Poetry

Three Soldiers

Only three soldiers left on your battlefield.
Is it worth it?
To mortify those three soldiers?
They are about to forfeit.
They have the same look in their eyes, rage.
So powerful,
like the hunger in a hunter’s eyes.
The red of the fire will consume them.
They will despise you,
just watch.

The ice started at my fingertips,
got to my brain,
slowly replenishing my blood with anger.

They won’t grieve for you.
This fight needs to end.
They need this fight to be over,
I need this fight to be over.
It’s time for this chapter to end.
Do you really want to lose those three soldiers?
I hope it was worth fighting for.

Reflection: 1. What is the theme of your poems? Why did you select your theme?

The theme of my poems is desire. I chose this poem because a lot of people in my life my moved or left me lately, and I want to express how desire that they were still with me. In this poem, I took more of a angry tone because I'm made at the people who are the reason why I'm not with them any more.

2. What makes this poem your best poem?

This poem has the most figurative language and it has the best word choice. This poem doesn't just have desire, but it also has anger. I feel like I got the point across with all of the word choice and figurative language. I think that this is really strong and powerful.

3. What is the best line or stanza from your poem? Write it down. Explain with it is your best line or stanza.

"The ice started at my fingertips,
got to my brain,
slowly replenishing my blood with anger."

I think that this is my best stanza because this it not only has personification, but it has really powerful word choice. I think I like how it says "slowly replenishing my blood with anger." I feel like it makes a strong statement while complimenting

4. What would you do differently or what do you feel you need to improve?

I think that it might be too wordy. I think that I have a few words that don't need to be where they are. I have too many "the"s, "they"s, etc...

Persuasive Essay- Grade 7

Hana

Block E/F

Nov 7, 2012

Photoshop is Effecting Self Esteem

According to CNN.com, Barbie has made girls between the ages of 5-7 feel insecure about their body weight. That fact shows how far photoshop in toys and photos has created low self esteem for young girls. If photoshop is effecting girls as young as 5-7 then imagine the impact it makes on teenage girls and even grown women. Most teenage girls are insecure about their body weight and their looks or features on their face. Photoshop creates standard of looks that girls try to work their way to, but it is completely fake so they are trying to do the impossible. Photoshop should be banned from all photos.

First reason why photoshop should be banned, is because photoshop makes girls feel very insecure. Girls will be flipping through magazines at home and be looking through photos of “gorgeous” girls. In the photos the girls have “perfect” noses, “no” acne, the “bluest” eyes they had ever seen, etc...Then the next time they see themselves in the mirror, they don’t like what they see. They are comparing themselves to the fake photos and it isn’t fair that they are suffering this heart ache. Now ¼ girls and women all over the world are depressed about their body weight. That is how many people get backstabbed every time they look in the mirror. They are wanting a different body, they probably think, “I wish I had hair like Taylor Swift,” “I wish I had a body like Megan Fox...” What women don’t realize is that the photos are completely fake.

Secondly, girls try to change things about themselves when they feel insecure. Women will do anything if it means that they will look prettier. The most common thing that women will do, is put on makeup. They think that makeup hides, “imperfections.” All it does is make women look fake and it can sometimes make them look unhealthy. In the past I have put on foundation to hide my freckles. I have always been insecure about them, but this year I stopped putting it on because I realized that I should embrace them. I encourage all girls to embrace their insecurities. Another thing that women do now is plastic surgery. They will have crazy surgeries just to have one less wrinkle, or a slightly smaller nose, or fuller lips, etc... Plastic surgery looks so incredibly fake and it doesn’t look good. Sometimes women will have plastic surgery to look more like a celebrity that they have only seen in photos, but they don’t know that the women don’t look like that in real life.

People may argue that it makes the person in the photoshopped photo feel good. What they don’t realise is that the impact could be much bigger. For an example, if Selena Gomez posts a picture of herself that she really loves and makes her feel really good, and then it makes thousands of girls feel terrible about themselves. It may be unintentional, but that is the impact with photoshop and celebrities. If photoshop was banned then all the hurt would go away. I think that even celebrities shouldn’t be allowed to use photoshop the most because when they used it, their impact is the biggest. Now Seventeen Magazine doesn’t use photoshop. A couple years ago a girl came to Seventeen Magazine with thousands of signatures asking them to not use photoshop in photos. Ever since, Seventeen Magazine hasn’t used photoshop and the problem decreased a little. That is the action that I want to be taken all over the world, not just in Seventeen Magazine.  

Photoshop shouldn’t just be banned from everyones photos, it has to be banned! It really makes girls feel insecure and we don’t want them to start changing things about themselves. It will help teenagers and women all over the world. If we don’t banned photoshop then we would be letting ourselves and our friends get hurt, and that isn’t fair. Lets stop feeling bad every time we flip through a magazine or go on the internet. Lets stop letting the fake photos hurt us. So lets all delete photoshop from our computers! And together we can start a new generation of high esteem, naturally beautiful girls.

Refection

1. Why did you chose to write a persuasive essay on this topic?

I chose to write this topic because it has effected me. I have felt insecure about myself after looking through magazines. Last year I found out that most of those photos use Photoshop. So I thought that it was really important to tell girls that those photos are fake and that the women in the photos don't look like that.

2.Challenges I faced while writing my essay:

The biggest challenge that I faced was that there wasn't a lot of statistics on this topic. It isn't a very popular topic so there wasn't a lot of information on that specific topic. So I had to used statistics that were related to the topic, not completely on the topic.

3. What am I most proud of in my piece?
I am the most proud of my conclusion. I think it sums the topic nicely and makes a clear statement of what action I want to be done. I also think that I used a really persistent voice in the essay. Hopefully, it will convince the reader.

4. One thing that I would change/improve would be:
I would like to improve the statistics that I got. I think that they are okay, but there could be more and they could be more on the topic.

Unit One Writing- Vignette

Feeding off the Wind’s Energy

I felt my heart beating out of my chest, my hands were shaking, and my teeth we chattering as I watched Kristin fly up in the gigantic wind tunnel. Oh my god, I’m next, but you can do this. Remember to keep your chin up, keep your legs slightly apart, arch your back, keep your arms at a 90 degree angle, and relax!  I repeated that under my breath over and over again trying to keep it in my mind so I could used it when I was flying. Kristin was doing everything perfectly. Her dirty blond hair was flying in the wind and her eyes were sparkling like the stars in the sky. I was sitting on the edge of the long cushioned bench with about ten other people, tapping my feet on the floor. The wind tunnel looked like a gigantic long glass tube. There was a fan under us and a wire net above the fan, somehow balancing the instructor. It looked like a death trap. It's only 90 seconds in your life, you can do this, I told myself. I watched Kristin was feeding off of the wind’s energy. She was practically bouncing off the walls. I waved to Kristin and flashed her a smile trying to not show how scared I was. The little bravery I had, went away. I can not do this. This is crazy. How did I get into this? I’m going to die! I was just getting myself worked up, and the more I thought like that, I started to believed it.

I can’t believe Kristin talked me into this. I thought as I watched her. Earlier that day we were at the Luge with my dad. The Luge is a track that runs through some of the forest, and drive in contraption that works like a go-cart. We had gone down the track a few time and then Singapore weather hit. (It started raining.) So we ran to I-Fly because it was close to the Luge and it was inside. Kristin came up with the “great” idea to actually participate in it. Somehow they convinced me to do it.

I watch Kristin come flying out of the tunnel with a mile long smile wrapped around her face.

“Hana, it was amazing! You’ll love it!” She told me. She sounded like she really meant it. How could something so petrifying be so amazing?, but then I remembered, Kristin is fearless.

Then it was my turn. Shaking, I stood up. My stomach started punching me in every spot possible to punch. My heart stopped, then rapidly started beating.  You can do this, Hana, I tried to tell myself. The instructor motioned his hand for me to come in. I tried to swallow, closed my eyes, crossed my hands over my chest (like they had to told us to), said a little prayer, and fell into the wind like I had no legs. I was expecting that I would be swallowed up by the wind, but the instructor caught me right away. I opened my eyes a tiny bit and realised that I was floating. It felt amazing! The wind was hugging me and making sure that I stayed afloat. The instructor guided me into the correct position. Even though I was trying to control it, my legs were flailing. I forced my legs to be still then it felt even better than before. I felt the most amazing rush of energy as the wind gushed through my face. I was flying. This is amazing! I thought as the warmth of happiness spread throughout my entire body. I started bouncing off the was like they were trampolines.I was having the absolute time of my life.

When I looked through the glass window I saw Kristin waving and looking so proud towards me. All of the fear had escaped from my body and I now felt fearless. I couldn’t believe that I conquered this fear because I felt so scared. Now I felt so powerful and invincible. I flew out of the wind and landed in a confident position on the platform. My gigantic smile collided with Kristin’s like a perfect harmony. She gave me a thumbs up. And we sat down on that long blue bench and waited for our next turn.

Vignette Reflection

1. Compare your pre-sample to your published vignette. How did you improve your writing?

I put a lot more inner thinking and shampoo in the published vignette.

2. What did you do well in your vignette?

I think I did really well putting a clear image in the readers mind by using descriptions

3. What area(s) do you still need to work on?

I still need to work on inner thinking a bit more.

Last Post For the Water Project!- Week 4 - Grade This Post

I have finished the water project! I think I was very successful. I made a total of $845 SGD! That is $345 over my goal. I finished the ten books.
They were:

• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
• Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
• Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle
• Flipped by Van Draanen
• Rules by Cynthia Lord
• The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier

By favorite book was a four way tie between Hunger Games, So B. It, A Mango Shaped Space, and Rules. But I would recommend any of these books. I just wanted to say a big thank you to all my friends and family who sponsored me. Without you I wouldn't have been able to achieve my goal.

As for the writing the children's book, I have finished that too. Instead of getting it printed, I turned it into a powerpoint that looks like a book. I think that it is awesome and well done. I am sending it off to the States to my aunt's school! I hope that I make a difference in some of the classrooms. I chose to send it off to the States because SAS knows a lot about water scarcity, but an average student in the States might not know what water scarcity is.

I am very happy that I completed the water project successfully and I hope that I have made a difference! 

"Water is being depleted many, many times faster than nature can replenish it."
-Maude Barlow

Water Bill

My family's water bill consumption is 32.5 cubic meters per month. The Singapore national average for my house is 17.2 cubic meters per month. My family uses 89% more than the national average. My personal home consumption is 262.2 liters per day. If my family cut its water consumption by 20%, we would use 26 cubic meters per month.
How I am going to save water:

• Take shorter showers
• Takes showers every other day, not every day
• Turn off water when brushing teeth
• Use less water when washing dishes
• Turn off the shower when using soap

The goal is to reduce our water bill by a total of 25%. 10% the first month, 10% the second month, and 5% the third month.

Next Month= 29.25 cubic meters

Second Month= 26 cubic meters

Third Month= 24.375 cubic meters

Writing For the Water Project-Week 3

This week I have written the book and now I have to do the illustrations for it. My mom is friends with a designer, named Joey. I want the illustrations to look like collages of pictures and clip art. Joey is coming over to help me put all of the pictures and clip art together. I think it will come out really cool. After the illustrations are done, I am sending the book off to the states, where my aunt, Chrissy, is going to show it to her school. She is the principle of the school.
Here is a sneak peek:
"I heard this noise coming from the bathroom. We went in, and saw that someone left the water running. I turned it off because we were wasting so much water.
"Oh no, why did someone leave the water running?"
"They probably forgot to turn it off." John told me.
That reminded me of even another fact.
"Did you know that a person taking a five minute shower uses more water than a person in a developing country uses in a day?"
"Wow. Imagine how many days it would be if someone took a 30-minute shower. That's a lot of water.""

Books I Have Read-Week 3

I am making progress for the read-a-thon. So far I have read Pictures of Hollis Woods, by Patrica Reilly Giff, Saffy's Angel, by Hilary McKay, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, and So B. It, by Sarah Weeks.

Pictures of Hollis Woods was about a foster child. She goes to live with a women named Josie. Josie is getting old  and forgetful, and she worried that foster child care will take her away from her. Before Hollis lives with Josie, she lived with a family during the summer, but ran away after a incident. She runs away with Josie so that no one will separate them. They run away to the house where she stayed with the family before. I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Saffy's Angel is about a girl named Saffy and she finds out that she is adopted by her aunt and uncle. When her grandfather dies he leaves a present for each of his grandchildren. He leaves Saffy an stone angel. Saffy is determined to find the angel, and with the help of her new friend, named Sarah, it might become possible. Saffy remembers having a stone angel in her garden when she lived in Italy with her real mom. So she and Sarah go on this amazing adventure.
The Hunger Games is about a girl named Katniss. Every year all of the twelve districts chose one boy and one girl per district. They are chosen randomly. When Katniss's twelve year old sister gets picked to participate in the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers. The Hunger Games is a reality tv show, and the only rules are kill or be killed. The boy from district twelve is Peeta. She barley ever noticed him, but he has definitely noticed her. What I got out of this book is that reality tv can go too far. It is a really great book.
And lastly, So B. It, is about a girl named Heidi, whose mom is mentally disabled. One day Heidi's mom, So B. It, appeared with Heidi on a woman named Bernie's door step. Bernie has taken care of them ever since. Heidi has a lot of question like: who is her dad, where did they come from, what is her history, if she has any family, if anyone knows about her mother, what is her mother's real name, and most of all what is soof. Soof is a word that So B. It often says. They think it means something, but they don't know what. Heidi goes on this adventure to find the answers to all of her questions.
Now I have started to read A Mango Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass. It's about this girl named Mia and she is keeping a big secret. When she sees numbers and letters she sees colors along with them. This is called synesthesia. Now this disability is getting in the way of school so she has to reveal the secret. She has to accept her disability and embrace it. I can't wait to find out what happens next.
To all of my sponsors, a big thank you. I'm running ahead of schedule!

Water Project Money Jar-Week 2

This is a picture of me holding my "Water Project 2012" jar. I am storing all of my money that I have collected from the read-a-thon. I can't wait to see how high the money will fill the jar by the end of the project.

Water Project Money and Sponsers-Week 2

I have just received money from my family in the US. My dad was away at Boston, and he pick up the money from my family. I wanted to say thank you to grandma and papa, Chrissy and Paul, Barbra, Uncle Collie, Aunt Joanne, Aunt Mary, Aunt Karen, Aunt Mame, Uncle Dave, Kelly, Sean, and a very, very big thank you to my Great Grandmother. My Great Grandmother, Nana, passed away in October, but my grandmother wrote a note about how much she thought Nana would be proud of me.
"Dear Hana,
This is a very special donation to your worthy project.
I am making a gift in loving memory of Nana.
I think she would be very proud.
Love,
Grandma."
So far I have gotten $400 us, or $505 sg. I still have more money to collect.
I have reached my goal already. I wanted to raise at least $500 sg. I'm so happy that people have given money.
Thanks!

Water Project Book- Week 2

I have collected water facts for the book that I am writing for the water project. The book is going to be about a older sister and she is teaching her brother about water scarcity and water facts. She is taking him around the house giving facts and telling him how to save water in different ways.
These are the facts:

1. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.
2. An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.
3. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
4. Women spend 200 million hours collecting water in a day. That is equivalent to building 28 empire state buildings each day.
5. Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water related disease
6. 3.575 people die each year from a water related disease, that is equal to the entire city of Los Angeles.
7. The majority of illnesses is caused by fecal matter. Only 10% of waste gets treated, the rest goes into our lakes, rivers, and oceans.
8. Three things most of the world can't do: 1. Take a hot shower . 2. Get clean water from the tap. 3. flush away yesterdays dinner.
9. More than 3x more people lack water than live in the US.  

     

Hunger Games- Week 1

I have just finished my first book for this water project! I read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It was a fantastic book and I couldn't stop reading it. There was sad parts, happy parts, funny parts, and some very surprising parts. I couldn't believe half of what I was reading. I recommend this book to every on because it has a little bit of almost every genera. Next, I will be reading Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. I have read it before, but I didn't have a good understanding. I excited to read the book again.

Water Project Readathon- Week 1

This week is science we started our water project. The goal of the water project is to raise awareness for water scarcity. I am writing a children's book on water scarcity and how to save water. I am also doing a read-a-thon to raise money. The money will go to Ms. Carter's Fiji foundation. I just sent an email to all friends and family asking for their support. This is my reading list for the read-a-thon.

1. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
3. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
4. Meet the Austins by Madelenie L'Engle
5. A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
6. Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
7. So B. It by Sarah Weeks

I received a very dear email reply from one of my friends. It was very thoughtful and one of the kindest emails I have ever gotten. It said, "It would be a real honor to support this noble cause and such a wonderful project."

It you have any more book suggestions, please comment.

~Hana

Water Scarcity Solutions

This week in science we have been learning about water scarcity. We got into groups and tried to come up with reasonable solutions. My group said that we should use salt water in toilets instead of clean water, because the clean water is going to waste and we have plenty of salt water. We are running out of clean, fresh water. Here are some solutions that scientists have come up with. Our idea is original so no one has come up with that solution but here are a few solutions that scientists have come up with
One of them is play pump. So what happens with Play Pump is that there is a merry-go-round and when kids play on it it will pump water out of a tap. It sounds very cool and a very easy to do.

Global Water Crisis

This week in science we have been learning about safe drinking water, what places don't have safe drinking water, and what are the causes. I think that these facts are pretty cool.

• 1.1billion people don't have safe drinking water.
• There is no such thing as new water.

Elodea with Salt Solution

Today in science we did an experiment with elodea. It was pretty cool. When the salt solution was running through the cells it looked darker and smaller. This is because plasmolysis took place. Plasmolysis is the process in plant cells where the membrane pulls away from the cell wall due to the loss of water through osmosis.So basically it's when the water in the cell leaves so the organals clump together.

Dengue Fever!

This week we had to make a public service announcement in science. We pick a disease and studied about it. I pick dengue fever and made a radio news report. Enjoy!

~Hana

Viruses

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working on viruses. My group had made a video on them (see on past post). Here is some information on viruses:

They are a non-living pathogen that needs a host cell to live in. Some examples of the virus are, Rhino Virus (cold), Small Pox (small pox), and Influenza (flu). Viruses cause Hepatitis B, aids, HIV, Cold, Flu, Chicken Pox, Small Pox, and Yellow fever. Viruses are much smaller than protist and bacteria. You can only see them under a electron microscope. They are a nano-meter. They get inside the human body be sneezing, coughing, exchange of saliva, touching, animal bites, and insect bites.They attack cells by injecting their DNA into the cell making them to produce many viruses, ruining millions of cells because viruses over work them.

Virus Video

This week, we worked in groups in science. Some groups on protist and bacteria, but my group work on viruses. The project was to teach the class about viruses. We could do anything we wanted to. My group, Amy, Jack, and Phillip, did a video. The will explain all about viruses.
Enjoy!
~Hana

New Micro Life Video

 I have posted a video so that you can see this micro life much better. This one is so much cooler.

~Hana
Enjoy!

Micro-Life in Pond water

Today in science we looked a drops of water. There were different kinds of water, some of the were pond, worm, fish tank, and hay water. It was so cool. So here is a video of pond water microbes. Look for moving things in the video. :)