Membean by Nate V.

In Language Arts we use a program called Membean. Membean helps you learn vocabulary by putting you through training sessions where you answer questions about words you already have and then you learn new words. We try to learn enough new words that we go up to the next level. Mrs. Donnelly can give us a quiz if she wants to. I like Membean so far and I think it is great. We got to write to the creator of Membean and suggest something to add and he wrote back! I would definitely recommend Membean to another school.

 

Memory by Nate V

Photo by Nate

In language arts we are reading a book called The Giver. In The Giver Jonas gets memories from the receiver. The memory I would give first would be a memory of a sled going down a hill in the snow. I would give this memory because it is a fun introduction to memory sharing. It would also be a calm memory before the pain memories. That is why I would share the sled memory first.

 

Ideal Teacher by Sylvia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of a magnet by Sylvia

I think that an ideal teacher would give little to no homework and especially no homework on the weekends because that is when you get a break from school. It would also be ideal if there were quizzes and tests but no grades so the pressure is off a bit. The whole purpose of quizzes and tests is to see which students understand the material, so we don’t really need grades. Besides, most of us get good grades anyway. It is also better for the teacher to actually teach his/her students, not just give them worksheets. That’s how I think an ideal teacher would be but I think that the teachers at Durham Academy are very good teachers and we are very lucky to go to school there.

 

The Perfect Teacher by Nate V.

Photo by me

We are reading a book called The Giver in Language Arts. In The Giver there is a perfect world. This is my idea of a perfect teacher. A perfect teacher gives quizzes but not that many and doesn’t make them really hard. The teacher also make learning fun by mixing games with learning. He or she does give homework but not much homework so that it doesn’t take a long time. I think the perfect teacher should also have a good personality and be nice to their students. That is what I think a perfect teacher should be like.

 

Community Service by Sylvia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Sylvia

Last Wednesday, the middle school had a community service day and every advisory did something different to help the community. The Donnelly advisory went to TABLE. TABLE is an organization that collects food for kids who wouldn’t normally have a dinner over the weekend. At TABLE, we brought food in, weighed it, put the expiration dates on it, and sorted it in its category of food’s shelf. Then we filled bags with food that was already there. There was all sorts of food: canned foods, vegetables, beans, milk boxes, juice boxes, fruit cups, pasta, foods in packets that I had no idea what they were, etc. I think that we all did something to help our community and the people that we helped are probably very grateful.

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Community Service by Nate V

Image by me

In school we did a community service project. My advisory went to table in chapel hill. TABLE is a food bank type organization that puts food in kids backpacks who can’t afford it over the weekend. Our advisory brought in 260 pounds of food! While we were there we sorted food in to categories and made sure it wasn’t expired. If in wasn’t we put it on a corresponding shelf that had to do with type and date it expired. I think that the community service was really fun and it felt good helping kids who couldn’t afford food on the weekends.

 

The Giver Assignment by Sylvia

 

 

 

 

 

If everyone had to get an assignment, I might get a judge because you have to be smart, clever, and fair to be one. I think that I am pretty smart, clever, and fair. I also think it would be a pretty interesting job to get, especially if you like mysteries. Although I have no idea what my job will end up being. I knew I would have a hard time choosing what I should write for this, so I just went with the first thing that popped into my head that worked. If you really think about it, there are about 100 jobs that would fit you……Unless you aren’t good at anything, but everybody is good at something.

 

The Giver by Nate V.

Photo by me

In Language Arts class we are reading a book called The Giver. In the book when you turn twelve you get an assignment or job to keep for the rest of your life. The assignment is made by elders who study you when you are at school. I think I would be picked as engineer because I like designing things like vehicles and bridges. That is just one of the many jobs available. I might also be a nurturer and care for the little babies. That is what I think I would be chosen for in The Giver.

 

The Westing Game by Nate V

In Language Arts we read a mystery book called The Westing Game. It is about a man named Sam Westing who owns a huge company and is trying to find his true heir. He makes a game with 16 possible heirs but in the end only one will win.
We had to draw each character from the book and then put it into a trading card. Trading cards is an app on our iPad. For each card we had two fill in a bunch of information about the characters. At the end there was a test and we were allowed to use our cards. Mrs. Donnelly picked one card to grade and we picked the other and that was how it worked. The Westing Game is a good book and I definitely recommend it.