Monthly Archives: January 2015

Week 14 – Creative Expression (Short Story)

The Army

At the edge of the forest, there was a cottage.  One spring morning the boy who lived in the cottage with his mother was playing Lego. The only other person in his family besides his mother was his sister, Sally. The boy was named Josh. He had always wanted to have army Lego pieces for his favourite thing was the army. 

One day, after breakfast, he ran up to his room to play with his Lego. He was surprised to find that his Lego had turned into real army men! Right in his room! That is a crazy thing to happen. 

He told his sister and mother, “There’s army men in my room!” 
Mother said, “Oh stop. You’re trying to fool me.” 
Josh cried, “Mother! My Lego really has turned into army men! It has!”
Mother said very sternly, “Go back to your room, Josh.”

Josh cried all the way back to his room.  When he got back to his room, the army men asked him,”Why do you have so much Lego? Do you even fight?”
“No,” said Josh, “I don’t fight in the army.” The army men said, “Then why are you wearing a camouflage shirt and pants and backpack?” Josh said, “Because I like to pretend to be army men.”

Meanwhile, Mother heard all the talking upstairs and thought, “Sally is outside, but I hear a lot of unfamiliar voices upstairs. Maybe Josh was right after all, maybe there are arm men in his bedroom!”  She went upstairs, and sure enough, there they were, standing and talking to Josh. She was so surprised that she just stood there with her mouth open.  

Finally, the army men had to go. Josh was sad to see them go, but he knew that they had a good job to do so he said his goodbyes and they left. After they left, Mother said to Josh, “I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you.” And Josh said, “I forgive you, Mother.”  Then Mother asked, “How did your Lego turn into army men anyway?” “I don’t know,” said Josh, “but I’ll tell you who did it – it was an invisible magician!” This time, Mother believed Josh.

The end.

Week 13 – Make Up a Song

Gabe’s song, to the tune of Happy Birthday

We play Battleship.
It’s the most fun game.
Normally I lose.
And that makes me pout!

Mommy’s song, to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider

We like to play battleship, my brother and I.
Nathan normally wins, and that makes me cry!
Mommy said keep playing and just try harder.
And so I did and blew his ships out of the water.

Week 13 – Story Elaboration

Original story: Pat built a house. The house collapsed.

Pat built a house and it was made of pasta. The pasta was stuck together with glue because he thought that would make it stronger than bricks. He made it in the middle of the forest because he wanted to live where he could see animals. One day Pat was in the house and it fell down. He realized pasta wasn’t very strong, so he decided to get some bricks and build another house out of bricks. That one stayed up forever and Pat saw some animals just like he always wanted to.

Week 12 – Chore Training

It’s mine and my brother’s job to clear the table after we are done eating. First, you bring the dishes off the table (use both hands so that they don’t drop and break) and put them on the counter beside the sink. Don’t forget to bring the glasses, too! If there is siracha or ketchup bottles you don’t put them on the counter but put them back where they go, even mustard and relish. The placemats are wiped with a cloth, then after they are dry you put them away in their drawer. It would be silly to put them in the dishwasher! Clearing the table is a hard job if you are sour, but it’s easy if you’re sweet. So please do it sweetly.