What would you do you on your last day?

Author's note: There are so many things that I would want to do on my last day. However, some of those things require traveling around the world, so I can't do that. So I just listed the things that I can actually do in one day. What would you do on your last day?

If I only had one more day to live, I would throw a huge party with family and friends to have a chance to say goodbye. If some family couldn’t make it, I would call them and tell them farewell. There are so many things I would want to do, like travel somewhere. I want to go to Nicaragua, Mexico, Tanzania, Germany, an Australia, but I wouldn’t have enough time to fly there. So I would imagine that I was there, with waves washing up on the sand in Nicaragua, or the loud hustle-bustle of Mexico, or the scorching heat in the Crater in Tanzania. There are so many possibilities for doing things on my last day, but I hope that I would never know when my last 24 hours are going to be, because it would be too sad for my family and friends. I hope that my last day is a good one.

What will the Future be Like?

Author's note: Many people in the world think: What will the future be like? Will the world be all white and high-tech? Or will it be the same as now but with greener ways like all-electric cars? This is how I imagine it...

Hi! I’m Maggie. This is my diary. The date is May 28th, 3015 AD. The reason I’m writing in this thing is because it is my birthday! The rest of my family is on the 27th floor getting the party ready. I am on the 13th floor in my room. My friend Sparkle lives in the tower next door. She is coming to my party along with Kallie, Nina, Hana, and 2 others. They are all going to stay in my room. I have PLENTY of room in my bedroom because it is HUGE! It’s almost as big as that old grocery store down the street.

    I made a list of things that I want for my birthday:

1.) A new iPhone 48 (or the 47)

2.) My own 120 inch plasma tv

3.) A bigger indoor hot tub for my room

4.) A nicer bookshelf for my 4,000 books.

    That isn’t even all of it! I saw this magazine the other day, and I circled everything in it (besides the boring stuff) and put it on my mom’s pillow so she knew to get EVERY SINGLE THING. The reason I want a new indoor hot tub for my room is because the one that I currently have is trash. TRASH! The jet on the left side doesn’t work as well as the other 7! I REALLY hope that my parents get that...

Imaginary Creatures

Author's note: People like to use their imaginations to have fun. Like thinking of imaginary animals or people. You can talk to Abraham Lincoln, or play with a dragon. But you just have to think about it. 

There are so many magical creatures that are in kid’s minds. They are, in fact, imaginary. Some people like to just daydream about them, but some people like to draw them and write stories about them. There are so many imaginary animals to draw or think of, but you just have to be creative. You could pretend that two different animals crossed together is a way to think of them. Lets say a lion and a giraffe. A Liraffe. And how would you draw it? Maybe a lion but has a super long neck and legs. People can think of many different ways to draw these things, so just think of something new, then make it non-realistic. You have to use your imagination to create something new. 

Why are Dogs so Loyal?

 Author's note: I like writing about animals because I know that dogs have feelings and know their owners are the ones to stick around with.

Most dogs love being around humans. Some dogs stick around for the treats. Some stay because it’s a warm place. But most dogs stay because of all of the above, plus the slow caress on their backs while their owner pets them. They also love being rewarded for things that they do, like simple things like getting a scratch behind the ears for “staying” while your owner is opening the door to go for a walk. Or receiving a treat for “fetching” the daily paper. Dogs are loyal because of these things and more.

Kids Make a Stand

Author's Note: I wrote this essay because I wanted to express my feelings about how adults don't think that kids are capable of fending for themselves or doing fantastic things for the world.

  Many adults in the world don’t think that kids are capable of anything. They don’t think that they could possibly be smarter than adults! A lot of kids in the world think of life as being unfair, because maybe they are orphans, or maybe they are completely ignored by their parents. There are people in the world that are so heartless, they beat their child and think that they are completely worthless to the word. Adults were once children, too! Some kids, like the ones in “The Mysterious Benedict Society” want to prove that they aren’t worth nothing, and that they can do anything.

If you forgot everything including your childhood memories, your family, even your name, how would you feel? You would feel lost and forgotten; sad and depressed. In the book “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” There is a machine that will make you completely forget about everything in your past. Say you are captured by men in black suits. The last thing you remember is sitting in a dark room. When you wake up, there are the men again. And you don’t remember anything before that. Even your kids. That is what happened to many people in the book, including kids and adults. If that happened to me, I wouldn’t ever feel happy again. All of my memories, completely gone.The reason the man that created the machine created it was to make them only feel happy about being in the care and protection of him. And so that they would follow his orders. To put it simply, he is trying to control the brains of the whole human race.

Mr. Benedict tests kids to see if he can send them to the school where all of the mind controlling stuff is taking place, so they can find out information so they can stop the man who wants power. Mr. Benedict finds that kids are actually the only ones who can solve the problem. He actually has a logic to why kids are important in this mission, but other people only think kids can’t do anything is because they are young and inexperienced. I mean, if kids had a chance to do something important, they would! They might or might not succeed. But the point is, they would take up the offer and maybe do something important in the world.

Relating to this book is hard to do because most people have never gone on a secret mission to save the world and not a lot or people are orphans or a man that wants to (and thinks that he will) control the world. But, maybe people have had dreams about these things. Adventure and suspense are the words to describe this book. Mystery Is also another one, because it has many different clues that lead to other clues so the kids can figure out how to stop the man.

Kids in many different books have agreed that kids can do more than mow the lawn, or clean their rooms. They could actually do something important in the world. Maybe invent something, or find out a new way to go green. Adults just need to give kids a chance, and go with their ideas.

Patriot's Pen Essay

Author's note: I wrote this essay because I wanted to show how I feel about my country, and because I felt that if I won this contest, it would be amazing to win just because I wrote about my pride in my country.
To put it simply, I am very proud of my country. In my eyes, it is the most beautiful country in the world. I’m grateful for the people who fought for the formation of this wonderful country, and for the people who fought for this country’s freedom. To me, the 4^th of July isn’t just about fireworks. It’s about this country’s freedom, and that makes me proud. When each firework explodes, I think of one person who was in the battle for our independence. A lot of people put on firework shows just to get money. They don't think of the real purpose of them: To recognize the bravery of people who fought for our country. My great grandfather fought in World War II. Whenever I visit him, I always think of how proud I am to have a great grandfather that helped our country. I saw a video about his experience in the war, but at that time I didn’t understand at how hard he and all the other soldiers worked to make our country a better place. Being proud doesn’t mean going around to everyone and bragging about how great your country is. It means respecting those who lived, and those who passed away during wars. Being proud means saying the pledge with meaning and respect. Saying the pledge really means that you’re saying something that has been around for many years, with your hand over heart because it’s a pledge. According to “Webster’s II New College Dictionary,” the definition of pride is “A sense of one’s own proper value or dignity.” Putting it simply, this is the definition of my pride of my country.            If you asked many different Americans if they were proud in their country, I’m almost sure all of them would say something like, “yes” or something like what described to you. What matters is that my country is a beautiful and strong place, and I honor the people who helped make it such an amazing place. I’m not bragging, I’m simply stating the facts about the U.S. Pride can be bragging, but I don’t want to brag about America. If someone was talking to me and asked, “Are you proud of your country?” I don’t think I would recite a whole speech I had written about pride in my country. I would say yes, and then explain a little why. In this paper, I’m free to say whether or not I’m proud. In short, I’m very proud of my country.

GOALS

• Use syntax definitions to increase understanding of sentence length and complexity.
• Increase the complexity and diversity of introduction,  body, and conclusion style.
• Develop writing style to fit the audience and purpose.

Yes or No: School in Session all Year Round?

Author's note: I wrote this essay because when I was in 6th grade, teachers had been talking about having school all year round: Yes or no. I wrote this paper to state all of the downsides of having school in session all year. I couldn't think of any good things about it, so I simply argued against it.

Some schools in the U.S are thinking about making school all year round; all 12 months with no summer break. It would be really hard on kids, and their enthusiasm about learning would become dim. This idea is also very expensive; the school would have to run all of the electricity all the time and computers would have to constantly be fixed. This would also be hard on the teachers; they would have to teach all year long with only weekends, and a couple other week-long breaks. School should not be in session all year round.

A reason this is a bad idea is the money (how much parents are spending on their kids’ education) and electricity costs. It would be a ton of money to pay all of the electricity bills and repairs if the school’s electricity was running all the time. It would also take up a lot of electricity to run computers and projectors. Another downside is time. Kids don’t want to go to school all 12 months of the year with only a few breaks and weekends. Things like these would upset parents, especially since they have to pay for all of their kid’s school supplies.

If a school went all year round, electricity would be running almost 24/7. The lights, air conditioning/heat, and other things like phones. In some schools there may be things like computers and other electronics charging overnight and during the school day. Electricity is only one reason year-round school is not a good idea to run a school.

Another reason having 12 month school in session all year round isn’t the best idea is because of the money that goes into the student’s school supplies and field trips. Parents don’t want to spend a ton of money for their kid to be unenthusiastic about how/what they learn. They don’t want to spend $50 on pencils and pens. They also don’t want to spend money like that on notebooks and textbooks. Students like to go on field trips and learn new things on them. But sometimes it can be a lot of money to send a student on a field trip, especially if they’re going somewhere far away on a bus. It can also be a trip where you have to rent equipment; like a river clean- up. You have to get boots, maybe gloves, and other things like shovels.

The last reason a proposition like this isn’t convenient is time. Kids don’t want to go to school all year; they would start losing interest in learning new things. Also, there wouldn’t be a summer break to get a rest from school. Teachers don’t want to put up with kids all year for many years; it would cost money and tons of time. The students wouldn’t have time for a long vacation in a different state or out of the country. If there wasn’t any summer break, kids would be learning more and more. There would be so many things to learn about in one year, it would feel rushed. Kids need to be able to learn at their own pace so they actually learn the topic they need to know. That would happen if there was year-round school in session (this depends on how the teachers teach their students).

So many things get in the way of the proposition or year-round school in session. Students, parents, and even some teachers may disagree with year-long school. If a school decided to go with it, students would either want to, or protest about it. As a result, the school would fail to get the education the students need. It’s a bad idea for everyone. Putting it simply, having school in session year-round is a bad idea.