ate a sandwich, a juice box and Funions too. When we ate, my Brother said, “All done!”Even though he was not Done with his food. While we were eating I kept saying in my head,”I loved this day so far, there's no way it can get better!”And it did! 

After we went to eat we went to pet goats! I kept trying to pet a small male goat with small horns. Peter got caught in between some goat, my Mom had to lift him out of there.

  Then we went to a room with reptiles and spiders.( which are not reptiles) We saw so many cool reptiles! I saw the most gross thing That I had ever seen!”Eww!”, I said. Then my Mom showed me that on the wall they had cardboard cutouts of reptiles and spiders. They showed the Longest, smallest and biggest reptiles and spiders! Plus, the size of them on the wall is the same size of the real thing and the size of the spider cutouts were like the size of your two hands! Then we walked out of the building.

We went to a picture booth and took some pictures. They came out pretty wonky. They were wonky because in all the pictures but the first one, my face was kind of covered!

Part III

Then we saw: lions, Rinos, orange tigers, white tigers, Monkeys, Warthogs and leopards. 

Then we went to a small playground that was across from the Monkeys, Warthogs and Leopards. Peter played on the slide and I played On the monkey bars. 

After that we walked to the Gift shop and went inside.Their were so many Things! There were Shirts, hats, Rubber duckies and Even Big GIANT stuffed Animals! My brother picked out a canteen and a toy rino. I picked out a grape scented pencil and a canteen too. My mom picked out a stuffed animal alligator that Peter named Rexy. I picked out a stuffed animal Otter that I named Olly.

  Then we checked out and went home. The day had been so fun I sang in my head, to the tune of the conga line, ”This day was awesome, this day was awesome! Lalalalala! Thank mom and dada! For bringing me here! Whoo-hoo!”  THE END

Minerva

One time my parents were picking me up from school. I slipped down the ramp and jumped in the car. Then we started driving.We were going somewhere that I didn't know about. I asked my parents:” Where are we going?” They said: “ You’ll see''.”Is it a surprise?,” I asked.”You’ll see,”They said. We ended up driving for a long time. I saw my street zipping by. I thought we were going to a special restaurant, but we were not. Then we were at a small building. It was hiding behind some trees. At first I didn’t know what it was, so I asked my parents,” Where are we?”They said, “We are at an animal shelter!” When we got there we jumped out of the car and walked up the stairs to get inside. When we got inside it smelled like cats and dogs.There was a lot of meowing, barking and quiet clicking.There were only Cats, Dogs and cute little rats in the shelter. My dad was allergic to cats, so we couldn’t get one. We live in an apartment and we did not have a backyard so a puppy would not work. All that was left were the rats! The rats were so cute, so we decided to get one. My parents asked: “ Which one do you want?”  I was looking for a little bit, then I said: “This one”and I pointed at a rat that was white with a couple brown spots. This rat was old but I didn't care. When we got her we had to put her in a sphere plastic cage to Bring her home.My dad held her in the car.When we got home, I got out of the car and ran up the stairs. We named her Minerva.( After Minerva Mcgonagall from Harry Potter).My dad put her in her cage.Minerva’s cage was right on my moms little table next to the side of the couch that my mom sits on. My mom's table was right next to the door frame of my bedroom door.Every time I came back from school me and my dad would play with her on the rug with cardboard boxes. I was so happy to have her!!The End! 🐀🐕🐈