GIFT Stories: LEGO Class

For the last part of the year I did a LEGO class at our new co-op, GIFT. I made a LEGO book and on the last day we had a party for LEGO birthday! I can not wait to tell you about it!

On my first day, I made Peter, Paula and a pirate. On my next week I made Light-Fingered Larry. At home, I made Shy Simon’s Strange Adventure. Then I made my cover. I made some more  stories at home:  Newspaper Clipping: The New Park, Alex the Cook, Benjamin Franklin and the Lightning Rod, Paul’s Christmas in Utah, All about the Moon, and The Sea  Anemone and the Clown Fish. I had to put my stories in order, and I did free builds on the next week. And on my final week – you guessed it – we had the party for LEGO birthday!

At this party I could sit wherever I wanted and we played LEGO BINGO first! Although I did not win, I got a prize, a minifig! I got number seven. I tried to trade for number 11 but the owner did not want to trade.

 After LEGO BINGO, we had cake! The slices of cake were square, with mints in each corner, making it look like a LEGO! After we ate our LEGOs, we played LEGO BINGO again. I won this time! The prize was a lollipop. Once again, everyone got a prize. Then class was over. LEGO class was fun! Here are my stories and LEGO creations!

Peter, Paula, and a Pirate

Once upon a time, there was a boy, a girl, and a dog. Peter and Paula are friends, and Salty is Paula’s light brown watch dog. Peter has light brown hair, and Paula has dark brown hair.

Peter, Paula, and Salty were in a row boat on a sunny day. On their adventure out west, they were looking for land that no one had discovered before. Finally, they found land.

“Land, Paula!” said Peter. Paula steered the boat toward the sandy shore. They saw a tall building and walked quickly toward it.

A pirate was watching, but they did not see. The pirate was hiding behind a tree.

When Peter, Paula, and Salty got close, the pirate jumped out from behind the tree.

“My name is Max,” he snarled. “And I will take you to my dungeon!”

He grabbed Peter and Paula by the arms and dragged them inside. Salty followed, barking.

Max carried Peter and Paula to a dark room with no furniture.

He let go of them, grabbed some chains from a shelf, and wrapped the chains around Peter and Paula. Then he left the room.

“What are we going to do?” asked Peter.

“I don’t know, “ said Paula. “But wait! Salty is not tied up! I have an idea!”

“Yay! What is your idea?” asked Peter.

“First, I need Salty to come to the archway. Salty, come here!” Paula whispered.

Salty kept on barking.

“Come here, Salty,” said Paula a little bit louder.

This time Salty calmed down and walked over to the archway.

“Salty, go bark at Max!” whispered Paula.

When Salty barked at Max, Max growled, “Go away!”

Salty barked louder. This time, Max came down from his lookout.

“I said, GO AWAY!” he repeated.

Salty came closer.

“My plan is working!” whispered Paula excitedly.

“Alright, alright!” said Max. “I’ll release the two brats if they stay in my house. I do not want people wandering around on my island!”

He walked into the dungeon, and pulled the chains off of Peter and Paula.

“I’ll release you if you promise to stay in my house.” Max said.

He led Peter and Paula out of the dungeon and in to another room. “This is where you will be staying,” he said.

Max left the room. Right before he closed the door, Salty ran in excitedly. He barked short happy barks, while Max closed and locked the door.

The room was a small room, with a few couches and windows.

“How will we escape?” asked Paula. “My plan is not working like I thought.”

“Wait,” said Peter. “Now I have an idea! Are the windows locked?”

There were three windows in the room.

“I’ll try this one,” said Paula, running to a window.

“I’ll try that one,” said Peter, running to another.

“Mine is locked, “said Peter, disappointedly.

“Mine too,” said Paula sadly.

“There is one more to try!” said Peter.

Peter ran to the last window, but it was locked as well.

Salty barked excitedly.

Peter and Paula were confused. Why would Salty be happy? He tried to wiggle blocks on the floor and tried to remove them. Peter and Paula rushed over to help. When they removed a block, they saw a secret trap door with a map drawn on top. The map showed that the secret passage led to the outside!

Peter and Paula opened up the trap door. There was a ladder leading down.

“I’ll go first,” said Peter.

Peter went down first and Paula followed. Then Salty jumped down too. He landed beside Peter.

The dark secret passage only had a little bit of light from the room above and in the distance. The passage went straight for a bit. Then there was another ladder leading up.

This time Paula went up the ladder first. Peter followed carrying Salty.

They saw their boat when they reached the top. They ran towards it.

They jumped on the boat and paddled home quickly. Peter and Paula decided to never go on an adventure west again!

Meanwhile, Max realized that he forgot to lock the trap door. . . .

Light-Fingered Larry

Light-Fingered Larry was at his window, looking at his neighbor Miss Scuttle’s house. He had a plan — a secret plan.

He went outside and broke a window of his neighbor’s house, grabbed some China dishes from a shelf, jumped out the window, and ran home as fast as he could. When he entered his house, he put the dishes on a shelf and went to bed.

That morning, while Larry was eating breakfast, he heard a knock on the door. Two policemen came in. One was short and the other was tall.

“Hello,” said the tall policeman. “Your neighbor, Miss Scuttle, saw you taking her dishes last night,” he said, while the short policeman put handcuffs on Larry.

“I did not steal the dishes,” stammered Larry.

“We will take you to jail until we have proof,” said the short policeman.

The policemen led Larry out to the dark blue jail truck. There was a front and a back. The front had two seats, a driver’s seat and a front passenger seat. The back was a big rectangle that could hold two people. It had no chairs and bars for windows.

Light-fingered Larry was pushed in to the back of the jail truck. Before long, he was wrapped up in chains and had a bar across his legs because the jail did not have enough chains for all those prisoners.

Luckily, Larry had brought his phone. He called his friend, Bob. Bob was eager to help the prisoner escape.

That night, while all the policemen were sleeping, Bob snuck into the prisoner room, snapped the bar off of Larry, pulled the chains off of all the other prisoners, led them all out of the prisoner room, and led them out of the station, even though they all knew the way.

The prisoners, Larry, and Bob darted off in every direction, heading for home.

That morning, Larry was almost, just almost arrested again. He insisted on not being arrested, so he decided to give back the dishes instead. The other prisoners did not want to go back to jail either so they gave back what they stole too.

Newspaper Clipping: The New Park

The park in Mayville is a nice place to play. It has a big parking lot and chairs for people to sit on as they watch the kids. You come in at an arch, grab a ball if you want, and run around and play on the green grass.

But, a few mornings ago, we found that a chair was missing from the park. The police had a lot of questions. Who did it? Why did they do it? How did they steal it? The chairs are heavy!

A chair went missing every night for three nights. Last night, when there were only five chairs left, the police decided to send out spies to capture the thief.

At the park, the spies looked around and eventually fell asleep on the grass. They were awoken by the sound of a board blocking the archway, clattering to the ground.

Finally, the thief was caught! The thief was Larry!

At the police station, the police asked the questions. They found out that Larry had done it because he needed more chairs for his table at home, and he got them out with his helpers. His helpers were hidden when the police left, so the police did not see them.

Since the chairs were not that expensive, Larry did not have to go to jail if he promised to return them. Larry decided to return them and buy different chairs.

The police are glad that the thief is caught, and Mayville park is back to normal.

Alex the Cook

Alex is a cook and a waiter at Alex’s Place, the restaurant he owns. He likes to cook everything!

One day, a young woman came into the restaurant. She went in to the bakery, connected to the restaurant. After a few minutes, she came back out with a loaf of bread and sat at a table.

Alex walked over to the woman.

“What would you like?” Alex asked.

“I would like a cup of fruit punch and fish,” she responded.

“OK,” said Alex. He went into the kitchen. He juiced the fruit and mixed all the juices together. He took it to the woman.

“Here you go,” said Alex. “I will have the fish shortly.”

“Thank you!” replied the woman.

Alex went back into the kitchen. He took the raw fish out of the fridge. He seasonings on it and popped it in the oven. He put the timer on and watched at the door of the kitchen for more customer. Soon the timer went out. He went back in to the kitchen, took out the fish, and brought it to the woman.

“Thank you,” said the woman. She took a bite. “This is good!”

“You’re welcome,” said Alex. Alex went back in to the kitchen and watched for more customers.

When the woman was finished, she walked over to the counter that was connected to the kitchen to pay. After she paid, Alex asked, “Thank you for coming!”

“Bye,” said the woman.

And that is story of how Alex met Dorothy, his future wife!

Shy Simon’s Strange Adventure

Shy Simon was running. He was running home from school. It was his birthday tomorrow and he could not wait for his party tonight!

Later, at the party, Simon opened his first present, from his friend William. It was a skateboard.

“This is what I have always wanted!” said Simon with delight. “Thank you.”

After Simon opened up other presents, he practiced on his skateboard. His friends watched behind him. He rode off the sidewalk and ran straight in to the tree. Simon felt embarrassed!

“It’s okay,” said William. “Practice and you will do better!”

“I’ll take your advice,” said Simon.

The next morning, Simon decided to go practice at the park. He decided to go early because he was not good at skateboarding and he did not want people to see him. But the park was full of people. Shy Simon was confused and surprised. Why were there so many people at the park so early in the morning?

Sam decided to try skateboarding anyway, but when he put down his skateboard and tried to skate, he ran off the sidewalk and ran face to face with a someone that did not look like a person. The thing had three eyes and a horn on the top of his head, and he was green all over. He was wearing a glass helmet and white clothes. Simon thought for a second and knew exactly what it was! It was an alien!

“Hi,” said the alien in a voice that sounded like a robot. “Are you shy? Are you not good at skateboarding?”

“Yes,” said Simon in a small voice. “Yes to both.”

“Then follow me,” said the alien. “My name is Joe.”

Simon knew that the alien would help him, so he followed, carrying his skateboard.

“Where are we going, Joe?” asked Simon.

“You will see,” answered Joe.

“We are going off the path,” said Simon.

“I know,” said Joe.

Before long, they got to another path, an intersection. There was a path going left and right and a path going straight. They went on the path going straight. They walked for a long time and then came to another intersection. They turned right. Before long, everything turned black. Everything around Simon and Joe was black. Even the cave up ahead and the row of trees on the right were black.

“Whoa! Why is everything black? Why is even the cave black?” Simon wondered aloud.

“Because it is scaring everyone who comes,” said Joe.

Inside the cave, there was a spaceship, a very small spaceship, and a plate that was spinning around and around. But this was not any ordinary plate. It was a huge plate, big enough for two people to stand on.

“Step on this plate,” said Joe.

Joe and Simon stepped on to the plate and started spinning around and around. While they were spinning, everything seemed to get bigger and bigger and bigger!

But to Simon, Joe did not get smaller and Joe did not get bigger. Simon only thought they were staying the same size. He thought everything around them was getting bigger.  But he was wrong. They were both getting smaller and smaller.

When the spinning finally stopped, they were very small and now the tiny spaceship looked like the size of an ordinary spaceship. They got off the plate and got inside the spaceship.

Before long, they were shooting off in to space. They circled around the earth and landed in another cave. Simon thought they were back where they started. They got on to another spinning plate, going the other direction.

Everything around them started to get smaller and smaller. They were getting bigger! Finally, they were their own size. They stepped off the plate and headed out. Now Simon knew they were not at the same cave because everything was blue!

Simon must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was outside, back at the park. Joe was nowhere to be seen. Simon knew how to skateboard and he did not feel very shy. So he jumped on his skateboard and he was great!

“”Hi, Simon!”

Simon looked around. William was sitting on a nearby bench.

“I told you that you just needed to practice!” said William. “You’re doing great!”

When he got home, he asked his mom why there were so many people at the park.

That was a question even Mom did not know.

Then, he asked his Dad the same question.

“A cave appeared in the park,” said Dad. “People are coming to see the cave today. People might have wanted to see it early, so they all went early.”

Simon thought that people were still looking for the cave when he arrived at the cave. He smiled. He knew what the cave was for, and he knew that the good part about this day was that he was not shy anymore and that he knew how to skate.

The next day, another cave was reported found in Wisconsin….

Benjamin Franklin and the Lighting Rod

Have you ever wondered why your house does not catch on fire during a thunderstorm?

You have?

Well, I will tell you why in the following poem:

 

Old Ben Franklin had a farm.
On this farm, there was a barn.
And in the barn, there were three things:
A kite and a string and a key.

He put the key on the string and the string on the kite.
Then he went outside during a storm.
He flew the kite ‘til the lightning struck
Down the string and made a spark on the key.

Ben did experiments, and invented a rod.
It was taller than a house.
He stuck it on his house and called it the lightning rod.
He called it a lightning rod.

 Lightning strikes the rod,
Goes down the rod to the ground.
And that is that is how the lightning rod works.
And that is how the lightning rod works.

Not all of this poem might be true. Ben might not have had a farm, and if he did have a farm, he would keep the three things he mentioned in his house. But he did invent the lightning rod and we still use them!

Ben invented more things! Some of them are listed below:

• the sanitation department
• the fire department
• public lending library
• bifocal lenses
• and more!

If you want to see all of them, read Now and Ben!

Paul’s Christmas in Utah

“Hurry up!” said Paul impatiently, standing by the door of the hotel room.

Paul and his family were going to Utah. This was the second day out.  Later, after a yummy hotel breakfast of waffles and Fruit Loops, Paul got into the car. He read his surprise books and played with his surprise games. Later in the car, Paul’s mom gave him another surprise game. Paul opened it. It was a spy kit! There were four colored pencils (colored red, orange, purple, and blue), a pad of paper, and a decoder. Paul tried out the kit and before long he knew how it worked. Paul did messages with Mom and played with it. He played with more surprise games and more surprise books.

Finally, they got to Grandma’s house!

One Saturday, all of Paul’s cousins came over. They played lots of games. One game was called Fishing Pond. Everyone got to “fish” for a prize. Paul got another LEGO train. When he collected three of the LEGO train sets, he could put them all together.

One night, Paul could not sleep. That night was Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning, Paul woke up and opened up his presents from his family and also his stocking. Mom ate her Christmas cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Dad had Cinnamon Toast Crunch too. Mom also got a free Mega Blocks car in the cereal box.

Paul ate some of his sister Caroline’s Fruit Loops and some of his own Lucky Charms. Caroline had the same. After breakfast, they went to the living room and opened up something from Grandma and Grandpa. Paul got more LEGOs (a fire truck, a burning house, and an RV), and he also got a bookmark and a Curious George’s Five Minute Stories. Caroline got a dog with hair to comb and a doll and, of course, a bookmark.

Later, Paul went with Grandma and Grandpa to the cousins’ houses with the cousins’ presents.

The first house was Mason’s house. Paul played with Levi and Mason. On the Fishing Pond day, Paul had given Levi a Magic 8 Ball. He played with it. Levi had also gotten for Christmas a Twenty Questions ball so they played with that too! Mason got a Batman transformer. Paul played with that too. He wasn’t overly exited about the Batman character, though.

At the other house, Paul played with Josh. They played pirates and they played with the snowball shooter! They also played with a remote control plane. That family came over to Grandma’s house and they all played with the LEGOs.

Paul liked to be at Grandma’s house. It was so much fun!

All about the Moon

The moon is Earth’s neighbor. It is also a satellite for the Earth, which means that it orbits the Earth.

The moon is 238,868 miles from us. You can only see the moon when the Earth is tilted toward it and the sun is shining at the moon. From the Earth, the moon doesn’t always look the same. This is because of moon phases. Moon phases are light reflecting from the sun on to the moon. What we see of the moon changes during the month because the moon is rotating around the Earth so the light from the sun shines on it differently. From the Earth, this looks like the moon is changing sizes and shapes.

People can not live on the moon because there is only a little bit of water and because there is no oxygen on the moon. Apollo 11 first visited the moon in 1969. Then, people walked on the moon. They had to have lots of equipment. On the moon, there is a dust that smells like gun powder. There are craters on the moon. The moon looks white but it is gray. The moon is the only part of the solar system people have visited.

 The moon is important because the moon’s gravity pulls water on the earth and makes tides. The moon only has a little bit of gravity but it is still strong enough to reach the waters on Earth.

Sources:

• “What Do We Know about the Moon?” Lots of Science Library Book #8. A Great Earth Science Study.
• “The Moon,” pages 106-107. Usborne Illustrated Science Dictionary. Sarah Khan and Dr. Lisa Jane Gillespie.
• Earth and Space, pages 58-61. Volume 1: Explore and Learn. Southwestern Publishing.

The Sea Anemone and the Clown Fish

Sea anemones are Cnidarians, water animals without a backbone that have stinging cells to capture prey.

They live all over the world and in shallow water attached to rocks, often found in coral reefs. A sea anemone has stinging tentacles that capture small animals for food and sweep it into the mouth. Anemone food, waste (poop), and babies all use the mouth because there is only one opening!

Clown fish live in sea anemones and trick other fish in to being anemone food. Clown fish do not get stung by the anemone because they are covered in mucus. The anemone likes the clown fish because the clown fish gives it food. The clown fish likes the anemone because the anemone gives it shelter.