Career Fair

Today we went to visit the Gr.8 classes, this week they have been showing us what they would like to be when they grow up. After seeing all the different careers I started thinking what I want to do when I grow up. After looking around awhile I finally found out what I want to be when I grow up. I wanted to be a teacher. A girl named Christine wanted to be a teacher as well, so I began to talk to her about what it takes to be a teacher. After talking to her awhile I found out everything about what it takes to be a teacher. I found out that before becoming a teacher you have to have a lot of volunteer hours like in high school if you do co-op, so you get volunteer points. You also have to take many courses: English, math, science, social studies, child care, and health. You have to hold a few part time jobs, go to teaching school for 4 or 5 years and have to be good with working with kids. You also have to try being a student teacher for awhile. Once you have done all this you have a chance of being a teacher. On average a teacher makes about (each year) $35,000-$40,000 on level 1 and $30,000-$65,000 on level two. After a few years you will begin to get used to teaching and will move up a level. It will eventually get easier and easier. The cons about this are you get to spend time with children, you get all the regular holidays etc. Pros are that you don't get as much money as others do, small salary, spend your evening and weekends preparing for the next day. As you can see it takes a lot of work to be a teacher, which is why I would like to become a teacher, I love putting work out toward kids and love working with kids. I really hope to become a teacher and thanks to Christine for helping me with the facts about being a teacher!

Heather's Homecoming

          This chapter was honestly my favourite, in the beginning of the chapter it was okay but as it went along it got really interesting, this is the type of book that you never want to put down, a real page turner!

            This week we read chapter May:

In this chapter Heather got into a big fight with her dad, after her dad insisted she help him with his work. They also fought over if Heather was going to Columbia University. Heather was destined and determined to go Columbia University, but her dad had other plans for her. Meanwhile Heather had been seeing a boy named chit, Chit would often go to Heather's house, they would talk and laugh, then go for a ride in Chit's little yellow bug car with flowers around the side. Eventually after all this drama with her dad, Heather had enough her and chit drove off to Rocky Mountain without anyone knowing, she did leave a note on her bed saying she left with Chit and not to worry about her, she'll call soon... From then on things got awkward and quiet. Holling realized that he really missed and loved his sister; he realized that whenever your siblings are around, it seems like you hate your siblings but the time they're not there, you realize how much you love them. A few days after Heather called late at night when she knew no one but Holling would be awake. Holling answered, they both started crying on the phone, Heather told him, she was stranded alone in Minneapolis and had no way of getting home, since she only had $4.00 left and the train ticket would be about $45.00, and now, the phone in the phone booth she was using, was running out of seconds and that's the last time he heard from her. She left saying not to tell her parents, that night. The next day Holling went to the bank and turned the $100.00 dollars he won at his track meet to cash, but he only got $52.00 back for specific reasons. He sent the money to Heather at the train station, it had a few glitches getting there but she got it. Heather called Holling and told him the time to pick her up at the train station. Holling didn't tell his parents until the next morning. His mom was tearing up, but his dad had no pity for her, as if he didn't care, but Holling yelling at his dad begged him to pick her up, but he went to mow the lawn. Holling then received a call from Meryl Lee asking if he wanted to go a baseball game, but Holling refused, but he did ask her if her dad could drop him off at the station, he agreed. Holling's mother packed a lunch for two, money for two tickets and he was off. Holling reached the station exactly on time. Holling found Heather, and ran to her crying in her arms, they were so happy to see each other. They spent the afternoon walking around hand in hand, then left for the train. They ate the lunch their mom packed and before they knew it they were home! At their supper their mom was so happy to see Heather; his dad only said one sentence: did you find yourself? She didn't answer, Holling stood up for her, and that was the last word they said...

                                                                                                                       By: Dani

Saint Andrѐ

                Saint Andrѐwas a very remarkable person. In his life, he lost many family members. He lost his mother and father and some siblings. He had very bad health and wasn't very bright since he was poor and couldn't afford school. Saint Andrѐ  had every right to be upset with God, but God had bigger plans for Andrѐ. Saint Andrѐ had to get a job,. But because he was ill-educated he didn't get very far. Until one day the church offered him a job as the door man for their church. The people who visited the church were often sick or  hurt physically or emotionally, seeking for help from the priest. Saint Andrѐ heard about these peoples' problems and hepled by blessing them. After bessing those people they were suddenly cured... like a miracle! Now when people came to the church sick or hurt, they didn't come to see the priest they came to see Andrѐ! Over the years people lined up in huge lines just to get Andrѐ's blessing to get cured. They came in sick and left cured! Saint Andrѐ wasn't always Saint Andrѐ. Before he was called Blessed Brother Andrѐ. In order to be a saint, you have to perform 3 miracle and have to be dead. Andrѐ performed many miralces and died 73 years ago this year. Just a couple of months ago, Blessed Brother Andrѐ was no longer Blessed Brother, but Saint Andrѐ! This shows that in the beggining of your life has just begun but it feels like it has just ended, and it feels like everyone is against you, even God! But God has Better plans for you later on!

                                                                                              By: Dani

The Wednesday Wars

     The Wednesday wars is still an amazing book so far! I loved every page of this book, well except when it came to Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle was a famous baseball player from the Yankees. To Holling Mickey Mantle was not just another baseball player he was Holling's hero.

          When Mrs. Baker announced that Mickey Mantle was coming to their town, Holling jumped at the chance literally. He also found out it was the same night as a play he was in, but if he hurried he would make it. Holling hurried and performed well, but he had some delays getting to where Mickey Mantle was. He got there and so did Mickey Mantle. Holling approached Mickey with his baseball, but Holling was still in his costume from his play, (he was the fairy) Mickey had some weird thoughts and denied signing the ball. He dropped the ball and it rolled to Holling's foot. He was shocked, and disappointed, but things did work out.

When I read this I couldn't relate to it right away, but after some thought I found the perfect story. When I was about six years old, Mt parents said that we would be going to Orlando, Florida. (Home of the princesses, Minnie and Mickey mouse and all the other fairy tale characters) At first I had no idea what that was but when I found out I was really excited, and I wanted to go right then at that time but my parents said that they didn't have all the money, so it would be a few months and we would leave in the Christmas week. I would be missing Christmas but at least I would see my favourite princess "Jasmine!" The day finally came; we got our suitcases and left to the airport. It was the weirdest thing, the whole December; not one snowflake, but the day we left, no not light, beautiful, snowflakes a SNOW STORM!  It was terrible, you couldn't see anything except white; our flight was delayed for 10 hours! We stayed there for 10 hours surviving on airport chairs, their excellent food, and whatever else we had in our suitcases. 10 hours finally past and we got on the plane. Planes aren't my thing today but back then it was a joyride! I loved it! It only took 2 hours to get there but 10 to get out of the airport?! We got there settled, then we went to Magic Kingdom home of Jasmine, The whole time we were there I said "Let's see Jasmine," But she was late (probably stuck at the airport) and would come by 4:00 p.m. We passed the time easily and I completely forgot about Jasmine, I looked at the watch 5:00! We ran to where Jasmine was, There was a huge line and she was there till 5:30 if they hurried we could make it. Time slowly counted down the minutes, it was finally my turn but then it was 5:30 time for her to leave, she had to for safety reasons. I cried for about 10 minutes and so were 10 other six year old girls! I got over it and we continued through the kingdom and had lots of fun without Jasmine! We went back to our hotel, I was really happy because it was 12:00 a.m and there was an outdoor  pool right in front of us, so at 12 we went swimming, we were allowed to, they put lights in and around the pool. We enjoyed the rest of our vacation and I was fine without Jasmine….. Okay but I did meet her at a different Kingdom! I was satisfied but I realized how Jasmine could be where I am and at Magic Kingdom at the same time, that's when I found out it wasn't really Jasmine just actresses! People aren't always who you think they are! That's when I passed the little kid stage and grew up!

                                                                                      -BY: Dani

The Wednesday Wars

          The "Wednesday wars" is an amazing book so far and we have only read about three chapters. This book is unbelievably hilarious! It has sarcasm and jokes and riddles and pokes. The author Gary D. Schmidt is a great author, but an amazing artist,his words paint a picture in your head, it's really amazing how that works. Like what we were discussing in class Gary does not just say she was crying if someone was crying, he says: The words that came out of her mouth, I can't tell you but you'd know them once you heard them. Gary does not say what he has to say, he shows you what he has to say.

          In the beginning, before we read this book, I thought I was going to HATE this book, with the small words and the hundreds of pages. But I am in LOVE with this book. Loving a book is very, VERY rare for me, reading a book when not at school is like climbing a mountain without any gear! In order for me to love a book, this book has to be really good!

          My favourite characters in the book are Doug Swieteck and his brother. They both have lots and lots of nerve. They even have 410 ways to get your teacher to hate you, and when they try a number from the list, they usually get suspended, but when they come back again they try another number to see how much time that will get them. It usually gets really funny when their part comes. It's like adding more chocolate in Candy Land!

In this book I like how the main idea of the story is starting to drop, although it is only the beginning, I wonder how the rest of the book will go. This book was truly amazing!!!

                                                BY: Dani

Marc Lescarbot

     Marc Lescarbot was born and lived in Paris for quite a while but not his whole life, his parents were from a place called Guise, and Marc says that he believes that his ancestors were from Saint-Pol-de-Léon Brittany. Marc studied at Vervin's than at Loan's colleges. Marc wouldn't have got very far in his studies if it wasn't for the Bishop of Loan. In Paris, Marc had a good education; he learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and things like literatures. Soon after Marc involved himself in Acadia, where he studied civil law and canonical. Well with all this education, Marc successfully graduated and a bachelor of laws. Marc began to take part in the Treaty of Vervins between Spain and France, when things seemed doomed, Marc would deliver a Latin dicours of peace. After the treaty ended, Marc composed a "Harangue d'action de grâce," wrote a memorable inscription, and then published poémes de la Paix.  It was no doubt that with all this Marc became a lawyer. Being a lawyer wasn't the only priority Marc had. While living in Paris, Marc teamed up with writers and poets, who helped him write a biography about Marc, the writers and poets didn't write the biography, just helped Marc. Sadly the biography has been lost for years. Marc did many things, but he made time to contact and visit his native region where he met the laroque brothers, his poetry rivals, he also recruited many of his clients while being a lawyer. He didn't recruit all of them, like Jean de Biencourt de poutrincourt, who was with the Canadian Enterprises, he insisted Marc go on a voyage with them to Acadia.  Marc jumped at the chance. They reached Port Royal in July and spent the rest of the year there, the next year they made a trip to the Saint John River. In the summer of 1607 the whole colony had to go back to France, since there was a revocation to their license. When Marc returned he wrote many stories and poems about his journey. Then he re-encountered Acadia, he talked to some important people and some town's people, Marc stayed there for quite awhile, and then continued to write poems and stories about his adventures.

                       Marc wrote a lot of stories  fur trade, colonization while in Acadia. He was like t.v to the people in his town or where ever he was. Marc also composed and directed plays, to the entertain the men; since he visited the micmaq, he had a lot to relate to with them. Wherever he went most people welcomed him. Even though marc is not here today I'm sure he would want people to be aware of him, he's not here but his stories and his spirit will live on forever!

                                                                                    -dani

Teen Ranch

            Canada's Wonderland, Marine Land, African Lion Safari; all fun places, but then there's Teen Ranch!  Have you ever been to Teen Ranch? If you haven't well then you haven't TASTED fun yet. If you have, than you know that there's a limit to fun but at Teen Ranch "the sky's the limit!" The amount of fun you'd have is endless. If you're wondering what the big fuss is about Teen Ranch is well… your about to find out. Teen Ranch was…words can't describe it; it was amazing, I'm pretty sure that 100% of the students there had fun. Orangeville hides a secret deep inside, 'Teen Ranch,' Teen Ranch consist of amazing food, outdoor activities, activities during free time and much more. I'd have to say that Teen Ranch was the highlight of the year so far, Teen Ranch "is yours to discover!"

          The food at Teen Ranch was amazing! In fact I don't think it should even be called just 'Food," it was gourmet, they prepared it so simple yet so elegant! It was like being in a fancy restaurant everyday. On the first day at Teen Ranch we arrived at approximately 10:41 a.m. soon after they served us lunch we had spaghetti and meatballs for dessert we had cinnamon cookies and for dinner we had teriyaki chicken with vegetables. Through put the week we had a variety if things like: lasagna, salad, pizza, sausages, fajitas, fries, rice chicken. For breakfasts we had things like cereal, Mc muffins, muffins, bacon, eggs, yogurt and pancakes. For desserts we had things like pudding, ice cream, brownies, cupcakes, cookies and puff pastries. For drinks we had things like: iced tea, orange juice, milk, cherry drinks, water etc. At nights while we were watching movies and doing Karaoke we ate things like: cookies, rice krispies, fruits, sweets, for drinks we had hot chocolate and juice. One night we had a bonfire it was amazing, we got to roast marshmallows and hotdogs. During all these meals we had to sit with different people each time. While doing this we got to know a lot about other people, we got to know people's likes, dislikes, their life stories and much more. I managed to sit with 2 different people at each meal, which was my goal from the begging. I think my favourite meal was when we were at the bonfire. At the bonfire there wasn't a limited amount of seats, there were about 4 gigantic benches, so that no one had to rush to the table they wanted. I sat in various places every few minutes. After awhile we started to roast the hotdogs, the sparks lingered and wandered into the dark sky and looked like stars, and then suddenly they disappeared like magic. After we began to roast marshmallow, I stuck my marshmallow in the fire where it then caught on fire, I thought I was doing something wrong, and then I was told that's how it was supposed to be done. I looked at the sky and the darkness of the sky carried me off to a hazy sleep.

          The activities we did all had to do with bonding with nature and using common sense. One activity we did was "wilderness survival." We had to go into the forest and make a shelter and fire. Our group included me, Tiffany H, Ashlen, and Kyra. We went to the forest and we began to collect big logs, sticks, and leaves. We had no idea where we were going to put our shelter but then our v.p helped us, we started to put some sticks, logs, and leaves on our shelter we continued for about 30 minutes. In the end we had the best shelter in our group. (group1) It had a sling shot, a slide, it camouflaged with the environment and when you entered it there were a lot of curved rocks and smooth rock so it looked like there was a table and chairs. We still weren't done we had to make our fire, we were very successful in our shelter but when it comes to making a fire we suck, we struck out  4 times and we still didn't get it but our v.p said it was okay. He also said that even though we didn't make the fire we still get an A+ in our shelter!  After everyone took a picture in front of our shelter. As we walked out of the forest we saw some beautiful horses in the stable. After we had lunch it was our turn to ride horses. (There were 3 groups and 3 activities so we rotated to the different activities) One of the advisors there (Agatha) explained what to do and what not to do on or near the horse so we would have a successful ride. We made our way down to the stable and we picked our horses my horse was named Tia she had beautiful ivory white skin, it was as white as snow. Soon after we began to ride we rode through the forest, up and down the hills and we trotted a bit. We got to ride twice that was the first time the second time we took a different route up and down hills at one point we had to go down a very narrow hill, my horse tripped over a rock and almost fell but she was still okay. Tia was so well trained she listened to every command I said. In all we had to complete 3 activities we only completed 2 out of the 3 so we had to complete 1 more. Our last activity was map orienteering. In map orienteering we had most of the ranch, our advisor selected10-16 # that we had to find in the ranch. When we found what we had to find it showed a letter or a horse breed, the letters when all found, had to be unscrambled and in the end spelled "celebrate." When we weren't doing serious activities we were doing fun things like skating. Skating was unbelievably fun we did it almost every day. The very first time I skated was in grade 1, I was the best one there, I was skating right next to the coach but before I knew it I was about to crash into the coach, and I fell and got my lip stuck to the ice. When I got back on t the ice I was a little rusty (or a lot) but it felt amazing to be on the ice again. On the first day skating at Teen Ranch I was really scared and I fell 3 times, but as the week went on I got better and I didn't fall at all.  On Thursday we played hockey I was completely TERRIBLE!  It was still loads of fun words can't even explain how exhilarating it felt. Another thing we did was souvenir making, on the second floor of the arena, it was originally a gym transformed into an art studio. We each got a circular piece of wood that we had to sandpaper & draw symbols of Teen Ranch on it. Once we were done we had to

Podge it so that it would last, then we waited for it to dry then we could take it home with us. Another activity we did was going on a hike on the first day at Teen Ranch, to get to know the area. We travelled through most of the ranch; we went to a place called Adventure Island, the stable, up and down hills, the barn, the forest, the cabin areas, the pond, some houses, waterslides and much more. On our last night at Teen Ranch we had a very tiring afternoon, we played predator and prey. The team I was on was the fox group. The objective of the game was to tag animals smaller than us like meadow mice, chipmunks, squirrels etc. The same thing applied for animals bigger than us. We played the game for about an hour, I hid in our shelter we made in the wilderness survival skills for about 10 minutes and absolutely no one found me. Then I got bored so I left, but since no one found me it showed that if we got lost or if we were actually were animals our shelter would've worked. We continued the game and in the end I got 15 points. After a tiring day like that it wouldn't be hard to fall asleep, the game acted like a Tylenol, I fell asleep instantly!!!

          When we weren't doing outdoor activities that had to be completed or stuffing our faces with food we had free time. We had a wide variety of thing we could do. Some of the outdoor activities we could do were volleyball, basketball, and trampoline, sit by the pond, pet the horses go to your cabin etc. The first thing I did when I got free time was volleyball. We gad about an hour to do what we wanted me and my friends would go down to the pit and play 5 on 5. We would play for about half an hour until a team got to 25, but we wouldn't get very far, when we played for about a minute, we would be serious then all of a sudden we would be on the sand laughing our eyes out, so we just played for fun. When we were done playing we would go to the trampolines, there were 3 trampolines and were like 2eyes and a nose, but the only way to get to a trampoline is if you sprinted there. Once the blue moon rose it was finally my turn I got on and started to jump then I noticed everyone was doing summersaults in the air, so I tried it. I figured out I couldn't even do half a summersault, and the one time I tried I felt like I was going to break my neck. Once we were done we would usually go t the sport courts we usually played badminton, but it didn't work well since there were only two rackets, so we would usually go by the pond. The pond was man made a few years ago; it was a beautiful, calming, relaxing place to be. It contained Lilly pads, fish, tad poles and scarce variety of flower and grass. Whenever you were tired, stressed or depressed the pond was a great place to be. In the mornings and night we would meet there to say our hi's and good bye's. Another thing we could do is seeing and petting the horses. There were two horses we could see at anytime, one horse's name was Ivy, and she was a beautiful snow white horse and her baby Zoey who was a soft warm grey skin tone. Ivy was a very well-trained horse but Zoey being only 3 months old sometimes nibbled or bit you. Another thing we could've done during free time or in the mornings was go to the cabin. Our cabin was cabin 4, it was in fair condition. When you enter on your left was one bunk bed (1Ashley ) across from it was another bunk bed (2christine's) between the two was a pole going horizontally, it was there to hang wet towels. Next to bunk two was the bathroom we had schedules for the bathroom, on the first day it was me who went first then I was second, then third, then fourth, then fifth. It worked out perfectly since there were 5 of us and 5 days. After we all finished showering the bathroom was no longer a bathroom it was an outdoor swimming pool with lots of bugs in it. Next to the bathroom was another bunk (3 Ashlen ) across from it was another bunk bed (4 Jodie) in the middle was night table. Side by side was my bunk (5) and bunk 4. There were 5 of us me, Ashlen , Ashley , Jodie, and Christine. When we weren't having free time we had night time activities like watching movies and doing karaoke. The first night we watched a movie called "Avatar." It was an amazing movie, it was the third time I watched that movie. It had to do with what we were supposed to learn by the end of the week. It was about people in the real world looking for a precious stone under a gigantic tree in the avatar world, so now the avatars have to work together to save their home. We watched the movie on Monday and we continued it on Tuesday. On Wednesday we had a karaoke night, it was unbelievably hilarious. A lot of boys attempted to sing and our teachers put on an amazing performance. A few girls tried it but it was little hard for us to go up, I think only me and 2 other girls were the only ones who didn't sing. I was glad I didn't sing because I would have embarrassed myself, I stink at singing! On the last night we watched "Robin Hood." Although we didn't get very far because we arrived late and we were all tired so they turned the movie off earlier. That night I hit that pillow hard and the next thing I knew I was on my way home!!!

 

                          Teen Ranch was an amazing experience. The things that I think will affect me the most was the skating and the wilderness survival challenge.  Skating was phenomenal, I haven't been on the ice for about 6 years and being on the ice again was the most amazing and most exhilarating feeling I ever felt. I wasn't the best at skating but for someone who hasn't been on the ice for a long time I was pretty good, until we played hockey where I was clearly terrible. Wilderness survival was one of my favourite activities; it really opened my eyes with being with nature. I also learned that when dealing with survival the number 3 is a very important number. (You can survive for 3 hours without warmth, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food, or if you don't you might face severe sicknesses and there are 3 letters in the phone number 9-1-1)  For the five days we were there we were supposed to learn about community living and by the end of the week that's exactly what we learned. The whole week we had to learn to co-operate with each other and rely on each other. We also learned to be independent since our parents weren't there to do it for us. Map orienteering was also lots of fun I finally learned how to read a map properly ad we learned a lot about the ranch. In the cabins we learned how to be calm in frustrating situations and how to co-operate with each other. During free time we learned to share very well, taking turns, and to include everyone. When we were on clean up and set up (This was during, before and after meals) we learned to clean up after ourselves and cleaning up after other people. Teen Ranch was the most exciting, interesting, and most amazing thing I have ever done, there was so much to do in such a small amount of time. As soon as you get there you'll have a great time and then before you know it you're on your way home. I hope we get to go back to Teen Ranch next year.  All you got to do is go there, have a good time and let the wind take you on a wild ride!

                                                                   By: Dani

 

Our Gr 7 Vaccinations

          On November 16^th the gr.7 students in our school were getting ready to get their vaccination shots. I went to school that morning and some of my friends told me we were going to get our shots today! I can't even explain how much I was freaking out, I was terrified. Needles are my only fear aside from 8 legged creatures. We went inside when the bell rang, I was hoping my friend made a mistake, and there wasn't going to be needles today, because if I knew earlier I would have skipped that day. When our principal was saying the announcements, but obvious he said vaccinations today. That feeling you get when you're really nervous and are about to throw up visited my body and stayed there. I ignored it for awhile, while we got started on our lesson, I actually forgot about that queasy feeling for awhile until they called us down.  We made our way down and that feeling returned and it decided to have a party with all its friends. They called out our names to see who was getting the needles; I was happy I wasn't first I was about the 10^th one. I saw the earlier class sitting on the floor since it was critical you sat down once you got the shot. The line got smaller the party in my stomach got louder, it was finally my turn. I sat down as the party in my stomach got even louder. They asked me a few questions, and then said to relax; I asked if it was going to hurt, she said not if I relax my arm, so I did as she said. She gave it to me I felt a pinch for about 3 seconds and same thing on the other arm. When it was done she told me to sit on the floor with everyone else, so I did. My arm was killing me, very few people said there's hurt too, but the rest were fine. I couldn't touch or do anything with my shoulders, the pain was immense.  The pain continues today and will for the next week, but at least the party in my stomach was over, the next time I hear I am going to get a shot I won't over react. (Only because I'll skip that day) The shot itself didn't hurt but the after math did. Good luck to anyone who's like me and gets a needle. My advice to you is imagine you're in the party in your stomach!

                                                                   By: Dani