Natures Classroom by Tess

Nature’s Classroom is located in Becket Massachusetts. I would describe it as a sleep away camp, but it’s a little different. At Nature’s Classroom, you get to do all sorts of things like hiking, different fun activities and just hanging out with your friends. To get there, my class left at 1:00pm from school. We all fit on a giant bus with many different seats and even a bathroom. We arrived at 5:30pm, everyone was exhausted from the long 4-hour drive! We were all assigned bunks, and later on, we got to set our stuff down. This was pretty much our first day, there was not a lot going on because there wasn’t a lot to do considering it was so dark.

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Photo by Tess

Every day we would wake up at 7:00am. Everyone would get dressed, then go out for breakfast. Some people who needed to take meds or people who were Waitrons would leave a little early. After breakfast, we would have a break time to get ready for field groups. Most of the time my field group was out hiking, so we would be walking in ankle deep snow. Every day I would wear 3 pairs of socks, two pairs of pants and two shirts. It was that cold! We also played a game in field groups called camouflage. The leader of my group (Kelly) would scream Camouflage and she would count down from 10. Everyone had to hide and over time, she would find people.

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Picture by PDS

I think my favorite moment at nature’s classroom was a class I took called Hucking stuff. I arrived in the class thinking we would just be throwing things, but once we got there, it was so much more. It was a meditation class. I felt my body melt away into nothingness as my counsellor Kelly told us a story that made me go the deepest into my mind I’ve ever been. The story went a bit like this…

 

You walk into the dark forest. Everything is silent, the only sounds you can hear are the crunching of snow beneath your feet. You walk passed the water, and the trees. You soon come into an open field. You feel an emptiness inside you eating away at your courage. In the middle of the field, you see a black stone. It’s the heaviest thing ever and no one could ever lift it. You walk over to the stone and you lift it with no problem at all. Your feet carry you back to the river and you stand looking off into the distance. You throw the stone into the water. It shatters into a million pieces. You start to walk out of the forest, that spot in your stomach fades away.

 

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Picture by PDS

 

After doing the meditation we went outside into the dark cold woods and took an object we found. That object represented something bothering us in our lives. After finding the object we went to a high up deck and threw the object off. This was representing throwing away our fears, insecurities etc. A friend in my group’s item was a rock. He said something that will change my life. He told us about how his object was a rock and how it would never break, but somehow he could try. I don’t exactly remember what he said, but I know it really made me think. I hope you visit Nature’s Classroom sometime because it’s so much fun and I know you’ll like it!

Photography by Tess

There are many things I am passionate about, one of which, is Photography. When I saw the pictures my mom took, it really touched my heart. So I asked for my own camera for my 9th birthday. Of course when I opened the gift and saw the present my eyes gleamed. It was a small red camera, that took great close up pictures and not so great landscapes. I took it on a trip and I captured every moment in just a few pictures. Sadly, that camera didn’t last long, but this past Christmas, I got an even better camera. My new camera is very expensive and takes high quality pictures. After I got this camera I went outside more and more to take pictures.

Photo Taken By Tess ©
Photo Taken By Tess ©

Most of the pictures I take are outdoor close ups. But with my new camera I really want to take some nice landscapes. Close ups and Landscapes are two very different types of pictures. If you click on the links it will bring you to the definition of  these two different ways of photography. Personally, it’s much harder for me to take landscapes, but I’ve been trying and getting used to it.

Photo Taken By Tess ©
Photo Taken By Tess ©

 

Some tips when taking close up pictures are, don’t take too close up pictures. This will cause the image to come out blurry. Some of the time, try to use different angles and colors, so most of your pictures don’t look the same. When taking a close up of something maybe in the grass, try not to get random blades in the way of the focus. This will make the image hard to read. Some tips for taking landscapes are, try not to include any unappealing colors. An example is, if you were taking a picture of a green forest, don’t include brown dead plants in front of the camera because it’s just not appealing to the human eye. If you’d like you can hide things in the picture for people to find. It’s always fun trying to catch your viewer’s eye. And finally use a tripod, this will make your pictures come out nice and clear! These are all the things I did when I first started learning the ways of photography. It’s really fun and I hope you have fun doing it too!

Photo Taken By Tess ©
Photo Taken By Tess ©

 

Final Blogging Challenge By Tess

Taking part in the blogging challenge was a lot of fun. I loved being able to do so many different and lovable activities. It was crazy to think so many people were doing the same things as me. My personal favorite activity was probably #1. I loved getting to make an avatar which I have used so many times. I have many comments from friends saying they like my avatar. I think the best thing about Activity #1 is that I made a new friend! I also really loved writing activity one. Writing about yourself to share with the world is a lot of fun, but hard at the same time. I think that doing all these challenges have taught me that you can really connect with people through so many different things (Including blogging). I’d love it if they could do blogging challenges all year long, but no one can make that many blogging challenges every year. I hope I can create my own blog and share it with the world some day.

 

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                                                                                         Creative Commons License DeclanTM via Compfight

 

The Holidays by Tess

I personally love the holidays! I love the food, the presents and all the different cultures that come with it. Every year I celebrate Christmas with my friends and family. We all come down and have a great dinner that includes ham and amazing sides. After the meal most of my family leaves, but my aunt and cousin stay for Christmas morning! Usually my cousin and I come out of our rooms first but sometimes it’s me and my brother. We come to the top of the stairs and look down at the present piled Christmas tree. There is a rule in the house that is no going downstairs on Christmas morning until everyone is ready. So we wait and wait until we try to wake up our parents.  And of course after all of the present ripping and unwrapping, it’s finally time for my aunt and cousin to go home. I think Christmas is my personal favorite holiday. Most people think it’s because of the presents (which it kind of is), but it’s also about the family and the fun you have!

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Photo taken by Tess Copyright_Sign2

 

Week #7 Lurchers Of The Woods BY Tess

I’ve always been interested in foxes. When I was little I always missed seeing them in my backyard. Foxes are beautiful creatures with red, white and black fur. They are found in many places including North America and Asia. Foxes are a part of the Canidae family. Some other animals in the Canidae family are Wolves and Dogs. I have always found foxes around my house in the woods. In researching this was a big question for me. I found out foxes live in an environment with mostly trees and grass. So you’re most likely to see them in a forest or a grassy field. But, you could also see them in other places like mountains and down by Oceans.

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Copyright_Sign2Photo taken by Tess

Foxes are about the size of a medium sized dog. So they don’t look as scary as some other creatures. Last time I saw a fox it ran away before I could get a glimpse of its face. So they aren’t too fierce around humans unless you meet the wrong one. But foxes aren’t human eating animals. They mostly eat meat and vegetation. Something’s foxes eat are Mice,Rabbits and Lizards. If a fox lives by the ocean, it can also eat fish and other sea creatures.

Foxes Flesh for Blood via Compfight

Sadly, foxes don’t live that long out in the wild. They only live about 2 years. They can live 6 times longer in captivity. Up to 12 years! When you find foxes in the wild, they don’t look as pretty as you might think. My father told me the last fox he saw was ragged and dirty. But, if you see them in captivity they look great! This really shows the living differences in captivity and in the wild.

'Frodo' (1)Creative Commons License Peter Trimming via Compfight

Foxes usually only have one mate but can have more. They also can have nannies who look over the pups for the mother and father. Nannies are foxes that don’t have mates. So they really devote their time to the pups.They are almost like humans! Another thing that makes foxes like us is they can identify each others voices. They have many different sounds they communicate through. Overall foxes are beautiful creatures that I don’t think should be hunted. Please if you can help, try! I bet foxes would love it!

 

Here are the two links I got my information from!

Blogging Challenge Week 5 Activity #1

Hamburgers have always been very popular here in New York! Of course you can probably find hamburgers anywhere else in the world, but I think New York sells a lot of them every year. Two places that have become very popular serving burgers are McDonald’s and Burger King. Two of the most known fast food places. Most likely almost everyone who reads this post has heard of them.

McDonaldsCreative Commons License                                                      Straight lines BKCreative Commons License

                      Anupam_ts via Compfight                                                                                       Håkan Dahlström via Compfight

Burgers are sometimes served with Cheese (adding cheese makes the hamburger a cheeseburger), lettuce, tomato and if you like them, onions. The most common side you can get with the burger is french fries. If you would like to see more about the history of burgers and more click here.

 

Willy Culture AUD9.90 - Burger Culture

Alpha via Compfight

Some ways you can make burgers are better than others. If you have never had a burger (Which most people have), I’d recommend going to a place that serves really good ones. You always want a good first taste!

 

The Girl Who Watches – By Tess

The school bell rang pounding against my eardrums like drumsticks. I walked out of class onto the hard pavement and took a deep breath of the fresh air. Today was Halloween so we were let out of school early. I jumped into my car to drive to the coffee shop down the road. There I would meet my two friends Jax and Aaron. Jax is 17 and really nice. He’ll never let a friend down. Aaron is different. He’s funny and always goes off a subject. I pulled my thick hair into a ponytail and started to drive.

 Once at the coffee shop,  I sat down at Jax and Aaron’s table down putting my backpack beside me. “Hi Margo,” Jax said.

Aaron put a newspaper in front of me. I looked at him with wide eyes. “Read it.”

I picked up the paper and scanned through it. There was a house where a girl died and was supposably haunted.

“Well?” said Aaron raising an eyebrow.

“Well what?” I said back.

“Wanna go?”

I looked at him like he was crazy then said, “Whatever, but if we get in trouble it’s your fault,”.

 I stood at the tall door. My hand shook as I turned the doorknob. I took a step into the dark house. Everything was dusty. All the furniture was covered by white sheets. Jax pulled out a camera as Aaron made some stupid comments. I stared at the stairs and walked to them.

 Once at the second floor, I looked down a long hallway then heard a big crash come from the bedroom. We walked over and saw a girl. Her clothes were torn, and dry blood sat under her fingernails. I jumped and ran down the stairs with Jax and Aaron behind me. I never turned back.

Week 3 Activity #1 By Tess

The best time I ever had with my family was in England. We had just arrived after the sickening plane ride and I was very tired. I slept on the two hour car drive to my great aunt’s house, but when we got there, I was awake and ready to go. This was the first time I had seen her in a very long time, so she really didn’t recognize me. We got inside and went to the rooms we were staying. Flash forward about three hours. We were just leaving to take a walk in a field. It was the perfect temperature outside. The sun was just setting at the second half of the walk when I found the most beautiful flowers. I picked them one by one until we got back to the house. On the walk a gust of wind would sent shivers down your spine. Back at the house we had tea and sat outside  for at least an hour. This was the best time of my life.

 

Family Photo Taken by Nicole- Copyright
Family Photo Taken by Nicole- ©

Blogging Challenge Week #1- by Tess

Activity 1

Yes I am a different person. Online I try to be responsible (I am still responsible in real life) who posts well and doesn’t abuse online use. In real life I try to be a let loose person who can get work done but isn’t always clicking away on a computer. I love nature and I love to be offline.

 

Activity 2:

 

avatar(USE)

I chose this avatar because it shows my style. I especially wanted something that would be realistic. I am also a happy person (Most of the time) so I added a big smile to show you, me! I made this on Bitmoji.  It’s a great site and I hope a lot of people use it!  

Activity 3:

’m Tess. I love to do a lot of things, one of which is writing. I also love horror movies. I like them because they give you a rush when there is a jump scare. I have always wanted to see a horror movie in theaters so I can scream with other people and not feel so weird!  I also have a loving family made up of my mom, my dad, my brother and my 2 pets Scout and Wilbur. Recently I’ve been into rock music. My friend Bella introduced me to some bands and I have loved them ever since! But I don’t just love to listen to music, I love to play it too! I play guitar, violin and a little ukulele. One thing I did that was really fun, was play at the Bardavon with an orchestra called Stringendo. I’ve been in the orchestra for about a year, and it’s really fun.  Another thing I love is sports. I’m on a swim team called the Hudson Valley Dolphins, I just moved up to the second group called Silver. Before I was in bronze. You move  to the next group up depending on how good you are at swimming. My brother is in the best group, Gold. Last year I went to the Junior Olympics. Me and 3 other people swam a free style relay.