Category Archives: Humanities

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My Poetry

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In class we started to work on poetry. First we talked about what a poem is and why people write poetry. We also learned about two different types of poems, Cinquain and Haiku. We spent one class experimenting writing these new poems.

This is a Cinquain poem I have written.

Goals

Standing tall

Reaching, accomplishing, achieving

You will feel proud

Once you reach your goal

*This is based on a Cinquain but I changed the rules at the end.*

 

I was inspired to write about a goal because that is a common every day thought that goes through your head. Weather you are setting a goal in school or if you are scared to do something. It was hard to me at first to come up with something to write about because I didn’t feel like I would be able to get my message across in a short and concise way.

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My first

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In this creative writing piece I am writing about a first, my first school interview. I really like this piece because it takes place when I was three years old! It was really fun writing it because I had to ask my mom and dad for the real story. Some of the parts in the story aren’t exactly what happens but I’m really proud of my description when I describe all the objects in the room .

 

My first school interview.

I was three years old when my mom forced me to go and take the interview. She dragged me down the hall, into the elevator, and then out the door. I must have been quite a sight because I was kicking and screaming till my mom had no choice than to take me in a cab.

 

When we got there, there was a tall woman standing in the doorway with a really scary smile. “Greetings! Are you here for the 1 o’clock?” She said. And I ran out the door, I could hear my mother’s footsteps following me. Feeling like Dora the Explorer, I ran faster. “Grace, Grace?” I heard my mother calling from around the corner. I knew that no matter what, I would not get to have dessert tonight so I stopped. The rug scrunched up under my feet,  tripping me till I fell flat on my face. My mom heard the crying and picked me up, she carried me back into the room where the scary woman was still standing. SHE DIDN’T EVEN MOVE!

 

We sat down at a little coffee table covered in markers and paint smudges. I heard the creaks of the plastic chairs pressing into the old wooden floor. I heard the sound of papers brushing up against each other as the scary woman dropped a stack of them in front of my mom. A pen drew a line across the wooden table as it fell out of the woman’s hand. My mother lifted me up and brought me into a dark cold corner a few yards away from the table where she was trying to fill out the stack of paperwork. I stacked blocks for what felt like days, but they kept falling over. A beautiful pink and blue tower stacked up twice the size of me (I had to stand on the toy chest to build it) crumbled to the ground before I could present it to my mom.

 

When my mom finished filling out the forms she brought me over to the table again to begin. “No, No, No!” I screamed and ran into the bathroom. She followed me, but got there too fast for me to lock the door. She looked puzzled. “What’s wrong?” She asked. I didn’t know what was wrong, all I knew was that I didn’t want to be left with that lady! So I told my mom. “It’s that woman, I don’t want to be left alone with her!” My mom finally told me that if I just let the “nice” woman ask me a few questions, she would give me an early Birthday present. Being three years old, this sounded pretty reasonable.

 

Hiding behind my mom we walked out of the bathroom, my mom apologizing to her as we moved. I didn’t think my behavior was out of line. I walked back into the corner and started playing with the blocks and mom was whispering to the scary woman. As my mom went back over to me she looked disappointed. “We’re going to do this another day” she said. As we walked out the door the scary woman waved goodbye and we both hoped we’d never see her again. “I want my birthday cake and I’m not taking a test till Daddy gets home”, I whinned as we entered the elevator.

 

It turns out my mom negotiated with the woman and struck a deal. She rescheduled me a month later. This time, my dad could take me and it was after my birthday so there were no excuses to make.

 

A month later, my dad walked me into the building. I had promised to cooperate in advance so it wasn’t as big of a deal as last time. We showed up in the doorway and there was no scary woman. There was a kind woman sitting in a big red chair. The room looked better than it had been. This woman was different than the other one. She smiled and gave me pens and a piece of paper to draw with. Then, she led me into the back room. Apparently it all looked like it was going well, but it wasn’t. I still didn’t want to take what I now knew was a test. But this time my dad was there, so when I came running out my dad lifted me up and put me right back in there. After that the interview it was fun, all she did was ask me what my favorite color was what was my full name. All questions I knew the answers to. Then, she spoke to my dad.  I didn’t really notice what they were saying because I was too busy sitting in the new play area where the blocks didn’t fall.

 

Turns out, I was pretty smart because I came here to LREI and lived to tell the story!

 

The end

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(Complete) who the heck are you

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John Paul Jimenez

 

Why horses?

 

John Paul was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but moved to the US because of college. He has traveled all over Europe, Germany, England, Spain, Holland, and France. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. “I speak so many different languages because of school and because of all the places I have lived in.”

 

John Paul went to college wanting to become a lawyer like his father was in Brazil, but he still loved riding horses as a hobby. He asked his dad to send over his horse, but when he got to college and people started to see his talent with horses, and they wanted him to ride their horse.

“I really missed riding horses as a junior rider, so when I when to college I realised, this passion was too good to go to waste.” His passion turned into a job, he didn’t expect it kinda just happened. Little by little people saw him and told him that he could make a living out of this and he agreed and choose horses over law School. “One job took me to the next thing, and then I became a professional rider.”

 

“My son Jonathan, when he was little we were looking for ponies and horses he could buy.  When people saw that I could teach, a lot of parents would come up to me ask me if I could teach their kid the way I teach mine, so then I let people some into my barn with their ponies and kids and now I am here.”

 

Even though he has always loved riding and wants his children to ride, he doesn’t force them. “They love to ride…because they love to ride!” Although he enjoys teaching and riding with his kids, they don’t listen as well and take corrections differently.

“I kinda go with the talents, because some little horses can be amazing and some big horses can be terrible. It’s more of a feel for the horse, more of getting to know the horse.” Riding wasn’t about winning or making a living, for John Paul it was about teaching and learning from the horse.

 

When he is trying a horse to see if he will buy it, he has someone else ride it to see if he should try the horse of go look for other ones. “If I don’t like the horse, I don’t get on. I watch the horse in his stall and in the ring, if I don’t like his attitude or the way he moves I move on.”

 

“Well obviously when I am performing in the Grand Prix you get a little more nervous, but if you know what you are doing and have a plan you are good to go. You have to have the right horse too, you know horseback riding is a partner sport, you and the horse split the work evenly.” John Paul is known for his famous record in the Grand Prix, but everyone makes mistakes. “I was in a big show in Florida, an open class. There were a lot of people were in the ring and my horse tripped and slipped and I fell right on my leg.” It was a show that lasted over more than one day, so he couldn’t finish the rest of the competition.

 

The scariest moment of his life was on a horse but that didn’t stop his passion and bravery. “I was riding a little horse, we were going over a little gymnastics when his legs got caught up in the poles and he fell next to me.  He would have landed on me, and  I would have died. I still had to go to the doctor and have my leg checked out. Within three weeks I was back and riding.”

 

THE END

 

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Who The Heck Are You (so far)

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Who the hack are you is an assignment we are doing in humanities.

You are the interview and you choose anyone to interview (you just have to have access to them), then you have to write a hand written letter to them. Then you set up a time to meet and them you prepare questions. We had to spend a lot of time on the questions and make sure that there is a constant theme for all of them.

Now we are interviewing but we have to record the interviews so we can later form it into a essay!

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Arabian Nights Story Revision

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A lot of people think that revisions and editing are the same thing, they are not! Editing is fixing grammar, punctuation, and juicy words. Revision is like taking something bumpy and making it smooth, it is completely transforming your piece. For example dding more drama, a new obstacle, or maybe a new character, or even changing your story arch.

The First Night

The following night, when Scheherazade was in bed, her sister Dinarzad said, “Please, sister, tell us another one of your wonderful little stories to pass the night.” The king added, “Let is be even more amazing than the last tale.” Scheherazade replied, “Very well!”

It is said, O’great King that not very long ago and not very far from here just past the waterfall and the hill side there lived a young princess. This Princess name was Ammara, her mother, Queen Karina and her father, King Abbas lived in a stunning palace that out shined the sun, and towered over the little village houses and even other kingdoms. Ammara had everything and anything anyone could ever dream of, but she wasn’t happy. Her parents begged her and begged her to atleast show a smile but she would not. The King and Queen didn’t know why she was so miserable because every time they asked she would say, “I am ashamed of the reason therefor I will not share it with you.”

Word Spread throughout the kingdom, peasants, merchants and every other royal families would bring her gifts but she would not accept. A royal ball was thrown to make the princess smile, jesters from miles away came, The walls were draped with the finest silk and the tables were lined with the shiniest silverware. All this work for one glorious night, but the princess did not even attend. The king and queen were ashamed of their daughter and you could tell by the looks across the faces of the guests that they were too.

But morning drew near at this point in the story, and Scheherazade fell silent, leaving King Shahryar burning to hear the rest of the tale. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and lovely story!” Scheherazade said, “This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow night, if the king spares me and lets me live. It will be even more exciting and and entertaining.” The King thought, “I will spare her until I hear the rest of the story. Then I will have to put her to death the next day.”

The Second Night

The next night, when Scheherazade lay in bed, her sister Dinarzad said, “Please, sister, tell us the rest of that tale about the Girl who could never be happy!” The king added, “Let it be the end, for I have got to know how it ends.” Scheherazade replied, “As you wish!”

The King and Queen started to turn sad themselves, and they knew it. When the clouds rolled over the sun and dark drew near, Karona and Abbas crept out of the sleeping kingdom, over the hill side and through the waterfall to find a demon. They were gone for almost a week, that made the little princess miserable, she cried and cried for three days straight, until her parents appeared with a man in the doorway. Ammara hugged her parents, the crying stopped but she still didn’t smile.

Her parents knew what they had to do, they didn’t like it but they did what they thought would be best for their daughter. Karona and Abbas pulled the demon aside after Ammara had left dinner. “Are you sure this is what you want?” the demon clarified. “We believe that she will be happier with Allah,” said Abbas. “But let us say our farewells to our beloved daughter.” The King and Queen sat down with Ammara and talked the night away, but when the sun began to rise they left.

But morning drew near at this point the story, and Scheherazade fell silent, leaving King Shahryar dying to hear the rest of the tale. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and lovely story!” Scheherazade said, “This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow night, if the king spares me and lets me live. It will be even more exciting and entertaining.” The King thought, “I will spare her until I hear the rest of the story, for I have to know how it ends. Then I will kill her the next day.”

The Third Night

The night after, when Scheherazade was in bed, her sister Dinarzad said, “Please, sister, tell us the rest of that tale about the Girl who could never be happy!” The king added, “Let it be the end, for I am desperate to know how it ends.” Shahrazad replied, “With greatest pleasure!”

The demon lead the small princess behind the waterfall where no one could see them. There he told her he must kill her and when the princess asked why he said, “you parents have asked me to kill you, they don’t know why you are so sad and it breaks their heart, they believe that you will be happy with Allah and the rest of the spirits. So tell me Princess why are you so sad?” The little princess said, “I am ashamed of the reason therefor I will not share it with you.” So the demon raised his ax but the princess cried out for help. “Why do you cry for help young girl? Don’t you agree with your parents? Everyone is happier with Allah.” “I do agree with my parents. I want to be with Allah, just not yet.” Argued the Princess.

The demon raised his axe once more but the princess cried for help. “I want to live, I really do! I’ll do anything, I really will!” “Hmmmm”, thought the demon “you can live if you tell me why you are so sad. “I am ashamed of the reason therefor I will not share it with you.” So the demon raised his ax once more but the girl cried for help! “I have always longed for someone to play with, all my life. Finally my mother was pregnant and I smiled and danced all around the house. But my mother received sickness and couldn’t have another baby. I grew more and more sad each day. My mother and father never had time to play with me. They were always off and away doing official business. The maids tried to play with me but I just refused. By this point I was just too sad. So, now when my parents ask me, why are you so sad, I can’t answer because they would not be able to live with themselves.”

The demon understood the princess and accepted her story. “I will not kill you, but you have to promise me one thing. Be grateful for your life, because you only have one of them, and never be sad again.” The princess jumped up and hugged the demon, she thanked him and waved goodbye. She ran back to her kingdom as fast as she could. Her parents couldn’t believe their eyes, their daughter was leaping and smiling and running straight towards them. “I will never be sad again,” she cried! “I will wait for my time again to see Allah.”

The King and Queen supplied the Demon with enough food and money to last a lifetime. They didn’t know how he did it, but he had made their daughter happy and that is all they could ever ask for.

But morning drew near at this farin the story, and Scheherazade fell silent, leaving King Shahryar satisfied and in tears. Then Dinarzad said to her sister, “What a strange and wonderful story!” Scheherazade said, “This is nothing compared with what I will tell you tomorrow night, if the king spares me and lets me live. It will be even more exciting and entertaining than that story.” The King thought, “I will spare her until  tomorrow night for i am amased with her ability to tell stories. Then I will have my men kill her the next day.”

the end

 

 

Grace I thought this story was engaging and follows the story arc well. You should work on proofreading your work- make sure that things are grammatically correct and you are using punctuation correctly. (Using quotation marks for example.) I also think you could have used stronger vocabulary throughout the piece. For example, you should try to avoid the word “got” when writing.

 

 

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The Cloisters

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IMG_8225 (1)I really liked the unicorn tapestries because they were very detailed and they didn’t look very old. How did they keep is so preserved? It connects to social studies because it was freemen hunting with deer, hawks and dogs. The freemen had to use swards and bow and arrows to hunt the unicorns instead of gun like they do today.

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Castle drawings

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IMG_0421I am proud of my castle drawing because I included all the Defense Mechanisms we learned in class and in all the books/videos we watched. I am proud of all the and time I put into it.  I was really happy with the grade I got so I will include that effort in every thing I do.

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Beowulf annotations

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When we were annotating Beowulf we had to underline important parts, circle and define vocab we did’t know, and write a chapter summery for every chapter. Annotating is important, but I think that the chapter summery was the most helpful. It really helped when we had to write the thisis statement and out writing stories because we didn’t have to read each chapter over again we could just look at the summery. I’m really proud that I defined every word that I circled because there were a lot of words that I didn’t know and now I know them. I want to improve on under lining important parts because I think I under lined more than the important parts.

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Beowulf project

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For the Beowulf project Julia put us into small groups of one and two. EaScreenshot 2015-10-13 at 1.38.12 PMch group was given a person or a place to draw. The drawing had to be detailed because we got all the description from the book.. We were being graded on how well we worked as a group and how well we payed attention the the book and it’s details.

I was really proud of my work because my group put a lot of time and effort into it. We tried to make really clean and good drawings. but here and there we would mess up on matching characteristics with drawings. I thought that that was the most challenging part.