Students Name 1
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Early France: 1894
I saw them. They were none other than the specific magicians my mom told me told to avoid. Long dark mysterious capes filled the night sky as I followed them down the old creek road. We arrived. It didn’t take very long for me to realize, we were here. Tonight was the night of the magician’s ball, maybe even the last night. I hadn’t been following them for very long, the trail was new.
Hopefully all would go well, I would have all the chairs back home in sunny Paris,
France. If all goes well the world would be safe, no chairs of the magicians would exist, and once again peace and happiness would rule this world.
France: 1902
On an early morning just like any other, the church bells rang, loudly leaving the large city of Paris silent like a grave. People flocked into the city, alive like none other.
Young children left homes early to go to church. Deep in the crevasses of the town a boy like none other was running late for an early morning church lesson with the Nuns of
Paris. Merchants all over the streets were left in awe, as the dashing boy left them behind with enormous speed. All over people would flock to the certain church in central Paris, and none of them would be as late or come as fast as young nine-year-old John.
“Well, I’m here!” announced John, coming in silently and then bursting out loud. Surprisingly the church was silent, at least until young John looked down the hallway, what he saw wasn’t normal, but quickly he hid for Sister Mary was walking right towards him.
Just as John ducked behind a marble statue Mary shouted, “Master John! What are you doing coming so late! We all were wondering where you were! Terrible things can happen to young boys that are late. You could have been eaten!”
Calming down as gentle as a person could be Mary coaxed, “ Come out John, you’re already late for bible study, at least you could try to get some of it done. I’ll arrange for the headmaster to allow to you to do the work with me, some other time.
Come, its time for lunch.”
John ducked out from the gigantic gargoyle. At that moment he and Mary silently walked down the street, Mary thinking of ways to get the headmaster to allow he to work with John, and John just thinking on how the day would turn even worst.
As it turns out, just as John had predicted, the day did go horribly wrong, and no matter how hard Mary tried she couldn’t persuade the headmaster. Anyway for John to get out of the swift punishment he was to receive would be better than what he was going to get now, and hopefully he would figure out that way soon. The punishment was fairly

Students Name 2
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 mild, all he received was extra assignments, and dish duties after supper. Making his way back to the hallway, out the door and to home, he discovered that his name was being called quite violently down the hallway. “John, John, come back here! The headmaster wants to talk to you. Something about missing the sermon today” shouted
Mary. “I’ll come along with you!”
Walking towards the office, down the great hall proved miserable, but quick.
Before they could speak to each other, they were called in the office, and had no choice but to follow. Suddenly a giant, and great booming voice filled the atmosphere. “John!
Please do come in! I think you and I have something to talk about!” Feebly, but quickly
John ran into the office almost stumbling on an emerging chair in the way.
“Whoa!” John screamed, as he stumbled to sit down near the headmaster.
“I believe you came late this morning, did you not John?”
‘Why yes sir, I happened to have the pleasure of doing that, but what is a golden chair doing in your office?”
“This my boy, is a very old chair, one of the only ones left. Once long ago, five great magicians raided villages all over England and France and created a great treasure of great wealth and value. Throughout time many people have tried to find the whereabouts of the treasure, but always to none avail. In my time, when I was young I searched for the treasure, and now I am to believe that the chairs hold the secret of the treasure. Look on the side of the chair, it is an old subscript which the magicians used only between themselves…”
“So, so, you mean sir that if me can locate the following chairs, we could discover a treasure, really big?” John exclaimed.
“Yes, my boy, and it has come to my attention, since you are always late for blessings and meals, that you really don’t wish to be here with me, and because of that I am now sending you with Mary, on a voyage to find the rest of the chairs and locate the treasure!”
At that moment, John stood dumbfounded in front of the headmaster. “So, he really wants me to go one that voyage. I wonder why he chose Mary to accompany me.
What is so special about a chair? All they are is pieces of wood glued together. Why would the magicians have chosen to hide their secret inside chairs?” John thought. All of his questions were worthwhile, but something held him back from asking them.
Just then the headmaster announced, “John, if you are to find the secret within the chairs, I believe that you should take the first chair with you. It may hold some clue to where the next chair is. Just right over there, is a key? I believe that somehow it fits into the chair to open a secret drawer or something. Just take the chair and try it out. I’m already late for coffee break.”
Mary walked in at that moment. Both her and John hoisted the chair into the air and carried it into the hallway. Placing it down, both of them rested to catch their breath and to recover from the strain they had placed on their backs. After a couple minutes
John finally broke the silence by saying,” Mary, I‘m going to try the key inside the chair.
I believe that I saw a little keyhole under the chair. Stand back, something may happen.”

Students Name 3
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004
When John tried to place the key in the chair, he found it extremely hard to concentrate. It seemed as if the chair was floating in thin air. Suddenly he realized.
“Mary would you please sit on the chair for me.
Somehow we can try to stop this piece of ancient wood from floating into thin air!”
When Mary sat down on the chair and John inserted the key, something peculiar happened. The chair was raised up into the air, and terror stricken
Mary cried out ‘HELP” Once the cry of help was issued, the chair stopped in mid air, Leaving Mary there dangling from the chair. The headmaster immediately sent a man, along with himself to investigate the screams that were periodically disturbing the classes that were in session. Soon after much commotion Mary was lifted off the chair by a ladder, and just when that happened did a piece of paper fall out of the bottom of the chair.
This paper was like none other. When the headmaster saw the paper, he exclaimed. “I just can’t believe it! @#$%@! After all these years someone has solved to whereabouts to the papers that identify the chairs” He was so filled with joy, there was tears streaming down his face. Over and over again he repeated, “I just can’t believe it”
John walked over to Mary, while in the background people were asking him how he did it, how he solved the whereabouts to the clues. “So, John what does the piece of paper, which I happily risked my life for say?”
There was sarcasm in her voice and quickly John, announced, and read from the paper, “The fifth chair is in France, but to find the first one look in a place where no other people would imagine. Myself I am one of the great five magicians, my name you may not wish to hear. I happened to hide the first chair in a country where people have strong accents, and normally people would call British.”
What a clue! It was so easy! To find the first chair they would have to take the train up to England! Immediately the headmaster sent himself and Mary into his office, shuffling them inside. “As you have already found out, the first chair which should contain the clue to the next is in England, and at this moment I have two train tickets to
England in my pocket. If I gave them to the both of you, would you promise to use, treat them with respect. Of course this would mean that the both of you would be committed to solving the mystery of the chairs, and if you succeed there will be treasure for you both! So, do you two accept or decline?”
Of course no answer was expected immediately, but as the answer came to their heads, out came a chorus of ‘YES!”
“Well, good then. Here are your tickets. The train leaves at five o’clock so I expect that you would pack up your things quickly and head directly to the train station. I would be very pleased to here from you on your journey, oh yah, here is five thousand pounds. You may need them on your vast trip, so I hope that they will prove helpful. “

Students Name 4
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004
When the two left the office with the money and tickets in their hands, not only could they not imagine what would soon happen, but also the challenges that may lie ahead.
As it turns out, the road down to the train station was very miserable, with all the slush, and dirt on the road, horses drew the carriage, and everybody felt like puking. The road, which John and Mary had planned to take, showed no sign of dirty, gritty roads, and unhappiness. Approaching the train station, the wagon clunked to a slowing stop. Mary and John, who were feeling quite dizzy, now, stumbled out of the wagon and onto the stony pavement. Waves of people surrounded the stands of people in the station. Mary attempted to lead John in to the everlasting crowd of people towards the ticket stands.
Finding the ticket booth tended to be hard and tedious, since it nearly took them twenty minutes to reach it. Standing in the ticket booth was a burly, hair covered man, which neither one of them wanted to talk too. Quickly they approached the man and attempted to say, “We are catching the next train to England, where to we go?”
Without caution the man shouted, “Tickets” Cautiously they gave the man their tickets and ran towards the station’s entrance to train number 5.
“Train #5 is ready for departure!” Shouted the conductor! Mary and John quickly jumped onto the train and next thing they knew it was leaving stormy France, to a world that neither of them knew.
Five Hours Later
After much anticipated five hours on the train, they arrived. They arrived. Oh, how the sound of those very words filled the air around them. Stepping off the train, for them seemed to take forever, since the strain on their legs took them longer than expected. After arriving, Mary pulled out a square piece of paper out of her pocket, looked at it and then put it back into her pocket. “Well, John I guess our hotel is near here shouldn’t be much of a walk. The headmaster added on this note that he had researched that the chair belonged to a collector who owns a ship just down from us.
Why don’t we hit the shop first and then walk to the hotel, we can cover twice as much ground sooner!” After they both agreed, they started the walk down the sunny streets of
London England.
Much unlike France, the roads were pleasant and neither of them had much trouble walking down the pebbled roads. About half the way down the road, the duet

Students Name 5
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 approached a small antique store on the ground floor of a department store. Opening the door rand a sweet sounding bell, as a queer man asked “Welcome, how may I help you?”
Quickly Mary answered for John, and they were both directed to a corner lit dimly by kerosene lamps. There in the corner sat the first chair, soon they would know the whereabouts to the second chair and so on. If their luck ran like this all the chairs would be found effortlessly, and quickly.
John asked if he could look at the chair, so politely that the man could only smile and rely ‘Yes!’ John thanked the kind man quickly, bowed down pressed his face to the musty smelling rug and began working to fit the key into the golden chair. Unlike the first time the chair did not float up into the sky, but instead a drawer much like the first opened up, and out popped another key accompanying the same message they had received in France, except the riddle read: Travel north to the land of snow. Think of places where people may not go. This land is the land of ice: or called Iceland, will you slip or will you fall?
The answer was clear. They would travel to Iceland. Mary’s face swelled with excitement when she read out the second clue, John’s face showed an equal expression to
Mary’s first. Quietly John and Mary tried to contain themselves, but no matter how hard they tried, it was impossible and soon the storekeeper was entertaining them, but also asking them what was so funny. Their responses were quite vague, as they left the shop and neither of them gave him another thought.

Walking out of the store, into the street both of them giggled the all the way to the hotel, and neither of them were silent until they stepped into the hotel. Sitting at the very front of the Hotel desk was none other than a snooty clerk who merely asked them for their name, and then continued to ignore them. Rushing up the stairs to the room swiftly, with great speed and agile tended to be quite a tiring errand, so ending their trip in the room they sat down just to relax. At that time and point T.V had not yet been invented: only to come many years after both of their lives but for entertainment they played
Solitaire and other ancient card games. The night of relaxation seemed as if it traveled quite quickly, and rather unnoticeably, since the both of them were asleep and not making a single noise until the morning when they abruptly woke up at 6 o’clock to catch their plane.
The next morning proved to be sunny and cheerful as any other day in England would have been. All around, already people were jumping into buggies and lashing horses to carry them to the much-loathed place called “work.” Sure enough at 6:30 John and Mary joined the vast crowds, only to find the much-needed source of transportation hard to come by. Eventually the time grew to 6:45, and with the plane leaving at 7 o’clock Mary and John desperately tried to find an available buggy, for the short trip to the airport. In front of them, just as it had been described was the London International
Airport. Huge marbled statues lay as if they were giant pillars in front of the doors, but surprisingly finding their way around managed quite easily. As it turns out, the next

Students Name 6
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 flight to Iceland was boarding, and quietly John and Mary loaded their possessions onto the baggage rack, hoping/ wishing that nothing would harm the important contents of their luggage. Being a smart boy, naturally John didn’t trust many people and safely tucked the key in the pocket of his thread barren jacket for the long journey ahead.
For John, flying on a plane was like second nature. John, when he was a baby traveled all over Europe and had not a single slight problem with approaching the plane.
On the other hand there was Mary. Scared, and barely moving there was Mary, trying to cling herself onto the wall of the jeep. “Relax Mary! It’s just a plane. When you get on it, just close your eyes and everything will be okay!” John comforted.
“I just don’t like flying! I have been on a plane before. If I survived then, then I will certainly survive now.”
“That’s the spirit! Let’s get on the plane and enjoy the rest of the ride!”
Up in the air the plane went forward, as it grew closer and closer to its destination.
After about three hours of flying they reached Iceland and came one step closer to the second chair. Stepping out of the plane for most people was a natural disaster, since almost everybody was slipping and sliding on the glossed, rocks. Everywhere there was ice and it took about twenty minutes to finally reach the point where they could maneuver themselves into the airport and out into the busy streets.
Reykjavik was a stormy place, and much reminded the both of them about France.
If I were them, I would to be looking up at the clouds instead of looking for a golden chair. Unlike England, there wasn’t many different hotels and neither of them knew which way to turn until Mary heard somebody calling her name, and what a surprise that person was. “Mary, Mary! I’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been?” the stranger seemed to feel quite attached to Mary and she replied knowing exactly who he was.
“Uncle! You’re here! After all this time I haven’t seen you, why am I seeing you now?”
“Well, it’s a long story, one that I wish not to tell you all of, but I have come to help you on your dangerous quest, and I think I know just where to begin to look. First of all, let’s get your baggage to a safe place and some realistic shoes for you two to wear!”
Of course they couldn’t object so soon they were whisked off in a buggy off towards the stormy sea to Mary’s uncle’s cottage, where everything would be nice and warm. The buggy, like any other was brown, and plain. Back then people seemed to be colorblind and that is probably the reason why people would never see a neon pink buggy and horse. Nevertheless the trip was pleasant and soon they were all standing on her uncle’s front porch listening to him jingle the keys in the lock. Soon they were inside, dressed and ready and talking about the quest and the one place, that they would have to search for the second chair and the vital clue to the next.
Hot chocolate filled their eager little mouths, well Mary’s wasn’t little but still after that they talked and finally after twenty five minutes did they decide to start the everlasting search for the second chair. Back into the musty smelling buggy they went,

Students Name 7
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 and trotting down the street their horse went leaving them with the impression that this trip would turn out to last a very long time.
Once in town again the headed to the many different stores in which their new company, Mary’s uncle lead them to. After much frustration and after trailing through what seemed like twenty different stores they found the right one, but unlike England this person would take a little more convincing. A plan was hatched. The uncle would distract the storekeeper and Mary and John would unlock the chair and grab the message and the key. If everything went well they would have the key and be on the plane the next morning. Entering the store they acted like a normal customer would and politely the uncle emerged the rather elderly man into a deep conversation.
Distracting the storekeeper was a tedious task for the uncle, one that he though he was up to, and soon there was whispers of hurry up, and I ‘m almost done! On the other hand it was also hard for John and Mary since there was a number of other customers in the store. Eventually the chair clicked and out came a message, unlike the first chair of the one in France a message didn’t pop out, but a little invitation came out and this stumbled the both of them. They quickly grabbed the key, and ran out the store, almost with out the uncle since he was still conversing with the elderly man. Throwing themselves into the buggy they left the cursing man behind, and the icy streets of
Reykjavik also.
Into the cottage door all of them poured and neatly they all sat down on the couch to listen to the invitation, and to help solve the puzzle. When everybody was ready Mary began to read in such a clear monotone voice, “You are invited to the Invilik Market in
Germany. The next clue is in a place which is treasured to an old person, be careful for he knows are secret too.”
After that, they all knew that they were going to Germany, but to a market, that certainly was weird. Oh, well they decided, they would go to Germany, ask around where the market was and attempt to find the whereabouts to the Third Chair. “Just think. The third chair is within reach and soon we will find it and the rest of the other chairs, one step at a time.”
During that night, sleep didn’t come to any of them easily and too early did the alarm sound to wake them up to trudge back to the airport. Mary this time however ate her breakfast eagerly, to fly on a plane again, and said nothing the whole morning. John too, seemed quite quiet and it was the uncle who broke the wave of silence to announce that it was indeed time to go. The loaded back into the car, just as before and again said nothing for the rest of the trip. Just as before the airport was quite busy, but like England they were on the plane again, to another destination even if they quite weren’t sure where their adventure would take them.
The plane, to everybody’s dismay arrived quite lately and neither of them said a word, like in Iceland as they entered the German airport. Luckily the uncle’s knowledge

Students Name 8
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 of German helped them and soon they were in a buggy riding their way into the empty streets towards a hotel.
Posh restaurants filled the inner streets of Germany and surprisingly their hotel was placed among this and nice, like the restaurants it was. First they happened to bring their bags to the counter and neatly asked for directions to the market, which they would attempt to reach in the morning. For John and Mary all they heard was a jumble of letters and words, trying not to pay much attention. Soon they walked up the stairs to their hotel room, which was none other than room 73, a lucky number that they had acquired, a long time ago back in France. If this number were as lucky as they thought it was, it would lead them to the chair easily and to the final treasure, in the end.
Happily the next morning came, and the sky over Germany was just as cloudy, as a sky could be and soon they entered a posh, neatly decorated restaurant for a rude awakened breakfast. While in such a posh area all they ordered was pancakes and bacon, a delicacy to anyone anywhere. After nicely smurfing down their breakfast they headed in the direction, which the market was believed to sit. The market was in fairly nice condition, much unlike the shack that stood in front of them. Suddenly Mary exclaimed,
“There’s the chair! It’s inside that old shack, but the door’s locked how do we get in?”
The uncle tended to have a logical idea even if it meant vandalizing and, breaking in. Carefully the elderly uncle broke the window with great force and slipped John inside to unlock the chair. John was easily put it, until he shouted, “There’s more than one chair in here, and no wait there’s 3 chairs in here!”
The discovery of the three chairs, led the both of them to believe that the last chair was there, until John tried the key, it fit in one of the chairs but also left a mystery surrounding the others. After receiving the key to the fourth chair, in the third chair, he read a message, which said something about the chair being from Spain. What a surprise that the chair was here, and soon without difficulty he unlocked the fourth chair only to find another message, just like before. Although this time the message read about gallant palaces located in Norway, boy John was glad that he didn’t have to travel back north again. The fifth, chair, as he remembered was in France although he did still have the key to the sixth chair with him. Like a message, a riddle that had been solved the sixth chair opened leaving the final clue to the last chair, and when he read it out he couldn’t believe it and that is truly was deeply shocked them all.
t’s in France!?” John shouted with the greatest amount of disbelief, “After all this time, the final chair was in France!” After reporting this back to the rest of the group, neither of them could speak nor shout until John was lifted out of the shack safely and until he read out the final message.
“ After much searching, which in doubt you must have done, you must feel as if you have succeeded yet without much work or fun. You must be tired so rest awhile, for the last chair is in a place where people sleep, dance and carol in yuletide joy. The last chair is in France just as the fifth, all the suspense filled their very bodies, but yet at the same time, a hate for the fifth chair grew up, since they wouldn’t have had to make all the trips around England, if they had known. After thoroughly discussing this tiresome aspect, all three of them, even John and Mary came to a conclusion; they would search

Students Name 9
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 the church at night to avoid the headmaster at all costs. The trip would start immediately.
The very trip, in which they would break and enter, to steal a possession of the magicians, right under their dear friends noses. At first, it seemed impossible. All seemed as if their dirty scheme wouldn’t work, but it had to after all, the extraordinary chair would cause doom sooner or later, but only if something wasn’t done.
“NOW BOARDING PLANE 2 AT RECEPTION GATE 12!” came a sound from the early morning speakers, projecting at five thirty in the morning. Slowly John, Mary, and Uncle approached boarding gate twelve, on their way to France, to face their numerous troubles that lay ahead of them, in the murky town. Trudging up onto the plane, and finding their sears was the hard part of the journey back, none of them really wanted to face the future challenges, and so the flight crept by quite slowly, slow enough to drive a person crazy. Surprisingly the plane, during the trip entered turbulence, and without a doubt sent all three to the bathroom, to expel bodily fluids from the stomach into the sink. After what seemed like forever, it landed, with a great ease and left all three of them at the airport, just trying to avoid being identified.
Walking back to their homes, John suggested to Mary that she stay at his home, in fact all three of them just to avoid suspicion, and the fact that they had already come home early. Approaching the house, all three of them knocked at the same time, finding no answer at all. They walked in. Found a note on the kitchen cupboards, that quite explained everything and made the “looking for the chair” a lot easier.
“Dear John, we as parents trust that you will eventually find your way home, we hope, to our regret we have gone on a vacation in Spain, along with the Headmaster to discus family matters. If you come home and see this note, both you and Mary are allowed to live hear. Don’t leave us disappointed, after all John, you are still old enough to be punished.”
The note ended, leaving all three of them in laughter. After they had settled themselves down, to talking speed the plan was discussed, and by the end it had been decided that their plan would take place at 12:00 midnight. Slowly the bags were brought in, and supper made, all three of them quickly ate and finally for the first time in a long time settled down for some sleep.
The alarm clock went off, at to be precise 11:45. Leaving the triad not much time for gathering supplies. A flurry of hats and cloaks were put on, and by the end of the evening all three of them had a black hat and a black backpack on their backs. Quietly closing the door, they left into the dark night that waited right in front of them.
Churches, at night, which not many people have visited, tend to be rather spooky, and not always forgiving. Soon all triad, entered the church street and headed to the entrance way, which in stead of going inside, they went around and found an easy entrance: a window. Quickly John was hoisted by the flag pulley, in their backpacks, from Iceland, (uncle had bought it earlier) and tried to break the window carefully watching not to cut himself. After John was stationed inside the building, the other part of the pulley was thrown through the window, so that the other pair could climb inside

Students Name 10
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 also. Up and down, bringing the rest of them in, they lighted a candle, and guided by
Mary, made their way to the Headmaster’s office. Once in the office, Mary picked the lock with her hairpin, and John quickly rushed over to his desk and was astonished at what he found.
A note pressed in flowers and smelled like perfume lay on the headmaster’s desk.
Quickly not telling anybody that he had found a not he read it in his head to himself. The exact words were “Dear Bob (headmaster) I regret that you sent those two on a trip to find the rest of the chairs. Myself I have already collected 4 of them, until they were stolen, and stashed in a hut by a German market. Already I notice that your crew has stolen the keys from these chairs, and should arrive back in France in three days. I have the crew ready, to load away the treasure, but should the kids arrive earlier, you know what to do. I relocated the last chair by the gargoyle in the entranceway. I just hope that that twit John doesn’t reach it before we do. Sincerely Secretor Armando.”
After reading the note, John burst out: “What! Mary, Uncle listen to this!” He read out the note, emphasizing the location to the last chair. After listening to its location final bursts of madness and joy emptied from the rest of their mouths.
“After all this time, it had been in the easiest place to find.” John exclaimed.
“John, remember, that one day when you were hiding from me. Didn’t you notice a chair standing behind the gargoyle?”
“Why yes, Mary I do remember, and now I am certain on how to find the treasure hide it from the headmaster. “
Uncle quickly stated, “How do we do such a thing,” and after that question all three of them found themselves running down the hallway, still trying to be quiet, and when they reached the gargoyle there was no trace of the final chair. John, unable to explain himself, leaned against the gargoyle and suddenly a secret entrance opened into the wall and John couldn’t help himself, but to walk inside. No calls of refrains were uttered when John entered the wall; instead uncle and Mary were awed at the golden chamber, which they suddenly entered. Tapestries of Magicians and Merlin were hung solemnly against the wall, and at the very head of the chamber was the last chair. All three of them ran up to the chair, and when John crouched down and entered the last key, a single message popped out, telling John what he had waited for all this time, the whereabouts of the treasure.
“So, the treasure should be right under this rug.” John muttered to Mary and
Uncle. Quickly, when John bent down he noticed that instead of a key to another entrance, there was a porthole, like what you would see on the windows of boats. Instead of a handle, like most windows had it had a keyhole, and when John entered the key, a door opened and below them mountains and piles of treasure lay. Jumping down into the gold, John was filled with sudden happiness and loathe for the headmaster, which had wanted the treasure for himself. “No.” John thought, “I won’t tell them the location to

Students Name 11
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004 the treasure. Instead Mary, Uncle, and I will live off it and make our lives much more grander.”
Right behind him followed Mary and Uncle, and them too were thinking the very same thoughts as he had before. Without thinking, all three of them started to fill their backpacks with gold, and once that was done, John placed the key in his backpack, and all three of them started to climb out of the chamber, back through the wall, down the hallways and back into the dark, empty streets of Paris.
The next day, proved to be sunny unlike, it was before John and Mary left. When
Uncle stated that morning that he would stay home and guard the treasure from the previous night, neither of them objected, and still continued to go the church just as before. Cheers greeted the both of them, as all their friends hugged and shouted in happiness that Mary and John had returned. After all the celebration had ended, Mary’s headmistress of the nuns, quietly told them, “John, Mary, I haven’t told the children, but the church has run out of money since the headmaster skipped town, and we are afraid that the church will be shut down next week. This is such a happy place full of learning for the little ones, we have so much fun here, what will we do?”
John and Mary, unsurprisingly had the same thought, and without caution left the headmistress standing right in the middle of the hallway in awe as the both of them dashed down the street, and back into John’s house where Uncle was reading a piece of paper: a book quite happy drinking tea. Quickly John grabbed the key, and then he and
Mary dashed right back out the door, briefly telling Uncle that they had the key, and that it was safe with them. Back into the hallway of the church they ran, and quickly pulling the headmistress to the gargoyle, the opened the secret door once again, the mistress just speechless, and the sight of the golden walls. Opening the entrance door to the golden treasure, John explained to the headmistress, and soon tears of joy were escaping from her old, elderly face.
“Children, is this treasure to save the church. If it is bless your open hearts. This will definitely save the church and all the children can continue to use this sanctuary, for peace and love. You both are extremely kind, and we will always remember what good you two have done for the church.”
Over the next three days, both John and Mary helped to load the treasure up into the bags and wagons that we hauled to the bank. And just like the headmistress had said, they were heroes, and everybody looked up to them as if they were gods. At the end of the day, John came home, Mary stayed at the church and both him and uncle shared the house for along time.
Come Christmas time, John received a diary from uncle, that night, and as he sat down to record the events he started the journal just like this: “On an early morning just like any other, the church bells rang, loudly leaving the large city of Paris silent like a grave.”

Students Name 12
Mrs. Thompson
The Seven Chairs: Story Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Aspect
Meaning
- ideas and information
- use of detail
- sense of audience
Style
- clarity, variety, and impact of language
Template: Grade 8 Writing Stories
Not Yet Within Expectations Meets Expectations
Form
- beginning
- development
- ending
- characters
- dialogue
• creates a story around a very simple and direct idea; may be very short, illogical, or retell another work
• little relevant detail and description
• little sense of audience; may include inappropriate material
• little sentence variety; sentences tend to be short and choppy or long and awkward
• language is conversational and may be inappropriate
• beginning does not establish the problem or situation
• weakly connected events without a clear problem or resolution; may be illogical
• characters are identified; description tends to focus on physical traits; dialogue is often omitted or confusing
• relatively simple, concrete story; often predictable, with parts modelled on other works
• some detail and description to develop setting, characters, events, and images
• limited sense of audience; focuses on form rather than impact
• some sentence variety; uses complex sentences, but some problems with subordination
• language is clear, appropriate, and direct; often imprecise
• beginning describes the problem or situation and introduces the main character(s)
• develops through a series of events; the ending may seem forced or unlikely
• characters are described; stereotypic; dialogue may be over or under used
Conventions
- complete sentences
- spelling
- punctuation
- grammar
• frequent errors in simple words and structures
• frequent run-ons or fragments
• errors in basic words and structures are noticeable
• most sentences are complete; may be some run-ons …
Adapted from the BC Performance Standards
Or:
Fully Meets Expectations
• creates a straightforward story; may feature some complexity or originality
• uses detail and description to develop setting, characters, events, and images
• some sense of audience; ideas and language have some impact
• variety of sentences; more complex structures may be awkward
• language is clear, appropriate, and varied
• beginning introduces problem, characters; tries to engage
• generally predictable, believable events with a logical ending
• characters are partly revealed through their words and behaviour; they may be somewhat stereotypic
• errors in more complex language are sometimes noticeable
• follows basic rules for sentences
Exceeds Expectations
• creates a story with some complexity, originality, and creative development
• uses detail and description to develop setting, characters, events, images, themes
• sense of audience; creates an emotional impact or makes a point
• flows smoothly; uses a variety of sentences effectively
• language is varied and often precise; experiments; may
“play” with language
• engaging beginning reveals the story problem and introduces the character(s)
• develops conflict through believable events; ending may be surprising, humorous
• characters have some individuality, revealed by what they do and say
• may include occasional errors where the writer is taking risks with complex language
• most sentences are correct
(errors come from risktaking)
Category
Meaning
- ideas
-details
Style
- clarity, variety, and impact of language
Form: Stories
- beginning, middle, end
- sequence
- characters
- dialogue
Conventions
- complete sentences
- spelling
- punctuation
- grammar:
Not Yet Within Expectations
 often very simple; sometimes illogical
 few details
 simple language; may be inappropriate
 simple and compound sentences; may be run-on
Meets Expectations
 predictable; may be closely modeled on another work limited detail
 conversational language; some variety
 uses two or three sentence patterns
 series of events with no problem or resolution; ends abruptly
 focuses on action; no description of characters
 dialogue is confusing
 frequent errors in simple words and structures
 no control of sentence structure; often has run-ons
 series of related events with a beginning, middle, and end (often weak)
 characters presented through direct description
 dialogue may sound unnatural
 some errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar
 some run-on sentences
Fully Meets Expectations
 straightforward, with some individuality or originality
 supporting details
 varied language; some sensory detail and figurative language
 varies sentences
 problem, develops logically to a believable ending
 described; often stereotypic

 beginning establishes characters are appropriate dialogue may include errors in complex language
 most sentences are correct
Exceeds Expectations
 plausible; some originality, creativity, voice
 “shows” through detail and description
 varied language; sensory detail, figurative language
 flows smoothly with varied sentence structures
 engaging beginning reveals problem; develops through believable events; ending may have a “twist”
 characters have individuality
 effective dialogue
 generally correct; may include occasional errors in complex language
 sentences are correct