Every year after my fifth grade class reads the novel Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, I have them do a project in which they create their own imaginary worlds.  They design a map and a flag, a national animal and plant, write up the history of their world, etc.  It’s always fun to see the unique ideas they each come up with, but one of my favorite sections to grade is the one where they must create a list of laws to be followed (and consequences for breaking them).  It gives some interesting insights into their priorities and how their minds work!  Here are some of my favorite laws from this year’s projects.   In a few cases I’ve edited them for grammar and clarity.  In some cases, the odd phrasing was part of what made them amusing, so I’ve left it in!

All citizens need to own a soccer ball (if they cannot afford one, it will be provided).  Consequence for breaking this law: must watch soccer on TV for 24 hours straight.

No tearing other people down.  Consequence: write “no tearing other people down” 5,003 times.

No cars, airplanes, buses, subways, motorcycles, scooters, trucks, or any transportation, except for boats.

No speeding.  (This was from a world inhabited by turtles.)

Do not steal other turtles’ shells or you will be branded with a “T” on your shell and sent to Turtle Prison.

You are not allowed to try to take over the world.

You are not allowed to try to kill someone or everyone on this planet.

You can’t eat machine.  Consequence: you will be burned.

Exercise 30 minutes a day.  Consequence: have to exercise 2 hours a day.

Eat 30% of meat, 30% of vegetable, 30% of water, and 20% of rice each day, stay healthy.  Consequence: will eat and drink 2 times more each day.  (In my defense as this student’s teacher, we don’t actually learn percentages in fifth grade!)

Adults must go to work 4 hours a day.  Consequence: must go to work 60 hours a day (with breaks for only 5 minutes).

Freedom of speech.  Consequence: will be stoned to death.

All people must obey (student’s name); if not they will be sent to execution with no trial.

Never eat vegetable.  Consequence: jail for 14 hours.

Read a book every day.  Consequence: jail for 12 hours.

Eat 3 pounds of sugar every day.  Consequence: pay $800.

Do not do inappropriate stuff.  Consequence: will be put behind bars.

No loud music.

Don’t pee on statues.

Do not murder extincted animal because they are rare and special.

Summer vacation should be a vacation.  No summer schools!  Parents will get punished.

No getting married until you’re at least 26.  Consequence: will be divorced by government.

Men cook.

If you kill a person without a reason, you will be thrown down a mountain that is 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles long.

If you steal anything, you will be thrown into the boiling volcano. 

I realized I never got around to blogging about this project last year, so I’ll go ahead and include some laws from my previous class as well:

No one should have more than 8 weapons.

You can’t park your pebirimal (flying creature) anywhere.

No citizen is allowed to be a doctor without permission.  If you do, you’d have to go back to college to study for the doctor degree.

No one is allowed to use electricity for bad things; if you do, you might die of electricity shock.

No adultery or else you’ll get thrown into prison for life and get executed.

No usury allowed.  If you build one you will have to go to jail for 5 months to 1 year and have to pay $8,000 to $12,000.

No collecting taxes.

Don’t spit gum on the ground, or you will have to go through all the trash cans at the park and take out people’s chewed gum.

Every man at the age of 16 must be in the army or else they will get sentenced to death.

Everyone has to go to school by the age of 5 or they will have to work as an apprentice till they are 15 years old.

No swearing, or you will be put in an Anger Management Center for two months not leaving that place.

No being unkind.  If you be unkind for no reason at all, you will not be able to do anything fun inside and outside your house.

Kids are not allowed to go outside when they are 0-7 years old because they are too young to go out and play.

You are not allowed to marry until you are 23.  If you marry younger than 23 you will have to give your husband or your wife away from you and marry another person when you get to 23.

You cannot kidnap anyone unless it is the government doing so with a warrant.

You can’t call a pickle a pickle if it does not bounce, or you will have 1 hour of community service.

Bears cannot be con artists.

Do not build over 2 factories in one family or per person, because the air would get polluted.

Never spy on your own country.  Whoever breaks this law will be execute it.

Do not pick flowers; they are dangerously poisonous unless self-bred.

Trust no one; no one is trustworthy.

Do not make loud noises, or else the animals will come and eat you.

Every boy must go out of the village and live in the wilderness for twenty moons after the boy’s fourteenth birthday, so that he can be called a grown man.  If broken, that boy will not have another chance till he is eighteen.

Do not cause trouble among the people.  Punishment: 5 year imprisonment or death.

Do not steal, do not lie, do not murder.  Penalty: no breakfast for the next day.

Do not harm lions.  Consequence: you’ll be hurt by lions.

You must marry before 26 years old.  Consequence: you will go to jail until you get somebody to marry you.

Students must go to the school after 13 years old; they can have free time till 13.  Consequence: parents will have to go to school if they let their children go to school before 13 years old.

Everyone must eat candy 2 times a week.  If you don’t, you will be whipped.

You are not allowed to harm the national animals and plants.  If you do, you will work with animals for 1 year.

Want to read more unusual laws?  Click on the links below to read my posts about students’ imaginary world projects from other years:

2016

2015

2014

2011

2009

2008

2007

After reading the book Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson, my fifth graders recently completed a project where they created their own imaginary worlds. One section of the project involved writing a list of the rules that must be followed in their worlds. Here are a few of my favorites – as you can see, some of the rules give an interesting picture of what life in those worlds would be like!

Fasten your seatbelt when riding on a unicorn.
Don’t refit the car.
If you murder someone then you will be tortured and all your money will go to the victim’s family.
No road building in the mountain ranges.
You can only talk to the king on Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.
Do not go slower than 200 miles per hour.
Parents are not allowed to tell kids what to do.
All assassins who do not work for the crown will be hanged.
Do not jump off a building. (It has its own consequences and the government will not pay hospital bills.)
Don’t fight or you need to be in a box full of ice for 1 minute.
Everyone will have to discover new species of living things each month; if they don’t, the time will change to each week.
Celebrate springtime.
The public library shall never be noisy.
Crimes are not allowed.
The area around your house must be clean, and your neighbor’s too.
Obey the elders of our country; they are so wise that they can scare your wits out!
Killing is prohibited unless you are being paid by an important person.
Every sugar glider must follow the traffic signs.
No homework.
Do not fire people without any good reasons. If you do, ask the princess and prince first.
Obey the rules.

Want to read more unusual laws?  Click on the links below to read my posts about students’ imaginary world projects from other years:

2016

2015

2014

2013

2009

2008

2007

A couple of days ago, after we had finished reading Katherine Paterson’s novel Bridge to Terabithia, my fifth graders turned in a project where they each had to create an imaginary world. My class this year was exceptionally creative: they came up with worlds populated by rabbits, robots, talking candles, stick figures, otters, ghosts, and only children under the age of 18. Their illustrations involved media ranging from colored pencils to computer graphics, cardboard models to cut-paper collages and stunning watercolor paintings. But as always, one of my favorite parts to grade was the list they each had to write of laws that must be followed while in their world. There were plenty of the usual ones I see every year: don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t litter, don’t smoke; but every year I get a good laugh at some of the more – shall we say – original ones. Here are some of my favorites from this year’s fifth grade class at Morrison:

Do not step in lava.
Always wear blue on Friday.

Do not stay out after 2 a.m. All stores are closed.

You have to tie your hair in a pony or have it down.
If anyone hurts you they have to take you to the doctor. You can’t just leave them there.

Never blow out a candle.
Build with all your might.

Plant a tree when a person dies or is born.

Do not murder, with the exception of ghosts.

You cannot tease robots if they are sad about something.

Always go outside to get fresh air. 

Only use up to ten tissues a day. Don’t waste.

If you have a harmful sickness tell the government and they will put you into custody until you get better.

Do not use powers or transform into a monster inside a house.

Everyone must have clothes/pants/dresses or any clothing on all the time.

You cannot exit at the entrance or go in the city at the exit place.

Be modest.

You have to follow all these rules.

Want to read more unusual laws?  Click on the links below to read my posts about students’ imaginary world projects from other years:

2016

2015

2014

2013

2011

2008

2007

It’s that time of year again. My 5th graders handed in their “Terabithia Projects” a few days ago. We just finished reading Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia in class, and they each had to create their own imaginary world and write up a report about it. One section of the report calls for them to make a list of rules or laws that must be followed in their world. There were plenty of the usual ones that you’d expect (don’t steal, don’t kill, etc.), but like last year, there were some pretty unusual ones. Here are a few of my favorites:

No advertising.

Never take down other people’s houses.

Never have more than one house in each family.

Do not argue.

NEVER eat plants or other unhealthy things. Only eat ice cream and fish.

Make sure to throw anyone who litters or breaks a law in the garbage can.

No kidnapping.

Kid’s can’t go out of the castle themselves.

You have to take good care of your garden.

Do not go without clothes to other places.

At war times, every male 18 and 40 must report to the army.

Defend enemies.

Don’t drink wine while you drive.

No killing animals except for dairy products.

Kids can’t do work (like at a restaurant) until they’re 12 years old.

Look both ways before crossing the street.

Say hello to people you know.

If you are a dragon, no breathing fire for no reason.

Do not free the people in jail.

No going to the king’s palace for no good reason.

You can’t make too much noise.

Take discipline responsibly. e.g. If you get sent to jail that’s what discipline you get so don’t be whiney about it.

Want to read more unusual laws?  Click on the links below to read my posts about students’ imaginary world projects from other years:

2016

2015

2014

2013

2011

2009

2007

Recently, after we’d finished reading Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia, I assigned my 5th graders a project where they each had to make up their own world. One assignment that was part of this activity involved writing a list of laws or rules for the inhabitants of their imaginary world. Most of these were what you might expect – no stealing, no killing, be kind to everyone – but some students came up with some truly creative (and even downright bizarre) ones. I just had to share some of my favorites! So here they are, edited for spelling and grammar:

Thou shalt eat pizza once a day.

Thou shalt not give any entertainment alongside the road that will cause traffic.

Do not kill flies. You may kill fleas, ants, mosquitoes, and other insects in the hunting season instead, or go in the market to get food.

You must not fight in battles. You must only defend yourselves, but you can fight in war.

Thou shalt not throw or leave vile garbage on the street, sidewalk, or anywhere else for whatsoever thy reason.

Thou shalt not give birth to babies before the age of 25.

Everyone in (the land) is equal; only important people are higher.

Thou shalt not throw dirt in people’s ears.

If you injure or kill an earthworm, you shall be put in jail forever.

Thou shalt not smoke, become drunk, or chew betel nut.

Thou shalt not eat vegetables that are poisoned. Such vegetables I speak of are okra and broccoli.

Thou shalt not play dodge ball.

Thou shalt salute thy flag at 3:14:43 a.m. each day.

Every family has to take a health test every year, or they will be reminded to do so.

Factories shall not produce air pollution.

Thou shalt never wear jeans, for it is a sign of bad luck to wear such uncomfortable things.

Thou shalt not aggravate thy older brother.

Want to read more unusual laws?  Click on the links below to read my posts about students’ imaginary world projects from other years:

2016

2015

2014

2013

2011

2009

2008