Short Hills: End of Week 3 Student Blogs

"This camp is so fun! I take Robotics and Minecraft. The teachers are so nice here! This camp is the best place ever." -J.P.

"I really enjoy this camp because of several things. The teachers are really nice, during breaks and activities we do a lot of active things. There's also a day to get wet, it's called Wet Day! If you like legos, then you should really checkout the Robotics class. Also, you can meet a lot of new friends here!" -S.B. 

"This camp is really fun. We get to build cool stuff. In the morning I'm in Robotics class and in the afternoon, I'm in Minecraft. My most favorite creation that I built in Robotics class was the Explorer robot. In Minecraft, my favorite part was building and creating my house. So far, I've had a good time at camp!" -R.A.

"In Video Game Creation class, you create your own video games using special commands to program the objects to do things. But before you can create the objects for the game, you first need to create spirits. Otherwise, your objects won't have any faces. You can customize and upload pictures for the spirits. Currently, this is my favorite class!" -A.B.

"This week has been amazing so far! I am taking Video Game Creation and Brain Training at International Ivy. The camp is really great! The counselors are so kind and generous. I hope we can come here for another week. International Ivy ROCKS!" -S.N.

"I am doing an incredible and fun video game in my Video Game Creation class. You get to make your own video games and play them. The Video Game Creation class teaches you how to make your own game. I took Video Game Creation 1, and I'm currently taking Video Game Creation 2. Video Game Creation 2 is much harder than 1, but 2 is more fun than 1. This video game class is awesome ! I recommend this class for people who want to have fun and like being creative." -E.H.

"Future Engineers and Inventors is an awesome class. Yesterday we made these really cool bouncy balls. We had to wait for the bouncy balls to dry but at home I got to bounce it all I wanted to. One time we made catapults! We had a competition to see who could launch Sour Patch Kids in a bucket and I won! I love this class and its my favorite!" -N.P.

"Video Game Creation 2 was fun. I liked how I was able to learn to make games that I play at home sometimes. Although my class was class, I felt like I got more individual attention. Overall, I had a good experience and I would recommend this class to others." -N.W.

"Future Engineers and Inventors was my favorite class. On the first day of my class the teacher talked about so many people who invented stuff." - N.R.

"International Ivy is a great place to be. I'm learning so much from my teacher Nicole. With the help of the Future Engineers and Inventors class I can become an inventor when I grow up. I like this class and I love International Ivy summer camp. - E.P.

"In Minecraft you can build, hunt, fly, and blow things up. My favorite part is building. Once, I blew up part of a TNT wall and I replaced it with iron ore, gold ore, coal ore, and solid gold. - B.C.

"I did the Video Game Creation class. On the first day we made a game called Catch the Clown. On day two we made Evil Clutches. On day three we made Galactic Mail. On days four and five we got to make out own games! I really enjoyed this class!! - M.S.

Science Class

Before in science we poured water into a tornado jar.  Then we put red food coloring into the water.  Then we put glitter , and closed the cap, and shook it.  It was cool. 

Sincerely,

N.N.

I learned all the 44 presidents in Brain Training.  It may sound hard, but it is pretty easy.  Everything is fun, but in some way it is educational.  We use pictures for presidents.  For example, Lincoln, is a link shaped as "N".  

**A.L.

memorizing the presidents using pictures!

By: R.G.

Here is an essay from one of our Writing Class students.  They were enthusiastic to share as many pieces of writing as they wanted for our blog.  

Jimmy and Amanda’s brother, David, had the biggest science experiment due on Friday at Legreen High School, NJ. David had to store and observe a raspberry-colored poison. It had to stay cool in the refridgerator and not be taken out of the beaker it was given in. David thought that this science experiment would lead to his first A+.

In the middle of winter …

        “It is SO dry!” screamed Jimmy.  “Does anyone have water? I am so thirsty!!” he exclaimed. Everyone could hear him throughout the bus.

        “No, none of us have any water!” exclaimed David, Jimmy’s older brother.  It was Jimmy’s bus stop.  David reminded Jimmy not to touch his big poison project at home.  David really wanted to get an A+ on this project. He was going to have a sleep over at a friend’s house. Amanda, Jimmy’s older sister was also having a sleepover but at Jake’s house. Jimmy’s parents were at work, so Jimmy was now home alone. 

        After getting off the bus, Jimmy walked inside the house dying of thirst. He quickly opened the fridge and pulled the first drink he saw.  He thought it was raspberry lemonade, but he had accidentally grabbed David’s poison. He drank half the glass and put it aside for later.

        He sat down to watch TV after he quenched his thirst with ‘raspberry lemonade’.  He changed the channel to Teen Nick and there was a show on that he didn’t like. sees a show he doesn’t like.  His stomach growled madly. At first, he didn’t think anything of it.  He just thought that it was due to skipping lunch that day.  As he changed the channel, he felt sicker and sicker.   Eventually he was throwing up in the bathroom and doing other things every three seconds. He had to get to the phone to call a friend.

Soon, he found a bowl to throw up in. He carried the bowl to the phone so he could call his friend, Jake, to come help him. Jimmy called Jake and asked Jake, Jake’s five siblings, and Amanda come to his house and help him. Hester, Lester, Peter, Amanda, Walter, Jake, and Nicole went straight to Jimmy’s house. They were very smart so they thought they knew what to do.  Once they got there, they went straight to work.

        First, they asked Jimmy what he did since they last saw him, which was on the bus.  He explained how he walked in and drank the ‘raspberry lemonade’ from the fridge.   Then he told them that he went downstairs to the TV room and watched the Teen Nick channel. He explained that his stomach growled but he thought it was just because of skipping lunch. In reality, it wasn’t about the missed lunch, it was about the poison.

Next, they asked Jimmy where the drink that he drank was. Instead of the poison, he pulled out a glass of the real raspberry lemonade from the refrigerator.  They inspected it, and checked the carton it came in. Everything was fine. They even tried it just to make sure there was nothing wrong. They were all fine. Jimmy was perplexed because he didn’t know why they weren’t feeling sick. He didn’t know what was happening so he still assumed it was because of the missed lunch.

        Jake and Jimmy were looking around the chair in front of the TV for anything peculiar. The other six were looking upstairs for anything different too. They decided to go watch TV shows they all hate like Jimmy was doing when he first felt sick. They watched one show on TV they all hated and it was called Dora. They watched three episodes and besides their boredom they felt as fine as fresh soap.

Suddenly, Jimmy had started to feel different like he was turning into an ugly creature. He knew he had to speak up fast and he knew that the creature he was turning into was not humanoid. The creature he was turning into was raspberry colored and was very hairy. He was like a feverous gorilla with a lot of hair everywhere. He felt really weird like he was almost turning into the mane of a horse. He couldn’t believe it. For once in his life, he was scared and didn’t know what to do.

        Jake called Jimmy’s parents and told them about Jimmy’s transformation. As Jake was talking to Jimmy’s parents, Peter, Walter, Nicole, and Amanda found the glass that was half filled with poison. Amanda tried the poison to make sure it was bad and she started to turn into a different creature just like Jimmy. Jake quickly learned of what had happened and told Jimmy’s parents as they were still on the phone. Hester dialed 911 immediately and the ambulance took forever because it was too slow. These people lived in a very small town with a hospital so small it only had one old and slow ambulance.

        Jimmy’s parents were rushing to the hospital just to see their son and daughter. Jimmy wasn’t there by the time his parent’s got there. Jimmy’s parents were perplexed that Jimmy wasn’t there yet. When Jimmy and Amanda finally got to the hospital, the hospital got permission from the parents to start the procedure.

First, Jimmy and Amanda took anesthesia to knock them out. Then, with Jimmy and Amanda they squeezed all the creature’s blood out and inserted new blood to cure them. They threw out the blood in a special place leaving some in a container so they could investigate later. Amanda and Jimmy got their own rooms so that they could adjust to the new blood and rest.

        During that time, family came and friends visited. David came to the hospital at night with his parents to see his brother and sister hurt. He was sad to hear of what had happened. He also got mad as he remembered that he told Jimmy not to touch the poison. David got told the story beginning to end and then understood why Jimmy and Amanda drank the poison. Eventually Jimmy and Amanda recovered. Life was normal again and Jimmy and Amanda became healthy with they’re new blood. Even though David got an F- for his experiment, he was glad to have his brother and sister alive!!!!!

In writing we created videos of plays!  It was fun to do that.  So far writing is a good class.


-D.G.

Making one of our videos!

Today we did a lot of experiments.  We learned what atoms are.  We mixed dish soap and acid.  It was very hot and dangerous then after a few minutes it wasn't as dangerous.  We had to wear gloves.  I had fun doing experiments! 

*S.P.

Two Articles

Two Articles

By: R G

Two articles called “A Dog Year” by Jon Katz and “Climbing the Ladder” by Joseph Bruchac are very interesting articles to me. “A Dog Year” is about a strong bond developed between the speaker and his two yellow Labrador retrievers. “Climbing the Ladder” is an article that talks about an important Abenaki family memory. I like “A Dog Year” the most because it has vivid imagery, has a strong bond between characters, and includes un-human characters.

            The two articles have a lot in common. They are both written in the first person. That means that they are written from the point of view of the speaker. Also, they both have memories. The article “Cleaning the Well” is a memory from when a child was three and he and his grandpa checked the peak. The article “A Dog Year” has a memory when the speaker remembers when he got his two dogs. Finally, they both have strong bonds/relationships in them. There is a great relationship between the grandfather and the son in “Cleaning the Well”. They go on the roof when the son is three and enjoy the view. In “A Dog Year,” the speaker has a strong bond with his dogs as he has raised them since they were young. Apparently, both articles have a lot in common.

            Though they have a lot in common, they have a lot of differences. “A Dog Year” is to entertain the reader with a story of loving man’s best friend and creating strong bonds with others. “Climbing the Ladder” informs the reader about the Abenaki people and the grandfather’s tradition of checking the peak. “A Dog Year” also uses a lot more vivid imagery to express what the dogs do and how the bonds between man’s best friend and man stay strong. Next, “A Dog Year” has dogs, an inhumane character not used in “Climbing the Ladder.” A dog makes the story seem different and better. Finally, a lot more dialogue is used in “Climbing the Ladder” as the grandfather and the son speak keeping their bonds strong by being with each other. As you can see, there are also a lot of differences.

            I like “A Dog Year” more out of the two because of the vivid imagery, strong bonds and use of man’s best friend, the dog. The author uses vivid imagery to express what the dogs do all day long and their love for the speaker. I understood what a dogs day is like by painting pictures in my head as I read this article. Also, “A Dog Year” is my favorite because of the strong bonds created between the speaker and the dogs. He cared for them and loved them as he raised them his whole life. These dogs were different and better as they could stop forever sometimes. Also, they didn’t play catch like most dogs. Man’s best friend was nice and caring for their owner also. Most of all these dogs were special. The speaker was lucky to have them and raise them from puppies to dogs. Now you understand why I like “A Dog Year” more.

            I like “A Dog Year” the most because it has vivid imagery, strong bonds between characters, and man’s best friend and the freedom. The poet is free to use varieties of characters, create strong bonds, and paint a vivid picture. I think that Jon Katz is a great descriptive writer who took something from everyday life and added detail to make it more interesting. I learned how to use detail properly from reading “A Dog Year.”

First Ivy Essay

D G

7/16/12

Writing Workshop

1^st Essay

            This essay is based on the poem “Cleaning the Well” by Paul Ruffin and “I love the look of Words” by Maya Angelou. Both of these are very similar and different in many ways. My favorite of the two is cleaning the Well. There are many why I like that poem the most.

            There are many similarities between the two poems. First, they are both first person narratives. They are spoke by a person who says “I”. Second, both poems use vivid imagery in multiple instances. In cleaning the well, “My feet rasped against cold stone, toes selecting unnatural shapes, curling and gripping, raising them to my fingers.” The Final similarity between these 2 poems is that they both have similies. In I Love the look of Words, here is a simile. “When I have stopped reading, ideas from the words stay stuck in my mind, like the sweet smell of butter.”

            There are a lot of differences between these two poems. First, I love the Look of Words is in stanza form while cleaning the well is not. Second, Cleaning the Well is a bit longer than I love the Look of Words. Cleaning the Well is 43 lines and I love the look of Words is 18 lines. Finally, Cleaning the Well is in a story form while I love the look of words is not. Cleaning the well tells a tale of … cleaning a well!

            My favorite poem of the two is cleaning the well. First, Cleaning the well tells a story. I like poems with stories because I can be immersed in that story while it still is a poem. Second, while Maya Angelou is still an amazing poet, I feel that Paul Ruffin did a wonderful job explaining, writing, and creating a picture of this poem.

            Overall, these two poems had many similarities and differences. I liked them very much. From these two poems, I can conclude that Maya Angelou likes to compare two objects or thoughts in her poetry and Paul Ruffin likes to tell stories in his poetry. I have learned a lot from this essay.