Author: alexandra1011

Student Led Conference-By Alex

alexandra1011 0 - Student Led Conferences, 6th Grade Writers

At Poughkeepsie Day School the middle school does something called a Student Led Conference. They are thirty minutes long and the student does most of the talking. It is like a reflective presentation to show your parents, so they can understand what your learning in school. The parents and teachers aren’t allowed to talk until the students are done reading/explaining their agenda.

To prepare for the Student Lead Conferences your advisor gives you a packet which you have to fill out. On that packet you have to write three goals or achievements and examples. Then you have to write down three challenges and examples. On the next page you have to write down two goals, how you might have to achieve these goals and who could help you achieve them.

The presentation part of the conference is not that difficult. At times you feel like the actual conference is three hours. Some people can get pressured. At first you tell your parents and teacher your strengths and achievements. Your parents comment on what you say….you have a short discussion. You do the same thing with challenges and goals. At the end of the conference your parents, teacher and you make your third goal.

I learned that I make careless mistakes and how to fix them. I think that the pressure from the S.L.C has taught me to have confidence in myself. For me, I need  to be a more confident learner. I think Student Led Conferences are a great way to reflect on yourself.

Nature’s Classroom-By Alex

alexandra1011 0 - NATURE'S CLASSROOM, 6th Grade Writers

One thing I really enjoyed about the four days we stayed at Natures Classroom were the dorms. I really liked how everyone in my dorm was in the same grade because we all knew each other.  In my dorm were Kristi, Hayley, Kate, Hayley, Anni and Anna. We all had a lot of fun!!!

The first night we all got changed into our pajamas and played a huge game of truth or dare and didn’t go to sleep until three in the morning. I slept in Kate’s bunk because it was actually comfortable and we didnt want to be yelling across the room and wake everyone that was sleeping up. The mattresses were a little thin and back-hurting but it was only for 3 nights. Our room had an extra mat but no one used it. The second night Kate, Kristi, Anni and I all wore short shorts and knee high socks…..a new fashion statement! We took a lot of pictures of our dorm and everyone in our room on Anni’s camera.

In my Field Group we had: Crickets, Frog, Coyote, Turtle, Meatloaf, King Leonaidus, Flounder, Bobba Fet, and me Pony! Our councilor was Russtache!!!! We were on the way to Look-Out Point but on the way everyone rolled down the Dam Hill and went to lookout point, identified a few trees and insects, played a couple games such as: camouflage, hippie, flood, hippie flood and hippie hippie flood. Russtache would call the games when we least expected it. Our field group went to Look-Out point, which is a giant cliff overlooking the lake. Most of us put charcoal on our faces and ended looking absolutely ridiculous. After I put charcoal on my face, Russtache said it might be poisonous. We looked around for garnets and I found a few…they weren’t that shiny but they were red and round.

On Wednesday, we all went to the beach. We went on two different buses and drove to the beach. All of the groups saw a seal sunbathing and laying in the sand. We couldn’t get within eighty feet of the seal because he was new to the environment. There was also a professional that went to check the seal’s health. There was a Jedi (a bridge of large boulders) and we all walked across them. There was a little cave between two of the rocks. We climbed a lot of boulders and sometimes got stuck. For lunch we went to a parking lot and ate sandwiches, Oreos and chips. After we all ate lunch we went to the Nature’s Center and looked in tanks and saw snakes, fish and lobsters. I had a lot of fun at Nature’s Classroom!

Imagination Day-By Alex

alexandra1011 0 - Imagination Day, 6th Grade Writers

On Tuesday the15th of March, the PDS middle school had our first Imagination Day.
Imagination Day is when students can volunteer to teach an activity such as; dance, language, basketball and more. Some of the classes were influenced through the student teacher’s hobby.

I didn’t come up with a class to teach but my best friend did Soccer Skills and I helped her teach that. For that class we went outside to the soccer field. First we stretched than ran a lap. After that we played scrimmage, we didn’t play with a goalie though because there were only six people in the activity. After scrimmage we went up to the larger soccer field and practiced on goal kicks. Everyone except for Kristi (the teacher of the class) missed every single goal. We made them run another lap because they looked soooo tired and they seemed like they could use the exercise. They were all groaning. After the lap we continued with goal kicks. They were still not putting all their energy into the kick so Kristi and I decided we needed to have a team talk. I gave about a five minute “speech” on self-motivation and confidence and why they were there. “You guys are here to learn and improve your soccer skills so try to put all of your energy into your kicks. I know you can all do better than this, I’ve seen all of you play soccer before.”

After our speech everyone started to kick better. We all decided that we would name our team Confidence. After the class was over we went to a certain classroom and talked about what we learned. Of course every one said confidence and Deanna said “I learned what offside means”….a few people also said motivation.

My second period was Music, I was in that art with my friend Kate. We decided that for a warm up we’d play a G blues. We all did that and it sounded really cool. The rest of the group worked on a song while Kate and I searched the lyrics and piano chords for the song King of Anything. We took a keyboard out in the hall and practiced and wrote the notes down. Most of the song is pretty difficult except for the intro. We finished up with that and soon enough we had to pack up for lunch.

After lunch we went to the assigned classroom and each group presented what they did in their class. Acting improv showed us their skit, music played a short song and Rome made posters so they presented those.

I think that Imagination Day was a lot of fun because I learned a lot….I would definitely do it again!

In The Footsteps Of Marco Polo By Alex

alexandra1011 0 - In The Footsteps of Marco Polo, 6th Grade Writers

Hi Denis!

My name is Alex and I think that your two year trip throughout the Middle East was amazing. You had quite an adventure! I think that your presentation really caught my attention. It was one of the only presentations that I actually paid attention to because you weren’t talking about something boring. I wish I went on your trip because it seemed very interesting and I’d learn a lot of new things. But one reason I wouldn’t go on that trip is that I would often be terrified of being captured or caught with a forged visa. I’d love to go on that trip with my best friend because we experience a lot of things in life together. Thank you for telling us about it!

Alex

Fav. 2.0 web tool. By Alex

alexandra1011 6th Grade Writers

Fav web 2.0 tool

I think that my favorite 2.0 tool would probably be either the blog or our Google Docs. Our blog because we get a chance to talk to people around the world, make new friends and comment on their blogs too. We can alI also like the blog because we can write about sooo many different topics. I like Google Docs because it’s a document that never ends. It saves paper and we can also share the document with anyone else. I really enjoy blogging!!!

What makes a great student…By Alex

alexandra1011 6th Grade Writers

I think that a great student is a person who is very focused on completing their school work. I think a student has to be interested in his/her own learning because if they are not, then they aren’t going to want to learn. Also a good student has to pay attention in class and actually care about their education. They have to hand in their homework on time and complete it to the best of their ability. Students have to co-operate with their classmates and work together without any trouble.

What makes a great teacher? -by Alex

alexandra1011 6th Grade Writers

I think that it takes a lot to be a great teacher. In my life I’ve had so many teachers. Many of them are strict (maybe for purposes I don’t know).  Many strict teachers help the kids and they get the work done. Some of them are more laid back. I think that laid back teachers are easier to work with because they are a little more fun, but also get the work finished. I think that it’s good to learn from different teachers because it might be hard to decide what way is easiest for you to learn.

Blogging Challenge #5 by Alexandra

alexandra1011 0 - Blogging Challenge, 6th Grade Writers
Blogging Challenge #5:
Using pictures in our blog posts and comments
I think that putting pictures into your posts and comments is a good idea, although it’s
not necessary it’s a cool thing to add. Many people think that they can just go on Google,
find a picture, and use it for their own use. But you can’t do that because most of the
pictures are copyrighted, which means that most of the pictures have owners. In order for
you to use a picture that is copyrighted you would have to get permission from the person
that either took the picture or the person who copyrighted it. But it is so much easier
to use a picture that doesn’t have a copyright, only because you don’t need permission
to use them and they are very easy to find. To find pictures all you have to do is go to
Google and type in ______________ and a few sites that have un-copyrighted pictures
will come up. Usually when these sites come up they might not all be un-copyrighted
pictures. They might be music or videos too. I can’t wait to actually do Challenge #5!!!

Pictures in Posts

I think that putting pictures into your posts and comments is a good idea and although it’s not necessary, it’s a cool thing to add. Many people think that they can just go on Google Images, find a picture, and use it for their own use, but you can’t do that because most of the pictures are copyrighted, which means that most of the pictures have owners that do not want to share them freely.

In order for you to use a picture that is copyrighted you would have to get permission from the person that either took the picture or the person who copyrighted it. But it is so much easier to use a picture that doesn’t have a copyright, only because you don’t need permission to use them and they are very easy to find. To find pictures all you have to do is go to Google and type in Creative Commons and a few sites that have non-copyrighted pictures will come up. Usually when these sites come up they might not all be non-copyrighted pictures. They might be music or videos too. I can’t wait to actually do Challenge #5!!!

I found this picture on Flickrcc

It is called very-cute-puppy and is by Nicholas Wang

very-cute-puppy_05

Skype in School by Alexandra

alexandra1011 0 - Using Skype in School, 6th Grade Writers
Skype in School

I really enjoyed Skyping with the St. Charles school in Missouri. I really enjoyed it because it was a lot of fun to see our new friends. Also, it was fun because we got to share where we live and things about our school that we enjoy. The class in Missouri talked about their school and some of their teachers. We asked them questions and they asked us questions. I really had fun because we got to see their school and hear their voices!

I think that Skype is a good tool to use in class because you can make friends in different countries or different states, kind of like Skype pals. When Skype was originally made it was intended for people to contact their family or friends that work for the Marines. I think that there is a school Skype that is just used for school purposes. On the school related Skype you can still talk to our Skype friends and pals, but its completely based on school topics. I think that Skype is a good thing to use in class because it can be used for very good reasons!

My Weekend by Alexandra

alexandra1011 0 - Choice Topics, 6th Grade Writers
On Friday I didn’t go to school because I went to the doctor’s office, I felt really sick. A doctor listened to my breathing through a stethoscope, and by listening to me breathing she found out that I was breathing heavily for no reason. One of the nurse’s (Jamie) tested my oxygen level and it was 83, normally it’s not supposed to be anything lower than 92. Another nurse (Theresa) gave me a breathing treatment, which is a mask that goes over my mouth and oxygen goes through it. When I breathe in through my mouth the oxygen goes into my body. The oxygen tank didn’t help so Theresa took me downstairs to get an x-ray. After they took the x-rays they diagnosed that I had pneumonia.

The doctor told me that I had to go to the hospital so my pneumonia could be treated. My dad brought me to the hospital and a nurse took me to the PED. floor. I went in room 497. I was pretty nervous because I didn’t know what they were going to do to me. I met a few nurse’s who would be taking care of me at the hospital. I was in the bed for about half an hour before another lady came in…she wasn’t a nurse. Her name was Melissa, and she gave people shots and injected needles into them. But Melissa put a thin plastic straw/tube in my vein. She only put a tube into my vein because the nurse’s needed to inject fluids into me because I was also dehydrated. The system that the fluids were connected to was called an IV. I also had oxygen going through my nose which was connected to a plastic tube.

The nurse’s came every two hours to check up on me and give me my breathing treatment. When they came they also took my blood pressure, my temperature, and my oxygen level. At around 8 o’clock a different nurse came in and her name was Karin. She was my night nurse. She told me that she would be coming in to check on me every four hours. At about 10:30 pm I called her to tell her that I was going to go to bed. Then she hooked up a monitor to my stomach and my right and left lungs, to see while I was sleeping how many breaths a minute I was taking and stuff like that.

A lot more happened while I was in the hospital, but the next day around 4 pm I got to go home. My doctor at the hospital (Dr. Cutler) prescribed me to take an antibiotic called Cefdinir, which I have to take one tablespoon twice a day for thirteen days.