My Blogging Experience (Brace yourself it’s long!)

Blogging definitely had a big effect on me. I have learned so much more about blogging than I thought I would have ever learned. I guess I’ll talk a little about my experience and the things about it. I had 20 posts in all. I know it’s not that much, but I basically stuck to the required posts and the occasional fun ones. I’ve had 29 comments. I was so close to 30! I just wish I could have commented more so I would have gotten more comments, but I’m glad with the amount I got. I got about 6 different visitors mostly from Australia or from my own school. I thougth I had really fun widgets! I had about 7 widgets. I had a countdown to Twilight widget, two cyber pets, a calendar, a music player, and an all my posts blogroll. I actually didn’t write many comments on other blogs, and I regret it, but the comments I did write were to blogs that I thought were really great, like Nadine’s blog. She and I had a lot in common. We wrote a lot of posts that were similar and she is the one who agreed to look over my essay for Mr. Bogush’s class. She seems really nice and she commented on my blog many times. Blogging has improved my literacy skills by so much. I feel more comfortable with writing to large audiences now and more comfortable being on a webcam talking to people in other countries. I believe that I write better now too and I have grasped the concept of blogging. I would have to say that the best post I have written was my Twilight post. People commented back saying how much they liked my post and how much they LOVED Twilight! That post was really cool I thought. I think during blogging I improved the msot in my writing skills and how long my posts are. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t signed up for the blogging competition for about 3 weeks and I missed 3 posts. Then I signed up for the competition and it has had a big impact on me. I started to really get into blogging. My posts started getting longer and more interesting. The skills I learned would be writing more “grown-up.” I like how I wrote my posts. they are sort of long (sometimes) but they are full of information and my interests like this one. I think it’s good to write with a worldwide audience in mind because when you sit at your computer and write your posts, it will give you more enthusiasm to write a better post and to make sure that it is good enough to release to the world. I would give myself a 12 on the rubric.

What should we do in the future? I actually don’t think another school should take over with the blogging competition. Miss Wyatt is doing a fine job I think it is a great idea to hold a new competition every ten weeks becuase it keeps the young bloggers busy and educated and it gives them more knowledge about blogging so that they are pretty much experts about blogging. I think opening a new blog to younger bloggers is a great idea. It will give them more knowledge. Starting at a young age is a great idea because you never know, if you start now, those kids just may be the next Bill Gates! I don’t think it is a big deal to provide a form too! I really think it is a great idea. Who agrees? Thanks for reading this post I know it was long but you survived! Don’t you DARE forget to comment! lol byee

Thanksgiving Just a Myth?

Well as you all know, November is a month when it starts to get cold, we turn up the heat, and most important, it’s Thanksgiving! During Thanksgiving, we get together with family, stuff ourselves with turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, vegetables, and most importantly pumpkin pie. Then we collapse onto the couch and complain about how full we are. But how much do you really know about Thanksgiving? I bet you know that the pilgrims invented Thanksgiving. WRONG! The exact people who started Thanksgiving is still not known, but there were definitely people before the pilgrims who had celebrations on that day. The pilgrims may have named it Thanksgiving, but they did not start it. Also, Thanksgiving was always generally about family. Apparently, it isn’t. If it was all about family, then the pilgrims and Indians never would have sat together and ate. Another reason is that of course you have to have a turkey during Thanksgiving, but long ago and still in some cultures today, people eat duck or geese. Cranberries were used for their color long ago, not for their sweetness as they are today. Potatoes were also unavailable to the settlers. Neither white potatoes nor sweet potatoes were available at the time. Believe it or not, pumpkin pie was also a myth. The group may have eaten pumpkin and squash, but it is not likely that they had recipes for pie crusts since baking ovens weren’t even invented yet. I guess that the pilgrims didn’t start Thanksgiving!

Here are a few facts I found about Thanksgiving. They are really interesting!

1) The first Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration in 1621 that lasted for three days.

2) The Thanksgiving feast occured from about September 21 to November 11.

3) Exactly 90 Wampanoag Indians and 5 colonists joined in the Thanksgiving feast.

4) The Wamanoag added five deer to the feast.

5) Cranberry sauce and potatoes were not included in the meal.

6) Abraham Lincoln named Thanksgiving an official holiday in 1863.

Works Cited:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=urbanlegends&zu=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1127/p13s02-lign.html

http://hnn.us/articles/406.html

http://flickr.com/photos/vickispix/2466431164/

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! AND COMMENT MY BLOG PLEEASEEE!!!

19th Century and Now!

Well I decided to write about the difference between school lunch in the nineteenth century and school lunch now! Schools were usually too far away for the kids to go home for lunch. In the nineteenth century, kids brought their lunch to school in a sturdy, metal bucket. Their lunch usually consisted of bread with jam, meat sandwichs, hard boiled eggs, and dill pickles. In the middle of the day school stopped so the kids could eat their lunch and talk with friends. There was no such thing as a cafeteria.

Today most kids eat lunch in a cafeteria that serves hot lunch. Some kids still bring their lunch in a lunch box or a brown paper bag. The school tries to provide healthy choices for the kids. Soda is usually no longer allowed in school. Juice and milk is usually sold. The kids are charged for school lunch. The cost is usually from $2.00 to $5.00.

The school lunch may seem different, but it is actually a lot more similar than you think!

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/evolving_classroom/school.html

International Year of the Potato

I chose to write about Year of the Potato! Until the early 1990’s, most potatoes were grown and eaten in Europe and North America. Since then there has been a drastic increase in potato production. Potatoes contain dietary antioxidants, which may someday prevent diseases due to aging, and dietary fiber, which boosts your health. By itself, potato is not fattening, but preparing and serving potatoes with high-fat ingredients raises the amount of calories you take in. Did you know that the starch in a raw potato could not be digested by humans? In order to get the proper amount of starch, you have to boil, bake, or fry the potatoes. To make an EXTREMELY long story short, potatoes are definitely full of carbs and starch, but as long as you eat a decent portion of it and don’t stuff yourself with it, a potato is a very healthy and delicious dish!

http://www.potato2008.org/en/potato/factsheets.html

My Obama Letter

Dear Mr. President:

      I will just start off by saying how glad I am that you were elected into office. I look forward to what you will do for our country. You’ve captured the votes of millions of Americans because of your wisdom and charisma. So in simpler words, congratulations.

      The reason I am writing today is because of the issues we are having with animal cruelty. The number of animals being killed, beaten and neglected these days is getting out of hand. This is a very sore topic for me seeing how much I love animals.

      Animals should be able to live peacefully in their natural habitat or their homes without having to worry about being abused or killed. They should have the right to feel safe in their surroundings without having to watch their back every couple of seconds to make sure that there is no one behind them. These animals deserve to be safe. They never threatened or intentionally hurt someone unless there was someone who was teasing or taunting them in the first place, which is usually the case.

      Maybe people would rethink hurting animals if they knew how they felt when they weren’t being disturbed or when they were with their family or people who love them. It might change their mind if they put themselves in an innocent creature’s place, and experienced what it was like to live your life like you normally do, but keep getting shot at or beaten by angry humans for no particular reason. As a result of innocent creatures being abused or killed, the people should automatically be sent to jail for murder. A human can kill an animal and not be arrested, but an animal can kill a human and suffer a death sentence. This isn’t right.

      I thank you for your time and I hope to hear a response from you, sir. I hope you feel the way I do about animal cruelty and feel the pain that I do towards these poor creatures. Please respond if possible. Again, thank you very much for your time.

Sincerely,

Anna Radcliffe

Recycling

I liked the website Ollie Saves the Planet. It was very kid-friendly and it easily got the point across. It had fun games for kids on it and tips on how to make the planet a better place to live by recycling and caring for your environment. They had games such as word puzzles, slider puzzles, memory games, and the energy game. In the word puzzle, you find words  that they tell you to look for, like a word search. The slider puzzle is just a basic puzle, fitting the pieces together. The memory game is easy, you have to remember which card you picked and then pick another one and match them up. The energy game is a cool game. Whenever a light comes on, you have to click on it to save energy. This is an awesome website and I think every kid who is concerned about recycling should check it out. Even if you don’t care about recycling, you should check it out because you never know, it might change your mind!!

TWILIGHT!!!

Hey everybody! I’m so excited and as you can see from the pictures, you probably already know why! Twilights coming out in 4 days!! Wooohh!! I am so excited you don’t even know lol whoever wants to see Twilight next Friday comment my blog and we can talk about it! The characters aren’t really who I imagined as Edward and Bella, but now that I look at the pictures, they look perfect. If you have a different opinion, comment, comment, comment!

These pictures are really cute

OMG! IT’S THE ONCE-A-MONTH RANDOM POST!! :O

WELLL, I COULD NEVER GET CONVERSE CUZ I DIDN’T HAVE ANY MONEY, BUT I JUST REALIZED THAT I HAVE $60 FROM MY BIRTHDAY, AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I NEED! WOOH! I ORDERED MY CONVERSE TODAY AND THEY SHOULD BE COMING IN 7-10 DAYS WOOOH! THEY ARE PURPLE! WHAT WHAT! wow lol anywayz comment my bloggo.

OMG I WANT ALL OF THESE!!!!

Why don’t we have school on Tuesday?

The reason we don’t have school on Tuesday is because it’s…Veteran’s Day! Veteran’s Day, also known as Armistice Day, was set as a U.S. holiday to honor the end of World War 1. This holiday was passed in 1938, and the official day is November 11. It was “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as Armistice Day.” This new holiday honored World War 1 veterans. In 1954, after going through World War 2 and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. congress amended the act of 1938 by switching the name “Armistice” to “Veteran’s.” It was approved on June 1, 1954, that November 11th will forever be known as Veteran’s Day to honor American veterans of all wars. 

(Works Cited: http://www.military.com/veteransday/History.htm)

Here is a quote that I found online: “This nation will remain the land of the free only so long that it is the home of the brave.” – Elmer Davis

http://www.quotegarden.com/veterans-day.html

Don’t forget to comment!

3,2,1 Post

Hey guys! Here is my 3,2,1 post we were required to do for the eJourney blog!

3… Three events and activities that I enjoy being involved in at my school is when my social studies teacher has us talk to kids via Skype from different countries and to learn their customs and compare and contrast them to ours. Another is when we have assemblies because I love to hear what the people who come to visit us have to say, like when the high schools come to our school to talk about what’s to be expected at the school and the type of things they offer there, or the assemblies that discuss online safety and bullying. I think assemblies are a great way to interact with the students. The last activity or event that I enjoy is when our team goes on field trips, because I tihnk it is cool to go to different places after you have learned about it because then when you get there you feel like you know everything!

2… The two subjects I enjoy most are Social Studies and Language Arts because in Social Studies we are very interactive and hands-on not just sitting at your desk reading boring passages out of a textbook. We have a Smart Board which is like a huge computer touch screen and everybody is so amazed by it! We do podcasts and we talk to other classrooms in different countries and it is very interesting. We also never have any tests or quizzes which lifts a great load off your shoulders, and the only homework we have is on our blogs so that makes it easy. I also enjoy Language Arts because we read novels and I love to read. Our teacher tries to do fun things with us sometimes. Every week we have a vocab lesson and our theme this week is humor. One of our words was caricature, and she called someone up to the board to draw a caricature of somebody in our class. It was funny to see how the person came out after they were done drawing. We also do a weekly vocab assigment at the end of each week, where the teacher gives us an assignment and it is usually fun. We have to inquire all the vocab words in the assignment to get a perfect grade. It is sometimes fun if you get the concept.

1… The one aspect of my school that I would change is our cafeteria lunch food. The Board of Education goes on and on about how they want to keep the students healthy and not give us soda and other junk food, but they can give us sugar cookies, greasy and buttery pretzels LOADED with salt, fatty french fries, Pop Tarts, Pringles, Cheetos, cupcakes, apple and cherry turnovers, and a bunch of different kinds of canned juice that is completely unnatural. That doesn’t sound like a very good diet! I tihnk the school board should take a look at what they are serving us and change it to food that they would want to eat, like healthy salad that isn’t drenched with dressing and maybe some sandwichs instead of spicy chicken, cheeseburgers, and those absolutely DISGUSTING hot dogs. I would rather eat my own foot than eat one of those soggy hot dogs. I doubt the school board would enjoy eating that food, so I tihnk they should change the lunch menu to food that they would like to eat.

I hoped this was interesting and don’t forget to comment!!