Book Series

I absolutely love to read books in series.  Whenever I find a book that sounds good I always look to see if there’s a book after it.  The reason why I like book series so much is because I always like to know what happens later, and with series you get to know what happens next.  One other reason why I read books in series is because there is constantly something changing.  One thing that I absolutely love in a series is when the author makes a character turn against another.

One other thing that I love in series is that if it’s a best seller then they’ll usually make it into a movie.  Like Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, The Hunger Games,  and The Maze Runner.

I always have and probably always will like books in  series.  I used to not read that much but I do now, and part of the reason is because I never used to read series.  I just read individual books. Now that I read books in a series I like reading.  I like some individual books but I would much rather read books that are in a series.

One thing that I hate is when you think that you’re going to read a really good book/series and then it turns out to be a terrible book/series.  One other thing that I hate is when the first book of a series is really good and the next book is really horrible.  The last thing I hate is when  there’s only two books in a series, because I don’t understand why you wouldn’t have a third unless the main character died.

So I like and hate books in series.  My absolute favorite books series is The Hunger Games.  I just hope the second book is good as the first.

Mockingjay

I just finished the last book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay.  The Hunger Games are all really good but Suzanne Collins makes them better by putting in a lot of problems with Peeta and Katniss.

One of the problems is when Katniss, Gale, Peeta, and Finnick are all under the city and they are getting chased by President Snow and the mutts.  I was so surprised when Finnick died.  I even almost started crying.  I’ve always hated President Snow just because he was a complete JERK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was also really surprised when Katniss shot a lady just because she tried to scream when they were all in her house.

Another problem that Katniss faced is when Peeta gets caught by one of the mutts, and he tells Katniss to go without him. The reason why this is a problem is because she doesn’t know how she’s going to save him.  Katniss ends up saving him, but it definitely does slow them down.

One other problem that Katniss faces throughout the whole series is that Peeta is completely in love with her.  This is a major problem because everybody else thinks that she’s in love with him too, but she’s really not.  Katniss does end up loving him and they end up getting married and they have two kids.

 

D.A.R.E Essay

D.A.R.E stands for drug abuse resistance education.  The class has been very important to me.  The reason it has been so important is because I never technically realized what drinking, smoking tobacco, and smoking marijuana will do to you and other people around you.

D.A.R.E has absolutely amazing for me because I know now that if I ever get drunk I would probably end up running out on the road and getting hit by a car.  The only reason why I say that is because when I had the D.U.I goggles on I couldn’t walk in a straight line The D.U.I goggles helped me realize that if I really ever did get drunk I would probably kill myself the first time I did.  So the D.U.I goggles made me 100% sure I will never get drunk.

Something else that I found interesting was Smoking Susie.  The reason I thought it was interesting is because I never realized how much tar is in one cigarette.  Something else that I found out about tobacco is 7% of eight graders do smoke.  That might not sound like a big number, but that means that every one hundred eight graders seven are smoking.

I know how much smoking can do to your body because my uncle Andy has smoked for I don’t know how many years and he is starting to get wrinkles and he has had yellow teeth for a long time now.

Another thing that I found interesting is tobacco companies can’t advertise their products, but alcohol can.  That doesn’t really make much sense to me because if you get drunk and drive in a car or get in a car with someone that’s drunk your pretty much setting yourself  up to get killed.  Alcohol can actually kill you and other people too.  So really the only thing alcohol companies are doing is advertising how to kill yourself and other people around you, they should put that on the commercial, and I bet hardly anyone would buy it.  Another reason I would never drink is because it affect your growth as a teen, and I have trouble growing now.

Something that I didn’t know is D.A.R.E doesn’t just stand for drug abuse resistance education. it also stands for define assess respond and evaluate.  I think this is really important because this is definitively what you should do in all situations.

Another thing that I learned in D.A.R.E is all the kinds of peer pressure, I thought there was only one (heavy) but I found that there are five, and there are nine different ways to say no.  The five types of peer pressure are Friendly, Teasing, Indirect, Heavy, and Positive.  The nine ways to say no are avoiding the situation, strength in numbers, walking away, cold shoulder, saying “no”, giving a reason or fact, changing the subject, skipping CD or broken record, and  humour.  My favorite way to say no is just say “no” and walk away.

Another thing that I learned in D.A.R.E is that marijuana is illegal to anyone in the United States. Marijuana can cause short-term memory loss and I can barely remember things now.  Marijuana has more cancer causing chemicals than tobacco smoke.  I also learned that marijuana has more tar in it than tobacco.  Marijuana can also cause the inability to concentrate and my mom already says I couldn’t concentrate on one thing if my life depended  on it, which is really true.

I was really surprised when I saw the Jar of Tar because I had no idea that much tar was in a years worth of cigarettes.

Some things that I learned about alcohol is alcohol can damage every organ in your body.  One other thing that I learned is alcohol goes directly to your bloodstream and can increase your chance of getting diseases.  That’s just one of the many things that can happen.

D.A.R.E has been a huge realization for me, because I never knew how much damage smoking tobacco, smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol can do to you.  These are the scientific reasons why I shouldn’t do drugs, but I do have goals of my own that I couldn’t do if I did do drugs at any point in my lifetime. One of my goals are I want to be on the all A honour roll all throughout middle school and high school.  I also want to be Vala Victorian when I graduate.  Another thing that I really like to do is have other people look up to me, and I don’t want them to end up doing drugs that you shouldn’t, and ruining their life and their parents life.  Something that I’ve always wanted and tried to do is be the best that I can possibly be, and I know that I can’t do that if I do drugs.  So I promise that I will never do drugs, and I hope that everyone else will do the same, and realize just like I did, that drugs just doesn’t kill the inside of your body it also kills your dreams.

Best Movie Ever

I just went to the mall on Friday March 23.  I went and saw The Hunger Games.  I’ve already finished all the books.  Which I think was the best book series ever.  If you haven’t read it then you definitely should.

I went to see the movie with my friend Molly.  We got to the mall at around six.  Although  the movie didn’t start till 7:30.  So before the movie started Molly and I walked around the mall and went to Rue 21, FYE, and Body Central.  After we found our way back to the movies it was time to go sit down.

I have to say it was one of the most crowded movie I had ever been to.  All throughout the movie I kept leaning over to Molly and telling her this is one of my favorite parts.  She did the same thing to me once or twice.

When the mutts jumped out I think my heart when stopped for a minute.  I was so scared I almost screamed (the second time I went to see it I did).  I looked over at Molly and she looked just as scared as I was.

 

I ended up crying when Rue died.  I tried not to but it was kinda hard not to.  I was so sad after the movie.  I told my sister I wasn’t going to go see it again, because I hate crying in public.  That didn’t happen though.  I ended up going with my school. I cried even harder when Rue died.

The Hunger Games has to be the best movie ever in my opinion.  I can’t wait till Catching Fire comes out.  It actually comes out November 13, 2013.

If you haven’t seen The Hunger Games then you should really go.  Before you go you should read the books, because the movie leaves out some things. It’s still the best movie ever though.

I’m so happy that my mom and dad let me go see it.  They weren’t going to let me go but, they decided to let me.

I actually went and  saw the movie twice.  The first time I went with Molly and the second time I  went with my school on a field trip.   I liked the movie better the second time.  I’m not for sure I liked it better, but I think the main reason is the first time I went to the bathroom like three times so I missed some things.

I was supposed to go a third time with my friend Sophie, but her parents said “the movie had too much violence in it.”

I can’t wait till I The Hunger Games comes out on DVD, I’m probably going to get it the first day it comes out.

The Hunger Games is by far the best movie ever!

Success

Today in The Reading Workshop we made a comment on What has made you a successful student in the sixth grade.

One thing that made me successful in sixth grade was reading a lot. I think this helped me because really if you know how to read you know how to do any other subject.  At the beginning of the year I hated to read.  Truthfully I was terrified when Mr. McGuire (my Language Arts teacher) said we had to read 180 minutes every week.  I’ve always been determined to get the best grade I can possible, so even though I hated reading I read 180 minutes and got an A.  The first few weeks of school I still hated reading, but as the year went on I started to like reading, and now I’m to the point where I’m reading more than I have too.

Another thing that made me successful was ALWAYS paying attention in class.  This has helped me because if you don’t pay attention in class the how are you supposed to learn anything.  Last year I didn’t pay attention as much as I should have, and sometimes when we would take a test I wouldn’t get as good of a grade as I would like.

The last thing that helped me be successful in sixth grade was always trying to make everything fun.  When I made things fun I wouldn’t dread doing something I would be excited to do it.

Those are probably the three most important things that has helped me be successful in sixth grade.

Image from http://www.detangled.com/self-improvement/the-10-laws-of-success/

Advice For The OAA

Today in The Reading Workshop we were asked to give advice to our peers about the OAA , and some strategies we use.

Some advice I have for my peers on the Ohio Achievement Assessment is always take your time.   It’s a pretty long test so it should take you a while but you do have two and a half hours.  I think taking your time is one of the most important things you should do on that test.  The reason why I think that is because if you take your time you’re probably going to get a good score/grade.

Another thing that you should probably do is check over everything problem.  I know when I don’t check over my work I usually miss or even skip a problem.  I know if you take a long time on the test you won’t have as muck time to check over it, but I usually always stick with my first answer.

If you don’t want to take your time the first time then I would check over it about three to five times (check over it anyway even if you did take alot of time on it).   I know alot of times it’s really miserable sitting in a chair for two and a half hours and you can hear everybody outside at recess having a good time.  In the long run it will pay off taking your time.  I remember when I was in third grade and I was taking the test  I didn’t necessarily take my time, and my score was not what I was capable of, and I got really mad at myself.  When I was in fifth grade I took almost the full two and a half hours and I was really pleased with my scores.

Another thing  that you should probably do is get a good nights sleep.  I know when I don’t go to bed till 11:00 at night I’m usually really grouchy, and I don’t do the best on school work.  So that’s really important to me to get a really really good nights sleep.

The day before the test I always try to review in my head my multiplication facts, what idiom, hyperbole, personification, simile, and metaphors mean.

So studying, taking my time,  checking over everything, and getting a good nights sleep is something that I do every year for the test.

Zach’s Lie

The book that I’m reading is Zach’s Lie.  Zach’s Lie is by Roland Smith.  Zach is a pretty young character.  Zach and his sister, Joanne, and his mom have to run from these guys all around the country.  They even have to change names.  Zach’s real name is actually Jack but he had to change it to Zach.

I think that Zach (Jack) will tell someone who he really is.  The reason why I say this is because he is pretty young and he has already said his name wrong in the book.  I think that he just might accidentally say his name wrong when talking to someone.  Zach is so used to the name Jack.  It’s kinda hard to forget when you have your sister and mom always calling you by your real name.  I think that Zach/Jack is very clever and curious.

I think he is curious because when ever something is going on he will always wonder what is going on.

The reason why I think Zach/Jack is clever is because when he was writing in his journal “If you take the v out of lives, what do you get?”  The other reason why I think Zach is clever is because he always makes a good excuse for not doing something.

Zach/Jack is one of my favorite characters in all the books that I’ve ever read.  The reason  why I like him so much is because you never know what he is going to do.

Maze Runner

The Maze Runner is by James Dashner.  The Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas that gets dropped off at the Glades.  The Glades is surrounded by the maze.   The whole book is about Thomas and his friends trying to get out of the maze.  The only problem with getting out of the maze is the walls move everyday, and there are  animals/machines called Grievers   all throughout the maze.

The Maze Runner is one of my favorite books.  I like the book because I could never put the book down, I would say I would read for an hour and I would end up reading for two hours.  The Maze Runner is a really a good book.  If you like an action packed book this is probably one of the best books.  One of the main reasons I liked The Maze Runner is because there is some real surprises that I wasn’t expecting.  I can’t promise that you will like it as much as I did but I can promise that you won’t ever get bored with the book.

The Maze Runner isn’t the only book in the series.  There is also The Scorch Trials, and Death Cure.  Right now I’m waiting for The Scorch Trials to be returned.  I can’t wait to read it.

Letter About Catching Fire

Dear Mr. McGuire,

I just finished the second book in The Hunger Games series.  Catching Fire.  The Hunger Games series  is by Suzanne Collins.  There was a lot of unexpected moments in the book.

One of the unexpected moments is when Katniss and Peeta were visiting all of the districts. The thing that made it so unexpected was that the Peacekeepers shot the mayor of District 11.  After that I couldn’t stop reading the book.  It had to be one of the most exciting things in the whole book.  Although the whole book is really good.

Another exciting yet depressing moment is when Katniss and Peeta had to go back into the arena to fight.  I was so mad because they are my two favorite characters. They had to go back in the arena for the Quarter Quell.  I was so mad.

Something that I thought was really exciting was when Katniss got hurt in the arena, and she had to be rescued.  That part was also really sad because Peeta was hurt too, and he didn’t get rescued.  I just really hope that Peeta doesn’t die, because he is my favorite character.

One other thing that was unexpected was when President Snow came and talked to Katniss.  I couldn’t believe people thought Katniss was disrespecting the Capitol in the arena.  The reason why people thought Katniss was disrespecting the Capitol was because she didn’t eat a few berries in the arena.

Catching Fire was one of my favorite books, along with The Hunger Games.  Right now I’m reading Mocking Jay, and it is really good.  I can’t wait till the movie comes out either.

Sincerely,
Emily R.

Image from http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/

Letter To Mr. McGuire

Dear Mr. McGuire,

I know that you like The Hunger Games series  by Suzanne Collins.  I agree that it is a really good book.  I’m only at the beginning of the book though.

I think that the book is really exciting.  Suzanne Collins makes the book interesting by having a lot of action in the book.  I’ve always wanted to read The Hunger Games.  I finally found the book, and I’m so happy that I get to read it.  One of the main things that I like in a book is when the author describes the characters  really well.

My favorite characters is Peeta and Katniss.  The reason Peeta is my favorite is because Suzanne Collins did a really good job of describing them.  Suzanne also makes the book interesting by making two of the most interesting characters tributes for The Hunger Games.  I also love when Suzanne  Collins makes Katniss volunteer for tribute when her little sister gets picked.

One other way Suzanne Collins makes the book interesting when she puts little twists in the story.  The book keeps getting better and better and I love that.

The Hunger Games is one of my favorite books.  I love Suzanne Collins book’s.  I can’t wait till I finish the first Hunger games, because there is a second book Catching Fire, and a third Mocking Jay.

Emily R.