Q2 week 2 comments

Sarah - The Elite

DJ - My "OK" Fall Break

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a weird and interesting book so far. It is about boys who get in a plane crash and are stranded on an island without any adults. Ralph, one of the main characters, is the leader of the group. One thing I find interesting about this book is that pigs are mentioned a lot. There is a character named Piggy, the boys hunt pigs, and the island is shaped like a pig. In class, we decided to call the island where the boys are stranded Pig Island. I think pigs will become a very important part of the book at some point since they are mentioned so much. So far, my favorite character is Piggy because of his personality and the way he interacts with others. Piggy is a chubby kid with asthma, who you can infer did not have many friends at his school back home. He got his nickname Piggy at school because of his size. Another aspect of the book that I like is the setting. The island is relatively small and has a mountain on it. The boys discover "creepers", which everyone thinks are snakes, but turn out just to be vines.

What I find confusing in this book is exactly how many boys are stranded on the island and where they were going on the plane before it crashed. We know that the boys are wearing school uniforms, but we don't know where they were going. Another thing I find confusing is the narrator. In the beginning, I thought the narrator was going to be Ralph who was going to be telling the story from a past event that happened to him. I know that Ralph is not the narrator because personal pronouns are not used in narrating the book. I think the narrator is 3rd person omniscient because the readers know the thoughts and feelings of the characters. I am excited to keep reading this book and find out if the boys get rescued, and if they don't then what happens to them as opposed to not being rescued.

human nature

I believe that all humans have a different human nature, or ways of thinking, feeling, and acting which humans tend to have naturally. I think a persons human nature depends on the world around them. For example, if someone lives a good life, is loved by many, and does good things, they can have a good human nature. This would be influenced by events that happen in their life. Their natural human nature would be to treat others with respect and be kind and loving to everyone. Another example of someone's human nature could be a person who does not always have good things going on in their life, is not treated with respect, or does not have a lot of good things happen to them, then they can have a bad human nature. Since they don't have the best life, then they probably wouldn't have a positive outlook on things or be the nicest person ever to other people in their life.

The things that led me to believe the things I believe about human nature are my family, camp counselors, and religion. My mom always said that no matter what happens to you, you should treat everyone with kindness and respect and be a kind and loving person to everyone. This has had influence on my thoughts about human nature. Another thing that influenced my thoughts about human nature have been my camp counselors. They taught me to be a kind and loving person to everyone, even if they don't treat you how you would like to be treated. A camp counselor once talked to me about how someone could not have such a great life which could lead them to be a negative person. I still don't know my exact beliefs about human nature, but I think as I continue to go through life I will learn more and more about this topic every day.

quarter 2 week 1

Maia - Fall Break 

Bea - Fall Break

fall break

I enjoyed fall break a lot for multiple reasons such as not having school, going to the beach, and getting to be with friends and family. Fall break was filled with good weather and lots of memories that will not be forgotten! It all started with the 5 hour drive to Sandestin, Florida. The car ride was definitely not one of my favorite parts because every 5 seconds my little brother asked how much longer we had. Finally, 5 hours later, we arrived at our destination in Sandestin. We were staying at our family friends, The Sessums', condo on the beach. That night, we all just got to enjoy each others' company and eat dinner together. The next 3 days of this trip were spent on the beach from 9-7 every day. Everyone was so sunburnt, but it was ok because we were having so much fun.

Some of the super fun things we did on the beach consisted of yolo boarding, surfing, knee boarding, flying kites, building sandcastles, all the kids burying each other, and listening to music. My friend Elizabeth and I liked to go yolo boarding and surfing together every day. Sometimes we even brought our little friend, Anna Grace, who is in first grade along with us. The 3 of us were not very good at yolo boarding or surfing, but we just liked being in the ocean together. After the 4 days of being at the beach were over, everyone was so sad that it was time to go back home to Baton Rouge to go back to school and work. We all agreed that we would have to have another beach trip like this one again soon!

reading response to short story

I had two favorite short stories from the short stories we read during our short story unit. One of my favorites was, "And of Clay Are We Created" by Isabel Allende. I really liked this particular short story because it had good, well-developed characters, a good plot, and the setting was very affective. An example of a good, well-developed character is Rolf Carle. He was one of the photographers who went on scene when Azucena was trying to be rescued. He formed a special bond with her. By the end of the story, he reflected on his past and the event that happened made him reflect on some past events in his life. Another example of a good character is Azucena. She is interesting and is the character who is stuck in the mud and can not be saved. I thought the plot of this short story was very good because it was based on the real event of the volcanic eruption that caused mudslides. Even though the story was fiction, it gave the readers an idea of some of the things happening during this natural disaster. The setting was affective because in the real event of the volcanic eruption, this was actually where events took place. I really like this short story.

My other favorite short story from this unit was "A&P" by John Updike. I really liked this particular short story because of the main character Sammy and the plot. Sammy is the narrator telling about an event that really happened from his past. Sammy is socially awkward around girls, and this makes him funny. He thinks quitting his job for the girls will impress them. This also makes him funny because a girl would not be impressed by a guy quitting his job. I also really like the plot because this is a story that could actually happen. It was very interesting to read. I also really liked this short story.

comments week 7

Mary Francis - Music 3/10

Sophia - Love at First Bite

AoW Procrastination

I procrastinate all the time, especially if it is something I do not want to do such as homework, cleaning my room, or getting my stuff together to go to a friends house or out of town. Procrastinating is a very bad habit of mine that I need to try to stop. But, if I really don't want to do something, I will watch netflix or go on my phone instead of doing what needs to be done. The longer I procrastinate, the less I will feel like doing whatever I need to do. This is a really bad situation especially when it comes to homework, because if I don't do my homework then I will get a bad grade and then I will get in trouble.

A situation that I procrastinate a lot in is when my parents tell me to clean my room. This is a lot like the the person in the article, "Procrastination: Is Your Future Self Getting A Bad Deal" by Timothy A Pychyl, whenever it comes time to do the dishes. I absolutely hate cleaning. I will start cleaning my room, and then get bored and procrastinate by watching netflix or going on my phone, or occasionally taking a nap. The longer I procrastinate, the longer it takes for my room to be clean. I actually love having my room clean, I just don't like the cleaning up part, which is why I should just always keep it clean. I need to get out of this habit now, so that I won't procrastinate in the future. I do not want mu future self to have some of the bad habits I have right now, such as procrastination. Procrastinating is very easy for me.

comments week 6

Maia - How I see it

Megan - The Secrets of Mary Bowser Pt 2

this week at school (free post)

This week at school isn't just a normal week of school, this week at school is homecoming week! Homecoming week has so many exciting things involved from getting to dress up every day, the pep rally on Friday, cheering at Friday night's game, and the dance on Saturday. I am excited to get to dress up for the theme days every day this week. It means we don't have to wear our uniforms and we can wear whatever we want if it goes with the theme. I can't wait to see what everyone else wears too.

I think Friday is going to be the most excited day of the week at school because we have the homecoming pep rally. The cheerleaders get to perform everything we have been working on for over a month and get people excited for the football game that night. The theme of the pep rally is "Knight at the movies" and everything we do at the pep rally will be related to that. I can't wait for the upcoming week and all the fun things involved with it!

reading response to "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings:A Tale For Children"

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a very interesting and weird story. It confused me a lot, because I could never tell exactly what was going on. The story took place in the house of a couple whose names were Pelayo and Elisenda. Peyalo went to the sea to toss the crabs that had been in their house back in the sea. On the way back he came across a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who couldn't get up because of his enormous wings. The word of this spreads very fast and people from all over come to see this man, who they think is an angel.

The mood in the beginning of the story was gloomy and the setting, to me, seemed like a place I wouldn't want to be in. The author used a lot of visual imagery. An example is when the author was describing the old man for the first time, she used a lot of details and made it easier to visually imagine exactly what was going on. There was not a lot of positive words or thoughts expressed in the story. Most ideas or details expressed were negative. This story confused me.