Final Refection

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?

Three most important things I learned this year was that I learned new words that I had never heard before. Second, I learned how to write in a better and proper way of writing. Lastly, I read more books this year than I have ever read before which is very surprising for me because I own a lot of books but never get the time to read them.

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

In most of my year from 8th grade the one thing that I'll remember the most is the speeches we did for This I Believe I say that out of all the time I have been here that is the one I'll remember for the rest of my life because in those speeches it made me realize how we are more alike than different and we have our  adversitys. 

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

The nicest thing someone did for me in this class was I always had something say hello to me evertime I walked into this class. It made my day knowing that someone was caring enough to say hello and know about my day.

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

I don't know if I taught someone something this year that would be valueable. I do know that I have learned a lot from other classmates and teacher and they taught me how to be a better person.

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of? The area I made the most biggest improvement was having good writing in some of my paragraphs. Something I accomplished this year that I am most proud of is that i passed the Illinois constitution test that was one of my greatest accomplishments.

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

The most challenging part of this year was trying to keep up with my IXLs and vocab test and learning five new words every week also root words. That was kind of a challenge for me since I tried to keep up in class and it was hard at sometimes but I got through it.

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

One of my best writing pieces that I did this year was when I wrote about depression I had very detailed paragraphs and I put a lot of effort into my writing. I think it was the best out of all them because I feel like I put more attention and focus on to my writing than other ones.

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

My favorite book out of this year was when we were doing lit circles and we got to choose our own books and the book I chose to read was called Thing Not Seen . This book was very interesting to read I really enjoyed the book. The book really had a good setting and it graced my attention more than other books.

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year? 
For the next students who are coming in to become 8th graders to this class my advice to them is that they should always do their homework and class work so they won't get in trouble. Always do your IXLs so you won't get any falcon fouls. Never come tardy to class. Don't talk back. Always study for your vocab test. Try your very best when it comes to writing a essay or an argument essay. Always have very detailed blogs. Lastly, have fun in 8th grade and don't be so negative try to be positive and enjoy the moments you have and make the best of it and enjoy 8th grade.

This I Believe

“Always remember the moments before they're gone”
By: Arely Marin

In our lives we believe in something. “I believe that we should always remember the moments before they're gone”.

I say that remembering things that happen throughout our life can take us a long way even when we don't know it.

A memory I have that has never left my mind was when I lost my great grandmother.

 My great grandma was a very nice lady. She always put a smile on my face. I never really spoke to my great grandma as much like I used to. One day I was out with my family and at this time my great grandma was not here, she left to Mexico, she was gonna stay over there for a little while.

Sadly, as I got back home my mother calls me and brother out she tells us to sit down. The news my mother had to tell me broke my heart. My great grandma had past away in Mexico, the saddest part is I never got to say goodbye.

Ever since that happen my family separated from each other. I hadn't seen my family in 6 years and still today I haven't seen them. I hope to see them again some day. It's sad because I remember the good old days with my family.

At that time I felt very lonely. I thought I could never heal. In that moment I fell into a dark hole. It was a very sentimental day for me.

My great grandma made me a stronger person by showing me that when life gets hard, to remember that she is by my side every step of the way. I will always remember the moments I had with my grandma.

Since this happened I feel that the life we have we shouldn't take for granted we should make the most of it because life is short. We should take every chance life has for us. Even though life might be hard on us we can all get through it.

You should always remember the moments before they're gone.

Literature circle/ Non - fiction blog

One of my essential questions that I had was Does Bobby ever get back to normal because all the theories the dads have created, do not help? So will he ever go back to the way he was? This question ties up the whole book since the book mainly talks about Bobby the invisible boy. The fathers of Bobby and Alicia made theories about why Bobby became invisible and they say that it has to deal with science. When Bobby is reflected on the light you could see his shadow. Soon or later and the end of the book Bobby goes back to normal.

In my book "Things not seen" and my article  "Seeing" words a different way, and winning a spelling bee have a main character in their topic. They use textual evidence and details on the topic. I would say a article and a book can be different because both represent different topics. They both include quotes, questions and more to help the reader understand better. My book ties in good with my article since one of my characters in my book is blind and the article talks about kid who is also blind. They may similarities but they also have differences. Both book and article provide well information.

Some examples from a book and an article is you have complete body of work on a particular subject. A book, typically, references other books or Journal articles and provides an overview in a subject. Some books are drafted as textbooks. An article is something published in a Journal or a conference, typically reviewed or very narrow scope targeting experts. Those are some examples about how a book and a article can be different and also be similar.

Clements, Andrew. Things not seen. New York: Puffin , 2006. Print.

""Seeing" words a different way, and winning a spelling bee." Newsela | "Seeing" words a    different way, and winning a spelling bee. Newsela, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 May 2017. 

Literature Circle blog

In the book " Things not seen " talks about a boy who is invisible and he tries to figure out his life as being an invisible person. Through out the book so far Bobby who is the main character of the book and he is the one who is invisible has trouble focusing on his life. He can not go to school, he can't speak to no one not even his friends he basically is a missing person. Bobby in the book feels left alone most of time because since he is invisible no one can see him and he has to stay secretive until he can go back to his normal self. Along the way Bobby meets a girl named Alicia she is blind so basically Alicia can't see him. Bobby and Alicia create a great bond together and they become good friends. At first Alicia did not know Bobby was invisible and her reaction was priceless. After knowing that Bobby was invisible she was in shocked and she couldn't beileve it was true. Bobby starts to get out more and talk to people and his parents aren't to happy. Their worried that they might take Bobby to the government to get expirmented on. Through out the book the parents meet Alicia parents and they get along pretty well. Eventually the services come to Bobby's house and ask his mother if Bobby is still here. Since Bobby has been secretive and has not been going to school the services got suspicious. They inspected the whole house. The mother said that Bobby was with his aunt sending some time with his aunt, but of course services didn't believe it. After that I still need to read the chapter to find what happens next, but that is all I know through out the book that I have read. After reading, I wonder what will happen if  Bobby will ever get back to normal and he won't be invisible no more and why was he invisible in the first place.

3rd Quarter Reflections

During third quarter I have learned a lot of new things. In the past months in ELA we learn new words every week, we also learn new prefixes/roots words. I would say that quarter 1 & 2 were my best achievements but I feel like this time in 3rd Quarter I didn't really try best on achieving my work. In this quarter I had a lot of homework missing which was mainly IXL. I wasn't participating that much in class. I started getting bad grades in ELA. So third quarter wasn't my best, but hopefully next quarter I'll try my best in order to get good grades and not miss any homework and stay on task.

Some things that I am proud of in third quarter are I learned about the Holocaust which before I never heard about, and it was interesting to learn about the Holocaust because not many people know about the tragdy with the Jews. We did this project about the Holocaust each person had a poem written by one of the Holocaust survivors when they were younger. In the poem we had to make a butterfly out of it based on our poem. Many people have creative butterfly's.We even went on a field trip about the Holocaust to learn more things about the Jews.

For the book challenge I haven't been reading any books lately, but I have read some books here and there. In the third quarter we have been doing some blogs. I think my blogs are improving little by little, but I know I still need some work to do and a little of fixing, but I do think that my blogs have gotten better through out the school year. Some strategies that I have for next quarter is try not to wonder of into space all the time. Also try to get as much work done as possible to get good grades. 

Lately in ELA class we have been doing lots of research. My reasearch before was not the best. I didn't really provide that much information. Now I think my reasearch has gotten better because before I wouldn't try my best using the information. Now that we are doing more reasearch I have gotten better. I now know how to get information and provide it into a better way of writing and I can use quotes to help my writing I could use the information that I have and put it into my own words. My research has gotten better it just takes time to get better at it and soon it will be easier.

Life is Beautiful

In the movie from Life is Beautiful  is about a guy who is named Guido Orefice a.k.a his real name is Roberto Benigni he is a Italian, Jewish man who arrives to work in the city where his uncle Eliseo operates a restaurant. Guido falls in love with a girl named Dora a.k.a Nicolette Braschi. Later he sees her again in the city where she is a teacher. Dora was set to marry a man who she did not love and he was a very ignorant man. Then Guido found a way into Dora's  heart. They are later married and have a son and own a book store. Through out their life it was all happy and joyful. Later on Guido and his uncle also Giosue are seized on Giosue birthday and they are beening taken to concertation camps. When Dora comes back to her home she finds her home all trashed and her family is gone. She goes to the train and ask the German soldier that there has been a mistake of her husband and son going into the train. The German soldier says that there is no mistake and tells Dora to leave, but Dora refuses and asks the German soldier if she can go on the train with them. Dora volunteered herself so that she could stay close with her family. 

From the book Night and the movie Life is Beautiful have a lot of similarities. Some similarities that they both have is that the characters aboard a train and get crowded with tons of people smushed all together and they have to at least stay on that train for a few days or more and some don't even make it to the camps. In the trains it is smelly and very cramped there is no were to move that much, some people who are sick are even put into those trains. After the people arrive to the camps the people get sorted by gender woman to this side and the men to the other side. Then they sort it out men get separated some men go to the right and some go to the left same for woman. Usually people die on the first day because they are killed instantly. German soldiers would tell the Jewish people they are gonna take a shower but in reality they are getting thrown into the gas chambers to die. Usually children are the ones to die first than the men and woman. Some are luckily enough to stay alive, but they still have to work. Old people and children do not work. Both book and movie go through a crises. Families get separated and get killed. It was not easy for the Jews, they had it very hard and surviving was their only wait out of the misery. 

I wouldn't say that there was a lot of differences because from the book and movie they had a lot of similarities with father and son relationship and surviving. I would say that some differences that they had was that they did experience different tragedies. From the movie Life is Beautiful  it had more humor so that it wouldn't sound and look to sad, but in the Night book it had more of a serious effect and more gloomy and sad mood to its theme. 

The mood/tone of the book and the movie had different types of ways of showing the mood/tone. In the movie Life is Beautiful  it showed its mood and tone into a humor effect. Some examples are when Guido and Giosue get sent into their camp. Giosue was asking is father questions about where were they? and why where they here? So Guido tells his son Giosue that they are gonna play a game and who ever wins and gets 1,000 points gets to win a tank. Guido tells the rules to Giosue that to win he has to stay quite, not cry, don't ask for is mom, or says that he is hungry or he will lose. Giosue does not know what is going on around him and why he is there, but his father Guido tells him in a better way that everything will be alright if only he follows those rules to be safe. 

How life is shown beautiful in the movie they start of by being happy and joyful. Guido finds his love of his life and he has a family. They live together Guido and his family go everywhere together. They are very close with each other. In the first part of the movie Guido always try's to stay positive on where ever he goes to places. Guido shows life in a better way because he is not a negative person he always is being a positive person. The movie Life is Beautiful is actually full of surprises for everyone.

Night Blog

In the book of Night  by Elie Wiesel Jews thought that there would be no harm to them well that changed in 1933. In this book it is going to talk about a kid's life named Elie who is a Jew. It is going to explain the journey and experienced that he went through during the Holocaust. Also how he has changed throughout the book about his feelings, religion, family, and more.

In the first part of the book Elie was a very religious and nice person in the beginning. When the Holocaust didn't start yet all Jews thought nothing could had happen to them they didn't believe no danger would come to them. So Elie and his father are really close together. Until one day they attacked the place were Elie and his father lived. They were both sent to a concentration camp. They were put into lines whether which way they would go either to their death or live. Both of them went to the left and they were able to stay alive but they were put into group full of people and that's where they had to stay.

In the place that they were staying Elie’s father asked a question to a Gypsy cause at that time Gypsies were also attacked. When the father asked a question to the gypsy he slapped him and Elie did not do anything about it. He stood their looking at his father laying down on the floor. A quote from the book says, “ I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent” ( 37 ). This proves that it's life or death at this time on protecting their own lives.
Throughout the book Elie feelings had changed for his father. At some times Elie would had to choose himself instead of his father. Elie still cared for his father. A quote from the book says, “ The SS officers were doing the selection: the weak, to the left; those who walked well, to the right.
My father was sent to the left. I ran after him. An SS officer shouted at my back
"Come back!" ( 91 ). In this quote it explains how Elie would still be there for his father whenever something bad is happening because he cares for his father.

Part of the beginning of the book Elie was a religious boy. He loved his God. Elie knew that is God would never fail him and that is God is always protecting him. A quote from the books says, “ I pray to God within me that he will give me the strength to ask him the right questions”. In this quote explains how he goes to his God to guide him for the correct path for his life.

At the end of the book Elie started to lose his religion because his god was not doing anything to stop the misery from the Jews. Elie said that his God stood silent and done nothing to save the people who were suffering from the Holocaust.

Even though Elie and his father had rough times together trying protect one and another even at times they did not want to because they needed to think about themselves too. They still had this connection together that kept them going through even when times got hard they made it out alive together.

Butterfly project

Side 1
 Side 2


Untitled

I’ve met enough people.
Seldom a human being
Therefore, I will wait
Until my life's purpose
Is fulfilled
And you will come

Though there is anguish
Deep in my soul
What if I must search for you forever?
I must not lose faith
I must not lose hope


Alena Synkova



I commented on Antwone's, Kiana's, Denise's, Sophie's, Lael's blogs

Berlin Memorial Activity

During the activity from our class we learned about Jews in the Holocaust. In that activity we learned a lot about how Jews were treated back then during the Holocaust. Jews didn't have many opportunities like other people. Over five or six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. It was  a very sad time when the Holocaust was happening for lots of people. Many people lost families. Lots of Jews were mainly the ones who died.

During that time Jews weren't getting the same equality like other people did. Lots of Jews weren't starved to death. Some who were killed in consideration camps. Jews could graduate. They couldn't get learned. One of the saddest parts are that if Jews wanted pets or they even had a pet they would take there pets away from them because they were jews. Another is when parents who are off to work never make it back sometimes to ever see their child again and the child is just at home all alone waiting for their parents to come back. Jews had it rough out there today there are not a lot of Jews. Many Jewish people suffered a lot and even the children had it rough out there too.

It was so sad when they also took music away from the Jews too. Today in Berlin there is a sign of music it's for a remberence about when Jews couldn't hear music and in the back it says something but in jewsish language.

2nd Quarter Reflection

In this Quarter we have learned so much through out this year since now it is 2017. From Quarter two I have learned so many different words, like words that I never heard or even seen before from last quarter. Also through out the second quarter we have been focusing on a lot about reading lots of books. We are actually doing this challenge called the 20 book challenge which is about you set yourself on this challenge on how many books you can read and so far I only had read about six books. One of my favorite books was about Albert Enistein and I got to read and know a lot about his life of when he was younger and how he became this really smart guy when he got older.

One thing that has been challenging in this quarter was trying to do my homework on time and also complete my IXL goals. It was challenging because I also had other homework to do in other classes so I never had enough time to do my homework all at the same time. Some thing that I kind of improved was getting a little better with my writing and everything else still might be a struggle for me. Some things that I could improve to help myself get through 3rd quarter is by focusing more on class and not space out. Also get my work done with the time I have left in class.

In my blogs I think I have gotten a little bit better on my writing but I think I still need a little bit of work.  In August I think it was a little bit hard because I didn't really know how to do things because we were barely coming back from break and I mostly forgot about everything which is not good. So I have improving a little as the months go by. From my blogs I still have a little trouble uploading pictures to my writing. I will say that it was a lot easier to have our laptops with us because we were able to do more things and complete things on time without any trouble. It is sad that they took our laptops away because with our blogs we didn't have any trouble uploading certain things. We had files that we could be organized and well now it is a little bit harder since now we have iPads.

Anyways other things that had happen in quater two is that we have been focusing on lot about reasearch skills I would say researching things online may not be easy at some times. There a lot of websites that tell you different things on different subjects and sometimes the websites don't always give you the best information. I say that online researching can give good information if you know the best websites to search up. After all second quarter was good I have learned new things and know a lot more things but excited to know what we learn next for third quarter.

Book Talk

The book that I am reading is called  " Dear Diary I am dead" by R.L. Stine and the genre is fiction. In this book it talks about a kid named Alex, he is that kid who doesn't do well in school and he gets bad grades all the time. In the book he has two friends Shawn and Chip these are Alex best friends. In the book Alex always makes bets with the other children in his school because he likes to make money all the time because he thinks he could win. He makes a lot of bets with this girl named Tessa who is way better then him she always gets good grades and she never loses a bet against Alex.

Until one day Alex made a bet with Tessa about who can make their own diary the best on ever and who ever would win, would get hundred dollars. They made it a deal between both of them. When Alex comes back from school he sees his mom all excited and that shocks him. His mom graves him by the hand and takes him upstairs to his room and he receives a cool gift that his mom gave him it is very old and antique gift. When Alex first saw the gift he was speechless. His mom was so happy. Alex went to go check it out and from the gift he found a cool book that looked very old and he saw, that there were no words in it so he would use the journal for his diary to write in. He wrote on the first page about his day. When he was finished writing he was very surprised about what he wrote. After writing in the journal Alex flips through the pages and when he flips through the pages you won't believe what he sees it was another entry for tomorrow day he could not believe it. When he first opened the book it was completely blank. Now there are new words, but who wrote them in the first place?

This book was very interesting to read about and spooky at the same time. I
liked this book a lot because it was fun to read. It was mysterious and interesting. It had a lot of great detail from the book. It also had a cool scary vibe to the book. It wasn't boring it kept you wanting to read more. I recommended this book to anyone who ever loves to read fiction books and that brings a little twist at the end.