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January 2006
Happy January, ScribbleFriends!
Have you ever gone on a sound hunt? Usually we hunt with our eyes to find things, but our teacher, Ms. Tinge, had my class hunting with our ears for sounds this
week. I never knew there were so many sounds! What? Just kidding.
For our homework, each of us listed any sounds we heard at school, at home, at the park or anywhere else we went. Next to each sound we marked if what we heard was a
loud, medium or soft sound. We also needed to decide if the sound was a high, middle or low range sound.
The last thing we had to do was come up with a word that could describe the sound we heard. Hey, you can use Ms. Tinge's worksheet and go on your own sound hunt! Just click HERE to print one out.
Do you think you can find enough sounds to fill the page? Have you ever gone on a smell hunt?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
February 2006
Happy February, ScribbleFriends!
I've been reading about sharks and boy, are they cool.
Sharks have been around for hundreds of millions of years. But even though they've been around longer than people, longer than trees - they were even around before the dinosaurs - scientists still don't know too much about them. That could be due to the fact that they're always swimming (if they stop, they'll sink). Or because they're big and have big teeth (no one wants to get too close). It doesn't help that Sharks don't have a skeleton, so the only bones or fossils scientists can find to study are their teeth.
What people do know about sharks is amazing.
They hardly ever get sick and when they get cuts or injuries, the wounds heal super-fast. Sharks never stop growing. Baby great whites are about 4 feet long when they're born, ready to swim and catch their own meals. The largest great white shark captured was 21 feet long and more than 8 feet wide, but a lot of people think they get bigger than that. The whale shark is the largest of all the sharks and can measure up to 50 feet long!
Do you like to eat? Do you like to swim? Would you like to be a shark?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
March 2006
Happy March, ScribbleFriends!
I get so excited when my calendar says that it's March. It makes me want to march around the room. I have been known to march at the drop of a hat, so, no
surprise, I guess. We do The Bedtime March every night at my house. Just click on the title to download a copy for yourself. Then you can do The Bedtime March at your house, too!
Most people think of soldiers when they think of marching.
Soldiers probably march more than anyone else, but do you know why they march? Marching is a way to keep everyone in a large group moving and together. Throw a little drum in there to keep the pace... what a great idea. I wish I thought of it. We always see marching bands at parades. Sometimes they need to march in place while they're waiting for a float to move. That defeats the purpose of keeping everyone moving. Floats should have to march, too. Sure, they don't have legs, but they should be able to keep their wheels moving at a steady pace. I like ice cream floats. You take a beverage, preferably a soda - or lemonade is actually good - pour it over a scoop of ice cream, the ice cream floats to the top (thus, the name, "float"), yum. What am I talking about? Can you tell that I'm tired? I better do The Bedtime March.
Do you like to march? Do you like ice cream floats?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
April 2006
Happy April, ScribbleFriends!
Did you know that the average American child spends more time watching television than any other activity (other than sleeping) each year? We spend more time in front of a
tv than we do in school! Did you also know that research has shown our brains turn-off when we're watching tv? Regardless of what kind of program we're watching, our brain activity is similar to the brain waves
produced when staring at a blank wall. TV Turnoff Week takes place April 24 - 30 this year. It's a time for discovering all the great things there are to do when we're not glued to the tube. My friends and I have
made a list of all the things we're going to do instead of watch tv:
Read books
Make sock puppets
Draw pictures
Play baseball
Bake cookies
Ride our bikes
Sing songs
Write stories
What do you like to do when the television's off? Can you last a week without TV?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
May 2006
Happy May, ScribbleFriends!
Most of you know the story of when my TV broke (if not, see ScribbleMonster and the Broken TV).
Well, last week, my computer broke. It may be time for a new book. Computers are great when they work, but when they don't - not so much. I couldn't print out the paper I wrote for English class. I couldn't do the research for my science report on the Internet and I wasn't able to send or receive messages from friends like you. Lucky for me, Sally from ScribbleRepair can fix computers as well as she can fix a television set. But before my TV was fixed, I celebrated my first Computer Turnoff Week. Much like TV Turnoff week, it was a time for discovering all the great things there are to do when you're offline. I had the time to:
Visit the library to research my science report
Make a club house for my action figures out of a box
Write letters and mail them to my friends
Play soccer at the park
Draw pictures with chalk on the sidewalk
Plant flowers in the garden
Play board games
Write a new song with my friends
What do you like to do when the computer is off? Do you think there should be a Computer Turnoff Week?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
June 2006
Happy June, ScribbleFriends!
This school year has been so much fun. It's hard to believe that another year is almost over. It is always nice to say thank you, but teachers are especially deserving of
our thanks. Their job is an important one and sometimes we forget how much they do for us. I just finished making thank you notes for all of my teachers. I drew a special picture on the front, and then wrote a note
inside. I thought about my favorite parts of each class and included them in my note. Here's the note I wrote to Ms. Tinge:
Dear Ms. Tinge,
Thank you for all of your help and for making this year such fun. I learned so much about plants that I even know more about plants than my dad does. I'll
always remember the "State Song" and I really liked when you would read to us at the end of the day. I'm lucky to have such a great teacher. Have a nice summer!
Your student,
ScribbleMonster
Do you have a teacher you would like to thank? What was your favorite part of school this year?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
July 2006
Happy July, ScribbleFriends!
My favorite fireworks are here! Lightning bugs. Some people call them fireflies, but they really aren't bugs or flies. Lightning bugs are actually a member of the beetle
family and there are more than 125 different species of lightning bugs in North America. Each species has their own secret code. So when you see them blinking at one another, they're actually letting the other
lightning bugs know who they are. With most species, the boys fly and the girls hang out on the ground. A typical conversation (loosely translated) would go something like this:
Boy - "Hey, I'm a Photinus minuta looking for another Photinus minuta that would like to mate."
Girl - "Down here! I'm a Photinus minuta."
Boy - "Sweet! I'll be right there."
The boy lightning bugs have to stay on their toes, because the girls in some species can be tricky. They learn how to blink like other species and when the boy shows up for
a date, they eat them!
Boy - "Wait a minute, you're not a Photinus minuta!"
Girl - "Chomp!"
Gross. Do you have many lightning bugs where you live? Have you ever caught a lightning bug?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
August 2006
Happy August, ScribbleFriends!
Are you bored?
Then hop aboard our Boardfest! My friends and I have spiced things up this week with a special board game festival. We've been taking turns picking our favorite game to play each afternoon for the last week. What a blast! I got to pick first and chose The Game of Life. When we play, our house rule is that you have to tell everyone who you marry and come up with names for your kids. Oh, did we laugh! That's the best part of the game!
ScribbleKitty picked Sorry. I don't want to say she's catty, but boy, is she good at that game.
Me? Not so much. It's fun, I guess. But I feel bad when I have to knock players off the board. I suppose it's nice that you're supposed to say "sorry."
We've also played Chutes and Ladders with my little sister, Uno (ScribblePiggy has the official White Sox World Champion version) and Candy Land (ScribbleBunny's rules are
that we use real candy for the game pieces - whoever wins gets to eat the candy! Yum!). Who has time to be bored?
Today we're going to make our own board game. Yesterday, we shared ideas and mapped it all out on paper. My dad got us some cardboard to make the game board out
of. We cut up paper for game cards and we're going to use little toys for the game pieces. I can't wait to get started!
What's your favorite game? If you made your own board game, what would it be like?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
September 2006
Happy September, ScribbleFriends!
This week my friends and I have been playing SPUD. Have you ever played SPUD?
All you need is a playground ball, a place to run around, and your friends. All the players pick a different color to be their name, then everyone gathers together
while one player in the middle of the group calls out a color and throws the ball straight up in the air as high as they can.
Everyone runs away in different directions - except for the person whose color was called. They're "it" and have to grab the ball and yell "SPUD!" as soon as they catch it. Once they yell "SPUD" everyone else has to freeze.
The "it" player can then take 3 steps toward any player they like and try to hit them with the ball.
If that player gets hit, they get an 'S'. But if that player catches or dodges the ball while keeping their feet planted on the ground, the player who threw the ball gets an 'S' instead. Now everyone gathers together again to start all over. Whoever ended up with a letter is the next player to throw the ball up and call out a color. When a player gets four letters and spells out SPUD, they're out of the game. The last player remaining wins. But really, when we're having this much fun, we're all winners. Aren't we?
What's your favorite color? What's your favorite game to play?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
October 2006
Happy October, ScribbleFriends!
I want a dog. Actually, I really want a monkey, but my dad says that will never happen.
ScribblePiggy has a horse, ScribbleBunny has a pet turtle and ScribbleKitty has a parakeet. I have a pet rock that used to be my dad's. Pet rocks aren't much fun.
Apparently, monkeys don't make good pets for the opposite reason: They're crazy. Once they grow up, there's no controlling a monkey. My dad says that even
a monster would have a hard time taking care of a monkey. They aren't meant to be a pet. That's fine, but I don't think rocks were meant to be pets either.
Which brings me back to my wish for a dog. They are meant to be a pet. The most popular pet in America? Cats. I wonder what ScribbleKitty thinks of that? Dogs are second to cats, followed by parakeets. I wonder what ScribbleKitty's parakeet thinks of that?
Do you have a pet? If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
November 2006
Happy November, ScribbleFriends!
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love playing outside, watching the changing color of the leaves, and everyone seems to slow down just a bit. Here's something you can do
with your friends in the beautiful outdoors of autumn; go on a leaf scavenger hunt! My friends and I came up with a fun leaf-seeking contest. We made up a list and set out to find:
The smallest leaf
The largest leaf
The most colors on one leaf
The lightest colored leaf
The darkest colored leaf
The greenest leaf
The most different colored leaves
The most different shaped leaves
The leaf with the longest stem
The weirdest looking leaf
I couldn't believe how many different kinds of leaves we found in our neighborhood. I was the one who found the weirdest looking leaf. It looked just like my dad's head.
Seriously. Now that's weird.
Do you have a lot of leaves in your neighborhood? What's your favorite time of year?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
December 2006
Happy December, ScribbleFriends!
We got a lot of snow in ScribbleTown today. I sometimes forget that there are plenty of places that never get snow.
One winter my cousin from California came to visit us and made her very first snowman - when she was 15 years old! It was fun to watch how excited she was to get to play in the snow for the very first time.
I've heard that all snowflakes have six sides, and that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. I've got to wonder though, how could anyone know this is true? I
mean, who has the time to check every snowflake?
Does it snow where you live? Have you ever built a snowman or any other snow creature?
Your pal,
ScribbleMonster
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