Guilds

In humanities we are studying the medieval era. One of the things we are doing is medieval guilds. There are many different guilds, like stonemasons, medicine and my guild butcher, baker and candlestick maker. We wrote letters to three of the guild master of the guild we wanted to be in. Then the guild masters looked at the letters and choose our guilds.

My guild master is Margaret, and there are six other people in my guild. Kate, Colette, Piper, Stella, Olivia B. and Ben. We have been doing a lot of cooking. But we are starting to sew our costumes for the medieval guild pageant. We also went to a spice shop to look at all the different spices. We have make lemon chicken and fava beans. But we have also done some baking. We have to make a medieval baked treat for the medieval pageant, so some of us have brought in some food for people in our guild to try. Some of the food that we have brought in:

Date pie (Kate and I made it , it wasn’t very good)

Pear pie (Colette made it, it was good)

Apple honey mush (Ben made it, that was also good)

Second attempts:

Honey cookies (Kate and I made them, they were really good)

Fried dough balls (Ben made them, they were really good too)

Fruit pie (Olivia B. made it, that was good too)

We are also sewing as I said before, we are doing embroidery and we are starting to make our costumes. I have kind of been teaching a little bit of the sewing part. We started by pleating our skirts. And next time we are going to start sewing it. I helped Margaret find out how we are going to make the sleeves puffy.

At the end of the time we write in our note books, we write everything that we did and these are going to be on display at the pageant.

I have a lot of fun during guilds and I would love to do it everyday!

Category: Andrews, Edson, Humanities, Sixth | LEAVE A COMMENT

February 27

Who The Heck Are You?

For this project there were many steps. The first step is writing a letter.

1 The letter

We had to write a letter to someone we would like to interview. In the letter we had to ask when we could interview them and if we could. I chose to wright to Dan I had read a little bit of a Who The Heck Are You? about him and I wanted to learn more.

2 The Questions

After I wrote the letter I had to come up with questions to ask during the interview. This was hard because I had to avoid yes or no questions. Here are the questions I asked:

Where did you grow up?
What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid?
Did you get into a lot of trouble when you were a kid?
What was your experience in school like?
What did you study in college?
Did you get into the college you wanted to?
What did you do before you worked a LREI?
How long have you worked at LREI?
What is your favorite part about working here?
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you?

3 The Interview

When I was done coming up with questions I had the interview. Some of the questions go answers that were too short. I also had to come up follow up questions. I thought it would be hard to come up with questions on the spot but it turned out easier than I thought. During the interview I was kind of nervous but it turned out well.

4 Step two

After the interview I went on, to step two. Step two is where I had to find all the important parts and divide them into the beginning, middle and end. I also had to come up with a grabber statement. A grabber statement is a sentence at the begging that grabs the reader’s attention. This was hard for me because I wanted to make it interesting, but not give away anything. Once I had put all of the finished step two I moved on to start my draft.

5 The Draft

In my draft I hd to find away to write everything I wanted. This was a little hard because I had to make it interesting but make it all fit. Once I had finished a whole page we started to peer edit. Peer Editing is easier than self editing because it’s not my own writing and easier to spot things. When I finished the whole thing we had a publishing party.

6 Finished

Here is my writing:

Who The Heck Are You?

by Ruby Wexler

When you’re the oldest of four you have great responsibility, apparently not for Dan.

Dan Bobrowski, fifth and sixth grade science teacher reveals his life. From getting in trouble to surfing in Hawaii Dan goes on an adventure that create the science teacher we had today.

Dan was born in Michigan but moved to North Carolina when he was nine. He is the oldest of four kids. Having three siblings is very hard. When he was young, Dan wanted to be a farmer. He loved plants and found them very interesting. Later on in his life he wanted to be a dentist. Dan wanting to be a dentist was surprising because now he is a science teacher. Though being a farmer has kind of carried on through his life until now. Dreaming of what he wanted to be was not the only thing that he did… Dan was a troublemaker.

One of the things he and his siblings did was convince his babysitter to play hide and seek. This doesn’t seem too bad except Dan had a plan. He convinced his babysitter to hide under the porch which had a door and deadbolt lock on the outside. When she was inside he lock her in. Then they made her promise to give them all sorts of stuff. When she got out she told their parents and they didn’t get any of the stuff.

“That got me grounded for the longest.”

Dan loved school. He liked all of his subjects.

“If you would of asked me back then I would of said recess or lunch was my favorite. But actually I liked all my subjects I just didn’t want to admit it“.

He had very good grades. Dan’s teachers thought he was a good kid even though sometimes he wasn’t.

When it came to getting into college Dan got into his first choice. At the University of North Carolina Dan studied biology and chemistry. He did some pretty wacky things in college. One day a guy down the hall from him went around shaving people’s heads. Dan thought that it would be cool to shave his head completely bald.

“I wore a lot of hats that week”.

That was a bad idea.

After college Dan went to Hawaii worked a science teacher for two years. In Hawaii Dan learned new things and had some cool experiences. He learned to surf the blue waves of the North Pacific Ocean. Every day after he was done teaching for the day Dan would go and surf. Surfing wasn’t the only thing Dan did in Hawaii. Dan is very athletic and loves to run. He ran in two marathons. Dan did all of this well also coaching an eighth grade basketball team. When he was done in Hawaii Dan came to New York.

In New York he got a job teaching at LREI. This is his third year here. He really likes the community. How we all do things together and everyone gets to use their strengths.

“The basketball teams, and we all go on field trips.”

In science class Dan comes up with creative ways to teach. He also is a coach for the intramural basketball teams. Dan also has gerbils, he likes to keep track of their genes so he can figure out what their parents genes are. But Dan doesn’t live at school like he sometimes says.

Out of school Dan likes to run. He has mileages goals that he tries to meet. And Dan like to hang out with friends. That’s Dan Bobrowski the Middle school science teacher.

Category: Edson, Humanities, Sixth | 7 Comments

December 3

Parzival Essay

In humanities we just finished a book called Parzival. Parzival is a book about a boy who doesn’t know his own name. He sets out on journey to learn about the world, and goes on an amazing adventure. When we finished the book we had to write a essay about it. We learned how to do a essay but didn’t feel fully sure I was ready. Even though there was a prompt for each sentence and there was a choice of topics it seemed confusing, I like to free write and am still working on other kinds of writing like essays there are so many thing to do and requirements that I get confused.

First we had to the come up with the thesis statement then we had to the body paragraphs which had a topic sentence, evidence, explanation, analysis then a conclusion. My thesis was Parzival goes on a journey and becomes king by his own free will because he is kind, brave, and determined. For each body paragraph we had to use one of the qualities to show how he became king. We couldn’t use the same words over and over again like for brave I had to come up with a different word for brave each time. Writing the Parzival essay was a challenge for me but I got throught it.

Here it is:

Free Will

By Ruby

Would you be who you are without free will? Without free will everyone would just sit around and wait for fate and nothing would happen. In the book, Parzival, by Katherine Paterson, a young boy named Parzival starts to grow up not knowing about the world or even his own name, but then he chooses to go find out who he is. Parzival goes on a journey and becomes king by his own free will because he is kind, brave, and determined.

Parzival becomes king because he is caring to those around him. On page 41, after Parzival wins a battle for the kingdom, he makes sure that everyone has food instead of taking the feast he is offered. He fought a battle for a kingdom that he just came upon, then shared the feast. This shows that he is very kind. No one tells him what to do, he makes his own choices. Not only was he caring, but Parzival also never gives up.

Parzival rises to power because he’s determined. On page 49 he finds his way up Wild Mountain. He was told of a place that needed help so he was determined to be chivalrous and make things right. Parzival made his way up Wild Mountain without help but at the top it was more wild there was a mystery but there was a position he had to ask Not only was Parzival decisive he’s adventurous.

Parzival took the throne as a result of free will and his bravery. On a lot of pages he is brave but one but on page 35 he showed his bravery. On 35 he offers to fight for a kingdom that he didn’t know. This shows that he is very brave to go fight against a king that was destroying a kingdom that he had just come upon. Without Parzival’s bravery, he never would have become king.

Parzival made lots of choices of his own free will. Without his choices he would never get anywhere or do any of the great things he did to become a great king and hero. Parzival helped many people with just being brave, kind and determined. Malala believed she could do something and she had her own qualities to help people. Malala is someone is fights for female education she wrote a book about it, and she got shot in the head and she won the Nobel Prize.

Category: Edson, Humanities, Sixth | LEAVE A COMMENT

October 26

Ashoken Thesis

Our class went to Ashoken, where we had a lot of fun and we did a lot of different activities. The best activity at Ashoken was blacksmithing because we learned something new, we did something that we can’t do at home, and we got to take something that we made home. But even thought this was so fun, we had to be careful not to burn ourselves. Everyone was so exited to tack your turn that it was hard to just sit on the bench where we had to wait. After we finished, we felt so energized and we couldn’t believe that we had actually made something that cool. On the other hand, with good comes bad…

The worst thing about Ashoken was the bathrooms because they smelled like rotten fish, they were too crowded, and the showers were freezing. Everyone had to shower and lots of people wanted to, but the showers were cold and kind of gross after everyone showering in them. The bathroom itself was horrible too; there was water on the floor and a lot of people slipped on it. One of the other problems was that there were a lot of people and not enough room. The sinks were crowded and there were long line for the toilets and showers. Let’s just say that it’s not fun in the bathrooms at Ashoken.

Category: Edson, Humanities, Sixth | 2 Comments

October 8

Beowulf Projects

In humanities we are reading a medieval story. Our assignment was to draw a charter from the book. My partner and I drew Unferth a drunk man who is obsessed with being evil and works at the castle. One of the problems was that me and my partner Oni are in different groups so we had to talk after and before class and the other problem was that I’m not good at drawing.

Category: Edson, Humanities, Sixth | LEAVE A COMMENT

June 8

Hero Essay

By Ruby

A hero is selfless, kind, and brave in scary situations. When most people would run away, a hero will stay and fight for what they believe in. Ulysses could be remembered as a hero but he is driven by ego. Malala may not be royal like Ulysses, but she is more a hero than Ulysses any day. Ulysses is someone that people can’t decide if he was hero or not, Malala is kind and wants to help others, not just herself. A hero’s actions comes from the heart, and this is shown in different ways. Ulysses is physical and brutal but Malala has shown her heart in a different way.

While some remember Ulysses as a hero, some of his actions show otherwise. At points in his story, like when he blinds the cyclops, it shows that he is unkind. For example, after he blinds the cyclops he brags about it and then steals the Cyclops’ food. He is not selfless when he brags, and he is not kind when he blinds the Cyclops. Ulysses does not have all of the hero qualities, but Malala does.

Malala should be remembered as a hero, because she is kind, brave and, selfless when helping others. Malala wants to make the world better, and she fights for what she believes in. And it’s not only for herself, but for the others who follow her. For example, Malala is fighting for the education of women and women’s rights in Pakistan. And while she is doing this, there are people threatening to kill her. She is one of the bravest people in the world; she was shot in the head trying to help others. Her actions are selfless, kind and brave. Malala should be remembered as a hero, because she is someone who has done wonderful things that proves she should be called a hero.

What if there were no heros, no one like Malala or all the other heroes out there? There would be no one who is kind, brave and selfless enough to stand up and say “ This is wrong, this should stop”. The world would be a terrible place and groups like the Taliban and the Isis would take over. No one would have any rights. It would be kasos anyone with any power would do what they like. People would go to jail even if they shouldn’t have to. This is why we have heroes people to protect those in need and to fight for what is right.

Category: Brandstetter, Humanities | LEAVE A COMMENT

April 9

Fiction Story

Chapter One

Sunny looked at the house. It was certainly big, and it was old fashioned. It was pale yellow with white shutters. It also had slanted roof. There was probably an attic. Carly, Sally, Jake and Teddy piled out of the car.Sunny’s four siblings. Teddy was the youngest then Sally. Jake was the oldest. He was in high school. Then and Carly was second oldest. She was only two years older than Sunny but acted like Sunny was a baby. Once Sunny’s father and mother had unpacked the car everyone went inside. Sunny’s father had driven up earlier to set up the furniture. Which was was a good idea for five kids are a lot. All of them had started to run around and claim rooms. Once their Mother had called them all back, She said, “Okay, Carly you can have the yellow room on the second floor, Jake you can the green room next to hers, Teddy and Sally you can have the blue room next to my room, we got you a bunk bed.”

Everyone looked happy with their rooms. “Oh and Sunny would you mind taking the attic? You father made it all nice for you.”

Sunny knew that she was not really asking and nodded. As soon as her mother left all the other kids started pointing out how she had the worst room and Sunny knew it. Then Carly said, “Why don’t you go upstairs and work on your writing junk?”

Sunny took a deep breath. Carly said this kind of stuff all the time. But it still made Sunny angry.

Sunny love to write. To create her own world when she was angry or stressed. She would like to go into the world she had made and longed to do it for real not just her imagination.

Sunny glared at her older sister. Then stomped up stairs.

Chapter Two

When she got up to the third floor landing she looked around for the next staircase. But there was not a second one. Then she saw a thin string hanging down from the ceiling. She pulled on it ,a latter came folding down. After that a trap door opened. Sunny climbed up. There was a bed with a flower cover, a wood desk, a dresser and a wardrobe. Then in the middle of the room a big rug. And sitting on the bed was a notebook. The cover was deep purple with gold letters that said Sunny. Next to the word was a little gold dot that looked like had been put there but accident. Sunny opened the book. Inside was her mother’s handwriting. It said-

Dear Sunny,

I’m sorry about the whole moving thing. I know how much you hate how we had to move. You know what? I’ll tell you a secret. This is the house I grew up in. This used to be my room. I gave it to you because I had lots of siblings. This is the best room. It is very quiet up here.

Love, Mom

P.S.

The notebook is a present. I know you like to write.

When Sunny finished the letter she stood up and ran downstairs.

She ran to the front where the luggage was piled. Then she realized that her things were not there. She ran into the kitchen. Then she saw Teddy and Sally had their bags and were stuffing them into a hole in the wall. They also had her bag but had left it in the middle of the kitchen. Then she realized that they were putting their bags in the dumb-waiter. Once they had their bags in climbed inside. “ What are you doing?” Sunny asked

“ bye” Sally said. With a giggle she shut the door. A few seconds later there was a bang and it was back! Sunny walked forward. She had been angry at her mother. But as suddenly as the scene started all the anger rush of of her to be filled with a feeling of anger at the universe. Why couldn’t she have a normal family. Not one with all her crazy siblings

Chapter Three

Then Sunny climbed into the metal box. Then she turned around and shut the door. The inside was plain on one side. On the other side there were some ropes. Sunny pulled on one. She rose about a foot. Sunny kept pulling her legs were cramped so it was hard to pull. Sunny pulled then she reached a lege. She opened the door. Carly was standing there with her back to Sunny. She quickly shut the door. Sunny did not want to anger her older sister. Sunny kept pulling until she couldn’t pull. Then she opened the door and fell out on to her own bed! Sunny looked around yes this was certainly her room.

“ Sunny time for dinner, please come down” Sunny sighed. Her little adventure was over. “ Well At least I can have a little fun” Sunny said to her self. Then she climbed into the dumb waiter.

At dinner Sunny could not even hear herself think! She felt like her ears were about to fall off. Everyone was talking and clattering, and for anyone that would be overwhelming! After dinner Sunny rushed up stairs. When she got to her room Sunny plopped down on her bed. Then quickly stood up again. She had sat on a pin. Carly designed her own clothes. She was probably looking for fabric. Sunny didn’t want siblings at all! They always annoyed her. Sunny sat down picked up the notebook and picked up a pencil. She put the pin on her bedside table and wrote this:

There once was a girl her name was Sunny. She lived in a big house, and it was old fashioned. It was pale yellow with white shutters. It also had slanted roof. Sunny had no siblings…..

And thats as far as she got before she fell asleep wishing her story would come true.

Sunny was standing in a field. The grass was tall and green and the sun shone bright. Sally walked by “ I like to eat the sun!” She said Then Teddy came “good bye bob” is all he said

Chapter Four

Sunny woke up. It was not a loud noise that woke her up but it was the silence. Maybe her mom was right that this was the quiet room. But no this couldn’t be she heard her siblings yesterday. Then Sunny realized she was on a hard bed the covers were pink and her walls were yellow! This was not her room it was Carly’s room! Sunny walked around the house. What was suppose to be Jake’s room was a library. Sunny was freaking out her siblings were not there and it was like they were never there. Sunny went up downstairs.

She had not decided to act like anything was weird but to act like everything was ok. “Good morning Mom”

“Good morning sweetheart what would you like for breakfast?”

“Well actually I’m not hungry.” But Sunny sat down anyway. Sunny thought what could have made this happen? Well I did write a story where I had no siblings could that possibly be true? Sunny did have a very open mind and believed in magic. This was the only thing that Sunny could come up with so she went with it. Finally I can kick back and relaxed Sunny thought.

But as the day went on her parents went to work and the house got lonely. There was no Sally to amusse her. There was no Teddy to read to. There was Jake to pick her up and carry her around the house. Now when she really thought about it without her siblings her life would be as dull as dishwater. Sunny needed to get her siblings back. But how she didn’t have the notebook!

Sunny quickly scribbled down a note for her parents

I went into town to buy a notebook.

I will be back soon.

-Sunny

Then Sunny pulled on a hoodie and grabbed her backpack that had her wallet. And slam Sunny was off into the night. ( well it wasn’t really night more like 5:30)

She grabbed her bike and helmet and was really of now. Huff huff there was a steep hill and Sunny’s hands were getting sweaty and she was out of breath. Then sunny thought what goes up must come down. And with that she was at the top of the hill. She could see the town tiny little houses. Then she pushed off. Rolling down the hill her hair was whipped back. She keep rolling until she reached a little town. She hopped off her bike. Sunny looked around she was out of breath. Sunny was really nervous. What if she couldn’t find the right notebook! What is someone had already bought it. And what would she do with the notebook when she got when siblings back?! A book that the stories came true. Anyone would want that! Well until they have gone through what she had gone through Sunny thought to herself.

Then Sunny realized that she was just standing there staring into space. The she realized that she was standing in front of the bookstore that had a sale on noteooks! Sunny rushed in bike and all. then she left the bike near a window and ran to the front desk. There was skinny old man wearing a checkered button down shirt. “ Where are the notebooks with names on them?”

“Over there” the old man replied well pointing to a rack of notebooks. She rushed over to them excitement rising inside her. Soon she spotted her name on a deep purple notebook with gold letters that said Sunny. But there was no little dot! Then Sunny saw the notebook she needed. It was in the shopping basket of a woman that Sunny didn’t see befor. The lady was standing at the front desk talking to the old man. Sunny took a deep breath she could not believe what she was about to do. Then she very quietly walked up to the woman. Then she switched the note books. Then the lady turned around and said “ oh sorry would you like to pay first?” then sunny stepped forward

Sunny walked out of the store She had bought the book! Then she hopped on her bike and rode all the way home when she got there she sat down on the couch. Then opened the notebook and wrote Everything went back to normal. Then she fell asleep.

Chapter Five

Sunny woke she knew even before she opened her eyes it had not worked. Meow Sunny almost jumped. “Surprise we got you a cat!” Said her mom “Because you have no sibling’s” shouted her dad. All day Sunny was scratched and pawed by the cat. She tried to be nice but she was not a cat person more like a dog person. That night Sunny tried again but like this:

Once there as girl named Sunny She lived in a big house, and it was old fashioned. It was pale yellow with white shutters. It also had slanted roof. She lived in a big house, and it was old fashioned. It was pale yellow with white shutters. It also had slanted roof. She lived in a big house, and it was old fashioned. It was pale yellow with white shutters. It also had slanted roof. And she had four siblings. named Teddy, Sally, Carly and Jake.

Sunny sat on the edge of the bed closed eyes waiting for sleep to come.

Sunny woke up, she was in a soft bed. It had worked! Sunny ran down stairs. Then burst onto Teddy and Sally’s room. tehn pulled them from the metal bunk bed that they were sleeping in. And gave them a big hug. “ yay” Teddy shreked Then A loud Shriek ran through the house. “WHY IS THERE A CAT IN MY ROOM!” Yelled Clara. Oh no though Sunny I accidentally kept that Crazy Cat.

The End

Category: Brandstetter, Humanities, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT

November 8

On The Edge of The Sky

I was in Costa Rica, and I was also in the middle of a huge jungle. Also was I being bitten to death by bugs. Though it wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be! (Even though I was boiling) We were at a zipline place where you were put in a big group and took by a person who worked there up to the ziplines. First we had to climb up a hill like thing it was really hard especially when you were getting bitten to death by bugs, but there was a path. We were led by one of the people that ran the ziplines. His name was well I don’t really know but I think it might of been Joe.

We were in a big group of 20 people. When we got to the first zipline I was really excited to go first. But then when I looked at it I had other thoughts. The zipline was long and more than 50 feet off the ground! I was terrified! And I’m not the kind of person that likes heights.

I thought of running down the hill to get as far away as possible from the zipline,almost flying down. Also pushing everyone aside. Not caring where they fell. All the way to the bottom of the road. Where the van was parked. Then running into the van and locking all the doors. Alsojust sitting there and wondering what is happening back up the hill. And staying there for the rest of the week.

I stopped my imagining. Also tried to come my self, maybe this isn’t the best idea. So I made my older sister Ella go first. She was perfect at it. Alsonothing bad happened not even a bump at the end. Then it was my turn. I stepped up to the zipline the guy hooked me in. I waited for what felt hours but was really only seconds during that time thoughts started to run through my head, and they were not good ones.

Then when I was about to back out the guy let go I went flying. (or at least it felt like it.) The wind was blowing my hair back. I felt like a bird soaring over the jungle. Alsolooking down at all the little creatures, that couldn’t come to my wonderful world in the sky.

Then I saw Ella at the end waving to me. I was having so much fun! I never wanted to stop flying over the jungle. Then I also wanted to get the little fear that was nagging me from the back of my head “ I will fall, I will fall” It said. Then I stopped. With a thud my feet hit the ground of the tree house were the zipline ented. I unhooked my self and waited. The fun was over. Then Ella said “‘I wonder what the view is going to be like from the other 6 Ziplines?” Wait there were more ziplines? So the fun wasn’t over after all.

THE END

Category: Brandstetter, Humanities | LEAVE A COMMENT

October 16

Social Studies Card Project

This project was pretty was easy, but I got a little mixed up.
Like when there were two of the same card just said in a different away of saying it. It was also hard to tell that the limestone came after the dinosaurs died. And with all the other things it was hared to put the places were the humans spread out in order.

Category: Brandstetter, Fall 2014, Humanities | LEAVE A COMMENT