My Third-Graders Find Aladdin’s Lamp

In last month’s Saudi-Aramco World magazine, I found a very interesting story prompt that had been used in the 1800’s. It was to imagine if YOU found Aladdin’s lamp. I thought that sounded pretty exciting, so I decided to try it with my third-graders. I let them get into small groups of two, three, or four, with their best friends. When the stories were finished, there were far too many mistakes (such as how to write quotations correctly, which they hadn’t even learned yet) for the children to make the corrections themselves.

So I took all of their stories, and typed them up myself, correcting all errors, and printed them out. I had every child in each group draw a picture, and then I mounted the stories on colored construction paper of each group’s choice, together with their illustrations too bad I don’t have a digital camera yet, or I’d include some of their photos). We hung them up for two weeks in the front hall of our school. My kids were very proud of them. Here is one of the best stories:

We Found Aladdin’s Lamp
By John, Adam, and Dan (names changed),  three eight-year-old boys, all native speakers

One winter, we found a lamp. It was dirty. We rubbed it and a genie popped out! We were amazed. We said, “Can you give us three wishes?”

Adam’s first wish was to fly. John’s first wish was for no school. Dan’s first wish was to be rich.

So, the genie said, “Okay, I will grant your wishes.”

All three boys shouted, “Thank you!”

Less than one second later, their wishes came true. Adam flew to London and had a vacation. John took a plane to London. Dan took a plane to London, to a place made out of gold. The three friends were separated. They forgot about the genie. They forgot about each other.

Two months later, Adam flew to the Sahara desert and found the genie. He asked the genie where he could find John and Dan.

The genie said, “In London.” So, Adam flew back to London, and the three friends were reunited.

The two friends flew on Adam’s back, and went to the Sahara desert to find the genie again.

The genie said, “You still have two wishes.” John’s second wish was to be a walk through walls. Adam’s second wish was to be a super star. Dan’s second wish was to be the fastest runner.

All of a sudden, Dan grabbed the lamp, stealing it, and went back to his palace. John and Adam were in shock! So John and Adam flew to Dan’s palace, but when John went inside, Dan shouted, “SECURITY!” John went to jail, but was able to just walk out, since now he could walk through walls. Then he was able to find his friend Adam again.

Meanwhile, Dan asked the genie, “Can I have my third wish now?”

The genie said, “YES.”

Dan said, “I want to have a room full of gold.”

Right after that, John and Adam were able to steal the lamp back. Then Adam’s third wish was to travel through time. John’s third wish was to teleport. John used his third wish to break the security code into Dan’s palace, and go to Ryan, accompanied by Adam. Luckily, Dan turned good again, and said to John, “Let’s have a cup of tea.” Dan brought the cups of tea. Then the three friends celebrated, and were reunited.

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