Summer Reading Project August 5th- "Ghost Soldier" May have spoilers

Prompt: Do any of the character's feelings change as you read? Why or why not?
Book: Ghost Soldier
Author: Elaine M. Alphin
Pages read: 124-216

    Nicole's feelings definitely change throughout the book. In the beginning Nicole didn't really want Alexander to be there and she iced him out of conversations and not even acknowledging him. Then as she got to know him some more, she started to talk to him more but didn't really consider it as a friendship. When she spent the day with him at the museum, she became very suspicious of Alexander's actions and they way he would sneak out until night time. She finally realized there was a ghost following him around, and she started to help him. She even revealed some of her feelings and thoughts on her father's death. So if any of the character's feelings had change, she most definitely did.

     Alexander's feelings changed a lot as well. When he first arrived in North Carolina he didn't want to be there at all. He thought that if he was in North Carolina for a week what if his mom came back to his house in Indiana? He was sour about the whole trip, talking back to his dad, only coming out for food and to run, and most definitely ignoring Nicole and Carleton, well to the best of his abilities. But when he meets Rich at the earthworks and trenches, he starts to realize, through Rich's stories and paradoxes, that his mother didn't leave because of him. He also realized if his mother really wanted to stay, she would've stayed with him. That's when Alexander starts to really loosen up to the idea of his dad being in love again. In the end he had no remorse coming to North Carolina, and even gave his dad permission to marry his girlfriend!

     Rich also changed his demeanor during the book, in the beginning he just wanted to find his sister no matter what. When Rich and Alexander go to his old house in Two Stirrups, his demeanor changes to an angry and sullen personality. He gets mad enough that he runs away from Alexander and doesn't come back after a couple of days. This is really different than in the beginning of the book when he was worried, and when he bugged Alexander so much about it. After getting to hang out with Alexander, he starts to think of Alexander as a friend, and vice versa with Alex. Then, when he finally gets what he's been waiting for he turns into an angry ghost and gets upset with himself about what happened to his sister. But at the end of the book he realized he did the best he could by protecting Two Stirrups while fighting.

Summer Reading Project July 27th- "Ghost Soldier"

Prompt: Are the character's realistic? Why or why not?
Book: Ghost Soldier 
Author: Elaine M. Alphin
Pages read: 0-124

     The main character's name is Alexander, and he is visiting with his Dad to North Carolina, to meet his dad's girlfriend's family. Alexander is a somewhat realistic person, his parents are divorced and he is a track runner. Which is pretty normal, but the somewhat part of being realistic is he can see and talk to ghost. Other then that part, I would call him an average day Joe. He runs, plays an instrument, uses a Mac, and is into history. His likes can easily be shared with by many people which makes him pretty lifelike. Also, his parent's divorce made a big impact on his life, which is does often to any child of split parents. There is no other way to describe Alexander being true to life.

     Nicole is Alexander's dad's girlfriend's daughter, (whew!) She can practically pass as my sister! (Which makes her pretty realistic,) she is an any day teenager. She thinks her siblings are annoying, she loves going to the mall, she thinks everything that is out of her interest is boring, and she loves to be with her friends. But what I think is the most realistic part of her is the fact that her dad died. Many people have had parents pass away, and I think that's the easiest thing to connect with her. Not even if you had a parent pass away but even a family member. The one part that is easiest to relate to her was her hating things that relate to her late father. Because, usually you don't want to be reminded of anything that has a connection to your deceased loved one.

     Carleton is a very realistic child as well. He reminds me of the little brother from Jurassic World because of his love for dinosaurs. Thinking of that connection, Nicole and Carleton can pass as the brothers inside the movie! Anyway, he loves dinosaurs, and tattles on anything he thinks is wrong. He is basically the average five year old. He loves to ask questions and he throughs fits when he doesn't get his way. A lot of people can relate to this whether from having little siblings, cousins, nieces or nephews. Or from having friends with little siblings, you can't do anything without them squealing on you. Also, he is always wanting to do what he thinks is "big kid stuff", he wants to be exactly like Alexander, and he wants to hang out with Nicole at the mall.

     Rich is not very realistic, well I mean he can and he can't be. A couple of reasons of why he can be realistic is because many people die to protect their family by serving in the army, which is what he did. Rich was sixteen when he decided to join the Confederates in the War Between the States (aka Civil War.) He is also very naturalistic because, he cares a lot about his sister and was always by her side until he ran away to the war. Many siblings have that one brother or sister they are super close with. Whether it's a twin or someone who is closer to your age, you at least like them. Some reasons he isn't very realistic is because he's a ghost! Hence the title, Ghost Soldier. 

Summer Reading Project~ The Color of Water July 22nd

Prompt:  Pick four images that represent the book and explain why, with a quote from the book. 

Book:  The Color of Water 

Author: James McBride 

Pages: 128-291 (FINISHED) 


     The first picture I chose is a picture of the McDonald's that is currently sitting on the same land James', mother Ruth McBride Jordan, lived at in Suffolk Virginia. I think this is important to the book because it adds to the mystery of what happened to the Shilskys? (The Shilsky's is Ruth's family,) no one really knows what happened to them, and especially since their house and their store was abolished. Towards the end of the book, James revealed he went to Virginia to try to at least solve some of the mystery, but he couldn't. "...ordered some food. I sat down at a table and opened Mommy's little hand map. I checked the map, looked out the window, checked it again, looked out the window again. I knew I was on Main Street. There was an old courthouse building catty-corner to where I sat. Behind the courthouse was a graveyard. To my left was a bridge and a slaughterhouse. I was sitting right where her family's store used to be, 601 North Main Street." 

     The second picture I chose was a picture of a Yi and Yang symbol. I chose this not because of the bad in the good and good in the bad. I chose this because, James is always looking towards both of his races, (and I am not saying this to sound racist,) the black and the white part of the yi and yang. Then you have the white in the black and the black in the white, the white in the black would symbolize that even though he is African American, he is still going to always have Jewish (white) blood in him. And the black in the white is the same. He will never be completely black or completely white. Just like how the book is named the Color of Water, it's just how Ruth explains it when James ask if he was black or white, "...She replied "You are a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!” And when he asked if God was black or white, she replied he is the color of water. I think of it as if is never going to be 100% of one race. I don't know if that made sense to anyone else but...

     The third picture is a picture of a Jewish star a

nd a cross in the middle of it.  I chose this picture because, James' mom is the daughter of an Orthodox Jew Rabbi, so she always grew up being a Jew. But, when Ruth met Dennis McBride, (James' dad), she switched her religions so she could be a Christian. It represents the book because, well basically just that. Ruth always knew she still had Jewish blood in her, but she liked being a Christian because she didn't have to follow the rules Judaism put on her. In Ruth's POV on chapter 15, she wanted to go to the graduation parade where she would march to a Gentile church and that's where she would graduate, but her dad forbid her to do so. He told her, "respect your mother and me...don't break the law of the bible, don't go into that Gentile church." 

     The fourth picture is a picture of 12 kids. I think this picture symbolizes The Color of Water because James' has 11 siblings, which including him would make 12 kids. When his dad died, Ruth had a long time recovering over his death. She also had a huge struggle trying to take care of 7 seven kids, and being pregnant. Now-a-days, you think having seven children would be a lot, but that was normal back then. Anyways, Ruth than got married to Hunter Jordan, in 1956 and he helped her take care of the kids. Along with providing Ruth with 4 more kids. "She married two extraordinary men and raised twelve very creative and talented children...and her children's achievements are her life's work." 

I dedicate this blogpost to Ruchel Zylska, (also known as; Rachel Zylska, Rachel Shilsky, Ruth Shilsky, Ruth McBride and, for the last 51 years, Ruth McBride Jordan.) She had the strength to go through 2 deaths of her husbands, her mom's death, grandmother's death, brother's death, and her high school sweetheart having to marry someone else. She had the courage to strut around Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and so many other places with 12 biracial children. 

The Color of Water by James McBride 7/13/15

Book: The Color of Water 
Author: James McBride
Pages Read: 0-128
Prompt: Explain how a character is acting and why you think the character is acting that way. 

      During James' younger years, he was very unashamed of his mother. He would love for her to walk her to the bus stop and pick him up from the bus as well. He would love to go walking around the neighborhood holding his mom's hand, and acknowledging her presence. According to James himself, "it became the high point of my day, a memory so sweet it is burned into my mind like a tattoo, Mommy walking  me to the bus stop and every afternoon picking me up..." He saw it like a reward, having alone time with his mom; walking the eight blocks to the bus stop on the corner of New Mexico and 114th Road.

     During James' moody, pre-teen years, he was embarrassed of his mother. He never wanted to go anywhere with his mother. He said himself, "by age ten, I was coming into my own feelings about myself and my own impending manhood, and going out with Mommy, which had been a privilege and honor at age five, had become a dreaded event." He wanted to hide his "white mother" from the world. He would avoid telling his mom where he would play and where he would go with his friends, due to the fact he didn't want her to come and fetch him. In one scenario, his mother wanted him to go to the store with him and he told her he could go by himself, wanting to hide his mom. When he went to the grocery store, the old white man sold him a bottle of sour milk. When his mom saw the milk she ordered him to go take it back, and when he did the man wouldn't take it. So, just like James' worse fear, his mom marched up to the store, doing her crazy walk, and demanded a new bottle. Embarrassed of his mother, he tried to take her home and she wouldn't listen.

     I think James' acted this way was because he knew he was different than his mom, and his friends. I mean, he was half black, half white. He saw it through his eyes, experiencing racism first hand. When his mother would pick him up from the bus stop, she would stand out with black women. He didn't want to walk around with his mom because he would hear people calling her names, and he would reply, then proceed to get his butt kicked. He knew that no matter what, he was always going to be the "in the middle kid." He wasn't going to be fully black, or fully white, so he was never going to fit in.

(I couldn't access Mrs. Larson's blog, so I just googled reading prompts.)

Paradox and Dreams

Paradox: “Our lives as we live them would not function without electricity, but it is a rare man or women who, when the power goes off, knows how to look for a burnt-out fuse and replace it.” 

 Interpretation: Our lives are surrounded with electricity; cars, computers, lights, fans, air conditioners, etc. We take it for granted, definitely. Just as Steinbeck states, “but it is a rare man or women who, when the power goes off, knows how to look for a burnt-out fuse and replace it.” He states that it is a very rare sight to see a man or women fixing their electricity, while knowing what they are doing. Anyone can try to fix something, but half the time, they break it even more. Again, we take electricity and all the perks for granted. When our power goes out, whom do we call? Not the Ghostbusters, we call the city, when it could be as simple as an old light bulb. 

Reflection: I can really connect to this in two ways. The first way is when our power went out, we had no clue why, because it wasn’t thunder storming and it wasn’t anything to do with the light bulbs. So we called my, (I don’t really know what to call her,) cousin’s mom and we had her drive to our house from Romeoville. It turned out that it was just the fuse box was burnt out. We depended so much on electricity, but we never know how to fix it. My second relation would be when I dropped my phone in the sink. I was freaking out because my mom and dad wasn’t home, so I didn’t know what to do. I decided to turn my phone on and off, and then it worked perfectly fine. The next day however, the home buttons and returns buttons weren’t working. I decided to look on Google what I should do. The only solution was to use rice water, but since it was too late to do it, it just said to get an app called Button Savior. I use my phone basically everyday, and I didn’t even know how to fix it or what I should do. P.S. now my buttons work:). 

Paradox: “We trample friends, relatives, and strangers who get in the way of our achieving it; and once we get it we show it on psychoanalysts to try to find out why we are unhappy, and finally- if we have enough of the gold- we contribute it back to the nation into the form of foundations and charities.” 

Interpretation: When we want something, we act like we desperately need it. We do whatever it takes to make it to what we want to achieve, whether or not we lose friends, and even family. Once we have what we wanted so eagerly, we use it to find out why our friends and family are so unhappy. The paradox Steinbeck tells us is practically talking about money. We want money so bad, we want to be rich so much; that we do anything it takes to get it. Then once we have it we try to buy our way into our friends’ and families’ feelings. Even when we became the richest of them all, we just think donating to a charity will solve all of the world’s problems. 

Reflection: I can most definitely relate to this easily. My entire family is made of athletes and musicians. Both my grandmas were on track, and volleyball, my grandpa was in the army, which you have to be in pretty good shape. My grandpa is a piano player, guitar player, and he sings. With my sister, she does whatever it takes to run. She literally had surgery in February, and she was running again in March. She does whatever she can to be back onto the top, whether it’s missing a graduation, a birthday party, or even running with shin splints. My brother does whatever he can to get his job as his number one priority, he misses birthday parties, Easter, Thanksgiving, any family get together, just to be able to get enough money to live, basically. 

Symbolism of Me:)

For my object, I chose my bible. I apologize if this offended anyone in anyway.

     My bible represents/symbolizes me because, I base my morals and lifestyle off of it. Whatever I do, is based off the bible. I honor my mother and father, (Exodus 20:12), and I do not murder, commit adultery, steal, or bear false fruit, etc. I follow the bible, because God wrote the bible, well inspired people spiritually to write the bible. I think of God as my father. Your father sets rules for the household; some families have sex after marriage, or no dating without approval. My heavenly father set these rules for us to live by, (10 commandments). He also set things like not worrying because "the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them." Or, to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons [and daughters] of your father in heaven." It symbolizes what I choose to live by as a growing Christian teen girl.

     My bible also symbolizes hope and dreams. You may say, "It's not a," I don't know, "basketball. How can that symbolize hope?" Well, there are many verses in the bible, many books; in fact there are 66 books! There are so many verses in the bible talking about hope, such as Joshua 10:25; "...do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous." Verses like these give me hope for the day, month, and even year. Did you know the bible tells us 365 to not be afraid? One verse per day to tell me there will always be hope for me, and to not be afraid of what is ahead of me. I always think of David and Goliath. In Jeremiah 29:11, God tells us, "for I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope for the future." This gives me hope and makes me dream of what God has planned for my life. I know God has a plan for me, and it gives me hope that I am not useless, and I am going to live for something in this world. I may not know what it is, but that's the fun part.

I COMMENTED ON: SEBASTIAN B'S., JARED A'S., SAM T'S., SIARI R'S., AND EVIE C'S., BLGOS.

Final Reflection Blog:)

Paragraph 1 Prompts: 1- what are the three most important things you learned this year?

2- what is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

     The three most important things I learned this year is how to write an objective summary, how to state textual evidence, and how to stay organized with time management. I think learning how to manage my time is the most important because, in the beginning of the year, I always use to study on Thursday's only, and do my AOW's on Thursday's only as well. Now that I learned to organize my time and to manage what objectives I needed to get to, I can finish my AOW and blog on Monday, while Tuesday I can do my social studies AOW and science alternative assignment. I think one thing I will remember for the rest of my life would be seeing my classmates eat Sardines, and hearing Jeremiah's and Sam's rap battle. They were both very fun events to witness, especially seeing Evie eat a Sardine. How do you eat those things? Yuck!

Paragraph 2 Prompts: 3- what was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

4- what is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

     The nicest thing anyone has done in our class this year was, having my classmates putting up my chair, and sometimes helping me with my books when I hurt my collarbone. I think it was really nice of them help me even though I declined most of their offers. I think one thing I taught Mrs. Larson was about Dia De Los Reyes, or Dia De Reyes (goes both ways.) I say this because, during our culture project, I talked about this holiday and she really didn't know what it was. (I don't know if you feel the same Mrs. Larson-ha-ha.)

Paragraph 3 Prompts: 5- in what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

6- what was the most challenging part of this year for you?

    I think the area I most improved in was my vocabulary or my writing skills. I look back and read my novellas or short stories I wrote in like the third grade. Oh boy. They were very detailed, but on the wrong thing. Also, they had a lot of grammatical errors. I read a story that I wrote in the 6th grade or the 7th grade, and I can see the great change. An accomplishment that I am very proud of was reading is, reading 52 books for my 40-book challenge. Even though we were only suppose to read 40, ha-ha. With all the stress that developed during the 7th grade, and with all the worry of vocab and AOW's, I am shocked I surprised this class.

Paragraph 4 Prompts: 7- what was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

8- of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

     The best piece of writing I have written this year wasn't a writing piece for this class. It was a story I wrote called Ace. It took me about 7 months to write it and I was really proud when I finished it. It's about a girl who loves volleyball, (of course,) and she gets into an accident that ends up taking her leg. I think it was my best because, I actually wrote a book that was more than 100 pages. One of my favorite books I read this year was the Hazelwood High Trilogy because; it talks about what real kids go through, and what they have to deal with.

Paragraph 5 Prompts: 9- what advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?

     I would give the upcoming accelerated 7th graders advice as to the topics of time management, organization, and studying for vocabulary. Be good with managing your time. It's going to come in handy if you have an assignment notebook, or if you write your assignments on your computer. Schedule what time you have and what assignments you are going to do during that time period. Also, be very neat and organized with your work. It's best if you get a binder with folders and prongs, or page dividers. You're going to want to keep your work separated, i.e. your AOW's should be kept separated from your vocabulary test, and vocab words. Study your vocab at least for 5 minutes a day on Quizlet. Otherwise, on Thursday night, your going to be so stressed out you will have a headache in the morning. Believe me.