Reading Details

Mon: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pgs. 33-46 15 mins
Tues: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pgs. 46- 57 20 mins.
Weds: Portfolio 1 hr.
Thurs: Portfolio 30 mins.
Friday: Portfolio 30 mins
Saturday: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 10 mins. pgs. 57-63

Reading Times

Mon. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson pgs 182- 209 25 mins
Tue Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson pgs 209- 234 40 mins.
Thurs. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson pgs 234- 255 20 mins.
Sat Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson pgs 255- 278 30 mins.
Sun. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pgs 1- 33 35 mins.

I went to Life of Pi book discussion and I'm using my passes this week!

Song

http://www.metrolyrics.com/a-ball-of-earth-lyrics-beecake.html

^lyrics^

Ball of Earth by Beecake is one of my favorite songs ever! That's why I chose to analyze it. What I notice in the first verse is the consonance with the letter "t" such as in "night", "light", "still", and "stare". This makes the song sound very clear and crisp and also gives it a little bit of harshness to it- but not much. The theme for the whole song is realization, loneliness, yet with happy moments.

 The words "Steal the night to a light that’s still far away; You’re still further" are at the beginning and the end of the song which, in my opinion, adds drama and emphasis. Also, in that first verse there is an internal rhyme with "night" and "light". Anyways, that was fun! Maybe next time I'll do a Taylor Swift song....

~Emma <3

Reading Times

Last week I picked up the book Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. I started reading it in class and I really liked it. A girl named Lia who just heard her best friend died. It was sad, but I liked it. After first reading it in class, I read at break, at home, and anywhere else. I think Lia deals with the problems of a normal teenage girl in more extreme ways than most. She constantly starves herself and thinks she needs to be skinnier all the time even though she weighs 99 pounds. Her goal is 90 but she is already way too small. Her parents sent her to a therapist and they tried to help her but they could not. She fakes her weight so her parents won't send her back.

I think it's sad that she just wants to be the skinniest possible because she can really endanger her health. There are much better ways to lose weight than to starve yourself, and she doesn't even need to lose weight because she is the skinniest girl she knows, yet is still not happy with herself. Well, anyway, I am enjoying the book even though it seems like I'm not.

~Emma <3

Reading Times

Tuesday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson: 35 mins. pgs 90- 101
Wednesday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 20 mins. 101- 112
Thursday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 45 mins. 112- 142
Saterday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 30 mins. 142- 160
Sunday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 20 mins. 160- 182

Research Paper

For our new project thingy, I decided to rewrite and revise my research paper. I decided to focus on sentence fluency and formatting. My sentences are choppy and hard to understand, so that is a big thing that I need to work on. I formatted my citations list wrong and embedded my quotations wrong, too.

The reason I chose to do this paper is because it was fun for me. I liked how we got to chose our own topic that interested us. Some of my sentences are not clear and don't make much sense. I have a "Dating Spiderman" quote that I need to fix, too.

Reading Times
Wednesday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 10 mins.
Thursday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 1 hr. 10.mins.
Sunday: Wintergirls By: Laurie Halse Anderson 1 hr.

Plagiarism

Jane Goodall just wrote a new book titled "Seeds of Hope." Which is good, but when the book was about to get published, she noticed that up to sixteen pages of information was not in the book. She claims that she did not know this and it was a mistake. Although it may have been a mistake, it is still a very serious problem.

She did not give credit to a lot of websites like "Wikipedia" which means that she borrowed their information and used it in her own work. If she did not credit them , it would be like stealing or saying that the work that the other person did was her own. To fix this mistake, she needs to go back and give credit where credit is due. It is the right and respectful thing to do.

<3 <3 Emma~

Ma’Shingayi

When Babamukuru stepped out of that car of his, all somber looking, I knew what had come to pass. My poor Nhamo. Dead. My only son. The pain was, it was unbearable. My heart would surely break from all of the grief and pressure. I was no longer crying, I wasn't sobbing either. Noises that were not human came up from my mouth. I knew nothing other than that my dear son, Nhamo, was dead. There was a ringing in my ears, I knew that I must have been a mess from dropping on the ground so suddenly, but I did not care. I would never see my dear Nhamo again, never hear his words, even if he spoke little. Oh! I did not feel the will to live anymore, but then I realized that I still had mouths to feed. I must go on, even if depressed.

Now they are saying that we must send Tambu to that place of death? I will not have it. I must keep some of my children living, and with me, for I shall grow even more depressed. I will die if she goes, anxiety and sadness will rule my life conducting me like a band director at a concert. I will never know a happy moment even when the sun is shining, my days will be dark. Tambu wants to go off and learn, but has she thought of her old mother? No. I want my baby to stay with me, or we both shall die. 

Nervous Conditions

Okay, so the first part of these projects did not go so well, but I promise to get better. I got behind and procrastinated, and I am wrong for that. Well, anyways, I liked making the character bookmark because it helped me organize my thoughts and keep up with the characters. I also liked looking up vocabulary because it helped me understand the book better and learn new words such as vehemently and caning. Well overall I think that I need to do much better work and keeping up with things.

Reading Times
Monday: 10 mins. Nervous Conditions
Wednesday: 30 mins. Nervous Conditions
Thursday: 60 mins. Nervous Conditions
Sunday: 60 mins. Nervous Conditions

Paper Summary

1. At first, I did not get a good start on my paper. I was lagging behind, but, I caught up. It was hard to do, but I managed. Some of the hardest parts for me was telling if the source was reliable or not. I tried to tell if it was or not, but I always ended up doubting myself and the source. The easiest part was the actual writing. I kind of ranted a bit, but I think I did it quite well, considering that I am me. If I could do anything differently, it would be to start off better. No suggestions, you're a good teacher.

2. I received very good feedback from peers and Dr. D. I listened to their advice and acted on it. Thanks to all that helped me make my paper better and was nice doing so.

3.  My weak points would be organization and dragging out. I tend to drone on about only one subject and get everyone bored. Not a good thing to have on papers, but sometimes it just slips. I also have a hard time letting anyone read my paper, especially if I'm in the room or not done with it.

4.  Sorry for trailing behind so much.

Reading Times
Tuesday: Nervous Conditions and Research paper:1 hr.
Wednesday: Paper, 30 mins
Thursday: Paper and Nervous Conditions: 50 mins.
Friday: Paper 45 mins.

Research Paper/ Reading Times

Research paper- 30 mins. Friday
Research paper- 45 mins. Wednesday
Research paper- 45 mins. Thursday
Nervous Conditions- 30 mins. Monday

Research

Hey, I just wanna let you know that I have  research project this quarter! Cool, right? Well, I'm doing it on the effect of music on teenagers and their intelligence. It's going alright, I have some pretty nice sources and i am making note cards with the sources. We have to paraphrase on note cards or we would be plagiarizing and would get in serious trouble for that. I think that maybe not the music itself affects the message in th music and the people that sing the songs too. If Teens role model, say, Ke$ha and take her music seriously, then they would think that drinking and drugs are okay. But that is just my opinion.

My research is doing ok at this point. I have made some progress and I think I am drifting into a topic not just based on music, but on role models too. I think I need to find more sources that have to do with that and I think I need to change my research question, also. I need to think about it some more before i can make a final decision. Maybe i will change it, maybe not.

My Weekend at the Delta

So, on Friday, after school, I go over to my locker and head to the chapel to get in the car. I get in our little mini van and start heading down the rode. We stop twice on the way there, and then finally arrived at Delta Marsh Camp. It is dark already, but Turtle (That's what we call Mr. Johnny) got my sister and me to get in the electric buggy to go and see the main camp. We get a nice tour of the camp, but when we walked back outside, the buggy was on fire! It was totally engulfed in flames. Mr. Johnny(Turtle) grabbed the garden hose next to the burning buggy and started to yell for help. We finally got it out and the police arrived shortly afterwords(nice timing). And that was just our first night.

The next morning we went to the Ole Miss v.s. Arkansas basketball game. About halfway through the first quarter, the power went out. It was on national TV,  too. What could be next? We went to Leland's beauty pageant at her school next, and, she won! We were all so happy! When we got back we were all so exhausted. The next day was fun too! I took a ton of good pictures of the dogs and the sunset. We ate dinner at the main camp, which did not burn down on Friday (Thank God). Then, on Monday, it was time to go back. I had a great time at the Camp and I hope to go back soon.     

The Blind Side

I started reading The Blind Side right before the winter break. I dd no get very far, just past the introduction and such. At first, it was kinda boring. just talking about football tactics, which is cool, I learned a lot, but after the first twenty or so pages on that, It gets sort of boring. I managed to get passed all of that, although it took me a very long time, and  just wanted to get to the story.
I started back on it this week, and It got a  lot better as we finally go into Michael's story with the Tuohys. I saw the movie a long time ago, and I still love it. I'm glad I'm reading the book now, because it gives more than the movie did.
Reading Time:
Monday: The Blind Side 20 mins.
Tuesday: The Blind Side 10 mins.
Saturday: The Bind Side 35 mins.
Monday:  The Blind Side 45 mins.

Free Post

Back to school! The Christmas break was fun for me. I got many good presents and spent time with my family. The best present I received was my miniature Horse named Penny. That is her with my little sister Gifford. You can see that she is not very big by the picture. She isn't much bigger than my dog, so we can't ride her, we just keep her as a pet.
So, when we got her i freaked out. Like, throw my book on the ground freak out. I never put my books on the ground and i certainly never, ever throw a book. Well I did then. Haha I know it was silly. We built a barn for her and walk her around the neighborhood. We can walk her around with her lead rope and halter. She is so sweet and has a sassy side to her. I just love her!

Fear

Fear shows up a lot during the time of the book. At first, the boys mostly fear the beast, but as the book comes to a close, they start to fear each other. I just want to say, this is one of the best books I have ever read. whenever I come upon an example of fear I make a circle around the page number or put a bookmark there. That is usually how I keep track; and then go back later to put them in the focus tracker.

Fear happens very frequently in Lord of the Flies, and stands out mostly of mention of the beast or at night. The littleuns usually freak out while Piggy, Jack, and Ralph argue, Simon just sits in his little corner, and Roger is planning to kill something silently. Just an inference. Jack says he can kill the beast, but Ralph doubts that and Piggy tries to talk himself out logically of there even being a beast.

Books

I read:
The Princess Bride
Life of Pi
Mark of Athena
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Lord of the Flies
Nation
In Defense of Food

I had a good time reading the books over the semester. All of them I enjoyed to an extent. My favorite books were Life of Pi, Lord of the Flies, The Perks, and Mark of Athena. I know, it's a long list. I just love books. I tend to read fast but sometimes I get distracted so I have to go back and read it again. I just love to read anything really.

I can read 15 books by the end of the semester, I just need recommendations and ideas. I would like to expand and get insight on what other people are reading so we can talk about the books. I would also like a wide variety of genres like historical fiction. I would like to read Les Miserables before I see the movie.

Reading time:
Lord of the Flies: 25 min. Monday
The Blind Side by Michael Lewis: 1 hr. 45 mins.
pgs. 1-117 sunday

Reading Time

Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Friday: 1 hr. 30 mins.  pgs. 103- 181
Saturday: 1 hr.  pgs. 181- 207
I finished and it was the best book ever!!!!

LotF

My reading focus is fear in Lord of the Flies. At first, there was little to no fear. But as the book goes on, there seems to be more and more frequencies of fear. The first real occurance of fear was when the boy with the birthmark mentioned a Beastie. He dissapeared later without a trace and did not show up again which increased the fear on the island.

In chapter five, Beast from the Water, fear plays a big part in the events taking place. The boys are really scared and they think that a Beastie is watching them. Everyone is frightened out of their wits at the meeting that they have. Piggy tries to talk sense into them but they will not listen. The boys all go to sleep with an unsettling feel hat something might some out of the sea and eat them all.

Reading time:
lord of the Flies by William Golding
11/23/12 pgs 77-80  -  15 mins.
11/25/12 pgs 80-99  -  25 mins.

Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
11/22/12 pgs. 345-501  -  60 mins.
11/24/12 pgs.  501-513  -  15 mins.

Midterm

After the break, everyone will be talking about exams. Wow, they're already here. For English, i need to go over summer reading for sure, because I don't remember most of it. The literacy narratives need a little it of refreshing too. As we have gone through out thee year, it really hasn't seemed very long at all. Maybe some of the days and weeks have been long, but not the first semester over all. I can't believe it's already Christmas. I think the year flew by.

All of the stuff that we have learned is pretty much new, but some it is review. I think that everything needs just a little review, but, like I said, the summer reading needs some. As well as the literary analysis, because I need help on those. I was wondering, are the short stories themselves going to be on the exam? Do we need to reread them?

<3 Emmy

Chaos Among the Classroom

When Dr. D told us the situation of being stuck on an island with first graders, someone imedietly yelled out, "Eat the first graders!" At that point, I knew this would be an interesting class time. As usual, the class did not do anything, and I mean anything, in an orderly way. I don't know about anyone else, but I was trying to problem solve. I suggested that we build small houses with the spare plane parts, and build a boat.

When we 'elected' leaders, I decided, why not? I never really get up in front of the classand I was feeling confident. While the other two guy leaders argued about which sport would be our national sport (fantasy football) I was trying to explain my point to at least some of the class. I'm sure that not everyone herd me. It eventually became so loud hat i could not hear myself think.

<3 Emmy