Learning at Meadowbank

Around the Classroom with 5B

Students in 5B have been working hard on writing their own portal narratives in Talk for Writing. Here are a few work samples:

Lelea’s Independent Narrative  

The Portal In a Cupboard

James had always been a curious and adventurous child. One raining afternoon, James and his friend Jack were walking to James’s bedroom. When suddenly they heard noises, coming from a cupboard. When they opened it, they were amazed. Green gas was coming from the portal. 

Jack warned his friend not to go inside, but James was already halfway through the portal, so Jack followed. When they got through they were in a magical forest. They were looking around everywhere, eating berries and looking at the strange plants. 

But then James found a portal that was in the bottom of a tall tree. The friends were hearing grunting noises so Jack warned James not to go inside the door, but James didn’t listen. 

 Jack didn’t follow him as he thought for sure that something bad, would happen if he went inside. When James went inside the door, he saw two short trolls conducting an explosive, experiment. James hid behind a shelf, that was filled with potions which was labelled, 

“Explosive contents do not use.”  

James saw the potion that the trolls were using and he saw that it was from the shelf he was hiding behind so he sneaked past and opened the door which made a creaking noise that the trolls heard. 

Suddenly the two trolls chasing him angrily. Jack pointed at the portal so hopefully James went through and the trolls will stop following him. This time James listened to Jack as they both went through the portal. Which instantly closed after the friends went through. They both laughed off relief as they got teleported to James’s bedroom, after they knew the trolls didn’t go through. 

Everyday, Jack and Josh, looked inside the cupboard just in case the portal ever came back.  

Lucas’s Independent Narrative 

Amir had always been a fearless child.  Whenever he went somewhere he brought his bestfriend Ryan who he had known since birth. One suuny afternoon, the two bestfriends where at Bondi beach were people just played on the sand and in the water chucking a ball. 

When Amir and Ryan had the bright idea of going as deep as the could. When they got to the end of the bay, they instanly fell through the sand when they landed on the damp waterloggeed floor they looked at eachother then looked up and the strange hole was gone.  

It took a seconed for them to realise what had happened but. When they looked around the room they saw speceics of creatures that were said to be excinct in tubes, the darkness made it nearly impossible to see but the fanitest lights came from the firefiles. When they looked at the room there were bottle caps stoping water from rushing into the room.  

A quiet pop sound echoed through the dark room. Momentes later, another pop happened then another. They realised that what was happening is it would slowly fill with water they looked for the portal Amir found the portal he screamed at the top of his lungs. Trying to get Ryan to come, Amir had to bolt through the water pick up Ryan and he therw ryan through the portal. Amir followed with the water up to his neck and pulling through the water he got out.  

The portal teleaported them to the beach. After that day the never went past the end of the bay. 

Misheel’s Independent Narrative 

The Lollie Land

Henry and Emily has been best friends since forever, but Henry believes in different worlds and Emily didn’t. One foggy Saturday morning, they were going to the candy shop. As they entered the shop, Emily saw something suspicious: A pink door with a massive lock. On the door was a warning sign read “Staff only!”. 

“I wonder what’s inside. And why is there a massive lock?” questioned Emily. Henry gave a cheeky smile.  

“Then let’s see what’s inside, I have the key!” said Henry, with excitement. 

“Where did you even find that?” said Emily. 

Henry opened the door and yanked Emily to through. They realized behind the door was a whole new world. The sky was pink, the cloud was made of marshmallows and there was candy cane trees. 

On the jelly mountain was a golden gummy bear with a label that said “Do not eat!” 

But Henry wanted to try it out and see what will happen. 

“Don’t do it!” said Emily. 

Henry reached in and ate the gummy. Nothing happened at first but something really strange happened: The candies came to life.  

The living-candies chased them util they reached the door. But Henry didn’t come out empty handed He came with a candy cane. But it didn’t really last long because it vanished into the air. 

They tried to tell everyone that they found a door that takes them to a Lollie Land, but people didn’t believe them. But at least Henry proved Emily that he is correct. 

Liam’s Independent Narrative  

Ruby had always been a inquisitive child. One dark, rainy afternoon, she was visiting a art gallery with her friend James when a jet of sparks shot out of a painting. The picture swirled the colours mixing and forming a brightly coloured, rainbow portal. 

“Wow! Where do you think that leads too?” gasped Ruby,  jaw dropping. 

“I know what you are thinking Ruby but I don’t think it is safe,” responded James. 

“Come on James don’t worry it’s perfectly safe,” said Ruby, preparing to jump into the portal. 

“Wait, think about what you are doing!” yelled James, but Ruby had already leapt into the portal. 

James hesitated, then slowly stepped into the portal. 

As they exited the portal they weren’t in the gallery anymore. They were in world filled with colourful paintings, clay animals and colonies of artist robots. As looked around they saw hills made of canvas, sketched trees and  millions of artworks. 

As the friends explored further into the strange dimension, they saw many masterpieces being made by robots. None of the robots looked at either of the children, instead they focused on their artworks and paintings like a class of children doing a test. They made huge sculptures, shining paintings and multicoloured collages. 

Ruby was mesmerised by the art and stepped towards them for a closer look. When suddenly, she slipped in paint and knocked over a sculpture. 

Instantly, all the robots turned their heads to look at the kids with anger in their eyes. Paint guns shot out of walls, alarms screeched and sculptures smashed. 

“Ruby we need to run!” screamed James at the top of his lungs. 

James bolted through the robots and grabbed Ruby’s hand and together they ran to the place of there arrival and jumped through the portal landing heavily on the art gallery floor. They got up and continued exploring the gallery. But when they returned to the same place the portal had been there was nothing there but a blank wall. The friends looked at each other thinking the exact same thing maybe this adventure was all just a dream.  

Ryan’s Independent Narrative  

The Desert Portal

George had always been a adventurous child. One burning hot day, his parents took him on a trip to the desert with his best friend Alex. They were walking up and down the tall, shiny sand dunes, when they stumbled across something strange. They spotted a shining light in the distance.  

George immediately grinned. “What if we went on an adventure to see what that thing is?” he said. 

“Uhh.. Are you sure? I mean, we might get lost and our parents will be furious,” said Alex. 

“Come on! It’ll be fun, trust me.” exclaimed George. 

Alex eventually gave up trying to convince George to not go and went with him to see what the shining light was. 

 After a while of walking, they finally reached the light and spotted something extraordinary. A giant, metal door. It was glowing feintly from the inside, so the pair were suspicious of what was hiding behind the door.  

The door creaked open, revealing a bright room. George and Alex were flashbanged by the vivid lights. As their eyes adjusted to the room, they saw something which made their jaws drop. A portal with a ring of fire around it.  

“Woah, it looks like a giant bubble! Let’s see where it will take us.” cried George. He grasped Alex’s hand and the two went inside the portal. 

The portal made them feel nauseous and dizzy.  “Are you crazy! I can’t believe you would do this!” shouted Alex, holding tears. 

“Calm down, the place doesn’t even look that bad..” said George, smiling. 

The room looked dark with cobwebs all over the corners of it. Alex still hesitated to even move a step. He tried running away from the room, but it was closed off and the door was locked.  

Suddenly, alien-looking creatures appeared from the shadows. The figures all looked at Alex and George, and sneered. They sprinted past the two friends, and pressed a mysterious, red button. In an instant, alarms screamed. Lights flickered. The alien-looking creatures looked at eachother with an evil smile, then dissapeared. A toxic gas flooded the room. 

 Alex and George dashed through the hallway like racecars. They jumped back through the portal. After a while, they teleported back to the desert and found their parents. They were mad at the two friends for going away for so long, but eventually they explained what had happened.  

When they returned to the place where they found the portal, it had strangely dissappeared without any trace. Every day until their holiday ended, the friends checked the place where they had found it. Just in case.