Persuasive Paragraph

MS's assignment in his Grammar Ace workbook today was to write a persuasive paragraph about one of his parents. In spite of much campaigning and flashing of dazzling smiles by his maternal unit, he chose to write about his father.

My dad is the greatest dad in the whole world, for a lot of reasons. For example, he’s always there to help me. And we’ve gone on lots of fun trips, like to Wadi Dana, or to the Dead Sea Spa with the huge waterslide. He’s always willing to play Wii with me, and, as a matter of fact, he would rather play games with me than go to work.

Movin' on up!

MS received his Taekwondo green belt on Sunday. His thoughts:

Well, the greenbelt test wasn't much of a challenge. It was just a list of moves (about ten) that I had to memorize. My score was 6/10. Since the test (before getting the results), I've been sparring with greenbelts, which I believe to be part of the test.

Room-Cleaning Robot

(example photo; not actual robot)

MS's Language Arts assignment a couple of weeks ago was to state a problem and develop an invention that solved the problem. The second week, he was to do a brain- or cluster-map, which was a free-flow of his ideas with words and/or drawings related to his invention/solution. He then wrote out his solution from the prewriting.

Here’s the problem: to clean a room takes a really long time. The solution is to build a good robot that can clean rooms. If everything goes well, I’ll have a robot that gets more work accomplished and does the job in half the time a person can!

Of course, there are cons to this dream machine too: people will lose jobs and get less exercise (Although, the robot could remind people to exercise, and people could get jobs fixing the robot
The robot can do so much more than cleaning rooms, though. If it works well, the robot can work in garages, fix things; clean other places, just about anything!

My plan for the robot is that wires take information from the programming disk inserted to command central to different parts of the robot.

The outside will be lightweight and durable, and a “Job Done” light will flash when the job is completed. The robot also has small wheels on its feet that let it scoot quickly around the work area. The grabbers on its hands let it grip any kind of tool. Rubber on the robots arms and neck allows it to stretch.

All in all, the robot is a highly advanced and useful machine that, if invented, will help many people, and could be useful now and in the future.

Venn Diagram: Kit and Ruthie

MS's writing assignment last week was a Venn Diagram and then a Comparison/Contrast paper based on the prewriting in the diagram. All three older kids have been very taken with the American Girl books lately (don't worry, the boys are reading baseball and astronaut hero books to balance it out :-), so MS chose to compare and contrast two characters from one of the series.



Two kids that are so different, yet so the same.
Kit and Ruthie are the main characters for the Kit books in the American Girl series. Kit’s favorite book is Robin Hood, while Ruthie would prefer a fairytale any day. Kit likes to play catch or read on summer days, whereas Ruthie would do anything involving princesses. Kit admires Amelia Earhart, and Ruthie likes any princess character.
In many ways they are different, but in any situation, they are always there to help each other, and they don’t need to talk, because many times they just sit and think.

Fantasy Wars

Introduction


A dark villain known as Shracath, who has been hidden for years, finally emerges, attacks, and destroys a nearby town. Having heard about the attack, a young hero gets his sword, puts on his armor, and rides out on his horse into the dark night.
His name? Palono.
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Riding fast on the dangerous road to Shracath’s castle, which he built on the ruins of the village, Palono is almost thrown off his horse when an unseen beast in front of him makes a deafening roar. The beast lunges, but Palono is an expert fighter and leaps above the monsters arm, defeating him easily. Then, he gets back on his horse.
An arrow whizzes over his head, and another one, which he barely dodges. He turns, and sees some archer knights who work for Shracath. He rides fast, through a gorge, turning to shoot at the archers with his own bow every once in a while.
Finally, he makes it to the bridge to Shracath’s castle. A knight is at each corner of the bridge, plus two at the entrance. Palono is hidden from their sight, so he manages to shoot the first two soldiers, but that alerts the other four.
Palono defeats the next two by giving them a double slash and knocking them off the bridge. The third one he defeats by leaping above him and slashing him; he then defeats the other with a full slash around.
Upon entering the castle, Palono sights Shracath, who quickly swings his sword, knocking Palono down. He then runs up to the roof. Palono swiftly follows, beginning a fierce sword battle.
Soon, Shracath is forced to leap onto a balcony further down; Palono follows, using a rope. There, Palono attacks the momentarily stunned Shracath and quickly gains the upper hand. Palono then knocks Shracath into the pit, and he screams his rage all the way down.
When Palono returns home, he will be a hero.

Descriptive Words

A black and white skunk looks ugly, small and mean. It has a tail that squirts out a really stinky, smelly substance. I think its taste is really…well, I don’t know. I’ve never tasted a skunk. It stamps its feet, which sounds like a thump. I like what it feels like, though. It feels soft and furry. But of all the things I hate about a skunk, its smell is the thing I hate most.

The End

How to Make Applesauce

MS's Language Arts assignment this week was to write a set of directions. He thought about "How to Win Lego Star Wars for Wii," but he hasn't yet (although he's trying...), and he said it would take too long, so he settled for "How to Make Applesauce," which he can do from start to finish.

The first thing you do to make applesauce is to buy two kilos of apples at a local fruit store. Then, you wash them, and you get out your apple peeler corer slicer. And, of course, you core and slice them (we don’t peel them, because it’s healthier).
Afterwards, you put them in the crockpot and add cinnamon. Leave them in the crockpot for 6-8 hours on high. If you want to make it smoother, use a hand blender.
Finally, you enjoy them for breakfast or in recipes. I would suggest eating it for breakfast with yoghurt on top, or in muffins.

When he e-mailed me his final draft to post for him, MS commented that this is the quickest he's ever completed a Language Arts assignment, including edits. :-)