Blog #12

Importance of Play

 

I think the most interesting concept about play is how healthy it can be. It is letting the children run around and work out their muscles. Play is also working their brains, with different games there are problems they can solve and how to work well with the other children. Today the child obesity rate is climbing higher and higher because play is changing. Now when you say "Play" most people will not think about running around on a playground, but will think about sitting in a room all alone playing on a video game or on a computer. Play is what makes up your childhood. Looking back on my childhood the major events that I remember are playing in my backyard with my brothers, not stuck in a room playing a violent game on the x-box. Playgrounds help the community and can bring people together. Growing up I never knew my neighbors until my family and I went to our local playground. We were able to meet them and become great friends while we were there, and today we are still friends even though some of us have moved away to different parts of towns or even different cities.

Blog #11

Free Writing

Christmas is coming upon us very fast so I am starting to think about what to make. I normally bake a lot of different types of cookies to give to family members. This year I'm going to not only bake cookies but some other pastries. First make the bowl the cookies are going to go in. Last year I just went out and bought Tupperware, it wasn't very creative so I thought i could try and make my own. I start off by preheating the oven too 350 degrees and heavily spraying a medium size bowl (you can use what ever size you need) with non-stick spray, then place a single layer of starlight mints in the bowl and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes. To get it out of the bowl slide a knife around the inside to loosen it up. I highly recommend doing this when it is still warm since you can mold it and it will not crack as easily. The first time I let it cool completely, but I did not put enough cooking spray so it shattered when I tried to get it out. So the next time It was still very warm and it popped right out.

Blog #10

"The process is as important as the product"(35)

   I think that this quote is very true. To become an adult you have to make mistakes and have time to mature. With out these experiences there is no feeling of achievement. Without the journey the product will seem meaningless. Like in the book KaBOOM! the communities did not keep up with the playgrounds that they did not create them selves. When they helped build and plan the creation of a play set they felt like it was their job to take care of it and make sure it did not fall into disarray .

 

Blog #8

Super Size Me

In this movie the main character ate nothing but McDonnal's for 30 days to see what the affect on a person's body. He ate there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. After a while he started to get sick and was gaining a lot of weight. At the start of his unhealthy diet he actually started to loose weight but that was only because he was loosing his muscle weight, then he started to gain the weight back in the form of fat. He started to get the "McShakes" where in the mornings he would be shaking because of the food he was eating.

Blog #7

The Cove

In the movie The Cove animial activists travle to Japan because in a secluded cove therer are hundreds of dolphins being murdered because the "eat too much fish" when in actuallity humans are eating more than they are. Dolphins always seem to be smiling, but are they actually happy? In the wild they are free to swim where ever they want but when they are in captivity they are stuck in a very small tank with a lot of people screaming and yelling looking at them when they have very sensitive hearing...so are they really smiling all the time?

Blog #6

Gaming Can Make a Better World

In this video Jane is making the argument that people should actually spend more hours on online games like World of World craft. She says that when we are playing online we become the best forms of ourselves since we are no longer scared to help other or even die for someone else since you will not die. On these online games people will work togehter with complete strangers and become friends. I know that is true because when I am playing Halo and other online games I talk with people I have and will never meet but we work as a team to beat the level...or kill the zombies. She also says that we should play games that could solve real world problem so that we will have the same mentality that we wont die and we will reach out and help those in need.

Blog #5

Google and Other Search Engines Making Us Stupid?

In this article the author believes that the Internet is slowly taking away our critical thinking skills and making us dumber. I learned that when people Google things they are less likely to remember it later than if they looked up the information the old fashion way by taking out a book and really searching for it. I agree with the opinion presented in this reading because if people want to know anything they can instantly look answers up on their phones and say the first result whether it is right or wrong. Some people today will believe anything they see on the Internet, which is indeed stupid since anyone in the world can make a website, or edit Wikipedia.



Blog #9

Field Day

 

 My earliest memory of playing was when I was five, I was in kindergarten and it was my very first field day. We spent the entire school day outside playing different games, there were water balloon tosses, silly string fights, softball tosses, races, long jumps, tug of war, and my favorite was the rainbow parachute. All of the kids would grab a handle, lift it up and quickly bring it down all at once so it would be a huge bubble that we could all sit under. I can remember playing that game so vividly, as if it was just yesterday. My grade school has changed so much since I graduated. The field that we played the games in is now covered with a parking lot, a new school building, and a retention pond. Now the children play in the field behind the school building, and in the soccer field. Some of their classes have been canceled like art and music but they are working very hard to get them back.

Image from: jennifersuarez.com

Blog #4

Free writing-Project Room!

 

 

About two weeks before school started back up I decided that my room just had to change! I have had the same furniture, carpet, and wall color since I was young. Since I am starting all over and going to a new school, I thought my room could start all over also. So my mom and I drove up to Wal-Mart to pick out some paint, a light pink for the walls and a darker hot pink for the baseboards, the door, and the closet doors. I started painting the walls first, then I went back to paint the baseboards. When I got to my closet doors, I thought I would try to be artistic and paint the flat parts the same color as the baseboards and the grooves the lighter pink. It took so much more time than I thought it would; I had to tape certain parts, paint, and then do it again. Did I mention tape freaks me out for some weird reason? So when I finally finished the closet I still had to do the main door so I just painted it all the darker pink because I was so done with painting! The next step was to find a new bed, and we got very lucky and found the bed at the first store; it has a lot of storage and does not take up a lot of space.



Blog #3

"Mother Tongue"

The tone of "Mother Tongue" was informative about the lives and hard ships of an immigrant that can speak the language but not perfectly. I think the theme is to show that if you work hard you can do anything, and to respect others. I think that the purpose is to show that just because someone cannot speak a language fluently and perfectly doesn't mean that the person in unable to understand. Her mother was not treated very well when she went to the hospital or when she was trying to sell her stocks; her daughter had to get on the phone with them before they would take her seriously. The message that I got from this reading was to show that her mother is a person just like everyone else. When she said that she writes so that her mother can read, she was not putting her mother down; I think that she wants everyone to be able to understand her books. Last year I read her book "The Joy Luck Club" and it was a very well written book and easy to read.

Blog #2

"Once More to the Lake"

This week I read "Once More to the Lake" by E.B. White. In the whole story the narrator kept saying how time is standing still there and that time is somewhat repeating itself. Everything that he would do with his son seemed to be exactly what he and his father did when the narrator was young. The narrator was having trouble keeping strait who was who. was he the little boy or was he the father. I think the theme of this story is life is repeating and to remember who you are. The tone was somewhat informative. I think the author was trying to let us know that we are not all that different from our parents even if we like it or not.

Blog #1

"The Champion of the World"



 

As I was reading this selection from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I thought that it was inspiring that a whole race of people were looking to one person to help save them from slavery and from being looked down on. I think that it was meaningful that the author felt that because Joe Louis won the boxing match they are no longer lower than the white man. Since they won the match it shows that they can work together to work for the civil rights movement. When I was reading I felt that the tone was tense and suspenseful as you were listening to the fight on the radio, and as they were describing the people that were packed in the store and outside it listening. It was a big deal for Louis to win and to show how meaningful it was to their race to win as a whole. I think that the author's message was that even though the odds are against you it is possible to succeed and overcome your obstacles; Do not give up and have faith in what you believe in, because if you work hard enough you can achieve your goal.

tone- tense and suspenseful
theme- don't give up; have faith. when you are not sure about what is going to happen
purpose- it was a big deal for the brown boxer to win to and to show how meaningful it was to their race to win as a whole
message- even though the odds are against you it is possible to succeed and over come your obsticals