Students' Work

The sun set down the horizon with a sigh while the moon slipped up and nestled comfortably within the sky. I yawned and shoved my homework to the side, then I stood up and dragged my feet lazily to the bed. I was too tired to change into my pyjamas. Once my head hit the soft and fluffy pillow, sleep claimed me immediately.

"Aaah!" I screamed, waking up and finding myself bathed in cold sweat with goosebumps prickling on my skin. Fear knotted my stomach as my nightmare flashed in my head. I had dreamt of a spider on my shoulders, mocking me of my phobia of spiders. "Annabel! I will feed on your fears, you will never escape me." With that, the spider hit me on the head.

I checked my room around for spiders, fearing that they would conquer my room, but there was nothing. I decided that I would need some fresh air, so I walked across the room and flung open the window.

I looked out of the window, feeling much calmer and peaceful. The only sound was the barking of dogs that echoed through the night. Wait... what? I thought. Dogs barking? Something is amiss. I fixed my gaze on the gates of my neighbour's house. A man dressed in dark clothing was panting, trying to get over the gates. "Oh my god!" I shrieked.

I tried to hide in the shadows cast by the trees as I crept nearer and nearer. "Yaaagh!" I cried at the top of my lungs, sending him tumbling off the gate. The dogs ran up to the man, licking his face contentedly. I was surprised. Why was the dog licking the thief?

The man glared up at me and groaned, "Lucky for me, my bones are strong!" I suddenly recognised the face. It was Mr Enrique! He was the owner of the house! I had made a mistake. "Sorry," I mumbled, hanging my head in embarrassment. From that day onwards, I learnt not to jump to conclusions without getting my facts right.

It was a stormy day. The clouds gloomed over the sky, the sun was nowhere to be seen. I was on the way to work.

I went to the garage. I started my car but felt that the car was stuck. To my horror, the tyres were punctured. I did not have a spare tyre so I decided to take the bus as I was late.

I ran as fast as a cheetah to catch the bus but there was no hope. The bus had already driven off. I quickly checked the bus time but the next bus would arrive in only half an hour. Fuming from both ears, I sighed in frustration. Left with no choice, I decided to run all the way to work.

I ran as fast as my legs could take me. When I finally reached the office, my hair was like a bird's nest. Gasping for air, I looked up to see that the elevator was out of order. Groaning in disappointment, I had to take the stairs. "What a bad day!", I raised my hands in defeat.

"Chirp!" "Chirp!" The birds sounded in the summer morning. The hot sun blistered down on us. I decided to visit the local playground with my friends. The playground was busy with laughter and chatter. Children of all ages were having a blast going down the slides and playing on the swings.

My friends and I decided to play catch. My friend Cindy was the catcher and I was the runner. I ran around the playground and enjoyed playing catch.

Suddenly, I tripped over a rock and fell. "Ouch!" I screamed and cried out loud for help. Cindy found me in tears and rushed to my mother, who saw what had happened.

Diligently, Cindy cleaned the wound on my knee and placed a plaster on it. I bit back tears as I stood up and walked to my mother.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the playground to go home. The scar on my knee served as a reminder that I always have to be careful and cautious. Especially while having fun.

Last week, Jack had a fun holiday because his school told them that they did not need to go to school. So Jack and his whole family went to the zoo after packing their things. They went to the zoo and bought their tickets to see the animals.

They went in the zoo and they saw their favourite animals. Jack's favourite animal was the cobra. He ran towards it and he suddenly fell into an enclosure that had a crocodile in it. The crocodile tried to attack Jack but was stopped by the zookeeper.

The zookeeper told his parents about it and his parents had a shock. His parents told him that running in the zoo is dangerous.

After that, they continued to see the animals and Jack went home with a lesson learnt.

The weather was aggressive that day, rain pelted down heavily as massive amounts of water choked the drains. I was in a crowd of excited children, eager to go home. Once the gate opened, we rushed out like the currents of the water. "Hey! Wait!" my friend Vag cried out. I groaned and tapped my feet, waiting for him. "How about we play with that?" Vag raised a soaking hand, pointing to an extremely big puddle.

Without a second thought, I rushed to the puddle, soaking from head to toe. Then, with a flying leap, I landed in the middle of the puddle, sending a wave down on Vag, who got angry and started sending waves after waves of water on me. Soon, we got really muddy and wet. I started sneezing non-stop, Vag had a red nose, and he sniffed uncontrollably. "Uh oh," I breathed, "We are going to be scolded by our parents."

Out of the blue, a drifting school bus raced by at neck-breaking speed. It suddenly skidded out of control and swerved towards our direction. "Look out!" I screamed, pushing Vag out of the bus's way. Too late, it crashed into us. Then, the world went black.

I woke up with a start, with Vag beside me, howling in pain as the nurse injected him with disinfection. We were in the hospital, our beds surrounded by worried faces from our parents. They gasped with relief when they saw us alive. The moral is, not to play dangerously along roads or beside roads when in a storm. Prevention is better than cure!

"Girls, ready to go camping?" the school teacher said as we packed our things inside our bags, getting ready excitedly.

Once everyone was ready, the teacher took us to the camping site near Changi Airport. When we reached there, we saw aeroplanes flying past us every minute. "It's kind of noisy here, but there will be a lot of fun activities to do!" I thought, buzzing with excitement as I took out my sleeping bag and put it beside my bag.

"Girls, remember to bring your water bottles and if you need to go to the toilet or refill your bottles, better go now," the camp instructor said.

After that, the instructor took us to the "kitchen", where we were supposed to cook food like pasta, chicken rice and more. I chose pizza as I love eating it, while the rest of my classmates chose barbeque or pasta.

At first, I thought pizzas were easy to make, but it was hard to shape and bake them properly without getting them burned. I wanted to give up, but thinking of my other classmates who really wanted to try it, I did my best. After spending hours, I finally finished baking small but delicious pizzas.

"Good job girls, but the teachers and I still have to try it, just to make sure it's edible for everyone," the instructor said as she tried the food. "The barbeques were not fully cooked yet, so don't try those, but everything else is fine!"

I took a bite of one of the pizzas I made and it tasted extremely good. We also got free Milo at night before we brushed our teeth and went to bed.

During the middle of the night, someone started dancing and singing. I asked her what she was doing but she ignored me, so I went back to sleep.

The next morning, we did many other activities like zipline, rock climbing and high elements. It was very fun and I really hope we could do it again. In the end, I truly look forward to doing these activities again — and maybe even with tents next time!

As the soft breeze brushed against my face, I looked up at the sky full of stars as my best friend, Sarah, held my hand tightly.

"This was the best trip I have ever had in my whole life!" I exclaimed, stretching my arms out into an endless field of grass.

Looking into the sky full of shining stars, I recalled my day at the campsite.

As the sound of birds chirping and squirrels scurrying up the trees filled the air, the four of us — my mum, dad and Sarah — set up our tent. I handed my dad a tent peg as he nailed it deep into the ground.

As the final peg was nailed into the ground, Sarah and I rushed into the tent, unfolding our sleeping bags excitedly. I lay down, staring up into the bright sky as the tent top was open.

"Hey! Last one to reach the flag on the other side of the field is a rotten egg!" Sarah screamed. I jumped up, slipping on my shoes as I sprinted into the open field at full speed, the grass brushing against my shoes as the sun hung high above our heads.

As I reached the flag, I dropped onto the ground, taking in the scenery before me — a huge lake with forests all around. It looked just like a painting. Just then, Sarah plopped down beside me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"Sarah! Cheyenne! We are going trekking in the forest, let's get going!" my mum shouted. I held Sarah's hand as I raced towards her.

Soon, we were halfway into the trek when we spotted a rare animal — a deer! As we reached the summit, the sun was setting, its golden rays shining across the lake as animals retreated back to their dens. We took the shortcut back to our campsite.

When we reached the campsite, the moon was already high up in the sky as the cooling breeze swept through the forest. As I lay on the soft grass staring up at the starry sky, a warm feeling spread across my chest and a smile appeared on my face — knowing that out of all the trips, this was the most enjoyable one.