Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy’s Great Idea

The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy’s Great Idea
By Ann M. Martin
Reviewed by Savannah

Kristy Thomas lives with her mom, 2 brothers Sam and Charlie. Kristy also has 1 little brother named David Micheal. She gets an idea to start a babysitting club while she was having dinner and over hears her mom contacting multiple people to babysit for her brother, David Micheal. She decides to babysit for her little brother. Kristy thinks of a great idea while babysitting.

Her idea was to have her friends Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, and the new girl from New York, Stacey Mcgill build a small business for babysitting. They all decided to put up flyers all over town.

Mary, Claudia, and Kristy start to suspect that something is wrong with the new girl Stacey. Whenever Kristy and Claudia pull out candy she starts so suddenly want to go home. What might Stacey be hiding?

Kristy really doesn’t want to spend time with her mom’s boyfriend Watson. Kristy learns to like Watson’s kids when she babysits them. She learns to like Watson just by one simple meaningful conversation with him. Why might Kristy have to learn to like Watson’s kids?

Claudia starts to wear lots of makeup ever since she’s been in a new grade. Kristy tries to figure out why Claudia is being so different.

The only problem Mary Anne has is that her dad is so over protective.

I think the book is great because you can relate to it if you're a kid. Kristy has a personality that I can relate to because we both say things without thinking about what it sounds like. The book also relates to how your siblings could be annoying as ever.

Here is the brief overview of The Baby-Sitters Club, book #1. Find out all the answers to the questions by reading this fantastic book.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Rules of Life

Rule 1: Don’t worry about what others think about you.
Be you. If you are a totally mean person who hates dogs, be that person. No. I'm totally kidding.
Don’t hate dogs. Anyways, be you. I like you. Not you pretending to be that guy/girl over there.
In the long run, it’s better to just be the person you were born to be.

Rule 2: Be a Unicorn.
In other words, even if no one believes is you, believe in yourself. If you always let everyone tell
you what you can and can’t do, and you listen, you will never get anywhere in life. You can’t let
everyone walk all over you. Don’t let others decide what you can and can’t do. Except for your
mom. Listen to your mom.

Rule 3: Staycations.
Take a break. I, personally, tend to put the weight of the world on my shoulders. I put way too
much stress on myself that I don’t need to. Just, breathe. It will all work out in the end.

Rule 4: Planners and personal notebooks.
They are a lifesaver. Put everything that you need to do in a list. When you’ve completed the
task, cross it off the list. It gives a sense of satisfaction, for some people at least. Plus, making a
list to remember things is better than finding out you have a 10-page essay due tomorrow when
you originally had a week to do it.

Rule 5: Get it Done Early.
It never hurts to get stuff done early. You will be less stressed about it and you won't have to
worry about it later.

Rule 6: Don’t call it a dream, call it a plan.
Make your dreams happen. Nothing is going to happen if you just sit at home all day doing
nothing. Dreams don’t happen until you put the effort into them.

Rule 7: Being random is potato.
Be weird. No one likes an overly serious person. Be random and silly. Life is more fun that way.
Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, you need to act like the little professional that you are, but it’s
good to have a little fun in life.

-Ruby

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Feathers

Feathers
By Jacqueline Woodson
Reviewed by Claire

I read the book, “Feathers,” by Jacqueline Woodson. The book was very interesting. The book is about memories and the good in all of us. It takes us through Frannie’s life as a child. Frannie learned to find God in everyone, have hope, and learn that you never know what someone is going through.

 In the book, Frannie is just a regular girl. She has friends, has a loving family, and goes to school. A new boy joins their class. The boy looks like Jesus, so they start calling him “Jesus Boy.” The only thing is this boy used to live on the other side of the highway, meaning he is white. The whole class is interested in this boy. Frannie realizes that this boy makes her want to be more in touch with God. Her brother, Sean, is deaf-mute. Frannie helps him and like most younger siblings talks and hangs out with him. Together they do regular stuff and help their mom. He helps Frannie realize that the world has different perspectives. Frannie’s mom is having a baby and after years of trying to, this baby was here to stay. In the past she has lost a lot of babies and isn’t always at her best point. Her mom gives her whole family hope, and courage.

The book is very well written. It makes the reader picture what the people are doing in the book, in their mind. It draws you in and makes you want to keep reading. It was a short book, so I wish they would have added a couple more chapters. I think they needed to add a better or different ending. They just kind of picked it all up so fast at the end when the whole beginning was slow and smooth. The book was simple, but at the same time you would think while you read it.

 In conclusion, I would give this book a three out five stars. It was very simple. It had great meaning and made you picture the scenes in your mind, but it was just missing something. It didn’t have a stand out ending or a solid conclusion. It didn’t talk about how they were left off, it just kind of picked up the last thoughts and ended. So, it was a good, but simple book to read.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Report from NCTE

from Mrs. Jones

I had an amazing time at this year's National Council of Teachers of English convention!  I traveled to St. Louis to meet thousands of English teachers from all over the country.  Also attending the convention were writers of children's books, experts in education theory, publishers, and (oddly) cheerleaders. Lots and lots of cheerleaders. The NCTE was sharing a convention center with a large cheerleading competition, which was a hilariously awkward mix of people. 
Jacqueline Woodson speaks to a huge crowd of teachers.
She was amazing!

One of my favorite teaching sessions had to do with alternative ways of grading students. What if there were no zeroes? What if student grades came from the skills they've mastered, and not from the assignments they've completed? What if teacher feedback was for guiding and helping students, not for judging them? What if grades came from growth, not just from mastery? What if students negotiated their own grades based on their learning? I left that session with my brain swirling with ideas. I'm still thinking about how to put some of those ideas into action, and I'll want to do some reading and research, but I'm very curious about some of these new ways of thinking about grading.

Me getting an autographed copy of Miles
Morales
from Jason Reynolds!
I'm pretty sure that means we are best
friends now.
One of my favorite author sessions was a panel discussion with the authors of Flying Lessons and Other Stories.   This anthology of short stories came from the We Need Diverse Books movement, and the authors had a lot to say about how important it is for young readers to see their own lives reflected in the books they read, at least some of the time.  I left with a very high opinion of Soman Chainani, and determined to try again with the second School for Good and Evil book, which I got angry at and refused to finish a few years ago.

I tried to resist the temptation to spend all of my time hanging around in the publishers' room asking for author autographs, but I did get to meet Nikki Grimes and Jason Reynolds, and also saw Angie Thomas, Victoria Jamieson, Laurie Halse Anderson, and an amazing assortment of other great writers, as well as some new writers whose books I'll add to the classroom library - in some cases, not until after I get to read them first!  Publishers love introducing good new books to teachers, and I made good use of my time to get as many good books for the classroom library as possible!

Thanks to every student who worked hard and was kind to our guest teacher while I was away, allowing me to have this great opportunity to learn.

I brought back so many books that I built a book fort!

Manifesting Yourself

Living through life is hard, with most of us going through the toughest challenges. You
might feel discouraged, turning down yourself during the hardest workloads, thinking that you
can’t do it. Even other people might bring you down with them thinking that you can’t succeed,
and not believing in you, but remember this: keep pushing through. It doesn’t matter how many
people stand in your path to success. Push them out of your way and tell them that you can do it!

I have definitely been pushed around and told that I wasn’t smart or I couldn’t succeed. Most of
us have. But persevering through the dozens of obstacles will only make us even stronger. If you
just keep pushing and cut through the thick and sharp thorns of painful adversities, you’ll find
the bright sunlight, leading you to success!

So no matter who you are or where you come from, no matter what you go through, keep trying
and keep pushing through!

-Jeremy

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

The Berlin Boxing Club

The Berlin Boxing Club 
By Robert Sharenow
Reviewed by Ani

As Karl Stern walks through the halls after school, he gets caught by some Nazi-supporting bullies. Karl had never thought of himself as a Jew. He hasn’t even been in a synagogue. The bullies beat him up, then move on. Karl has to go to the art gallery his dad owns and is seen with a beat-up face. Then Max Schmeling, a world-known boxer volunteers to give Karl a boxing chance. Max trains Karl throughout a couple of years and Karl gets pretty good. After a while, Karl gets into it and starts to fight other people other than the people in the gym.

 Soon, Karl has to make secret deliveries for a transgender woman, which he does not like at first. Her name is The Countess. Karl noticed that the “woman” who answered the door had an adam’s apple and he sort of freaked out. Anyways, the Countess was apparently in the war with Karl’s father. Sometimes the Countess is a girl, sometimes is a boy. Karl finds love. Her name is Greta, who is a year older. After 2 years of dating, the apartment building owner kicks Karl out for being a Jew and for “making a move” on Greta, even though it was the apartment building owner who “made a move.”

Karl and his family end up having to move into the art gallery and Karl keeps on boxing. As Karl and his father get closer, the story gets deeper. Greta is not in Karl’s life anymore. Greta really is a good person, but her father is a strict man. Later in the story, Karl’s uncle passes away from a horrible stomach sickness. Later, Karl gets kicked out of boxing because they figure out that he was technically a Jew. Karl goes back to see the janiter at the old Berlin Boxing Club in which he was really good friends with and they talk for a little bit. A little while later in the book, Karl’s house gets broken into and Karl has to fight for his family. As Karl and his father face the Nazis, Karl’s father gets stabbed by some broken glass.

They take him to the hospital and Karl and his little sister can’t go. Karl ends up calling the Countess and she shows up as a woman. As she leads the kids back to her apartment, Karl crosses one of his old friends from school. They lock eyes for a couple of seconds and they separate. Karl and his sister get safely to the apartment, but will Karl’s father be okay?

Monday, November 13, 2017

Rules and Beliefs To Live By YOU

● Never be afraid of yourself.
● Love and accept yourself.
● God made you on this earth to change the world. It is your choice if you change it or not.
● You are on the world for a reason. Don’t ruin it and spend it a way you wouldn’t want it.
● Everyone else is taken, so be yourself.
● Smile when it’s hard.
● Don’t beat yourself up about something especially when it isn’t your fault.
● Be happy
● There is no good competition with someone else. The only competition is with yourself.
● Some people are just plain mean. Don’t be a mean person.
● Be yourself!
● It is your choice, but you don’t have to love anyone except yourself.
● Be funny and comfortable with someone you can trust.
● You are allowed to let it out.
● Work hard for what you love.
● Follow your heart.
● Love is everywhere and anyone can love.
● Don’t doubt yourself.
● Don’t let anyone ruin your good vibes.
● Control your actions.
● Accept yourself.

-Ani

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

The Hunger Games series

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay 
By Suzanne Collins
Reviewed by Lola

The second and third book in the Hunger Games series is as thrilling, action packed, and romantic as the first one! It is finally time for the Quarter Quell, Katniss never wants to speak of the Hunger Games, and her and Peeta are still acting as Star Crossed Lovers for the cameras. For the Quell they have to be mentors. Until President Snow threatens Katniss and the people she cares about. When they announce what they will be doing for the Quarter Quell, everyone is shocked. They announce that they will be reaping out of the victors. That means that Katniss has to go back into the arena. The arena is filled with action, death and new friendships. Finally Katniss, and her allies escape the arena by blowing up the force field. But they didn’t get Peeta. As Katniss plays the role of the rebels leader, The Mockingjay, they manage to rescue Peeta.

But he has been changed by the capital. He has been injected with tracker jacker venom so that his memories of Katniss are twisted. Finally when he his stable enough to see her they talk. The rebels decide to invade the capital, finally. One of Katniss’ allies dies during it and is replaced by Peeta. Invading the capital is just like The Games. There are pods that set of catastrophes, and even new mutts. Many allies die in the making. Katniss and Peeta trust each other, but Gale grows distant. When they finally get to President Snow when he has a shield of children around his mansion. The Rebel medics come to save them as evil parachutes release from a capital plane. Prim is among the medics. Then a bomb goes of. No more Primrose. There is thrill, romance and even death in the next two books. Will Katniss go crazy, will the president die, will Katniss and Gale fall in love instead of Peeta? I guess you’ll have to find out for yourself...

Monday, November 6, 2017

Mayoree’s Guide to Being Awesome

❏ Be Yourself
Don’t let anyone change you. You don’t need to be someone else to satisfy someone else’s needs.

❏ Live Life
Do the things you want to. Don't live your life in regret. If you do your whole life will be sad and miserable.

❏ Be Nice to Your Body
Eat healthy food. Don't starve yourself to be skinnier, but don't eat the whole refrigerator all because you can.

❏ Stand Up For Yourself
Don’t let people pick on you and make fun of you. Don’t allow someone to make you feel like you are not good enough. Because you definitely are. You might not be their perfect but you are you.

❏ You're Not Always Right
Don’t be a Know-It-All. There will be people who are smarter than you. You do not know everything.

❏ You Are Perfect the Way You Are
Don’t put makeup to change yourself beautiful (Or handsome) self. If people think that you're not skinny, or pretty enough then they are worth it. If you like Harry Potter don’t let any non-readers tell you you are weird or that you have something wrong with you.

❏ Challenge Yourself
Don’t sit in a box when it come to your academics or even your artistics, Make sure you're always learning something.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Cursed Child

The Cursed Child: Extended Edition
By J.K. Rowling
Reviewed by Brahm

The Cursed Child (by J.K. Rowling) is a book about the sons and daughters of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. This story tells how Albus Severus Potter tried to save Cedric Diggory in different ways, but then had to face the consequences. He went back in time and made Cedric get off track from a coarse by pretending to be a student of a different school. This Changed everything as making everyone act different, and marry different people. But then he prevented what he did by going back in time again and made him stop in the middle of a trial. He did something bad that changed the world to a world where Harry Potter is dead.

 You should read this book if you like to act, because this book is written like a script. You can see where each scene takes place, what it was like, and imagine what the characters would look like if you were in the book. Read on and see what became of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. See how some of your favorite characters do as a career. You can see what happened to some of your favorite characters after Albus changed time. If you read the book you can find out about You-Know-Who’s child and what they were going to do, and how they hid from the world. Find out how Albus and Scorpius (Malfoy’s son) went back in time, how they saved the world.

This book makes you wonder what happens when you go back in time. I thought about how the other people would react. You would wonder what would happen if time changed around you. Read and become a ministery auror of time! I love this book and I’m sure others would love it to. I love the organization in the written play. Yes, this book is written like play, but that means you can understand where they are, which characters are in the scene, and will make you want to act out each of these scenes. You will be amazed about how different Albus is from Harry Potter.