In Language Arts, we read The Last Cuentista, which made us think about what our ‘ideal world’ would look like. For this, we wrote out a story/description for our ideal world, and we also used Akua ink, paint, paper, and more to create our ideal world book.
The Wise Master Comic
Hi, everyone! You might be thinking, “Okay, what is this blog about?” If you like art, comics, and stories you might want to read this.
My Language Arts class has been doing this small project for a long time. The project is about reading short stories also known as wisdom tales. We read specific stories and find the moral/lesson of the story. Each of the stories has a moral/lesson in them. Then we summarize the story into a few sentences.
You might be wondering, “Well, what’s the point of this?” The point of doing this is for a later, bigger project. We were supposed to draw a basic one-page comic which summarizes the whole story, including the moral/lesson. We didn’t do it on physical paper, we used apps like Sketchbook and Comic Life 3, then printed it out.
There was a wisdom tale that is called The Wise Master. It’s about a wise master who teaches students which takes place in India. He asks the students to steal from the market nearby and not to be steamed from anyone else. None of the students doubted his words. They all left except for one boy. That boy had stayed behind. The wise master asked him why he had stayed behind. The boy said, “I will not steal because even if no one is watching me, my own eyes will be watching.” The wise master said tearfully, “I was just testing the integrity of my students!” The young boy grew up to be a wise master. The moral is: do the right thing; your own eyes are watching you.
When the grade started the comic project, we couldn’t just start from scratch. You might think that the grade watched art videos or something, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, my friend’s dad, Brittain Peck, came over to the school to teach us about drawing, backgrounds, etc. his tips were very useful. Some of the main things that I learned from him was:
To make the comic electronically, I used apps called Sketchbook and Comic Life 3, which I mentioned earlier. Sketchbook and Comic Life 3 are very complicated apps to sketch/make comics on. There are many different sketching tools, layers, brushes, speech bubbles and lots of other things. I have some tips and tricks for you if you use the app.
Thank you so much for reading my blog post! Have a great day!
My Language Arts class has been doing this daily habit since late October. The habit is doing a plank for 30 seconds everyday, but there’s a twist. We add 15 seconds every week! That means start off with 30 seconds, go to 45 and so on. We ended off with 2 minutes and 15 seconds!
I thought that it was going to be really tough to do that every single day, but it was SO MUCH easier than I expected. As I continued to plank everyday, I noticed that it progressively got easier. I got really used to doing more time planking. 30 seconds is easy to me now.
Some things that helped me to stick to my habit is listening to music while I plank. Especially the songs that give me courage. It really helps to do that while I plank. It also takes your mind off the plank and you just listen to the music. That helps to do a plank better for me, at least.
Another thing that helped me to stick to the habit once was my friend. I was face timing my friend, and I said that I was going to plank. She joined in and did it with me. That gave me comfort and courage when I did it with someone.
Habits are good to do because it helps to make progress on something, get you used to do something a lot, and it adds to your everyday life. It builds character, confidence, and strength. It might start off like a small change, but if you keep on doing a habit, it can build up to something so much more than just a small change.
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Anna’s Book Adventure
Now, you might be wondering, “What? Another boring book post?” Well, don’t judge too fast. You might want to read this.
My all-time favorite genre of books is fantasy/fiction. Fairies, monsters, dragons, etc. But that says a lot about myself. Other people also like fantasy books. Most fictional books take place in another world. The reason why I like to read these books is because I like to explore, imagine, and create other worlds because it hooks you deep into the book, and helps you to create and dream things that no one else thinks about. Partly it’s because I am kind of bored of Earth and like to see other worlds that people created in their books. Don’t worry, I still like Earth.
Now, you might be wondering, why does this person like to read in general? To be honest, I like to read because I love writing, and I want to be open to more genres and get ideas for writing a good story. I recently watched all three movies in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I wanted to see what was different in the books, so I started to read the books. It turns out that the books are AMAZING! J.R.R. Tolkien is the author of the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and many others. But, the thing about fantasy is that it helps you to think deeply about life.
Sometimes reading the Lord of the Rings is hard for me because it can be hard to understand what the author is trying to communicate. It has other words that I don’t know and a lot of places and people. I just have to be really focused on the book. It can help to identify the main topic of the paragraph. Once you have that, it can be SO much easier to understand. I really enjoy reading because it is one of the great wonders of the world and it’s very peaceful. How do you like to read?
Hi, everyone! Today, I wanted to tell you about a book that I am reading. The book that I am currently reading is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The book is by J.R.R. Tolkien. He was a very good author and wrote the entire series for The Lord of the Rings! The genre for the book is definitely fantasy/fiction. I chose to read this book for several reasons; the first reason is that I already watched the entire series, and wanted to see what was different in the books. Another reason; I’ve always liked our planet, but I’ve always wanted to imagine other planets with creatures different to our species. This book series is perfect for that kind of imagination and curiosity. You get to escape to another world and away from this one.
This book/series is more of a window book for me (window just means that you are kind of looking out to explore other planets) more than a mirror book (mirror book means that when you read a certain book, you can relate to a lot of the parts in the book) because it’s looking beyond our world and into another one. The characters in the book are great, but if Tolkien would’ve added in a girl around the age of 10-13 as a character, that would definitely make the book a little more of a mirror book for me. I’m very glad that I am reading The Lord of the Rings right now because it allows me to look beyond and dream big.
Bow and Arrows
My Archery Career
My name is Anna and I am in 6th grade and started archery around almost three months ago. The reason why I wanted to start archery was because I saw The Lord of the Rings and I also saw that the elves were very talented in archery and pretty much got a bullseye every time. If you don’t know what The Lord of the Rings is, that is perfectly fine. I’ve always thought that I have very good eyesight, so I decided to try it out.
Eventually, I got a professional archery teacher to sort of give me an intro to what bow and arrows that I wanted to use, and also what gear would be best for me. The first time, I learned that I didn’t like one bow, so I tried the recurve bow. It turned out that I really liked how it felt, so I decided that would be my bow. And it also turns out that I am right handed in archery, but my dominant eye is my left
I really liked my teacher, too. She was so nice, funny, and EXTREMELY down-to-earth, too. And I thought that the sport was very complicated, but I did like it. So, I decided to participate in the sport.
Later, I learned that there were several types of bows because that’s how complicated life is. It wasn’t like you just needed a bow and arrow, you need SO. MUCH. MORE. Let me break it down for you. So, when you pull back to release, your fingers are gonna feel it. So there is a glove that you can get, but it’s different. Instead of covering all five fingers, it only covers how many fingers you pull back with. So, for me, I pull back with three fingers, so, I would use a three-finger glove or whatever it’s called.
There’s more; there is also an arm guard that you really REALLY need to have. So basically what it does is when you pull back the string on the bow and release the arrow to the target, if you don’t have an arm guard, it’s gonna hurt. Trust me, I got a big bruise on my arm from that and it didn’t go away for about a week. So it will protect you from getting bruises. On most arm guards, it will probably have clips to put it on. And protect you from getting hurt. Trust me, it helps you a lot.
Chest guard; so if you are doing archery you can decide whether you want to get one or not, but it will also help you to have a good shot. If you are a boy or a girl, all the same it will help to get you a good shot without your chest getting in the way. Now, if you wear a tank top or whatever, you probably don’t really need to wear it because the chest guard also helps to keep the sleeves of your shirt in. But at this point, I’ve gotten so used to wearing it that I wear it even while wearing a tank top.
Now, let’s talk about how I use my bow and arrows. The two major types of bows are the compound bow and the recurve bow. So, earlier I told you that I use the recurve bow, so I’ll tell you how that works. So, on a recurve bow, there’s no trigger, no eyesight tool, no nothing. But there are some important parts to it like arrow rest which is where the arrow will sit when I release it.and there’s also kind of a straight dent at the top of the bow. That is used to keep the string in place and not go there anywhere and mess up your shot. There is also a kind of bead and thick string in the middle of the string. You have to put the arrow below the short thick string.
Now, it does matter how you put in your arrow. So, I use arrows with fake feathers that when you run your finger along it, it goes in the direction that you put it in. That’s why hunters nowadays use fake feathers because they are very flexible. Now, one part of the fake feathers is probably going to be a different color. Now, when I put an arrow in my bow, I always have the part with that color facing away from me.
When I pull back, I pull back with my elbow, tightening the shoulder blade. And I close my left eye and pull back the string with 3 fingers (with the glove on) and straighten my arm (the arm that’s holding the bow) and I aim towards my reference point for a second, and release. Now with the rest of the form, my weight is in the middle (meaning I’m not leaning backwards or forwards.)
Now the reason why I said reference is because I can’t aim towards the middle and get the middle. Yet. But if I aim more towards the top-right, I can get somewhat in the middle. But for every bow is different, which means that the reference point will be different. So you would have to aim somewhere else to get close to the target.
Now last thing; there are I think two types of really good shots. A bullseye and a spider. A bullseye is the middle part of the target. A spider is RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WHOLE TARGET. I have gotten a spider before, but only a few times.
I have only done archery for like three months, and thanks to so much practice, I can now shoot from tournament range, which is pretty far back. I have come a long way in a short amount of time. It takes practice to do archery well, and my teacher helped me to do that. I am glad that I am doing archery.
It was Wednesday morning and I was getting on the bus to go to Camp Kirkwood. The teachers were sending us away to camp for two days where we were going to bebe stuck in the middle of a hurricane. It was a two hour drive, and my buddy was Siya. I was glad to have her, but was also really tired. I didn’t sleep at all. Great. When we got there, it was raining really hard. We had to carry other people’s stuff out of the bus, out of the rain, and under the pavilion. Then, we found our bags, got assigned to our cabins, and carried out stuff to our cabin to unpack. I had to bunk with Ms. Richardson, because everyone already had someone to bunk with . But I didn’t mind. She was very sweet and kind.
Then, we went into the dining hall (I think that was what it was called.) for lunch around 12. If you’re wondering, it was still raining very hard. They served us this turkey and cheese sandwich and chips and water for the first meal. The meals were OK, but there were only three workers in the kitchen, and they did well preparing the food.
Then there were activities because we didn’t come to camp to do nothing. We were there to have fun. So, we met under this huge flagpole, and we got assigned to our groups. I was in group #3, and Jordan, Nia, and Aether were there, so at least I had some friends with me. We did the Kanga jump which was like a huge colorful bouncy pillow that you could jump on, and it wasn’t bad. We had the nicest counselor, and her name was Alana. I think. She was amazing. She had us play this color game. You had to run to a specific color, and if you were last, you were OUT. Okay, that was an over-exaggeration, but it was really fun. And. It. Was. Still. RAINING! I was soaking wet at this point.
We went to the pool later, but we had to do a swim test, which was a little annoying. But it was worth it. I mostly did dives with my friends, and taught myself to run-dive.
We went to our cabins to shower and change, and everyone felt disgusting. The shower water fell on your back really fast, but it wasn’t painful. Then we went to dinner at around 6. They served good pasta the first night and garlic bread and some other things. I sat at Ms. Williams’s table with some other of my cabin-mates.
After dinner, we went back to our cabins to just get ready for bed and just chill until around 9:30. At around 10, we went to sleep. The beds were sandy, but that was our fault. I kept on waking up because of the rain or some weird noise in the night. And I was not alone. Other people woke up like eight times.
When we woke up at like 7 in the morning, we all looked outside the window, (me and my cabin-mates) and it had literally FLOODED right outside our cabin! And it was pretty foggy, too. We had to get ready, so we changed and went to breakfast.
Let’s just skip to the activities. We did the Kanga jump again, which was fun. It wasn’t really raining anymore, and we actually saw blue in the sky! Then we went back to our cabins to change into our swimsuits, and met back at the flag. Then we went to the V-swing, which was SO. FUN. So, basically, your team pulls you up on the rope until you say stop, then you pull a rope towards your chest, and you swing in the air in a V shape. Jordan went, and her face was so funny! Then she started singing, “I CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALLLL!” It was so funny. Then we went to the swimming pool again, and it was a lot more fun than last time because it wasn’t raining. After around an hour or so, we got out and went back to change for lunch.I think they served us either hotdogs or pizza, which wasn’t bad.
Then we went back to our cabins to chill, a half an hour later, we went back for dinner, which was ok. Then we went to the flag and one of the counselors (he was very funny) said, “We are going to go to a campfire to do s’mores.” He said it was a time to reflect on what we had learned at camp. It was very muddy on the way there.
When we got to the campfire, the counselors started to sing a pirate song, which was okay. Then we had to get sticks for the s’mores, and a lot of people got up for the actual s’mores, because they were called up. And the definition of that was UTTER. AND. COMPLETE. CHAOS. It was so loud and I could not hear the counselors. But it was all worth it. What was fun was that I set my marshmallow on fire several times. I know, but it was still cool. When we headed back, the road felt so much faster. Then we went back to our cabins and showered, got ready for bed, etc.
The next morning was pretty much the same as the night before. We got up, and got ready. But the thing that was different was that we had to pack up to go home. Then we went to breakfast. We had waffles and Chex mix again. But it wasn’t bad.
Today, I was canoeing, zip line, and Gaga Ball. And get to see a pig! But I’ll tell you about that later. First was canoeing. We went to the side of the flood/lake and two of the counselors were there. And there was this adorable little girl who was one of the counselor’s daughter. She was so cute! After the counselors explained everything to the group, we got into pairs of four and got life jackets on. The counselor said that we had to wear them, no matter how long we have been swimming. I don’t blame her, it was a safety thing. And there was another group with us, too. I was paired up with Jordan, Aether, and Nia. Then we got in a canoe, and set out on the water. I was in the front and Jordan was in the back, and we were both paddling. Aether and Nia were in the middle. We just paddled for around 55 minutes, then had to head back and back and go to the zip line.
We had to get gear on and the counselors had to explain the rules. She said that if we step out of line, we would miss our turn. And I thought, “Okay, I’m never moving.” It looked really fun. And I was paired up with Emma Asnani, aka my BFF. When it was my turn, I had to climb up this rope net thingy, and get hooked to the big wire thing. And then I had to climb up another ladder, which was fun. Then I had to get hooked again to the wire thingy. I wasn’t nervous because I had done this before at Camp Hanes. And I made a will to Emma that if I died, she could have my archery bow, my gear and my lessons. And she said back, “If I die, then you can have my softball lessons, and my gear, my iPad, and my room. And I had also promised to sing Karma by Taylor Swift with her on the way down. Then we jumped off. We started screaming, then I heard her practically SCREAMING Karma and I thought, “Oh, shoot I gotta sing it.” Then I started screaming, too. But I could hardly find the voice to sing it. It was really fun though.
After the zip line we went to the Gaga pit and saw the most adorable pig named Bubbles. He was just sunbathing, and none of us got to really pet him. Or her. Then we went to the Gaga pit to play for a while. It was really fun, but some people were kind of cheating. And I got out like A LOT.
Then we went to lunch, our last meal of the whole time we were there. They served us hot dogs which were really good. Lunch was all about “eat just enough so that you have energy for the rest of the day until dinner. But we weren’t having dinner that time because we were heading back home on another sleepless 2 hour bus ride BACK to the middle school.
After lunch, we got our stuff and headed to the pavilion to find out which bus we were going to be on. I was in number 2, with Jordan. I was so glad that I had her with me. I had to carry my stuff to the bus which at this point was very heavy. But I finally got on the bus and sat down and Jordan sat next to me, which I was very thankful for. She had like a million fidget toys with her in her bag, which was good. On the way back I played with her toys for a while, Thia gave me this really creepy book which I really liked a lot.
Finally we pulled into the middle school and one of the teachers said, “This is the middle school. Remember?” And I thought, ”Yeah, I remember.” We all got out of the bus, and the teachers literally threw our bags on the sidewalk. I didn’t blame them. They were probably tired. I waited for a little while, searching for my mom’s car, and I finally found it and rushed over. I threw my bag in the back, and got in. It had been a fun time, especially the V-swing. Even though it rained and flooded a lot, my grade and teachers still try to make the best of it as a community. That made it a lot better.