May 18

From “Squirm”…to Hand-made Books! 🐼

Hey again, y’all! In DA’s LA class, at the start of the year we read the book Squirm by Carl Hiaasen. In the book, we read about the protagonist (Billy), who lives in Florida, but then heads to Montana to see his father. But, his father runs away to Florida, where Billy just was, to find him, and Billy finds him in the process. They stop poachers from killing endangered animals. We then, after we finished the book, started to research our OWN endangered animals we would soon do a big project on! (We didn’t know we would make a book yet.)

We first started on our animal research. I chose a giant panda (that’s why my book is on Black and White), and it was fun researching about one of the cutest animals in the jungle! Of course, we had to take notes. (NOOOOO!) After that, we used a template to start constructing our stories, and hiding little facts about our animals that we gathered in them.

Lastly, after a bunch of editing and trial and error, we printed our stories in the final copy form. We then worked with a woman named Peg Gignoux and started to handcraft our books! We used glue, construction paper, and paint to make our covers, backs, and the inside of the book. The inside was made entirely out of paper, and there was a mini scene into the animal’s habitat that we cut out. Mine allowed you to see the panda through a bamboo thicket. That way when you open it, you get a big scene of the animals habitat. Well, I guess that wraps it up. They put our books on display, and now I conclude this blog post.

May 7

Field Trip: Museum of Life and Science

 

Hey, ya’ll! A few days ago, April 28th to be exact, the sixth grade got to go on a field trip to the Museum of Life and Science! I hadn’t been there since, well, third grade. We went with another advisory, so it was twice the fun!

At first we went to the space exhibit. They had remodeled a bunch of the stations, so it looked a lot more modern and different than it had three years ago. The most fun thing we did in the space exhibit was, in my opinion, that we got to sit in a model space capsule that astronauts had gotten to sit in. It was really compact and a lot smaller than I had expected. It was sort of like being in a real rocket! We also saw models of space engines and planets, which were also really cool.

My favorite spot there was probably the animal interaction period. It was when we met with someone who worked at the museum and they showed us three cool animals. One was a bearded dragon (a lizard), one was a ball python, and the last one was a ferret. They also let us touch each of the animals! And that’s cool since you would otherwise have to go to the wild to see them. My favorite of those animals was the ferret. The ferret was really squirmy and kept trying to flail out of the instructor’s hands! But it had a super cute face and was really soft. The snake was really smooth, and the bearded dragon had a rough and almost spiky texture.

The bus rides there and back were pretty chaotic. People in our advisory kept trying to start songs we would sing, but most of them I found a bit annoying. After we got back, it was already time to go. But I thought it was a better way to spend a day than to be stuck in a classroom!

April 17

Alliterative Animal Haikus by Me

Photo from StoryboardThat

 

Twitching tufted tail.

A toasty tawny tummy.

A tired tiger.

 

 

A small snake slithers.

Scaring small spiders softly.

A sneaky scaly soul.

 

 

Diving dolphins dart.

Dancing down deep dark waters.

Dashing through the deep.

 

 

 

Sneaking in the snow.

Silently snooping in search.

A soundly snow hare.

 

 

A brown beaver builds.

Breaking and building branches.

He’s building a bridge.

 

 

March 6

Tree Planting! 🌳🪏

About a week or two ago, we did a tree planting activity with an organization called Keep Durham Beautiful at a place called Hillside Park. Keep Durham Beautiful actually works throughout the entire city of Durham. They taught us how to plant a tree and a bit of history about our location. Hillside Park was given to Durham by John Sprunt Hill. After that, in 1922, a school called Hillside Park High School was built. Also, they built the Algonquin Club, a community center for black residents of Durham.

We planted trees to provide shade, oxygen, and to purify the water. They taught us how to dig a 1-foot-deep hole with a shovel efficiently, instead of just having us sit out there for hours, digging up a single blade of grass at a time. After that, we took the already-prepared tree out of a bucket and shriveled up the bottom, which was covered in dirt and roots. We spread out the roots to make it so it would have easier access to water. Then, we set the tree into the hole, and covered it back up with the dirt we dug out. And just to make this worse, a storm blew in while we were digging. We all had to huddle under a huge tree. Lastly, we poured a ring of mulch and attached a plastic tube around the tree, to protect it from things like lawnmowers. We were frozen to the skin when we got back to school, but it was a lot of fun and worth it!

February 27

Ode to a Cheeto Puff

 

From  https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14248440255

 

Ode to a Cheeto Puff

Written by me

 

I search the store in haste.

My goal, a sweet and crunchy taste.

I find it deep in aisle nine.

For just two dollars, thirty-nine.

A bag of Cheetos coated with cheese.

My appetite, my sweet disease.

But you don’t know how satisfied

I am while munching Cheetos fried.

My mom and dad say that

I’m eating saturated fat.

It’s always what I’m looking for.

I could always have some more.

I savor every orange-ish curl, until it seems that I will hurl.

Their praises I will always sing.

Cheeto puffs, they’re my everything.

February 2

Snow Day #2

Photo from Camera

It’s the third time in about eight years that people in North Carolina have been hit with a few inches of snow! This is the second time it’s snowed this year, and both times…SCHOOL WAS CANCELLED!!! We also got snow in 2024 and, technically, 2025.  This is great weather for sledding down some steep hills. Speaking of which, my family bought a new tube sled just because of this! The snow down here is quite rare, so we wanted to enjoy it while we could. Go and get out there, and have a snowball fight, or shred the mountain on a sled! Have fun!

January 28

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Movie Review

 

In Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, they are holding a competition that they hold every hundred years. Three 17-years-or-older champions compete neck and neck in a deadly and dangerous contest, the Triwizard Tournament…and Harry is somehow drawn into it. Harry not only has to compete in this deadly competition, but he also has been having strange visions about Voldemort coming back to full power, and signs around every corner. He also dreams about Cho Chang, his crush, (and maybe doing a little more than dream). New teachers arrive, and Harry is noticing some strange things happening as new villains appear. Although, how can Harry accomplish all he wants if he might not even survive the tournament? He has to remember…not everything is as it seems. Can Harry survive in the tournament? Or will all be lost…including his life? Find out, and watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

January 13

Swimming 25-26

As the 2024 swimming long-course meters meets come to a close, the 25-26 short-course season has begun. I entered the first official meet with over 5 best times from last year, as expected, considering I swam it last year. As shown in the photo above, I posted my best times so far this season. The Junior Olympics meet is in only a few months, and I already have 1 qualifying time 🤩! Wish me luck in my next meets!

January 13

2025 X-Mas Vacation

Ski piste map

This 2025 year came to a close in the sense of traveling. My yearly trip to Switzerland had begun. The skiing was fun, not the jet lag. I had a lot of fun skiing and snowboarding with family and friends. Almost all the fun came to an end when I broke my wrist in the last week of the trip. Yet, I was still able to eat chocolate and drink the best hot chocolate ever! I had a lot of fun in the snow, and I’m excited to maybe go in the spring and to go next winter!