Career Fair

The Career Fair

   Every year the grade 8s get to choose a career they may want to do when they grow up and do a project on it. When they are finished their project and their teachers have marked them, they have a career fair. At the career fair all of the classes come and ask the grade 8s different questions about the career they chose. I went to a girl named Christiana's project. When Christiana grows up she wants to be a surgeon.  To be a surgeon you need to do an extra 10 – 14 years of school after high school. A surgeon is usually paid around $100 000 - $500 000 a year, depending on what type of surgeon you are. There are a few things a surgeon needs to do before and after they perform the surgery. A surgeon should always do a check-up on the patient to see what their illness is and whether surgery is needed or not. A surgeon must always be sure that their tools are clean for surgery. After the surgery has been preformed the surgeon gives the patient medicine that ensures a fast and safe recovery. A surgeon should also do follow up check-ups on the patient. Some positives about being a surgeon are: you get paid well, you get health benefits, you have a secure job and you get to save lives. Some  negetives are: you have to work long hours, you have to go to a lot of school, you need money for school and you will not be able to save everyone's life. I will keep being a surgeon in mind when I get older, but I am more interested in psychology, the science of the mind and behaviour, because it interests me why people do the things they do and what happened to make them like that. Unfortunately no one did psychology at the career fair.

 

Christina P

Saint Andre

                                                 Saint Andre

    On August 9 1845 Andre Bessette was born to a poor family that lived in the village of St. Gregoire, Quebec. Andre was born the eighth child out of twelve, he was very sick from birth. Andre's father died in a lumbering accident when he was six years old. Four years later at the age of ten his mother became sick with tuberculosis. She was unable to care for her twelve children by herself so she put them up for adoption. She only kept Andre because he was sick. Together Andre and his mother went to live with her sister in St. Cesaire. After two years of being ill Andre's mother died when he was twelve. When he's mother died he continued to stay with his aunt and uncle. His uncle made him work on the farm, but with his illness he could not. Since he could not work on the farm his uncle sent him to to a cobbler to learn how to make shoes, this did not last long because he kept pricking his finger on the cobbler's awl.
     Later in life Andre decided he wanted to devout his life to God, unfortunately he was not educated so he could not be a priest. He was assigned as a porter in a college. The college was called Notre- Dame- du- Sacre- Coeur and was in Cote des Neiges, Quebec. While people would wait to see the priest the would talk to Andre and he would pray for them and their problems would go away. He preformed so many miracles that people started to come to see him. Andre told the people he preformed the miracles for to thank St. Joseph not him. Andre wanted to build a shrine to St. Joseph on the mountain in Montreal. He prayed for six years that St. Joseph would arrange for someone to buy the land on the mountain. In 1896 the Holy Cross Congregation purchased the land. Brother Andre put a statue of St.Joseph in a cave on the property and a bowl in front of him so he could collect alms which he would use the alms to build a church. The work on the church started in 1904 and was finished in 1966. The church was big enough that it needed a full time guardian which Andre's job since 1909. When Andre died on January 6, 1937, at the age of 91 doctors believed he died of what was an acute gastritis. The Oratory of St. Joseph that Andre dedicated his life to now has St. Andre's remains.
On the 17th of October 2010 Blessed Brother Andre became a saint 73 years after his death.



Christina P

Wednesday Wars

                                                               Relating to The Wednesday Wars


        I can't really  relate to Holling myself, but I remember when I was younger I used to love watching the Scooby Doo shows. So as I was trying to figure out how to relate to the story, since nothing ever happened to me like that, I went through my books. After trying to remember what each book was about I decided to look at the old movies I had and came across the movie Scooby Doo. You know classic Scooby Doo shows there is always a mystery that Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma have to solve. This time the reporter they all look up to was reporting the case and they soon discover she is not who they thought she was. For one thing she was not this great person they all looked up to. She turned out to be very mean woman that change the story just to make it more interesting, get more fans, and make whatever or ever it was about sound even worse. A few times she even twisted some of their words. Another thing about her is she turned out to be the bad man behind everything. So just like Holling their hero was not what they thought. 


Christina P   

The Wednesday Wars review

            In my opinion the Wednesday Wars is an excellent book.  In the beginning of the book Holling gets the idea that Mrs. Baker hates his guts because on the first day she keeps giving him dirty looks. When he went home and told his parents they did not do anything they just assumed that he did something wrong. Later in October Holling's perspective of Mrs. Baker is changing. In the first chapter Mrs. Baker made Holling do chores around the classroom. When Holing and Mrs. Baker start reading Shakespeare that is when he realizes that she does not hate him. I have two favourite parts in the book so far, one in the second chapter and one in the third chapter. The first one in the second chapter was when Mrs. Baker said, "By the way teachers don't bring up Shakespeare to bore their students to death." When Holling heard this he turned and accidentally pulled the two rat cages apart then they escaped. I can imagine it looking very funny seeing  Holling, Mrs. Baker and Mr. Vandleri sanding on the desks terrified by Mrs. Baker's rats. My other favourite part in the third chapter was when Holling was practicing Caliban's curses in front of a mirror with his shirt off and his sister tells him to shut up. When Holling hears this he says, "A southwest blow on ye and blister on you all o'er," and his Sister opens the door and demands to know what he said, then calls him a weirdo for talking to himself in the mirror half naked. That would have been a funny sight to see, Heather starring at Holling with this look on her face like her brother was crazy. Even though we are only three chapters into it The Wednesday Wars is still an amazing book and I can't wait to read more..

Christina P

Mathieu Da Costa

     Mathieu de Costa was the first recorded black person in North America. Most historians believe he was an explorer in the party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain in the early 1600's. De Costa was very multilingual, he knew how to speak Dutch, English, Portuguese, pidgin Basque, and the dialect most of the Aboriginals used for trading. The relationship between the Micmaq and the French was because of Mathieu de Costa's knowledge. Some think he came to Canada in a Portuguese ship. it is said a merchant kidnapped him then sold him to De Monts. Recorded French papers say he worked for the government in Port Royal in 1608. Historians believe Mathieu de Costa died in 1623.

history

                 Membertou Chief of the Micmaq

    Henri Membertou was the chief and shawman of the Micmaq tribe. It is unknown when he was born, but we do know that he lived during the late 1500's, early 1600's. Membertou live in Port Royal, the site where the French had their first settlement in Acadia(Nova Scotia). The success of the French settlers was because of Membertou's hospitality, guidance, and kindness. Membertou sometimes joined the French in their settlement area, he was a greatly respected chief by all. Membertou was baptized on June 24th because it was Saint John the Baptist Day. He was the first North American to be baptized by the French in his own country. The ceremony was preformed by priest Jesse Fleche. Jesse Fleche baptized all 20 of Membertou's immediate family. Jesse gave Membertou the baptismal name of Henri, after the king of France, Henri IV. When the French left in 1607 he cared for and protected their land. he watched their land for three years until the French came back. In 1611 Membertou caught dysentery, a disease spread to the New World by the Europeans. When September came he became very ill. Membertou insisted he was to be buried with his ancestors, later he changed his mind and asked to be buried with the French. Henri Membertou passed away september 18 1611, but before he died he told his children to continue to be christians.

 

Christina P

Teen Ranch

Teen Ranch

In 1966 the construction of Teen Ranch begun. 43 years later Teen Ranch is still teaching 12 year old girls and boys about community living and how to get along with each other. Being away from our friends and families for five days caused us to be independent and responsible. We did many activities, and most of them taught us something such as the map orienteering which made us work together. All of the activities at Teen Ranch were fun, some I like, but there were only a few of them that I loved.


Over the course of our five day Teen Ranch adventure we went skating four times at the hockey arena. The first time we went skating everyone was getting used to the ice. Most people clung to the walls, but the children that knew how to skate were already doing tricks and having races. After ten minutes if some kids were still having trouble skating, some of the children and adults that could skate started to help. It took me about five minutes to get use to the ice. Following those five minutes I began to skate faster, the problem with me skating faster is I don’t know how to stop. Since I did not know how to stop I would bump into people, then we would both fall down. By the end of that first skating period my knees were full of bruises. A half of a hour after the second ice started on Tuesday Abigail was helping me twirl. At first she made me do it in one spot, but that did not work out. After five minutes of this I decided to quit. When I started to skate away she called me back so I tried to turn and I did it, I twirled, and then I fell down. For the rest of the skating period I was practicing my twirls. On Thursday and Friday Agatha said we could play hockey. As soon as we started playing I thought ‘What did I get myself into?’ After playing for a few minutes I realized two things, one it was very fun and two, I still could not stop. At the end of the hockey I had a lot of fun, more bruises, and I scored a goal. The next time I get the opportunity to go skating I won’t hesitate before I say yes.

I’ve always wanted to go horseback riding and at Teen Ranch I finally got the chance. On Tuesday morning right after breakfast, we were the first group to go riding. For the first ride Agatha spent 30 minutes explaining to s how to control our horse. To get the horse to move you would lightly kick the horse and click. If you wanted the horse to stop you would pull on the reigns and say whoa. After Agatha finished explaining everything we all thought ‘This is going to be easy,’ boy were we wrong. When I got on my horse I looked down and said, ‘This horse is too tall.’ After everyone got on their horse that is when the song started. All you could hear was ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ because the horses were bunching up together and backing up into each other. My horse, Rascal, would shift its weight from one side to the other while standing still. In doing so it felt like he was about to fall over. Rascal was very big; he was brown with a small white patch between his eyes. Nikki, the horse instructor, took us through the forest to see our controlling skills. At the end of our ride Nikki took us into the field. At the field Nikki told us to be careful because the horses may try to eat. While we were in the field Nikki said we could trot. Trotting was so fun, but before we started I thought it was going to be scary, but it was not. The second time we went riding, on Wednesday Nikki took us into the hills. Going up the hill was terrifying, I was so nervous it felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest. I was scared there was a lot of rocks and mud, and I did not want my horse to slip. Half way through our adventure we had to stop because one person was falling behind. We were stopped for about 30 seconds, all of a sudden my horse jerks away from the horse in front of us, and almost ran into the trees. I started to freak out, then I realized my horse moved because the horse in front of us started going to the bathroom. Going down the hill was even scarier than going up, especially since my horse slipped. The only think that was really unfortunate was we did not get to trot again. I hope I get to go horseback riding again no matter how scary it was.

Everything at Teen Ranch was fun, but some of the best events took place in the forest around the area. One of the events was wilderness survival, which took place just inside the forest. Before we went outside to ‘survive’ Mr. Mash spoke to us inside the dining room about the ‘The Rule Three’. The Rule Three is that everything an emergency, whether time or communication has three. It takes a human to die of hypothermia in three hours, of dehydration in three days, and of starvation in three weeks. When in an emergency to get attention you cold whistle three times, make three fires, or righting S.O.S. in the soil, if you are lost. If you are at home you dial three numbers, 911. When Mr. Mash was finished explaining everything we finally went outside. Outside we split into three groups. There was a group of all boys, which Mr. Mash called the hobo group because there were no girls. There was also an n all girls group and then there was the group I was in which was a mix. We moved our shelter twice because we could not all agree. First we had it on a big rock by two trees, but the heavy branches were too hard to lift, so we moved it to beside the rock. We moved it again between two trees because the old spot was too cluttered. When we started to build the shelter it was a little hard, placing the branches correctly so they would not slide down. We actually had a problem with this, when we were almost done one person in our group put a branch on an open spot. The branch slipped and the whole shelter fell down! In five minutes it was back up, the only thing we needed to do was put pine needles to cover the holes. After we showed Mr. Mash we could all fit inside we started making the fire. First we found some rocks and put them in a circle, forming the fire pit. Next we gathered wood. When we finished this Mr. Mash gave us a match. We tried rubbing the match against a rock for friction, but we broke the match. Mr. Mash gave us another match, but this time he tried to start the fire. The fire was so warm I did not even need my coat. While we were enjoying our fire we noticed the girls were having trouble starting their fire. Mr. Mash had given them three matches already. We noticed they gave up when they came to our fire and Mr. Mash said, ‘If you can’t make a fire, make a shelter near people who can.’ After sitting there for 15 minutes the fire still did not burn out so we poured water on it. Just like that our survival experience was over. If I was ever lost in the wilderness I could survive the night thanks to these new skills.



My stay at Teen Ranch was the best five days of my 12 year old life. At Teen Ranch I was able to try new things such as horseback riding and hockey. I also learned new things like survival skills during wilderness survival. I even tried some new foods, for example the raspberry and peach cobbler and iced tea. I would do anything to go back to Teen Ranch, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do to go back, the only thing I have left are my memories of that special place. Teen Ranch is a place that I will never forget.



Christina P

the wednesday wars

Holling and His Parents

            Holling Hoodhood and his parents have a very strange relationship. Mrs. Hoodhood, Holling's mother makes a lot of assumptions. She assumes because when Holling comes home from school and tells his mother that Mrs. Baker hates him his mother assumes he is overreacting and automatically takes Mrs. Baker's side even though she does not know what happened. As Holling says, it is like pulling a string on their back and a bad recording comes on. Holling's dad is more concerned about his business than Holling's problems.  He cares more about his business because Mrs. Baker's family owns the store that is going to hire Mr. Hoodhood's services, since Mrs. Baker does not like Holling then her family won't like the Hoodhood name and they won't want to hire Hoodhood and Associates. So far Holling's parents take Mrs. Baker's side, but I hope later in the book they will realize Holling was right.  

Christina P         

The Universal Soldier

The Universal Soldier By: Buffy Sainte-Marie

     

           In the first first stanza the poet talks about different soldiers over the course of time that where different height, age, had different weapons, and their religion/ beliefs where also different. Soldiers know not to kill, but they do it for their families and friends anyway. I think Sainte-Marie is trying to say that war has been going on for thousands of years and many people get involved. When the poet says, "and he knows he shouldn't kill, and he knows he always will," I think it means they don't want to kill, but no mater what, people will always be getting killed in war.

         The second stanza Sainte-Marie is talking about the different countries that have either fought together, or against each other in war. The poet writes, "and he thinks we'll put an end to war this way," the poet is trying to say that people think that they will put an end to war with more war. This isn't a very good idea because the more you do something to someone else, the more they want to do to you, this will keep going until one side stops fighting, or they have no one to fight for them, so they can't fight any more. 

        The poet writes, " He says it's for the peace of all, He is the one how must decide, who's to live and who's to die, and he never sees the writing on the wall," in the third stanza. The soldier that is fighting decides who gets to live and go back to their family, and who dies and never see their family again. I think when the poet says, " and he never sees the writing on the wall," Sainte-Marie is referring to when he says, " He says it's for the peace of all," I don't understand, what is the peace in fighting and war?

        " But without him how would Hitler condemned the Dachau, Without him Caesar would have stood alone," the poet writes this in the fourth stanza. I think this means that without soldiers their would be no war. Later in the fourth stanza Saint-Marie says " he is a universal soldier and he is really to blame," I agree and disagree with this. I agree with this because without soldiers there would be no one to fight, but I disagree because when a country goes to war the soldiers decide go to defend their country and the people they love.

         In the fifth and final stanza the poet writes, " His orders come from far away no more, They come from him and you and me, and brothers can't you see, this is not how we put an end to war." In this final stanza Sainte-Marie means a soldiers  orders to keep killing come from himself, he can choose to stop any time, but he does not. In the last line when he writes " this is not a way to put an end to war," he is saying, in war we are fighting for peace, but where is the peace in fighting?

        

Christina P

halloween poem

Halloween

Witches and warlocks come out for this night

Hoping to give everyone a good fright.

Spooky black are lurking around town

And someone dressed as an evil clown.

Children in costumes of all different sorts

 Little witches with big ugly warts.

There are children dressed as monsters, ghosts, and ghouls

Once in a while you see a royal fool.

On Halloween we all want candy

Ones that are delicious, sugary, and dandy.

Kids don't want a fall wreath,

They want candy that will rot their teeth.

On Halloween there is always the scariest house

So scary you'll be terrified of  even a little mouse.

Some may think scary jokes are fun,

But some will make you want to run.

Some stories you hear might be scary

And some costumes you see may be hairy.

You may think Halloween night has no fright,

But let me tell you your not right.

Christina P

the nest

      

 

Relating to the 'The Nest'

I was  very surprised the way 'The Nest' ended. How the Jimmy's mother thought she was doing the right thing by telling Jimmy not to out with Paul, but in the end she was wrong. I can sort of relate to Jimmy's mother, how she is looking out for Jimmy. I can relate because whenever I think my friends are going to make a big mistake I try to talk some sense in to them, but I usually make sure I am right before I say anything. Like early this week one of my friends that is really close to me started to hang out with someone new that was not the nicest. When I heard about this I went up to her and told her that this person did not really want to be her friend,  they were desperate. I told her the truth, I said that she was not the persons first choice, everyone was just mad at them. Of course she did not believe me, she thought I was jealous. Then on Thursday she called me and told me I was right (of course I was) and  two other people told her the same thing, and she also thanked me for being there. So in a way I am like Jimmy's mother, but I was right.

Christina P

blog

   My Worst Halloween

                     Two weeks before Halloween my mom took me shopping for a princess costume. The blue one I want was sold out so I had to get the pink version instead; it was the last one left and it was exactly my size, it was four Oreo cookies from being too small.

           When Halloween came I wore my costume to school; there where many princesses because that is usually what most girls in kindergarten wanted to be. Fortunately no one was wearing the same costume as me or the one in blue, I got a lot of complements, but that did not last.

          It was very cold that night so my mom made me wear my winter jacket. Since my costume fit so perfectly my mother did not think it would fit over my jacket, but I forced her to try. So my mom tried and tried and tried until she heard a rip. My jacket was so puffy it ripped part of my costume. After that train wreck my mom decided to pin, yes pin, my costume to my jacket; I was a princess in the front and an Eskimo in the back. as soon as I got outside the comments started, one kid said " Mommy look she has no costume," another said, "How come her costume is only on  half of her body?"

          Through out the night I heard giggling and chuckling, that is why it was my worst Halloween.  

  Christina P

Van Gogh

         I thought the story of Van Gogh was very interesting. He was not an only child, he had many siblings, but his favourite was his younger brother, Theo. I was surprised that Van Gogh had many jobs, ones that he did not care for and ones which Van Gogh was shattered when he was fired. Before learning about Van Gogh I thought he knew he wanted to be an artist from his childhood, but I was wrong. Van Gogh only wanted to be an artist when Theo suggested it to him after he was fired from being a lay preacher. Van Gogh was let go of being a lay preacher for taking the Christian teachings to literally. When Van Gogh's friend, Paul Gaugin, who was also an artist, came to visit him, things were going great until nine months later on December  23 1888, they got into a fight. I was shocked, because I thought that Van Gogh was very civilized, when he cut off his part off his own left ear out of frustration. I am glad that he knew he was ill and checked himself into a mental hospital. After about a year he checked out and moved closer to Theo. The next part of his life was very sad; he could not get a grip on life so in 1890 he went into a wheat field and shot himself in the chest. Two days later he died at the age of 37 with Theo at his side. The last thing he said was "the sadness will last forever," that very sentence brought tears to my eyes.

            The thing that made me feel even sadder was that Van Gogh made thousands of paintings but no one recognized his talent until after his death. I hope his name and paintings will live on forever. 

Christina