Gratitude Blog

     What am I grateful for? Well there are a lot of things that I am grateful, like my sister. I know it is probably something you don't hear as often. My sister is someone I am grateful for, and for a lot of things. She is my sisters but, also my best friend. She's seen me at my worst moments, and she's seen seen and sometimes has been in my most embarrassing moments. We always make fun of our baby pictures when we were kids. We mostly laugh at the pictures when our mom use to dress us up alike. Although we sometimes get on each others nerves, we end up laughing about it in the end. She has always been there when I need a shoulder to cry on, or when I need advice on something.
     I am also grateful for my second grade teacher. She would always find a way to make everyone smile. I will never forget the time she got up on one of the tables and started to dance. She was always energetic when it came to finding a new way to teach us.  The year I had her as my teacher was her last year of teaching, she was going to retire. She was the teacher that made the most impact in me. She made me realize that school was more than haveing homework and reading books, school was about having a good time with friends, having memories and creating new ones along the way. We spend most of our lives in school, so why not make the best of it while it lasts?

Article of the Week Impressions

     This week, I learned a lot about different topics that are happening right now. For instance, I learned that millions of bees are dying. They are dying because there was a spray to help stop the zika virus but, bees were affected by the spray too. This is bad because bees help to pollinate flowers, so if the spary is killing the bees, there might be a chance that it will affect the number of flowers that blossom every year. Especially if  the spray is still being spread around to this day.

     I also learned that any form of flexible chair can help students in school. The chairs help them when learning since they are concentrating more. There was a study made to see how it helped kids that had  disabilities. This is good because if more schools use this method when teaching students, the students will be able to concentrate when learning in school.

The Election Reflection

     The election for the next president was this Tuesday, November eighth. As everyone in the United States and probably other countries know, Donald Trump won. Most people didn't expect this result, myself included. The end result was Mrs. Clinton with 228 electoral college points, and Mr. Trump with 290 electoral college points. Many newscasts said that Mrs. Clinton would for sure be the next president.

     The election had a bigger meaning behind it than seeing who was going to be the 45th president of the United States. This election showed us how now many people in the U.S have different opinions on what they want the future of our country to look like. Overall, at the end someone was going to have to win, even if most people refused to accept it.

     When the next election takes place, which is in the next four years, I will not be able to vote. I will have to wait eight years to be able to vote for the next president. Although it sounds like a long time to wait, it will hopefully pass by quickly.

"Still Here"

You may not see me
you may not know me
But I am still here

Family and friends gather around me
They look down and remember me

I’m still here
although its seems like I am not

Investigative Journalism: The Lost Money

"The Lost Money"

     One morning at Heritage Middle School, the eighth grade students were informed by their teachers that someone has stolen the money that was going to go to their field trip at Springfield. Since the cost of this field trip was $80 per student, a lot of money was collected.

     It was catastrophic. Immediately students called their parents informing them of what they were just told. Students were accusing each other for being the culprit.

     At the end of the day, students were informed that it was all a part of our ELA lesson of journalism. The eighth grade students learned that they shouldn't go into conclusions without knowing the full story.

1 Quarter Reflection

Now that the first quarter has come to an end, I have noticed the progress I have gone throughout this quarter. For example, now I have learned a new technique to use when writing an essay. The TIQA technique has helped me in ELA and in other classes when it comes to writing an essay in different topics. Before I learned about this, I wasn't so great when it came to writing essays. Something else that has also helped me is the "Investigation Jounalism". When doing this, it helps me get better at not putting in some of my opinions when writing something. I use to accidentally add in my opinions that I have, but now with this unit, I have gotten use to when it is okay to have bias and when it's not meant to be bias.

I also learned a lot about the world. I have learned how we should appreciate our freedom to choose. I learned this from the book The Giver because in this book, the people in the community had no say in what they could do. In the United States we do have that freedom, but I guess that sometimes we just forget that we are lucky enough to have this right that we don't appreciate it as much as other people that wish they had this right.

Some goals that I have for the next three other quarters in ELA are to learn more on how to write a newscast report and to finish my 10 book challenge. I want to learn more on how to write a newscast report because since I don't know what I want to be when I grow up yet and I chose a career that has to do with writing a report, I would know how to do it. It's a skill that I think will one day come in handy, so knowing how to do it properly is important. I want to finish my 10 book challenge because I normally just read about 5 books every year. So for me to be able to double that amount will just be an accomplishment. I also want to take advantage of this challenge and read other genres that I haven't read before.

The Giver: Film vs. Book

      There were many similarities and differences when it came to the events between the film and the book. One major event that happened in the film and the book was how the Giver, Jonas, and Gabe are the only ones that will be able to see the memories. In the book, when Jonas is about the leave, the Giver and Jonas think about who Jonas can take to Elsewhere when he says “There’s a little female with pale eyes. But she’s only a Six.”(156) This quote shows how Jonas and The Giver were trying to remember of any of the people in the community that have pale eyes. That means that if someone has place eyes, that person can be the next Receiver of Memory. In the movie the Giver, Jonas, and Gabe all have a symbol if they are going to be the next Receiver, like in the book. The difference is that instead of having pale eyes, they all three have a big birthmark on the wrist on their hand. This difference changes a lot of things because Jonas in the book also learns about color this way. The pale eyes also showed us that rule that pointing out the differences someone has within the community was seen as rude and not polite. In the movie, having the birthmark didn't really have a big part except with seeing color or anything major like that except for the fact that it might be more obvious if people see that the Receiver of Memory and the in training Receiver of Memory have the exact same birthmark on the exact same place.
      The ending of The Giver between the film and the book had some major differences with some minor details, but it also had some similarities. In the book, we see how the memories the Giver has given him help him along the way because “ Then it flickered suddenly, and he felt tiny tongues of heat begin to creep across and into his frozen feet and legs. He felt his face begin to glow and the tense, cold skin oh his arms and hands relax. For a fleeting second he felt the he wanted to keep it to himself, to let himself bathe in sunlight, unburdened by anything or anyone else,”(177) This quote shows how the memories helped him get through the coldness in the ending. Also, throughout the whole ending, the book always stayed on Jonas's point of view, it never changed. In the film, we saw the point of view change. We saw what had happened to the community when all the memories were being released to all of the people there. This did help us out when watching the film because we were able to see how the memories affected them. If the change of point of view didn't change,most people that didn't read the book wouldn't see how there was a chance that the community might change to how it use to be, with the memories.
      Although there were many differences between the film and book, I was able to get a better understanding with the film. In the film, I was able to visually see how the story was unfolding. I saw all of the different point of views which helped me see what the other characters were doing/thinking while Jonas was in his training and learning about memories. I also saw how the friendships that Jonas had with the other characters affected him later in the film. In the book, I didn't really see what happened to everyone else which might have been a way for the readers o find out more rules and get to know the community a little better. In the book I had a hard time on understanding on how the journey went when Jonas was leaving the community. In the film, even though it was different, I was able to visually see how the journey went and I saw what happened back in community which was a big part since we saw how the community reacted to receiving the memories.