7th Grade Reflections

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Seventh grade was definitely a burden, but it has also allowed me to gain lots of knowledge. It wasn’t as bad as sixth grade, since I already knew things like how to work with lockers, but it did have new challenges, such as taking a language. I signed up for Latin thinking it was going to be a blow-off class, but immediately noticed otherwise. We started off with a bit of memorization, and I got the vibe that this class was going to take a lot more memory than I had allocated to it in my mental hard drive. Another thing I hadn’t expected was having homework from almost every class, everyday. I know I most likely should have anticipated this, but I hadn’t given my homework load more as much thought as it required. Although it was arduous, seventh grade was a good year, and I much preferred it over sixth. For instance, in sixth grade, I didn’t know anything about classrooms, or how the classroom number went around the school, so looking for classrooms I needed to be in on the first day was nothing less than impossible. But now, in seventh grade, I was able to locate my classes before half of the passing period was finished.

The Return of the Bull

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A parrot was perched on a sandy archway at the entrance to the almost empty town in the desert. Its feathers were matted with sand and it had a large parcel attached to its left foot. The animal waited on its post with an almost unprecedented resolve. All the other parrots that were seated around it on the other sandy doorways and fences had given up waiting. Some murmured conversations in parrot-tongue and other had simply dozed off standing. But they all were waiting for the same thing. The bull was said to be coming today, or at least that’s what the tired, old bird that had flown in a fortnight ago. They had been waiting for about three hours, but were not going to stop anytime soon. It was said that if the bull came, then the birds would be able to speak to the two-legs once again, and if that happened then the parrots would finally be able to bestow their insight on farming and the actions of a town, and once again restore prosperity to the desert town.

The sturdy-built bull trotted into town on the thirty two hours of waiting, all of the parrots, which had previously been half asleep, were immediately at attention when the animal entered. Once inside the deserted town, it prodded around in the sand, seemingly looking for something. The behemoth of an animal went on like this for around 30 minutes, sticking its massive hoof into the ground with ease. And then, in an instant, the animal stopped. It stopped, looked around, and then promptly dropped dead in front of all the fowl. Instantly, the parrots erupted into chaos. Half of them flung themselves at the beast, trying to awaken it. The other group stayed on their perch or flew around in circles, confused. It was known now that obviously, the gift of language would not be returned to the parrots by this bull.

“Mighty Oak” By Kathy J Parenteau

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I enjoy this poem because it uses a range of different comparative methods. Also I completely can relate to all of the comparisons, which I think are fantastic. The word choice in some parts is also very well thought out.

 

“Stand tall oh mighty oak, for all the world to see,
your strength and undying beauty forever amazes me.
Though storm clouds hover above you,
your branches span the sky,
in search of the radiant sunlight you
count on to survive.
When the winds are high and restless and
you lose a limb or two,
it only makes you stronger, we
could learn so much from you.
Though generations have come and gone
and brought about such change,
quietly you’ve watched them all yet still
remained the same.
I only pray God give to me the strength he’s
given you,
to face each day with hope, whether
skies are black or blue,
Life on earth is truly a gift
every moment we must treasure,
it’s the simple things we take for granted
that become our ultimate pleasures.”

By Kathy J Parenteau
On FamilyFriendPoems.com

My Toy Bulldozer

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Compfight’s Dashadima

When I was little, I just couldn’t do without my toy bulldozer. Out of my set of building vehicle toys, that bulldozer was the only one I really remember well. It was the most diverse play thing I had set eyes on. It had moving wheels and an operational front that could dig dirt out of the ground and throw it into the plastic little holding container on the back of the toy. It had four wheels that moved on detachable axels on its bottom. While I had it, I wouldn’t ever play with anything else. No bakogon, no Barbie, I loved to construct. I would push the little vehicle around the living room and tread on different materials like concrete and carpet. I had loved to build for as long as I can remember, and this toy was the perfect outlet for that bit of creativity. Without it, I would stop playing all together. I would just sit and wait for my beloved toy the be returned.

It’s A Small World

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If you live in Austin, then you most likely know about a place called Barton springs, a massive, extremely cold natural pool that is always a good time to swim in. I’m seeing Barton springs as a joyful and fun environment as well.
First off, Barton springs is filled by a natural spring. How cool is that? You get to splash around in a pool that is large enough to were laps are a workout, and still have it be almost completely natural! I find that it makes the experience much better if you know you’re in a fun, natural area.
Not only that, but Barton springs is COLD! This may not seem like a good thing at first but I think of it as one. Cold is an excellent thing to keep you going. For instance, I run cross country, and when it’s cold outside, I do two times as well. There’s something about cold that just drives you onward. Not only that, but it’s naturally cold!
In the end, the pool named Barton springs is an extraordinary environment for swimming, and it is almost completely natural. All of these things combined makes this one of my favorite places in Austin, even though I may not be able to go there very often.

About Me

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Hello, I’m Jason. For the most part, I’m not very in tune with social media and blogging, but as a school project we began a blog, so I’ll give it a go. I am an introvert that loves biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science. I also love language, and at the moment I’m learning about Latin because so many languages are based off of it. And speaking of Latin, it’s shown me how to memorize things quickly, which is a very important in all sciences. I’m also trying to get into IPC (Integrated Physics and Chemistry) next year, since I love those subjects so much. I also play the violin in our schools orchestra.

Study Habits

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If you plan on having a future in whatever you desire, you’ve most likely tried studying at least once or twice. I try to “hit the books” as much as my mind allows (the exception being no homework nights), and I’d like to share some of what I’ve found helpful.
On a normal day, after a day of school work, I retire to my room for a prolonged session of relaxation, waiting about thirty minutes until I begin to work on the varying amount of homework I happily receive each day. Even though this might not seem the most important step to a study schedule, I find it particularly essential after a strenuous day of work in a classroom. In this period of time I normally will obtain some sustenance to allow for a peaceful studying environment.
Now, I can remember things, and quite well if I do say so myself, but only if I draw or write them. My mind has a much harder time committing spoken words to memory then just writing them down. If I was, say, memorizing the pieces of the brain, then I would get almost nothing out of an oral explanation, while a diagram or image with detailed labels would be much more beneficial.
Now, back to studying.

Expository: Why English is Confusing

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First of all, In this I’m not talking about the class, I’m talking about the language in general.

I normally start my day off with a good old look at my trusty sheet of things that I want/need to accomplish on the day of viewing. Today, however, I was scribbling down something especially strange, and noticed how many silent letters there were in just a few sentences. English is confusing!

First of all, english was influenced by more than one language! In my opinion that’s a problem in and of itself. For instance, words like “danke” from German have influenced our “thanks,” but things like “subitō” from Latin influence our “suddenly!” That just makes it more confusing for anyone studying the language or trying to learn it. I’m always trying to figure out what root words come from, because I can’t look at one language and know.

And furthermore, our rules for words and phrases aren’t strictly followed! For example, we have a rule that if you have a vowel that is followed by a consonant and then by an “e,” the vowel is said “long,” but we have words like “have” that completely ignore that! I think that if we make a rule for our language, we should follow it strictly, so as to keep our language as orthodox as possible.

In conclusion, The English language  is based off of more then one language, which gives you trouble trying to find the roots of words and through that the meanings. Secondly, English has strange rules that it doesn’t even follow. English is confusing, and said to be one of the hardest languages to learn.

Rain”forest”

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The glimmer off of the artificial coconut tree leaves left strange shadows on the cold metal walls that were painted to look as if it were the sky. Mara, A fourteen year old girl crouched behind an huge, overly vibrant leaf, which obscured her face just enough so that her bright blue eyes couldn’t be seen from a distance. She was listening to what was now an opera of the same half-real animal noises played in rapid succession. She had even memorized the order: Cricket chirp, cricket chirp, monkey call, cricket chirp(10x) toucan screech, etc.
Her pleasantly naive family was still in the “village” they’d been brought into once their ship apparently ran aground. Now, for the first three years of being here, it was all common and sound, sane knowledge that no one need question. But then, around her thirteenth birthday, she noticed something off. Something strange. And that was the sun. If you looked up directly at it, (which I don’t recommend) normally it would make its journey from east to west, which is all well and good. But here, it went from west to east. This alarmed Mara once she noticed, but since her parents were so accustomed to life in this metal box, they just thought that Mara’s compass was off.

Mexico

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When I went to Mexico with my family, we stayed with my uncle, who owns a beautiful house there. The house is four stories, it has a mosaic floored pool in the shape of a face, a balcony with an extra room on top of it. In Mexico, whilst my cousins and family was shopping at the shops that were painted with bright reds and oranges, we saw the shop that would soon become a very memorable building. We walked inside, and immediately the ornate cloth masks seemed to jump at us. All around the small pathways between shelves was beautiful handmade clothing and clay pots and pans. The clerk said in her poor English,” you get whatever you want dears.” It truly was amazing. My sister was already drawn towards the little beaded dolls, straw hats and ornate trinkets. She always seemed to love dolls and things like that. We headed back up to the light blue house after we’d seen enough of the beautiful merchandise they had in store. After dinner, I headed back to my bedroom to wait for the night to come and take me into a deep sleep, thinking about the fun tomorrow will bring.