Teacher Example
The "Grand" Birthday
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It was 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and Wilhimina, or Minnie as everyone called her, couldn’t seem to fall back asleep. She was too excited to sleep because today was…
Her 10 th birthday!
Not only were there 2 numbers in her age now, but she was having the greatest birthday party ever. Minnie’s dad had planned a treasure hunt for the party and her mom was making a cake with 5 different layers! Minnie closed her eyes and hoped that she’d fall asleep and dream about her birthday party. Five hours later it was 9:30 a.m. and Minnie was wide awake. She could hear her mom in the kitchen fumbling with pots and pans.
Minnie went out to the kitchen. “What are you doing, mom?” asked Minnie.
“I’m making your five layered birthday cake!” replied her mother, “By the way, Happy Birthday!”
Minnie excitedly asked if she could help and her mom let her. The five layers were chocolate, carrot, cinnamon, coconut, and caramel. “Hey, we could call it a ‘Five C’ cake since all the flavors start with C’s!” exclaimed Minnie.
“You’re right!” said Minnie’s mother, and they both burst out laughing!
Thirty minutes later, the cake was finished and Minnie’s mother told her she could take it out of the oven. Minnie put on her oven mits and grabbed the delicious looking cake out of the oven when…
“OH NO!” Minnie cried, “My cake is ruined.” Minnie’s birthday cake had completely caved in!
“Oh honey, that’s okay.” replied her mother, “We can make another one, but this one kind of looks like the Grand Canyon.”
“What’s the Grand Canyon?” asked Minnie with a scowl on her face.
“The Grand Canyon is landform in northern Arizona that’s made of many different layers of rock.” answered Minnie’s mother, “It’s slowly been cut through by the Colorado River and still is! Now tourists can see all the layers of brightly colored rock!”
Minnie wasn’t too fascinated with her mom’s comparison of her birthday cake and some pile of rocks, so she decided to go back to her room. Minnie sat down on her bed in disappointment and began to feel a little sleepy. Before she could say, “Five C cake,” she had fallen back to sleep.
When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by layers of rock that appeared to shoot up for thousands of feet. The layers were all different shades of color. Minnie was gazing in amazement at the beautiful site when she realized she was floating on a wooden raft! Where am I? she wondered.
The water began to flow a little faster and the raft quickly weaved its way down the long river. After a few minutes, Minnie’s raft came to a calm spot on the river so she decided to jump off and swim to the shore. Minnie made it to the shore, but the swim was so tiring that she fainted in exhaustion. When Minnie’s eyes began to open she saw a little boy standing above her.
“Hi, my name is Kuwanlelenta, it means ‘to make beautiful surroundings.'” said the young boy.
“I’m Minnie.” she said, “Do you know where I am?”
Kuwanlelenta replied, “You’re at the Grand Canyon.”
“I don’t know how I got here, but this place is really beautiful!” exclaimed Minnie.
“Take a walk with me and I will tell you how it was made.” Kuwanlelenta said.
The two began to walk and Kuwanlelenta explained how he got his name.
“My father and mother think that I was once water.” said Kuwanlelenta.
“Well, what does that have to do with making beautiful surroundings and the Grand Canyon?” asked a confused Minnie.
“Water is the main reason that all these layers of rock have been exposed!” replied Kuwanlelenta, “As long as rain and snow still fall and the Colorado River keeps on flowing, erosion will continue to shape the Grand Canyon.”
“Wow, so you shaped these beautiful rocks.” said Minnie, “How long did it take you?”
“Well, my great grandfather, Odahingum, which means ‘rippling water,’ once told me that the oldest rock in the canyon is close to 2 billion years old.” replied Kuwanlelenta, “But I started eroding at the rock in the past five or six million years.”
“Oh so the Grand Canyon is actually pretty young!” said Minnie.
“That depends on how you look at it, but I guess you could say that.” said Kuwanlelenta.
“So just how many layers are there?” asked Minnie?
“I don’t know the exact answer to that, but I do know that limestone, sandstone, shale, granite, and schist are the five types of rock that are deposited here.” said Kuwanlelenta.
“Holy cow!” exclaimed Minnie, “So that’s why my mom said my birthday cake looked like the Grand Canyon! My birthday cake! I completely forgot about my birthday!”
“Huh, a birthday cake that looks like the Grand Canyon?” asked Kuwanlelenta with a puzzled look.
Minnie quickly replied, “Yeah it’s my ‘Five C’ cake, but I need to get home for my birthday party!”
Minnie turned around and began running as fast as she could! She turned her head back to say ‘Goodbye’ to Kuwanlelenta when she tripped and hit her head on a granite rock!
“Minnie….Minnie…Wake up Minnie, your friends are here for you birthday party!” whispered Minnie’s mom.
Minnie opened her sleepy eyes and saw her mother sitting on the edge of her bed.
“Mom, I just had the most wonderful dream!” said Minnie, “I saw the Grand Canyon, and it looked just like my birthday cake.”
“Well, I bet it doesn’t taste as yummy.” joked her mom, “Let’s go have a piece. Your friends just got here and they want to sing you ‘Happy Birthday’!”
View follow-up information about The "Grand" Birthday
Resources
Geology Fieldnotes.” National Park Service. Geological Resources Division. 5 April 2004. < http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology//parks/grca/>
“Native American Names.” Baby Name Center. 5 April 2004. < http://www.babynamecenter.com/native_american.htm>
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Date updated
11/03/2004