Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Legacy of Courage – Dr. Franklin Eugene McCain Sr.

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Jibreel Khazan (speaking) and Joseph A McNeil (left side-second seat), members of the A&T Four, celebrate Dr. Franklin McCain’s life and legacy

On Thursday, January 16, 2014 a group of students and teachers from Durham Academy attended the memorial service for Dr. Franklin Eugene McCain Sr. in Greensboro, North Carolina. Many have heard the story of his actions and courage at the Woolworth store in February 1960, but do you know about other aspects of his legacy? We smiled, cried, reflected, and learned from distinguished guests and family members about his every day beliefs and how those beliefs will continue to inspire us to live a better life each and every single day.

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Sons, Franklin E. McCain, Jr. and Wendell A. McCain, recalled life with their father.

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Will we live in the shadow of this civil rights pioneer, or will we be a reflection of what he lived for? You decide. What will you do each and every day to make things right? To speak up and act? To be your best self?

Photos by Patti Donnelly 2014

End of the Year iPads by Dylan J.

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Screenshot taken by Dylan J.

This is the end of our school year and our iPad program. Overall, I think the iPads were a great learning tool letting kids use websites that help them study and going to websites teachers want us to. There are also many apps that helps us learn.

In particular, I think I used and liked Evernote and Flashcards the best. Flashcards helped me study for tests the old fashioned way. Evernote was where my teachers could post homework if someone was sick and they could put documents they want us to read or do on Evernote. I can also take notes on Evernote so that was helpful. Another good thing about the iPads is that we have the mail app which lets us communicate with our teachers if we are sick or we are missing work. The mail app also lets us email our friends to ask them if we did not write down the homework.

 

Membean by Dylan J.

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Photo from Flickr Storm http://www.flickr.com/photos/47512547@N00/5666395942

In Language Arts we have been working on an online vocabulary learning system called Membean. We use this site to learn new words and study the ones we know. In my experience with Membean I think it was great and fun to challenge myself to see how many new words I could learn and questions I could get correct. I also think that Membean is well organized so that it is easy to learn new words and have fun. I hope that people who read this will try out Membean!

 

Membean by Miriam D.

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Picture taken by me, Miriam D.
Almost every Language Arts or English class that I know of learns the spelling and definitions of new words. We do that in our class too, but we also use Membean. Not only is it fun to say, it’s really fun to do! It makes learning vocabulary so much easier and a lot more fun. It uses technology to teach you new words, then teach you the spelling of them, then teach you the definition of them, then it implants them into your memory. I think every class should use Membean because it helps kids learn vocabulary no matter what kind of learner they are. I really like how it has different levels so that you can be put into a level the fits your amount of skill! It works with everyone individually to ensure that each kid learns the words and know the words.

The Giver by Jinger

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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.

 

The Westing Game by Dylan J.

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The Westing Game is about a group of people who buy apartments from Sunset Towers and live their lives normally. Then they are all called to witness the reading of the will of Sam Westing, a millionaire who owns a paper company who died. In the will, Westing calls all of the people heirs and say he was murdered and they most solve his game, The Westing Game. The people are partnered up and then each pair is given ten thousand dollars and clues to find the murderer. Read the book to find out the ending!

The Westing Game by Jinger

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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!

 

Lady Or The Tiger? by Jack H.

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Heart pounding, eyes widening, the man looked at the princess for help. The princess used her thumb to point to the right, but she did it so no one would see. The princess had seen the man with the other woman that was going to be his wife if a tiger does not come out. The man knew that the princess had seen them, so he had to ponder if she was telling the truth or if she hated him. If she hated him, he would be eaten by a tiger. As he looked at the door with tears running loose down his face not knowing what to open the left door or the right one. One step at a time, he look at all the people holding their breaths, some not looking, some eyes fixed on him as if they werenailed to him. On his tenth step, he tripped and the king got up and yelled, “Get on with it, I don’t have all day!” That was followed by an eruption by the crowd.

He got up and opened the door on the right out leapt a tiger. Now he knew he was going to die. He looked at the tiger running around the stadium, then at the princess, with the blood running out his face. She looked back with a wink. The tiger charged, so the man ran into where the tiger came from. The tiger bit the man and the crowd went dead quiet. The man grunted with pain.

Later, after everyone left the stadium the guards got sent out to get the man a bury him. The man passed out with blood loss. The man woke up under two feet of dirt. He quickly started to dig his way out. He was about to suffocate, but he broke through the dirt.

He got up, dusted himself off, and walked to the next city. From that day on, he was known as the man who beat the tiger.

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Talk To Your Teen by Jinger

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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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