Independent Reading Program Addition - T1B42

After visiting the Writer's festival on Wednesday, I noticed a lot of people buying those books by the three authors and getting them signed. I was just wondering, since the descriptions of those books were so tempting and many people seemed interested, maybe we should request for a book test to be written for them. Just a thought, since last time I checked, they weren't on the Independent reading list.

Mouth and Foot Paintings (the 46th edition) - T1B41

I was flipping through some old files, papers, and documents when I came across a small purse-sized art calendar of 2010. It is reproduced from originals painted by the Mouth and Foot Painting artists. This means that they have malfunctions in their arms or hands that disables them from painting by holding the brush with their fingers. These artists aren't famous, but their masterpieces are really "wowing". I love art and painting myself, which creates another connection with this calendar. Just to let you guys know, if you're about to throw out some old calendars that have interesting monthly pictures, I'd like to collect them. Anything extraordinary would be fine - pictures, captions, paintings(especially) would be fine. Thanx.

Such precision!

Magic Castle - T1B40

Help people! When is the magic castle due, and do we have to color it? Oh, and we don't have to draw the inside, so we? I put a lot of emphasis in the surroundings of the castle! Just wondering... I want to confirm the due date, since the Synergy class pages are student updated...

xoxo to all you happy people( basically everyone)

Bye-bye Term 1 - T1B39

Today is the middle of the 1st term. Gosh, it felt like only a week ago, we all just met and stepped into Churchill for the first time, knowing that it'll be our homes for the next 5 years. My first blog was about moving in. Now we've done that, the moving van's driven off, and we're all settled in. At least I am. I have great friends, great teachers, and the best learning environment I could possibly hope for. I ensure that I will never find another school like Churchil. It's one of a kind. Anyway, I can't believe that the term's almost over! OMG! If time continues to fly like this, I'll be 80 before I know it, with grey hair (or not hair at all), no teeth (like grandpa), and alone... WAHHHH!

On a happier note, thank you to all my friends who've helped to make September and October so awesome. :)

The Writer's Festival - T1B38

It's the beginning of the school year, still barely pass mid-october, and our synergy class is already off to a rocking start.  As a part of English 8, our class had been to two field trips: The Vancouver Playhouse, and Granville Island. The trip to the Vancouver Playhouse was a blast. We went to see "The Fantasticks", but that's another story. Recently, our synergy class bused to Granville Island to attend the Writer's festival. We left at around 8:45 in the morning, and missed class for the entire day. But hey, it was so good that it was worth it. We listened to three authors briefly summarize their latest books and inspirations.

The first person was Richard Newsome. He's from Sydney, Australia, and wrote "The Billionaire's Curse". It is his focus and greatest accomplishment of the past 10 years. Newsome isn't incredibly famous, but his book has an exciting plot and an interesting trailer. The book is a mystery novel - it's about a boy inheriting about a billion dollars from his great-grandmother. The feeling of being a billionaire is exciting and overwhelming for about five minutes until he realizes that there's a murderer after him. I haven't read it yet, but I'm tempted to. Lifelong mystery quests are adventurous to read about.

The second author is probably amoung the most famous of Canadian authors. He wrote best-selling Airborn, the Silverwing Saga, and has just popped out a new novel: "My Halfbrother".  We gave a warm welcome and a chunk of our time to Kenneth Oppell. He's won the Gigi awards, and about 20 other awards. After getting to know him abit, he's really young for his accomplishments. He also writes almost a whole novel every year. Impressive! ( and experienced...)

The third and last author of the day was Sharon E. McKay. She is also now my new heroine. Sharon is a
war artist. She spent a year in Afghanistan dressed like a soldier to study the situations Afghan children face. Her accomplishment is brought out to the world with her latest book: Thunder over Kandahar. After two weeks of wearing a 30-pound protective vest, and carrying all her own food, you could tell she put a lot of her life into her books. Sharon's had adventures in Uganda as well. Her life is an example of loving devotion to strong kids in war. After listening to a very long long long interview with her, I had only three thoughts in mind. 1. She has so many great stories, and loves to tell them. 2. She lived such a meaningful life. Such energy! Such emotion! and Such journeys! 3. Sharon is one heck of an amazing woman full of love and life. I wish she was my grandmother, or one of them. "Boring" isn't in her vocabulary.

I know, I'm getting carried away here. And I've used too many of the same words.

T1B37

This image another view of  Chicken Little, based on my last blog. You'll have to read that and Judy's Randomness Questionnair #2 to understand what I'm babbling about now. 

1 image = 1000 000 words :)

RQ #2 - Falling Clouds - T1B36

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Hmmm, Chicken little is not completely crazy. He knows half of what he's talking about. Today is Judy's Randomness Questionnaire Column #2: Do Clouds fall from the sky?

Well, here's another way of phrasing this question: If water is heavier than air, how do clouds stay up in the sky? They don't. Who ever said that clouds don't fall. They are constantly dropping. They are downright sluggards. Cloud drops drop at around 0.3 centimeters per second. And since they are so tiny, they're only 0.01 centimeters in diameter, usually not noticable to the naked eye.

So Chicken little isn't so wacko after all. No need to run, duck, or panic. It's just the sky falling all the time. Thank god they don't have the same effect and velocity of a water balloon. Although that would be a lot of fun! You don't say. LOL