Project Half Brother

Well, where do I start?!  I liked the movie and the book, so let’s go from there.  I thought that in the movie they showed more of the cimpanzee side of Nim than they did of Zan in Half Brother.  Kenneth Oppel didn’t really show Zan’s dangerous side in the book, while in the movie Nim was a really violent little chimp! Could you imagine getting bit by Nim or Zan? Those little guys could kill you if they wanted…..or maybe not, just thinking here.

I thought that some parts were really sad in the documentary. The beginning of the movie when the woman is taking Nim away from his mother was really sad to me. The way that they tranqulized her just to take away her baby, just adds to the sadness that she mother already had six of her babys taken away from her. Then when Nim got moved from place to place I thought was sad because, I think, just when he was getting used to where he was or feeling like he was finally home, they took him somewhere else. The most heartbreaking scene in the move for me was when they were taking all those chimps to LEPSIN. Even the part where they showed the chimp on the table, all the doctors giving him shots and all that medical suff. In the book I almost cried at two parts. Yes, I do cry about books. One part that I thought was really sad, sweet, and cute all at the same time was when Ben and Zan fell asleep holding hands at Dr. Helson’s ranch. It really showed how much they cared for one another. The part before that too, when Zan was getting mad at Ben because he wouldn’t come into the cage and was signing like crazy. Finally, the ending when Zan signed “I love you Ben” I almost cried. It was the sweetest part in the book I think because it is true, they love each other.

With that, my friends, is my overall view of Half Brother and Project Nim!

:)

The Slavery

Definition of slavery – The state of one bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household.

Zan was brought into the Tomlin household since he was a baby chimp. They have treated him well, like a human being should. When you think about it it is almost like slavery; being kept in a place to be watched constantly, being part of an experiment . Zan is property of their household, but he doesn’t serve them like the definition says. He is not in captivity at a zoo or in a science lab, he has a home with food, toys, and a family.

While some people might think that this isn’t or is slavery, I think that Zan being brought up from the wild is both, but I have explainations. They are not hurting him at all, except for the part where Dr. Tomlin bit his ear to teach him a lesson, they are doing an experiment to see if a chimp can be brought up like a human. You can keep a dog, cat, hamster, mouse, etc., so what is the difference in having a monkey as a pet? On the other hand, Zan has his life being controlled by humans. He is kept in a house to be part of an experiment. It isn’t like being in captivity, like at a zoo or in Sea World, but it is close enough to sound like it.

I am leaning more towards it not being slavery because Zan is happy where he is even though sometimes he may not act like it. He has a home that cares for him, a family too, so I don’t really see what is so bad about that. They aren’t doing anything to harm or scare him, just teaching him how to be like a human for a scientific experiment.

Well, those are my thoughts on this subject. I may be wrong, but that is my opinion :)

Have a nice day, week, hour, minute, second, LIFE!

The Moment of Truth : Exams!

Hey everyone! This last week we had our mid-term exams which were four subjects, ELA, Social Studies, Science, and Math. There is also a very fabulous song for science. This marks the end of the first half of the school year. Judging on my overall marks I think that I did very well, very well to me is getting over 70%.

The time that I took to study for exams was, in total, 10 hours before exam week. I also studied after exams when I got home which made my entire total 13 hours. I read over all of my work to make sure that I had all of the information that I thought that I would need for the exam. My mom would make mini tests for each of the subjects to see if I knew what I had to know. I would also re-wrote what I remember from the sheets afterwards to see if I knew information about the subject.

In June we have our final exams and I would like to get better marks, so I have made some notes for me to follow to study better. I will study for a longer time period, a week before exams start, so I have more time and not procrastinate when I only have 3 days instead of a week longer. I’m also going to try to get new study habits and not get too hooked on the old ones that I have now. And lastly, I will take my time studying to get everything that I need to know into my head.

Our class wrote letters to ourself in the beginning of September which we will open in June. Inside of them we wrote down some goals that we would like to achieve by the end of the school year. Two of my goals, that I can remember correctly, were to get good marks on my report cards and do well in exams. I think that I have done well with my marks on my first report cards so far and I’m pretty pleased with my overall marks from exams and just the marks that I got in general.

Lastly for this blog post, here is a six word story of how I think the first half of my year went.

“Trying hard to succeed this year.”

Well, have a fine day!!!

The Hunger Games

So, basically, I am obsessed with the book “The Hunger Games”. Here is some info and the plot of the beginning of the book………..

The book was written by Suzanne Collins and puslished in 2008 by Scholastic. The book takes place in the future after the destruction of North America, known as the nation of Panem. Panem is split up into 12 districts and the Capitol. Every district has a specialty. District 12 is mining, 11 is agriculture, 10 is livestock, 9 is grain, 8 is textile, 7 is lumber, 6 is transportation, 5 is power, 4 is fishing, 3 is electronics, 2 is military, and 1 is luxury (the Capitols favourite). Every year, as a punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, there is a televised event known as the Hunger Games which is fully controlled by the Capitol. 1 boy and 1 girl from each district is chosen to as a “tribute” to compete in a competition to the death. All the tributes are brought to the capitol to be trained in the art of survival.

The book follows a 16-year-old named Katniss Everdeen, District 12, who volunteers after her younger sisters name, Primrose Everdeen, was chosen. Peeta Mellark, also 16, is the male tribute from District 12 who is to compete in the games. Each district tributes have a mentor, Katniss and Peeta are graced by the presence of Haymitch Abernathy, a previous winner of the Hunger Games, who just happens to always be drunk. The three of them are brought to The Capitol by train, while on there Haymitch instructs them to learn more about the other tributes from the other districts.

In the Capitol you must always look your best, that is why each tribute has a stylist. Katniss’ stylist is Cinna, and Peeta’s stylist is Portia. For the opening ceremonies, taking place in the center of The Capitol, the stylists of the tributes choose how they will look and be presented. Cinna and Portia make suits that can be set on fire, Peeta and Katniss being from the mining district, while they ride down the streets on their carriage. The next day are where the interviews are, in front of The Capitol and all of Panem. Each tribute has 3 minutes to be interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. When it is Peeta’s time, he admits that he has had a long time love for his fellow tribute, Katniss Everdeen. The Hunger Games then start the next day. The 24 tributes rise up from each of their launch rooms into the Cornucopia, the center of the arena, and the games begin………………..

 

xoxoxoTAYLAxoxoxo

Half Brother – The 70′s

Working with Sully and Alyssa was really fun. Our topic was the 70′s, and we learned a lot. We learned some stuff that probably wouldn’t have even crossed our minds without this assignment. We learned that buildings of the World Trade Center were completed and started during the 70′s, gas stations all across America were closed for months during ’73 and ’79, and that the first Apollo moon landing occured during this decade. We learned that there were different cars and clothing styles than there are now, and that there were lots of celebrities. The furniture was very different with lots of different colours and, well, they were ugly. There were lots of cool things that would be very different if they were still here in 2011. Some clothing styles would make you look very strange if you wore them out today. Same with the hairstyles, but not as much with some of the styles. OverallI’m pretty sure that we learned some pretty important information that we would need to understand the book, Half Brother, just a little bit better.

If you want to see what Half Brother will be about, watch this:

Well, ta-ta for now!

~tayla

 

Two Classrooms, One Book

Hello again! This being my first year in Mr. Fishers class, this is my first time collaborating with other students. The cool thing is that they are more they are more 2,700 kilometers away! Our task was to make a presesntation about the book ‘Half Brother’ by Kenneth Oppel, based on a true story about how people tried to figure out if they could make a chimp act like a human being.

There were 13 groups, the one I was in was in the group ‘The 70′s’ with Sully and Alyssa. We had to find pictures and lots of information, considering the fact that we were only born in the 90′s. We found out so much information that some of it had to be cut from the doc. Even though some of us didn’t want our stuff to be taken off the doc or the presentation, we managed to put most of the best information onto the presentation. Since I was working with two eighth graders, only knowing one of them at the beginning, I was a bit nervous. Through the weeks that we worked together, we managed to get along and learn eachothers work methods and what we liked and disliked.

Working with someone over Google Docs was a little different for me because I am used to working with my friends from around the classroom and my school, but it was very interesting to work that way.  Being able to present things over Google Docs with other people is a lot easier than having to make one whole presentation on your own. You get to help other people with their ideas and what looks good or doesn’t with the purpose of a slide. If you don’t like something, then you can just ask someone if it looks good or not and they will give you an answer and that is how you would make your decision.

There were troubles with the internet at times but we switched browsers and everyting was working better. All in all, it was a very great expierence to have and I am looking forward to more through the next year or two in this classroom.

Stay tuned for more news! haha

~Tayla :D

Interesting Interests That Are Interesting

My name is Tayla and I am in grade 7 along with my 26 other class members who go to Joseph H. Kerr.

There is nothing that I have in common with everyone.

Something I have in common with most people is having the same favourite part of school which is math.

Something that I have in common with a few people is our favourite food being PIZZA!!

Something that is unique about me is that I’ve been to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida :D

The person from my Wingham that is most like me is taylwalk because we both have the same nickname, which is Tay Tay.  We both like talking to our friends at school, and we both like to play the game badminton.  We are both also afraid of spiders!

How many brothers and/or sisters do you have?  I have2 brothers and 2 sisters. :D

So long for now everyone <3

 

 

Live Iconic, Stay Iconic!

ICONic Boyz made history by being the youngest crew to ever compete on Americas Best Dance Crew.  Although there were only 7 who went on the show, there were 16 in all.  The 7 boys names were Vinny Castronovo, Nick Mara, Madison Alamia, Mikey Fusco, Jason Smith, Thomas Micili and LouisDiPippa.  All of the boys went to ICON Dance Complex and became great friends.  ICON Dance Complex is located in Englishtown, New Jersey.  The seven were chosen from how fast they could pickup choreography and how well they could do it.  They oldest named Vinny Castronovo is the youngest of two sisters named Bianca and Alessandra.  Nick has one older brother who is in college.  Madison has two brothers the oldest is named Justin.  Mikey has one older sister named Nicolette.  Thomas has one younger sister who is just a baby.  Louis has an older sister who is named Angelica.  Nicolette and Angelica both went to ICON but Nicolette quit.  On Americas Best Dance Crew they started off with 10 total crews.  Week by week ICONic Boyz managed to get the votes to stay from their ICONiacz.  They amazed the judges every week with a new dance.  In the end it came down to I.aM.mE and ICONic Boyz to battle it out for the trophy.  I.aM.mE won but ICONic Boyz were the real winners to their fans.  I love them because they inspired me to never give up and to follow what I believe in.  Many people say that they can’t dance or are just babies, but they are my inspirations.

 

This is Me :)

Hi ,my name is Tayla and I’m 12 years old and in grade 7!  I live in Narnia, or Snow Lake.  The best place to get food in town, hands down, is Angelinas Pizza.  I could eat their pizza all day everyday, but I wouldn’t or else I would probably die haha.  In the summer I try to go swimming every day that it is nice.  In the winter I like to go sledding and ski-dooing.  I have brown hair and blue eyes and currently 5’3.  I have a 3 year old black cat named Jonas (don’t even ask). I am a huge fan of ICONic Boyz, which makes me an ICONiac and a GRANDer, and I.aM.mE Crew.  One of my biggest inspirations is Vincent Castronovo, he has an amazing story which I will one day tell all of you people (Hopefully).  My favourite colours are pink, purple, royal blue and lime green.  My favourite foods are spaghetti, tacos, pizza, grapes, apples, apple pie, grapefruit and candy(haha).  I love to play volleyball for a school sport.  My favourite tv shows are Shake It Up, The Next Star, Americas Best Dance Crew, A.N.T Farm and So Random.  Some of my favourite singers are Justin Bieber, Jasmine Villegas, Lights, Selena Gomez, Mimoza Duot, Adele, Zendaya Coleman, Katy Perry and Britney Spears.  My favourite songs right now have to be Just A Friend by Jasmine Villegas, La La La and All About Him by Auburn, My Delimma by Selena Gomez and Someone Like You by Adele.  I love to play some video games such as The Sims 3, Toontown and Wii Games.  My favourite places that I have ever been are Walt Disney World and West Edmonton Mall, but I would love to go to Australia or Englishtown, New Jersey.  I have two brothers and two sisters which are all younger than me.  Their names from oldest to youngest are Jackson, Makenna, Brayden and Katy.  My jersey number is 6 and is one of my favourite numbers.  When I am older I want to be a teacher, dancer or a singer.  The best memory that I have lived was going to Justin Bieber’s : My World Tour on September 14th, 2010.  I like reading books but I don’t like picking them out from the library because I can never decide which ones I like.  My favourite books are Skinned and Ceiling Stars.  Now that you know all this random stuff about me, enjoy my blog!

Have a great day!