Picture Poem

Beach Soccer

My friends all slept over,

and we woke up before the sun.

Soccer was calling us,

and we all agreed to follow it.

I thought of an idea,

and we huddled and said, “Break!”

I reached for my keys,

and we drove off.

Finally, we got to the beach.

We set up one goal,

and made the two teams.

We played from sunrise to sunset.

I’m glad to play soccer

with the people that are surrounding me.

Weekly Blog 2/23/15

The Testing
By: Joelle Charbonneau
Pages: 100-END
Prompt:
- Provide 3 pictures that relate to your reading. Write about how each one is related to the book you are reading.

          This picture relates to The Testing because they test the people there with challenges like the one showed in the picture. One challenge was to open a box without any tools. Cia(the main character) found something on the bottom in which she slid out, and opened the box. That challenge was like the challenge shown in the picture. In the picture the box that they are in is getting smaller and smaller. They have to figure out how to get out.

             This picture relates to The Testing because another part of the test was to put all the candidates in future Chicago(everything was torn down, empty, and had forests), give them 3 things to take, and see who can get back to the testing facility. All of the candidates were against each other just like how it was in the Hunger Games. Only except there could be more than one winner. This picture also relates to the book because in this picture there is a guy and a girl. In The Testing, Cia teamed up with Thomas go get back to the testing facility.


       This imagine relates to The Testing because in the story, Cia valued the food very much. When Cia had her very first meal at the testing facially, she was used to eating little. It resulted into her only taking a couple of things from the big buffet. Whenever it would be time for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, Cia would take some of the food and put it in her bag.

Global Collaboration Reflection

            My level of global awareness before 7th grade was not very high. I did not know what kinds of different conflicts were going on in other countries. Being in this class has changed that because reading the Articles of Week, and being able to talk with other kids from Swedish and India has improved my global awareness. The AOWs exposed me to global news, such as the things that ISIS or the Taliban do.

            Our collaborations and projects with my Indian and Swedish pen pal has changed my level of global awareness because, the collaboration with other students in different countries has taught me more about the cultures of other people around the world. It has also taught me about the different activities they do. For example, I learned that my Swedish pen pal has music class just like we do. They also have a similar school, except theirs is way bigger. Another example is, that my Indian pen pal celebrates Diwali, which is a popular celebration in India.

            My perspective on other cultures has changed throughout our collaboration  because, I thought in India they didn't celebrate the things we do here. They actually do! They celebrate Christmas like we do, but it is not as popular. I also thought that in Sweden, the schools there would be more strict and smaller. Instead the students there walk around without shoes, and their school is bigger than ours.

                  The most interesting, shocking, and funny thing that I have learned so far is that in India they also play basketball. I think that is really cool because The US and India share a common sport. Another thing that was interesting, funny, and shocking was that the students in Sweden walk around their school without shoes.

Weekly Blog 2/16/15

The Testing 

By: Joelle Charbonneau

Pages: 50-100

Prompt: 

-Tell me about the main character. What kind of person is she/he?

-What emotions did you feel while you read? Give details from your reading that made you feel that way.

-What is something you've learned from your reading? 

WARNING: MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE IN BATTLE OF THE BOOKS AND OTHERS THAT MIGHT WANT TO READ THIS BOOK

           The main character in this book is Malencia Vale. Everyone calls her Cia. She is a smart and hardworking girl. She is smart because she got chosen for the Testing. If she wasn't smart then she wouldn't have been picked in the first place. Cia is also smart because she notices the cameras in the bus, while nobody else seems to be mindful about looking. She is hardworking because in the book it states that, "I have been preparing for this day for years and now it is over.... No matter how hard I worked, I wasn't good enough to be chosen for the testing". This was before she knew that the person who picked the Testing group couldn't make it to graduation day. 

            An emotion that I felt while reading this book was that I was shocked. I was shocked when she found the cameras on the bus and I was shocked when I found out what had happened to her roommate at the testing facility. I won't say what happened because I don't want to spoil it, but I was so surprised that with what had happened. I never saw that coming, but it added a good twist to the book. 

            Something that I have learned from reading this is that not everybody seems to be who they are. Cia's roommate seemed to be so confident and so smart. She seemed like she was certain she was on the right path. Then, something happened to her that just was the complete opposite of what she would seem to do. I also learned to look for cameras because you never know who might be recording you.(that's kind of creepy)

I commented on Joseph G's Blog, Yareli's Blog, and Joseph H.'s Blog. 

Poetry Response

"Be Glad Your Nose Is On Your Face"

By: Jack Prelustsky

"Be glad your nose is on your face,

not pasted on some other place,

for if it were where it is not,

you might dislike your nose a lot.

Imagine if your precious nose

were sandwiched in between your toes,

that clearly would not be a treat,

for you'd be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread

were it attached atop your head,

it soon would drive you to despair,

forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be

an absolute catastrophe,

for when you were obliged to sneeze,

your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,

remains between your eyes and chin,

not pasted on some other place--

be glad your nose is on your face!"

                                          

                     This poem is about how you need to be glad that your nose is on your face. It explains what would happen if your nose was on your head, between your toes, or within your ear. It is humorous and makes a good argument on why you should be glad that your nose is on your face. 

                 I think the author wrote this story because he wanted to entertain people. This poem is funny and it makes the reader enjoy what they are reading. When I first read the title of this poem I thought it was funny. The title being funny shows that the author is trying to entertain the readers and lure them into reading a funny poem.

                This poem reminds me of the time my teammates and I were talking about what would happen if your arms were where your legs are, and your legs were where your arms are. This poem reminds me of that because they were both talking about replacing some body parts with others. This poem also reminded me of that because it was funny.

       

Blog For The Week Of 2/9/15

The Testing by: Joelle Charbonneau

Pages: 1-50

Prompt:

-Do you like what you are reading? Why or why not? 

-List 2 problems that the main character has faced

           I like what I am reading because it reminds me of the Hunger Game series. I really enjoyed that series and it was really fun to read. This book is sort of like it in a way because it is based on how our future might be. There is more technology involved and it's just really cool to see what kind of new things they have invented. I also like how there is kind of a plot twist in the beginning. Not a big one but there is one. 

           One of the problems that the character has to face is walking. I don't know if she enjoys all of the walking but I certainly don't. She had to walk 5 miles in the story just to get to the place where she was going to graduate. Since she has to walk everywhere I'm assuming there are no cars which could also be a problem. 

           Another problem that the character has to face is that at first, nobody was chosen for the testing. She thought that she had a chance of getting chosen for the testing, but when the announcer at the graduation said that the man that chose people wasn't there, she got a sad and disappointed. She was wondering what she was going to do with her life because she hadn't been chosen for the testing. I think she lost a little self-confidence because she said that she would never be good enough for the testing.

I commented on Evie's Blog, Samantha's Blog, and Sebastian's Blog. 

Book Talk "The Giver"

*Written Transcript*

             This is my book talk on The Giver by Lois Lowdry. The genres of this book include, young-adult, science fiction, and fantasy. In The Giver the main character is Jonas. Jonas is an 11-year old boy who is living in a world where everything is the same. There are no colors, no emotions, and mothers don't get to keep their child. Every child is adopted into a family when it is a baby.

             At the age of 12, kids are assigned to a job. Jonas gets a different kind of assigned job. He is given the special job as the Receiver of Memories. He receives those memories from "The Giver" The Giver teaches him about different emotions and different colors. The mood of this book is exciting because you never know what memory "The Giver" is going to give to Jonas. It could be a good memory or a bad memory.

             One theme in this story is that without memories, we would live a a boring life. All of the people in the book had their memory taken from them. All those memories went to "The Giver". I liked this book because I liked how Jonas had some type of power to "see beyond". What I remember most about this book was that the Giver was giving memories to Jonas. He was teaching Jonas the different color and all the different things that he had never seen before. I would recommend this book because it is fun to read, exciting, and is an overall great book.


I commented on Yareli's blog, Mia's Blog, and Emily's blog. 

Gallery Walk Reflection

Prompt: What impressions are you left with after our gallery walk? Please reflect in at least two well written paragraphs, using evidence from your graphic organizer.

          The gallery walk was fun and interesting because we got to learn about some of the things that are happening around the world.We also got to learn why it is important for the world to hear. One topic I got to learn about was Mia C.'s AOW. It was about a boy that was found dead and they still don't know who he is. They gave him the nickname of the "Boy In The Box". It also says that they found him in a Navajo blanket. I think that is very weird because I would think that with today's technology we would be able to find out who someone is with just a finger print.

          Another AOW that I found interesting was Lillian M. 's AOW. It talked about how there might be a cure for some cancers. It uses "proton therapy" which is when there are lasers that shoot at your body. They aim for the cancer cells and destroy them. I thought that was pretty cool because they might actually have a cure for cancer now. It is also cool because of how it works. It is like a video game where you shoot the bad guys. One thing that would have made this gallery walk better was if everybody had a different article. Some people had the same ones and it was a little confusing.