Scrapbook

Scrapbook Project

By: Noah Batchelder B5 3/15

● Sharing is Caring - WC 221

When I was about 11, my dad told me that we were going to something called
“Springfield Sharefest”. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I got excited. As we Pulled up
to McClernand Elementary school, I could hardly wait to see what was going on inside. There
were a lot of people in and around the building, and they were all wearing the same lime-green
shirt. I quickly began to figure things out. People seemed to be working, and I was not very
happy about it. I didn’t want to go clean up some random old school; my dad had told me we
were doing something fun. As I walked in, I was handed the same green shirt that everyone had
been given. We quickly made our way outside to plant some trees around the playground. I
complained about the weather most of the time we were working, so my dad took me inside
where we helped paint a huge mural in the library. After we got done, I stepped back and
admired the beauty we had put into a once boring room. When everything was finished, some of
the kids that went to McClernand Elementary came and looked at our work. Seeing the joy on
their faces helped me learn to love helping others. Preview attachment IMG_0423.jpg

● Alligator, Tag, and Airplane too! - WC 230

When I was A little kid, My family would play a lot of games late at night. Being the
youngest, I was always the worst. I usually lost to my siblings siblings, but I always had fun. One
of my favorite games to play was Alligator. In Alligator there are pillows or “islands” on the floor
that the players have to hop from one to the other on and an alligator who crawls around and
tries to tag people when they step off the pillows. Hide and go seek tag was my absolute
favorite game as a child. Since I was the smallest person in my family, I could hide in places that
no one would think of. Once while playing, I squeezed behind a huge chair that was difficult to
move, and I fell asleep! My family spent well over an hour looking for me and calling my name
before my brother found me stuffed behind the massive chair. Another of my favorite games
from my childhood is Airplane. In Airplane, I would sit on my dad’s feet and he would hold my
hands as he lifted me off of the ground with his legs. Me and my siblings would have
competitions to see who could balance the longest; however my brother always seemed to win.
My family loves to play games and these three made my childhood special!

● No Car For Noah - WC 204

Ever since I can remember, I always wanted a ride on car for kids. I thought that they
were the coolest thing a kid could have. Sadly, my parents never bought me one, and I blame
my sister. A few years before I was born, my sister, Katie, had asked for and gotten a pink
barbie jeep for her to ride around in. At the time, Katie decided that the car was not for her and
played in the box for it instead. My dad tried to get her interested in the car that she had begged
for to no avail. When I started asking for one of the cars every time I saw them, my dad would
tell me the story to explain to me why I would never get one. Being a stubborn child I
persistently asked for one for every christmas and every birthday for about seven years strait
until I realized that I couldn’t fit in one at the age of twelve. I considered that the biggest regret of
my life for about a few months while continuously asking my sister why she would do this to me.
Then, I promptly forgot about it and never asked for one again.

● Half-Tooth - WC 228

When you’re a kid, the front seat of a car is the most mysterious and magical of places.
You get your own cup holder, air vent, and sometimes a seat heater. As the youngest of three at
the time, I usually did not get the desired seat. This day, on our way out of Casa Real, Me and
my siblings were racing each other to the front seat of our dads car. I began to sprint as fast as I
could, longing to be sitting in the glorious seat. I looked around and it seemed that I would be
the first there! I was just a step away from the door when I noticed EJ coming from around the

front of the car to get there first. As I was lunging for the door, he had already began to open it.
CRASH, my face slammed into the edge of the door. I wasn’t sure what happened, but my
mouth hurt and my sister was freaking out behind me. I turned around to find a piece of tooth
sitting in her hand. A chunk of my front left tooth had shot out of my mouth and landed on her
hand. I could hardly breath or eat because it hurt so bad; thankfully, a few days later my dentist
put a resin on my tooth to replace the missing half.

● Max and Ruby - WC 209

My family goes to my grandpa’s house every summer. He has a lot of land and
fun things to do. Most importantly, He has dogs. One summer a few years ago, his dog
had a litter. Me and my siblings were absolutely obsessed with the new puppies from the
moment we saw them. We could not wait to play with them every day we were there.
Sadly our week was coming to an end and we would no longer be able to play with
puppies every day. Our hours were ticking by and we were begging with our dad to let us
just take one home. He wouldn’t budge; however, about 10 minutes before we left he
finally broke down, and he let us have two! They were named Max and Ruby. For the
first week or two, us children took care of them every day. We fed them, trained them,
and replaced their puppy pads. To the annoyment of our father, those jobs slowly
became his. Even though they were hard to take care of, they were well worth the effort.
Any time we were gone, we could expect to come home to a mess; however, they still
added a lot of joy and fun to my childhood.

● House Hitters - WC 223

When I was about 9, my family moved from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Rochester,
Illinois. After about a year in a small house by RCC, we moved to my current neighborhood. Me
and my brother loved to play soccer, so on moving day we went to the back yard and started to
kick a soccer ball around. My brother, EJ, was 12 at the time, so he could kick a lot harder than
10 year old me. On one of his passes, the ball went soaring by me and hit the new neighbors
house because there was no fence. I didn’t think it was a big deal and walked over to get our
ball, but as we started to pass again our scary neighbor came out and told us that we better not
hit his house again. Throughout the years after that we had come up with a plan: if we ever hit
his house we would run inside and lock all the doors. Sadly this plan was foiled when he came
over to our house and rang the doorbell to tell our dad that we hit his house with a soccer ball.
My dad told us to be more careful, and that he didn’t understand why our neighbor was so mad.
EJ and I never hit his house again after that day.