Nice-Land

There once was a girl, and she was bossy, persnickety, sassy, selfish, hurtful, un-empathetic, sometimes annoying, boastful, and just plain mean. That girl's name was Carelynn Joyce Kinderson. Get it? Care Joy Kind, anyway Carelynn was the exact opposite of caring, kind and any form of joy. She and her family lived in Nice-Land. Where no one would frown. No one would pout or cry. No body dared to be mean. And the air was filled with joys of happiness and caring. And the sun itself was a big, old smile. Everyone was like that… except for one person: Carelynn. Instead of smiling she would snarl and stick her tongue out at the other kids. Where ever she went, a dark cloud of lust, anger, and drabness would be. This is the story of how Carelynn learned to care and became to be the brightest person in town.

"Kathy!" screamed Carelynn, "Give me that marker, now!!!" Absolutely no manners. Little Kathy Mai gave Carelynn the pretty pink marker. 

"Will you give it back Carrie?" 

"What do you think?!"

"I am sorry I was just wondering-"

"Well stop wondering I'm top dog here at school. So, shut up!"

"KVKWKA!" said their lively 2nd grade teacher: Miss Honey.

Carelynn stomped off leaving Kathy to sulk all alone. Then Kathy ran over to her friends and cried. Carelynn reveled in the sorrow. "Oh my gosh! My artwork is hideous all because of Kathy… and that stupid marker!"

"Kathy!" called Miss Honey, "May I speak with you please!"

"Oh sure Miss Honey Bee!"

"Please do not be sarcastic! Come here."

"I don't care!"

"Carelynn if you-"

"I'm ain't listening."

Miss Honey was mad! And only Carelynn had the ability to do that.

"Think positively!" said Benny.

"May you please stop!" cried Lily.

Miss Honey stared hard into Carelynn's eyes, and Carrie stared back just as hard. Then Miss Honey's eyes snapped back to their usual gentleness. The recess bell rang loud and clear DING PING DING! All of the kids rushed out in the usual kind, well-mannered fashion. Carelynn's eyes lit up with joy. Not the regular type of joy, like Happy Birthday joy, but evil. She rushed out of the class and pushed the kids. It was time to round up her clique of "mean girls". In it were Becky, Sal, Arianna and the leader: Carelynn.

"Sup Girls!" bursted Becky.

"Hey, hey, hey!" sang Sal.

"Hola sissies!" announced Ariana.

Carelynn nodded hello. As Carelynn passed pretty little blonde Kathy she stuck her tongue out.

"At recess are you guys ready to be mean?!" said Sal.

"You know it!"

Carelynn knew that people would scold her. Her parents would lecture her. And kids would be afraid of her and her group. She was going to be mean. 

"Don't do it!"

Literary Essay

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.” Marianne Williamson helps us understand that we are poweful, and we are able to overcome our own challenges. Auggie is constantly being judged and discriminated my his physical difference. An important idea is the support he gets from his friends and overcoming obstacles in life. In "Wonder"by RJ Palacio, Auggie keeps asking himself the question, "How will I get through school?" I can't imagine what it is like to be Auggie! So, Auggie was always homeschooled, and now he has to go to school. People will judge him and worse, in the end he makes a lot of friends. Marianne Williamson would want Auggie to stay strong. This story tells us the challenge Auggie has to face. But mostly, "Wonder" is about overcoming obstacles in life to grow. (7)

Throughout the story, Auggie faces many obstacles in school. He is like a captive zebra, in a herd of wild horses. Like the zebra, he was babied, and different, but still heading in the same direction and with the same roots. At first Auggie struggled to accommodate to his new life. I guess he just didn't know what to expect! For example, on page 37 in the second paragraph the Palacio writes, "I still kept my head way down… no one sat down next to me." This excerpt shows that Auggie didn't know how to handle getting through his normal school day, yet. And what made it even worse was that no one would sit next to him! Can you even comprehend how that must have been for Auggie? (7)

Also in the story, Auggie gets constant support from his few friends and family, they help him grow while he overcomes obstacles. He is like a newborn eagle stranded in his nest. Like the eagle, Auggie doesn't know how to metaphorically "fly", he is stuck in his own world, and overcomes his own difficulties. For example, on page 267 the first and second paragraph the author writes, "Yo, dude… and we started walking over to Amos." This shows that people do really care about Auggie, because in this excerpt the most unlikely people- Henry, Miles and Amos- come and help out Auggie when the other kids were bullying him. But Henry, Miles and Amos also bullied him at one point. Why did they help him? Because they cared. They used their strong "wings" to help him fly. That proves that Auggie gets support from his friends. So he grew to become stronger. (11)

By the end of the story Auggie has gotten through school and all of the challenges it had for him. Not only has he overcome obstacles but he has met them head on. These challenges are other kids and classmates, and he has grown to become great friends with them. For example: on page 307-308, Palacio writes, "And the next thing I knew… everyone wanted to get close to me." This shows that all of the people in his class and school have disregarded his differences and now became great friends. Because it is not enough to be friendly, you have to be a friend. Even the"popular" kids came over to him, they wanted Auggie to be in their memories of picture. Like Augie says in the excerpt, "… Everyone wanted to get close to me." (8)

This essay has proven, that overcoming challenges and obstacles makes you grow. And indeed Auggie has grown to a more confident. No more will he fret a school of kids discriminating him. He made it through school! If Auggie decided to continue being homeschooled do you think he would have grown so much? This connects to the real world because we all have to overcome challenges, but sometimes we will need some support doing so. In my life, when I go out on on my own in the "real" world (past college) myself and others will run into problems and obstacles with running our lives. Most of the time those challenges will prepare us for the next one, failure leads to success. But sometimes friends and family will have to help us. Now, as I think of the power of overcoming challenges, I realize that much of what we accomplish in life comes from that and the growth. (10)

Nice-Land

There once was a girl, and she was bossy, persnickety, sassy, selfish, hurtful, un-empathetic, sometimes annoying, boastful, and just plain mean. That girl's name was Carelynn Joyce Kinderson. Get it? Care Joy Kind, anyway Carelynn was the exact opposite of caring, kind and any form of joy. She and her family lived in Nice-Land. Where no one would frown. No one would pout or cry. No body dared to be mean. And the air was filled with joys of happiness and caring. And the sun itself was a big, old smile. Everyone was like that… except for one person: Carelynn. Instead of smiling she would snarl and stick her tongue out at the other kids. Where ever she went, a dark cloud of lust, anger, and drabness would be. This is the story of how Carelynn learned to care and became to be the brightest person in town.

to be continued…… 

Targets in the Air

"Okay, now that we are almost perfect in all of the distances let's try getting the ping pong ball into the basket ball hoop!" said my Science Olympiad partner: Maddie. We were working vigorously on our device for launching ping pong balls at targets. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I was in the event Air Trajectory. We got third place, but our goal is now first place. So we thought that we could prove our mastery of the distances by making it into the basketball hoop. So both of us dragged… well actually gingerly carried the device onto the three-point line in the court and prepped it.

"Okay so I think it will be about seven meters." Maddie said.

"I agree, let's bring it forward though just to be sure."

"Let's do this!"

So we adjusted the angle, set the pipe, raised the weight, checked the air flow, inserted the pin. "3… 2… 1… Go!" I yelled. And off the ping pong ball went. An arrow slicing through the sky. Everything was going in slow motion as the little white ball WHOOSHED through the net. "Hurray! Yes! Whoo-hu!" I cried with joy. I galloped and sashayed and leaped extravagantly. It was an odd sense of pure joy. Luckily, we caught this on video.

Literary Essay

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.” Marianne Williamson helps us understand that we are poweful, and we are able to overcome our own challenges. Auggie is constantly being judged and discriminated my his physical difference. An important idea is the support he gets from his friends and overcoming obstacles in life. In "Wonder" by RJ Palacio, Auggie keeps asking himself the question, "How will I get through school?" I can't imagine what it is like to be Auggie! So, Auggie was always homeschooled, and now he has to go to school. People will judge him and worse, in the end he makes a lot of friends. Marianne Williamson would want Auggie to stay strong. This story tells us the challenge Auggie has to face. But mostly, "Wonder" is about overcoming obstacles in life to grow. (7)

Throughout the story, Auggie faces many obstacles in school. He is like a captive zebra, in a herd of wild horses. Like the zebra, he was babied, and different, but still heading in the same direction and with the same roots. At first Auggie struggled to accommodate to his new life. I guess he just didn't know what to expect! For example, on page 37 in the second paragraph the Palacio writes, "I still kept my head way down… no one sat down next to me." This excerpt shows that Auggie didn't know how to handle getting through his normal school day, yet. And what made it even worse was that no one would sit next to him! Can you even comprehend how that must have been for Auggie?  (7)

Also in the story, Auggie gets constant support from his few friends and family, they help him grow while he overcomes obstacles. He is like a newborn eagle stranded in his nest. Like the eagle, Auggie doesn't know how to metaphorically "fly", he is stuck in his own world, and overcomes his own difficulties. For example, on page 267 the first and second paragraph the author writes, "Yo, dude… and we started walking over to Amos." This shows that people do really care about Auggie, because in this excerpt the most unlikely people- Henry, Miles and Amos- come and help out Auggie when the other kids were bullying him. But Henry, Miles and Amos also bullied him at one point. Why did they help him? Because they cared. They used their strong "wings" to help him fly. That proves that Auggie gets support from his friends. So he grew to become stronger. (11)

By the end of the story Auggie has gotten through school and all of the challenges it had for him. Not only has he overcome obstacles but he has met them head on. These challenges are other kids and classmates, and he has grown to become great friends with them. For example: on page 307-308, Palacio writes, "And the next thing I knew… everyone wanted to get close to me." This shows that all of the people in his class and school have disregarded his differences and now became great friends. Because it is not enough to be friendly, you have to be a friend. Even the"popular" kids came over to him, they wanted Auggie to be in their memories of picture. Like Augie says in the excerpt, "… Everyone wanted to get close to me." (8)

This essay has proven, that overcoming challenges and obstacles makes you grow. And indeed Auggie has grown to a more confident. No more will he fret a school of kids discriminating him. He made it through school! If Auggie decided to continue being homeschooled do you think he would have grown so much? This connects to the real world because we all have to overcome challenges, but sometimes we will need some support doing so. In my life, when I go out on on my own in the "real" world (past college) myself and others will run into problems and obstacles with running our lives. Most of the time those challenges will prepare us for the next one, failure leads to success. But sometimes friends and family will have to help us. Now, as I think of the power of overcoming challenges, I realize that much of what we accomplish in life comes from that and the growth. (10)

The Luau

The sun was nearing the Hawaiian horizon. And the sky was a beautiful orange color. It was time for the Luau. I walked down the winding path next to the tropical flora. I wore my sunniest tank top and cutest sandals. The Luau would last till late at night. If you don't know what a Luau is, then I'll tell you, it is a traditional Hawaiian party and feast that accompanied by the most extravagant entertainment. The things we would see and do is: see fire breathers, dance the Hula, eat exotic foods, watch dances, listen to stories and more. I could tell that this was going to be an exciting night. As my family and I neared the grand open space with the stage we found our seats near the center. Many people were already there. Most of the woman had hibiscuses in their hair, and the men had flower necklaces. I looked at the three tables behind be holding many wonderful dishes. I saw six Hula dancers walk onto the stage. Then a friendly looking man walked up to the microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… put your hands together for this week's Luau!"

The Element of Ania

"Lit., Sut., Pottas., Rubis., Ces," I repeated after my grandpa. "This is the rhyme you need to know to remember the first elements of the periodic table," he lectured. "Lithium, Sodium, Potassium, Rubidium, Cesium," I guessed, "Correct," he affirmed and gave me an approving nod, "And remember, study those and I will tell you the rest later." I stared at him in disbelief, of course I want to learn the periodic table... before I get to seventh grade, I thought to myself.

     That is the story of how I learned the periodic table. :-)