It was a cool summer night in Vermont. A luminescent moon shined in the sky for everyone to see. My brother, my mom and I were sitting on the stone seats by the flickering fire in the fire pit. A waiter comes by holding two plates filled with, gram crackers, Hershey’s chocolate and marshmallows.  He lays one of the plates next to my brother, Ethan and the other plate next to me. For desert we decided to have s’mores.

The fire blazed up like a hand reaching out to grab something. The fire casted vivid light on my body as if an artist painted my body a fiery orange. A few people are still swimming in the heated pool to the left of the fire pit. A gentle breeze whips by. The smoke from the fire burns my eyes. I grab a stick off the plate and stab the tines through the middle of the marshmallow. I hang it over the tips of the flames, careful not to drop it into the fire. I slowly turned it over thinking it has to be perfect! Nice and steady… My brother, Ethan has already finished lots of s’mores. I haven’t even finished one! With my free hand, I grab a piece of chocolate and enclose it with my fingers.

Finally my s’more turned a perfect golden brown; just how I like it! I smack my now gooey, golden brown marshmallow on a gram cracker. I can hear muffled conversations in the restaurant. I open my hand. The chocolate is smeared across my hand like butter on bread. I grab a new piece of chocolate and lay it on the golden marshmallow. To top off my s’more, I put another gram cracker on the top. With the corner of my eye I sneak a peek at my brother. His mouth is rimmed with Hershey’s chocolate. He pops his last few pieces of chocolate in his mouth. He plate is empty; unlike mine.

I chomp at a corner. Whoa! This tastes amazing!!! I haven’t had a s’more this good since three years ago! MMM MMMMM… “Uuuuuh! I’m soooooooo fuuuuuullll!” my brother moans shattering my thought bubble. I devour the rest of the s’more as if I were a vacuum. A bomb of sugar explodes in my mouth! “I want another”, I declare.

That night, I ate 3 s’mores. I was stuffed after that. We went back to our fancy hotel room with two queen beds and a flat screen TV. Besides dinner, making s’mores by the fire is our only family bonding time. My brother, Ethan is playing in the game room 24/7 and Mom is knitting by the pool. Making s’mores is something we all enjoy; not something we’re forced to do.    

Check out students' posters! Students researched an animal and created a poster that cleverly displayed the information they learned. 

For reading workshop, students read an except from Andrew Clements' fun novel Lunch Money, about a boy named Greg who draws, publishes, and sells his own comics called, "Chunky Comics". Students also learned about the history of comic books and how to make their own mini comic.

RAFT Writing: Students wrote a persuasive letter from the perspective of Greg. They needed to persuade the principal to let them sell their comics at a booth in the cafeteria during lunch time. Check out some of those clever letters under RAFT Writing.

At night when you fall asleep, your mind turns your thoughts into a clever story line. These story lines are called dreams. Dreams are a mysterious thing. No one knows why we have them. Scientists know some things like the stages of sleep. Most artists use their dreams as inspiration.

REM sleep (rapid eye movement) is one of the stages of sleep. It’s the part of your dream that is most vivid. During this stage, your brain paralyzes your body from doing the action in your dream. The only thing that moves is your eyes. If you had drugs like cocaine before bed, you have a great chance of not reaching the REM stage.

NREM SLEEP

NREM sleep (non- rapid eye movement) is the part of your dream you forget. Between five minutes of waking, half your dream is forgotten. 

THE STAGES OF SLEEP

When you sleep you go through five stages of sleep.

Stage 1: Stage one is called the Alpha stage. In this stage your mind isn’t focusing on a dream, but you’re thinking about what happed during the day. It’s possible to think you hear someone call your name or ring the doorbell.

Stage 2: In the second stage, your heart rate slows down and your brain produces lots of brain wave activity known as sleep spindles.

Stage 3: In stage three, your deep, slow brain waves called delta waves, emerge. It is in the middle of light sleep and deep sleep.

Stage 4: Stage four is called delta sleep. It’s called that because, of the kind of delta waves that occur at the time. Sleep-walking can occur at the end of stage four.

Stage 5: Stage five is called REM sleep. This is the part of your dream that is most vivid.

THE DREAM CATCHER

The Dream Catcher was made by the Native Americans. It was made to repel bad dreams. It was made out of twigs, string and beads. The natives thought that the string would catch the bad dreams like a web, and the good dreams would go through the hole in the middle. If the natives kept beside their bed, they would never have bad dreams again.

HOW MANY DREAMS THE AVERAGE PERSON HAS PER NIGHT

The average person has 3-5 dreams per night. Dreams can last up to 20 minutes, but some can only last for 3 seconds. Some people can have up to seven dreams per night.

As you can see, dreams are very interesting. You learned about REM sleep, the stages of sleep, dream catchers, NREM sleep, how many dreams the average person has per night and so on.

WEBSITES I USED:
http://www.boredpanda.com/15-interesting-facts-about-dreams-dreaming/
http://www.boredpanda.com/15-interesting-facts-about-dreams-dreaming/

Beatrice Prior and Katniss Everdeen are two female characters from two great books called The Hunger Games and Divergent. They both have many differences and they both have many things alike. Here are some of them.

Here are some ways Katniss and Beatrice are different:

At the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice finds herself joining the fearless group called Dauntless. Here, Beatrice has to change her image so no one will know she’s actually a coward. Beatrice always worries how other people see her. As for Katniss, she doesn’t care how other people see her. For example, when Haymitch insults Katniss, most of the time Katniss doesn’t let him get under her skin. In Dauntless training, Beatrice has trouble with using weapons. Every gun, knife, chainsaw, sword or bow and arrows, feels awkward to Beatrice. However, Katness been using weapons ever since she was a kid. For instance, when Katniss was showing off her bow skills in front of the Game Makers, she shot an arrow up 50 feet in the air in perfectly into the apple in the pig’s mouth, because the Game Makers weren’t listening. In training, Beatrice had to fight, but she was afraid that her parents will hate her for not being more Abnegation, by hurting someone. When Katniss was in The Hunger Games, she didn’t care for a living soul. For example, when Rue was shot with an arrow, Katniss shot the guy who killed Rue.

Here are some ways Katniss and Beatrice are alike: 

Both Beatrice and Katniss are very brave. It was very brave of Katniss to volunteer for the Hunger Games so her sister Prim Rose doesn’t have to be in it, even if it means for her to die. Beatrice likewise, zip-lined off a 300 foot building so she can become a Dauntless initiate. Katniss and Beatrice both get angry very easily. Once Haymitch told Katniss that she wouldn’t win the Hunger Games, because of her attitude, on the train, and Katniss threatened to stab Haymitch with a fork. When a girl named Molly played a little joke on Beatrice, she then beat Molly till she was curled up in a ball with a black eye, bruises and a bloody nose. When Katniss was in the Hunger Games, she was determined to prevent Rue from dying. Beatrice also, was determined to win the capture the flag, so she climbed up an abandoned Ferris Wheel to track down the other team.

All in all, these two girls are different and alike in many ways. They both have an interesting and hard life. That doesn’t mean they are any bad people at all. There actually are quite fascinating! 

Students task was to write a well-structured opinion essay filled with evidence supporting their claims. Special features include:

• A strong, clear thesis statement
  
• Three unique, powerful reasons
  
• Meaningful personal experiences
  
• Facts and evidence from others
  
• A strong introduction and lasting conclusion

Students could write about any topic that they felt strongly about. We hope you enjoy our essays!

My heart skipped a beat as I was standing in line. “Call Me maybe “, was playing.  “Next,” yelled a guy in a grimy blue jumpsuit. My heart fell to my stomach. You know why? I was next.

I’m at a Fourth of July fair with my mom and my brother. The pirate ship ride isn’t like normal ones. This one went close to 70 feet in the air. My brother was too much like a wimp to go on the ride with me so I went by myself. He went to go in line for the bumper cars. Mom went with me to encourage me but not go actually “on the ride” so she is just in the crowd giving me the thumbs up sign.

I gave the man my ticket. “Go on,” he mumbled. I didn’t even think about going at the very end. I climbed in the lowest seat. A boy about my age sat next to me. I had butterflies in my stomach. I glanced at Mom in the crowd. She had a grin that spread across her face. I gave her a half smile. The guy in the blue jumpsuit tightened my seatbelt. There was no turning back now. The motor went to a start. The ride slowly creaked forward. I squeezed the handle some-what ready for the ride to go faster.

The ride went back down then up again. Suddenly, the ride zoomed up. My stomach jerked to the side. I felt like throwing up. Every time the ride went back down, my stomach jerked in a different direction.

   After about 15 minutes the ride slammed to a stop. I was totally surprised that I didn’t throw up yet.  I felt terrible. I waited patiently for the blue jumpsuit guy to come back. He didn’t. I heard the motor run again.

I feel the wind blowing the grass and I. As I walk up the creaking stairs I face the door.  I put my hand on the knob as I slowly open the door. I stepped into the haunted house with a chill up my spine. I felt another blast of wind before the doors slammed behind me. Then I heard a sound like “eeeeeeeeeee”! Then the organ started to play. Then I said “maybe it’s just the wind.” Then I heard a voice coming from behind me. It said “you will die here”.  I looked behind me. Nobody was there. I heard the voice again, “you will die here”! I looked behind me again, this time I saw a dead man. I saw a note taped on to the man’s body. It said “this is where you will rest in peace”! I turn back and run to the door. It was locked. Now the door is covered with blood. There is no escape besides the door. I knew I was  trapped here forever.

The rusty steamboat wedged into the sandy shore.  I hover off the rusty boat. The immense heat roasted my body.  The roaring bell flows roughly through my eardrums.  “Oh no” I moan “its lunchtime already?! I know I’m late, but I didn’t know I was this late!” I rush toward the door so I don’t get trampled by noisy kids. I was too late! A stampede of hollering kids scamper toward the tables scattered everywhere across the warm sand. I feel kids shoving and pushing me in the back. I leap out of the crowd. A wave of warm sand falls everywhere on my body. I pull myself up and sprinkle off the sand. A. group of rich snobby girls whisper to each other, and snicker. “Look who slept in 3 hours late this morning!” They snicker again. Their high-pitched voices pierce my ears. I roll my eyes. “Jerks” I say under my breath. I catapult towards the front doors. Once I was in the hallway, I noticed everything was quiet.  It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I pour down the hall trying to find my classroom. My flip flops echo in the quite hallway. Across the lime green wall are multiple posters saying stuff like “Go Math!”  , “School is fun!” and “Never quit on learning!” I spot my classroom.  The way I can tell which classroom is which is because every classroom is shaped differently. Some classrooms are shaped like a triangle some are shaped like a pentagon and some are shaped like a hexagon. My teacher Ms. Rosemary is far off perfect. Everything she does is perfect. All the clothes she wears look perfect on her. Even when she messes up she messes up perfectly. I think she is too perfect in my taste. I sneak into the classroom.  “Hello my child” Ms. Rosemary says in a soft voice. She has multiple papers on her desk.  I open my mouth, but no sound comes out. “Aren’t you going say something?” she laughs in a cheerful tone.  “Well uhh I have a tardy pass and my homework and I wanted to give it to you” I mutter. I walk over to her desk and place my homework and my tardy pass on her mess of papers. “Thank you. Now get to lunch before it’s over!” she says not looking up from her desk. I flew to the door. I grab my lunch box and rush towards the front doors. The rest of the day zoomed by. If this school wasn’t perfect I would be toast.

Check out some outstanding student work from the first homework project of the school year, All About Me. I've listed the requirements of the project here; below is what some especially creative students did with it.


Job 1. Mini-biography: Choose two from the following:

• Writing about yourself, your life, and your family – funny stories, sad stories, amazing family facts, etc.
  
• Describe the best book you have ever read.
  
• What was one of the proudest moments in your life?
  
• Describe a turning point in your life.

Job 2. Predictions: Write predictions about where you and three of your friends will be, and what they will be doing with their lives in: Ten years time & Twenty years time.

Job 3. Compliments: Write a page of compliments to friends and family, the kind of thing that you may have thought but never said. Try to include as many classmates as possible.

Job 4. Portraits: A page (or pages) of photos and/or artwork expressing your personality and what makes you YOU.