22nd Blog: (Ethical Giving or If I Had $100)

Yo bloggers! My next assignment that I had to do was made by Miss Crosbie, the teacher of our Oshawa buddies. We're given 100 imaginary dollars and with that imaginary $100, we have to think of what charity and what kind of gifts that we will give using that imaginary $100. Click here for more assignment information.  You can also click here.  Think, if you had $100, what would you do with it? Would you spend it on yourself, or for someone in need?

If I had $100, I would give all my money to World Vision, because World Vision is one of the biggest charitable organizations in the world, and its focus is to help children and families overcome the obstacles they face during poverty in many different countries around the world. I always hated seeing commercials of different families struggling to cope with their own lives, and I always wanted to help with different charities, and World Vision was a charity that interested me, so I would choose to give money to World Vision if I had $100. I would purchase two hens and a rooster to someone in need. The reason why I would choose this gift, because when you receive two hens and a rooster, they can lay up to 150 eggs combined. With those eggs, it can provide food for you and you can also sell them for money. Also, some particular countries do not allow hens or roosters, so instead World Vision would give people in those particular countries other poultry animals, such as turkeys or ducks, etc. and that can be raised, bred or eaten. It would be such a great gift to give, and it's World Vision's most popular gift every single year. Another gift that I would like to purchase would be some musical instruments and art supplies for children. The reason why I would also choose this gift is because I have a huge passion in the arts especially music, and for a child to have never expressed their self in that way is unimaginable. With art and music, you can escape from rough patches and express yourself. It can change a child's life momentarily, and a child will burst into creativity. The arts needs to be shared with the world, and you can always rely on the the arts, it will always be there when you need to express yourself. I would be distributing my funds by spending $50 on two hens and a rooster and $50 on art and music supplies. That's what I would do if I had $100, how about you? 

There you have it, there's my assignment, please feel free to comment. My friend Tara <- (Click here for her story) has gave some money to World Vision and has definitely inspired people including me to follow in her footsteps. I attended the "Make it Happen" conference along with Tara and 16 other grade eights in my school, and I learned a lot about different kinds of charities and how I could help. This year, I want to try to be more generous to people and to give more to people in need. Please show some empathy and make a change for people around the world who have less than what you have. Instead of recieving gifts for Birthdays or Christmases, etc., ask your family or friends to give you money so you can give gifts to people who have less than what you have, it'll be very appreciative.  Thank you, and have a good snowy day.

21st Blog (Black History Month Video)

Welcome bloggers welcome! January is coming to a close and we're heading to February. It's known for it's 28 or 29 days, and it is a month of many events and holidays. For Example: Valentine's Day, Family Day and Chinese New Year. Last year, Miss Pollock was my homeroom teacher as well as this year, and we made a video with our grade five buddies at the time about Black History. As you may know, the month of February is known as Black History Month, and it is the time to think back to important events involving Black History that changed the world. For example: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad or Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. So here's the Black History Month video by R7/8A and R5A: 2009-2010! Can you find where I am in the video? Thanks for watching, and enjoy the last couple of hours of January!

20th Blog (S.O.L.E. Video: Cyberbullying)

Are any of you bloggers cyberbullies? I hope you're not! On monday, I presented my S.O.L.E. assignment along with Amy, Reshad and Aaisha who were my group members. Our topic that we had to research about was cyberbullying, and as a group it went pretty well. Our presentation was videotaped with Miss Pollock's camera, because my class' Oshawa buddies are gonna see them and then comment on my blog about the presentation. So Courtney and Breah, this is for you and I'll be fine with what you have to say, it's your opinion! If you want a review on the assignment click here and here. Also, if you want to see our group's post about cyberbullying click right here. In this video, you'll see a description, a bunch of poems including a slam poem, a SENSE-ible poem and an acrostic poem and a unique way to stop cyberbullying from happening. I want you to notice that cyberbullying is terrible and no one should be put up with it as well as the different types of poems we used and how we used the media cart to showcase our work. So here's the video, I hope you enjoy our presentation! When you're done, please feel free to comment. Thank you for watching it, and have a splendid day!

15th Blog (Verb Tenses Quiz)

Greetings bloggers! Today, my class was given an assignment involving verb tenses. I will be showing you a piece of the same text three times. The only difference is that the first time will be in the past tense, the second time will be in the present tense and the third time will be in the future tense. This was supposed to be done in class, but I had to miss English, and now it's for homework. So here is the text, in three different tenses. Enjoy!

Story in Past Tense

Yesterday, I took my pet dragon to the grocery store, A&P. We walked up and down the aisles. I noticed that another pet owner walked her dragon towards us. My dragon ignored the other dragon to look at the Zesty Mango salad. The other dragon flew in and grabbed the salad right from under my dragon's nose. Then, a third dragon came out of nowhere, and he took the salad, and ate the whole thing.

Story in Present Tense

Today, I take my pet dragon to the grocery store, A&P. We walk up and down the aisles. I notice that another pet owner walks her dragon towards us. My dragon ignores the other dragon to look at the Zesty Mango salad. The other dragon flies in and grabs the salad right from under my dragon's nose. Then, a third dragon comes out of nowhere, and he takes the salad, and eats the whole thing.

 Story in Future Tense

Tomorrow, I will take my pet dragon to the grocery store, A&P. We will walk up and down the aisles. I will notice that another pet owner will walk her dragon towards us. My dragon will ignore the other dragon to look at the Zesty Mango salad. The other dragon will fly in and will grab the salad right from under my dragons nose. Then, a third dragon will come out of nowhere, and will take the salad, and will eat the whole thing.

There you have it, I hope you enjoyed the story using the three different tenses. Please feel free to comment. Adios, have a fantastic day!

2nd Blog (Empathy Student of the Month Presentation)

Hello again, my fellow bloggers! Great to see you guys again! Yesterday, my class performed the first Student of the Month presentation of the year, the theme for this month being empathy. The presentation included a story, a skit, a poem, a rap, etc., and everyone did an excellent job! Now, my class has to do a reflection on what we liked and what we can do in the future! Here's my response using the 3,2,1 created by my brilliant teacher, enjoy!

10/07/10                                                                           Melissa R8A

Empathy Student of the Month Presentation

3 Things that I think would have helped to improve our presentation.

One thing that I thought would have helped to improve our presentation would be to have everyone with their eyes closed. I know everyone wanted to see the final production in the large gym, but the few people with their eyes closed was kind of a distraction to the different skits that were going on as well as the audience, and this was about the kids sleeping and dreaming about things involving empathy, so they could have acted like they were sleeping and had their eyes closed.

     The second thing that I thought would have helped to improve our presentation would have been having more time to practice and get everything down. We had to finish presenting those Reader's Theatre stories and doing other schoolwork, leaving us with not many days to prepare for this presentation.

     The final thing that I thought would have helped to improve our presentation would have been to get everything memorized for the presentation. Again, we didn't have that many days to prepare for this, but I saw a few people with their Free Write books and that was a bit of a distraction to the different skits that were going on as well as the audience. Having no Free Write books on the stage would have been less distracting for everyone.

2 Things that I think went really well.

One thing that I thought went really well was when the rap group (Mateen, Will, Walid and Haneen) had instrumental music to their skit. That really helped keep the beat for them. Without music, the worst- case scenario would have been that they would've been lost and they didn't know where they were. The lyrics were as well great, so great job you guys, great job to the whole class!

     The other thing that I thought went really well was when The Dog and the Ostrich group (Sara, Tara, Amy) got the skit together in just one day. The narrating was great and the lip-syncing done by the two characters was also great.

     The other groups that I didn't mention also did a great job. Switch (Qavi, Jatinder, Jeffrey, Tyler as well credited even though he was absent) had great transitions while switching and the script was as well great. Also the poem (Hannah, Sara, Charlotte) was divided evenly, the script was also great and it was great when they said, "empathy" in unison. Thirdly the Dream People (Claire, Jumanh) did a great job acting it out and I loved the thought bubble that they were holding. Fourthly the Cameraman (Connor) did a great job filming and it was at a good angle. Fifthly, the rest of the cast and crew just dozing away, great job! Finally, Miss Pollock for making all of this possible, great job! Awesome job you guys, it's too bad that I missed out on this.

(The Ostrich and the Dog is a story written by me, which you will see on my next blog, so keep on visiting)

1 Piece of advice I have for students who will be performing in the future.

The piece of advice that I have for students who will be performing in the future is to always do your best in anything that you're doing and to give it your all, no matter what happens. If you stumble or make a mistake, just keep on going, the show must go on!

The End

Well, there you have it. That's my Empathy Student of the Month Presentation Reflection. I hope you guys enjoyed it! If you have any comments or questions for me, please feel free to type what you have to say. Thank you and have a fantastic day!