When we choose the books for independent reading I think we feel the freedom we get when we are allowed to read what ever genre or subject we want. When I choose a book and I don’t like it I can’t complain because I’m the one who chose it. Also I have the choice to get a new book. When we are to read books like To Kill a Mockingbird and don’t like it we know we have to but don’t have to enjoy it. When we read books we choose we imagine things clearer or in our own way. When we read books that are chosen for us we know there’s a lesson to be learn so we look for it deliberately. There’s nothing wrong with either ways of reading just as long as we understand the book itself.
Archive for April, 2011
Growing up quickly
2011
04.25
04.25
As soon as part two starts with chapter twelve, Jem grows up to be twelve years old. As he grew up, he changed quite a lot. Everyone including Scout, Calpurnia, and Atticus notice this. The only one of them that has a problem with it is Scout, his littler sister.
In the earlier chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem is more playful, relaxed, and always coming up with new ways to have fun with Dill and Scout. The first few days he and Scout became friends with Dill, they were thinking of ways to get Boo Radley to come out, or making their own scripts and plays about the Radley family.
During the older chapters, Jem becomes a more serious character. He wants to be left alone most of the time, he doesn’t bother going up in the tree house anymore, and always has his nose in a football magazine. This is a big change because he is considered an adult even at the age of twelve. Calpurnia calls him mister Jem, and even Jem himself threatens to spank Scout for misbehaving as if he was an adult figure to her.
This isn’t exactly a bad thing. Jem feels as though he needs to become like an adult so he can take care of his family. He constantly worries about Atticus, knowing something wrong is happening. He says “I’ve just got this feeling…” right before he, Dill and Scout go out of the house at night to see Atticus surrounded by strangers. Once they got home, he lets Scout sleep in his bed because she had been crying in her bedroom.
As Jem grows up he does have the right to be called mister even at such a young age. His attitude grows more and more like an adult and he acts protective in many ways. As the story goes on, it is certain that Jem will let his role a young adult grow stronger and will help future conflicts that may happen.
March CJ
2011
04.04
04.04
The access of Power School is very important to me and my GPA. Of course Power school shows my GPA every day while it can be updated by all the teachers I have. This allows me to know what I’ve improved on in the past semesters, quarters; I can even see the previous classes I’ve had. While Power School is running I’m allowed to see if I can work on bad grades or see if I’m missing any assignments given to me in the past. As long as Power School is accessible to me every day for me to check, I can observe my grades and see if my GPA is getting closer and closer to a 4.0.
Not only is this a benefit to me but also to my parents, and many other parents. Once they know how to log in on their child’s name, they can see if they have improved or how well they are doing in school. I’m sure that seeing good grades and a high GPA is a great thing to see everyday. Power School even reminds me of the goals I have set and is a great influence on my grades, for the most part.
A Familar Setting
2011
04.04
04.04
The setting of shiver is familiar to our world because of the weather and climate conditions. If anything, the setting reminds me a lot of Wisconsin, just that there is no mention of cattle at all, just wolves; still familiar though. Where the main characters live, it’s a harshly cold area where slush and snow are always in the streets and when summer finally comes, it’s not long enough.
While I read this book I’m most familiar with the woods and how they would look like if you were just outside of them. I can imagine tall thin trees that are striped of their leaves, shaking in the treetops from the wind.
Even a scene in the book is familiar, while Sam investigates a house that belonged to a boy who recently ‘died’, he finds a room full of stuffed animals such as deer heads and other wild animals. You could easily imagine what it would look like from the main characters point of view. The only unfamiliar setting I can remember is when Sam was taken to the hospital by Grace. All I could imagine was a different scene from a movie, because in the movie there had been a hospital scene.
All in all, the book shiver has a very Wisconsin like feel to it, just without the farms.
Fast Food Fraud: Nutrition Synthesis
2011
04.04
04.04
Topic: Fast Food Fraud
Main Question: What are the Dangers and secrets about Fast Food that has been kept from the public?
Sub-Questions:
1. What are the conditions of slaughter houses?
2. What are the chemicals that scientists created do?
3. How long ago have chemical tests been done?
Fast Food Fraud: The dangers of secrets that so many keep from the public
By: Peter V and Kayleigh S
Thesis: There has been so many dirty secrets and information that food corporations have been keeping from their customers.
This could easily be one of the biggest epidemics destroying millions of people’s health all around our nation. Soon enough the nation’s population will increase in girth rather then quantity. As soon as America is the largest country heaviest country, the rest of the world’s nations will follow suit; leading to all kinds of health problems developeing rapidly.
The lies have kicked off by making slaughterhouses more dangerous and unhealthy as ever. At times they will feed and fatten their cows with hay, corn, and even chicken feces so that there is more meat to be produced. They took animal abuse to a new level, not because they are killing cows for their meet, but by tipping them over with fork lifts and containing each and every millions of cows in a compact small area. If one cow were to have a disease, that cow would easily spread it to another. While every possessed meat is being handled, workers of those slaughterhouses are at high risks at loosening limbs and even their lives. Not only are these workers in danger, most of them aren’t legal citizens of America.
Scarier than that, some restaurants have ordered and served food that shows little to no resemblance to actual freshly cut meat. Scientists have used techniques to fool the senesces into thinking such foods are tasty and healthy. Many chemicals found or made by scientists can copy the smells and tastes of fresh food from nature. This proves that not only what you’re eating at McDonalds is fatty and delicious; it’s also the work of many chemicals doing their job disguised as real meat: COMPLETELY FAKE!
Other than the tastes and aroma, scientists have even worked on color to food. Sometime in the 1970’s, scientists had conducted an experiment where they put two subjects under a certain light and were told to eat “oddly colored” meat and some French fries; When they were done they found the food okay, but after the lighting was changed to normal they found the meat to be blue and the French fries green. The scientists result; both subjects were sick quickly afterwards.
Not only have these experiments and animal cruelty have been done, they keep doing such things and while doing so, they keep it from you. If this were to continue, more and more chemicals found in such fast food restaurants or even grocery store foods could be contaminated world wide. We could possibly never taste REAL food again. Even worse epidemics could occur and we could find ourselves health problems growing by the end of the decade.
Our group conducted a survey asking if anyone of our peers knew about fast food fraud
The results show that half did and half did not. If this were the results of our nation, half of us are clue less but half of us are cautious.
This information was found in an article
Written by Richard Stossel of NaturalNews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/025241.html
Stossel, Richard. “Why You Should Avoid Fast Food at All Costs.” NaturalNews.com. NaturalNews.com, 6 Jan. 2009. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.
Food Culture Reflection
2011
04.04
04.04
My first reaction when I was introduced to this topic was “Does that mean I have to change?” I figured that out of everything I learned that I just might. All the eating habits that are frowned upon by all of these documentaries or articles leaves me thinking that I might be doing something wrong.
The first video that I had watched about the food culture was Super Size Me, the documentary that showed how bad McDonalds is and how cheap and unhealthy food it held. The man did an experiment by eating McDonalds for every meal for thirty days. His health results were poor and at one time very dangerous for his heart. He even found out more information on McDonalds and the obesity rate it caused.
That documentary was what we were to watch in both science and culinary arts. Even for this unit in cyber English, we had already found out some of the flaws in eating properly.
This unit started out with a video on a TED talk about children and families struggling to eat healthy. The man who was on the video showed how expensive healthy food is and how cheap unhealthy food is. He proved his point, showing a family that couldn’t even buy a pound of grapes but could buy 5 things on a dollar menu at a fast food restaurant. To me this looked like a serious problem, and the man said so too. He even pointed out that because of America’s bad eating habits, that other countries like England were doing the same too. I kind of felt guilty.
After we had watched the TED talk, we watched Food inc. which illustrated how food corporations and slaughter houses worked. It terrified me to think how cruel and secretive some companies can be. The abuse of animals, flavor disguising chemicals, and even diseases like E. coli were results in this documentary. My question was “How could America let this happen?”
Video after video I watched how our nation was developing in a scary and unhealthy way. It made me want to help in some way and I found out I could. With a little bit of effort and determination I could grow gardens, feed future children healthy food, and put a statement on the healthy life that could be and should be ours.
