Books of the Bible

Trinity and Kyler have learned the books of the Bible this term.  They can often be found reciting them, like a song,  around the house.

Trinity's stories.

Trinity wrote this using Microsoft Word.  While she was working on her story writing technique, she learned how to use 'spell check' and how to use the correct spacing when using a word processing program.

The Last of the King Unicorns 

Once upon a time there was a boy named James. He was almost 11 years old and he lived with his mom and dad.   He just moved from his old house in Minnesota to have a better life.

His new town was called Coppersville.  He just started grade six.  James only had one friend from school and her name was Penny.

Penny was a smart girl. She had an active imagination.  Sometimes at recess they would be captured by pirates or lost in the jungle. Once they were archeologists that found a lost temple filled with buried treasure. Once they were riding dragons.

James’ birthday was coming up in two day.  His parents had nothing to give him because they were too busy unpacking to go shopping.  They were bringing some furniture up to the attic when they found an old rocking horse.  What was weird about it was that it was addressed to them.  The rocking horse was big and old and covered with cobwebs. It looked amazing so his dad polished it up a bit.

He invited Penny over for his birthday.  They had homemade cake with blue frosting and ice cream.  Then he opened his present.  James loved it!  They played with his rocking horse all day and made a little stable for it.  They fed it some weeds and James called it Rockster. 

After that Penny went home to ask her mother if she could stay over at James’ house. 

Penny’s mother said, “yes, you can if it’s ok with James’ mother.”

 

“Yeah!! Thanks Mom,” said Penny. Penny ran back to ask if she could stay. James’ mother said, “ why not, ” so Penny ran back to her house to get her things and to tell her mom that she was going. “Ok, make sure you have a extra pair of pajamas, ” said mom. 

That night they had pasta for dinner and cake for dessert with ice cream.  They also had fudge and some mini cookies.   Then they watched a movie that was called Sonic Universe.  After the movie was over they got their pajamas on and brushed their teeth. Then it was time to go to bed. Penny put her mat on the floor and laid down.

James’ mother came in to say good night and to say their prayers. They went to sleep.   In the middle of the night James was awakened from a sound. It still sounded far away.  All of a sudden the window opened and bursts of light were coming out of it. A fairy appeared on his bed. It was a girl.  She was four feet tall with sparkling wings and a pretty dress.  “Am I in the right house?” said the fairy. “Is this James’ house?”   James nodded his head. “Yes,” said James.  “This is my house.”  “Good,” said the fairy. “I have a gift for your rocking horse.”   “ Come on,” said the fairy. A little neigh came from the walk-in closet. “Oh, there you are. I have been looking for you,” said the fairy. “ Here, its for you.”  She waved her magic wand and Rockster   had wings, a horn and magic hooves. They sparkled in the sunshine. All he had to do to make his wish come true was stomp his hoof. “Cool,” said James. “Now there is little time.  You must come to the land of the unicorns.  The king has seen great danger in his crystal ball.  We have time to pack at least.

“ James, why don’t you wake up Penny,” said the fairy.  “Ok,” said James. He walked over to her and gave her a little shake. “ Huh?” said Penny. “Shh!” said James, “sneak into the kitchen and get the stuff on the list.”   Penny read it out loud, “twelve apples, pears, candy canes , matches , frying pans , oranges , eggs , sausages ,backpacks ,and water.”   It said on he bottom,  “you will find everything in the fridge except the backpacks.  You will find those in the closet.”

She tiptoed downstairs and peeked into the living room. James’ dad was watching a movie while James’ mother was at the grocery store getting some chocolate cake, balloons, and streamers for the church party on Saturday. Penny went to the closet and got the backpacks. She crept into the kitchen and got the stuff on the list: twelve apples, pears, candy canes, matches, frying pans, oranges, eggs , sausages, and water. She snuck back upstairs then she stuffed all the stuff into the backpack including fresh clothes and pajamas.

Then the fairy told them “stand back a little bit.”  And she waved her magic wand and she turned into an adult unicorn with wings. “Now all of you climb onto my back. Penny do you want to hold my wand until we land?” said the fairy. “Would I!!  I would love to,” said Penny. “Be sure not to wave it or say anything to it or you shall turn us into something,” warned the fairy. “ And off we go!” said the fairy as she dashed out the window. 

All of a sudden it was all white around them. “What is this white?” asked Penny. It was just the clouds. Then all of a sudden they were there.

Unicorns were hiding and running when they got there. “What is going on?” asked the fairy to the baker unicorn that was running past them. “The robots attacked the king an hour ago, when he was eating at a banquet.  He is still fighting with the robot leader,” he answered. “We better go help him!” said Penny.  “He is in the kitchen,” said the unicorn. “Come on! The king is in danger,” said Penny.

“I must leave you now.  Here are some suits of armor,” said the fairy waving her wand.  Then they ran to the castle as fast as they could. They were half way there when they got stopped by a robot. Penny grabbed her sword and smashed him to bits.  “Come on,” said Penny, “Rockster, stamp your hooves and wish we are there.” She pointed at the castle then all of a sudden they were there. The king was fighting in the kitchen like they were told. “ Hey you, don’t mess with my king,” said Rockster then he charged at the robot.  It smashed into pieces and the robots fled.  Rockster was put in a special place in the kingdom.

                                The End

       

  

By Trinity Brinkman


Below is a story Trinity wrote as a test on February 1, 2012.  She is finding out exactly how much help 'spell check' and a thesaurus can be.  She is excellent at expressing in words a picture she has in her head.

The Treasure

 

One day when I came home from school I found something that changed my life. The bus dropped me off at 47 Elm St. As soon as I got in the door I opened my backpack to get my agenda for my mom.  Instead I found an old key with a dragon handle.

I went to ask mom if I could have Keith and his dog over for dinner. When he got there I showed him the key. We had a dinner of lasagna.

“Let’s go to the attic and see if there is something that the key belongs to,” I suggested. I went down stairs to get two flashlights then I went back to the attic. Keith was searching around then he found a very old door.  It was behind a pile of books.  “Want to open it?” I said. “Come on Snow,” Keith said.  The dog bolted through the door and we had to chase him.  As soon as we did we were in a strange place.   We were in a market place with lots of people selling stuff out of tents.

Snow was stealing dried meat from a thin, young man in one of the tents. “Come on Snow,” Keith said dragging him from the angry man.

         All of a sudden a dragon picked us up and we went up in the air.  “ Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” we screamed.  The dragon took us to his cave inside a cold volcano and then he flew off. We noticed a treasure that was on a small shelf.  The treasure was in a small gold box that had a dragon on it like the key.  I took the key out and I slid it into the lock.  When it opened we saw a map and gold coins. “Yippy!” we yelled.  We jumped up and down. 

We found Snow and ran back to the door happily. 

                                      The end  

spelling tests

The ABeka spelling standard is very high so I am extremely pleased with Trinity's spelling this year.  Kyler's words are still very close to their phonetic sounds so he is excelling in spelling.  He only has trouble with choosing when to use 'c' and 'k'.

Native Studies

Trinity has been working through, From Time Immemorial, as a study in the First Nations people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. 

From Time Immemorial – The First People of the Pacific Northwest Coast

Chapter 1 – Living together –villages and families

1.     Discuss what is meant by a class society.  Do you live in a society divided into classes?  How does their class in society influence the lives of people?

A class society is higher, lower, and middle classes. The lower class is poor; the middle is a working level but still gets privileges. When you are lower you don’t get privileges at all.  The higher class is rich.

2.     Why do you think parents arranged marriages in the First Nations’ culture?  What value might there be in arranged marriages?  What problems might there be?

 I think the value in arranged marriages is money. The parents of two young people always wanted them to marry someone that was higher in class than them or the same class.  If they married in a lower class then you would lose some of your privileges. For example; say you married a slave you would become a slave to and you would lose all your privileges.  If you married a person that was higher than you, you would become rich too. (:

3.     Grandparents, uncles and aunts helped “parent” children.  Do you think this is a good way to raise children?  How would this way of living benefit the children?

What I think is that we would be more safe if we had all those people around us and we would get to do more things if we new to ask the right person but if every one was doing work it would be pretty boring unless we had breaks to play or some thing. (:

Chapter 2 – Living in Balance with the Sea – Fishing

First Nations people have always relied on fish as a major source of food.  Do you think their right to fish should be protected into the future?

If the First Peoples are allowed to use nets and traps today we would not have enough fish for everyone else.

Choose one method of catching fish used by people of the Pacific Northwest.  Draw a detailed picture to illustrate this method.  You may wish to read more about traditional First Nations fishing technology.

Fence weir

 

Chapter 3 – Living in Balance with the Land – Hunting and Gathering

 1.     Choose one food that is gathered in your local area.  Illustrate it, explain how it is gathered or hunted, and write down any hazards of gathering it.
     

Trinity's Book Report

 Trinity has read the Christian novel, Song of the Brook.  She worked at it a chapter at a time, writing down a couple sentences of summary after each.

Over the course of this exercise, she has improved her comprehension and her skill at extracting important facts from the story.