In Mrs. Iske’s English class we are learning about poetry. We read a poem each day, and write a three sentence response to it. One of the poems we read was The Purpose of Poetry By Jared Carter. The poem starts out about a farmer who lives with his two dogs. The farmer then is warned about a new reservoir that is going to be built that will flood his property. He is told to move into his daughter’s home in a trailer park. He doesn’t want to because he has grown up on the farm he lives on. The farmer then proceeds to shoot his two dogs, then himself. After we read the poem we discussed it. We found that this poem is a narrative poem because it tells a story. We found out that a poem, such as this one, doesn’t have to have a rhythm or rhyme. The theme of The Purpose of Poetry By Jared Carter is that through poetry we can learn about life.

“She’s just a horror now,” Isabella said to Jack.  In breathe a ghost story, by Cliff McNish, you’re bound to be appalled at what lengths the Ghost Mother will go to in order to have a child again.  Which includes stealing Jack’s mother’s body!

In this book, Jack finds himself moving into “an old dilapidated farmhouse, creaking on it’s old two-hundred-year-old foundations.”  However, this house has a terrifying history, which Jack quickly starts to learn about.  His journey includes talking to ghosts, sensing the Nightmare Passage, and summoning those on the Other Side.
Honestly, my favorite part of this book, was when the Ghost Mother had taken over Sarah’s body, and refused to come out.  I think that part of the book was one of many extremely interesting turning points.
I really liked this book, and would definitely recommend this book to any middle school student, girl or boy.  Also, I would rate this book 9 out of 10.
-Submitted by: Jessica

     Hearing, it lets you hear the birds sing in the morning. It gives you a reason to laugh, to cry, and to even ask why. Being able to hear means everything to me. If you couldn’t hear life would be lonely, quiet, uncomfortable, and boring. Hearing in itself is beautiful, so you can hear the hymns at church. Hearing is wonderful, and yet we sometimes think why, why are we able to hear such awful things. Like when a friend gets mad and you have a fight, but if we couldn’t hear, then you would have to just take it. You couldn’t respond to defend yourself unless you found a new way to communicate. Sure you wouldn’t have heard it in the first place, but even then you couldn’t hear it when they said they were sorry.

     If I couldn’t hear I wouldn’t be able to do half of the things that I can do now. For me even if I lost my sight it still wouldn’t be as bad as losing my sense of hearing, because I could still ask questions and at least get a picture of what’s around me. I would hate it if I couldn’t hear. I couldn’t play an instrument unless I had sheet music, and even then I wouldn’t know if I was playing the right notes. It would be devastating if I couldn’t hear.

Sounds of booming thunder,
Of whinnies and snorts,
The ground rattles and rolls,

Dust flies in the air as they go by,
One by one,
The desert sun hot on their backs,

They gallop,
They run like the wind,
The band, a streak of greys and browns,

Their tails flying,
Their manes lapping the air behind them as if to wave goodbye,
They stay together with such mesmerizing exquisiteness,

Their speed mounting with every beat of their rhythmic hooves,
Then a cloud of dust,
And their gone.

      Jews Escape From Nazis                       By:  Jessica &  Sara

     Earlier this week the Jews were escaping from the Nazis that were taking them to all sorts of camps.  Scared to death of the Nazis and their dogs, the Jews were hidden in tiny, cramped compartments to get across Oresund to get to Sweden.  The Jews are very grateful for a new invention, a handkerchief.

     But not just any handkerchief, a crafty handkerchief coated in rabbits blood, and cocaine.  This creation was designed to attract the dogs with the rabbits blood, and make the dogs lose their sense of smell temporarily. The Nazis have been relocating the Jews, however some Jews have been brave enough to stand up to the Nazi soldiers.  Unfortunately those who have been housing or hiding the Jews have been executed.  This needs to be stopped, and others have tried, however those who have, haven’t lived.

     When we interviewed Hitler he said that Jews were “selfish, and mean people that don’t know what they’re doing at all.” However, we do not agree with this.  We interviewed a bystander who saw a Jew slain in the streets by a Nazi soldier who was standing on the street corner.  The body was later dragged to a death camp and burned.  Many people were astonished by the soldier’s cold, spiritless face.

     This Nazi soldier was completely unbothered by the fact that he had just murdered this innocent Jew.  Many people have been following Hitler, and letting him influence them, therefore there are a lot of people involved in the Nazi party.  The yellow stars that the Nazis made the Jews wear, we truthfully believe, were degrading.  Hitler thought that the rest of the world was completely ungrateful about what he had done for them.  The Jews thought that Hitler was a mean, idiotic person, who had no talent for art.  The German soldiers were heartless people, that didn’t care about the Jews at all.  When we interviewed Hitler he also stated that he was very angered that most of the Jews they were trying to relocate were escaping to free countries.  Hitler also stated that in 1940 he plans to take over Denmark.  Those who have family there need to send word, so that maybe your family won’t be murdered by German soldiers, and that concludes our daily news article over Jews escaping the Nazis.  Don’t forget, save others.

“I can’t believe you did that to me!” I had said.  My dad had done this once, and now he had done it again.  It was hilarious, and I had even picked it out! It was in the afternoon, and I was getting ready to go run errands with my dad.  I knew that we were going to “Best Buy,” but I didn’t know where else.

When we got there we went straight to the  music area, to pick out a guitar stand for my mom.  Little did I know about who exactly it was for. We went to a few other places, and then we went home.  We waited a little while before wrapping the gifts, and then it was time.  My dad and I were taping up the gift, and my dad sealed up every inch of  it.

Earlier that week my mom kept on talking about how funny it would be to have a gift that had no tag on it.  It was finally Christmas morning, and I got up, woke my mom up, and woke my dad up as they hustled to get into the living room. When my parents let me go into to the living room, a huge smile came across my face.  I was about to start opening the colorful presents under the tree, when my dad stepped in and kept a few that had my name on them, including the one with no tag on it.

I had opened the rest of my presents under the tree, and we were going to let my dad open his, but then he said that he had to go to the restroom.  I fell for his trick, until I heard him come back down the hall. He walked into the room casually, when I saw that he had something on his back.  I knew immediately what it was.  I couldn’t wait to open the gig-bag, as he set it down on the floor.

I lifted the top, and saw a beautiful, shiny finish on a tan background.  I had gotten a guitar!  When we got to the presents of mine he had taken, he picked up the one with no tag.  He said to my mom “Honey, this is not for you”.  I was completely taken by surprise at the surprise.  My dad had made me pick out and wrap my own guitar stand.

That Christmas was a great one.  I love every thing that I got, and the tricks I fell for.  I am glad that I got what I got.

A giraffe, elephant, camel, bear, pig, frog, alligator, snake, two mice, and an elephant are all under one regular size umbrella. How many got wet?

None, it wasn’t raining.