I memorized the presidents today. To be honest, I have never memorized them before. It was hard, but the pictures for each president helped me. I feel like I am getting smarter.
Tangrams is a good way to expand your brain. I had to fit them so they would make an image. It was very difficult, but eventually, I got it!!
-D.C.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Morning Break
Today in Morning Break we had some snacks and played two games. We played Duck Duck Goose & Indian Chief. I was a guesser but I did not win :(
-R.G.
-R.G.
Writing Class
Today in writing we acted out 2 play excerpts. They were called "Harvey" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs". We caught it on tape.
-R.G.
-R.G.
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!!!!!
The Extraordinary Play: Hamlet
Here is an example of some creative writing from one of our students in the Writing Class. They were allowed to share some of their outside works as well. Please read below and share their love of writing!
By:
By:
R G
It was a
normal day at Greenville High and Eric was rushing to English class. Eric is
usually late to every single class except Math as this was his favorite
subject. 10th Grade English was a hard class, and as he ran, Eric thought
what they were doing today in class. He sat down next to Joey and Connor and
started to talk like crazy. The end of day bell rang and Eric walked to the
locker room for sports.
Eric
disliked all available sports choices at Grenville High. Of these choices, he
chose to play football. He changed into gear and left for the field. Today was
a big game and the Greenville High Geckos lost to the Franklin High Frogs. He
walked home and was upset at losing the game.
The next
day as Joey and Eric joked around in the Arts Hall, Eric saw a sign about a
play informing students that five people could participate from Greenville
High. The play was Shakespeare’s, Hamlet
and Eric was excited about the opportunity of playing the lead part. He had
seen the play with his family before and loved it. As he thought more about the
lead part, he was scared that people would make fun of him if he didn’t do well.
He had never acted before and he wanted the lead part.
For the
rest of the day, he was all excited and the Geckos won the second football game
in a row. He ran home and told his dad, Jake, about all the good news. Jake
thought of how funny it would be to see Eric playing the part of Hamlet in one
of Shakespeare’s original plays. “Eric has no acting career and is aiming for
the part of Hamlet,” muttered Jake. “That’s crazy!” Jake thought of how much of
a failure his son would be so he decided to abandon helping Eric.
The
auditions were tomorrow so he begged Joey and Connor to come with him and try
out. They didn’t care for anything having to do with acting, but they followed
Eric. The auditions took up the whole sports practice and about 30 minutes of free
time. Sadly, the producers needed time to think about who was going to be
chosen. Eric couldn’t get the results for a for a few days. He got home and his
mom started asking Eric how the auditions went. Eric told his mother that the
results would be mailed to them.
A whole week
went by with no news of the auditions. Then on October 24, mail came from
Highland Studios. The results said that he had earned the lead part with his perfect
movement, accent, and prepared costume. Eric was overjoyed at learning this. He
was glad about this great news and knew he was going to have a great time with
this experience.
When he arrived
at school, he heard the most depressing and saddening news of his life. Both of
his friends didn’t get a part in the play. He felt like the loneliest person on
Earth. He thought they were perfect for the part they tried out for. Instead,
Sally Scooter and Jerry Jester got those parts. He was going to complain to the
producers why they didn’t get in.
Eric just
was just about ready to drop out of the play because of his sadness. He needed
to choose between two important things: dropping out to be with his friends, or
taking the lead part in the biggest play of the year. Eric chose the once in a
lifetime experience, taking the lead part. After he made this decision, his
friends were avoiding him all over school.
Even
though he couldn’t be with his friends, he felt like he made the right
decision. He did not know what to do after making the hard decision. His
football performance and participation percentage were becoming very low, as
Eric didn’t go to practices. All his grades (especially Math) were being
lowered and everything was turning horrible in Eric’s life. He was a mess.
Finally,
one day, his mom noticed that he was extremely sad. She promised that he would
get his friends back, but he didn’t think so at all. His friends were totally
avoiding him. For example, they would sit on the other side of the classroom as
far as they could get. Neither liked the mess. He didn’t think that he and his
friends would be back together. Eric thought that it was hopeless. That was not
true.
To help him
solve this problem, she thought of something that she couldn’t afford. She decided
to buy Broadway tickets. His mom searched everywhere for tickets to Broadway
but couldn’t find any. Finally, their next-door neighbor didn’t want tickets
she bought for a show. She gave them away to Eric’s Mom for free. They were
going to the Lion King, the perfect
play to show Eric and get him inspired and excited.
Finally,
the day of the Broadway show came and his mother surprised him with the tickets.
That evening, they left at 5:30 so they were not late. When Eric got there, he noticed
how beautiful Broadway was. When the play started, Eric was ready to enjoy his
surprise. Eric fell in love with the play. At the end, he clapped really hard
and noticed that everyone was clapping for the lead actor. Suddenly, he was
driven to do his best.
That
night he couldn’t stop dreaming about that show. Everyday he practiced and
practiced with his mom to remember the lines of the lead part. Opening night
was in one week so the producers and director were having rehearsals literally
everyday. He couldn’t contain his excitement with all the preparation going on
of all this. He would finally start a new dream of an acting career.
Everyone
was so excited and willing to help him. Eventually, he got a costume and he
practiced his movement. Everyday at least four hours of practice and he would
remember his part. Finally, it was showtime and he was ready. He arrived two
hours early to help set up the sets and get the props ready. One hour before
show time, he put on his costume and started reciting his lines. He was ready
to do his best so he practiced his parts in the back of the stage.
With one
minute before show time, the producers went on and introduced everyone.
Finally, the curtain dropped and he took a deep breath. Eric smiled and went on
stage for his part. He did a great job as Hamlet and everyone else didn’t mess
up. The show was fabulous and people were laughing at the funny parts, clapping
all over, and crying when someone died.
At the
end, Eric and his peers took a bow. Eric felt so happy and complete! Surprised,
he saw Joey and Conner running up to him with his mom. They were all so happy
to be back with each other again. They explained that they came back because they
realized that Eric needed time to practice so he couldn’t talk to them all the
time. It was a great reunion. They were all friends again and everyone was
happy! Then his mom and dad walked up to him, smiled, and were pleased with his
hard work! Eric smiled back and they all had a family hug! His dad told him how
much he regretted not helping Eric and thinking how horrible Eric was going to be!
The Lost Island
Today in Writing Class, the students were asked to practice writing dialogues. Here is something that one of our students actually wrote during the exercise in class.
(A young boy, Tommy Smith, is going to visit his aunt and uncle. He is going alone and on his private jet, only with a pilot)
Tommy: Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!
Parents: Bye, Tommy!
(Plane takes off. 20 min. into flight sudden beeping noise comes on. Tommy goes to pilot to see what it is.)
Tommy: What's that noise?
Pilot: WE'RE GOING DOWN!
Tommy: WHAT?
Pilot: We're going DOWN! WE NEED TO JUMP!
(Pilot tosses parachute to Tommy and pits his own parachute on and jumps)
Tommy: What just happened?!! O don't even know how to skydive!
(Plane goes down and Tommy blacks out)
(A young boy, Tommy Smith, is going to visit his aunt and uncle. He is going alone and on his private jet, only with a pilot)
Tommy: Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!
Parents: Bye, Tommy!
(Plane takes off. 20 min. into flight sudden beeping noise comes on. Tommy goes to pilot to see what it is.)
Tommy: What's that noise?
Pilot: WE'RE GOING DOWN!
Tommy: WHAT?
Pilot: We're going DOWN! WE NEED TO JUMP!
(Pilot tosses parachute to Tommy and pits his own parachute on and jumps)
Tommy: What just happened?!! O don't even know how to skydive!
(Plane goes down and Tommy blacks out)
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.”
The Two Poems
The Two Poems
By: R G
There are two
poems that we read in class. “I Love the Look of Words” is a poem by Maya
Angelou and “Cleaning the Well” by Paul Ruffin. In “I Love the Look of Words,”
the speaker compares eating popcorn to reading a book. In “Cleaning the Well,”
the speaker recalls a childhood memory of the day his grandfather asked him to
clean the well. “Cleaning the Well” is my favorite for many reasons. In this
essay, I will provide the similarities and differences of the two poems and
state which one I like the best and why.
The two poems have
many things in common. Both of these poems are written in the first person.
That means that both poems are written from the point of view of the speaker.
Also, vivid imagery was used in both. “Cleaning the Well,” Lines 11-13: “The
sky hovered like some pale moon above, eclipsed by this heavy red face
bellowing down to me not to dally.” “I Love the Look of Words,” Lines 11-14:
“like the sweet smell of butter perfuming my fingers long after the popcorn is
finished.” Finally, they both have a strong idea for the poem. A comparison is
a great thing to write about and a memory is a great moment to experience on
paper.
The two poems have
many differences too. “Cleaning the Well” takes you back in time to a moment in
someone’s history that was worth writing about. “I Love the Look of Words”
stays in the present and takes two different things and shows the similarities.
The poem by Maya Angelou has similes comparing eating popcorn and reading a
book. But the poem by Paul Ruffin doesn’t contain any similes as it focuses on
creating a picture. “Cleaning the Well” provides a clear and important message.
Finally, the layout/format of the poems are different as one has more stanzas.
As you can see, the is a huge difference between the two poems.
I like the poem
“Cleaning the Well” the most out of the two mostly for a few main reasons.
First, this poem takes you to a different time period where things are
different from the present. You can learn about how the people in the past had
to get their water from a well and clean their own well. I also like that this
poem has a certain theme/ important message that proves that everything cannot
be done perfectly. This is proven in lines 34-37. I like this poem the most
because of the great format. It’s still a poem, though it is not separated into
many stanzas and doesn’t have a rhyme scheme. Finally, the poem uses vivid
imagery to paint a picture that I can clearly see in my mind.
I
like “Cleaning the Well” more because of it’s time period, vivid imagery,
important message, and poetic freedom. The poet is free to choose a certain
format, provide a certain message, paint a vivid picture, and take you back in
time. I think that Paul Ruffin is a great poet who can take different ideas and
make them into a piece of writing. Though I do not know who he is, I appreciate
the knowledge he has given me through this poem.
Second Ivy Essay
D G
7/17/12
2nd Essay
This
essay is based on two articles. The first one is named “A Dog Year” by Jon
Katz. The Second one is named “Climbing the Ladder” by Joseph Bruchac. My
favorite article of the two is “A Dog Year” by Jon Katz. The reasons why I like
that article is because it talks about man’s best friend and because it is a
story about bonding.
There
are many similarities between these two articles. First, they are both about a
true experience and are both first person narratives. The articles are both
memories or have memories in them. Second, they have a lot of positive thoughts
in them. In the article “A Dog Year” there is a positive memory about handing
the dog to his daughter. “I personally don’t believe there’s a more rewarding
moment for a parent than handing a happy, squirming, doe-eyed Lab puppy over to
a small kid.” Third, both the articles talk about relationships. In the article
“Climbing the Ladder” it talks about the relationship between the narrator and
his grandfather. In the article “A Dog Year” it talks about the relationship
between the narrator and his two dogs.
There
are many differences between these two articles. First, the article “A Dog
Year” is longer than “Climbing the Ladder”. “A Dog Year” is 29 paragraphs while
“Climbing the Ladder” is 17 paragraphs. Second, the article “A Dog Year” is
wrote to entertain the reader with this exciting story. The article “Climbing
the Ladder” is wrote to inform the reader about the Abenaki people’s strange
characteristics. The final difference is that the article “Climbing the Ladder”
has dialogue but the article “A Dog Year” doesn’t.
My
favorite article of the two articles is the article “A Dog Year”. First, it is
about man’s best friend, the dog. Any article or story that involves a dog
always interests me. A dog is a fun, playful animal. Second, this story
involves a lot of bonding between the narrator and Julius and Stanley. The
reason I know they bonded is because the narrator knows their every move.
“After some years—Stanley was seven and Julius eight—we moved almost like a
school of fish, the three of us veering in one direction, then another.”
All
in one, these two articles were very interesting. They had many similarities
and differences. To me, I think that Joseph Bruchac and Jon Katz can illustrate
their memories of these situations very well with the amount of detail they
used.
First Ivy Essay
D G
7/16/12
Writing Workshop
1st 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.
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