Friday, November 30, 2012

The Hobbit Prediction Piece


In J. R. R. Tolkien’s book, The Hobbit, Bilbo is a tiny little guy who lives in a hole on a hill.  Gandalf believes that Bilbo is a master thief and he can steal treasure from a dragon. 


Bilbo was a peaceful hobbit, who was comfortable in his hole on the hill.  He was smoking outside, doing his daily stuff, when Gandalf came by and told Bilbo that he needed him.  Like any other person would do, Bilbo rejected Gandalf’s request and sent him off.

Gandalf would not take the answer no and put a mark on Bilbo’s door.  The next day, in 1 hour, 12 dwarves and Gandalf are sitting at Bilbo’s table, eating his cake and drinking his tea.  Bilbo knows that to get these people out of his life, that he needs to go on this quest, he still has no idea what he’s going to do.

Bilbo goes on the quest and faces many monsters and creatures, like one time, he faced three trolls that were 5 times the size of him, and he had to pickpocket the trolls.  That didn’t work out so well.  Gandalf had to intervene and stall because trolls are petrified when exposed to sunlight.  The dwarves like to sing too, which drives Bilbo crazy.


I think that Bilbo will be a master thief at the end of the book and that he will be honored for finding the Fellowship of the Ring and getting past the dragon who guards the treasure.  Of course Bilbo faced other challenges and had to be ready to steal the ring.


Monday, November 26, 2012

Roger's Future/Prediction Piece


"Bye Drew!"  It was a great checkpoint in my life.  My first son Drew was finally going to Kindergarten.  He waved at me until the bus turned the corner and I could no longer see his face.   I was standing next to my wife Marissa.  She was waving with me.  We walked down the street to our house and realized that we were not kid free.  Our twins, who were two years old, Rodney and Lou, were crying their cribs, waiting for us to change their diapers and play with them.  Marissa I groaned as we climbed the stairs to our hard day of work.

Drew walked home today.  He wasn’t very happy about that.  He had wanted us to be there after his first day of school. But he told us all about his first day of Kindergarten.  He did finger paintings, started to learn the alphabet (all he could say was A,B,C), and had his little centers like coloring, snack, and movie.  Marissa and I decided to take everybody out for ice cream.  When we parked in the parking lot, Drew was so excited he jumped out the door was about to run into the middle of the parking lot when I got the back of his shirt,

"Oh no you don’t!" I said.

I looked at the door to the ice cream place and I saw a big, black woman, walking with a teenager, into the joint.  I stood there, not even realizing that Drew was already to the other side of the parking lot.  Marissa waved her hand in front of my face and snapped me out of it.  I couldn't stop looking at the woman at the next table.


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Character Analysis of Percy: Lightning Theif

Percy could hold his breath for a very long time. He was dyslectic. He had ADHD. ADHD and dyslexia adds up to being kicked out of 7 schools for Percy. Percy wonders why his life sucks so much. His Mom and Dad are divorced and he lives with a stepdad who smells like a pig and sits down on the couch and drinks beer. He goes to a museum on a field trip with his classmates and his whole life changes. Percy is a demigod, son of Poseidon. A monster attacks him in the museum and he has no idea what it is because he does not know he is a demigod. It turns out his friend Grover, is a satyr. Half donkey, half human. Grover takes Percy to Camp Half Blood and Percy’s quests and training begin.


 Percy had to prove himself. He shows everyone that he is capable of completing a huge quest within 2 days of arriving in Camp Half-Blood. When Percy first arrives at Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth, the best fighter in the camp, thinks Percy is weakling and couldn’t win a sword fight. When the camp plays capture the flag, Percy finds the flag , but Annabeth was hiding in the trees, waiting for someone to come by. But Percy proves Annabeth wrong and Percy beats her. Annabeth realizes that Percy is not a nobody. Grover and Annabeth come with Percy on his quest to the Underworld to save his mom. They work together, with a little help from Luke, to get all the pearls and then go to the Underworld. The pearls are for when you want to get out of the Underworld. You imagine where you want to go, step on the pearl, and then you are transported to wherever you want to go. Percy was the big leader in this quest. He found all three of the pearls with great challenges guarding them. He pretty much did all the work and everybody loves him for his leadership and personality. Percy changed when he figured out that he was being chased by monsters and his teacher and friend were both half human, half animal. Percy’s whole world turned upside down when he learned that his dad was a god. Percy now figures out that he can control water and talk to water animals because his dad is Poseidon, the sea god. Percy’s mom was taken by the Minotaur that attacked him on his way to Camp Half-Blood with his mom and Grover. Percy’s mom is trapped by Hades in the Underworld and no matter how experienced he is, he goes on a quest to save his mom from the lair of Hades.


 Percy, Annabeth, and Grover find their way to the Underworld on the Hollywood sign. They go into Hades’s Palace where Persephone and Hades are waiting. Hades forced Persephone to marry him. Percy defeats Hades with the help of Persephone. Persephone doesn’t like Percy at first, but she shows him how brave he is and decides to help him.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Casey at the Bat: Group 2

Casey will always be the same. He thinks he's so good and then he strikes out. He's just going to do it again. The story said he looked confident when he came up to bat and I'm assuming that he doesn’t just all of the sudden strike out. He's probably struck out lots of times. Casey is like Justin Bieber, he thinks he's so cool and all the girls love him.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Patriots Pen Essay

Founding Fathers What did you mean by “all men are created equal”? Did you really mean all white men and not women? People who weren’t like you were treated poorly. You didn’t treat non-white people fairly. Let’s go back to the Civil War. You fought and killed many people so you could have people do everything for you. They were suffering so they could do labor. That’s horrible. Why would you do that? What if you were a slave? Would you like to be whipped? You made people do things because they had a different skin color than you. So what? What’s the difference? They just have a different skin color. What I’m saying is that you should have treated everybody equally and not just whites. Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and lots of other non-whites, they are now allowed to go to public schools, eat at the same restaurant’s and watch movies together. We are still working on racism, but you didn’t help at all. I feel that normal citizens can make the big difference.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Maze Runner: Conflict and Resolution

The Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who is brainwashed and put in this Maze with many other boys. There are walls around the Maze that close every night to protect the kids. The walls protect them from Grievers, giant lizards with lots of sharp tools like saws, needles, and scissors on their backs. Thomas and his friends go out into the Maze every day hoping they can find a way out. One day a girl is delivered into the Maze with a note saying that she has triggered the Ending. The Ending means that if they don't figure out the Maze soon, everybody will die from the Grievers and none of them will survive. A couple days later, Thomas finds a black hole at the edge of a cliff where the Grievers can enter and exit the maze. They boys decide to call this the Griever Hole. That night, the walls don't close and Grievers pick off kids one by one. Thomas figures out that the Maze is a code, but does he have the guts to stop all of this madness? In The Maze Runner, there are many conflicts. A minor conflict is that Alby, the Glader's leader, is stung by a Griever and is serious pain. Now that the leader is not mobile, Newt has to take over. The main conflict is that all of the boys are focused on surviving and escaping the Maze. Many boys die in this process, but it narrows down solutions for the Maze. The key moment in the resolution is when Thomas realizes the patterns of the Maze spell out words. Thomas figures this out a little too late. The Grievers have already taken five kids. The Maze spells out five words. Thomas thinks that you have to jump into the Griever Hole, and type the code words into a computer. Thomas does just that and finds his way out of the Maze and into the world. There are also about twenty kids who survive the escape.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Maze Runner: Cause and Effect

The Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who is brainwashed and put in this Maze with many other boys. There are walls around the Maze that close every night to protect the kids. The walls protect them from Grievers, giant lizards with lots of sharp tools like saws, needles, and scissors on their backs. Thomas and his friends go out into the Maze every day hoping they can find a way out. One day a girl is delivered into the Maze with a note saying that she has triggered the Ending. That night, the walls don't close and Grievers pick off kids one by one. Thomas figures out that the Maze is a code, but does he have the guts to stop all of this madness? In The Maze Runner, the cause is that the girl is delivered into the Maze the day after Thomas is. There are two problems with this. 1) There have never been any girls in The Maze. 2) Usually, a new boy is delivered every month. The girl also has a note that says that she has triggered the Ending which means that the Creators have waited long enough, the boys and the girl need to start figuring out how to get out of the Maze. The effect is that Thomas realizes that the Maze is a code and that he needs to find a place to put this code. He realizes that the black hole at the edge of the cliff is a perfect place to go. Thomas finds the computer and puts in the code words. A door opens and Thomas and twenty other kids escape into the real world.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Free Nike 2 Cursors at www.totallyfreecursors.com

Personal Narrative


State Tournament

This was it.  It’s game time.  I stepped out on to the ice very scared and motivated at the same time.  The parents were in the stands cheering us on.  Meanwhile, the Madison Polar Caps were warming up on the other end of the ice.  The same team we’d lost to 3 times.  That was what scared me so much.  I was only 9 at the time and I knew there was no checking, but some of the kids were really intimidating.  There was this one guy, Number 52, and he had a fast slap shot.  I got hit by it in the ankle the first time we played them and it smarted for the rest of the game.  But we also had a matchup for Number 52.  Number 38.   Jacob Arndt.  He was 5”1 when we played them and currently, he’s 6”1.  When the horn sounded, the coach brought us all in.  “We can do it”, he said.  I kind of doubted that.  But I was still ready to play hockey.

I was on the first shift at right wing.  Paired up with Number 52.  We must’ve looked funny next to each other.  The smallest and the biggest standing right next to each other.  The puck was dropped.  We played the first period pretty well.  It was tied 1 to 1 at the end of the first.  I had the assist on our goal.  My teammate was skating down the ice with one defender on us.  He drove me to the outside and centered it at the last moment.  Luke went top shelf.  It was the first goal of the game.  Our team was pumped and ready for the next period.

Period 2.  It was exciting.  I was on the bench the first shift.  2 minutes later, I was on the ice.  I was on a breakaway and I had a perfect shot.  I missed.  Then a kid knocked me on my butt.  At the end of the 2nd, it was 2-1 and the Polar Caps were winning.  It was time to score.  We did with 5 minutes into the third period.  I went on to the ice high fiving my teammates.  Back to the center circle.  I was playing center and I could tell the guy on the other guy team was mad.  The referee dropped the puck and immediately cross-checked me.  That was a penalty.  We capitalized on that penalty.  3-2.  I was winning.  Our team was winning.  We kept that lead the rest of the game.  The last 10 seconds were counted out by our teams parents.  5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0!  Gloves and sticks were flying into the air.  We won the state championship!  Our team.  The Waukesha Warhawks.  I held the trophy as high as I could.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Retelling


The Maze Runner
James Dashner
Fiction



The Maze Runner is about a teenager named Thomas who is brainwashed and put in a big area with many other kids who are also brainwashed (all boys) with a big maze surrounding it.  Every night, the walls to the maze close and nasty creatures named Grievers come out.  They are big, slimy lizards with saws, scissors and other nasty things.  When they sting you, you have to get a special medication and you go through lots of pain.  One day a girl enters the maze through the Box and she has a note that says she's triggered the ending.  That night, the walls don't close and Grievers start picking off kids one by one each night.  Can Thomas and his friends solve the secret to the maze before everyone is gone?

This is a book for anyone who likes lots of action, scary moments and an unpredictable book.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Friday, September 7, 2012

Quotes

The Quote: When we conquer without danger our triumph is without glory.
-Pierre Corneille

The Meaning: The meaning is that if you do something without a cost, the task becomes pointless because it was easy.

The Agreement:  I agree with this quote because if I were to do something without danger, like sneaking into a building and stealing something without anybody in it, its not that great.  But doing it with people in the building is a challenge.

The Connection: I can connect this quote to the Dark Knight because everything  Batman does, he does with great danger and then everybody thinks he's amazing because he completes very dangerous tasks.