Master Lox Returns

It was a horrible sight. Fires flashed. Money was lost.
Master Lox and his henchment destroyed the portals.

The only one who escaped was one Funkey, Scratches, who had the power of music. He managed to escape through a portal before it was
destroyed.

At the other side, was Kelpy Basin. He was looking for his relative,
Twing. When he got to her home, the door was broken.

There was a note. "We took Twing. Sincerely, Master Lox.
(P.S. Funkey Island)" Then, Scratches knew what he had to do.

He went to visit his friend, Glubs. He asked him to take him to
Funkey Island so he could save Twing.

When he got to the island, it was heavily guarded. He used the power of music to defeat the guards.

He traveled through forests and over hills till he found a castle made of
crystal. When he found the entrance, it was locked. All of a sudden,
a laser killed Scratches and somebody threw Twing's body over the castle
walls.

The End.

This epic poem was dictated and written by Alex Foyt, and not edited by anybody.

It was inspired by Funkeys and by the epic poem of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh tried to get eternal life, but instead, returned to his town as a wiser man. In a way, Gilgamesh is immortal because his name was written on the city walls.

Bibliography:

The Story of Gilgamesh, The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition (Story ... the World: History for the Classical Child)ISBN: 1933339004ISBN-13: 9781933339009

Gilgamesh and the Quest for Immortality, Susan Gundlach, Mesopotamia - The Land of Firsts, Calliope: Exploring World History, October 2006, Vol. 17, No. 2.

Mesopotamia Stuff

Mesopotamia is the land between two rivers, the Tigris River and the Euphrates River. Now, you can find Iraq - the place where they are fighting over car gas and religious reasons - over there.

In ancient Mesopotamia, there was a load of fighting. We know of their fighting, because of their cuneiform writing. They seiged other cities. They rode in chariots. They had bows and arrows. Scribes told about ancient Mesopotamians who were advanced for their time.

We also know something about the ancient Mesopotamians because of huge scuptures of the Lamassus. The Lamassus has the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. It guards palace gates. All together, this massive scupture is so strong that it can guard palace gates from evil spirits.

Ancient Mesopotamians were an advanced, and interesting, civilization.

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!