Google Timer Tech Tip

I think the tech tip portion I really like the idea of using a timer while studying. Some of my time management tricks are to make list of things that I need to get done and put them in order of priority. Another thing I do to manage my time is to limit what I can do for a certain period of time. I will start on one part of homework and when I finish that part of homework I take a short Netflix break and then go back to homework. I encourage myself with Netflix breaks because when I am in the middle of a season I really want to know what is happening. I think just setting a timer would be a great idea. I don’t do in now but I can see myself using it in the future. I think if I set a timer I would be able to limit how long I spend on each assignment. 

Story: The Princess and the Penguin

One night a girl named Katy was curled up in her bed all tucked in to go to sleep. She was drifting off to sleep when a loud clap of thunder sounded and lightning struck and woke her up. Scared, she ran to her mother’s room with her blanket in hand. She crawled up next to her mother and shook her until she woke up.

 Katy said, “Can you tell me a story to keep my mind off the storm? I want to hear a story about a princess and some penguins!"

The mother thought about it and said, “Okay, I can do that.”

“Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who loved animals. One day she asked her father if she could have a pet penguin. Her dad said, “You can have a penguin as long as you take care of it yourself!” So the princess set out to acquire the perfect penguin.

On her journey she found many lovely penguins. She just had not found the one that seemed to be the perfect companion. The princess found a penguin who she thought was kind, that loved her, and a friend.

On her way home she decided to name the penguin Penelope. Penelope loved the princess and wanted to keep the princess happy. Her favorite place to be was at the princess’s side. The princess, however, was not sure that Penelope would make her happy.

Penelope asked the princess, "What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?"

The princess went on about her hobbies until they made their last stop.

On the last stop before the castle a penguin walked up to the princess and tapped her on the leg. She looked down and saw a beautiful penguin. She bent down and asked the penguin, "Where is your family?"

The penguin replied, "I don't know. I haven't seen them in a few days."

The princess picked the penguin up and carried him toward the carriage. They searched for his family and were unsuccessful. The princess decided that he should come home with her as well. On the carriage ride home the princess fell in love with the penguin. She decided that he should be named Paul.

Paul showed his love to the princess, but not as often as Penelope did. Paul didn't constantly want to be in the princess’s lap. To the princess, Paul was the perfect pet penguin.

When they arrived at the castle the princess showed them around the grounds. When they arrived at Paul and Penelope’s room she told them," There are a few rules that I need you to follow. The first rule is you do not go outside without letting someone know. The second is don't go exploring the castle by yourselves. Someone needs to know where you are to keep you out of danger."

The princess spent most of her time with Paul. They did everything together from playing together to having tea. This angered Penelope because the princess didn't want to spend time with her. The princess was more enthralled with Paul. She seemed like she didn't care what happened to Penelope.

Penelope was starting to feel left out. Slowly this anger started to turn into jealousy. Penelope let jealousy get the best of her and came up with an idea of how to get rid of Paul. She was going to go outside to “play” while the princess was in class. When she got Paul outside she would take him into the cave that she found when she was exploring near the castle and they would "get lost" and go separate directions trying to find help. Penelope being the smart penguin she was had a map ready for her escape from the cave.

 So the next day while the princess was in class she walked up to Paul and asked, “Don’t you think it would be fun to get out of the castle and go explore?”

Paul, looking at her confused, asked, “Why would you want to go outside this great place?  The princess will be out of class shortly. We can ask her if we can go explore.”

 Penelope looked at him with her eyebrows raised and said, “Don’t you want to explore now? Why do we have to always do what the princess wants to do?”

Finally, after a little more convincing Penelope's plan was starting to go as planned. She convinced Paul to go explore outside.

Once outside Penelope found a cave and told Paul, “Let’s go explore this cave! It looks like fun!”

Paul looked at the cave and responded, “I don’t like the dark, so I think I will stay out here and explore in the light.”

 The princess came busting out the castle door calling for Paul and for Penelope. Penelope was shocked that the princess was looking for her, while Paul was suprised that the princess was scared.

The princess softly asked them, “Why are y’all out here? You know it is not safe for you to be out here."

Paul looked at her with guilt-filled eyes and said, “I am sorry, princess. I just wanted to explore with Penelope.”

The princess grabbed both of them up in a hug and said, “Please don’t ever do that again!” Penelope felt the princess’s love once again, and they lived happily ever after.”

Katy looked at her mom and asked, “Why was Penelope so mean to Paul?” Her mom took her in her arms and said, "Sometimes when someone spends too much time with one friend another friend gets jealous because they feel left out. When they feel jealous they will be mean because they feel like their friend was mean to them. Now, Katy, it is time for you to go back to your own bed."

Katy said, “Do I really have to?"

Her mom replied, "Yes, I love you, Katy!"

Katy hugged her mom and headed back to her own bed.

I used the plot summary from the Greek King and the Physician to come up with my story. The summary of the story was that the vizir was jealous of the physician. The vizir tried to cause harm to the physician because of this jealousy. The king had been sick and no one could heal him. The physician came and talked to the king and made him a cure. The physician had used a polo club that he filled with drugs to help heal the King. The physician gave the King strict orders on what to do with the club. When the vizir figured out that the physician had used drugs in the club, he told the King that the physician was trying to kill him. The vizir was attempting to make the king mad at the physician.  This translation of the story was written back in the 1800's. This story came from a story inside a story. The main changes I made were the setting and time period, along with the fact that I added penguins. I had a character that came into the story who caused someone else to become jealous. The stories are similar in the fact that there were two characters who tried to get another in trouble because they were jealous of the other person.  I changed the time period and the setting because I thought it could become a fairy tale. The image that I chose for this story reflects the two main characters of the story Penelope and Paul. My overall motivation was to write a story that reflected the values that were taught in the original story, but a story that my nephew would enjoy listening to.

Bibliography:

Arabian Nights

by: Andrew Long

Link: The Greek king and the Physician Douban

Paul and Penelope

By: D-Stanley

Link: Flickr

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights' Part B

So the second story that I read was about Aladdin. I think a creative idea would be to take the section of the story where the evil magician got the lamp from the Princess and used the Genie to move the castle along with the Princess to Africa instead of China. I think you could switch this story into being a kidnapping. I think a little girl could get kidnapped by a crazy nanny who wants a child but for some reason can't bare a child. She then goes out looking for a girl who she could call her own.

The Evil magician and the lamp

By: Laura Gibbs

Link:Class page

Bibliography: Arabian Nights

By:           Andrew Lang

Link           Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Reading Notes: the Arabian Nights unit part A

For this series I had a hard time being creative when coming up with ideas to write about basically because it was like a story inside a story inside a story. The one that stood out the most to me was the The Greek King and the Physician Douban. The reason this one stood out to me the most is because it's a story about jealousy. It can be about a president who likes their provost better than they like their Vice President. There are many options that can be used with this story so I think this is the one I can get most creative with and I can make it like a story inside a story by adding a mother telling the story to her daughter.

Bibliography
Arabian Nights, By Andrew Lang
Scheherazade
The Merchant and the Genius
The First Old Man and of the Hind
The Two Black Dogs
The Fisherman
The Greek King and the Physician Douban
The Parrot and the Ogress
 The Physician's Revenge
The Sultan and the Fish
King of the Black Isles

The King with his Wife and Sister-in-law

posted by: Laura Gibbs 

Link:Class Link