My Impression on the AoW Gallery Walk

Proton Therapy Machine

     My impression on the gallery walk was it was a superb idea! We could learn a lot about the world in just 30 seconds from each AoW. I didn't know anything on how they were trying to stop cancer. I learned in one of the AoW is that to help kill the cancer cells they are thinking of "proton therapy." It is a therapy in which you are put into a machine and "lasers" go through your body and try and stop the cancer cells from growing, and eventually kill them off. Two major problems is it is very expensive and it only kills some types of cancer cells. It was very interesting, they are trying to make those machines so that every hospital has access to at least one.

     The only flaw I saw in this gallery walk was many people did the same article. I think that everyone should get a different article, because one person had one type of information and the other had totally different information. I didn't know which one was right. The information was different because it could've been fro different points of views. On the other hand, I also learned a little more when I had the same article as someone else, because they have different thinking and experiences about that one topic. Otherwise, I think that this was a very great idea and we should do this again. I learned a lot about cancer, ebola, measles, drones, and conservation for the Earth.

40 Book Challenge 1/26/15

Zebra Forest

by Adina Rishe Gewirtz 

Prompt: List the personality characteristics of the main characters (feelings, interests, behaviors, etc.)

Pages: FINISHED BOOK

WARNING! THERE IS SPOILERS IN SOME PARTS

     In Zebra Forest the main characters are Annie, Rew, and Andrew Snow. The point of view in the book is from Annie's perspective. She loves to read books to her little brother Rew and she mostly loves to hang out in the Zebra Forest and just relax. In the story Annie is kept hostage from her dad, at first her feelings are "Who does this man think he is? What a horrible person." Then throughout the book her feelings change because of how her dad changes also into a nicer and caring man. She starts actually liking that he is here with them, even if she is kept hostage. When she is sent to go get food she must not speak to anyone that she and her family is being kept hostage, unlike Rew who would tell the police right away Annie doesn't want her dad to get caught. She doesn't "snitch" at all on her dad when their counselor comes to check on them and when she goes to get groceries, she is more of the modest type when it came to these parts in the story.

     Another main character is Rew (Andrew Snow III), he is the younger brother of Annie. He loves pirate stories, playing chess, and like Annie loves to hang out in the Zebra Forest. Throughout the story he has many feelings. When they are kept hostage he hates the man, even though it is their father. He despises him for keeping his own children and mother hostage. He tries to get out of the house, one time he gave Annie a letter to put in the mail to send to the police, but Annie didn't mail it. He also ran out of the house when the door was open, he just ran for his life but then came back because Grandma got hurt from running to get him in the storm. In the story he also was very upset with Annie because she didn't want to mail the letter, so he ripped their favorite book to pieces and didn't talk to her for a while. He was very stubborn throughout the story.

     Another main character is Andrew Snow, he is the father of Rew and Annie. The first couple of days he was really rude and kinda aggressive while he was keeping them hostage. At first he would like yank them by the shirt and push them when they would get near the door. Later in the book he started to get kinder by letting Annie go out to get them better food and cleaning supplies. He started to make them three meals a day that provided all the main food groups. Towards the end of the book he started to actually love his children, so he went back to the prison to fill his time so then he could come back with his children.

I commented on Jared, Justin, and Mia's Blog.

40 Book Challenge 1/20/15

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

Prompt:
-Describe the most important event. Give some reasons why you think it is the most important event.
-Describe the setting – when and where what you are reading takes place.
Pages: 0-158

     The most important event in Zebra Forest is when a man comes to their door step and keeps Annie, Rew, and grandma hostage. This is the most important event because this is when everything starts to happen, and they figure out who this man is. This man's name is Andrew Snow. He is the father of Annie and Rew, and the son of Grandma.

     This is really important because in the book it states that grandma told Annie and Rew that their father (Andrew Snow) was "killed in a fight with an angry man" (6). Grandma was a really good liar, and this was the biggest lie yet. Andrew was actually the "angry man" and he actually killed someone and was sent to jail. He then came to the doorstep of a house with no other houses near it and kept his own children and mother hostage. He did that because he escaped the prison, and their house was near the prison. This is really important event, thats what I think since they actually found out their father wasn't dead.

      The setting of Zebra Forest is the house that is located outside of the city and it is surrounded by large trees that are black and white that resemble a zebra. There are no other houses for miles they take the bus to go to the city. The only thing near their house was the prison were Andrew escaped from. The story takes place mostly in the small house, where they are kept hostage.

I commented on Siari, Devin, Diana, and Lillian's blog.

40 Book Challenge 1/12/15

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Prompt:
-Are the characters realistic (do they seem like they could be real people)? Why or why not?
-How did the reading make you feel? Why?
Pages: 158-FINISHED BOOK

     The characters in The Maze Runner are very realistic to me in many ways. One main reason on why I think they are really realistic characters is they all have emotions and thoughts they convey in every chapter, page, sentence, word. They have emotions that's how authors build likable and the ones you don't really like. It is a very important element in a story.

      In this story Thomas' emotions and thoughts are everywhere (not literally). This builds his personality and choices he makes. Another character that showed great emotions and thoughts was Chuck. His thoughts towards Thomas saved Thomas' life, sadly he couldn't save himself... Chuck was Thomas' best friend, and since Thomas' actions really showed Chuck they were really good friends. Thomas, showed his emotions a lot when Chuck died. Thomas promised Chuck that he would return Chuck to his parents, and Chuck then felt very big of him and scarified himself.

     This reading made me feel very gloomy. When Chuck died I literally felt like crying too. Gally killed him, instead of killing Thomas. Thomas held Chuck as he was dying, Thomas was crying. It was a very emotional part in the story, you get attached to the characters. Everyone was sad, but they had to leave right away, Thomas didn't want to leave Chuck there...dead...

     The story did make me happy at one point. When they finally escaped the Maze. I really didn't think they would of made it out. They all made it out, until Gally followed them and tried to kill Thomas, but killed Chuck instead. Also, when they had people join them to live, it took a lot of effort and was very exciting.

Life Refection 01/09/15

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

     The last time I did something for the first time I took care of my cousins dog over Winter Break. Over Winter Break my cousin, Alex, and his family went to New Mexico this year to visit their dad's side of the family because their grandpa was getting very sick and old. I felt really bad, so what I did was I told their family that I would take care of their dog, Toby. Since I also had a dog I thought it would be pretty easy, but I was very wrong. Since this the first time I took care of their dog I didn't know how Toby would behave. 

     What I do for my dog everyday is whatever time I wake up (it could be at 8 am or 12 pm) I would feed my dog and take him outside to use the bathroom, but since it was very cold outside I would just let him use the bathroom on the mats we got for him. When they were well used I would pick them up and throw new ones for him to use. Then I did that again at 3 pm.Before I went to bed I would give him a treat and that's what I did for my dog.

     My cousin's dog was a whole different story... My dog did the usual routine, but Toby was out of control. If I didn't wake up at exactly 8:30 and feed Toby he wouldn't eat. Then when I would take him outside he would scratch on the door the whole time until I let him in, he never did his business. That was only the morning problem...

     As the day went by Toby would pee whenever he was excited, and he was always excited, he would never calm down like my dog (probably because my dog is older than Toby). We would always have to keep an eye on him. He would throw up a lot too, and we didn't know why. He gets really crazy and hyper a lot and he never sits still.

     Toby would always bother my dog, Husky, and Husky hated him. Toby would take Husky's toys and Husky would be like "Whatever" and slowly walked away. Toby would also eat Husky's food but Husky didn't seem to care at all. The worst thing was Toby followed Husky everywhere. Husky would be sitting down and Toby would be right by his nose just how Husky was sitting down, Husky growled and growled but Toby didn't move at all, one time Husky actually jumped towards Toby. Sometimes it would look like Toby was Husky's Mirror and he wouldn't get out of his face. Husky just really hated Toby.

     I don't know how my cousin's family could handle Toby, but I did it. At the end when they came back from New Mexico I was glad to see them, and kinda glad to see Toby leave! After all of that I got $40!