Making the brains was super fun! They were super creative and you could combine all the stuff you love into a brain! I put a ton of stuff in my brain like my favorite sports, songs, friends, books, artist and much more. I enjoyed looking at other people’s brains and comparing them to mine to see what was different and similar. I thought it was a great way to end the year!
This year been so different with the iPads. It is definitely more responsibility. Having to take care of a $500 dollar device is a lot of pressure! If you left it at school or forgot it at home was always scary for me because I like to know where it is and if it’s safe 24/7. Although sometimes they have caused me a lot of stress they have helped me immensely with my school work.
We have done a lot new things with the iPads this year. It has helped me learn and study. There are lots of websites for learning like Quizlet and different online websites that help me study. We utilize our iPads in a majority of our classes like Language Arts, Spanish, science and much more. We don’t use our iPads as much in math as we do in Language Arts or any other class because we mostly used the smart board. The iPads have been a great addition to our learning program and I look forward to using it next year.
The new online learning system we have started this year called Membean has helped me a lot with progressing in vocabulary. I loved how the system is set up because it is easy to learn all the words. There are lots of different activities on the pages besides the definition which helps me understand it more.
What helps me learn best is the quick definition they have ,then I review the different things on the page like the memory hook, word theater and context. Sometimes I would see the words I learn in Membean in a magazine or book, and I get so surprised becuase at the beginning of the year or in 5th grade I would never have understood what the word meant.
In the book called The Giver, the main character, Jonas, is living in an ideal society. I think an ideal teacher would be nice to her students and I also think she would be caring to her students. An ideal teacher would be a good teacher who teaches her students where they understand the material she’s teaching, and she would not yell at them if they didn’t understand something. If a student did something she would take the time to sit down with them so they would understand. If a student did something a teacher didn’t like, most teachers would start yelling which humiliates the student in front of the class and students hate that. I think an ideal teacher would pull them aside and talk to them privately. Lastly, students would like an ideal teacher because they are nice, they teach well, they love what they do and they love their students. Also, if you were to give the kids candy every day and assign no homework the students would love you but that’s not an ideal teacher. Maybe they would give their students candy every once in a while if they did something good!
At Durham academy we got to do community service outside of school. This was our second community service we have done. My advisory went to Hope Valley Elementary School about two minutes away from here. We each broke up into groups to go into different grades. I went with two people to first grade to help out. I really enjoyed going there. At first I was a little nervous on what to do but once I got it it was really fun. We helped them with math and Language Arts. They were so cute and smart. Their personalities were just so beautiful they were super kind and approached us coming there. I enjoyed it because I got the experience of going to another school outside of Durham Academy and seeing how their school worked. When we were done I got to hear about the rest of my advisories experiences. Each of them had a different story to tell. At the end all of the little first graders gave us hugs and said goodbye. I really liked this community service and hope to do it again!
If I had been assigned a job I think I would be a nurturer. I think I would be a nurturer because I like to help people and I also think I would be a fun job to play. In The Giver there are only so many jobs you could do in a “perfect community.” Jonas’s dad was assigned that job by the elders. The elders assign jobs that they think would fit you. I think a nurturer would be very helpful for the community and could use more.
I loved reading The Westing Game! It was an interesting and confusing book at the same time. I liked how it wasn’t a murder mystery to make you have nightmares! It was a cozy mystery. This means that it included, amateur detectives, likeable characters and elaborate puzzles. Once you got the idea of what was going in the Westing Game, it becomes much easier to follow. You could tell that Ellen Raskin really chose her words very carefully.
One thing I loved doing was dressing up as a westing character in the book. You had to dress up as a character to get 5 extra points on your test. It was both fun and creative. I dresse duo as judge J.J. Ford. We did a lot of things with the Westing Game like trading cards and drawings!
Photo by Mrs. Donnelly
Not too long ago in Mrs. Donnelly’s 6th grade Language Arts class, we finished our hero projects. We put a lot of effort and time and finally finished. I was glad to see all of our hard work paid off. For my hero project I wrote about my dad. The hardest part of the hero project was the art work for me. That’s why I am so glad artist, Peg Gignoux, was there to help us with every step.As we got farther along in the project the art work got more fun.
After designing our books we started writing. In my opinion, the writing was the best part. I loved writing about my dad and looking at the smile on his face when he read my book. He said he was very impressed with my book! I feel like this experience made my hero and me closer.
When we went to the gallery it was fun reading other people’s books and seeing what they wrote, and their art work, especially my friends. My dad said he was very impressed with my project. I didn’t think our books would come out as perfectly as they did. Seeing them at the gallery for first time was amazing. They were beautiful. If you haven’t gone yet you are missing out on a whole lot! Go to the FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina!
The Lady Or The Tiger?
By Jinger
Heart beating, death possibly arriving, the prince was beyond scared. He was terrified. Would he pick the door that led to a fairy tale, a happily ever after? Or would he be led to the devil’s door where he would be led to his doom to die? Sadly he didn’t know. It was basically a game of luck. He knew he was not lucky, anything but lucky. When he played rock, paper, scissors, and tic tac toe with his friends, he always lost. This wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t be called a loser and play another round of the game. No, there isn’t another round. There is no second chance. Instead of being called a loser he would die. Even worse he would be eaten alive and he would feel the pain of dying. All of these horrible thoughts flashed through his mind and not long after that, he passed out.
He opened his eyes awake and thought he was having a nightmare. He woke up and said it was real, screamed so loud he couldn’t hear himself. I need to stop. There is always a bright side to things. He thought about the good things. What if he opened the door to love? What if he saw his beautiful princess awaiting with her beautiful smile that was so bright it could light the whole sun? Her gorgeous black, shiney, and long thick, wavy, beautiful hair that was as dark as midnight? Those thoughts scrambled through his mind making him feel more convinced that he might have a chance to his only happiness.
He started walking to the door. As he stalled an hour went passed. He had only accomplished two steps. As he slapped himself and yelled, “Get your head in the game!”, he walked closer and closer. The more steps he took, the more numb his legs got until he was at the point where he was struggling. He was to the point where he was pleading on his knees. He crawled inch by inch. He finally stood up slowly and took a hard fearful breath. His hand reached towards the right door but snapped back quickly. He looked back at the little pond he made while crying. He quickly wrote a note to his family members and best friends so if he died they would see it. He jotted down all the secrets he has kept and the naughty stuff he has done. He left it on the floor where it wouldn’t get touched. He put his jacket around it and wrote R.I.P. He opened the right door nervously, took a breath, and sucked it all up.
He couldn’t believe what he saw. He opened his eyes and a fast little tear scrolled down his left eye. There she was; her soft kind eyes looked into his. It was love at first sight. He tenderly grabbed her hand and swept her off her feet. “Wait!” he said in a panic. He rushed over to where he put his note, ripped it up, and smiled. “I won’t be needing this anymore he said.” He returned to his bride skipped through the front door and closed the door behind him as they traveled through the magical forest on their horse. His only dream and wish had come true. He finally had a happily ever after with his beautiful bride and they could love each other forever
In the wonderful book, Cosmic, that we started reading in Language Arts class, a twelve year old boy named Liam is reading a book called Talk to your Teen. A piece of advice I would give to manage your teenager is to limit their screen time. Some teens, when a parent isn’t home, probably watch things they are not supposed to watch. By limiting their TV and computer time they can’t.
A huge problem people have now a days are their teens arguing back. Teenagers usually complain about not being allowed to go to parties or sleepovers with their friends or even dating. When your teen fights back, argues, and yells back at you, try not to make them take advantage of you. If they rebel, show them who is boss.
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