A Competition That Will Grab You

The First Day of the Month: The School Gym

In a school called Lakeville Elementary, students gathered into the school gym where they all sat on the bleachers. The gym filled up with roars of excitement, because we hadn’t had an announcement in here for so long. The principal, Mr. Robert, calmed everyone down and the gym went silent. He picked up his microphone and started to speak, “As you all know, we have not been here for a while, but today I’d like to be talking about something that all of you students will love to hear. Here in Lakeville Elementary we love to do lots of fun activities, but we have never done anything like this before.”

The students started murmuring about things, but all I could care about is what did the principal have to say that could be so exciting?

The principal handed the mic to a young man with blonde hair and glasses. He was wearing a white lab coat and his shirt had a label that read NSL. It was Nick Davidson and he was from the National Science League. He told us about a competition where each class would have to invent something extraordinary with original functions, and that we would need to work together as a class.

The students seemed excited about this announcement, yet skeptical. Mr. Davidson continued to tell us that the class with the most magnificent invention will win a trip to see the NSL lab. The students in the bleachers clapped their hands and everyone talked to their neighbors about the announcement.

The principal told everyone that each class would be given a tool to use on their innovation project, and that we had one month to complete the invention. He ended by saying, “So, do you have any questions?”

Everyone was silent and nobody raised their hand. It was so quiet. Nobody said a word. Mr. Robert picked up the mic again and said, “Alright, everybody go back to your classrooms with your teacher.” He was still excited about the announcement. “I hope you will amaze us with your invention.”

The front of the bleachers soon became packed because everyone was moving around, and gathering in front of their teachers. The gym was super loud as everyone went back to talking either about random things or the project.

One of my classmates, Jake, came up to me and asked, “Janet, I wonder what we will do for the project?”

As I walked with Jake down the hallway and into class, we heard some other classes already coming up with ideas. For us, it might be hard because we are a very naughty class and most of the time we don’t know what we are doing.

I am in Mrs. Sheldiers’ third grade class and she is very nice. As we took our seats, she asked us if we had any questions for the invention or had any ideas. Nobody in the class even made a peep. Mrs. Sheldiers looked at us disappointedly and we continued with our regular reading class.

While I was reading, I wasn’t paying much attention to the article. I was probably the only one who actually cared about the project because, first of all, I love science and secondly I like winning.

“Janet?” I looked up and saw that Mrs. Sheldiers was looking right at me. I probably must have dozed off. “Let me repeat myself, can you answer the first question?”

I stared blankly at the question.

“Janet, you need to pay more attention in class, for now I’ll let you go,” the teacher said. I went back to paying attention.

After recess we came back from the lockers and sat down. On the board was written “Ideas for the invention” and by it was a little light bulb. The class probably had no ideas for it. Shortly after we had entered the classroom, the teacher walked in and picked up an Expo marker. “So, does anyone have any ideas?”

A lot of kids joked around saying “A farting rhino?” or “A monkey eater?” and the class laughed. I thought of some ideas, but most of them were already taken.

Mr. Robert came into the classroom. “Hello Mrs. Sheldiers’ class, I am here with the tool that you have to use for your project.” The class all looked at Mr. Robert to see what he had in his hands. “You will be using a grabber.” He showed us a long stick with what looked like big tweezers at the end.

Emma said her dad had one of those, but nobody else had any ideas what to make of it. Mrs. Sheldiers saw our disappointment and told us, “I’m sure we’ll come up with something wonderful.”

“Could we use the grabber for picking up garbage?” my classmate Jackson suggested.

“That’s already an invention, dummy,” Jake said.

“Jake, that was not very nice,” Mrs. Sheldiers said, and offered some advice, “How about we use the trash idea, but make it into something else?”

“Oh, I know. Since picking up trash can be slow sometimes, we could come up with a way that we can ride a vehicle,” Emma suggested.

“That’s a good idea Emma, but how can we get the supplies for that?” Mrs. Sheldiers asked.

Emma looked at her sternly and suggested we go dumpster diving or to a junkyard. The class seemed to like that idea, so I jotted down some functions we could use to make the invention more interesting.

“Okay class, do you guys agree on this new vehicle invention?” Mrs. Sheldiers asked. The class nodded. So we had now figured out what we were going to do. Now all we had to do was to think about how we were going to build it. I really did hope that we were the only class with this idea.

One Week Later: At the Junkyard

At the public junkyard, a big guy named Isaac said that we could take whatever we wanted. Mrs. Sheldiers gave us a list of things we needed, each person in our class was in charge of finding something on the list. I had to get a pipe and a wheel. I thought those were very important tools for the project.

We searched around the junkyard for a while and my classmates were groaning and saying that it was so hard to find stuff. Then suddenly I heard a scream.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!” My classmate Jacob came running towards the teacher; behind Jacob was a big black dog. “HELP ME!” he yelled so loudly that astronauts could probably hear him.

We didn’t do so well at the junkyard. Sarah wasn’t able to find anything. Jacob got attacked by bugs that were crawling all over a piece he found, but then I found a wheel that would be perfect for the project. While I was about to grab it, Isaac said “Hey, that is not a piece of junk, you can’t have that.”

“Okay,” I said sadly, and ended up with a tiny, slightly bent scooter wheel instead.

“Okay guys, it’s time to pack up, ” Mrs. Sheldiers said. We weren’t starting off with a great start.

When we got back to our classroom the teacher said that we did not have much time to build this project so we would have to work on it every day and everyone had to participate. She then told us, “First we’d have to sketch out a plan for the invention. I will be giving you each a paper and you will have to tell me what you’re best at. For example, if you are good with hammers, you will get that job, but if you’re good with putting wheels on things, well, then you will be getting that job.”

Everyone just looked at each other with confused faces, unsure what they were really good at. Mrs. Sheldiers handed us each a paper with five questions about what we would like to build and similar questions like that.

“What if we don’t like building at all?” my classmate Sarah asked.

Mrs. Sheldiers looked at her, “Well, then you can inspect the project to see if everything is working.”

Sarah smiled while writing something down on the paper. As for me, I really like to build things. I do it all the time. I wrote that I wanted to help with attaching things together and using the hammer since I’m not afraid of it hurting my finger or anything. Ten minutes later we handed in our paper.

Last Days of the Competition: In the classroom

 “This is so bizarre.” I shouted, “Our pieces keep falling apart!” I was so upset with what I was doing. I didn’t get the job I wanted and none of our screws fit where we put them. I just wanted to quit.

Mrs. Sheldiers was constantly telling the class to quiet down when suddenly we all heard a loud crash. Jacob had crashed into the bin with our junk! Our teacher shook her head. “Class, we have to pay attention, we only have one day left,” she said while helping pick up our mess.

I was in charge of hammering the nails for the base of our scooter. I took one look at the scooter. It looked so bad not even a homeless person would want it. Then suddenly one of our classmates screamed “AAAAAURGH!” I turned around and I saw that Scarlet was crying while holding her hand with a hammer by her side. She must’ve hit her hand. Being her friend, I was in charge of taking her to the nurse.

Our class was doing horrible. Someone else dropped what they were doing and it shattered all over the floor. It was such a mess. There were bits and pieces of stuff everywhere. I don’t think we have a chance, but we’ll have to keep on trying. I really hope we are doing better than some of the other classes.

While I was walking in the hallway with Scarlet I peeked into another classroom and I was shocked. There was a big robot that could be controlled by a remote and it was stacking books. It looked so cool.

After one hour we finally finished our “garbage picking scooter car.” It was so bad, and we should probably think of a shorter name for it. No one seemed happy about what we ended up doing.

“We worked hard on that,” Riley said while crossing her arms. Then it was time for Sarah to test it out. She got on the scooter and…CRASHED!

I muttered like Yoda, “Doomed we are.” I was so discouraged. Our scooter went into pieces and all of our work was destroyed. Our class had to start all over. By the time we had finished school was almost over, so we packed our stuff up to go home. Although the good news is that, in the end it worked, and at least we still have a slim chance to win the competition.

The End of the Month: The School Gym

It was time to pick the winner of the competition and nobody in class seemed excited. Mr. Robert had already come to our classroom with a bunch of random people and they tested out our invention. Before leaving he said, “The winners will be announced this afternoon in the school gymnasium.”

My friend Susan came to me and said, “I heard that Mr. Bessel’s class invention was AMAZING!” I was so surprised by that because Mr. Bessel’s class wasn’t a very good class. How could their invention be so amazing?

After a little while of standing around our teacher told everyone to sit down and Mr. Robert started speaking about what to expect today. He then handed the microphone to Mr. Davidson. “Hello everyone, I’d just like to say that I loved the effort and time you all put into your projects. They are all super amazing, and even though there will only be three winning classes, you all did a great job on inventing.”

Susan whispered to me, “That’s us.” I chuckled and our teacher told us to quiet down. I wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying, but there was a blonde girl speaking and she had on one of those NSL shirts. She was also one of the judges.

I missed most of what she had said. All I caught was the ending, “I loved all of the inventions and I hope to do this sometime again in the future!” she said while handing the mic back to Mr. Robert.

Mr. Robert spoke to the teachers and students again. He proudly exclaimed, “It’s voting time.”

The whole gym lit up with cheers and excitement. It was what we had all been waiting for after all. He continued after we all settled down and told us Mr. Davidson would be announcing the winners. Everyone clapped as Mr. Davidson held the microphone and spoke, “Ok students, we are not just going off of the invention, but we will also be judging on the hard work you put into it, and on how well you worked as a team.”

Everyone got excited again as the winners were announced and there was more excitement, as he reminded us of the science lab. Everyone continued to hoot and shout as Mr. Davidson told us the second grade winners. The gym filled with the sounds of hands drumming. “And the winning class for grade two is…Mr. Keolph’s class!” All the students clapped for his class.

I clapped as well, because Mr. Keolphs is a great teacher and I think he deserves it. “Mr. Keolph’s class was great at showing how to work together and work hard and therefore their invention was a great success.” Mr. Davidson continued, “And now for the 3rd graders!”

Now I was really excited, I really wondered who was going to win; I hope it’s us, though it was not a very good chance because our invention was horrible.

Mr. Davidson waited for everyone to settle down. “This class was amazing at showing grit. They never gave up, and they overcame their own messes to build their invention. They truly deserve the win.” He hesitated, “The winning class is…” I bit my lips and focused really hard. Please be our class! He then announced the winner as “Mrs. Sheldiers’ class!”

I was so confused, how did we win? Our invention was horrible and looked so bad. Everyone clapped and then went silent again. The winner for fourth grade was Mr. Louis’ class, but that wasn’t surprising at all. Ten minutes later the assembly and contest was over and we all returned to our classes.

Mrs. Sheldiers told us to sit down and she addressed the class. “Class, I am very proud of all of you. You guys really showed innovation while doing this project and I just wanted to say it was the best you all ever did by working together.” The class was confused.

“What do you mean?” Jackson asked.

“Haven’t you noticed? When Jacob came running when he was chased by a dog, you all helped him, and when Scarlet hurt herself you all came and cared for her.”

The class finally noticed what a true winner was all about.

“We did great! We deserved the win!” Susan said while jumping up and down.

“Everyone deserves to win, Susan,” Mrs. Sheldiers said. “We deserved it more.”

Next week we will get to go to a real science lab! I can’t believe it. It really was rewarding doing this project.

Extra

The next day, I walked into class and I saw Emma holding something smaller than our grabber. “Emma, what is that?” I asked while running to her desk.

“Oh, it’s a mini grabber, the one I was talking about before!” she said. I wanted to see it, but Jacob came into the classroom screaming.

“AAAAAAH, MRS. SHELDIERS, HELP!” he screamed out. There was a big scary looking bug on him, and Mrs. Sheldiers wasn’t in the classroom to help him at that moment.

“I can help!” I ran over to him and used the mini grabber to get the bug off of his arm.

“Mr. Davidson should have seen this. The grabber might not grab you but, the mini grabber sure can grab what’s buggin’ you,” Jacob said. It was so stupid and funny and it made both me and Emma laugh.