RyanGDD -- Blogmeister

The Trip To Brainpop

Wow what an amazing trip! Last week we visited the BrainPop Headquarters in New York City. From the time that we arrived to the studio and were greeted by the friendly staff, until the time we left it was a fun filled day! For those of you who are not familiar with BrainPop, it is an animated educational site for kids, that teaches children subjects such as math, science, social studies, history and many other subjects. It also has GameUp an educational game site.

I was first introduced to this site last school year. When we were asked to go and visit the site, I was skeptical to use it because I thought it would be a boring assignment. But let me tell you, I was totally wrong! I was so surprised to discover that the animated movies help me understand and enjoy the lessons. You don’t even realize that it is an actual lesson! This school year is really when I got the most learning out of it because Mrs. Parisi has encouraged us to use it more. We use computers in the classroom almost every day, so in my class you are almost forced to do it, but in a fun way.

While we were at the Brainpop Headquarters, we were informed of how they make the mini movies. If I can remember correctly the order would be... Someone sends a good email question to Brainpop. Next, a team of people research the question using textbooks and other sources. Then the animator creates a storyboard, to make it look colorful and interesting. Then the writers write a script to go along with the storyboard. After that, the animator creates moving images. Then they record the voices of Tim and Moby and mix the voices with the images to make it look real. Finally, the Brainpop people upload the movie into their site. This is how they make the Brainpop movies.

The trip to Brainpop was a spectacular trip, but surely my favorite part of the trip was learning how they make the movies. I was really amazed by how many people were involved, and all the work they have to do for just a five minute mini movie! But after all, they do put a ton of information in the movies.

Brainpop is a great site for kids. Tim and Moby help to make the lessons interesting and fun. If you are looking for something different to do, then BrainPop is the site for you. I hope you like the site, because I do!

I just read Natalie's blog titled “Cure for Hiccups”. In it she describes the time in her class that she had the hiccups. Thinking of Mary Poppins Natalie asked for sugar to cure her hiccups. The teacher offered her some, and guess what? It cured her hiccups! Like Natalie, I also have had many annoying cases of the hiccups , and like her I found out that sugar would help it go away.

This past spring break I was in the kitchen making some lemonade for the whole family to enjoy. I couldn’t wait to be done to enjoy my first cold glass. All of a sudden,hiccup, hiccup, hiccup! Oh no. The hiccups, have come back to haunt me again! There is nothing that I dislike more. Unfortunately, whenever I get the hiccups I have to wait it off. It is almost like a teasing game. Just when I think it’s gone , it comes back even stronger. I have tried all of the recommended remedies: holding your breath, drinking water,and trying to scare the hiccups away. But its all a lie! So I went to the only place where I might be lucky enough to find an answer, the internet. The site I decided to go to was Answers.com and then I typed “cure for hiccups”. The site gave many suggestions. Some were very reasonable, some were just plain silly. Here are a couple of suggestions that were unreasonable . The first one said: ”Get bucket of water. Then, stick your head into the bucket of water 3 times and pull it out”. Another suggested to “ Tilt your head back, plug your nose, roll your eyes 7-10 times and say "vavavavava". Repeat steps once or twice”. Another one advised you to “Stand on your head”. I mean, don’t you think that’s going a little far just for the hiccups? Now here are some more reasonable ways to cure the hiccups. “Eat a piece of dry bread slowly”, “Gulp down a glass of water”, “Swallow 3 times with your mouth closed.”. But the one that caught my attention and was easy enough to do was to eat a tablespoon of sugar. So I quickly searched for some sugar and gulped it down. I waited patiently for about one to two minutes and bam!, my hiccups went away.

Just like Natalie, I found out that one tablespoon of sugar can cure a case of the hiccups. So the next time you get it, just try it. If you really think about it, what do you have to lose, but the hiccups.

Montauk, The End

Imagine sleeping at night with your windows and doors open, looking at the dark star filled sky, and hearing the waves crashing and smelling the clean fresh, salty air of the ocean. And you know all those times you have to wake up early for school or church and all those special things, and you hate doing it? Well, when you’re here, you can’t wait to get out of bed. You just get up bright and early because you are ready to start your day. You know you will have a fun awesome day!

Hey, my name is Ryan and I live on Long Island, New York. For all you readers who have been to New York and New York City, you’re probably familiar with more popular places such as the Empire State building, The Chrysler Building, Central Park, The Statue of Liberty and the amazing sports stadiums here. But a beautiful unfamiliar place in New York is Montauk, located in Long Island New York.

My title says “ Montauk, The End” because Montauk is the end of Long Island. You can’t go any further because all you’ll find after that is the Atlantic Ocean. Montauk got its name from the Montaukett Indians. The lighthouse located at Montauk Point was the first Lighthouse in the New York State and is still the fourth oldest active lighthouse in the United States. Montauk is mostly a summer town but there are lots of things to do all year round.

I love Montauk for many reasons. Every summer I go there and I never get tired of it.

We stay in a hotel, which is right on the beach. We park the car and we don’t use it for the whole week because you don’t need a car. You can walk everywhere. The hotel is great because it has an outdoor pool and your room is literally on the sand. When you open the sliding doors of the room, you step on your own private deck, which is on the sand. You can see the ocean right from your porch. The ocean is probably about 200 feet away. Montauk is filled with lots of hotels to stay, or you also can have a summerhouse there.

The town is another of my favorite parts. It is not very big but the only part you’d probably need to know is that it has everything you need. There is a lot of toy stores, candy stores, restaurants, clothing stores, supermarkets. It also has a movie theater, a miniature golf course with a beautiful lake where you can rent a sailboat or Kayack. There is a small shop called Fudge N’ stuff and every night it is always packed. They have the best candy and ice cream! There is also a great restaurant called “The Harvest”. It has this gigantic lake with a long, narrow dock. You walk down the dock and you are allowed to feed the fish, ducks, and swan. (watch out for the swans, one almost nipped at my knee because I wasn’t feeding him fast enough.). I love this place because you get to eat outdoors in this cool garden.

Outside the town there are farms where you can go horseback riding (although I haven’t done it yet. Maybe sometime soon my parents will let me try it.) A popular place to visit in Montauk is Gosman’s Dock. You can go there to eat or to rent a boat to go fishing in the ocean. Montauk is famous for its commercial fishing and the surfing.

At night when you look at the beach, it is very dark and all you can see is tons of bonfires all along the seashore. The bon fires are one of the most peaceful parts of Montauk. Getting it started is not so peaceful though. First, you have to go the market and buy the wood. Then, you have to buy the matches and lighting fuel to start the fire (and you can’t forget the marshmallows!) When you get back you have to go down to the beach to dig the hole for the fire. Once you dig the hole, you have to mark your territory so that no one takes your hole. Now comes the easy and peaceful part, you just go down to the beach to start your bonfire. Then you can sit down around the fire and listen to the crackling fire and soothing waves. And also roast your marshmallows (my personal favorite).

These are some of the reasons I love Montauk. If you ever have a chance to go there, I hope you have fun and enjoy Montauk’s amazing scenery and manys activities.

Bud, Not Buddy

By Ryan

Could you imagine being all alone in the world, without anyone to care about you? Having to figure out where your next meal will come from, or where you will spent the night? Unfortunately this is a reality for many children in the world, and this was the case of ten year old Bud Caldwell. Bud begins his search for family because he needs family. Although there are many reasons why everyone needs a family, I am going to list only three. Everyone needs family because family protects you from harm, family provides you with the basic needs, and family gives you love. No matter who you are, everyone needs family!

Everyone needs family because family protects you from harm. In the story Bud starts off in an orphanage which he’s been living in since he was six years old. Bud gets placed in his third foster home and gets in a big jam. The son of his new foster parents (Tod) is a bully and a spoiled brat! Bud gets beat up by Tod and gets blamed for something he didn’t do. The Amoses love his son to the point that they are blind to see that their son Tod is a real bad kid. The Amoses are mean to him and called him horrible names. They are selfish, vulgar, brutal, unkind, unsympathetic, and extremely mean to Bud. They represent everything a family shouldn’t be. Even if they thought Bud was hurting Tod, they should have been more compassionate to an orphan who had no one in the world. So they locked him up in a horrible shed, but he manages to break free and runs away. At first he wasn’t sure what to do and goes looking for Ms. Hill, the librarian to ask for advise on what to do. But when he finds out she is not there anymore, he decides not to go back to the orphanage because it wouldn’t do him any good. He figured that the people working at the orphanage didn’t even bother to remember the children’s names (So how much could they really care?), his best friend Bugs was on his way to Chicago, and he would probably just get sent to another abusing foster home. So “being on the lam” made more sense to him. That’s how he began his search for the man he thought was his father. He needed to find his father so that he could protect him.

Another reason that everyone needs family is because family provides you with your basic needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing. Throughout the story Bud didn’t know where he would get his next meal or where he would spend the night. Luckily for Bud, he meets good hearted people and loving families that help him while he was in need. One morning he was starving and he was late for breakfast at the Mission and a mean man sent him away. But a nice family let him cut the line pretending that he was their son, and he was so happy to spend time with them, his pretend family. Then when Bud goes to Hooverville, he meets many people that welcome him and his best friend Bugs. They fed them, and tried to help them get to Chicago (he was going there to find his father). Then he met Lefty Lewis who helps him when he was traveling through Owosso, Michigan (actually saves his life because black people were not allowed to walk through there at night, and he would probably have been killed). Lefty Lewis brings him home, and takes care of Bud by feeding him, & letting him stay for the night. Lefty Lewis’ daughter gives Bud clean clothes to wear. Lefty Lewis is a happy, generous, kind, loving, and funny man. He has a great relationship with his daughter and grandchildren. He is playful and jokes around with them. To him family is very important and this is why he was trying to reunite Bud and Herman E. Calloway (he believed Bud’s story that he ran away from his dad’s house). And when he gets to Grand Rapids, Mrs. Thomas invites him to join her for dinner, he gets to spend the night in his mom’s old bedroom and Mrs. Thomas cleans and changes him. He felt like he was in heaven!

Finally, everyone needs family because family gives you love. Bud is all alone in the world with no one to love him. The only thing left of family for Bud is a picture of his mother, some rocks with writing on them, and some fliers which he thinks are somehow connected to his father. He keeps all of these items and a blanket in his suitcase, which he always keeps by his side. He feels a certain connection and attachment to them because they were important to his mother. Bud remembers how carefully she had kept these fliers. He remembers the time when his mom saw the flier which showed Herman Calloway playing in Flint, and had become very upset. He remembers how much his mother loved him, how she read to him every night, and the way she took care of him when he was sick. He remembers how his mom told him his name was Bud, not Buddy. He remembers and now understand what she meant by “when one door closes, another one opens”. This helps him not to give up and keep on going. Bud is looking for his dad because he wants someone to love and wants someone to love him. He was so desperate for family that he even becomes pretend brothers with Bugs (even though it didn’t last too long).

When Bud finally meets the person he believes is his dad, Herman E. Calloway’s reaction is not what Bud was expecting. Bud was dissappointed that the man he though was his father was so old and grumpy! To him Herman Calloway was a grumpy, untrustful, mean, old man. Bud later finds out through Ms. Thomas that Herman Calloway is not his father, but his grandfather! He also finds out that Calloway had loved Bud’s mom so much, but had been very hard on her because he just wanted to prepare her for her negro life. Once when she was a little girl ( 5 years old) Herman asked Bud’s mom what she wanted from his trip to Chicago and she said “ A wock daddy, bring me back a wock”, and ever since then even when she was gone, Herman would still bring home the rocks after each trip. He also showed he loved his daughter because he left her room the way it was when she was a kid. We learned from Ms. Thomas that he is the way he is, because he doesn’t like to show his feelings, that he has high standards and he just doesn’t want to be let down. Deep inside Calloway is really a kind person (he lets people live in his house, and takes care of stray dogs). His actions show that family is important to him. Family is also important to Ms. Thomas. We know that Ms. Thomas loved Bud’s mom because she spoke kindly of her. She also had kept a picture of Bud’s mom for the past eleven years. From the moment she saw Bud, she was kind and caring towards him.

Everyone needs family and that includes Bud Cadwell. Family doesn’t mean just a mom, dad and siblings. Family is anyone who shows that they care for you, that they will be there for you when you need them. The band, Herman Calloway, and Ms. Thomas are “like a huge big family” and Ms. Thomas is the mother figure. They all live together in one big house, work together, help each other, and take care of each other. The band members and Ms. Thomas welcomed Bud into their lives, even before they knew he was Calloway’s grandson. It shows that they are loving, generous, and kind. Bud had began his search for his father but now he has an “expanded family” since the band and Miss Thomas are part of it too. He would now not only have a grandfather, he would also have a mom figure and “uncles”. Ultimately Bud felt safe, taken care of, and most importantly, he finally had a family of his own to love, and who would love him back!

      Have you ever gotten in trouble for something you haven’t done? If you have, then it was probably because of a younger sibling, and trust me I know what it feels like! First off you think they look cute, but a few years later they become little devils. Before he came to be, it was all about Ryan (yes, me!). But things began to change as soon as he came along.

To everyone who is reading this and has a younger sibling, you better watch out, you better not cry cause trouble is coming to you!

   So, what kind of trouble should you expect? Well I’m going to give you a heads up of the most common and annoying tricks of younger siblings. First off, the most common for me is when out of nowhere he decides to smack me and scratch me like there’s no tomorrow. So what do I do? Smack back of course. But guess what happens? He puts up his little fake act of crying! Now I try to explain the whole story of what really happened to my parents, but these four words come out immediately, “ Go to your room!”

   Another annoying thing that younger siblings do is, that when they get something special, new, or just something that you don’t have or really want, they torture you and tease you to death. It begins with silly faces , then sticking the tongue out or just the plain “Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah!”. Boy it annoys me sooo much! My body begins to shake, my face is burning, and turning red, and my head feels like it is really to explode. Then all of a sudden I loose my temper and I hear a loud whack! Oh no, I did it again. I hear the footsteps and I know that I am in big trouble. Most of the times I try to show self control, but it doesn’t always work. Do you know what the worst part is? It’s that your parents pretend they don’t even see the teasing!

One last thing ( although there are many more annoying things your siblings will do) is that they morph into different people whenever they please! Let me explain. Sometimes they use their baby act. You hear this soft, sweet, innocent voice. They do this, whenever they want to get something they don’t deserve. Then they sometimes use their big boy act. That’s for stuff like theme park rides or just to get to do things that he is too young to do (like having his own IPAD).

So let this serve as a warning to those of you who are older siblings with younger siblings, you better not cry, you better watch out, cause trouble’s coming to you!

By Ryan

For the past couple of months we waited for the Holidays with great anticipation . We counted the days, made wish lists, daydreamed about the gifts we would get, and were full of excitement . Finally, the Holidays came and they were over in the blink of an eye. Just the same, the year 2011 is gone and a new year has begun. 2012 is finally here! I am excited about it because a New Year is a time to see what you did right and wrong. It gives you an opportunity to right many wrongs and it also gives you a chance for a fresh start. It is almost like you can start with a clean slate. At the beginning of this school year I set three goals that I wanted to achieve. Those goals were to be a better reader, become a better writer and to have better self control. I have worked on them very hard but apparently not hard enough.

My original goal of becoming a better reader was nearly achieved (key word here is nearly). Every day as part of my reading homework, I would go to my room (so that my brother wouldn’t disturb me) and I would sit in my favorite corner, this big blue fluffy pillow on the floor. There I read many interesting books and some not so interesting. I read different types of genres but especially nonfiction because it is challenging and helps me to learn new facts. When I read I try to get into the book I am reading, and not be a clock watcher. Earlier, I said that I nearly achieved my goal for reading, so I want to continue to work on that. Although I have moved up reading Levels, ( I am a level Y ) , I feel as if I need to work on understanding the book and character traits better. I will achieve this by re-reading sentences, posting more and reading lower level books to learn more about character traits.

      My second goal of becoming a better writer was also not fully achieved. Sometimes if I get a new assignment I struggle to put my ideas on paper (although not as often as before). There have been times that I would stare at the blank piece of paper without having a clue on what to write and then I would finally start writing something. Then I would get stuck and I would give up. A few minutes later I would start all over again, only to get stuck again. Finally, I get the work done, but it is not over because I have made careless mistakes(so I definitely have to work on this). I think that writing in the computer has help me a lot because I am able to revise my work quicker. So to continue to grow as a writer, I am going to try to keep a journal to help me to organize my thoughts. Also I will revise and edit my work more carefully.

     My third goal of having more self control, was not fully achieved either. Although I have improved, I am not there yet. When it was time to be at the rug, I used to not be able to stay still. Now I try my best not to distract others and not to speak when the teacher is teaching a lesson. I still need to work on not moving around the room so much and on not writing on people’s desks. I will achieve this by keeping a notebook in my desk where I can write or draw when I feel the urge to.

Since it is a New Year I am going to work very hard to achieve my goals. I also going to set a new goal to continue to improve for the remaining of the school year. One of my new goals will be to get to school on time. To reach this objective I will go to sleep earlier and set my alarm clock.

In September our class set goals. I am not sure if everyone actually fully achieved them because I didn’t , but since it is the New Year I want another chance , and this time I want to meet every single one of my goals!

Long Island Without Panthers

By Ryan

Long ago the natural habitat of Long Island was different. Long Island was mostly covered by forests, grasslands, wetlands and sand plains. It had a different landscape and wildlife . Then Long Island started to become settled. As it got more populated, the settlers would cut down trees, built homes, make roads. Soon, the forests began to disappear because lots of trees were being cut. Also, grasslands were being cleared to make room to build.

Before the settlers arrived, the native habitat allowed different wildlife to exist in Long Island, such as wolves, elks and large cats such as the panther. The open land, hills, trees, wetlands and grasslands gave them shelter from humans, and lots of space to roam. It was and ideal environment for them to exist. Panthers were able to hunt large prey such as deer and other small mammals and rodents.

So, why don’t we have panthers in Long Island anymore?

One reason is that the early settlers that arrived to Long Island hunted and trapped them because they thought that they would attack their livestock, and thought that they were dangerous creatures.

The next reason that the panthers are not here is that their natural habitat was being destroyed, changed, and the food chain was being affected for all wild life . For example, Panthers ate small animals such as porcupines, rodents and mammals. But since the habitat was changing , these smaller animals were leaving the area or dying because they too, didn’t have enough food or shelter.

Finally, another reason that the panther is not here is that another animal, the deer, which was the main prey for the panther, and their main food source , were also being affected by the changes in the habitat, and were being hunted by humans.

Since their food source was scarce and the habitat was changing, the panther was forced to migrate to other places.

Today Long Island faces a big problem with the deer population . Since the deer do not have that many predators, such as the panther, their numbers have increased to the point where they are too many, and it is causing a huge problem for us. The problem with deer is that they eat anything. They are changing the ecology of forests and causing problems for farms by destroying their crops.

Deer are destroying trees and seedlings, so in years to come there may not be certain species of plants and trees. If certain types of trees die, then the forests will change or maybe even disappear. If certain trees disappear, then certain types of animal species may also disappear. For example, some birds need underbrush to nest, other birds like the songbirds need low ground trees for nesting. Certain species of animals may need to feed from the fruits of a type of tree, and if the tree disappears then they can not feed themselves anymore. Also certain type of insects like certain types of plants or trees and they would be affected by this problem, so they would either die or be force to migrate elsewhere.

If this continues maybe entire species of animals, insects , plants, fruits and trees could disappear completely forever.

The future of our natural habitat and our food supply are in terrible danger!

I think it would have been difficult to have settled Long Island without decreasing the panther population. The settlers needed the land to plant crops and to raise farm animals . The wild life would have had to compete with domestic animals for food, and if they didn’t have a big enough food source they could have been a danger to humans. Although they usually do not attack humans, if they are hungry enough, panthers will attack.

I think what the settlers could have done is just to drive the panthers away far enough (to large areas that they were not being populated) so that they were not a danger to people. Then later they could have made a nature preserve for them. That way some of the original habitat would have been preserved and the food chain would not have been affected so much.

The Trip To Villa Roma

By Ryan

We were all packed and ready to go. I was so excited and filled with anticipation! Yes!!! The day of the trip had arrived! We were going to Villa Roma for the first time. We went on the road “quicker than a roadrunner.” When we finally got to the expressway, I was beyond happy! Soon we were pretty far away from home.

While driving on the Cross Bronx Expressway, I saw these enormous buildings built on top of the expressway. You actually drive through a tunnel built underneath these buildings. I had never seen anything like that before. Wow. It was amazing! But it got me to think, what if they fall down while we are driving through them? Then I thought, no way. You would need a pretty strong earthquake to do that. But guess what? That very same day while we were driving to get to Villa Roma, there was an earthquake in New York! Only we didn’t find out until we got there. The earthquake happened while we were driving, and that is why we didn’t feel it. Also, we were not listening to the radio.

We drove across bridges and we were very high. At one point , my dad told me that we were on top of a mountain but I didn’t believe him. He explained to me that people dynamited through the mountains to create the expressways. Then I realized how high we were . It was as if we could touch the clouds!

We were so close to the place but my dad got lost . Luckily the navigation helped us. As we got closer to our destination, my ears popped. It was because of the altitude . Three and a half hours later we had finally arrived to the town of Callicoon . I was so excited. We continued to go up winding narrow roads, we passed small farms and I kept saying to myself, Is this what I have been waiting for? Some of the houses looked really run down and I wasn’t sure if that was where we were going to stay. My parents kept teasing me, and pointing at different homes that looked like little barns and saying: There it is! That’s Villa Roma. Then we would all laugh. About ten minutes later we finally made it to the end of the road, and there it was. The resort looked astonishing! I couldn’t wait to get out of the car and begin my vacation.

ALL ABOUT RYAN

The important thing about Ryan is that he loves sports.

His favorite is baseball.

He loves animals, and even has a pet fish.

He has a brother who is a pain, yes it is true!

He enjoys watching television and riding his bike.

Let's not forget one more thing, he loves school too!

But the important thing about Ryan is that he loves sports.

By Ryan

I’m starting a new school year and I have lots of goals. One of those goals is to be a better reader. I will do that by reading more. Another one of my goals is to be a better writer. I will do that by writing neater, by practicing more and by coming up with ideas quicker by doing more interesting and exciting things. My third goal is to have better self control. I will do that by controlling my actions, listening better, and not going near people I know Ill get in trouble with. I have many goals this year. I am going to try to achieve every single one of them.