"Preparing for The Commissioners Visit" -Helga Weissova

Comments: Isabella, Nadrian, Autumn, Jesus, Abdiel

Night- I kind of read ahead... *SPOILERS?*

     I cannot explain how I feel towards this book. It sickens me that all these events actually happened to Elie Wiesel because of something so small as his religion. The book is the story of a jewish man named, of course, Elie Wiesel. So far, we have read about Wiesels  home town, the experience he had in the ghetto and the first few days of being at the Birkenau concentration camp.

     The book is very graphic. We learn, from Moshe the beadle, that the Germans were using "foreign" babies as targets and shooting them. We learn from Wiesel himself that he was put in a cattle car with 80 other people. They were given very little water and very little bread. He watched a lady go mad because of being deprived of water. Because of her going mad, her fellow Jews started beating her to get her to be quiet. We also learn about how Wiesel saw children from the age of 17 and down, including babies, be thrown into a pit of fire and burned alive. Personally, I don't know how Wiesel was able to make himself look sane. I would of probably ended up mad like the lady.

      In the book, we also learn about how Wiesel and his parents had to lie about their age. Wiesel had to lie and say he was actually 18 even though he was 15. His father had to lie and say he was 40 instead of 50. If it wasn't for a prisoner who came up to them and told them to lie, we would of never been able to hear Wiesels story...

Comment: Gianna Nik Marisa

Holocaust Reflection Blog

     This weeks AOW gallery walk was probably my favorite one yet. I Liked how even though the topic of the articles were really restricted, people were able to find many articles that circled around the idea of The Holocaust. One article that I found quite shocking was Isabella's. In her article, she talked about a survivor who was able to hide away for 2 years and detour the death camp Auschwitz. However, he decided to keep this a secret.For 60 years, he didn't tell anyone about his secret. Nor his wife or children knew about his story until his wife died and decided to come out and tell the truth.

     Although a lot of the articles this week were positive in the sense they talked about survivors but there were a few negative articles. Marisa's article talked about a specific death camp named Ravensbruk . It was an only female camp used predominantly for medical experiments. When the camp was liberated by the USSR, instead of helping all the women who survived, the "liberators" raped the woman causing them to become more scared than they were. Another negative article was Nik's article. It talked about a former Nazi. He was 90 years old and they just found out he used to be a Nazi. He worked at Auschwitz and is thought of to been an experimental scientists. he is currently being charged for war crimes. For me, i'm kind of twisted on what I think about him being charged. It was an awful thing that he did but the man is 90 years old. He's already living with the horror and guilt of his actions. Having him die in a jail cell just sounds kind of wrong to me. He only has so much life left.  It's a sensitive topic that I would have to be more informed on to make a clear decision. however, there were many positive articles like Diego's. Diego's talked about a survivor named Ivor Perl. he was taken to a camp at the age of 18. he had to lie and live off of very little food. However he pushed through everything and was eventually liberated.

Berlin Memorial Activity- Reflection

1- What did you learn?
2- Why do you think this monument was built?
3- What did you notice about the number of laws passed in certain years?
4- Which restrictions do you think you would have the most trouble dealing with and why?

     During today's activity, I was completely shocked about how Jews were treated and restricted even before the concentration camps. I learned how the Nazi party created over 400 stupid and unnecessary laws restricting Jews from living a normal life that most people then and now take for granted. Some laws were that there was a specific curfew for the Jews. They could not be out at night past 8-9 PM. Jewish doctors, writer, artists, actors, and more could not do their job. if they were allowed, they would not be paid and eventually fired. Jewish people could not go to the beach, pool, or movies. Besides taking away Jewish peoples entertainment which was possible to live without, their basic necessities were taken away from them. Jewish people could no longer buy shaving cream or soap. They were no longer able to but new clothes and certain foods/drinks like milk, eggs, and specific meats. The Nazi party was also trying to get rid of any Jewish history behind the city as well. All streets named with Jewish names were renamed and Jewish peoples houses of worship were torn down and prohibited from being rebuilt. The Jewish were slowly losing their life piece by piece. Being dehumanized.However, they still believed in what they did and were not gonna change for anyone.

     I think this monument was built because they don't want all the new generations to forget what happened. It's so easy to forget things. No matter how big. This monument is a forever reminder of what happened. Something horrible that manipulated so many people and caused people their lives. The laws passed in all of the years of the holocaust were kind of weird. However, understandable. When they first laws came out, there were so many at once. They just threw so many laws at these people out of no where, The next year however, there were so many less laws made. I think it was because they didn't want any other countries being suspicious. They wanted to be on the down low. Towards the and of the Holocaust, like the 3 to last year, there were hardly any laws made. This was because there were really no other ways they could make Jews lives any harder and because most Jews were in concentration camps.

My Brother thought it was a good idea
to give our dog, Buddy, eyebrows...

     I think the 2 restriction that would be the hardest on me are 1, I am no longer to draw, read, or write. Although I don't write much, I think that if I was in that time, i would need some outlet. Somewhere where I can just rant on and on and not be harmed by it. Also, I love to draw. I may not be very good but it makes me feel better. Without drawing or writing then, I would have no real way to express myself. I would feel like i had a straight jacket on. Being constricted and having no way out of it. Lastly, I may not read much but if I would not be able to entertain myself by going out in public and I can't write or draw, reading would be the only thing I have left and I wouldn't be able to do that either. I would be bored all of the time. Being useless. Without being able to do any of these things would probably make me go ... crazy. the second restriction that I would have the most difficulty with would be that I can't have pets. My dog is like one of my best friends. I would probably have no friends back then because I would not be able to play with them or I was too scared to go outside. Without my dog, i would have no one to talk to. Although I know he would never respond, he would listen. I already can write and draw or read so I would honestly have nothing to do. My dog is always there for me, no matter what. Without my dog, I would feel... alone. Like a big blob of nothing. These 2 restrictions are definitely the 2 that would be hardest with me to deal with.

3rd Quarter Reflection Post

      Another quarter has ended and a new one is beginning. It almost the end of the year! however, have I improved at all? Has my grammar improved? Has my writing style changed? Do I read more books? Personally, I think I have. Im definitely
not the best writer and I still make lots of grammar mistakes but I'm at the point where I notice it a lot more than I used to.  I haven't really thought of any of this until now. I know I have improved in a lot of things. Language Arts may not be my strongest subject but I have improved. I read more, and notice grammar mistakes more. Also, I have learned new necessary skill for writing papers since I have been in Mrs.Larson's class.

      I've also noticed that I read a lot more than I used to. Now, you may think that books written by people online about celebrities and youtube stars aren't real books but in fact they are. They have characters, a problem, a solution. They have a full plot! And, I have read many of these stories. So, I guess you can say that I read more. However, I may have read more books this year but I'm still not the best writer. I guess that I write how I talk and if you have ever had a real conversation with me, you know that I tend to talk fast and kind of all over the place.

      So, writing isn't my best suit. But, I have improved a lot. It's now just routine to plan out essays so they are a little easier to write, I used to just start writing but now I know that doing an outline helps tremendously. i have also learned how to do in text citations for any direct quotes that I use in m writing. Without that, who knows how I would of done in high school. And lastly, I learned about doing works cited pages. Although they are a complete pain and hassle, I learned that works cited pages are good simple ways to show all your sources for a paper. Without that, I could of done relly bad on papers in my high school years

     I only have one quarter left. Hopefully, I can learn a lot more to help me succeed in high school and on.

Character Poem

Indigo

Stubborn, Tough, Short, Spitfire

A Character in Amy's story

Lover of tattoos, leaving Oz,and secrets

Who notices animals in distress, the law, and a helpless person

Who learns to accept people, accept change, and love

Who says "It's better here since we're farther away from the mines, but nothing's what it used to be. It'll just be one big pit soon."

Who used to think that Amy is fragile but now knows she has guts

Major character in Danielle Paige's Dorothy Must Die

A book that makes you look at The Wizard of Oz differently

ISIS, #TheDress, Marijuana, etc.

    This weeks AOW gallery walk one one of my favorites so far. People were finding articles that centered less away from ISIS, which I loved! After a while of listening about ISIS over and over again, it all sounds the same. ISIS kills people, ISIS steals, ISIS expands. I know that they are pressuring issues around the world but it ends up sounding redundant. This week, I listened to articles surrounding #TheDress where we learned why some people see white and gold and black and blue. I read about how Marijuana might be legalized in New York. Ever since it was legalized in Colorado, all crime has dropped 17% while in New York , crime has gone up by 17%! And, almost every crime that the police had to deal with had some type of connection with Marijuana because people wanted some.

Original Dress

What do you see? (I see white and gold)

     I also learned how about the "The Dress"  and its true color. I learned that the Twitter phenomenon is actually blue but for some reason, thousands of people see the dress as white and gold rather that blue and black. Why? Well, it's due to multiple reasons. Depending on the cameron, lens ,and lighting can all affect the way your see the dress. However, it mostly depend on your genes on whether you seethe dress black and blue or white and gold. It's how your eyes perceive light.

This was definitely one of my favorite weeks. it's kind of see all the new topics that people find . I had a lot of fun. :)

Comments: Gianna, Sarai Abdiel