Veterans Day Blog

"The Great Heroes of War"

Heroes are not far
There all around
In homes
In cars
In offices
Heroes are never far


Some are fighting war
Some are fighting for their life
But there's the still the group that makes it home
To family
To friends
To pets
To you
Heroes are never far

Some have more honor than others
Some have none at all
But people know them
With or without a name
Then those names can make it home
To cars
To offices
To homes
To family
To friends
To pets
To YOU
Heroes are never far

Investigative journalism

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Newscast: 2016 Halloween weirdness

Costumes are getting weirder and weirder every year. On October 22, 2016 many costumes around Berwyn, IL caught people's attention. Now halloween isn't until a week from now but over the weekend a costume party was going on near Clinton Ave. As people were entering the party the costumes people wore ranged from funny to horrifying. One series of costumes that seemed to continue were comic book characters. Mostly Harley Quinn and other characters from recent movies based on comics. Some costumes were homemade and others were store bought. Although some may not be able to tell the difference, others can. 

One way you could tell what's store bought are if you see that costume in a store or online. One way you could tell if a costume is handmade is not seeing it on a store as well as the quality of the costume. If it’s a terrible costume where you can’t tell who it’s supposed to be and pieces falling of are most likely store bought. Although, store bought costumes are known to be more expensive. Homemade costumes could usually cost at low prices because everything you buy could be cheap. Here's a tip of advice from Lucy Van  Pelt (It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown) "A person should always choose a costume which is in direct contrast to her own personality."

Many people have already started to put up their halloween decorations. Some houses don't really have a lot of effort put into them. While others are extremely detailed! The most popular decoration around Berwyn  is a gravestone. Most homes have about 2-5 gravestones on their lawn. Lots of the stones have the letters R.I.P which means Rest In Peace. ALso, some have motion sensors that cause either a sound (like a growl or scream) or something would pop out of the ground ( a hand or head). More declarations only add on to the entire creepiness of a house. Some decorations are so frightening they leave someone mortified. 

1st quarter reflection blog

1st quarter reflection blog Where are you in your 10 book challenge? In my 10 book challenge I have read The Giver (by Lois Lowry), Harry potter and the cursed child (by J.K. Rowling), Paper Towns (by John Green), and The Clockwork Three (Matthew J. Kirby). So far that is a total of four books which is not too bad and also not to amazing either. My goal is to do a 13 book challenge instead of the 10 book challenge. I’ve liked all of these books especially the Harry Potter book because this book was unique to the rest of the series. I’ve never read the other books but because my older sister is a Harry Potter freak she made me watch all the movies. So that made me want to read the rest of the books starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

 What strategies have benefitted you? I have lots of strategies for many things some for homework and others for studying. My strategy for homework is writing down everything i’m going to do on a stickie note on my book. I do that mostly in ELA because that's when I have my book out most of the time. Another strategy for homework is taking a picture of whatever I need to do and saving it as my lock screen on my ipad so that way i’m reminded to do whatever that assignment is. That also works with having to study. For subjects like math I take pictures of the questions I got wrong in IXL that way I can always look back and see what I did wrong and fix it.

 What have you learned about your world? I’ve learned so much about my world. I’ve mainly gained this knowledge in ELA and science. My favorite thing that i’ve learned about my world is how one person can do one little thing and could completely change the world. Everyone imagines the world in a different way some picture it as a utopia where nothing goes wrong and life is great. Even if those people face the hard truth of their reality not being so great they still choose to remain happy. Others however have a different point of view. Take a criminal for example some of those people choose to do the wrong thing. Why? That's because they see the world as a place where opportunity never comes. So they turn to a life of crime by theft, murder, ransom. I however am in the group of people who see things both ways. The world isn't perfect it's full of crime and death. However it’s also full of life and wonder. People can make a huge difference in the world if they choose to.

Film vs book

Film vs Book The Giver

Part 1

One event that was different in the movie The Giver the book was the ceremony for the release of the old. In the movie it is shown as being a ceremony that the entire community sees. However in the book there is a part when Jonas is volunteering at the house of old. There an old lady named Larissa tells him about the release ceremony for a resident named Roberto. Jonas didn't know what the ceremony was like. So Larissa gives him details that make the movie ceremony so much different from the book. One detail that Larissa gave on page 31 she says “They told his whole life before they released him.” Another detail she gives is “We chanted the anthem.”(32). This is important because release is such a serious matter in that community that the movie didn't even show that part because I believed that if the book wasn't going to show the anthem then I thought the movie would but they never have. I figured that an anthem would be great for the book to give the readers more knowledge about the community.


Part 2

They casted Brenton Thwaites to play the role of Jonas in The Giver. I don't like this decision because not only is the character itself different but in the book Jonas is described as being 12. Well, in the movie Jonas looks 16. Also the personalities of the two versions were very different. On page 1 it says “Frightened was the way he felt a year ago…” Another trait is when the chief elder says “We are all aware that Jonas has been a top student throughout his school days. This is important because we never see the plane that made him afraid and Jonas in the movie never seems afraid and anxious all the time. Also because the movie started so soon before the ceremony we never really see how the character is in school. So there is a huge difference between the two versions of the character. The character I think should've played Jonas is David Mazouz. He will be able to act out all of the attributes and look younger than Brenton. He currently plays Bruce Wayne in Gotham and when he plays that character he sometimes shows traits Jonas possesses.

Part 3

I say the book impacted my view on the story most. Although the movie gave me actual visuals of some events. The book still gave more details. On page 68 Jonas reads the rules and the first one says “Go immediately at the end of school hours each day to the Annex room behind the House of Old…” The house of old in the movie is in some field far away from the community. Another example is in page 69 it says “What if he did dream…” In the book dreaming comes as a natural thing everyone has. However in the book it comes as something no one possesses and is stopped by the injections. In my opinion the book is a lot better than the movie. It has more details and more plot development.

Giver Themes and Dynamic or Static?

Is Jonas a dynamic character? 

Jonas is definitely a dynamic character. During the beginning of the book he is a cowardly, nervous, and very anxious. This is shown when the airplane freaked him out “Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen.”(1). Jonas explaining what fear feels like shows that he has experienced it many times before. Then after he becomes the receiver of memory he begins to feel more confident about everything. Later in the book he begins to take risks this is shown when an unscheduled holiday occurs “He had not taken the pills, now for four weeks… and his new heightened feelings permeated a greater realm than his sleep… now he could see all the colors.” (130). This is important because it shows how much happier and confident he is after he gets a job. It seems as though as soon as he entered the Annex room on his first day on the job he started to have more confidence about everything.

What's the theme for The Giver? 

I’ve determined that the theme for The Giver is wisdom comes from memories. Memories are constantly being used throughout the entire book. One example is when Jonas is uncertain if he wants to be the receiver of memory “He didn't want the memories, didn't want the honor, didn't want the wisdom.” (121). This means that he knows that wisdom can come from memories. Bad memories are like warning signs that let you know what might happen if you do something without reason. Another example is when he looks back at what he has seen so far with the memories “Now, through the memories, he had seen oceans and mountain lakes and streams.” (131). This is important information because he has seen and learned so much through the memories The Giver has given to him. He’s learned about snow, sunshine, war, etc. all of those memories gave him wisdom and more knowledge about his community and helped him realize that his community is that great after all.