How to Hack Life

H O W t o

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H A C K SODA

by the sssssuper fun kidssss of division 3

L I F E

Copyright © 2018 The Writers’ Exchange This book was created by Division 3 , Ms. Nickel’s grade 4/5 class, at Queen Alexandra Elementary in the spring of 2018.

The Writers’ Exchange gets inner-city kids excited about reading, writing and their own potential through mentoring and creative projects like this chapbook.

All Writers’ Exchange programs are free for the children and families we serve, so we could not exist without the support of amazing donors, including Social Venture Partners Vancouver, Marily Mearns, Linda Louis, the Waterbury Foundation, Megan Abbott, the City of Vancouver, Sasamat Foundation, TELUS, British Columbia Arts Council, Richard and Suzanne Cole, Bernard MacLeod, Nancy and Ted Maitland, BPS Wealth Management at CIBC Wood Gundy, John and Nina Cassils, Judy Gale, Lynn and Gene Gerwing, the Grayross Foundation held at the Vancouver Foundation, Lindsay Mearns, the Edith Lando Charitable Foundation, Pep and Bev Lough, Mark Tindle and Leslie Cliff, the Wolrige Foundation, the Van Tel/Safeway Credit Union Legacy Fund, and CLICK (Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids Society). Thank you.

207–877 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. v6a 1r8 vancouverWE.com Please join us in acknowledging that we live, work, learn and play on the traditional lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Coast Salish people.

Writers’ Exchange mentors: Amy, Chloe, Jasmine, Jill, Kat, Maia, Samantha, Taylor and Wendy Design and layout: Setareh Ashrafologhalai, setarehashraf.com Production coordination and editing: Melissa Edwards Creative lead: Haley Wells

The Wolrige Foundation Van Tel/Safeway Credit Union Legacy Fund support Writers’ Exchange in-school projects.

Generously donated the printing of this chapbook.

INTRODUC TION

By D.M.

This book is about life hacks. A life hack is a small cheat to make your life a little easier. Our class wrote about our problems and then brainstormed life hacks for them.

C ONTENT S Justice (Theatres/Snacks) 2 Cami (Phone Pocket) 4

Arianna (Homework/ Home) 16

Abbey (Erasers) 5

D.M. (Earphones/Pencils) 17

Manuel (No Ads) 6

Elijah (Healthy Food) 18

Max (Laugh Channel) 7

Aydin (Backpacks) 19

Naomi (Nails/Money) 8

Derrick (Tea) 20

Joseph (Chores) 9

Kaj (Art) 21

Jordan (Lego/Tacos) 10

Braiden (Pokémon) 22

Fiona (Spiders) 12

Makena (Headphones) 23

Kendra (Phone Saver) 13

Ohiyesa (Cold Pop) 24

Danielle (Erasers/ Siblings) 14

JUS TICE 2 Life Hacks

Theatre Fixer

Put a pillow in your bag

Get in line

If you end up like this

Use your pillow tall

short

Scenario You’re 13 years old. You’re at the movies with your friends and you all have pop and popcorn. You go to theatre #8 because you are going to watch Peter Rabbit and all of a sudden someone sits in front of you and they are super-duper tall.

The Hack Next time you go, bring a super-stuffed pillow and put it in your bag.

2

Snack Pack Be careful!

Get ingredients

Put on medium

Put it all in a pack

Scenario You are watching TV and you get hungry. Your mom’s out, your dad’s really busy and the rest are sleeping.

The Hack You get everything set up and then you don’t have to get up during your favourite movie or TV show.

3

CA MI 1 Life Hack

Phone Pocket Scenario You have to wake up early and you have nowhere to put your phone so you can set your alarm.

The Hack Just follow these simple steps and you will have your own phone pocket.

1. Take a piece of paper or fabric and fold it in half (make sure the phone fits).

2. Glue the sides together, and decorate it if you want.

3. Use push pins or double-sided tape and pin/stick it to a wall or your closet. Voila! Pretty and practical.

4

A BBEY 1 Life Hack

The Hack to the Eraser Scenario You don’t have an eraser at the end of your pencil, and there’s no other eraser around. You are at school and doing a pop quiz, and you get something wrong . . . and there’s no eraser to be seen!

Dun dun dunnn.

The Hack Get a pencil case and put three or four erasers in it. And maybe some pencils and pencil crayons. Keep it with you.

5

M ANUE L 1 Life Hack

I Hate Ads So Much!

Scenario You’re at home and you get comfy on the couch and put the controller on the windowsill. Then an ad pops up and it’s two minutes long.

The Hack If you have more than one device or TV, turn on the same show at different times (so the ad doesn’t pop up at the same time). When the ad pops up, you can watch the show on your other device so you don’t get out of your zone!

6

MAX 1 Life Hack

Laugh Channel

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

I’ll do the dishes

No, I will

Scenario You are watching your favourite TV show when your parents start to shout. You have to pause your TV show to go into the kitchen and you see that they are arguing.

The Hack Get a tape recorder and tape your laughter on it. Put it wherever they are arguing. Then they will say, “What are we doing, we are arguing about a tiny problem.”

7

NAOMI 2 Life Hacks

Sharpie on Your Nail

Sh

ar

pi e

Scenario You get Sharpie on your nail.

The Hack You can use nail polish remover to get the Sharpie off.

Money Hack Scenario When you have a problem saving money, like when your mom says, “You can’t spend your money,” and you do anyways.

The Hack Put the money somewhere where you’ll forget it.

8

JO SEPH 1 Life Hack

Chores Be Gone

Scenario You don’t like doing dishes. You don’t like goo on the dishes.

The Hack Put plastic wrap on the dish, eat on it, then take the plastic wrap off.

9

JOR DAN 2 Life Hacks

The Lego Saver

Scenario Losing your Lego people.

The Hack Build a box out of Lego and put your Lego people inside it after you’re done playing with them.

10

Tacomaker

Scenario It’s dinner and you don’t want to wait for your tacos.

The Hack Your friend hides in a box in your kitchen with taco shells and ingredients. When you are hungry, you knock on the box and choose your toppings. The friend shoots the taco through a slit in the box onto your kitchen table.

11

FIONA 1 Life Hack

Spiders Scenario We were in the gym playing games, then my friend screamed, “Ahhhhhh, there’s a spider!” I kept screaming, then our teacher told us to stop. One of the boys said, “What’s going on?” and we said, “There’s a spider!”

The Hack Find a ball and throw it at the spider, or smash it with the ball. Or find a Frisbee and cover it up.

12

K ENDR A 1 Life Hack

The Phone Drop Scenario You are running with friends like normal people do and suddenly your phone drops and you say, “No! My beautiful phone!”

The Hack If you wear a coat with no zippers, you could use Velcro and stick it on the inside of your pocket. Then your phone won’t fall out.

13

DANI E LL E 2 Life Hacks

The Pencil Eraser

Scenario You don’t have an eraser when you’re doing a test and no one will share one with you.

The Hack Before the test, wrap that eraser clay thing around the pencil. Make sure the clay is smooth. When you need to erase, you can pull out a piece and just rub your pencil against the paper. You can buy the eraser at a craft store.

14

The Sibling Trap Scenario Your sibling takes your stuff.

The Hack

My sister Door open

I called the last cookie!

Yes! Mine anyways.

Me

Last cookie

Carpet covers button

Carpet

15

A R I ANNA 2 Life Hacks

No Homework Scenario You have to do your homework (at school) and there’s no time.

The Hack Stay after school for 20 or 30 minutes to finish it.

Call Home Scenario You’re at school when you’re sick.

The Hack Tell the teacher to use the phone to call home.

16

D . M. 2 Life Hacks

Earphone Untangler Scenario You’re in a hurry and you want to get out your earphones to listen to music but when you try to get them out they’re really tangled and you just end up giving up.

The Hack To keep your earphones tidy, you need a black document clip. Wrap your earphones around the handles to keep them together.

Pencil Hack!

Scenario You have a test at school and you’ve lost your pencil! You try borrowing one from the teacher or your classmates but they just tell you they don’t have an extra.

The Hack Try to keep an extra pencil or keep a pencil case in your desk or bag.

But if that doesn’t work, tell one of your friends to keep an extra pencil for you.

17

E LIJA H 1 Life Hack

Eat More Healthy Foods

Scenario You’re trying to eat healthy food like apples, bananas and grapes.

Also, potatoes.

The Hack Ask your mom to buy grapes. Wash grapes. Eat grapes.

18

AYDIN 1 Life Hack

Backpack Hanger

Scenario You’re at the gym and your shoes are super dirty and your mom will get mad.

The Hack You can hang your shoes on your backpack if you have laces.

19

DER R ICK 1 Life Hack

Lavender Tea Scenario It is 11 p.m. and your tea is ready. You have been wearing your favourite purple PJs. You tucked yourself into bed but you can’t seem to sleep.

The Hack When you see your tea on the side of your table and you try drinking it to fall asleep but it doesn’t work, you have to find some lavender. You put lavender into the tea and drink or smell it, then you will eventually fall asleep!

20

K AJ Abstract Art

21

BR A I DEN 1 Life Hack

Pokémon Training Scenario When your sister is always trying to beat you at Pokémon.

The Hack I keep on training my cards to get stronger by fighting their opponents. I trade cards with my friends to help my Pokémon get stronger so I have too many cards and I can beat my sister in Pokémon battles. I always beat her.

22

M A K ENA 1 Life Hack

Headphone Straw Scenario When you need your headphones and they are tangled.

The Hack Grab a straw and cut the middle. Wrap the headphones around the straw and put it in your bag.

23

OH IYE SA 1 Life Hack

The Pop Cooler

Scenario You are watching a show. You have snacks and you go to grab a pop but it’s warm.

The Hack Wrap your pop in wet paper towels, then put it in the freezer.

It only takes 15 minutes to make your pop cold!

24

AUT O GR A PH S