Gallery Walk 1/30/15

My Reflection of the Gallery Walk

           One thing I learned from the gallery walk is that there might be a cure for cancer. I found this out from Diana Almazon's article. Scientists have found a vaccine that kills the cancer cells. The downside to this vaccine is that it only works on some types of cancer. It doesn't work on all types of cancer, only some. For example this vaccine doesn't kill Leukemia. I found this pretty interesting because scientists have years trying to find the cure for cancer and they have finally found it. Well, they haven't found the cure for all types of cancer but they have at least found a cure for some types of cancer. 

           Another thing I learned from the gallery walk is that the boy in the box mystery is still unsolved. This mystery has been unsolved for 60 years now.  The boy is still It is about a kid who somehow got on Earth, somehow got into a box, and somehow disappeared.  No one knows who the kid is, or who his parents are. I found this interesting because no one knows anything about the boy or who he was. This was pretty shocking because after 60 years no one knows anything about kid yet. 

Blog for 1/26/15

Ashes By Ilsa J. Bick

Prompt:  Are the characters realistic (do they seem like they could be read people)? Why

or why not?

Pages Read: 0-52

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick is about a teenager girl named Alexandria (Alex) who has a brain tumor in her head. She left her home recently because she wanted to take a hike. She lives with her Aunt Hannah. Alex left her home and drove all the way to Michigan. Alex just wanted to get stuff off her mind. She wanted to get away from all the medicine. Her Aunt Hannah thought she wanted to commit suicide. Her Aunt Hannah called her once Alex reached Michigan. After that they never spoke to each other again.

The main character in Ashes which is Alex is pretty realistic. She has a brain tumor which is a real thing in real life. She's also a regular teenager like everyone else. She has suffered a lot of things because of her brain tumor. For example, she lost most of her memories and she even lost her sense of taste and smell. She's gone through problems some people haven't thanks to her brain tumor. These things make it pretty realistic.

Another realistic character in Ashes is Ellie. Ellie is a little girl who was walking around the woods with her grandpa Jack and accidentally met Alex. Ellie is sort of ungraceful child. She lives with her grandpa because her Dad died and her mother left her when she was young. She has a dog named Mina which was her dad's dog before he died. Her grandpa gave it her so she could have a piece of her father still around but she hates that dog. These things are pretty realistic.

I commented on Omar, Rebecca, and Sam's blogs for this week.

Blog for 1/20/15

Go Ask Alice By Anonymous 

Prompt:  Would you recommend this book to friends? Why or Why not?   
Pages Read: 58-end


"Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous is diary of an actual 15 year old girl who got into drugs. She was a really good student, she had honors and her parents were really proud of her. Until one day they had to move houses. Everything changed for her.. new home, new school, and new friends. When school was finally over she went to spend the summer with her grandma and while she was there she got invited to a party. At the party she was served a coke which had LSD in it. Once she tried that drug... her whole life changed.

Yes, I would recommend this book. This book changed my point of view on the outcomes of drugs. "Go Ask Alice" is an actual diary of a girl who took drugs. The outcome of her taking drugs was surprising. She explained everything that happened to her when she took the drugs. I would recommend this book because some teenagers these days think drugs are cool and stuff like that but this book explains the outcome of taking drugs. The outcomes are horrifying. A 15 year old girl who was a straight A student came down to skipping classes, selling drugs to minors, etc. She ruined her whole life by just taking one drug. I would really recommend this book.

She slowly begins to get addicted to the drugs, day by day she takes them more and more. The more she takes them the more she ruins her own life. She tries to stop her addiction but she can't resist and she has to take drugs. In her diary she even says, "After you've had it, there isn't even a life without drugs". Two things that you will learn in this book is to never do drugs and to not trust a lot of people. She trusted different people and told them the truth about her and how she did drugs. Those people went around and told other people and eventually everyone heard about her. When she tried to erase her past about the drugs she couldn't because everyone knew what she had done. This is a really life changing book, I would recommend it to most people.
(I know I never mentioned the name of the girl in the book and it is because it never mentions it in the book)

I commented on Mia, Diana's, and Evie's blogs for this week.

Blog for 1/12/15

Go Ask Alice By Anonymous 

Prompt: Summarize what you read today.    
Pages Read: 0-58

"Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous is diary of an actual 15 year old girl who got into drugs. She was a really good student, she had honors and her parents were really proud of her. Until one day they had to move houses. Everything changed for her.. new home, new school, and new friends. When school was finally over she went to spend the summer with her grandma and while she was there she got invited to a party. At the party she was served a coke which had LSD in it. Everything changed for her.

In the book "Go Ask Alice" from pages 0 to 58 it talked about how Alice is slowing become more and more addicted to the drugs. On page 31 it talked about how she got invited to a party. During that party they played a game and they gave everyone a coke. She got a coke too but what she didn't know was that 10 out of the 14 cokes had LSD in them. Alice had no idea. After she had her first try of drugs her curiosity overcame her. She began so get curious of how the other drugs tasted. Then she tried acid, speed, and she even smoked pot. Over what I have read so far it shows Alice is slowly becoming more addicted to drugs.

She is also taking drugs as a part of her everyday life. Her friend Chris gave her a drug pill in shape of a heart. She said to take them when she is depressed or feeling sad. Alice is slowing become addicted to those because she takes them everyday so that she could have enough energy for the whole day. Then at night she takes tranquilizers and sleeping pills. She is slowing becoming more and more addicted to the drugs.
(I know I never mentioned the name of the girl in the book and it is because it never mentions it in the book)

Life Reflection

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

          The last time I did something for the first time was go ice skating and riding in zero gravity. I had never gone ice skating before. Over winter break me and my family took a trip to Navy Pier's Winter Wonderfest. I had never gone there before. So it was a whole new experience for me. The experience was really cool. I got to go on all different rides. The best ones were ice skating and "Riding Zero Gravity".
          I had never gone ice skating before so ice skating was a whole new experience. I had no experience on how to ice skate. So that made it difficult for me because I was/am a beginner. I thought ice skating was gonna be easy because a lot of people made it look easy. I was way wrong. When I entered the skate ring I almost slipped right away. I had no balance with me and I had no experience. I began to skate around the edge of the ring, then after I while I got the hang of it... sort of. The truth is skating is way more difficult than it looks.

          Ice skating also left me with a memory.... burned skin. When I got the ice skating shoes I don't know what it had on the inside but when I began to ice skate the shoe kept rubbing against my skin. In result of rubbing against my skin repetitively it caused it to burn my skin... badly. I have had this burn ever since I went ice skating and I currently still have it.   

          A whole new experience for me was riding in zero gravity. I had never done that before. In Navy Pier's Winter Wonderfest they had a ride called "Riding Zero Gravity." The title itself seems tempting. The line to the ride was only 10 min because a lot of people wanted to ride it. On the ride you couldn't sit down you had to stand up. The only security you got was a loose belt. Which made me doubt the ride. When the ride began it was only spinning in circles then it began to get really fast then the ride got into a vertical position. You could see all the people in line including most of the Wonderfest. During the ride you could not move at all. If you tried to move your head it would get pushed back. "Riding Zero Gravity" and ice skating were two whole new experiences for me.

Blog for 1/8/15

The Maze Runner By James Dashner

Prompt: Does the title fit the story? Why or why not?

Pages Read: 63-end

The Maze Runner is the story of Thomas and how he manages to survive the maze. Thomas wakes up one day in a box with no memory. He has no memory of his past, why he is there and who he actually is. All he can remember is his name. When people come and take him out of the box he begins to be disturbed and pushed around. When Alby (leader) shows Thomas around he tells him about all the jobs there are, the different places, and the maze. Alby tells him about being a Runner and suddenly curiosity takes over Thomas and he has the urge to become a Runner... and that 's how it all began.

          The title fits the story perfectly. Once Thomas arrives and learns about the Glade(setting) and the maze he has the urge to become a Runner. A Runner is a person who enters the maze to try to find an exit. One of the rules of the Glade is to not enter the maze if you are not a runner. Thomas broke the rule just to save the lives of Alby and Minho(Keeper). After that he spent the whole night in the maze and survived. No one had every survived a whole night there and Thomas proved them wrong. After saving the lives of Alby and Minho he got elected as a runner.

          Thomas got elected as a Runner. A Runner is a person who runs in the maze. Maze Runner fits the story perfectly. The Maze Runner is a really good book to read. The story is in third person point of view. It is a really interesting book to read. Once you began to read it, it catches your interest really fast. I would also recommend reading the movie.