Battle of the Paragraphs

Alex had to write a simple paragraph on any topic that he chose. Just one measly, little paragraph.

Well, the smart-aleck decided that he would keep it as easy as possible. He wrote the following:

I Collect Stuff

I collect stuffed Pokémon. I collect Pokémon cards. I collect plastic Pokémon. I collect a lot of stuff.

If this had been the first time that he turned in a list instead of a paragraph, I might have let him slide. It wasn't , but I was determined that it would be the last.

I tried to explain the difference between a list and a paragraph, but he didn't want to get it.

Alex argued that he had a main idea, three detail sentences, and a conclusion. He thought that was a fine paragraph.

Instead of arguing, I decided to whip up my own paragraph:

Collecting Books

I love to collect books. I started collecting books when I was just 8 years old. My first book was a Clifford book that I picked up for 25 cents at a school book fair. Now, my house is full of books. I have so many books I can’t keep track of them, and sometimes I end up buying duplicates. The reason that I collect books is that I like having all those stories around me. Sometimes, I sort of remember a story but I can’t remember the details. With my book collection, I can always look for that book and remember the story. Someday, I hope my kids love books as much as I do and that they have a special book collection.

After just a bit of argument, with threats of FunKey denial and promises of a Battle of the Paragraph Blog Post, Alex rewrote his paragraph:

Collecting Pokémon

I like collecting Pokémon stuff. I like collecting things such as cards, plush and plastic Pokémon. Collecting cards is fun because I like to trade and battle with them against my friends. I like collecting plush Pokémon because it's fun to play with them like I'm a human vending machine. If I have enough plastic Pokémon, I put them into two teams and have war with them. That's a fun game. Playing with all my Pokémon items is always spontaneous fun.

Wow! What a difference! His last paragraph is so much more interesting.

We are cross-posting this on both of our blogs: On Living By Learning and Alex and Leperdy's Learning Adventures.

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Earth Day

Today is Earth Day! Today is a good day to remember to keep Earth in good condition. Remember there is only one Earth, so help fix it.

Here are some earth-ilicious sites:

Earth Day Brain Pop - Here are some quizes on how to keep the Earth safe.

More links to crafts and coloring pages on Kaboose: Earth Day.

Stuff That Happened in Dragon Rider

Dragon Rider, by Cornelia Funke, was the second best book that I ever read.

The book is really, really, really good.

The book is set all over the world. Ben, Sorrel, Fire Drake, and a character they meet on the way - Twigleg, are traveling to a mythical place, called the Rim of Heaven, in the Himalayas.

They encounter mythical and fantastic creatures on the way, and make new friends. But, somebody wants to ruin it all, Nettlebrand.

Dragon Rider Links:

Scholastic: Dragon Rider - Chat with Cornelia Funk

Don't Be Greedy

My mom read a story to me called The Story of the Blind Baba-Abdalla from The Arabian Nights Entertainments edited by Andrew Lang.

Here are some of the words from this story that I looked up in a dictionary:

Covet - To envy or to wish to have very much.

Avarice - Extreme greed for wealth.

Reproach - Address someone with disapproval.

Anoint - Smear or rub with oil.

Alms - Money or goods given in charity.

In this story we find the following phrases:

'the more one has, the more one wants' and

'Remember riches sometimes have wings if we keep them for ourselves, and the poor are at our gates expressly that we may help them.'

What do these phases mean?

In this story, there was a man named Baba-Abdalla who was so greedy that when he found an old man who told him about a palace full of riches he kept on asking for more and more, instead of sharing, that it backfired because he ended up blind.

The story means that you should never be greedy and you should always share.

Fun Things

Here are some fun thing. Playing Gameboy is fun. Playing with Auntie is fun. Saturday is the funnest day of the week. Summer vacation is fun. There is a lot of fun stuff in the world!