Poetry Perfection

In class, we have been learning about poetry. I never knew so many vocabulary words went into poetry. When we first started, my reaction was this was going to be the most boring thing in the world. For a while, I stuck to my opinion, but when we started writing poems, it was kind of fun. We started out by reading a book called Poetry and Humanity. It ranges from sounds to stanzas to meters to much more. It has a ton of useful information in it for writing poems. Something I used in my poem was masculine and feminine rhymes. A masculine rhyme is a rhyme that only has one syllable like day and may. If you want an example in my poem, I used them in the first two lines. I used it many more places, but that was just an instance of masculine rhymes. Feminine rhymes are rhymes that have two syllables. Like funky and monkey. An example of feminine rhymes in my poem is the third and fourth line have it. In my poem I ranged from a trimeter to a tetrameter. To explain this is without being able to actually speak to you is very hard but I’ll try my best. You know when you read a poem your voice goes up and down sometime with each word or syllable. Kind of like the sunshine was nice and sunny. If I was able to talk to you, I would emphasize all the words or syllables in bold and I wouldn’t emphasize the ones not in bold. Hopefully that made since. So here is a copy of my poem.

A Friendless Penguin

By: Lucy

A penguin named Pete

Wishes he could feel cool and neat.

But as he sits alone he feels absurd,

Since he is a flightless bird.

He wonders why he was made this way,

He wants to fly far far away.

He wants to get away from the mocks,

From other birds who hover like hawks.

He wants to show everyone he is cool,

But each and every time he feels like a fool.

He wants to be accepted by all,

But the more he tries the more names he gets called.

He wants to fit in with the birds high above

He wishes he could be an eagle or dove.

He wants to soar high in the air,

He wishes that everyone else would care.

Then along comes another bird,

Walking not flying it seems so absurd.

He soon comes right up to Pete,

Pete thinks that bird is wanting to meet.

The other bird says will you be my friend,

But Pete just replies I have nothing to lend.

I am a bird that doesn’t fly.

The other bird says neither can I.

From that day on the two were together,

Both staying on land and enjoying the weather.

Pete never felt sad again,

For now he had a very best friend.

There is a lesson that we can all learn,

That a true friend is something you must earn.

They don’t care what it is you wear,

Or what it is your have in your hair.

They will like you even if you don’t have much to give,

They just enjoy the fact that you live.

A true friend doesn’t tear you down,

They will just appreciate that you’re around.

Cracker!

    This is one of my new all time favorite books. This is written by Cynthia Kadohata. This book is about a dog, named Craker, whose owners can’t take care of her because their apartment doesn’t allow dogs.  They think she is going to go to the pound only to, eventually be put to sleep. However, when Willie, the kid owner of Cracker, sees an ad in the paper requesting dogs to become war dogs for Veitnam. Cracker’s life is spared when she is shipped off. She is desprate to get back to Willie and tries to escape the kennel area. Here escape fails when she is caught. When her new trainer, Rick, tries to train her, but she is stubborn. He eventually finds a way to get through to her and they become the best of friends and 1 of the top 3 trainer and dog group. After an adventure filled special mission all on their own, they are sent to clear out a Veitnamese village with their group. What should have been an easy clear out turns into a battle. Here, Cracker and Rick are seperated. Rick is injured and can’t go looking for Cracker, and Cracker is all alone in a big unfamiliar place in unfamiliar Veitnam.  This is a fabulous book for anyone and everyone. It is just one of those books that everyone can enjoy and love.

Research Reflection

       In my school, we have to do research and keyboarding for nine weeks. This is where we learn to type and use various resources. We chose what we want to research about from a list of topics. Mine was that zoos  do more harm than good. I really liked this topic because I love animals and some animals at zoos seem very bored or stressed.  My teacher was right when she said, “as long as you pick a topic you enjoy, research will be fun.”  I think research is a lot more fun this year. I think this because, last I was still getting the hang of it. I think that, since I have a better grip on how research is supposed to go, I enjoy it more because I am not as confused. Keep coming back to see my research paper, or maybe even hear me speak it.

Technology Take-Over

       Ever since the netbooks have arrvied in September, my life has taken a turn. For better of for worse, I am not sure. Computers used to be something I would use for just one period in school and for a half-hour to an hour at home. Now my life practically revolves around a laptop. Not that I have, but if I were to forget my laptop, school would become suddenly hard. This is because, for every single period, we use our laptops.  I never realized how much computers could hold, until it held my whole life.

It’s Finally Done

          All week I have been stressing over a huge Rome test that had 54 things on the study guide. It is worth somewhere around 76 points because our teacher said it was worth twice our Greek test. That test was 38 points. I think I did pretty well. I am just happy it is over and I have the weekend to relax and have FUN! I know I am at least going to get a B, I hope at least! Wish me good luck for my grade!

Calendar

  With the help of edublog widgets, I have added a calendar to my blog. If you see a number in blue, hover your mouse above it, and it will show you what blog posts I have done that day! I hope you like it!

Letters About Literature

    In school, we are writing letters to authors of books that have somehow impacted our lives, or we have made a personal connection to. These letters have to be 100-400 words. I know that may sound like a really long letter, but just this sentence is 17 words long. My first copy of my finished letter was 427 words, but I shortened it and got it down to 388!  The author I chose was John Grogan, author of  Marley and Me and Marley: A Dog Like No Other. I fell in love with this book from the start. Since I have two dogs, I feel like I can relate to the struggle and smiles. Here is a link to the letter about literature site and here is my letter about literature and I hope you enjoy.  http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org/how_to_enter  

Dear John Grogan,

You have touched my heart profoundly with Marley: A Dog Like No Other. You know that with having a dog comes great joy, responsibility and strife. While I was reading this book, my mind was racing with thoughts of one of my dogs, Yogi.

Like Marley with his stomach that flipped, one of my dogs, Yogi, had a frightening disease that caused him to not want to eat his food, be 5-10 pounds underweight, and, worst of all, he could never control his bladder. He was only a puppy when we heard about his illness. The veterinarians were doing everything they could to get rid of the horrible sickness he had. They finally gave us an option, we could either put him to sleep, or give him another two weeks and see what would happen. He had been sick for many weeks, so we didn’t think two more would do anything but get us more attached to him, and make it harder to say good-bye.

We, instead, decided to wait for a miracle to save Yogi. We prayed and prayed for God to heal him. We were over-joyed when we heard the munching of kibble, and saw Yogi eating. He gained a little weight, and we were shocked when he would finish his food and look up at us as to ask for more.

Now he is 15 months old. He is a handsome dog that loves to follow me around wherever I go. It is impossible to think about life without Yogi. On his left ear, he has a black spot, even though his parents were both golden retrievers and never had anything like that on them. Everyday I look at that spot, and see it as a mark from God telling us that he was the puppy we were supposed to take home.

Just like Marley didn’t let his weak hips stop him from being with you, Yogi didn’t let that disease get the better of his life. Marley never let anything slow him down from having the time of his life. He was a fun energetic dog, that always wanted to be the center of attention. He would take whatever chance he could get to live his life to the fullest thrill. Now that Yogi is cured, so can he.

Sincerely,

Lucy

Get “Stuffed” on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day is almost here. In our family, our Thankgiving meal consists of turkey, mashed patatoes, gravy,  jell-o, rolls, corn casserole, and pumpkin pie. Although, keep in mind, it’s not always about the food. Believe it or not, Thankgiving wasn’t created just so we could gain 5 pounds on food. Even though we enjoy the great food that is prepared for us, Thankgiving is a time to appreciate what we have been given. Such as family, a home, heat, a bed and the laptop or cell phone you are reading this blog post off of. I hope your Thanksgiving is full of fun, joy, and people who you enjoy and love around you. Have a great November 26! Also known as, Thanksgiving.

My “Fighter”

In class we read a book called A Wrinkle in Time. During the story, the children who are taken on an exciting adventure start naming fighters, or abolishers of things we would relate to darkness. Some of these are poets, writers,etc. In class, we had an assignment to write about someone we would call a fighter and tell why they are our fighter. The person I wrote about was one of my best-friends, Grace-Anne. Here it is. 

My Light

      In the book, A Wrinkle in Time, Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin get into a profound discussion of many people who could be their fighters, or someone who abolishes the feelings we may relate to darkness. My shining light would be one of my best friends, Grace-Anne, because of her humor, creativity, and her stories she tells.

Her humor is like an exploding ball of sunshine in my life. She can take just an ordinary sentence and turn it into something that makes me fall to the floor in a laughing frenzy. An example of her fun jokes would be, when I go over to her house, we always create a play. One of our funniest plays we have done is an escaped prisoner, with a New Jersey accent, goes to a therapy session. The funny part is that the therapists are woodland animals. We both decided that it would be great fun. We couldn’t control our giggles because we both found it so humorous. Her humor can make even the saddest and meanest person in the world explode into a fit of laughter, or at least I think so.

Her creativity is like a brightly lit fire that erases all traces of darkness. Like I said in my last paragraph, she enjoys making up plays. This is one of the many ways she gets her creativity out. Another way of showing her bright creativity is her expressive drawings. She has a very fun and creative hand-drawn picture of herself, but with fun and delightful colors. Her face may be orange while her hair is pink. Another form of her creativity is her ideas. She always thinks so far out of the box, that you can no longer see the box anymore. Another instance of her blindingly bright creativity is, in Winter, she and I went sledding, but as soon as we set foot in the snow, we sank. She thought of a great idea to keep us from getting soaked to the bone in snow. That one day playing in the snow might be one of her many stories.

Speaking of stories, since Grace-Anne came from Texas she has many wonderful things to share. She can spend hours upon hours telling me fascinating stories of her adventures, friends, and home back in Texas. She also can tell amazingly detailed stories of her sister in China and her sister in Texas.

We all have many fighters in our lives, whether we realize it, or not. I am so pleased I have so many people to call my abolisher of darkness. Grace-Anne can make me smile and feel better. This is why she is one of the many starlights in my bright starry sky.

Artsonia

   Here is my online artwork for you to see. I hope you enjoy it. If you hit “view all” you should be able to see all my artwork.

    http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=6543119