▲ Angel RodriguezMcKinley School, fourth grade

▲ Sara SnarskiFort LeBoeuf Middle School, sixth grade

▲ Ashlei OberlanderDiehl School, fifth grade

▲ Alex VaheySaint Luke School, sixth grade

▲ DerMante WheelerWayne School, fifth grade

▲ Lexi HulickSaint Luke School, seventh grade

✄ Clip and save to create your very own book. ✄

Send us your writings:NIE@timesnews.com

Please send artwork to:Erie Times-News in Education

205 W. 12th St., Erie, PA 16534

All artwork should be in color andon 81⁄2-by-11-inchplain white paper.

Be sure to include your name,school, grade and teacher’s nameon the back of your submission!

Chapter 9: Loud and Proud

The story so far: A practicaljoker is trying to ruin the baseballgame by calling out the plays andconfusingtheplayersandtheum-pire.Noonecantellwhothe jokeris. The umpire has threatened tocancel thegameif theguiltypartydoesn’t come forward.

Irun to the concessionstandand find Roxanne eatingpopcorn.

“I need you,” I say.“Me?” Roxanne says. “Are

you sure?”I grab her hand and pull her

toward the bleachers.“It sure is noisy over here,”

Roxanne says.“Exactly,”Isay.“Ineedyouto

get this crowd quiet.”Roxanne puts down her pop-

corn and wipes off her hands.“Icandefinitelydothat,”she

says.She climbs to the top of the

bleachers, takes a deep breathandcupsherhandsaroundhermouth.Ihardlythinksheneedshelp to make herself heard.

“QUIET!” she yells.When Roxanne yells, every-

one listens. I guess it can begood to be rowdy. Everyone inthe crowd becomes still. Then,I hear it again.

“Strike!”This time, I know exactly

where it’s coming from. I climbto the top of the bleachers andlook into the nearby oak tree.Someone is hiding in that tree.

“Strike,” I hear again.I see where the noise is com-

ingfrom.Ican’tbelievemyeyes.

It’s a bird.Waitaminute,Ithink.Abird?“I think it’s a bird,” I say, con-

fused.“It can’t be a bird,” Roxanne

says. “Can it?”Onlyonepersonintheneigh-

borhood would know.“Where’s Mr. Harrison?” I

ask.“I think I saw him over by

thepondinthepark,”Roxannesays.

Itakeoffrunning.Luckily,thepond is close. I’ve done way toomuch running today.

Mr. Harrison is known in theneighborhood as “The BirdGuy.” He’s an expert on birds.

I get to the pond and see himright away. He’s listening to theband play.

“Mr.Harrison,wereallyneedyou at the baseball field,” I say.

“It’s about a bird.”He follows me back to the

baseball field.“I think there’s a bird up in

the big oak tree,” I say.“Yes, I suppose there might

be,”hesays.“It’sprobablynest-ing.”

“That’s not all,” I say. “I thinkthe bird is talking.”

I explain to Mr. Harrisonwhat I mean. When I’m done,he laughs.

“Birdsdon’ttalk,right?”Iask.“Well, not exactly,” he says.By this time, we’ve reached

the baseball field. Roxanne isstill standing on the bleachers.J.P. and Corinna are there, too.Everyoneispeeringintotheoaktree.

“Strike,” we hear again.“I think there’s a northern

mockingbirdupthere,”Mr.Har-

rison says.“A what bird?” I ask.“A northern mockingbird,”

hesays.“Itmocksthesoundsofother things. People ... animals... even an umpire.”

“How?” I ask.“It’s one of the wonders of

science,”hesays.“Isn’titamaz-ing?”

The whole neighborhoodagrees. It is amazing.

“How do we make it be qui-et?” the umpire asks Mr. Har-rison.

“Good luck with that,” hesays. “Those birds have a mindof their own.”

“We can handle it,” the um-pire says. “Now let’s play someball.”

The game starts to get underway. Finally, I have a momentto rest.

“Let’s go check out the talentshow,” Corinna says to us. “It’ssupposed to be a good one thisyear.”

J.P. pulls out his notebook.

“Back to work for me,” he says.“I still have a game to cover.”

“I think I’ll stick aroundhere,” Roxanne says. “J.P., canI sit by you?”

It looks like Rowdy Roxanneis blushing.

So that’s why she wanted tohelp with The Robyn Report.She likes J.P.! My reporter’s in-stincts were right. I knew shewas up to something.

“Are you coming, Robyn?”Corinna asks.

It’s been a long day, but I’mnot finished yet. I just have onething left to do. I go back to Lo-gan’s house. Sarah is still shar-ing her prize-winning water-melon with the neighborhood.

“I’m back for the interviewyou promised,” I say.

Sarah smiles. “I thought youmight come back,” she says.

Ipulloutmynotebook.Sarahhandsmeanenormouspieceofwatermelon. I take a huge biteof it. It’s so sweet and juicy. Itwas definitely worth the wait.During my interview with Sar-ah, I eat three more pieces ofwatermelon.

OnceI’mdone,Istarttoleavewhen I think of one more ques-tion for Sarah.

“How did Roxanne convinceyou to do this interview, any-way?” I ask.

Sarahtakesmynotebookandwrites something down. Thenshe hands it back to me.

I read what it says.“Put that in your report,” she

says.“I think I will,” I say with a

smile.

Provided byAmerican Press Institute

Copyright © 2006 Stacy Tornio

Robyn reports: The nutty neighborhood block party

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!Follow each new chapter as it unravels in our serial story, while enjoying student responses and artwork.

It has been an excitingweek at the Erie Times-News and the Erie Play-house. More than 300 stu-dents submitted artworkandwritingfor the“Honk”contest.

We are proud to an-nouncethewinnersforboththe artwork category andthe writing. The winningart pieces are displayed

above. The writing will bepublished in the Dec. 7 is-sueoftheErieTimes-News.

Artwork

▀DerMante Wheeler, fifthgrade, Wayne School

▀Alex Vahey, sixth grade,Saint Luke School

▀Lexi Hulick, seventhgrade,SaintLukeSchool

▀Angel Rodriguez, fourthgrade, McKinley School

▀SaraSnarski,sixthgrade,Fort LeBoeuf MiddleSchool

▀Ashlei Oberlander, fifthgrade, Diehl School

Writing

▀LindaButo,eighthgrade,Saint Luke School

▀Jazmin Chiemara, fourth

grade, Perry School▀AnthoniHolt,sixthgrade,

Fort LeBoeuf MiddleSchool

▀Shanell Aria Fairley,first grade, Saint JamesSchoolAs a reminder, the

promptsforthecontestareas follows:

Writing: The other ani-mals on the farm are quickto point out that the uglyduckling is very different.Just like on the farm, bul-

lying occurs in school, too.Write a paragraph aboutwhy we should stop bully-inginschool.Whatcanyoudo to help stop bullying?

Artwork: Designyourownflag. Tell us why you’reunique and different fromeveryone else. Create aflag that represents you.Use your favorite colorsand shapes,anddrawyourfavorite hobbies and inter-ests. Tell the world aboutyou through your flag.

Artwork winners for Playhouse, NIE contest

Student Corner: Erie Times-News in Education un-derstands that there is limited space to print all ofthe student artwork and writing in the newspaper.That’s why you can find more at Student Corner onthe NIE website. In the Student Corner, every pieceof artwork that is submitted to the Erie Times-Newsfor the Monday NIE page is published. If you wouldliketoseeallof thisyear’sstudentartwork,visitNIE.GoErie.com and click on “Student.” From there, justclickon“StudentCorner”toseethisyear’scollectionof work.

Extra! Extra! Write all about it!

By STACY TORINOIllustrated by ROEL WIELINGA

This page brought to you by: Teachers:Get more online!

Visit the Erie Times-News in Educationwebsite at NIE.GoErie.comtofindlessonplans,classroomactivitiesandstudent artwork andwriting. Contact NIE@timesnews.comtoreceiveaspecialteacher’sguidefor “Robin Reports.”

The bird is actingsomewhat like a person inthe way that it is talking.Several animals seen incomic strips have some ofthe characteristics ofpeople. Choose one ofthose animals that you findin the Erie Times-Newscomics section and writeabout how it compares toyou.

NewSpaperactivity

By CHRISTOPHER LaFURIANIE Coordinator

6D | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Monday, November 16, 2015