Spring DWA 2013

In the book Gone by Michael Grant there is a flash and then all of a sudden everyone older than 14 disappears. There is a wall on a ten mile radius from a nuclear power plant, now not only are there just young people but they are trapped within their town. With a limited amount of food they must not only survive but figure out how to get back to the earth that they know.  The world that we know is the only thing that matters.

The way that young people are trapped inside of a force field like shield without any adults is similar to The Hunger Games. In Gone  everyone that is 14 or younger, is trapped inside of an electric force field and must figure out a way to get back to the “normal” world. Circumstances in The Hunger Games are not much different, everyone 18 or younger is trapped inside an electric force field and must kill to get back to the “outside”.

When families are trying to get into a country illegally and they have kids, some parents can’t afford for the whole family to come so many times only the kid goes. Then kids are in a foreign country, speak a foreign language, have little or no money and must fend for themselves. Even though there are adults all around them they can’t talk to any since they speak a different language. Child immigrants must get their parents over and the kids from gone need to somehow get in touch with theirs also.

The connection this book has to me is that they are trapped inside a force field and I am trapped in school. I get out in seven hours though they may be trapped forever. People have died in that force field. At least school isn’t as serious as that!

Obviously this isn’t possible of happening but if it were to happen in the ‘real world’ how well would kids do? In many cities the electricity would go out, there would be food shortages, water shortages. I think we have become too dependent on technology. If you are lost on a road people just use their phone to get to where they want to go instead of asking a human where to go. If we want to know when Missouri became a state, we don’t flip through pages in an encyclopedia we ask our phones. We may need to take a step backward in technology.

Summer

When you ask a person “what’s your favorite season?” some people might say spring or fall because of the nice temperatures, or winter because of the snow that looks like whip cream, but there is a reason why most people answer summer. Although it can get warm or buggy, the overall joy of summer easily trumps that.  Summer is the season of happiness.

In summer you don’t have school and that is great! On school days you have to get up early, eat breakfast that just tastes gray, have a lousy lunch as bad an elephant in a horse race and go to class for six hours. Days in the summer you can get up at noon eat lunch at two P.M. dinner at six and then maybe hang out with friends and play video games until three A.M. Some kids may even turn nocturnal they stay up so late!

Great weather in the summer is also very nice. Hot weather allows you to go to the water park, have a lemonade stand or play around outside with friends.  The beach is as active as a ballpark on opening day. I can spend a whole day at the beach whether I am swimming, laying on the sand and listening to the waves talk or having a nice ice cream cone never fails to keep me occupied.

All in all summer s a great season. Even if you have to work in the summer it still beats working while it’s snowing outside! In all other seasons we are as boring as a robot. In Fall you rake leaves, in winter you shovel, in spring you clean and in summer you relax.

Physical Activity

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how important physical activity can be and will be in the future.

This summer’s physical activity will provide me with a way to rehab my knee, while in the past it provided me with a way to have fun.  Almost every day over summer break I would find myself doing some form of physical activity such as: playing basketball, kickball or soccer With that said, physical activity fuels my life and a lot of others too.

Exercising provides me with enjoyment, but also keeps me healthy.Physical activity can help to prevent many potentially harmful side effects that go along with aging like: obesity, high blood pressure and heart problems. Over the past few years in health class we have been learning about these problems, and a huge way to help prevent them is just to exercise. Having the knowledge of these problems can help a lot too, because then you know what to do to prevent poor health in the future. We need to exercise more, especially because restaurants are serving bigger portions.

A very popular part of physical activity is the social aspect. Most of my friends today I met  while playing around on the playground or playing basketball with them. When I hang out with my friends we like to play sports just as something to do. That’s why physical activity helps me in my life.

Missouri Compromise

Author's Note: I wanted to write this piece because I wanted to show how hard being a slave was.

I was a slave. All my life the only thing I knew was slavery. It was 1820, and the Union was pushing for Missouri to be a free state, and so was I. Work was tough, and my owner never let up. If I wasn’t working, I would do extra work for him, work I wasn’t even supposed to do. With this, I might be able to do what I want in my life, and be free of ownership. There was a huge debate going on about what should happen to make this state better for everyone. The Missouri Compromise would set me free and make slavery illegal in this part of our country.

The House originally rejected this compromise bill for half of a free state. Apparently, after a conference committee of members of both main houses was appointed,  The bills were treated separately and in March of 1820, Maine was made a state and Missouri was authorized to adopt a constitution having no restrictions on slavery. This was huge for Missouri and slavery, and more importantly, me. I needed freedom, because I’ve worked hard enough, and long enough, to have two life times full of freedom. My owner was a pain, and I never liked him. This was a chance to be free of all stress and worries.

I wasn’t the first to hear about this, but I heard about it soon enough to know before most did.  There was an agreement put forward by Henry Clay that placed an imaginary line that will keep slavery on one half, and freedom on the other. The south would be slavery, and the northern side will be free. I lived in the northern part of Missouri, and I felt better about life. I finally get to be free. Just when I thought my life would be great, a horrible thought came rushing through my mind that I couldn’t wash away. It was me, being forced by my owner, to move to the southern half of Missouri to stay working for him, and keep living my horrible, almost worthless life. I tried to overcome it, but I couldn’t fight that thought away. It was like someone took a piece of paper and super glued it into my brain. I couldn’t bear that.

After I woke from my nice, peaceful sleep, the first thing that I saw was the morning paper, just delivered by the Pony Express, and so I picked it up. The headline read “Kansas-Nebraska Act Set to Determine If Slavery Should Be Allowed”. I was dazed by the news. I read the article twice to make sure I got all of the information. It said that Stephen Douglas created this act, in which slavery was being determined on which land if any slavery was necessary. This made more land for settlement, and the settlers got to decide if slavery should be allowed. This is big news; maybe I could run away from here and go to Kansas, or Nebraska, or anywhere free of slavery. I could tell my family to do the same. We could live a nice life, and never talk about slavery again. The thought of that gave me goose-bumps.

Today was the day I start my extreme and severe exhibition to freedom. I packed up all of my belongings, even though there weren’t many, and waited. My owner always went for a walk in the morning, a short one, about 10 minutes, and that would give me time to make a run for it. My stuff is so light, I feel like there is no way I won’t be able to do this.

Just as he set out for his walk, I was in stealth mode around the back of the shack, which was pointing west,  where there was nothing but open ground. I had to go quickly, because it would be easy to see me with that much open space. I checked my compass to make sure I was going the right way, and took off. I used all of my speed and bolted towards freedom. I could almost taste it as I inched farther and farther away from the small shack. I had little water, and I was already thirsty. I could deal with a little thirst if it meant freedom.  I turned around and the shack was nowhere in sight. Freedom. I finally had freedom.

The Real King?

Author's Note: I wrote this piece because most people call Lebron James the King, I think it is Micheal Jordan. Please look at my word choice.

Dear Michael Jordan,

I am writing you this letter to tell you how much you mean to kids my age, including me. You have had many accomplishments over the years including six championship’s, opening your own brand and owning your own NBA team. You just turned 50 and you are still as great of a legend that you were for your 35th or 40th. Many people are questioning whether you are still the greatest player. So far, I think that you will are the greatest basketball player who has lived!

Your six championships were all amazing, especially because you have won finals MVP in all six of them. Although your first was really special, you beat the Lakers in five games, which is astonishing. The second finals win for you is also special, beating the Trail Blazers in six. In 93’ you beat the Sun’s also in six and this completed your first back to back to back NBA championship. After playing baseball for a couple  years you came back to your natural sport, basketball. You won 3 more championships and again they were back to back to back!

Jordan the brand, is awesome; your shoes have exploded into a extravagant phenomenon. Most kids have a pair and for many kids, that’s all they wear. Other brands of shoes such as Adidas have become redundant over the years because your shoes are ten times better than theirs. Some of your shoes have even been featured on a basketball video game. There are many more reasons why your shoes are the best, but let’s just keep it at that for now.

You own the majority of the Charlotte Bobcats and although they haven’t had the best record the past few years, they are still very talented. If you could give some of the players tips and draft well the next few years your team could make the playoffs. I don’t know how long you plan on still owning them, but they could win a championship as early as 2020. You would still have more championships with the Bulls though!

All in all you are the greatest basketball player of all time and you still will be for at least the next 30 years. You played in a different NBA though, back when all stars played in the dunk contest, not guys who average three minutes a game. Players tried in all quarters not just the fourth. You are the real king!

Haiku

Authors Note: I did this short haiku poem to see how much creativity you can pack into 17 syllables.



As the wind does blow
Across the trees, I see the
Buds blooming in May

Compare/ Contrast the gulf on the coast

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how much different and alike characters can be.

Britt:
selfish when stressed
Shy all the time
When she knows people is open
Nosey with her mom
Mysterious about home life
Bran:
Always looking out for family
Hard worker no matter what
Open to everyone
Is considered perfect kid
Only tells britt his one very deep secret
Same:
Looks out for their struggling mom
Will do anything to support their family
Don't have a lot of friends
Wonder about their abandon father
mom is their favorite person in the world

Packers VS Seahawks Controversial End of Game

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how different two points of view can be. Please look at my organization.

On September 25^th 2012 the Green Bay Packers came into Seattle to play the Seahawks. In a very defensive game the Seahawks were up seven to nothing after the first half. With a Packers TD in the third they were only down one but with a missed extra point, they were still trailing going into the fourth quarter. With just over eight minutes left in the game the packers had a touchdown run by Cedric Benson to put the

packers up twelve to seven.

With around a minute and a half left the Seahawks got the ball back still only down 5. Former Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson was leading the drive and got the ball to the Packers 30 yard line with just ten ticks left on the clock. The Seahawks called a hail mary play. Nothing was open at first but, Wilson scrambled out of the pocket to avoid pressure and ended up throwing the ball back at the Packers 40 yard line.

The ball seemed like it was in the air forever but when it did come down it the refs were a little unsure who caught it! Packers’ defensive back M.D. Jennings and the Seahawks receiver Golden Tate were wrestling on the ground over who got the ball. One ref signaled for a Touchback because of an interception, the other ref signaled for a touchdown. The referee's huddled up and called that the ruling on the field was a touchdown. Although since it was a scoring play it was automatically reviewed. But the review cannot review who caught the ball, just if the ball hit the ground and it obviously didn’t so the call on the field stood.

From a Packers fan point of view they obviously think they were robbed of a win on a few different points. Firstly the receiver who supposedly caught the ball, pushed off on Sam shields right before the ball came. Secondly M.D. Jennings caught the ball with two hands, brought it into his chest and then hit the ground, which would result in an interception. But Golden Tate fell to the ground on top of Jennings and ripped it out of his arms. The call obviously should have been an interception.

Some Seahawks fans actually believe it was an interception and they should have lost the game. However the majority of Seahawks fans believe that since Golden Tate ripped it out of his arms even though he was already down that they should still get the ball. I even saw poll online that asked what you thought the call should have been and over 90% said it should have been an interception! 

Survival

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show how much survival can mean to people. Please look at my descriptive words.

In the book The Hatchet a boy named Brian was flying over Canada to see his dad when the pilot had a heart attack.  The plane crashed and miraculously Brian survived the crash.  The only possession he had was a hatchet. In this essay you will learn that survival; is a key attribute to living in this world.

First of Brian’s troubles were when his plane crashed into the middle of Canadian wilderness.  The pilot had a heart attack which caused the plane to dip down and no one to fly it.  Brian had to try to steer the plane into a lake so that he still could survive.  When he landed in the lake Brian had to fight his way out of the plane and then swim to the surface before he ran out of air. 

After Brian got used to the wilderness and had shelter, food and water a tornado hit his camp and forced him to start all over on surviving in the wild.  The only thing he had was his hatchet, like when the plane crashed and he almost died.  This is a good example about how he was doing good in survival, until everything went wrong and made him start all over again.

Once Brian recovered from the tornado and the plane crush he got up and started all over again.  His whole body wanted to shut down and die but he pulled through and lives.  That later made a good choice since this time when he started all over again he did a better job.  Eventually though, he got careless and a moose trampled him.  He got bruises and broken bones but he didn’t die.  This shows the book displayed survival as unforgiving, hard work and if you mess up you don’t get a second chance.

In the book, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, Katniss was chosen to compete in a giant arena where everything was woods and twenty-four people battled it out, killing each other until there is only one left.  Katniss was a hunter, which made her good at surviving.  She thrived in the games, only relying on herself.  She had to do what Brian did but on top of that she had people trying to kill her!  This shows how survival was also a theme in the Hunger Games but sometimes survival is harder than other times.

These are reasons why The Hatchet was a book about survival and why.  If you were in Brian’s place what would you have done?  Survival can be the theme in many books, whether surviving in the wild or just surviving middle school, although Brian’s situation was a little worse than surviving middle school.

My Ending to Hook

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece to show that what comes around goes around. Please look at my sentence beginnings.

When Cody Miller took Mr. Clarence Buchanan’s gold hook, he sold all of the gold in exchange for money. He went down to a wealthy town and bought a house on a lake, lived nicely for a few years he golfed, fished and ran in races. One day out on the lake he caught a trophy fish it bit off his hand and he lived the rest of his life with a hook. Cody grew old and he too could not work as he could before, he hired a servant but once the servant had realized that he could steal his Codys' wealth he did. And the hook curse had its' next victim.

Character Analysis

Author's Note: I wrote thus piece to show that sometimes you just need to stand up for yourself. Please look

at my word choice.

For my character analysis I am doing Stanley Yelnats from the book Holes. In the beginning of the book Stanley is a weak overweight nerd who gets bullied everyday at school and doesn't do anything about it. But then Stanley is accused of stealing a famous baseball players shoes but they really just fell on him, and he must go to either jail or camp Green Lake. He decides to go to camp. When he gets to camp Green Lake he expects to just drag along and go with the flow for 18 months. But then he meets Armpit and X-ray. Armpit and X-ray have been there for a while and they show Stanley that you can’t drag yourself along you have to work for it. Stanley loses weight gains mental and physical strength. When Stanley came home he surprised everyone with how in shape he was and how intelligent he was. Back at school no one wanted to bully him but if they did Stanley could stand up for himself. 

Creative Ending To Thank You Ma'am

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to show that it is nice to thank people especially if they didn't have to do it for you in the first place. Please look at my grammar.

After the boy was given the money he decided he didn't need the shoes. He needed the knowledge that Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones gave him. So he went to the market and bought flowers and chocolate for her. He set it on her doorstep, knocked on the door and ran. He was trying to give her an anonymous present. But Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was quick on her feet, she got up to the door looked down and saw the flowers and chocolate but no one there. She looked down the street but her vision was blocked by a truck but she could see the running bare feet of the boy.

Overcoming Conflict

Author’s Note: I wrote this because it has a clear conflict and resolution. Please look at my word choice in the piece.

In the book Gender Blender by: Blake Nelson the main characters, Tom and Emma are in an accident together and when they wake up their minds are in each others bodies. They have to live someone else’s life. Later they find that if they stay in the wrong bodies for more than three days it will become permanent.

On the third day they still haven’t found a way to go back to normal. They are at a party and feel hopeless and might not ever get back their bodies. But when they knock into each other at the party they go unconscious and wake back up in the right bodies! Tom and Emma can now live normal lives and be themselves. 

George Washington Time Travel Letter

Author’s Note: I wrote this ‘time travel letter’ to George Washington because he may certainly have been the greatest leader in the history of this nation. Please look at my word choice.

Dear George Washington,

            I’m writing you this letter so you can have an idea of how great of a president you are and I’d like you to know how the decisions you made shaped the United States of America into a great nation. I would just like to commend you on some of your greatest accomplishments. This will include war strategies and establish a federal government in an eight year, two term presidency.

Recognizing your great war strategies means a lot to me because you are one of the best in history at this and I hope it means a lot to you also. The best decision in my opinion that you made was to stay neutral during the French and British war. Swaying to a certain side could have been the unraveling of such a young country.  You were receiving recommendations of taking a side. If you did sway to a side and that country went on to lose the war that could have proved catastrophic for America.

Establishing a fair government was most likely your greatest feat, post war. Much of the laws you and some of the other founding fathers still stand to this day. Your efforts to make rights and laws is why we now have a nation where you will be punished fairly for doing something against the law.

What you have done for this country will forever be remembered and you will always be the first and one of the greatest presidents in this nations history.  You need to remember to do what you think is right because you are one of most wise men I have ever known existed. This country will become a power house around the world partially because of what you and other founding father have done. Lastly I would like to say thank you for all you have done for this country.

Into The Gaunlet

39 Clues, Book Ten, Into The Gauntlet

Author’s note: I wrote my retelling on this book because there is so much going which made this an easy book to write a retelling about. Please look and see if I held you in suspense so that you would want to read it because that was my goal.

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Genre: Fiction

 A family with a long violent past, split into five groups. While Amy and Dan try to bring everyone together a mysterious prize for a cue hunt could split them farther apart. The family must learn, if they want true power they must all work together. 

White Fang

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece on this book because White Fang is an outcast and it’s sad to see outcasts in the world. Please look at my sentence beginnings.

In the book “White Fang” by Jack London the main character, White Fang was going through some problems in this book. He was abounded when he was just a little half wolf half dog puppy. White Fang went to go find a new home but that didn’t work out the way he hoped. While hunting a rabbit he finds a tribe of native Americans. The young pup attempts to run away but he can’t help his curiosity to try to find a new family. One native American takes him in but all the others in the tribe including the other dogs didn’t accept him.

If everyone in White Fang’s life that hurt him or made fun of him he wouldn’t be as furious, strong and smart as he could. The book made the Native Americans look like bad people but what they really did is turn him into a great wolf. His family wasn’t there to teach him the native Americans were the ones to do that. 

Why There Are Rails on Escalators

Author's Note: I wrote this piece because every year I remember less and less about this so if i write about it I will never forget it.

When I was four years old I was at the mall with family friends. We just entered the mall and were deciding where to go first. While my sisters were looking at a map two older boys and I decided to have a contest, who could go on the outside of the rail and up the rail the highest. I'd have no idea what would've happened to me that night.

It was the first boys' turn and he made it about four feet and he thought it was pretty impressive. I knew I could beat that. The second boy made it about six feet up I wasn't so sure I could beat that but I was sure I was going to try. I wish I hadn't though.

Now it was my turn to go and I was determined to beat six feet. I did. But I didn't come back down. When I got to a certain point it was too high to jump down! I had to keep going up. Luckily there was a lady who pulled me up over the railing and took me down to my sisters!

I was twenty to thirty feet up in the air if that lady hadn't saved me I might have died. One of the worst things about this is I don't even know who saved my life. If only I knew so I could find her and thank her.

Teepeeing Gone Wrong

Authors Note: I wrote this piece because when I thought of life experiences this stuck out. This is my first piece of the year so I am trying to have a proficient piece so I can get to advanced later in the year.

On a very swampy like early morning, two of my friends and I wanted to go teepeeing, for those of you who don’t know teepeeing, teepeeing is throwing toilet paper rolls into a house’s trees. The ground was soaking wet but only a slight drizzle was falling from the sky. Perfect teepeeing weather. My friends and I packed duffle bags and set out to teepee a house that a girl in our grade lived in. That night I could’ve gotten in the biggest trouble that I’d ever been in.

While we were walking to the house that we were going to teepee, we had two main concerns, a bar that we had to pass and any patrolling cops. We made it to the house while evading the bar and we didn’t see any cops. We set up our bags in her backyard and started throwing toilet paper rolls into her trees. We threw about ten rolls when the slight drizzle was turning into a major storm. Luckily the side of her hard had two willow trees that my friends and I used as cover for the toilet paper that hadn’t yet been thrown. Even though it was raining cats and dogs we decided we had to throw all the rolls to make this one of our best jobs yet. My friends and I were about halfway done when we saw head lights. My friend whispered to me “We need to find a spot to hide.”  So my friends and I hid on the front porch of the house we were teepeeing all we had for cover was some patio furniture. The patrol car defiantly saw that the house was teepeed and the cop must’ve only been there for two minutes but it felt like an hour.

My friends and I were still waiting behind the patio furniture and the cop had turned on its brighter headlights to look but didn’t see us. So he drove away and the only reason he didn’t get out of the car was probably because it was raining so hard. After the cop drove away we stayed in the same spot for about another minute before we decided we should move and try and get back to one of our houses. We had successfully made it through the neighborhood and now we had to get through a bars parking lot without being seen while each of us were carrying duffel bags half full of toilet paper. At two A.M. on the weekend that’s not so easy. We found an opening where no one would see us and we shot through it like a lightning bolt, just like the ones in the sky above us. We just had one obstacle left, a major street.

At the street my friends and I were just about to cross until out of nowhere the same cop car turns the corner and all of us immediately jump under a pine tree and drop to the ground. The cop car must of gotten over us and kept on going on patrol because it seemed like a very casual speed. It past us and we went on crossed the street and made it back to one of my friends house at about three A.M. and cover up our trail in the house and we went to bed and we all fell asleep within about thirty seconds of laying down.

All in all what we did was very bad and we never are going to do it again but we were bored and didn’t do the normal thing and just go to bed. We did something out of the ordinary of what we usually do. I’m not saying go and teepee someone’s house I’m just saying don’t be afraid to go against the flow. In fifty years I might tell my grandchildren that story because I will never forget that so that’s why I think it may have been worth it.

Charlie

Three Facts One Fiction

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece because it looked like it would be a fun piece to write. Also please look at my sentence frequency.

I got my fake tooth when I was nine years old. When I was in the dentist’s office I was asked if I wanted to be numbed or have laughing gas. Of course when I was nine I chose the laughing gas. First of all because it didn’t involve needles and second of all my mom told me it would feel just like someone was tickling me.

Unfortunately it wasn’t ticklish, but it tasted like bubble gum!  After half an hour it quickly started to taste like metal. Anyways after one hour of intense pain they finally wiggled the tooth out, but the pain didn’t stop there and I’m not talking about physical pain. I mean the days afterwards when I couldn’t eat anything harder than a French Fry and nothing carbonated when I drink. Although that only lasted a couple days I still can’t eat starburst or milk duds.

What Avenger Am I?

Author's Note: I wrote this because I think this movie is really cool. Please look at my word choice.

If I were an Avengers I would be The Hulk. I would be the Hulk because he is really strong and that means he can lift, punch, kick and run very well. Although he cannot control when he turns into the Hulk I still think that it would be funny to own some people. I could also make money by being the hulk by playing sports.