Julia's Blog

Grace M: dialogue  Thomas: Interrogation Dialogue 

Tom, the judge, and the lawyer  all face each other tensely in the court room. "I have some questions to ask you Mr. Tom, where were you on September 1st at 9:30 am?" The lawyer asks sternly. "I was at a coffee shop studying." Answered Tom. "Who were you with?" Questioned the lawyer. "No one, but an old friend of mine from college was there. I talked to her for about 10 minutes." "What is her name?" "Jill White." Tom answered. "What exactly did y'all talk about?' The lawyer interrogated. "We were just catching up. We hadn't seen each other in 5 years. She was telling me about her new job and her kids. That was really all." "Okay, but how do I not know you were in the alley right next to the coffee shop during the time of the murder of our town mayor?" "Why would you suspect such a thing? This is crazy!" Asked Tom frantically. "Answer my question." Rep...

       We just turned in our rough draft narratives and I have mixed emotions about it. We didn't have too long to complete the rough draft, so I tried to put my best writing in the time we had. The most difficult part about it was the outlines. At first, I couldn't think of an idea at all. Once, I really sat down and thought about it then the ideas finally sparked. I decided on an idea and started pre-writing by doing a bubble chart. As I began to write my draft, I realized how much easier it was to write because I had written so much on my outline.        I definitely could've included way more vivid details. I included minimal details but not as much as I could've. The good part is that this was only the rough draft, so we still have another week or so to take the advice from Dr. D and our writing groups and apply it. The writing groups were very helpful because it was a new set of eyes to read the narratives. It was interesting to read other ...

Landry: Mint Snowball Reading Response Peyton: Dear 11 Year Old

        One of the personal narratives was Mint Snowball  by Naomi Shibab Nye. This story really impacts the effect of the narrators family's prized possession: her great grandfathers mint snowball recipe. One aspect I found really neat in the narrative was her use of words together. For example, Nye describes the flavor of the snowball as a "flamboyant elixir of mint." Her use of adjectives really helps the reader understand the snowball. The vividness expresses her passion for the family's snowball.        Another aspect I found interesting was the author's use of rhetorical questions. She uses them throughout the story, but really expresses them at the very end. It makes the reader ponder and think about the message of the story. All the questions relate to the lost snowball recipe and how she personally is affected by it. Naomi Nye has neither tasted the snowball nor seen it, yet it impacts her life greatly. ...

Dear 13 year old,           School isn't that hard right now so don't stress too much. There will be so much more to stress about when you're in high school and later on in life, so save it for then. Of course, still focus, do your homework, and get good grades. Balance your social life and school work. Have lots of fun and do stuff as often as you can while you aren't piled with homework.           Also, remember that you are not too cool for your family. They are the only people who have been there for you since day one and will continue to be for the rest of your life. It's definitely exciting to be in middle school with new freedoms and friends, but don't ditch everything else. Keep your old friends, but make new ones at the same time. You can never have too many friends because you never know who will stick with you. Enjoy being a 13 year old because you are only 13 once, so make the most of it :)

Seryn: Hurricane Katrina Ethan: Hurricane Harvey 

         The book I am reading right now is Fangirl  by Rainbow Rowell. It is about a girl named Cath who is obsessed with Simon Snow. Simon Snow is a writer who Cath and all her friends love. The love for this writer is what got Cath and her twin sister, Wren, through their moms death. When Cath goes to college, she feels lost. Her roommate is with her boyfriend 24/7 and her sister wanted to branch out and meet new people, so she is feeling very lonely. Also, she is worrying about her dad who has never been alone before.         So far I really like this book. I am a little confused on the whole fangirl thing with Simon Snow, but it will probably describe it later on in the book. While reading the first few chapters of the book, I have started to understand the main characters. There are lots of characters so its hard to keep track of who's who, but once I understood all of them the book started to get good.

           Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast on August 29th, 2005. It started in the Bahamas and quickly escalated to a category 3 and hit New Orleans. It struck the south with very powerful winds and storms.  From cars to homes to losing family, Hurricane Katrina caused so much irreversible and devastating damage. The video I watched was on history.com and was about a man who lost two family members right in front of his eyes during the hurricane. He was trying to save his family, his house, and just trying to make sure everyone was safe, but there was nothing he could do, due to the rushing waters and powerful winds. The destruction of the levees is what made the hurricane the worst. The levees blocking the gulf from New Orleans completely broke and water started rushing in the city which caused the flooding.           I was only two when the hurricane hit, so I was very oblivious to what happened. I knew a hurricane ...