Written Oct 22nd 

Hey guys! Last week was really fun. We went to family day at my Dad‘s work! It was really cool. There were many “blow ups” and some rides. The pictures really show you the fun we had. There was a giant slide we went on and free food! Free everything actually. I also played balloon darts and won. I think Baby had the most fun. Here are some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, one request was to hear about the animals I am studying. Well, right now I am studying  felines. That’s right.  But it isn’t just cats. They include hyenas, aardwolves, viverridae, herpestidae, mongoose, and meerkats. Everyone knows what meerkats and hyenas are, at least they should, from the hit movie the lion king.  As for the others, I am just learning about them. Next week I can tell you more. Someone emailed me telling me to write about what I have learned about North Carolina. But I actually haven’t read about that yet. When I do I will be sure to write about It. So anyway, lets see. What else did I do last week?

How about theater? Hmm? We played lots of games, but we mostly worked on our ensemble number, “mama says” from foot loose.  Today, we are going to get our “solos” witch are actually trios.  But games of course were the best. Lately we have been playing a game called j‘accuse. Or something like that. I may have told you about it. It is where everyone lays down, or in our case, dies the most dramatic and silent death they can, and our teacher picks the best death and taps them on the shoulder. No one knows who has been picked, since of course, everyone has their eyes closed. When the killer is picked the teacher tells everyone to get up. This is a silent game. Everyone goes around shaking everyone else’s hands. The killer tickles the inside of every hand she shakes. The person who has been tickled, waits for a little bit, and then, all of the sudden, “dies.”  The game keeps on going until someone figures out who the killer is and yells “j‘accuse!”  Then, if she is correct, the game is over. If not, then she has to die.  We also have vocal warm ups.  They may seem easy, but try it yourself. It is hard. We repeat what ever she says. “these are my articulacy tools. The lips the teeth the tip of the tongue” try to say THAT five times fast! Also try to say this next one even just once, fast. “red leather yellow leather.” we also have these… “bababa gagaga dadada cacaca. You will notice, that your tongue rubs the inside of your mouth differently for each. For “gagaga” your tongue is back. For dadada, your toungue is forward. At the end of each class, we all go down on the floor. The teacher turns off the lights, and we have what she calls “quiet time/meditation time.” she tells us things to think about. We think about them, and at the very end, she tells us to repeat the following: “I am beautiful. I am wonderful. I am an actor. I am awesome” and stuff like that.

Ok then. I think my favorite school subject is Hands On Essays. Next week, I’ll share my revised essay of trick or treat vs. all saints day party. I don’t think there is anything more I can share about last week’s hands on essays, but you know.

Well, now I think I will tell you about something awesome!!!!! BABY’S BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! I am going to bake a cake today. It is a rainbow cake, at baby’s request.

The last thing I will write about for this blog, is my absolute favorite thing for school, catholic school house. At catholic school house we stopped studying leaves and started, drum roll please, chemistry. We  mixed certain amounts of colored water, making epic colors, and writing down the recipe as we went. Then, the teacher picked one color that she liked, and we all had to follow the recipe, to make the same color. Most of us got it. Another thing in csh, was history. Now, I accidentally got the wrong paper a while ago, so I did that assignment, so I am ahead of my history class by three weeks.  In art it is finally something “up my ally”. WE ARE DOING POTTERY.  We get to mold, and carve and paint our own pottery! Last week we only design what we were going to do.

So anyway, that’s all I have to tell you today, but don’t worry, next week will be an even awesomer blog. So, yeah. Bye!!! Don’t eat any cars! oh,. And happy late chocolate cup cake day! Yay!

Photo Gallery

Halloween and Poetry

Now, this week, all I am going to talk about is poetry and Halloween. For those of you who would like to know about other subjects, please email me. I did get one email, but I didn't see it until after I wrote my blog, so I will write that in with next week's blog. Here are my school topics:

• Spelling- I can show you my sentences for the week, or just my words.
• Poetry- I can tell you about the poems I wrote that week, as well as share them.
• Reading- I can give a book report on my latest books I have read.
• Composition- I can tell you about my Hands On Essays I have written, or what the week's lesson was.
• Math- there is not much to talk about on this topic, but if you think of a question or something, I would be glad to answer it.
• Zoology- I can tell you all about the animals I am learning about, or I can tell you about the experiments.
• U.S. Geography and History- any questions on these I would be glad to answer.

Now any of these topics, you can email me to hear about. It would be easiest on me if you would write your email in the form of a survey. That way, I can type the questions you have (on the blog) and then my answers.

Now, I would like to move on to the first poem. This is a special kind of poem, and believe me, it isn't easy to format it, but it is easier for some, because it doesn't have to rhyme, and you can repeat.

I hope you all enjoyed that.

Now, this is the first time I have ever mixed poetry with another subject, well, as long as I can remember that is. But this is my project this week for US Geography in a poem! Here it is:

Big apple

Wanna know about New York?

Read this poem,

and all of the state symbols,

well, you'll know 'em!

If a girl comes up to you,

you better believe her,

if she tells you New York's animal

is a beaver.

Your brother's been to New York,

so he probably knows,

that New York's state flower,

is the beautiful rose

hey, have you heard?

New York's is the eastern bluebird!

The state's insect

is red with black specks.

What's New York's gem?

Diamonds or rubies aren't it.

Why, it's none other than the

wine red garnet!

The beverage of the state,

white as silk,

it comes from a cow,

by the title of milk!

New York's fruit is an apple,

red and round.

When you chew this food,

you'll hear a cruching sound.

Now, as for state symbols,

i'll give you one more,

New York's state motto

is “excelsior”!

Ok. now, I am going to share with you an essay I wrote, that also has to do with Halloween. Here it is:

      Despite how different you may think the All Saints' Day party, and Trick-or-Treating sound, they do have a few similarities. 

      For one thing, they both are on Halloween night. All Saints' Day is the day after Halloween, but the party is on Halloween. And unfortunately, they are both at the same time, so you can't do both. But the All Saints' Day party is inside, where as trick-or-treating is outside. All Saints Day party is inside, so that we can play games and such. The games are all saint related, hence the name. Speaking of names, “Halloween” actually means All Hallow's Eve (or the eve of All Saints' Day)!

      You get sweets at either event, although in different ways. At the party, you play games at booths in order to get candy, unless you are a helper. In that case, you run the games and many sneak candy. Volunteers are given a candy bag at the end of the night. At the All Saints' Day party, there is also a cake walk. People who are coming bake the cakes for the cake walk, they are not bought. Obviously, trick-or-treating doesn't have a cake walk. If you go Trick-or-Treating, you simply go door-to-door saying “trick or treat!” although it is always treat, and they give you candy. Sometimes trick-or-treating, you also get bags of popcorn.

      While you dress up for both events, you can dress as anything when you trick-or- treat, but if you go to the All Saints' Day party, you can only go as a Saint, save toddlers and babies, who can go as either a Saint or an animal from the ark. Also, when you go trick-or-treating, you can walk and talk with the people you go with, but at the party, you can hang out, and talk, and eat, etc.

     

     Although very different in some ways, I believe, that all in all the All Saints' Day party, and trick-or-treating are quite the same in other ways. Candy, costumes, friends, fun, I love October 31^st!

Thank you for reading my blog! And PLEASE email me with surveys to answer, questions, and topics you would like to hear about! Thank you.

Photo Gallery

We had fun at a local festival:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pics from our week:

 

 

 

Until next week, bye!

Blog O'Books

Hello everyone. Now, you might be wondering why I don't write as much about my actual school work as I did last year. Well, would you really like to read all about math or how Christopher Columbus discovered America, instead of hearing about great books, fun experiments, and reading fun poems? Well, if you would, please email me with a subject you would like to hear about, and I would gladly write about them. But for now, I will stick to what I believe everyone prefers. Here is a book report. If you are into wolves, I suggest this series:  The Wolves of the Beyond.  It is a sequel series to the Guardians of Ga'hoole, which I wrote about before. 

 

Wolves of the Beyond Book 1:  Shadow Wolf

A mother wolf, Morag, gives birth to a liter of pups. But to her great dismay, one of the pups was born with a splayed paw. Morag knew the pup was to be taken away by the Obea, left alone in the night, condemned to die. This was the custom with the wolves, unfortunately a very sad custom. All of the pups born with defects, or born too early, or too late, were condemned to die. It made sure that the packs remained strong, with no weakness.

Sure enough, although Morag had ran far from her clan to give birth, hiding from the Obea, the Obea still found her. Now, the Obea is a she-wolf, who is unable to have pups. And she is the one who has to leave the pup to die. Surprisingly, the old she-wolves do not feel anything when they leave the pup to die. To them, they might as well be carrying a pouch of dirt for all the sympathy they have.

Well, the little silver pup with the splayed paw, was taken away to his tummfraw which is the wolf word for “place of abandonment” or something like that. This particular tummfraw was by a flooding river, and on a direct owl flight route. If the river didn't drown him, the owls would make a meal of him. Well, the river swept him up, and he clung on to his little piece of earth for dear life.

Across the river a little way, was a grizzly bear mother, “howling” with anxiety. She had looked for higher land when she saw the river rise, and while she was gone, a cougar killed her only cub. The cub was her last, not of the year, but ever because she was too old to have any more. She wanted very much for the river to drown her. She sought death, and the little wolf pup sought life. Well, the silver ball of fur caught on the grizzly's leg, and she pulled him out of the water, saving his life. She decided to raise this pup as her own. She named him Faolan. In bear language, “fao” means both river and wolf, and “lan” means “gift”. He was her gift from the river.

To make a long story short, she raises him as her own, and he goes on an adventure to find his clan, and to become a gnawwolf, which is what a wolf becomes if it returns from abandonment... which, sadly, is seldom.

Now, if you would like to find out more, I highly suggest you get this book. But I would hurry. If you do plan on reading this book, I hope you are a fast reader. Because I myself hate spoilers, and you probably do too, and I am putting another summary of the next book in the series up in one or two weeks. GET TO THE LIBRARY! Haha.

Well then, did you like that? Now, what other fun things did I do this week? OOH! I know! How about I tell you about my theater class? Well, the first Monday I went, we just played games. It was very fun. But then again, that wasn't THIS week, and technically, I am only supposed to write about what I did this week. But if you would like to know about the games, please email me, and I will gladly tell you about them. Well, this week, we just worked on our ensemble song which is....”Mama Says” from Footloose. So we worked on choreography and singing. At the end of every class, we all lay on the floor, and our teacher turned off the lights. It was almost like therapy. She had us say things we learned, and things we are thankful for, etc.... oh, and at the VERY end, she had us all say “I am beautiful. I am awesome. I am valuable...”etc...I guess it is to build self esteem. But it was very fun.  Well, let's see, that about wraps up theater. I believe that's all for this week. But next week, I will be sure to write another blog, and you can read more.

PS-really, if there is ANYTHING you would like me to write about in the next blog, please just email me. I would be very glad to write about it.

Photo Gallery

 wolves!

 :-)

 Baby set up a desk & computer for herself!

 so sweet <3

 so silly!

 a world of fun!

An Awesome Wed & a Trip

Sorry I haven't posted for a few weeks.  I wrote the blog entries, but we didn't get around to publishing them.

 

Blog Entry for Sept 21

Hello again! I am glad to write this particular blog. On Wednesday, I tried this new thing. It is a half school day thing. I go in early, and I really mean early! Then, well, how about I just let you read this report I wrote for this new school topic called HOE - it stands for Hands On Essays. So, here you go!

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BypPK1qIEGuTOW93cldyZFNyeWs

Blog Entry for Sept 28

Hey guys! Since I was visiting my Grandma starting Thursday, we took the whole week off! So I am sorry you didn't get the blog till now but oh well. I can at least tell you about my time visiting my Grandma, and cousins, and aunts and uncles, etc....

We drove 8 hours to my Grandma's rest home. When we got there, we just talked, and finally, we went down to the dining hall, and had dinner. After that, we hung out some more, and then left for “home”. We went to sleep. When I woke up, everyone else was already awake. It was Friday! So that meant we got to meet my Aunt A at the rest home. We talked with Aunt A and Grandma for a while, and then played cards. My aunt did my hair. She was going to do baby's hair too, but baby didn't like it.

Finally, I went over to Aunt A's house for a sleepover. We were the only ones there for the night, besides the dog, so it was girls' night! We got a pizza and two movies. We went down to the basement and ate pizza while we watched Mirror Mirror. Best movie ever! Millions of times, I have been asked the question “what is your favorite movie?” and I have never had an answer. Now I do. And Mirror Mirror is it. Well, once the movie was over, it was hair and make up time! Aunt A wanted me to spike her hair, but I couldn't get the “goo” to work, so I sparkled her hair instead. Then I did her make up semi-normal. Here is a picture of that:

Next, I decided I didn't like normal, so I made it into a peacock. It looked SO cool! Here is a picture:

 

 Then, she did my hair. She calls it an inverse braid. Then she did my make up. Nothing exotic like the peacock. But still pretty cool! I STILL have eyeliner on. Haha. After make up, we were fully awake again, so we watched The Lorax. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't a movie I would watch again. The music in it was entertaining, but it just wasn't worth it. Well, then we went to bed.

The next day, while everyone went on errands and such, I stayed home, baked brownies, and watched Mirror Mirror again. Haha! Right about the second time watching it that day, my cousin Angel and my Aunt P came over. My Aunt P dropped us both off at a market like thing that was going on that day. We went “tent shopping” and looked at a lot of cool nicknacks, and over-priced homemade things, and a really pretty dress booth. Then we went into a candy store and got some candy. After that, we started to walk back home. But, we got lost. So my parents had to pick us up.

After Mass there was going to be a “party” dinner thing at Aunt A's house. So we went over there, and Angel and I decorated the house with fall décor that we found in the garage along with a box of costumes, but more on that later. Soon, people started arriving, along with my cousin J. J, Angel, and I all went outside and tried on costumes. It was very fun. After that, we all ate dinner with everyone. After dinner was over, we went down stairs, along with yet another cousin, N, and we all played Security Guard and the Clay, which is really called Queen and the Statues. Basically, one person is the queen, or in our case, the security guard, and all the others are “statues”. The queen turns around, and whenever her back is towards them, the “statues” can move, but as soon as she turns around, they have to freeze. In our version, the queen got to move the statues in whatever way she wanted. It was very entertaining. We also played twister. 

 After all the people upstairs had left, and we were the only ones there, we all went upstairs to eat the brownies I had cooked, and to play a game called Left Right Center. If you want to know what Left Right Center is, please email me and I will tell you. Then, we all went home. My dad couldn't sleep, so we ended up leaving for real home, at around 2ish in the morning. Yeah, I know. I slept the entire ride home!

Photo Gallery 1 - Misc.

Baby playing on her Sit N Spin

My Science Experiment

Making cupcakes for CSH - well actually they were for Co-Op, 

but the potluck plan changed, so I took them to CSH!

Photo Gallery 2 - our trip

Grandma & Baby

Angel & Baby

Aunt P & Baby

J, R, C, Baby & Grandma

trying on costumes

Well, that's really all I have to say this week, so as I said last year, till next time, bye!