Poetry Response

Nope

I put a piece of cantaloupe

Underneath the microscope.

I saw a million strange things sleepin’,

I saw a zillion weird things creepin’,

I saw some green things twist and bend–

I won’t eat cantaloupe again.

~Shel Silverstein: Falling up

The poem i am reading is about someone putting a cantaloupe under a microscope and finding weird creatures on it. I think the author wrote this poem to confuse people because it is weird how there would be creatures on a cantaloupe. I also think the author wrote this to be funny so that the poem can appeal to kids. I like this poem so Shel Silverstein did a good job writing it!

This is what i visualized while reading this poem:

I visualized this because it is exactly what the poem is like. A person looking through a microscope at tiny bugs on a cantaloupe. Shel Silverstein did a good job to make me visualize what the poem looked like.

This poem reminds me of text to self because I see bugs in fruit all the time. I can relate to the person in the poem because i also think it is disgusting when bugs are in food. I think this could also be text to world too though because I am pretty sure other people have seen bugs in food before and they think that is disgusting too.

2nd Quarter reflections

*In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? 

I think the area I did the most improvement on is writing. I am thinking this because our class just wrote an argumentative essay and I think I did well at it. One other thing I think I did good at is reading books. I think Iv'e read a lot more books then I did in 1st quarter because this quarter I joined battle of the books. Overall, I think I did really good in this quarter.

*What is something you have accomplished since the new year that you are proud of?

Something I am proud of doing since the new year is joining battle of the books. I get to do battle of the books with my friends and it is fun. I am really proud of joining battle of the books because I usually do not like reading books and joining battle of the books is a really big step for me. Plus, there's a pizza party at the end regardless if the school wins or looses!

*What has been the most challenging part of 2nd Quarter for you and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

The most difficult part of 2nd quarter for me was getting my grades up. I fixed this by studying more but my grades are still in the middle. What I mean by that is sometimes my grades are high, but sometimes my grades are low. I really hope I cab get all high grades because I dont want to fail school. I am really trying to keep my grades up

1-21-16

The title of my book is Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II. It is a nonfiction book and it is by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Kimberly Kirberger. This book has many settings so it is taking place in a lot of different places. There is no main character in my book since it is focusing on a lot of different people's stories. There was not really any conflict in my book but it does have stories of overcoming obstacles.  It was a lot of moods in this novel and those moods included happy moods, sad moods, excited moods, etc... One life lesson in this book is that you can overcome obstacles no matter what you do. I liked this book because it had stories of life love and learning. There is a lot of stories in this book. What I remember most about this book is the lessons it taught because they really had an impact on the reader. I would recommend this book to middle schooler's or just anyone having a tough time. You should go buy this book because it doesn't cost a lot and it has really good lessons in it.

Blog for 12-18-15 Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul

Prompt #1: Do you like what you’re reading? Why or why not?


I like what I'm reading because it's helpful. What I mean by its helpful is that it has lessons on how to face all of life challenges. This is helpful because whenever you think you can't face life challenges you can read this book and maybe get a little bit inspired to get up on your feet and punch life right in the face. This book is not only about facing life's challenges. It is also about facing life changes, illness and disease, emotional hardship, and etc. That's what makes this book good. It can be for everyone. Old or young, anyone can relate to this book.

Prompt #2: In 4-6 sentences, describe several insights you’ve gained from your reading.

One insight I learned in this book is that life is not always fair. Sometimes life doesn't go the way you want it to go and you just have to deal with it. Sometimes you just can't control life. But on the other hand another insight I learned from this book is that always have hope. Yeah, life can go bad sometimes, but don't give up hope. Sometimes if you have hope things can work out good in the end.

Prompt #3: In few sentences, summarize what you read today.

What I read today was insights and lessons. Insights and lessons is about different lessons and insights in life. This section of the book is very interesting and you can learn a lot from it. I think reading this section would definitely be worth it because overall it is a very good chapter/section. I like the whole entire series of these books and I can't wait to read more of them. I would definitely recommend you read this book series. 

Exploring Non-fiction Reader Response - 11/30/15

The book I am reading is Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III. What I have read so far in this book is the friendship chapter. This chapter is all about friendship and how to be a good person. I really like this chapter because in my opinion it is the best because I can learn a lot from it. The genre of this book is Memoir/Non-fiction. This book is nice so far, and I can hope to learn more from it. I can tell the authors are very good at detail because the book is easy to understand.

"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same." This quote is interesting to me because it shows and tells you what a true friend is. A true friend is someone who gets you, and who cares about you. This quote is saying that a true friend is one who knows about you as a person, and one who loves you no matter what. I can relate to this quote because I know my friends are true friends, and they fit the description of the quote.

Some things I have learned so far are how to be a good person, how to be responsible, and how to deal with different issues. I am not likely to forget these things in the near future because they are the things that make a good person. If you be responsible you will be a good person. Dealing with different issues can help you get through life. These things are good for everyone to learn so they can be good people too.

Commented on:

 Amilee's blog

Darya's blog

Amelia's blog

  

Blog for 11-11-15 Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul

The stories The Gossiper and Betty Ann share the theme of regret. The author shows the theme of regret in The Gossiper by a lesson. The author compares gossip to chicken feathers blowing in the wind. The author talks about how when you spread gossip, you cannot take it back, just like trying to collect chicken feathers that have blown away. In this way the author shows that the character cannot take back their actions and they feel regret because of that.

The author shows the theme of regret in the story Betty Ann by feelings. In the story an adult regrets bullying a classmate when she was younger. In the story the author says "We tell ourselves it takes more than that to send someone over the edge. Maybe so, maybe not. But there are no erasers." This means that the author is saying that you may think you need to put in a lot of work to make someone feel bad, but you really don't need to. 

This ties into regret because the quote says there are no erasers. No erasers means you cannot take something back, and in this case that something is bullying. The author is talking about how you can regret bullying someone, and that you will never be able to take it back.

Narrative Twist

“Revenge”

Her decision had been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation. She had known she would be asked, she had decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right. The man opened the door and out came the lady. Everyone cheered. The priest came out and the man and the woman promptly got married. They had a big celebration with lots of joy and happiness. After the marriage, the king ordered everyone out of the arena to go home. Everyone went home, even the princess. At home, the princess got in bed and went to sleep.

5 years later the princess was going along with her business when all of a sudden the doorbell rang. At the door was the princesses old lover! She opened the door and saw that he was there with the lady he married from the arena.

“Hello!” he said.

“Hi.” said the princess.

“I just wanted to inform you on some good news.” said the man. “My wife and I have moved into a new house!” Said the man.

“Great news!” said the woman, even though on the inside she was madly jealous of him.

“Ok, well that is all I wanted to share with you. I should probably get going anyways, I drove a long drive to get here.” said the man.

“Ok, bye.” said the woman.

“Bye!” said the man.

After the man left, the woman went to her room to think. “Why does he have to get a lover and I don’t!” the woman said. “I should have never picked the woman door for him!” As the woman was thinking she came up with a deliberate plan. She would poison the man and his wife. A few days later she drove over to the man’s house and luckily he wasn’t home. She tried to open the front door but it wouldn’t budge. She went to the back door to check it. There she found that the back door was open just a crack, and it was open just enough to open it. She was lucky that he left his back door open. She snuck into his house and poured some cyanide into the wine. She got out of the car and sped off quickly. When the man and his wife got home, then opened the wine and drank it. They had spit the wine out because it tasted funny, but it was too late. They had already swallowed some of the wine. They dropped to the floor and died.

A couple of days later the king went to go check on the man because he wanted to see how he was doing with his marriage.

“Hello?” the king said as he knocked on the door to the house. No one answered. Getting concerned, he knocked again. “Hello!” he screamed. When no one answered, he busted down the door, and what he found inside was horrible. He found the man and the woman lying on the ground dead. He screamed as he was terrified. He ran off back to his house. The king sent a forensic team to the house to try if they could look for any evidence. There at the house the forensic team found a bottle of cyanide. They thought to themselves if this could be evidence. They checked the bottle and found the princess’s fingerprints! The forensic team told the king about what had happened. When the king  found out it was his daughter he freaked out. He asked her, “Why would you do this!”

“Because I was jealous!” Said the woman.

“That is not a reason to kill someone!” said the man.

“Well I could not take it anymore!” said the woman.

“I am going to convict you for this.” said the king. “I love you but I cannot believe you did this!" Several days later the woman got convicted and had to go to the amphitheater. She was deathly terrified of what door she would pick. The king raised his left hand, and the princess opened the door. Out came a vicious tiger and it started ripping the woman to shreds. Everyone in the area screamed, and the princess died a horrible death, just like the man and the woman she had killed.