Mon. Jan. 26th, 2015 "Schooled"

Prompt: Define what is needed for a reader to be able to relate to a character.

Book: Schooled 

Author: Gordon Korman

Pages read: 50-111


     In order for a reader to relate to a character in a book (and/or movie), the character has to be facing real life situations. An example would be: Sarah grieved over the loss of her grandma. A reader can easily relate to this if they have loss their grandma, or a family member close to them. An unreal situation that a reader cannot relate to would be: Diana was very sad after losing her pet Tyrannosaurus Rex. This is an example because, dinosaurs aren't living now, and no one has a pet dinosaur. 

    In Schooled the reader can relate to the situation Cap is in. If you ever moved or switched schools, it is kind of hard to adjust right away. I know when I first started going to school in 1st grade it was hard to adjust to, because I didn't know anyone and I was homeschooled prior to that. I had no idea who to talk to, I had no idea what classroom expectations where, and I had no idea what to do when I got there. Like Cap, he didn't know where to put his stuff (page 15), and he didn't know the rules of the school like: no talking back to the principal. I of course knew no talking back, but it was still confusing as to where to put my stuff. Also, Cap was accelerated, according to Rain, Cap is in the top for schooling. I can relate to this, because before I started actual school in 1st grade I learned to write my first and last name in cursive, I knew how to multiply up to 3, and I knew how to read chapter books. 

     Another part in the book that a reader can relate to, is if they have younger or older siblings. Cap and Sophie (the social worker's daughter who he currently lives with), are always bumping heads. If you have an older sister or even a younger sister, you can definitely relate with wanting to go to the bathroom and their hogging it. Sophie is always wanting Cap to stay away from him, I don't know about you, but my sister hates it when I am sitting on her bed or hanging with her around her friends. Like Sophie, when "Josh was dropping me off while the freakzoid was scrapping a third world country off his feet." Josh is the guy Sophie likes, and she is constantly worrying about Cap embarrassing her. 

Mon. 19th, 2015 "Schooled"

Prompt: Describe the main characters.

Book: Schooled 

By: Gordan Korman 

   Capricorn Anderson is the main character, he lives(d) at Garland Community. A hippy community where the only two people to live there are Cap and his grandmother Rain. Cap is described as "long blond flyaway hair" and "tall and skinny as a rake." He is also described as wearing "homemade pajamas" and "sandals woven out of cornhusks." You can not only tell he belongs to such a community as Garland, you can hear it in his vocabulary and wording. Not even in the first couple of minutes of him talking to Zachary Powers does he talk about locking ourselves away. Cap says "when we lock our things away, we're imprisoning ourselves." He is defiantly on the unusual side. 

   Rain is another main character. She is one of the founding mothers of Garland Community, she broke her hip while falling out of a tree picking plums. Her real name is Mrs. Rosenblatt but she changed it to Rain. She is Cap's grandmother, although she wasn't his grandmother the entire time. She was only his teacher at first, then she became "the caregiver to my grandson! The only caregiver!" Although she is not described physically in the book, I can picture her as a short, plump woman. I can also picture her with long brown hair and a friendly smile. With flowers in her hair and throughout her clothing.

   Zachary Powers is one of the most popular eighth graders in Claverage (or C Average) Middle School. He is also not described physically but his personally is screamed out: jerk. He automatically "volunteers" Cap as class president and makes him think he has to do ridiculous things as president. Things like know everybody in the school's name and have weekly press conferences. He was the first person to meet Cap and vice versa.

I commented on Diana A's, Sam T's, Justin R's, and Siari R's blog. 

Mon. 11th "To Kill A Mockingbird" Finished

Prompt: Usually a reader imagines the places being described in the story. Draw a

picture of the image you have from this story. What do you usually see when

reading a story?

Pages Read: 254-Ending 

Book: To Kill A Mockingbird By: Harper Lee 


      I just finished To Kill A Mockingbird!!!!! Anyways, the image while reading this story I usually picture large houses with green grass in the front. I also picture the town with small businesses and the roads to be paved with brick not cement. I picture the courthouse as a medium sized rectangular building that is surrounded by green grass and many people on the grass waiting for Tom Robinson's case. I also usually picture the people being welcoming to kids like the neighbors and the store owners. Well of course except for the negroes or the Ewells. I picture all of this while reading the book, I see this all while reading and I get the understanding of it being a calm place to live. However, on the other hand when there was such a case as Tom Robinson's the calm place I pictured became a hateful angry place. While reading at that point I pictured the Ewell's place with garbage laying on the dirt and the houses broken down with other houses that are abandoned. 

this is how I picture the little girls and the women dressing in TKAM

     When I hear about the people in the book I picture ladies with long floral dresses and gloves with fancy hats. I picture Miss Maudie in her garden and telling stories to Jem and Scout, wearing a floral dress like the rest of the ladies and having a sun hat on with gardening gloves and an apron. I imagine Scout in overalls and t-shirts with beated gym shoes, and Jem in jeans with beated shoes. I also see the men in overalls with nice ironed slacks and dress shoes with button up shirts. Although this is a lot to picture every time I read this book I think of all these things. 

     When I read about the Tom Robinson case in the book I think of Tom Robinson sitting in a courtroom surrounded by people, not just people but angry white men who accused him of doing a naughty thing. I think of Mayella Ewell on trial and being scared with tears running down her cheeks. I picture her fiddling with her hands as a nervous witness would usually do. I can imagine Tom's "powerful shoulders rippled under his thin shirt" as Scout describes him. 

My New Adventure- Running My Own Charity Basketball Game Jan. 6th

     Yes this was a long time ago, but no other "adventure" was as fun as this one. It took a lot of work and a lot of patience to wait for the big day. I think one of the hardest things to do for the game was pick the teams (and try to make it equal). I mean the boys did win and a lot of people expected that, but I wanted to at least try and make the teams equal as in skill so it wouldn't be too unfair. It was a lot of fun to see everyone getting along as in teams because the girls and boys were just thrown together without any practice and worked really good together. There were a lot of talented people playing in the game and a lot of good coaches to coach the team which I think made it all equal. 

      The second hardest thing I had to do was probably the day of the game and trying to get everyone calm so we get the donations. At first it was just Jesus, Marco, Pam and I so when people started to flood into the hallway it got really crowded. Plus we only had one basket to hold the money and it was impossible to have 150 people come running at you excited to watch the game. When Ms. Suarez came I think is when we calmed down the most and started getting more organized. It was amazing to see how many people came and how many people donated! 

      The hardest part out of those two was to announce why I did this, not only do I have stage fright but just because it was very emotional to talk about my grandpa. I really had to think to write the speech because whenever I started to write how much I missed him and how much I really wish he was here to see me do this I would just start crying. Although I think he would be proud of me to see that I was doing this for him and many with Colon Cancer and Breast Cancer. 

     Overall I really had a fun time doing this entire game and I wish to do it again in 8th grade. Just in case, if you weren't there we raised around $150 to be split equally amongst Susan Cohan and Susan Komen. It was a boys versus girls basketball game, the players were on the Heritage teams. Mr. Caulkins was the coach for boys and Mr. Smith and Diana Chacon was the coach and assistant coach for the girls. There was a lot of funny moments during the game with some crazy shots, crazy air balls, and crazy blocks. 

If you have any other ideas for a charity game can you let me know?