The Curse of the Untied Shoes

Kayley Klein

Table of Contents

Diagrams ---------- 19-24

Glossary ----------- 28

APA Resources ------ 29

It was a sunny day at Washington Elementary school when Ms. Lawson’s 1st class was playing at recess.

“Ms.Lawson! Ms.Lawson, look I learned how to tie my shoes this weekend!” yelled Lizzie, as she was pointing at her new shoes with laces. 

“That’s amazing, Lizzie!” Ms. Lawson said looking at her shoes.

Carter noticed that all his friends knew how to tie their shoes but him, so he was determined to learn. That day he decided it was time to learn how to tie his shoes. 

In class the next day Ms.Lawson was writing on the board before school started and Carter runs into the room and exclaimed, “I CAN TIE MY OWN SHOES!” 

“That’s great Carter, just no running in the classroom,” Ms.Lawson said turning to see Carter showing off his brand-new laces. 

When the bell rang for class to start Carter looked down and noticed that his shoe was untied! So he quickly bent down and tied his shoe before circle time. 

The day went on and Carter noticed that every hour his shoe was untied again, and again, and again!

“It has to be a curse,” said Lizzie. “I haven't seen anyone else shoe come undone like that! You even double tie!”

“You’re probably right Lizzie, but how do I break the curse?”

“I heard curses can only be broken if you catch a leprechaun on a full moon in February!” exclaimed Lizzie.

“Woah,” Carter said in awe. “Where did you hear that?”

“On TV, where else?" said Lizzie. "Too bad it’s November, you’re going to have to be cursed for THREE MONTHS!”

Carter was very upset at this news. He thought for a minuet and realized there has to be at least two ways to break a curse. He asked Lizzie to help him find different ways to break the curse

First they went to Adrian but the only thing he could come up with was trying to get rid of the curse like you do hiccups. Carter tried holding his breath AND drinking water upside down. Neither worked, but he was determined.

Vera told him that if he found a lamp that had a genie in it he could just wish the curse away. The rest of the day at school he rubbed every lamp he could find in hopes of a wish granting genie. Carter couldn’t seem to find one.

Carter got a lot of suggestions from his classmates on how to break the curse but nothing ended up working for him.

Then he realized he hadn’t asked Ms.Lawson for her curse breaking idea yet.

“Ms.Lawson, I need your help,” said Carter defeated.

“Are you having trouble with your classwork?” Ms.Lawson asked.

”No I’m having trouble with my shoes. You see they keep coming untied after I tie them! I think I’m cursed, at least that’s what Lizzie said. I was wondering if you knew any ways to break a curse!”

“Mmmmm,” Ms.Lawson said. “What have you tired to break the curse so far?”

“Lots of stuff! I drank water upside down, I tried making a genie come out of every lamp I could find, I event hunted for leprechauns! No luck! Look they’re even untied again,” Carter exclaimed as he bent down to tie his shoes.

When Carter stood back up Ms.Lawson was smiling he could tell she had an idea.

“Oh please tell me you know how to break my curse!”

“I think I might have figured it out,” said Ms.Lawson. “Go back to your desk we’re going to break this curse as a class.”

Carter was so excited he could hardly contain himself as Ms.Lawson called the class to attention.

“Alright class, today we are going to learn about tying our shoes. I have noticed that a lot of our friends are learning and I think it would be super fun if we learned together as a class.”