Olivia’s Nature’s Classroom Post

At my school, when you’re in the grades 6-7 you go to a place called Nature’s Classroom. It is a place  in Becket, Massachusetts where you get to learn about nature and how to work in a team. It is out in the woods. You sleep in a cabin for three nights.  There are lots of fun activities that require teamwork and strategy. Also there were activities that helped you learn about nature.

 

There was a game that we played called Predator v.s Prey. This game was a simulation for the food chain. I really liked it because I got  to feel what it feels like to be a animal. I also really liked it because at the end of the game there were only four people left. Those four people were my really good friends. We also had something called field group. You go to your field group a couple times every day. In our field group we played a game called Camouflage.

 

Camouflage is a game where you have to hide from your field group leader, and then he/she had to try to find you. All the groups played a little bit of a different way. I really liked this activity because you had to use strategy about where you were hiding. That’s not all we did in field groups, we also got to learn about nature. We saw many trees and learned a lot about them. We also looked at animal tracks. Looking at animal tracks was fun because now you can look outside and find a track and know what it came from. Overall It was a very fun trip!  

 

Personal Narrative bye Olivia

                                           Gammie’s Surprise

 

 

`Hurray hurray! I can’t believe that it’s my birthday! Hopefully I will get some good gifts!’

 

It was a bright sunny morning when my mom walked in my room with a tray full of breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, and eggs. “Mmm” I  said, really excited to eat. I ate and I ate until I couldn’t eat any more. This is a good birthday I thought to myself. I walked down the stairs excited to see all of my family, when I realized that the only person awake was my mom! Maybe this wasn’t going to be the best birthday.

Screen Shot 2016-02-01 at 6.45.06 PM Picture from pixabay

 

I waited and waited.It felt like hours and hours so many dreadful hou- wait…. “what was that?” I saw my dad walking down the stairs. My dad loves hugs so that’s exactly what he did. I pulled away as soon as I could because I’m not so into hugs. Plus I was eager to see what presents I had gotten. Before we could open gifts at our house, we got in the car to head to Rhinebeck. Every year (for the kid birthdays) we go to my grandparents’ house (on my mom’s side), and give gifts. My aunt, my uncle, and my cousins all sit around the table and whomever’s birthday it is puts on a crazy fabric hat with fake candles on it. After, we all sing happy birthday (in the craziest voices you could ever imagine), we open gifts and spend time with the family. After, me and my cousins Liam and Luke usually play soccer. We have such a fun time rolling on the ground trying to protect the ball, tackling each other, slipping and sliding, and other fun things like that.

 

 

Later in the day we started to head back home. I was happy to be with my two sisters Emma and Julia. I had gotten so many good gifts and had such a fun time with my family. But my birthday was not over; I still had to open the presents on my dad’s side! I was very excited to see my other grandmother’s gift. She always has awesome presents and I don’t get to see her very often, so it’s a special thing for her to give me something. But this year she gave me something even more special.

 

 

When I got in the house I was so excited to see what they had all gotten me! I was also excited to open their cards because I love writing them cards back. I opened my aunt Beth’s gift I and I was so happy to see that she got me a bag with horses on it! I was so happy because I love horses and have two of my own!  Now it was time for Gammie’s gift! (my grandma). I opened the card and it was a cartoon of a girl on a horse and it read something like “ Dear Olivia, I hope you have a wonderful birthday and hope all your birthday wishes come true.” I loved this card just as much as I loved aunt Beth’s! Now it was time for the gift. I opened the package slowly and carefully. I could not believe what I had gotten!

 

 

Gammie had gotten me a locket! But it wasn’t just a locket, it had my name on it! I jumped up and down with joy! I was so happy. I decided to keep it in my mom’s engagement box, which had been passed down through the generations. My great grandma, my grandma, and finally my mom.


Overall this had been a very good birthday and I’m super excited for my next one!    

Agility With My Dog by Olivia

I love doing agility games with my dog Ben.  For the people who don’t know what agility is, it is sort of like obstacle courses for your dog. The courses can include jumps, tunnels, weave poles, etc. My dog Ben and I mostly do jumps. My dog Ben is six years old. He is a border collie and loves to play.  I adopted him not too long ago. Soon after, we found that we loved doing agility together!

 Here is a picture Ben jumping.


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When I first got Ben, we just laid out cereal boxes so he could jump them. Now he can jump over the park benches outside my house! One day my mom and I went on a horse trail with my dog. He jumped the jumps without us even telling him to! I really like it when he does that because then I know he likes doing it and he is not just trying to do what we say.

Other things Ben likes to do include catching frisbees, going on trails and swimming.  I think one of the reasons we get along so well is because we are both very energetic.  I recently got a agility course with weave poles, jumps, and tunnels. My dog loves the tunnel! Something I am very happy about, is that my mom is a vet and she is very good with dogs, so she helps me train him to be a really good jumper. I really love agility because it is a great way to spend time with your dog and give them exercise at the same time! If you would like to learn more about agility, then click here!

What I do During the Holiday Season! By Olivia

   Holiday blog post

During Christmas , my family goes to NYC. We get there on Christmas eve and sleep at my aunt and uncle’s house.  My aunt Polly makes a wonderful dinner, and we all eat. I love celebrating Christmas because it’s a fun way to get together with family members. After we sleep over at their house, my grandmother and grandfather ( on my mom’s side ) come over. Once my grandparents have arrived we can open our stockings! I love opening stockings because you never know what you’re going to get. We have a big breakfast and then we open presents! I like seeing people’s faces when they open the gift I gave to them. This year I am not only going to go to NYC, but I am going to Florida as well! In Florida I am going to see my grandmother, aunt and uncle ( on my dad’s side), and it will be so much fun. While we’re in Florida, we are going to Universal studios! I really love Christmas and I am excited for this one.

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                                                    Picture from Pexles

 

Final blogging challenge – By Olivia

Blogging challenge review

When I think back to my blogging challenges, my favorite one was week 7- The World of Nature.  I liked it because I love nature and all animals. I also liked how you got to choose your topic and do research about it. I liked that you could do research on your topic because my topic was breeds of horses and I already knew a lot about it but now I know much more. It was also good because I learned how to put hyperlinks in and that is a very good thing to know how to do. Something that I really like in a blogging challenge is when you can choose your own topic and have guidelines about how you write about it. I like doing that because you can have passion in your writing.  

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Picture from Pixabay

 

What I learned from blogging was, that you need to have people check over your work before you send it out to the world.  Once you’ve checked once then check one more time just to be sure. I’ve also learned that you should do a lot of research about your topic before writing your post. It is also good to have a picture because that helps your reader understand what you’re trying to say. Something else you might want to do is use a lot of information because some of your readers might know a lot about the topic and others won’t know much at all.  Overall, I really loved these blogging challenges and blogging in general.

Have fun blogging!

 

 

Week # 7 All About horse breeds – By Olivia

There are many different breeds of horses and each type are used for different types of jobs. Today, I will be talking about a few of the breeds and the kinds of jobs they do. Draft horses usually pull heavy objects, such as buggies, carts, plows and other farm equipment. The draft horse is also known as a cold blood because of their calm temperament. The most common type of draft horse in the USA, is the Belgian. Another type of draft horse is a Shire. The shire is one of the strongest breeds of horse. They are mostly calm and relaxed. Overall they make a great horse for general riding and work.

Here is a picture of Belgian horses below.

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Picture from Pixabay

 

 

Another type of horse is a Thoroughbred. A Thoroughbred is a type of horse that is usually used for racing. They are known as a hot blooded breed. The Thoroughbred  is also known for their agility, speed and spirit. Although the Thoroughbred is bred for racing it also does jumping, dressage, fox hunting, etc. Thoroughbreds are much smaller than draft breeds and have finer bones. My mom owns a thoroughbred shire cross mare and her name is Maxine. The Thoroughbred developed in 17th- and 18th-century England, then became very popular.

Here’s a picture below of some thoroughbreds. If you would like to read more here is a link.

Screen Shot 2015-11-20 at 11.31.36 AM                                                                                                 Picture by Paul    from Flickr

 

Some breads are also distinguished by color.  For example, Palominos are always golden with a flaxen mane. Appaloosas come in five different colors and may or may not be speckled. The Paint breed has white splotches combined with another color. My own interest in horses has come from my experiences as a horseback rider. I ride Maxine whom I described above and also a Welsh pony, named Dundee, that I lease.

I hope you had fun learning about horses!

Week 5 Blogging Challenge

This graph, created by the Economic Research Council, was found through a link to Time Magazine.  The graph shows  changes over time in the main foods that Americans eat.  I noticed that Americans eat  more corn sweetener and it looks consumption ( eating ) of sugars went down for a while and now it seems to be coming back up. I also noticed that there is a lot of artificial sugars being eaten. If you want to learn more you can click here.

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When I searched the most popular foods in america the following foods came up:

 

Twinkies, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, apple pie, peanut butter and jelly, chicken wings, corn dogs, s’mores, ribs and pastrami.

Monster Mania by Olivia

 

 

I guess, Tim Burton would like this

Ben Fredericson (xjrlokix) via Compfight

One misty morning in Rhinebeck, New York, on October 31, 2015, Luke was at his house having a what seemed to be a normal morning. What he didn’t know was that this would be the most extraordinary morning of his life.

Luke woke, only to see that it was raining. The rain turned into hail, then snow and finally it  stopped. He called his friend Nick and they decided to get some food. While they were driving back it was cloudy and gloomy out.  Luke and Nick were disappointed because they wanted to go outside but they decided to watch TV instead. Suddenly, the TV the screen suddenly went black. “Ugggg must be the storm,” Luke said.

Nick agreed that it was just the storm.

“I will go on the roof and see what happened,” Luke said. Just then it started to rain.

“That’s great!” Nick said sarcastically. “What do we do now?”

Then the rain stopped as quickly as it started. “Good now we can go and see why your TV isn’t working” Nick said.

“I don’t think so,” Luke protested. “This is weird.”

Nick somehow got him into it, and the next moment they were on the roof.

“What’s that noise” Luke said?

“I don’t know. Let’s just forget about it,” said Nick.

They went to check the satellite dish to see what was happening with the TV.  As they were looking at the dish, they heard the noise again.

“What IS that?” Luke exclaimed. They continued to search for the location of the sound. When they looked over they did not believe what they saw…a monster with eyes of green, two big horns on its head, and giant feet! Just then it charged at Luke and it struck him off the roof! “LUKE!” Nick called. “LUKE!”

 

What…. what?

“Time for breakfast honey.”

Week 3 Activity 3

My father, Robert (Bob) Louis Roellke, was born on December 3, 1924.  He was an only child and wanted to have a large family when he was an adult.  That is exactly what he did, having 7 children with his wife, Elizabeth (Betsy) Anne Quad Roellke (born, November 30, 1930). Betsy Roellke was also an only child and very much wanted a large family also.  Bob and Betsy had a small rowboat that they named the “Lucky Seven” in honor of their children.  As a young person, Bob Roellke was an excellent athlete who played basketball at Duke University and played minor league baseball in the New York Yankees organization.  Betsy Roellke, now 83 years old, was a stage actress and takes great pride in having 23 grandchildren and a growing number of great grandchildren.

Written by my dad Chris

 

Roellkepic

Family picture -Copyright ©

Week #1 blogging challenge

Activity #1

I think I am an outgoing person both online and offline. I spend very little time interacting with other people on the computer. But sometimes I go on Instagram and look at what horse things people have posted. When I interact with people online I am basically myself!
Activity 2

 

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Avatar from Bitmoji     Bitmoji Website

I chose this avatar because I think it represents me very well!

 

Activity 3

Hey! My name is Olivia and I’m 11 years old. I enjoy playing sports including soccer and horseback riding. I love horseback riding so much I do it in the winter, summer, fall, and spring. When I horseback ride I walk, trot, canter, gallop,  and  jump. I also have many pets. I have 3 dogs, one fantastic guinea pig, and two extraordinary horses named Maxine and Dundee. I’m really excited because I just got another horse over the summer! But that’s not all I did, I also went to Cape Cod and Fire Island and Connecticut  for my sleep away camp. My sleep away camp was a horseback riding camp and I went with two of my amazing friends Olive and Eden. At camp, we horseback rode 2-3 times a day.  Some of those riding lessons we would go swimming with the horses. That was really spectacular. Overall I had a really good summer!