My 25th week of school was amazing! First, we had dads and donuts, I didn’t get to go because my dad had to work, but it seemed fun for the people that did go! Next, we had the Steal Drum UT band come play for us and it was AMAZING!! I mean it’s just a typical Thursday at Rocky Hill. Then, Dr.Odom (person that works for the grant that we won) came to our class to see how our songs are and we might be getting 3 more professional microphones and Bill Gates will be listening to our songs! I mean that’s REALLY COOL! Lastly, we had our Haney’s Court party for the people that won their court case and yes I was there! I just want to say thank you to Sara-Logan for helping for me to win our court case!

My 24th week of school was amazing. First, we had an inservice day on Monday so, NO SCHOOL! Next, we had our valentines day party and it was so much fun! Then, we did our court cases and presented them to a first grade class and a fourth grade class; Sara-Logan and I, our court case won! Finally, I’m here writing to you in chronological order!

Have you ever seen someone throwing the trash that they don’t need or pouring oil into a lake? Thats because they are polluting and littering. Based on the articles, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”

by Catherine Clarke Fox, both authors tell me how Pollution and Littering is different, even though it changes the world and society as we know it. In this essay, I will be showing you how these two articles, “Art for Ocean Animals” by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?” by Catherine Clarke Fox include different information about pollution and littering.

In this paragraph I am going to be showing you just some details from the articles, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, and how the authors express them differently. In the article, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson, the author specifically states, “What do you do when you see litter on the beach? You pick it up, of course. But artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi doesn’t throw it away. She uses the trash to create giant sculptures of marine animals. The project is called Washed Ashore and its goal is to raise awareness about the effects of littering on ocean animals.“The first thing you need to do is get people’s attention,” Pozzi told TFK [TIME For Kids]. “Giant animals tend to do this very well.”Pozzi started Washed Ashore when she noticed plastics on the beaches in Oregon, where she lives. Plastic doesn’t break down and become absorbed by the environment. Instead, sunlight breaks it down into pieces about the size of plankton, which are tiny organisms that float in the sea. These tiny pieces of plastic enter the food chain. Sea animals eat them and end up dying. Pozzi always loved the ocean and the animals in it, and she wanted to do something to help both.” And in the article, “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, the author expresses “If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week’s groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it’s easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.” Both Elise Jonas-Delson and Catherine Clarke Fox express how doing these things that you think are okay to do, are a very bad thing to do because they can effect our environment and change the world in a negative way. In the article, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson, the author states, “One of Angela’s sculptures is a turtle. The turtle’s head is an old garbage can lid. There is netting around it to show that turtles are getting caught in these nets.Another sculpture, called Fish Bite Fish, is shaped like a fish and made out of little bits of plastic that contain tooth and claw marks from the fish and crabs that tried to devour the plastic. “We get so many pieces of plastic like this, I’m on my third Fish Bite Fish [sculpture],” says Pozzi.The Sea Star figure is made of glass and plastic bottles, some of which are from the Beijing Olympics of 2008. The bottles started landing on the beaches in Oregon in 2010, and they still are arriving. The Sea Star acts as a musical instrument. You put water in the bottles and hit them to make music.” In comparison, the article, Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?by Catherine Clarke Fox, the author states “So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.” These two details are alike because they each talk about how instead of throwing trash on the ground or trying to create ways to save this water and trash to try to help our world. In the article, “Art for Ocean Animals” by Elise Jonas-Delson, the author explains to me “The Sea Star figure is made of glass and plastic bottles, some of which are from the Beijing Olympics of 2008. The bottles started landing on the beaches in Oregon in 2010, and they still are arriving. The Sea Star acts as a musical instrument. You put water in the bottles and hit them to make music.” And in the article, “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, the author explains, “But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.” These two details are very similar for many reasons. Such as, both Catherine Clarke Fox and Elise Jonas-Delson explain how water bottles are landing in places that they shouldn’t be like on a beach. The authors also explain how you should pick up a water bottle even if it isn’t yours. Just think that you could be saving a life. That is how the articles, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox are extremely similar.

In this paragraph I am going to be showing you how “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox are different in many accounts. In the article, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson the author explains, “Pozzi doesn’t collect all the trash by herself. When people spot litter on beaches, they drop it off at Artula Institute for Arts and Environmental Education, in Bandon, Oregon. Then Angela and her volunteers begin the process of turning the waste into art. Everything used for the sculptures is found on the beach, except for the framework and the materials used to connect the litter together.Who does Pozzi believe can save marine animals? “Kids have a lot of power,” she told TFK. “They are the ones that can make things happen. I really believe it. TIME For Kids caught up with the Washed Ashore tour in Sausalito, California. The exhibit is currently in Chula Vista, California, from December 8 until July of next year.” In contrast, the article, “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, the author specifically explains, “But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.” These two details are different because in the article, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson, the author explains how they use all of the trash that they find and make it into a sculpture and makes it useful, yet in the article, “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, the author explains how they don’t do anything with the trash that they find, they just tell you why you should recycle the bottles. In the article, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson, the author explains, “Pozzi doesn’t collect all the trash by herself. When people spot litter on beaches, they drop it off at Artula Institute for Arts and Environmental Education, in Bandon, Oregon. Then Angela and her volunteers begin the process of turning the waste into art. Everything used for the sculptures is found on the beach, except for the framework and the materials used to connect the litter together.” Yet, in the article, “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?by Catherine Clarke Fox, the author states, “So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.” These two details are very different, in the article “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson, the author writes about how Pozzi doesn’t pick up the trash by herself; every time someone sees trash they pick it up and bring it to the Artula Institute for Arts and Environmental Education, in Bandon, Oregon. Just so that the trash doesn’t hurt any marine animals or even people. This concludes the information about how the articles “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, about how the authors express the difference of both articles.

In conclusion, next time you see trash on the beach pick it up, and if you have water that you don’t need stand and think of the people in the world that don’t have water and just try to recycle and it will change the world even if you think its just by a tiny bit, it changes the lives of millions. Continue to recycle if you do and if you don’t recycle, try to because these animals and people, they need it. Both articles, “Art for Ocean Animals”by Elise Jonas-Delson and “Drinking Water: Bottled or from the Tap?”by Catherine Clarke Fox, are very similar and different even though they express the same movement of to try something, and it might make the world a better place if you just try. I hope you enjoyed my essay. With every piece of trash one life can be gone, remember that the next time you throw something on a street, or anywhere else. I hope this essay changed your thinking of how pollution and littering changes the world and civilians lives.

Have you ever seen a border collies walking around the street helping people before? If you have thats most likely because they are rescue dogs. Based on the two articles, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder and “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, show how rescue dogs are very important in our ceciety. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the articles, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder and “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk about how rescue dogs are important in our lives.

Both articles, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk and “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder are very similar. In the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder, the author specifically explains “David brings sheep, ducks, goats, and pigs to use in his demonstrations to show how dogs react to different animals.” this important detail is very similar to when Vivienne Lenk specifically states in the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, “High atop a snow-covered mountain in Colorado, four bright-eyed and bushy-tailed students are  being tested in a very serious subject: hide-and-seek. To help the students pass the test, teachers will burry themselves in snow.” Both of these important details are similar because they may not exactly clearly state it, but the “students” (dogs) are testing how they can save people and seeing how much they have learned by training to help save peoples lives. In the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder, the author explains ““It’s partly a process of communication,” David says, “and partly the process of making a pact with the dog.” He pays attention to each dog’s strengths and weaknesses. He works to bring out their best. As a result, they are happy and eager to work for him. Years of practice has helped too. David has been herding sheep with his border collies on Wellscroft Farm in New Hampshire for 30 years.” This evidence provides me with much to compare about. Such as, both of the details include the fact that they train the dogs, and test them to see how they do and what they have learned over a period of time. It also explains to me that they watch how good or bad the dog does and sees its strengths and weaknesses. In the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, the author expresses “The game gets harder as the handlers find better hiding places. Each time a dog finds its handler, a new problem is added. Distractions such as noise and crowds are introduced so the dogs learn to focus.” This is a remarkable fact, these amazing dogs are so intelligent for what they do. These two incredible details explain that they are similar. Such as, they express how hard these dogs work to get to where they stand as a rescue dog today. In the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder, the author specifically states “David Kennard calls out three words, “Jack! Come by!” and suddenly, a dog leaps forward. In a black and white blur, the border collie races silently away and disappears behind a flock of sheep. Heads rise sharply. Moments later the sheep sweep past. A man, a dog, one command, and 50 sheep run to where David wants them. It looks simple, but it’s not. David and his dogs work as a team. He has a deep understanding of the border collie breed and how each dog can be different.” This very important detail shows just how intelligent these amazing dogs are. In the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, the author expresses, “High a top a snow-covered mountain in Colorado, four bright-eyed and bushy-tailed students are being tested in a very serious subject: hide-and-seek. To help the students pass the test, their teachers will bury themselves in snow. This isn’t a typical school. It’s an avalanche-rescue drill for dogs at Breckenridge Ski Resort.” This detail amazes me in numerous accounts. I know what you may be thinking, “This has nothing to do with the other detail,” but it actually does. Such as, the trainers the dogs so much they RISK THERE LIVES, and to me both of these facts show just how intelligent these dogs actually are. That is how these two articles are alike.

In the two articles, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder and “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, the authors use many differences in writing an article that has the main idea of rescue dogs. In the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk the author expresses how the dogs they use train on a farm with many distractions such as, pigs, sheep, and other farm animals. But, in the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder the author states that they train in an area with snow, so they can train to help the victims of an avalanche. This may not seem like useful evidence, but it is because it is very different that they train in a different area because what they do may be alike, but its different. In the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, the author uses much evidence to explain this detail “10  “The dogs are trained to find people buried in avalanches,” said Aaron Robbins, Rube’s owner
and handler. “Finding an avalanche victim without the use of a dog takes a lot of people, time, and resources. One trained dog can find a victim in a matter of minutes.” Yet, n the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder, the author explains, “Border collies were developed in the border country between Scotland and England in
Great Britain. They were chosen for their instinct to gather stock, or farm animals, and bring them back to their masters. Instinct is what a dog wants to do without being taught. Many herding dogs drive stock forward but the instinct of a border collie is to bring the stock back. Border collies work quietly, with little or no barking. They are energetic and very focused on working. They use their eyes to control the animals.” These two details support my first contrast of both articles “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder and “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, but doesn’t just support that, it supports the fact that they both are helping people in different ways. Such as, the dogs in the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk help avalanche victims, but in the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder, the author includes that the border collies help people on the farm. This evidence supports that the dogs have different jobs even though they are rescue dogs. In the article, “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk, the author includes, “Rube, a golden retriever mix, and Rudy, a Labrador mix, are veterans of the class. They’ve  passed their tests and are certified avalanche rescuers. Their classmates—Roux, a golden retriever, and Kodi, an Australian shepherd—are working toward certification.” But in the article, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder, the author states, “Border collies were developed in the border country between Scotland and England in  Great Britain. They were chosen for their instinct to gather stock, or farm animals, and bring them back to their masters. Instinct is what a dog wants to do without being taught. Many herding dogs drive stock forward but the instinct of a border collie is to bring the stock back. Border collies work quietly, with little or no barking. They are energetic and very focused on working. They use their eyes to control the animals.” These two details support the fact that they use different dogs in rescuing people fro many many situations. That was just some of the differences in both articles, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder and “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk.

In conclusion, the articles, “It’s a Dog’s Life” by Rebecca Upjohn Snyder and “Hide-and-Seek School” by Vivienne Lenk are both alike and different. So, next time you see a dog helping you or someone that you know, say thank you and just think about what they do for us and how intelligent they are. These dogs are very useful in our lives, and we just nee to say thank you for what they do and how they bring joy into our lives, and other peoples too. This was my essay and the amazing, intelligent, rescue dogs. Think of what they do to our society and hope they stay helping, without them, some avalanche victims, or animals, could be dead.

Should Pluto Be a Planet or Remain a Dwarf-Planet

By: Emma Atkins

Do you think that Pluto should be a a true planet, or remain a dwarf-planet? Based on the articles, “When Is A Planet Not a Planet?” By Daniel Santos and “What Is A Planet” From The National Aeronnautics and Space Administration (NASA), both have different opinions if Pluto should e a dwarf-planet. I strongly believe that Pluto should become a true planet.

I strongly believe that Pluto should become a true planet because it has to be able to “clear its neighbor hood”. In the article, “When Is A Planet Not a Planet?” By Daniel Santos specifically states in paragraph eight “Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune all share orbits with thousands of asteroids, but no one claims that they aren’t planets. Also, asked protesters, why does it matter if Pluto’s neighbor hood is full of smaller objects.” If you didn’t know what “clearing a neighborhood means” it doesn’t mean kicking everyone out of the neighborhood, it means to clear all of out all of the un-useful small objects like asteroids, ice particles, and other small space objects. This fact to me is very important because if other planets like Earth, Mars, and others don’t clear their neighborhood like the DEFINITION OF A PLANET states, then Mars, Earth, Jupiter, and Neptune shouldn’t be “classified” as a planet. Think of the matter like this, it may help you understand it a little bit more, if a child didn’t meet the right standards to go to a school, then some different other kids didn’t meet the standards either, yet made it into the school, the other kids shouldn’t be able to go to that school if the other kid didn’t meet the definition for the school; therefor, that is basically what its kinda like for pluto not being a planet. Are you convinced yet? The IAU members voted on Pluto not being a planet, yet only a FEW members voted. Therefor, this is not a fair enough conclusion that Pluto isn’t a planet. Some people are fighting against this knowledge of Pluto just because not many people voted for this decision. I very strongly believe that they should reclassify Pluto as a true planet.

I strongly believe that Pluto should be a true planet because it has a vague definition. In the article, “What Is A Planet” From The National Aeronnautics and Space Administration (NASA) explains to me on page fourteen that the definition of a planet is not exactly defined as well as it could be. In 2006 the criteria of a planet was that it had to revolve around the Sun and be round. This changed in a jurassic way that some peoples opinion changed based on just one criteria based upon Pluto and other planets. Have you heard of My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas? Maybe you have, but most likely not. This is because Pluto is sadly no longer a true planet; its a dwarf planet. In the article “When Is A Planet Not a Planet?” By Daniel Santos the author explains “In 2005, our solar system had nine planets. In 2007 there were only eight planets: Pluto was no longer considered a planet. What happened? No an astroid didn’t destroy Pluto. Instead, a group called the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which has the authority to name and classify objects in space, decided in August 2006 that Pluto was not a planet. Pluto, they said, was something else: a dwarf planet.” This fact from the article doesn’t make much sense to me because this definition didn’t have much time for people to understand it more. It also, didn’t have much thought put into it. I strongly believe the International Astronomical Union (IAU) should change that Pluto is truly a planet.

In the article, “When Is A Planet Not a Planet?” By Daniel Santos the author discusses how Pluto and the new definition of a planet came to be. This is a very vauge definition, but whats even worse is that not many members of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted on the reclassification of Pluto. This to me isn’t fair for the people that truly and strongly believe that Pluto should be a true planet. Now think of it in this way, if you truly believe that Pluto should be a real planet not a dwarf you are called a PFP (people for pluto). And if you believe that pluto should remain a dwarf planet, not a true planet, you are a PAP (people against pluto). I am personally a PFP for many reasons such as the ones that I am writing in this essay.

Do you think Pluto should be a planet? In conclusion, Pluto being a dwarf planet is the wrong decision for me. I hope your opinion changed based on my essay. I am a PFP and im proud of it!

I had an amazing 22 week of school. First, we started writing prompts to prepare for our writing prompts and it was surprisingly fun! Next, Lily won 1st place in Ticket To Read so we got to have a pizza party! Then, we did reading buddies and it was extremely fun! Last, I’m here writing to you in chronological order!