My BrainPop Field Trip

I went on a field trip to BrainPop with my class. It was about how they make BrainPop’s games, and movies. I got to meet different people who have different jobs for the movie’s/ games. Here is what my favorite part was about the field trip and what surprised me.

My favorite part of the BrainPop field trip was making our own storyboard. A storyboard is the script about the movie they’re making. The script is based on what the movie is about. In the storyboard I got to make whatever I wanted. It was fun making up my own story about the character named Moby.

 

What surprised me is how quiet the office was. I thought that it was going to be a little loud, with a lot of meetings going on. But the meetings are in a separate room, behind the closed doors. I also thought that all the artists, and all the people that make the games will talk to each other, and share ideas. But every person was working by himself or herself. That was REALLY surprising to me.

BrainPop people explained how childern can write letters to Tim and Moby. In my class, we got two sheets of paper. One of the papers was the letter that said, Dear Tim and Moby. You can ask any question you want on that letter. On the second paper you have to write what do you want other people to learn. When BrainPop gets the letters, they do the research, so they can answer the questions, and they will make it into a movie. So everyone can learn about those answers.

It was so much fun learning about BrainPop and how the movies and games are created. I think the BrainPop is a great site to learn. It has a lot of games, and movies to learn about anything you wish. If you ever go to the BrainPop website, do you think that all the BrainPop games and movies are educational?

Trains Trough Disney!

My New York Life

Hi, my name is Nicole, and I live in Long Island, NY. I had two weeks of vacation for Easter, and I found a few places where you can go and have fun.

The first fun thing that I can think of is a place called Tanglewood Preserve. It is located in Rockville Centre. What you can do there is to look at some really cool animals. You can even hold a friendly snake, and a lizard with a blue tongue and very sharp claws! You can go outside to see two goats. They’re dwarf goats. You can even get a tour. The tour guide will tell you stories about the animals that live there. One is a love story about a rooster and a hen. The other story is about smuggled baby turtles.

Another place where you can have fun is Eisenhower Park, the biggest park I’ve ever seen. There’s mini golf with the holes numbered 1-18. I got to play with my mom, dad and my little brother. My dad got in 1st place because he knows the most about golf, and he also used  strategies to hit the ball. My mom got in 2nd place. She didn’t do well at first, but then she got better. I got in 3rd place. I did horribly at first, but then I didn’t care, and then I got better. My brother got in last place. That’s how he lost the mini golf game.  There are other things you can do too, like ride your bike, barbeque or play at the playground, but that’s another story.

The last place that I suggest to have fun is Christopher Morley Park. It’s located in Searingtown. It’s the second biggest park I’ve ever seen! It has three playgrounds, large, medium and small, plus a small fun area. Then, there’s an outdoor ice-skating rink. Next to that is a pond.  Watch out for goose poop!! Across from the big park are some courts. There is the tennis court, an empty court, a volleyball court, and a basketball court. There is also a fitness trail. It has a lot of fun exercise stations, where you get to work out .You should really try all of them!

I hope you will visit Long Island, New York, and you’ll get to try all the activities I suggested to you. I also hope you have as much fun as I did at those places.

One of the big ideas in the book “Bud, not Buddy” is that family are people who care about you. Family can be your parents, grandparents or other people who care about you. I will explain who Bud is, and three examples how his new family cared about him.

Bud is a ten year old boy who is trying to find his family. His mom died when he was six years old, and he was very unhappy in his foster home in the Ameses. The only memories he had of his childhood were in his suitcase. There was a flier with a picture of a man. Nobody told Bud who he was, but he thought he was his dad. That flier always made Bud’s mom mad. Also, there were some rocks that his mom collected, and a blanket. After a long walk, he finally found his grandfather, Mr. Calloghway. This was a man from the flier. He was a musician, playing the violin. His band was called “The Dusky Devastators of the Depression.” Bud’s grandfather was bossy to Bud. But all the other people from the band were nice to him, and they cared about him. Bud started feeling safe and happy with them. He felt like he finally has a family. Here are the three examples how his new family cared about him.

First, “The Dusky Devastators of the Depression” band gave Bud a home in their aparment. They gave him food, shelter and clothes.

Second, they took Bud to a restaurant with them. They asked him questions about his mom. When Bud started to cry, Mrs. Thomas, the singer of the band, soothed him. He felt like he is at home with his new friends, who wanted to make sure he was okay.

The last example showing how Bud’s new family cared about him was when Eddie, one of the band players, gave him a new saxophone. He wanted him to pratice and become part of the band. This made Bud feel like he belonged with the band.    

The three examples from the book help me understand how important family is. Family takes care of you when you need them. They help to make sure that you have food, shelter and that you feel safe and happy.

Little Kid, BIG Problems

I was in the kitchen feeding my pet snake and my bunny. This is a story how I found and got all of my pets. My parents always say, “ You should sell all of these pets!” I guess being 9 is not the age my parents want me to have a pet. Enough about now,let’s get to the story!



I was 5 years old and in my bedroom playing with my pet snake then suddenly....“BANNNGGG” The snake got out of the glass!!! But remember, I was only 5 so I didn’t know that my snake would get out of its’ cage if I let the glass door open. “ Oh,no what was I thinking.” I thought. I ran to dad screaming, “ DADDYYYYY!!! The snake got out of the cage!!!”



My dad was running too. My dad was thinking “ Boy I never ran this fast since I was 7 years old.” I started going the other way, but I was a little more calm. We looked all around the house but we just couldn’t find my snake. So my dad picked up the phone and dialed my mom’s phone number:



9_9-9__9 I never understood why my mom has a lot of 9’s in her phone number, I’m guessing that she loves the number 9.



Mom said, “ I have a feeling that somthin’ is wrong.” My dad sounded pretty nervous. “ Well, umm... , little Grace (me) lost her snake.” I smiled. I knew once my mom heard it she’ll say that I can get a new pet. Believe it or not I heard my mom’s voice say, “ Let her get a pet.” My dad’s nose scrunched up a little.



I was 6 years old and still couldn’t find my snake. My mom,dad,and me all went to the pet store. It took me some time to find a pet that I like. I walked from aisle to aisle. When I was almost finished with the 12th aisle, I stopped in my tracks. There it was, a cute baby bunny. It had a little brown and black mark on each foot. It was half black (incuding the head) and half white (not including the feet.)



When I was 7 years old the on my birthday, my mom and dad brought my pet bunny to my party. It went right out to the open window. The good part was that my pet bunny was really in love with soft grass and suddenly he went to sleep. “ I’m so glad I didn’t lose my bunny on my birthday”, I thought. Everyone rushed up to see my pet. I was really glad I had mostly girls at my party because they had a real good experience with bunnys!



1 month after my birthday I was playing in the dining room with my bunny and the living room window was opened. My mom was in the kitchen and made a clanging noise because she was washing the dishes. ZOOMMM, the bunny got a 3 second head start to the open living room window. I tried to catch him but, wow, the baby bunny was as fast as lightning. Anyway, I tumbled over my dad with a stack full of work papers which went flying all over the room.



When I was 8 years old, I went to get some stuff from the basement and there was my lost snake slithering with me from 2 years ago. I was shocked for a moment. The snake was hiding behind an old cabinet. “Mom you’ll never guess who I found!” My mom came next to me and said, “ Well that’s weird that a snake was living in our basement cabinet.” Another thing that happend is that I found my bunny in a hole. A felt like I was in a fiary land.



Wasn’t that great? I was so happy that I found my pets and that they were healthy. I learned you need to be carefull and act responsibly when you have pets. From then on I took great care of my pets.



 

Hopes and Dreams

In September, I created goals for myself in my Hopes and Dreams blog. I created goals for myself because I want to get better at them. My goals were to be a better writer and reader, and to make lots of science experiments.





The two goals that I reached are to become a better writer and reader. I reached being a better writer by writing in my diaries. I write stories and make up songs. I keep checking for spelling errors, and sometimes I ask my mom and dad for help. That’s how I’m improving in my writing. I’m improving in reading by reading advanced stories.I think some are over my level! Also, I read for a long periods of time when I’m very interested in the story. That’s how I reached my goal to become a better reader.

I didn’t reach my third goal to make lots of science experiments because I have a lot to do ( since my mom is making me go shopping with her, and I like to play sports). But I’m planning on doing more experiments.





I have two new goals for myself. One is to become more efficient in doing my homework. Sometimes I procrastinate, and it takes long time to complete my homework. I do that because my 5- year- old brother, Allen. He is in kindergarden and he plays a lot. I just can’t help thinking about playing with him, and then I can not concentrate! That is a goal I REALLY need to work on because he gets an oportunity to play more than I do. My other goal is to wake up earlier. I am picking this goal because I don’t like to wake up in the mornig. My mom already knows this, so she always makes breakfast first, and then wakes me up. But then we have to rush, so we are not late for school. But I think band rehersals Tuesday and Friday mornings are helping me a little bit. I have to wake up extra early ( 7:00 am) on those days.



I will keep my old goal to do more science experiments. I will ask some of my friends for ideas. I’m thinking of doing science experiments. I will ask some of my friends for ideas. I'm thinking of doing my science experiments on the weekends. Also, I can do it on school breaks and try to find the right material. ( Hopefully it'll be around my house.) Another idea I have is to try some experiments on the book my friend gave to me for her birthday. It has a lot of science experiments inside it. I know that because when it used to be in my room I liked to read it.           Now I'm ready to start working on my new goals! I hope I can reach all my goals by the end of the school year, so I can have new ones for the summer.

The important thing about Nicole is that she loves soccer.

              She loves to meet new friends and loves to do arts and crafts.   Her favorite number is 20 and her favorite color is red.   She also loves to go sledding with her little brother, Allen.   She loves non-fiction books and her favorite animals are butterflies and horses.  

But the important thing about Nicole is that she loves soccer.

 By Nicole