Prediction Reflection

Author's Note: In the reading lab Ms. Hanson read us a 3:15 story and had us predict what was going to happen to Jamie. This is what I thought what was going to happen.

I think that the wind is coming from the reflecting pool and that she is going to see Mrs. Prat in the mirror repeating the phrase "Don't take anything from the store." I also think that Jamie has started to feel really bad so she is going to run to the store and go tell Mrs. Prat what she did and Mrs. Prat is going to be sitting in the big plush chair and hold up the jewelry and say "I know." and smile.

Character Development

Author’s Note: In the readin lab we leearned about Character Development. This is My Character Development piece with the books Deep Down Popular and Pictures of Hollis Woods.

A shy girl, practically hiding in the shadows. Her crush, the most popular guy in school, suddenly gets a bad limp and has to start wearing a leg brace.  Her teacher picks her of all the other students to help this boy while his leg is injured. Her dream is coming true. From then now, her friendship with him grows and she completely transforms into a much more confident person. In Deep Down Popular  by Phoebe Stone, Jessie Lou is the girl who changes from shy to confident around her crush, Conrad Parker Smith.
           
At first, Jessie Lou has no clue what to say to Conrad. To her, he’s way too popular to even acknowledge her. She just thinks that she’s the girl in the back of the room, in a completely different world then Conrad. Jessie Lou has liked Conrad since they were little, as it says in the book “In second grade I covered Conrad with kisses whenever I could. In third I gave up my swing or my cookie or my bus seat coming home. By fifth grade I never said anything to him at all”. You see, as time goes on she becomes farther and farther from him. So by the time she’s in sixth grade, during the time of the story, she’s shier than ever.
           
After Jessie Lou’s teacher picks her to help Conrad, it’s whole new step. She has to talk to him now. Soon she even relieves that. When they both started to hang out, Jessie Lou just talked the bare minimal to her crush, like when they were first walking home together. What broke the ice was when Conrad’s bike fell into the river and she pulls it out. From then on they start to really communicate. The more she’s around Conrad, the more she seems to talk to him. Their friendship grows until the end, when Conrad kisses her on the cheek. “Conrad’s kiss feels like a little butterfly fluttering against my cheek” as she says and for any girl, their crush kissing them is a dream come true.
           
This change is like Hollis from Pictures of Hollis Woods, who is a girl who has been from foster home to foster home. When she is sent to Josie, she could care less. She barely wants to be there, but soon she starts warming up to Josie, their friendship becomes very strong. By the end of the book, Hollis would do anything to be stay with Josie because she finally feels wanted. Hollis and Jessie Lou change in almost the same way by growing a strong friendship.
           
The shy girl comes out of the corner and starts being herself around her crush. Just by having more confidence, Jessie Lou completely changes her relationship with Conrad. Throughout the book, she completely changes for the good and her shyness completely floats away. By that point, she is like a completely different girl.

Patriot's Pen

Author's Note: This is my Patriot's Pen that I did in the writing lab. This piece is about the pro's and con's about our very own U.S.A

Hey Everyone! I'm from the future, and I know what happens after you sign that piece of paper you have there, so I just wanted to let you know what happens later, in case you want to change some things.

First off, some really good things happen like 1. We all have freedom, 5 major ones actually, freedom of speech, religion, freedom of the press, petition and to assemble peaceably. It's pretty awesome, it takes a little while to get used to over the years but later it will work, somethings that get changed are that woman will have more freedom and even later colored people will too, because right now you are just benefiting yourself's and other white men which is really, really unfair. Colored men and woman get to vote from the time that I'm from which is really nice, I don't exactly approve of the president but that's not what you should be worried about. Secondly, in the future, Education is much, much better. Kids now use a device called computers, which has all of the resources you could ever need and with these, kids do way better in school. For example, if a student wanted to know what a capital of a state was or how stars were created, all they would have to do is look it up on his or her computer. It's very nice to say the least but it's not all fun and games, there are some pretty bad things going on later in the future. 

The first bad thing I would have to name off is Discrimination. Most people accept the fact that colored people are equal to us, but others not so much. Some people just see colored people differently, they tend to categorize them as drug dealers, street walkers or even terrorists.  

Conflict Resolution

Author’s Note: In the Reading Lab we learned about conflicts and resolutions in a novel. I chose to analyze the conflict and its resolution in the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Harry Potter, is a boy who was born to two wizards. He has gone through a long journey of six wonderful years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but each year is chances of living are getting smaller by the second. With his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, the three of them battle Lord Voldemort, the evil wizard, and his deathly followers, the death eaters. When Harry was young, Voldemort murdered Harry’s parents and disappeared after his attempt to kill Harry as a baby. At his last year at Hogwarts Harry finds to know that there is a way to kill and defeat Lord Voldemort, to find and destroy all six Horcruxes, which are well hidden and defended by the Lord himself. Harry must find these Horcruxes, that Lord Voldemort created for him to live forever, without him knowing and kill the Lord before time runs out.

Throughout the book, Harry finds these six Horcruxes, the Sword of Gryffindor, the Slytherin locket, the Hufflepuff cup, Marvolo’s ring, Ravenclaw’s diadem, Tom Riddle’s diary, and Nagini. To kill Voldemort, Harry must destroy these objects that Voldemort created. After finding and extinguishing the six Horcruxes, Harry thinks that he has destroyed all of them. But there is a seventh one, Harry himself. In order to kill Voldemort Harry must die, and so he does, but at the end he was not dead, using the stone of resurrection,  he wakes up and kills Lord Voldemort. There are so many details that are put into this book in order for people to understand all of these different objects that were made for this series. The life of Harry Potter, is different and hard to understand, but it is also very interesting. Harry Potter, is a wizard of full potential is known to all of the world. His story is told from one generation to the other, and each time it is told, it never gets old.

Cause and Effect

Author’s Note: This piece was written for a cause and effect assignment on the novel Cinder.

In the novel Cinder I believe that the climax could be when Cinder finds out she is one of the moon people, or a Lunar. This event like most has both a cause and some, in this case major, effects.  

Since Cinder is a cyborg her stepmother can volunteer to be researched on to try and find a cure for the plague.  Cinder relationship with her stepmother is tenuous at best so when one of Cinder’s sisters contracts the plague the stepmother snaps and sends Cinder away.  And the tests performed at the research center lead Cinder to find out she is a Lunar.

Now being a Lunar might not have mattered, if the Lunar’s queen wasn’t visiting Earth.  Or if this visiting monarch had no problem with Lunars living in secret on Earth.  Unfortunately the queen was both visiting and intent on getting all Lunars to live on the moon.  So of course Cinder is found out.  This gives her two options, run or kill the queen. And in typical sci-fi fashion Cinder chooses the latter.

When she storms into the ball Cinder plans to tell the Emperor of  the Queen’s intentions but he when he doesn’t act she is forced to take matters into her own hands.  To make a long, gruesome story short she kills the queen, is imprisoned, escapes and leaves for Africa.

So Cinder’s stepmother always assumed that she’d be rid of Cinder forever by way of sending her to be a research subject.  But her choice was never meant to give her a reason to move to anywhere but a shallow hole in the ground.

Sleeping Adventure

Why did I have to wake up so early? Oh yeah, because I had a plane to catch.

“BRITTANY MARIE! GET UP WE HAVE TO GO!” yelled my mother.

“MOM GIVE ME FIVE MORE MINUTES” I hoarsely yelled back.

“NOW BRITTANY” she responded.

I sighed, I didn’t want to wake up yet I was still really tired and it was 4 in the morning, the sun hasn’t even come up yet! I looked outside, then at my suitcase, then at my blankets. Oh how conferrable they were and how enchanting, they were just begging me to stay and sleep for a good 5 hours more. I sighed again and I got up out of bed, my legs feeling like noodles, and I started to the bathroom.  I looked at myself in the mirror, ‘Wow look at that bed head’ I thought to myself as I started brushing out all of the knots in my hair. After my hair was done I went back to my room and started getting dressed

In a nice long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt and shorts.

“ARE YOU READY?” my mother shouted from upstairs.

“YEAH MOM” I said as I headed upstairs.

As I made my way slowly up the stairs I went through my mental checklist, Phone, check. Tablet, check. Toothbrush, check. Clothes, check. Everything else, I think check. I nodded to myself as I made my way to my mother’s bedroom.

“Hey mom, I have everything and I’m ready to go.” I said as I looked up and saw her on the bed still in pajamas.

“Ok mija I will get up in a minute” She replied.

I stood in the doorway with absolute shock on my face. How can she still be in bed! Why is she still in bed?! In her pajamas no less! Why did she even wake me up! I stood there for about a minute, trying to calm myself a little bit, and then headed to the staircase.

“Where are you going? Stay up here and wait for me.” She called

“Nah, I think I’m going to go back to bed” I told her, trying my best to hide the anger in my voice.

“What do you mean you’re ‘going back to bed’ we are leaving soon” She said with a hint of anger.

“Well, you’re in your pajamas and still not up so I guess I should be the same way” I snapped

I heard her sigh “Ok fine” the bed groaned “Here look, I’m up now so just come sit in here, I will be ready in five minutes.” She said

I smiled “Ok mommy”

She got dressed and we headed for the car and started our journey to the airport.

“Hey mom, is that it up there?” I asked pointing up ahead to the large building on the horizon.

“Yup we are almost there” She said smiling.

“Good because my butt really hurts” I laughed

Once we got there we got our stuff out of the car and headed inside. We headed to a machine that gave us our tickets and weighed our bags, and stared heading for the terminal.

“Mom, I think we are going the wrong way, the ticket says A-56 this is A-26.” I said

“Brittany, I think you are right” She said as she looked at the ticket. “You lead”

Once I got us on track we realized we only had 10 minutes until the plane started boarding. We rushed to the terminal and to our surprise we got there just in time. The attendants checked our bags and we got on the plane. First we were headed to Cincinnati.

“This is a very nice plane” I said as I looked around.

“Very nice indeed. Have you got everything you need?” She asked

“Yeah I got my book, my tablet and a blanket” I said as I held each one up as I named them.

“Good mija, now go to sleep you are going to need your energy, our next layover time is 5 hours” She said as she took out her book. I groaned as I laid my head on her lap and drifted off into sleep. I awoke about an hour later and somehow at our next terminal.

“Mom? How did I get here?” I asked as I tried to get my bearings

“What do you mean? You walked here sweaty.” She said, confused.

“Don’t you remember? We got off the plane and you said you were hungry so we got sandwiches and then came here and you have been playing on that tablet since then” she explained.

“Mom, I just woke up. I don’t remember any of that all I remember is falling asleep on the plane.” I said, as I looked down at the tablet in my hands.

She stared at me in shock. “So you’re saying that you walked all the way to the restaurant, ate a whole double decker sandwich, and played on your tablet while sleeping?” She asked in shock .

I burped and laughed. “I suppose so”

“You are one strange child” She said shaking her head.

“ Thanks mom, really thanks.” I said sarcastically.

She pulled me into a hug and smiled, “You’re very welcome sweaty”

I rolled my eyes and decided to go back to sleep. I awoke again only in a different airport.

“Don’t tell me” I groaned.

“Oh god, were you asleep again when you came in here too?” She asked?

I sighed, “What adventures did I take this time?”

“Well, you went to the bathroom, you ate again, you flirted with a boy and you have been texting for about an hour now.” She said.

“Wow…….. I wonder if I got that boys number.” I said as I looked through my phone.

“Oh god Brittany.” She said rolling her eyes.

“Was he cute?” I asked giggling.

She sighed and paused for a minute. “Yes, he was cute, I think you took a picture with him”

“Cool” I said. I looked through my phone and found the picture with a random stranger boy, a cute random stranger boy I might add. “Sweeeet” I said looking at the picture. I wonder who I was texting. I looked at my inbox and found that I was texting a boy named, Felix. I don’t know a Felix so I assumed he was the boy, my assumption was right. Apparently we had been texting each other about ourselves and to my surprise he ended up living only a couple doors down from me.

“Wow” I said out loud.

“What?” My mother asked.

“Oh…nothing” I said as I started texting Felix again.

“We are going to board the plane soon” She said.

“Ok good, maybe I can sleep I am sooo tired” I yawned.

“You have got to be joking! You have been sleeping almost this entire time!” She said shocked once more.

“Hey! Sleep walking, eating and flirting take a lot of work! I have to keep my strength up” I said smirking.

“Now boarding Flight B-23, Now boarding Flight B-23 zone 2 I repeat B-23 Zone 2”

“That’s us” I said as I grabbed my luggage and headed on the plane.

Book retelling

                           Wurhering Heights Book Advertisement

                                          By: Brittany Aiello

Heathcliff is a wealthy man with everything he’s ever wanted money, carriages, things, except he is missing one thing, the love and affection of the women he loves. What lengths will he go to win her over?

Genera- Romance, drama, realistic fiction/historical fiction.

Author- Emily Bronte

 I recommend this book for girls mostly for the romance and drama but boys could possibly learn a thing or two from Heathcliff.

Symbolism Project

Symbolism For Bath Night

Semantic Devices

Semantic Devices

Alternatives to Drilling in Alaska

 Author’s Note: If you went up to a person and asked them if they think it was ok to drill for oil they would give you one of two answers, a yes or a no. They would also give reasons why they chose that answer. Well, that is exactly what I am doing in this next essay.

There has been a lot of debate between the democrats and republicans about whether or not to drill for oil in Alaska. The republicans think we should because it could dramatically lower the price of gas and oil but the democrats think we shouldn’t because it could destroy our wildlife refuges. Well, I am one of those people who don’t want the republicans drilling for oil. 

If we did drill for oil all wildlife refuges could be disturbed and animal lives could be destroyed, leaving animals in danger of dying or even worse extinction. Also, the drilling might not yield much of anything, thus leaving the ground damaged and not able to grow any plant life for a long time. Another reason why we shouldn’t drill is because it could potentially take years to get a significant amount of oil to even use. Sure if we drill for oil it could employ many more people but at what expense? Our wildlife, our lives and even our children’s lives in the future. 

Instead of drilling for oil we should come up with more efficient ways to get around in our cars and any other source of transportation. Like solar panels, if we used solar panels we would be saving large amounts of gas money and we wouldn’t be polluting the air with as much carbon dioxide. We could also charge our car batteries; many people around the world are already using this method and are saving so much. 

I hope the republicans don’t drill for oil in Alaska’s wilderness. The consequences of drilling could be catastrophic. Endangered animals, rare plants, and even a part of the Inuit cutler could be utterly destroyed. So please, leave the refuge alone.

Character Development

“Where Am I? Who am I? Why am I so scared?” These are the words of Thomas from the book Maze Runner By James Dashner. Thomas was taken by W.I.C.K.E.D as a test subject for a major disease; throughout these tests he develops and becomes stronger as a person.

In the first book Maze Runner Thomas is very feeble and unstable for what he is about to face. First, he finds himself in a small dark box and is scared out of his mind. He is trying very hard to comprehend what he is doing there. After a certain period of time the box opens and he finds himself among many teenagers and some adults in a forest area. Many of the teenagers try to prepare him for what he is about to face; Thomas in neither physically nor mentally ready. Once the first test starts he starts to doubt himself and his self-esteem is damaged, but as he goes on his friends help him regain that and Thomas and his friends past the first test, but Thomas is still trying to get the movement of everything as he now is going to face The Scorch Trials.

 In The Scorch Trials Thomas has regained his self-esteem and is now ready to face anything. Although he starts to question his mental stability when he sees how fast his friends are dying out. In this mental state he starts to become delusional and very moody to everyone and he starts to think that everyone there is going to kill him. He then started going on a rampage trying to injure as many people as possible so they wouldn’t hurt him. As this is going on, his friends devise a plan to help Thomas and what they come up with is very bad but it works. One of his friends pretends to commit suicide I front of Thomas. Thomas then snaps out of his mental state and tries to convince his friend not to do it. Once the friend sees that Thomas is back to normal they continue through the trials. By the end of the book Thomas is now determined to get out of here and try to continue his life back home, but alas, there is one more thing he has to do in The Death Cure.

The book The Death Cure Thomas and a couple of his friends have made a plan to get out of this facility and back home. Once inside, he is concealed in a cell and he waits there for a number of days. Throughout this period he goes through many stages: he becomes depressed; delusional; he starts to hear voices; he becomes suicidal and then he becomes enraged, but throughout everything he can’t help but think of his friends and family. This in turn, gives him courage; strength and determination to get out of the facility. After awhile he is released and he commences with his plan, but somehow the guards at W.I.C.K.E.D find out he is planning an escape and try to prevent him from escaping. Thomas being determined as ever, he and his friends get out and start a new life.

Many kids go through life where they have to problem solve just like Thomas. They also may have mixed emotions or may go through something tough. From reading this book, kids could learn how to handle these situations.

Divorce

Author’s Note: You hear about or see kids who are struggling with divorced parents. How hard it is on them and their life. “Nightshade” makes a real connection with kids all around about how hard it really is for these kids.

Many children, like myself, have divorced parents. In the book “NightShade” By Andrea Creamer, the author tells readers how hard it really is for these kids and their life being stuck in the middle of an endless or civil battle.

Kids go through many stages and may act very different every day. Most kids act like they are content with their life but the reality is that they are very sad and worried. That’s what happened to the main character, Natalie. Some kids take their worries to school and they don’t focus on their work and are depressed all day. That’s another thing that happened to the main character, she was always depressed and not focusing on her school work.  Other kids take notice of these actions and don’t say anything or even ask ‘what’s wrong?’ The parents have an affect on the kids emotions as well As you might know, this problem also affects their life in general.

Children are missing out on their childhood life because of their worries. Some also seem to blame one or both of the parents for the divorce. Kids start to hate their parents telling them that one of them wasn’t good enough to the other or they mistreated each other. Natalie did the same thing, she started to yell at her mom for the separation and to make matters worse, Natalie's friends sided with her! Friends also might interfere with your problem because they care.

Friends are a good thing to have when experiencing problems. Friends listen and they try to give positive feedback. When the Natalie was going through this, her friends helped her and tried to understand what she was going through. All friends might not want to know but most friends try. Just like my friends did; not all of them wanted to know but they cared. When I was going through the similar problem; my friends where always there and they saw how hard it really is to go through something like that.

I and many others have struggled with this little problem, but we manage to live through it and conquer the world and hope people understand.