Yay! Summer's almost here! This summer my family will be going to Las Vegas. During the trip to Las Vegas we will go to Circus Circus and go to my brother's chess tournament. We will be staying in the Westgate hotel. Other places I want to go during the summer is fishing, going to the beach, and a waterpark of any kind. Want to go fishing because I like fish like my aunt who is a marine biologist for the government of California. Fishing is a fun way to spend the day away from electronics. I want to go to the beach because it's summer and everyone goes to the beach. I want to go to a waterpark this year because I have never really been to a waterpark and since our pool is broken I want to go to a water park to make up for no pool. This summer I want to try to work on becoming better at building so I can create something we can enjoy for the summer. I also want to play more hockey and tennis for the summer. Recently I've been playing tennis and have been wanting to play more of it with my uncle but with school I just can't find time. Hockey I definitely will play since it's my favorite sport but it might be hard over the summer since it is hot and I am not productive on the rink when I play in hot weather because there it is not in a building. Something definitely every boy wants do over the summer vacation is, obviously, play video games.
This week I completed my book report on The Schwa Was Here. The Schwa Was Here, written by Neal Shusterman, is a wonderful book about friendship. In the book, The Schwa Was Here, a young teenager named Anthony Bonano or Antsy, and his friend Calvin Schwa or The Schwa try to find out what happened to the Schwa's mother who disappeared from in the supermarket when he was five. The first time Antsy actually notices the Schwa was when he was testing the dummy his dad gave him to try to see if he could break it. Antsy starts to notice the Schwa more during school and they become good friends. After becoming good friends, Antsy finds a way to use the Schwa's talent to make money. By people finding uses for his talent and dares people create that Antsy charges money for they both end up making a lot of money. After failing one dare to go into Mr. Crawley's apartment and bringing back a dog bowl. Mr. Crawley forces Antsy and the Schwa to do community service for him by walking his dogs. After a few weeks Mr. Crawley assigns Antsy to escort his blind granddaughter, Lexie. Soon, Antsy and the Schwa start fighting over Lexie. Fighting over Lexie breaks up their friendship and a couple days later Antsy tries to find out what happened to his mother. After going to the store where his mom disappeared and learns that the Night Butcher knows what happened but won't tell Antsy unless the Schwa is with him. So he plans to tell the Schwa but is too late because the Schwa shows him a billboard that he bought with his college savings. But he realizes that the freeway where his billboard is posted was closed down for construction. The next day Antsy brings the Schwa to the Night Butcher where he learns his mom didn't disappear, she ran away with the Day Butcher. The Schwa is at first angry with his mom but is then relieved he won't vanish into thin air. He confronts his dad about what happened to his mom, so his father shows him a shoe box full of letter from his mom, each one from a different state. After a couple days Antsy tries to contact the Schwa but no one answer. He rides his bike over to his house to discover it is for sale. He calls the person selling the house but doesn't get a phone number, only a name. He tries to call everyone in the area with that name. He finds the person and she tells him that the Schwa told them that he wanted to finish the school year with Antsy but he isn't there. After coming home one day from school he learns that his dad got fired and knew it had to be Mr. Crawley. When he sees Mr. Crawley the next day he fired Antsy's dad so he could cook at his new restaurant that pays more. A few months later he gets a letter from the Schwa saying that he found his mom and is going to travel with her for a while.
This week we learned more about how a gerund could be the subject, subject complement, direct object, object of a preposition, and appositive. A gerund is a verb form of "-ing" that is used as a noun. The entire gerund phrase is made up of the gerund and other parts. A gerund as a subject would be in at the beginning of the sentence. "Skating is my alternative form of exercising." This sentence is a example of the gerund being a subject because the gerund, skating, is at the beginning of the sentence and no other word could be the subject without ruining the sentence. The gerund could also be a subject complement. "Right now, my favorite pastime is skating." This is an example of how the gerund could be a subject complement because the gerund, skating, is complementing the subject, pastime. The gerund could also be used as a direct object of the verb. "Family in my house enjoy watching hockey games." In this sentence the gerund, watching, is a direct object because the gerund is the object of the verb, enjoy. The gerund could also function as an object of a preposition. "My family celebrated the Kings winning the Stanley Cup by attending their games more often." The gerund, attending, is the object of the preposition because it follows the preposition, by. Also the gerund phrases is, "attending their games more often." The gerund may also be an appositive is some cases. "The Kings, jumping, happily walked into the locker room." The gerund, jumping, is a the appositive because it is better explaining what the Kings are doing. This shows how the gerund could be a subject, subject complement, direct object, object of a preposition, and an appositive.
This week we worked on an essay about the Catholic God and the Greek gods. The Catholic God and Greek gods have many differences and many similarities. Including that the Catholic God controls everything while the Greek gods control specific natural events. Some Greek gods are known to control volcanoes, earthquakes, and lightning. There is only one Catholic God while there are many different Greek gods. God spent 6 days creating the earth and the earth was made when the Greek gods were created. The Greeks never explained how their gods were created so some think that they were created when the earth was to control the earth. The Catholic God is known through messages people receive from him in visions. The Greek gods were just created for explanations to unexplainable events like lightning. There are also many differences between the Catholic God and the Greek gods. But there are still many similarities between the Catholic God and Greek gods. For example, they all are considered as gods. The Catholic God is considered as a God because of all the things he has shown us including speaking to people through visions, Angels, and many other ways. The Catholic God also help free Moses from slavery and created the great flood. The Greek gods are considered as gods because they control unexplainable events. They are believed to control nature and unexplainable events. Some control things we now know but the Greeks didn't including volcano eruptions, earthquakes, and lightning. They are known by many people around the world. The spread of the Greek gods began when Rome took over Europe. The Catholic God was known when people started spreading Catholicism. Nobody knows how these gods were created. This shows that the Catholic God and Greek gods have many differences and similarities.
This week we finished the book Bridge to Terabithia. The story ended up way differently than I expected. My prediction was that after creating Terabithia, Jess and Leslie will eventually build a much safer bridge and stay together forever. They also would build their dream house where the original fort was. But my prediction was way off and this is what actually happened... After creating Terabithia and claiming it as theirs, Jess and Leslie start going there everyday. Their lives at school are filled with torture from Jess' old friends to Jess and the whole class towards Leslie. But at Terabithia, they are king and queen over the land and they can get away from the outside life. When Maybell gets Twinkies from dad where he got them from the city, Jess knew something would happen. Then at lunch Maybell runs to Jess and said that Janice Avery stole her Twinkies. Since Jess couldn't get into a fight with Janice or he would be kicked out of school, he and Leslie decided to get back at her through a fake love letter. After receiving the letter and getting denied at the boy Janice stopped picking on people and being with her friends since she was being laughed at. When Christmas comes around Jess can't find a gift to give to Leslie until he says a sign that says free puppies so that's what he gets her. Leslie names the puppies Prince Terrian or P.T. and the guardian of Terabithia. While Leslie gets Jess an expensive painting set that he is really happy about. Everything is still the same as Easter comes around and Leslie goes with Jess' family to mass despite Jess' moms disgust towards Leslie. After Easter, Jess gets invited to go to a museum in the city with Ms. Edmunds, Jess' favorite teacher. As Jess is leaving with her she starts thinking about bringing Leslie but then forgets about it. He has the best time ever with Ms. Edmunds. When he get back he learns that Leslie died while trying to swing across the creek. Realizing this and that he will never see her again he gets mad and throws all the paints she gave him into the creek because she is mad at her. After calming down he builds a bridge to Terabithia and makes Maybell the new queen.
Huntington LibraryThis week our class went on a field trip to the Huntington Library. We first took a tour of the Huntington's mansion which was really big. Every single room and hallway had wonderful paintings, pictures, sculptures, and furniture. My favorite painting and most memorable was Blue Boy because of the blue clothes he wears. Blue Boy is standing in the middle of a paint with a storm behind him which makes his color stand out from the rest of the picture. His shiny clothes also make him stand out from the dark and gloomy background. From x-rays taken of the Blue Boy there used to be a dog next to the right side of Blue Boy's feet and a man standing behind him to the left of him. I think the artist took these two things out because he wanted Blue Boy to be the main feature of the picture. After the tour of the mansion we saw the gardens. My favorite garden at the Huntington Library was the Chinese garden. The Chinese garden is my favorite garden because of the beautiful landscape with the different bridges, buildings, and the great big pond. It shows a wonderful side of the Chinese Arts by using the lake as the central part of the big picture, surrounded by buildings, plants, bridges and rock features. The variety of plants all around the garden makes the garden feel special. The nice buildings and bridges that circle the pond add the Chinese Art to the big picture. The rock features in the back add the perfect look to complete the picture.
This week we started listening to the book Bridge to Terabithia. So far in the book, there is a boy named Jess who has four sisters, Maybell, Joyce Ann, Brenda, and Ellie. He goes to Lark Creek school and is obsessed with running. Before he liked to draw but after winning a race at his school he was determined to be the best. One day as he was running he sees a girl watching him and he asks who she was. She said her name was Leslie Burke and she just moved into the old farm next to Jess' place. When on the first day of school everyone dressed nicely except Leslie which made the student have a reason to pick on her more. During recess Leslie comes over and asks to race. Some of the boys don't like it but Jess said to just let her race. She ends up beating Jess and all the other boys. Instead of congratulating her they teased her more. As school went on Jess and Leslie became better friends. Jess learns that Leslie's parent were rich but left their money to live a normal farm life. Leslie's parents are both writers and Leslie calls them by their actual names not mom and dad. One day Leslie says out loud in class that she doesn't have a T.V. The other girls tease her at recess and starts to cry. In the bus after Jess failed to comfort her, she sits in the back where the bullying 7th graders sit but she's unaware of the danger. The 7th graders enter and Janice Avery one of the meaner ones starts yelling at Leslie. Jess distracts her by calling her fat and pulls Leslie away. Leslie thanks Jess for helping her and they go together to the edge of a creek. The creek Leslie takes Jess to has a hanging rope that someone left years ago. They swing across and decide to name this new place Terabithia. They build a fort and start going there everyday.
This week we completed reading the novel, "The Heart Of A Samurai" By: Margi Preus. This book is about a young boy named Manjiro from Japan who gets shipwrecked on an island while fishing along with 4 other fishermen. As they talk about what they would've wanted to do if they didn't get shipwrecked, Manjiro says he wants to become a samurai. They are eventually saved by "barbarians" which is what they call Americans in Japan at the time. The other fishermen don't care about there culture or anything else as long as they get back to Japan but Manjiro who is an inquisitive boy, wants to learn more about the Americans. He starts to form friendships with them and starts to learn more about their culture. Soon he learns all the parts of the ship and even contributes on a whale hunt. When they arrive in Oahu, Manjiro leaves his friends to go to America. Manjiro is the first known Japanese person to step foot on America. There he lives a normal teenage life on a farm with his friends Terry and Job, his new horse Duffy, Captain Whitfield, his wife, and a new baby William Henry. Then Manjiro heads out on a whaling boat hoping to go back to Japan but ends up going back home to America. When he returns after five years he sadly discovers that William Henry died but Manjiro bought a bird before he found out so he can teach William some Japanese words. Then he heads to California in hopes of finding gold to get his friends back to Japan. He finds gold and heads to Oahu to meet his friends. Two of his friends go with him, one stays in Oahu, and one sadly died. When they return to Japan they are kept in prison for being suspected as spies but are eventually let go to see their families. Manjiro becomes a samurai and he taught other samurais about the English language. He got moved up when Americans asked Japan for access to its ports and he was able to translate with the emperor what they wanted. Eventually they signed a treaty and broke Japan's 250 years of isolation. |