Kids Think Link


		Build a Story (2005-2006 School Year) The Magic Within Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a small school. This school was like any other school except for one thing. Magic flowed secretly throughout the school, through the hallways, through the doorways, through the walls, through the ground, and all around. Some students could feel the presence of the magic. Some could even access the magic and use it to do extraordinary things. While others had no clue it was even there. Some were using the magic to help others. (Leah N.) This school was special because everyone who noticed this feeling of magic was being blessed by God each and every day, while those who didn't weren't taking the time to listen to God's call. (Karina K.) One day, when the kids got out of their classes to go to lunch, they were very surprised to see a tree had appeared, growing right out of the floor in the hallway. (Mary S.) They could not believe their eyes! (Charlise H.) "This is the tree from Adam and Eve!" one of the kids shouted. (Taylor S.) Then, one child noticed a note growing on the tree and started to read it. It was a message from God that said, "I sent this tree as a symbol of my feelings. When I am sad the tree will droop and when I am happy it will stand up and bloom beautiful flowers." (Angela H.) The children watched in amazement as the tree began to sprout the most fragrant, magnificent flowers they had ever seen! The flowers were so beautiful that each child received one and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. (Mrs. B.) The flowers also gave out so much magic that the children had magic in themselves and they hoped to use the magic wisely. (Rachel S.) The story continues below the pictures - scroll down. The children went to lunch that day, chatting excitedly about what had just happened. Little did they know, that while they were eating their sandwiches, a mysterious stranger had just entered the school. Then someone saw him and said "It must be an Angel!" (Kate B.) The mysterious stranger was Gabriel the Arch Angel! It was amazing. (Keelyn M.) The stranger walked into the first grade classroom, took out a pencil, and wrote down a secret code. The code was "RED." (Zachary N.) Then Gabriel put this piece of paper on one of the desks, and after recess, the child noticed it. (Karina K.) As Gabriel quietly slipped out of the room, this child showed the teacher and the rest of the class. No one knew what the note meant except for one person. (Kate B. and Maria B.) That person was the principal -- she knew everything about the secret note! (Samantha M.) She told the children they had to try to figure the code out for themselves. Meanwhile, out in the hallway the tree grew flowers and cherries. (Tanner M.) At the end of the day as the children moved through the hall to go home, they were all jabbering about the secret code and what it meant. When they noticed the cherries on the tree, some kids were confused, they didn't know what God was trying to say. (Leah N.) Others were happy thinking that God was happy. (David R.) No one knew why there were cherries. Someone tried one and it did not taste like a cherry at all. (Maria B.) What they didn't know was that if they ate one cherry, just like that they would know what the note meant! (Katrina D.) The next morning, the child that ate the cherry - we'll call him Charlie - came running into the school shouting "I know what the code means!!!" Charlie had figured out that the code meant R - rhinoceroses, E- eat, D - donuts. But Charlie was confused about this and wondered why Gabriel would write such a thing. (Karina K.) Then another girl named Joanne came into the school, ate a cherry, and then she knew what the note meant too. (Keelyn M.) But to Joanne, the code meant something different. She thought it meant R - read, E - Etheopia, D - dancing, books. (Charlie M.) When Mark ate a cherry, he thought the code meant "R - red, E - elephants, D - dance." (Angela H.) What in the world did all this craziness mean? One more student by the name of Erika, thought the code meant "R - rent, E - empty, D - Dungeons," after taking a bite of a cherry. They began to wonder if Gabriel was going to use these crazy things to teach a story from the Bible. (Karina K.) The story continues below the pictures - scroll down. At the other end of the school, someone else had also arrived early. It was one of the sixth graders - we'll call him Charlie (just kidding Charlie) we'll call him Tony. Tony was one of the children who had learned to use the magic that was present at the school. That morning, he used the magic to get a copy of the answer sheet for a difficult English exam scheduled for that day. The worst part about it was that he then left the answer sheet in the desk of one of the other students, hoping to cause trouble. Tony did cause trouble! (Leah N.) The teacher found the answer sheet in Jason's desk and immediately sent him to the principal's office. Tony smirked as he took his seat. Someone had to find out about Tony. (Kate B.) In the middle of the school, the tree began to droop. God was sad because Tony had caused trouble. (David R.) Not knowing about what Tony had done, the children were wondering why the tree was drooping. (Leah N.) And in the back of their minds, they were still wondering about what all the nonsense with the code word had to do with all this. In the principal's office, Jason was pleading "I didn't do it - really Mrs. Moore!" Mrs. Moore could hear the honesty in his voice. She had her suspicions about who was behind this but needed some proof to support her thinking. One student knew about Tony and what he had done. (Kate B.) It was Kellie in the fourth grade. She had seen Tony put the answer sheet in Jason's desk, but she was afraid to say anything. Kellie was a new student at the school, and unfortunately, some of the children were a little mean to her. So she was afraid if she told on Tony, the kids would make fun of her and call her a "snitch." In addition, Kellie knew that Tony was one of the most popular students and most of the kids really liked him. But still, she didn't think it was fair that Jason would be blamed for something he didn't do, so she did the right thing and told on him. (David R.) Kellie tried to tell the principal without being a snitch that Jason was not the one who put the answer sheet in his desk. (Mrs. B.) The principal was glad Kellie told her, because it confirmed what she already thought was true. Mrs. Moore punished Tony by having him serve detention for the next two weeks, which actually were the last two weeks of school before summer vacation. In addition, he had to apologize to Jason and do something nice for him each day during that period. Rumors were spreading about how the principal found out about Tony. Everyone started to act weird. (Katrina D.) Many of the students were calling Kellie a "snitch" and some were even using the magic in the school to perform mean pranks on her. Almost everybody was being mean-- (Charlise H.) except for Jason. (Charlie M.) They were calling Kellie names and no one would talk to her. (Maria B.) One student named Frank, put an evil spell on Kellie that caused her nose to grow three times too large. (Karina K.) This upset her so much that she hid in the bathroom for two hours until it went back to its normal size. When she came out and went to open her locker, she found that someone had used the magic to fill her locker with green jello that oozed out all over the floor when she opened it. Kellie was beginning to feel sorry that she had talked to the principal about Tony. She was angry at the people who were being mean to her. (Rachel S.) Meanwhile, the tree in the hallway drooped even more. (Leah N.) The story continues below the picture - scroll down. As the bad things ruled over the good, everyone noticed the drooping tree, including the principal. (Karina K.) She found out that the students were being mean to Kellie. (Mrs. B.) Mrs. Moore was very disappointed in the students. She remembered what Gabriel was trying to make happen at the school. (Karina K.) On the last day of school for the year she called all the students to come into the computer lab, NOW. . . (Mrs. B.) After everyone arrived in the lab, Tony asked why they had to come into the lab at such a command. Mrs. Moore explained how rude it is to treat others with disrespect and she pointed out how one of God's greatest commandments says "love your neighbor as yourself." (Karina K.) Next she wanted all the students to remember the code word that Gariel had left them -- RED." She asked those students that had "figured out the code" to come forward and type the phrases they had come up with on the different computers. "Rhinoceroses Eat Donuts, Read Etheopia Dancing Books, Red Elephants Dance, and Rent Empty Dungeons." In just a few minutes, each computer screen was displaying a different phrase that altogether looked quite silly. Then an amazing thing happened. All of the computers started to go crazy! (Katrina D.) While the children watched in amazement all the computers shut down, except the ones displaying the silly messages. (Angela H. and Leah N.) In fact, the school had lost all power. But yet the four computers with the code "RED" messages continued to blink. How was this possible? (Angela H.) Then, right before their eyes the letters on the four screens began to shift around. A few of the letters dropped down to the bottom of the screen while most of them rearranged themselves in a kind of circular motion until they spelled the following sentences in large letters: "BE READY. USE THE MAGIC TO HELP OTHERS. HONOR GOD!!!!" The students were speechless as they watched the message blinking before them. After about a minute, these four computers flashed a bright light before they also shut down. An instant later, all the power in the school came back on. And in that instant all the students understood what the magic within their school was really for. It was Tony that broke the anxious silence by saying, "Mrs. Moore, I have something I need to do. I know the day is almost over, but could I and a few other students stay after to work on a couple of apologies?" Mrs. Moore was happy to agree. She dismissed all of the students to return to their classrooms to pack up their things. Tony and a couple of his friends prepared to stay after to plan a number of ways to apologize to Jason and Kellie. Tony wanted these apologies to be extra special to make up for all the trouble he had caused both of them. As the children packed up their books on this final day of school, they excitedly planned how they were going to use the magic next school year. "We can do things to make any new students feel welcome," said Frank. "And we can do something to make the teachers feel special when they really help us," said Charlie. More and more ideas were tossed about as the kids left the building to board their busses or meet their parents. And inside the school, in the middle of the hallway, the drooping limbs of the tree turned upward and once again began to blossom. . . Thank you very much to everyone who helped to "build" this great story!!!!! Let's do it again next year. . .