Homeless Bird is a book written by Gloria Whelan, about a girl named Koly living in India. Koly is thirteen and marries a sickly boy named Hari. Koly’s Sass treats her very harshly. Over time Koly finds out that Hari only married her for the dowry. After many months of planning to run away Sass leaves her in Vrindavan. She is shocked, homeless, starving, and scared, but she must find a job and shelter before her few rupees run out. A boy named Raji manages to find her a room at a widows’ home. She gets a nice job and teaches Raji how to read. At the end of the book Raji proposes.
1. In this book Koly has to adapt to many things. The first thing she has to adapt to is living with her cruel Sass, living in a crude home, and doing her endless chores. She learns to only share her thoughts with her sister-in-law, Chandra. Over time she realized that she wouldn’t have friends while she was living with her Sass so she found some joy in taming the bandicoot and playing with a pariah dog. When Sass brought home the tickets to New Delhi and told Koly it was time to pack up and leave she shows that she really had adapted to living with the Mehtas and living in their sloppy home. She says “As unhappy as I had been in my Sass’s house, a thorn of sadness pricked me when it came time to leave.” Also, when Koly was left in Vrindavan she had no choice, but to quickly adapt to her surroundings and do what she had to do to survive. She uses her money wisely, she takes every bit of food she can get, puts herself before others, and keeps the doorstep to herself. Koly has been in many diverse situations so she can adapt to different things quickly.
2. I think the theme for Homless Bird is to never lose hope. Koly never lost hope. When all seems lost, you’ve made a big mistake, or everything goes the wrong way don’t lose hope! If you believe, even in the darkest times, hope is always there. An example from Homeless Bird is when Koly runs out of rupees in Vrindavan.“My rupees were nearly gone, and all I had was the doorstep and the bit of food tossed out by the hand of someone I had never seen.” Koly was just about to lose hope so she went to the railway station. She was walking around when she saw the boy with the rickshaw named Raji. She told him about her problems and Raji found Koly a widows’ home to stay in. This shows that if you always have hope something good will come from your woes. The second theme is trust yourself and be brave while doing so. If you think you should run away, then run away. Believe in your thoughts and go with what your mind tells you to do. A big example of this is from Tagore’s Poems.“There was a flock of birds flying day and night. Among them was one homeless bird, always flying on to somewhere else.” This explains how even if it makes you stand out you should trust yourself. Don’t settle for what the crowd does, settle for what you think you should do. Koly demonstrates this when she hides the earrings and she does her chores badly. Koly is headstrong and follows her gut. In order for Koly to do these things she had to be very brave. There is the easy choice and the right choice. Sometimes you have to be brave to pick the right choice.
3. Gloria Whelan uses many literary devices throughout the book. Literary devices are things such as similes, metaphors, personification, etc. that make the language come alive. Mostly, Gloria Whelan uses comparisons. Comparisons are literary devices that compare one thing to another. Some of my favorite comparisons in Homeless Bird are:
“The mustache is like a mouse’s tail.”
“I shuddered, feeling no better off than the chained monkey and the miserable birds.”
“The thought had been waiting like a scorpion at the edge of my mind. Now it stung me.”
“She was very plump, as though she had been put together with pillows.”
“You wallow like pigs in mud.”
“Maa Kamala stirred us up like a pot of rice.”
“Lying nearby were other widows, their soft sighs and turnings like so many doves fluttering around me.”
Posted in Uncategorized February 7, 2012
Are you looking for an exciting new book to read? I come across this problem many times. There are so many different books to read, which one will I like best? I have found that reading a series is best for me. When I read a series of books I can stay connected with the same character or topic for longer than just with one book. I have read many different books, but here are a few descriptions of my top 5 favorite series.
The Hunger Games: Written by Suzanne Collins, this book is a violent, but extremely exiting book. The Hunger Games is filled with action, adventure, and surprises as Katniss Everdeen fights for her life in the hunger games. If she won, fame and fortune was promised. If she lost, she would certainly die a painful death. As Katniss faces many challenges she can only hope for it all to end. May the odds be ever in her favor.
Gregor The Overlander: Gregor was a normal boy with a normal life. The only unusual thing about his family was his dad. One day he had just misteriously vanished. Gregor knew his dad didn’t run away, but everyone else thought he did. When Gregor’s younger sister, Boots, falls into another world he can’t help but wonder, could his did be there? Gregor makes friends and enemies on his expedition to find his dad. These exciting books about Gregor’s journey were also written by Suzanne Collins.
I Am Number Four: The I Am Number Four series was written by Pittacus Lore. Like The Hunger Games, this book is filled with fighting, action, and many close calls. When 9 aliens barley escape from their planet and arrive at earth they are to stay hidden and keep low profiles. The destroyers of their planet are searching the earth for them. With their special legacies it’s hard to stay hidden.
Harry Potter: Harry Potter, written by J.K. Rowling, is a very clever written book. Harry Potter tells the story of a boy who lives in a cupboard. When he is told that he is a wizard with powers he more that thrilled. Harry makes new friends, learns about his past, learns that a powerful wizard wants to kill him, and that he is a hero he doesn’t know how to react. This series is one of the best you will ever read.
Percy Jackson: Why were so many weird things happening to him? Where was his dad and what happened to him? Percy was always different. Failing at school was the least of his problems. Recently, mythological monsters have been coming right out of his textbook and into his life! This couldn’t be normal. Percy is over whelmed with surprises; Greek gods are real, Greek monsters exist, the monsters want to kill him, and Zeus, the Greek god, has sent him on a challenging quest. This amazing series is written by Rick Riordan.
If you have read any of these series which one is your favorite? Why?
Posted in Uncategorized February 3, 2012
Every year for Christmas I always ask for a dog. My mom is allergic to dogs that shed and my dad says they are too much work so I still haven’t gotten one. Over our holiday break we were challenged to give the gift of time. I chose to spend my time collecting items for the Atlanta Humane Society. The Atlanta Humane Society has kittens, dogs, and puppies. They work only on donations. For almost the entire break I was out of town so I decided to collect items from my cousins neighborhood in North Carolina. I collected items such as newspapers, plastic bags, dog bowls, money, the inside of paper towel rolls, old towels, batteries, laundry detergent, treats, and dog toys. I got a lot of things and yesterday I took all my things to the Humane Society. The manager took a picture of me and the things I got and he let me hold a lot of cute puppies!
Posted in Uncategorized January 4, 2012
My friend and I are both really interested in nature. We like to learn all about animals and what goes on in the woods. Sometimes, when she comes over to my house we go down to my neighborhood creek and katch tadpoles and minnows. The other day we had a sleepover so we went down to the creek ready to observe nature. We were not only surprised to find the creek polluted, but I felt ashamed. How could a world so beautiful turn to this? It was because of humans. All the innocent animals would suffer because someone was too lazy to walk over and put their trash in a trash can or someone didn’t know where to dump their oil.There was trash littered all over the forest floor and you could find puddles of shimmery water. Now that this creek was becoming polluted not only will the animals be affected, but this creek eventually flows into the Chattahoochee, so it will be affected too. As humans continue to pollute the earth nothing good comes from it. There is global warming, animals becoming instinct,water will become limited, sickness from dirty water, acid rain killing plants and animals, and many more problems. There is only one thing we can do to save our earth, STOP POLLUTING IT! It’s a lot easier said than done. And even if we completely stopped polluting the earth right now there would still be damage from what we have already done. The first step to keeping our earth clean is to fix what we have already done. Picking up trash, helping clean water, recycling, taking quick showers, and turning the water off while you brush your teeth are all things you can do to help the earth. One person makes a difference, but they can’t do it one their own. The Trinity 5th graders were recently given an assignment to give the gift of time over their 2011-2012 holiday break. Weather you have been given an assignment or not I challenge you to give the gift of time to the earth and help clean it up!
Below are some pictures of the pollution in my neighborhood.
!
Posted in Uncategorized December 10, 2011
On October 27, 2011 the Trinity 5th graders took a trip to the world congress center. It was an amazing experience. First, we were divided up into different cars. It’s always fun to hang out with different people in the car because you really get to know them outside of the classroom. When we arrived at the world congress center everybody got out of their cars and formed in a big group. We were all talking about how special this field trip was going to be. I knew it would be fun, but I didn’t exactly no what we were going to do. A lot of other people didn’t seem to know what we were going to do either. As I moved forward with my group I became more eager to know about the field trip. I walked into a room with a big stage and many seats. I was sure there must be at least 150 kids in the room and they were all from varieties of school. I sat down right in front of the balcony. I had a great view! A woman walked on the stage and began speaking. “Welcome everyone! Thank you for coming to the 2011 Milner Award. Please welcome our 2011 winner… Rick Riordan!
I had heard of him. He wrote the “Percy Jackson” series, the first book of the “Thirty-Nine Clues”, and many others. Rick Riordan walked on stage. He gave a speech about how Percy Jackson was based off of his son. I never could’ve guessed that! His son was having some trouble in school so he would tell his son about greek mythology. This kept his son interested in at least something in school. One day Mr. Riordan ran out of stories to tell. He made one up for his son and it was so good that his son said ” Dad you should really write that down and get it published.”
Mr. Riordan listened to his son. He wrote it down and sent it to a publisher. It was rejected so he sent it to another publisher. It was rejected again. Not until the fourteenth time did a publisher agree to publish it. It is a really good thing that Mr. Riordan percerveared because if he didn’t Percy Jackson wouldn’t have come out!
I learned that Mr. Riordan is really interested in all different types of mythology. He has many more books in store for his readers. Did you know that Mr. Riordan has two sons? I didn’t! He was also a teacher for many years. After Mr. Riordan gave his speech we all cheered as he recieved his award.
Congratulations Rick Riordan!
Posted in Uncategorized December 10, 2011
It was late at night and it was very hard to see where I was walking. Although I couldn’t see, I could hear the laughter of little children, the pitter patter of feet running, and crunching leaves. People were screaming “trick-or-treat!” and “boo!” at all different times. All of the houses were lit up with lights and creepy glowing spiders. Empty candy wrappers were in the street which left the sweet smell of chocolate roaming around. Fog was drifting away from my neighbor’s haunted house. Boys were running around spraying silly string and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was showing on a huge screen. In front of the screen was a huge blazing fire. It was Halloween in my neighborhood and I was having a blast!
The warmth of the fire was very appealing to me on this chilly night. I started to run towards it, but my bag was so full of candy that it was too heavy to run with. When I finally reached it I managed to get a seat next to my friend Audrey. I could see over her, thanks to the bright glow of the movie that was showing on the projection screen. We had both finished trick-or-treating and it was late at night. As I sat there, I reflected on my night. I had seen so many different costumes; dinosaurs, Elmo, kings, queens, witches, warlocks, and even some that were homemade. It was my first year making my own costume, and my neighbor Courtney and I, had been toothbrush aliens. My costume was super special and unique because it is very random and silly. We had gone to the store and bought a bunch of toothbrushes. Then, we had to figure out what to wear. We had to attach the toothbrushes to our outfit and it was hard to find time to get together because we both had really busy schedules. Even though it was hard, we got it done. The best part of Halloween was showing off my costume and being one-of-a-kind. Courtney and I had put a lot of effort into our costume. What I remember most was seeing the smile spread across people’s faces as they saw us.
I had gone to all thirty-eight houses in my neighborhood and had a big bag full of candy. I sorted out my candy and I was ready to eat it. I took out my favorite candy, butterfingers, and popped one into my mouth. Mmmm! It was so delicious. It was crunchy, but sweet .and it made me feel very warm inside. It had a buttery and flavorful taste that made me want more. I couldn’t wait to tell my dad how much candy I had.
One of the scariest parts of the night was going through the haunted house. I walked through and admired all the decorations. Some of them were spine-chilling. Other decorations were silly. I turned the corner and there was a life size statue of a purple alien. I called out to my friends “hey guys, come look at this statue!” I screamed as the statue, a person dressed up in a costume, jumped out like he was going to grab me. I went through the haunted house four or five more times, but every time I went around the corner I was prepared for another scare.
As I sat there watching Harry Potter and eating candy I smiled and thought about how special Halloween really is. It is one of my favorite times of the year because people try and scare me, I can be creative with my costume, and I love trick-or-treating. The best part of it all is spending time with your friends and family while decorating your house and putting your costume together. That’s why this holiday is so special to me.
Posted in Uncategorized November 1, 2011
Fire warms me up as
I hold my hands in front of it to keep warm.
Routines are coming back for a new
Exciting year.
People are running, playing, and waiting till that
Loveable night of October.
Aghost will ring your doorbell and take some
Candy for themselves. That warm and cozy fire keeps me
Eager for that night.
Posted in Uncategorized October 24, 2011
For my Mesopotamian project I chose to learn more about Gilgamesh. I didn’t know who he was or anything about him, but in an activity my class did there was a picture of Gilgamesh and Super Man. The first thing that came to my mind was that Gilgamesh must be a super hero. I really like to read stories because it is so interesting how millions of authors come up with really different ideas. Stories can go from Harry Potter to things like The Thirty Nine Clues. They have very different scenarios which makes each book exiting in it’s own way. This made me think it would be really cool to hear a story from Mesopotamia. I was very curious to see how different it would be.The main question that I had about my topic was why was the story of Gilgamesh important to the Mesopotamians?
Before I did anything I thought it would be best to actually read the story. I read the first book and was really confused about what I read. The book started off describing Gilgamesh as a cruel king. He worked his people way too hard. I had thought Gilgamesh was hero, but I just kept reading. Gilgamesh’s people prayed to the gods to send someone just as strong as Gilgamesh to fight for their rights. When the gods heard the people’s prayer’s they sent Enkidu. Enkidu was part human and part animal. He came to the town and challenged Gilgamesh to fight on top of a tower. They fought for hours when Gilgamesh stepped on loose rocks. He fell over the edge of the tower. Just in time Enkidu grabbed Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was now a changed man and had learned how great friendship was. Enkidu and Gilgamesh then became great friends. Gilgamesh did his best to make the people happy and he wanted everything to be good. This all happened because of friendship. I finished the first book and was eager to read the next book. I still didn’t understand how Gilgamesh was a hero. I got out the second book and began reading. Bad luck struck Gilgamesh and his people. A tower crashed and one of the pillars crushed Enkidu’s love. Gilgamesh told Enkidu that it was the mountain monster, Humbaba’s fault. Together, they journeyed far away to find Humbaba and kill him. Gilgamesh would do anything to protect his people. The journey would be hard and Gilgamesh knew it. Although it would be challenging Gilgamesh still went. Gilgamesh has a lot of bravery. Sometimes the right thing to do is always the hardest. Gilgamesh uses his bravery to help him succeed and save his people from Humbaba. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Humbaba and the goddess Ishtar comes and asks Gilgamesh to marry her. He tells her that her powers do not tempt him. He is happy with what he has. Ishtar leaves and is so furious that she must make Gilgamesh sorry. She tries many times to make Gilgamesh surrender, but he won’t. She made Enkidu very ill and one day he never woke up. Gilgamesh was angry. He knew that Ishtar couldn’t make him surrender so she would probably just kill him. He had to find immortality so he could stay with his people. The books were so exiting! I immedietly started on the third book. He went on a dangerous journey and he made it to the waters of death. He was told by the goddess of wine that he would never make it. Every oar that touches the water will be destroyed. Gilgamesh still had hope. He wouldn’t except that it was impossible. Hope is very important because if you have it in the darkest times you can make it out. Gilgamesh made it across the waters of death. Even though he did not find immortality he still learned some valuable lessons.
After I finished the books I understood why Gilgamesh was a hero. He wasn’t the same kind of hero as Super Man. He is similar to Super Man because he fights bad things. He is different because he is like normal person. As the story of Gilgamesh progresses he learns more and more life lessons. The story kind of reminds me of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The story doesn’t involve wolves or lying, but at the end of each story you have learned life lessons.This is what answered my question. The reason the story of Gilgamesh is important to the Mesopotamians is because he proves three important things in life; Bravery, Hope, and Friendship. These are some of the most important things in life.
Gilgamesh The King retold and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman 1992
The Revenge Of Ishtar retold and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman 1993
The Last Quest Of Gilgamesh retold and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman 1995
Posted in Uncategorized October 14, 2011
I love Harry Potter because it is the most exiting series! My favorite book is Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. I think you should read Harry Potter because it is the story of Harry’s exiting and dangerous journey. Friendship and happiness are big themes in Harry Potter because with out friendship or happiness Harry would have had a depressing life. Also, he wouldn’t have as much ideas or bravery. After I read Harry Potter I became a huge fan! I have seen all the movies, I have 5 wands, posters all around my room, the cloak, the broom, and many more things. My favorit e characters are Harry, Hermione, and Snape. Snape always makes me laugh because all his hatred toward James Potter comes out on Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I like Harry because he is very adventurous. He is very Brave and is very inspiring to me. He demonstrates our school theme, determination! Lastly, Hermione is very clever. Without her, I don’t know what Harry and Ron would do. To me, she is a good role model! I wish I was a wizard just like Harry, Ron, and Hermione!
Posted in Uncategorized October 4, 2011
Wow, River kids was really fun! River kids is a monthly activity that Trinity 5th graders do to find facts all about the Trinity creek. Each month you and your group receive a new job. The River Kid jobs are: Trash collector, photographer and GPS, temperature and visual survey, pH testing, DO testing (dissolved oxygen testing), Macroinvertebrate finders (big, no spine creatures such as snails), and equipment manager. I was a pH tester. I really enjoyed it because testing the water with chemicals made me feel like a real scientist! In pH testing there is a scale from 1 to 14. 1 being a lot of acids and 14 being a lot of bases. Two examples of acids are industrial waste and battery acid. Three examples of bases are detergents, bleach, and fertilizer. 7 is what you are trying to get. 7 is right in the middle of the scale so no acids or bases. 7 is perfect. We tested three times. The first test we got 7.5. The next test we got 8. The last test we got 7.5 again. It looks like there are a few bases in the water. Overall Trinity creek is in really good shape! Thanks for putting River Kids together Mrs. Edwards!
Posted in Uncategorized September 29, 2011
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