Perseverance

     I think Nick's traits are humility, thankful, and perseverance. Nick is able to do the impossible because the word it self says possible. Just because Nick has no arms or legs, people think he can't do anything, that he can't live life. It seems to me that he could basically do what he wants because nobody can't tell him what he can or can not do. He said that he is thankful that he doesn't have any arms or legs, sometimes people think that he wishes he had arms and legs. He obviously doesn't because he is thankful for what he has. Nick has the ability to tell kids and people all around the world how great life is either you don't have arms or legs. I think that is a wonderful thing for him to do.

   Me and Nick have kind of a connection, Nick cares about other people and seems to not care what other people think. Me as a girl don't really care what people think of me. That is a very good trait for girls to have since basically girls are self conscious about the way they look. Just like how he doesn't care what people think about him, that's exactly how's I feel about myself to. 

Berlin Memorial Reflection

   I learned that basically Jews had their freedom taken away. It was almost like prison for them, except for the fact that they weren't stuck in a jail cell. The Nazis really wanted the Jews to have a bad life. That's why every law that was established to the Jews were meant to hurt them emotionally and physically.

   I think that this monument was built because since Hitler became a leader to the Germans/Nazis he gained power and by creating this group. Hitler had never liked the Jews, that's maybe a reason why he set up harsh laws on them.

   The laws that passed in certain years has become really really harsh and inequitable. Some laws stated that they weren't even allowed to buy certain foods like eggs. Jews couldn't own radios or any electronics, no pets, not allowed to come out after 8:00PM, not allowed to swim,and not even allowed to go to school. These rules had come to the point where it doesn't even feel like Jews are living life.

   I think it's the rules that doctors, teachers, veterinarians, or any Jew that has a job isn't allowed to have that job anymore. This is a big problem because that just limits the possibilities of not having teachers or doctors to help sick people or to give them their education.

2 Quarter reflection

The most challenging part of 2nd Quarter was mostly lots of more tests, homework, and projects. Not that it was such a problem, though the difficulty of the test, homework, and projects. There is much more writing than there used to be, and I assume more are coming in quarter 3 and 4. Then I realize that “oh, it’s my last year in middle school, of course teachers are going to push us, they want us to move on the a good high school and get a great job.” That's when I really try my hardest at challenging parts of school. Something In can do to help me overcome this is studying more, but not just that, it’s way more than that. I have to stay after school with teachers, join clubs, sports, retake a test to try and get a 4, be an effective learner, and not getting into trouble.

   Something i’ve learned about the world is the Holocaust my peers and I are currently learning about. It's about how lots of Jews and children were killed involving Hitler. I also learned about the Harlem Renaissance which is about an explosion that happened in Harlem, New York that affected lots of people and the way they were living. I learned more about the election of 2016-2017 that obviously affected lots of people. Other than that it was very interesting learning about these topics.

   The area I think I made an improvement in E.L.A is writing blogs about certain topics. When I'm interested in a certain topic, I actually want to write more and more. At some times it’s hard for me to explain things if it’s serious or asking about topics I'm not really interested in. On the other hand I think I made a good improvement on that.

"Auggie and Me" By: R.J Palacio Realistic Fiction

 
       The first story/chapter is called  Julian’s Chapter, its about Auggie’s bully that's at his new school once he was home schooled mostly. Julian doesnt seem like bullying August almost , instead August has been stealing his friends, giving him nightmares and tormenting him. Plus he is also trying to ruin his reputation in the schoolyard.

    The second story/ chapter I about Christophers perspective. Christopher is August’s best friend that he grew up with as a kid, so they recognize each other pretty well. He then realized that hi best friend Was not really different then any other kid that was the same age or close to the American age. Though he did have a choice to make that he thought was kind of hard. It was to rather be that bet friend he always was to Auggie or to be teased all the time by his new friends from school.

    The third story/ chapter it's called Shing-A-Ling, It's mostly a perspective but also I see lots of opinions from Charlotte. Charlotte was chosen to be the one to introduce August to his new school. It focuses more on her social life, and the different decisions she makes throughout the story.

  The mood of the story to me was mostly entertaining and funny. The central idea of the book was mostly about friendship and honesty towards each other in all different perspectives. In the book on pg. 297 it says "She's been such an amazing friend Auggie all year long," I explained. "And not because you asked her to be his welcome buddy, like with me and Jack. She just did it! It's like what you just said about kindness." This quote explains how Summer was really good and nice friends with Auggie, and not because he asked her, she wanted to.

  I liked this book because it reminded me of the first time I had to go to a new school and make new friends in comparison with Auggie. I remembered mostly about the parts were Auggie was bullied,  because I was bullied sometimes and I also had that comparison with him as well. I would recommend this book for 3 or more friends that have been close together. The viewer should go out and get this book because it's has lots of heartwarming parts to the book that even made me smile randomly. It's a great book for anybody who wants to read it.

Adolescent Pregnancy By: Alexis Hernandez

   Pregnancy happens to women all over the world, but what's scary is that it's not just women, it's with teen girls as well. Teens who end up pregnant, about half are more likely not to have a successful life in the future. In a website it says “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen" , this is basically saying in a child's perspective how they are more likely not to graduate because of the mother. The same exact thing happened to my mom and brother, my mom never graduating from high school, and my brother never graduating from high school.

    My mom (Emperatriz) had a huge effect from her pregnancy it changed everything that she ever wanted growing up.To begin with it, she skipped school to go to a daytime party. While she was there, a boy named Genaro had peered pressured my mother into having sex with him. My mom was about 17 years old and the Genaro was 16 years old. She had no clue about pregnancy, babies, or having a job, etc. My mom was about 3 months into her pregnancy when she found out, due to the suspension remarks her grandma said to her mother saying, “don't be surprised if she's pregnant.” My mom went to school and spoke to the attendance teacher, Mr. Almaza. She told the teacher, “I feel weird” including telling him the symptoms she had. Mr. Almaza told my mom to walk to the teen clinic on Chicago Ave, Ashland. Usually there is never clinics for pregnant teens to go to when they have problems, my mom was very thankful for this clinic. When she got there the nurse their asked my mom about her health, symptoms, and her period. The nurse told my mom that she had to do a pregnancy test since she had all the symptoms a pregnant woman would have. My mom waited for what felt like, “the longest 5min in her life.”

    Then the test turned out to be positive, the nurse said it was 99.9% sure she was pregnant. The nurse gave her options for what she would like to do with the baby, then instead of walking back to school, my mom walked to Genaro’s house.She had told him about her being pregnant, his words were, “that's not my kid, you're not even my girlfriend” in disbelief my mom had started crying. In a website it says " 8 out of 10 teen dads don't have no up getting married to the mother," and that's exactly what happened to my mom. Other than the fact she knew Genaro wasn't going to be with her she didn't care. She just really needed money to help with her abortion. He then disappeared for four months without helping my mother. Then without telling her mom, she ran away from home living with her friends for 2 months, then had started living with her aunts/grandma’s house. When they took my mom to check if she could get her abortion, it was already too late for her to get one. Then it was that time were she had to have the baby already, it was June 8th 1997 when my older brother was born.

    It was hard for my mom after that, she moved in back with her mom so that she can help, and had to go to night school while she worked in the day. My mom had tried to let the father know that she was struggling, but he was just in and out of my mom's and my brothers lives. She couldn't finish school, instead she had to support the baby by, feeding him, changing him, buy him new clothes, take him to the doctor, buy him diapers, and give him all the love he needed. My mom mostly focused on work because she had no financial help from nobody and so she can support my brother. It was mostly hard for my mom to do all she can because her pelvis bone was hurting which had an effect on the way she walked. This was really hard to hear especially from my mom and brother. My brother told me how his childhood was like for him. He said, “He kind of struggled in school and wouldn't really pay attention,” due to the lack of money my mom had to give him the right education he needed. My brother didn't have lots of expensive clothes, but when he did it was usually every other birthday for him or Christmas.  

    Issues like what my mom went through happens with lots of teen girls who are pregnant till this day. We want to stop teen pregnancy because it affects usually a whole family whether they’re involved or not. Teen pregnancy kills the dreams of young women who were going to grow up and be successful, but because of the responsibility of their child, they couldn't do so. In a website it states "3 in 10 teens get pregnant at least 1 time before the age 20"These are the reasons why teen pregnancy is bad for adolescents girls that can change their life.

Websites:
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Nonfiction Blog

                                                                Dogs All About Them 

                                                        By:Alvin and Virginia Silverstein

   First, the book says that dogs were a helpful source to humans in the Stone Age. Dogs were hunting partners and were able to be a very helpful security for the family as well. Then that's when jobs were suggested to dogs like herding and guarding the masters animals. Next, the book explains  what a dog is and what It looks like, as well as explains a dog from a wolf. It gives an example saying that a child would say "dog" or "puppy" to both dog and wolf.  A wolf has a much more larger skull and  than a dog has. Wolfs are much more powerful then dogs and rely on their abilities, such as running, powerful jaw, and captures the prey with a wolf pack. Then, a description of the three senses a dog has, body language, and sounds. Dogs use sound because it's a way to help locate objects. When dogs use their three senses it's smell, hearing, and sight as a way to communicate. The book also gives examples of a dog being angry, confused, unsure, threatened, and happy all with just their tail and the way it moves. Last, the book gives a list or more like a group of the types of dogs that fit in with each other. There is seven groups for all dogs, they are the Sporting dogs, Hounds, Working dogs, Herding dogs, Terriers, Toys, and Non-sporting dogs. Each dog would be able to fit in these groups, but maybe some dogs won't.

  A passage I found interesting was how In the Stone Age, people used wolves as part of a survival piece, but the wolves had to be tamed when their young enough. In pg. 23- 24 of the book it says "wolf pups can be tamed easily if they are caught young enough. The age of about three weeks is a critical period in a wolfs life; at time it's eyes are open, and it is just starting to move around actively and get acquainted with its world. This is when the pup becomes socialized, learned about the pack and all the proper wolf "manners." If it is raised by humans, the wolf pup bonds to them instead, giving them the love and devotion it would normally give to the wolves of its pack. When it grows up it remains loving and loyal to the humans who raised it. A full-grown tame wolf can be nuisance at times-imagine having your pet wolf greet you each time you came home leaping up to put its huge paws on your shoulders and affectionately  bite your nose! But the Stone Age people found their four-legged friend companions very useful for guarding the camp and helping in the hunt." This whole passage was so interesting to me, maybe because it actually is possible to raise a wolf. The way the Stone Age people treat the wolfs could have had desipline, but a little later found out that sometimes they can be their as a companion. Wolves are related to dogs but both dog and wolf are different in many ways. 

   Some things I've learned that I won't forget is the way dogs use their tails as a way to show an emotion.   Some examples are a tail wagging means friendly, a tail that held low and wagging means it's ok you can pet me, one last example is when a dogs tail is held high and not moving that would mean it dangerous to touch the dog. One last thing I've learned that I won't forget is each breed has its own special bark. Next time when I hear a dog barking I'll listen for the tone of it. Overall this book was very interesting and gives lots of facts.

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What I'm grateful for

     I'm grateful for just being in this world in general. It's crazy how sometimes I just think to myself "wow I'm so lucky being here surrounded by amazing people". Sometimes people can be very ungrateful for things and how much people care about them. Lots of bad things in this world can effect some people, or may even each person in some way. Each and everyone of us knows what conflict/problems means, it shouldn't be that way. Sure have some conflict, but not serious conflict like crime. This may sound like I'm not grateful being in this world, but I am. I learn new things everyday, I have friends, a family, a roof over my head, food, clothing, a place to sleep on, emotions, personality, and the courage to take risks. Though this year I'm grateful for many things then what have. 

     I'm grateful for teachers who are pushing us to the limit to learn and be successful. Sometimes there are some teachers who can get on kids nerves, but I've been really listening to what they have to say about high school, being a grown up, how we can be successful, and how we can do better. More and more teachers I see always fill my heart with kindness and knowledge. I don't know about other kids saying that there teachers are mean, but all my teachers seem pretty nice to me, and I'm thankful for that.

     I'm also grateful for my family for being strong in the hardest times. We have been through hard times and good times. The hard times were rough, I couldn't actually believe they were happening, but they were. Those times were the worst but because my family is strong as can be, we all got through it together. I know there is many more problems to come in the future, but that's why I have my family so that they can be there for me and the rest of my family. This is what I'm grateful for.