Tag Archives: Reading

An Empathy Experience

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For the past few weeks in LA class, my class has been reading the book, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park. This book is separated into two parts, one, about a boy named Salva who is an internally displaced person who later became a refugee in Southern Sudan, 1985. The second part is about a girl named Nya (Knee-Ya) and about her troubles in 2008 to get clean water. Our class did a project which was an empathy experience to put ourselves in their shoes.

My project was mostly related to Nya, and involved limited water and walking while holding water. I walked around my yard for 20 minutes while carrying a bucket of two gallons of water. I also walked around barefoot while doing this. Then, if it was too heavy, I would have to drop some. (I did have to!) What I had left was what I had to drink AND use for the day.

Me walking around my yard carrying the water barefoot. -Photos taken by my dad.

Before the project, I was thinking, “This is going to be a piece of cake! No problemo.” Let me just say that is not how it went. At first, I could barely get the bucket off the ground. I eventually did but after that it just got harder and harder. I did end up having to drop some which made it a little easier but, if I dumped too much, I wouldn’t have enough water for the day. It wasn’t too hard for the day, although it was very tempting to just go get an ice cold glass of water from the fridge.

This project really made me look at the big picture. I did this for a day, but I could barely imagine, doing this every day, for the rest of my life. But people do have to do this every day. Every day, people get water for hours, preventing them from doing other things like getting an education. It really made me appreciate having running water for showers, brushing, drinking, and so much more. And I just don’t know how I could do this every day.

 

If You Could Go Into a Book, Which One Would You Go in and Why?

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I like to read. To me, reading is like an escape and a portal to enter another world. What if I could go into a book? I have read so many books that I have loved, but which one would I want to go in? For me it would definitely be Belly Up. Belly Up, is a book about the son of this couple and they work at the biggest zoo in the country. Every day in the summer, their son hangs out in the zoo but one day, he gets caught up trying to solve a murder mystery of a hippo. This book is a suspenseful mystery book that is always leaving you hanging.

 

The reason I would choose this book is because, first if all I loved this book. It has been an all time favorite for me. It was suspenseful, action packed, and mysterious. Second, I love mysteries. It would be cool to enter the world of this book and be inside the mystery. And finally, if you read this book, you would learn how big the zoo actually is. I would also want to be in the zoo and just go around like any person would. So which book would I go in? Belly Up.

 

Belly up Cover, Amazon.com

 

Halloween!! One Line Scary Story Starters

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These are some one line scary story starters! Maybe you might want to try some in your stories! These are starters to some scary stories to get the suspense rising!

 

1. “Keep Dreaming!” It said in a raspy whisper. He never woke up.

2. “I woke up , and my whole bedroom was completely rearranged.” “I live alone.”

3. It comes from your deepest nightmares, and strikes in your dreams.

4. “I heard a scrathing at the door. “Stop it!” I yelled at my dog. “Then my arm brushed against my dog.”

5. “I looked at my dresser, my dolls were gone. Then my little rocking chair started to creak.”

6. “I work a night security job at the school.” “I then heard the loudspeakers went on and a child started talking. “Then I heard laughing outside my door.”

 

So those are my one line scary story starters, I hope they might inspire a scary story for you!

Jacolanterns, from the Merriam Webster “History of the Jackoluantern” https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-history-of-jack-o-lantern

The Wisest Tale

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In L.A, we have been reading wisdom tales from all around the world that have morals and life lessons. In this piece of writing, we have to choose our favourite tale and the one with the best moral. The tale I chose was the story Old Dog and Coyote, which originated in Otomi Mexico.

This tale takes place a long time ago, and is about an old dog who lived with a chicken farmer in the Mexican desert. One day, a predator attacked the chickens and the dog was fast asleep. The owner came out and had to chase the predator away and became very mad that the dog was asleep during the attack and told the dog to find his own food for the day. The dog went out into the desert and was picking around plants in the desert for food when he saw a coyote jumping up and down in the distance. The dog was very curious why the coyote was doing this so he went over and asked why the coyote was jumping up and down. The coyote said he was the best jumper in the desert and that he was going to jump over a huge cactus. The dog said that the coyote couldn’t jump over a cactus and that it was impossible. The coyote said that anything was possible with practice. The coyote told him to watch. The coyote jumped, soaring through the air and landed on the cactus. He howled in pain and he hit the ground whimpering. The dog hated to see him in so much pain so he pulled every single spike from the cactus out of the coyote. The coyote thanked the dog for doing this. But then, the coyote learned that the dog’s owner had cast him away to get his own food. The coyote said that he would do something for the dog in return for his good deed. That night, the coyote made a ruckus scaring the chickens so loud that it woke up the owner. The dog then growled and ran at the coyote. The coyote then pretended to be scared and ran off, tail in between his legs. Every couple of days they did this, and the owner took the dog back in and fed and loved him until the day the dog died.

I think this tale has the best moral to live by. I think the moral of this story is that if you put out kindness into the world, then you will get kindness back. I think this is the moral because the dog is kind to the coyote and helps him and in return the coyote does a huge favor for the dog. I think this is a really important moral because it really speaks that kindness is good and this moral spreads kindness in the world making the world a better place. If people put out kindness other people will and it will spread kindness.

 

This is a drawing I made about a scene in this tale, the dog picking out all the spikes of the cactus from the coyote.

My Backpack Project!!

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Backpack drawn by Ben

In L.A class, our class has been working on a Backpack project. In class we have been reading a book called Finding Someplace.  In this book, a girl named Reesie has to evacuate and she brings a backpack and puts everything she wants and needs in there.

In LA we have had to draw a backpack and draw in there what we would put in there. People have put things that are necessary, wants and things that are important to us. Some things I put in my backpack were cat food and hamster food. I put these in here to imply that I was bringing my pets. I also brought a family picture, my owl blanket, and my dog stuffed animal. I took these because these are important to me and reminds me of family.

Some other things I would bring were things that are necessary, like my phone, my passports, and my tooth brush, toothpaste, and floss. I brought a first aid kit too. I also took  a water bottle and a journal.