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
When I read Bud, Not Buddy I feel sorry for him because he has a very hard life. I can’t say that I know how he feels because I have never been in that situation. If I were in Bud’s situation I would feel very lonesome and lost. I can’t imagine not knowing who my father is. Life would feel very grim if my mother died leaving me an orphan. Just to make Bud’s life a little worse he goes to the Amoses house. They are terribly mean people. I liked Bud’s attitude when he got revenge on Todd. I felt very joyful and I was thinking “Ha Ha Amoses! Here is a taste of your own medicine!” I bet that was also what Bud was thinking.
I think Christopher Paul Curtis is trying to make me feel sorry for Bud. Second, he makes your feeling switch around by telling us that Bud is going to a Foster home. This could be the start of a new life for Bud! Then, we find out that these people are mean. I felt sad and angry that people would make such poor choices. Next, Bud has a sweet revenge and he is on the run. It is so exiting! Christopher Paul Curtis mixed up the story by adding a little bit of love. I was happy for Bud and it was a special moment. Overall I feel sorry for him and happy for him because he has a hard life, but his life is adventurous and always rings new surprises.
Posted in Uncategorized September 15, 2011
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