02.07 Free Choice Blog Assessment

              R.I.P. Gregory
  It has been a little over two years since Gregory Allen Jr. lost his life on November 11, 2009. It all started with an argument over a bike, and then ended with two bullets in Gregory's chest. He passed away later that night in the hospital. Gregory was a senior at Middleton High School and had plans of joining the army after his graduation. He was only 17 years old at the time of his death. He will always be remembered...


                          My personal reaction:


  This was my second only my second blog collaboration but it is one that will never be forgotten. I never met Gregory, but from reading this story I imagine can he was a pretty cool guy. He had his life planned, but sadly someone else had already planned it for him. But, Gregory is in a better place. Even though we can't see him now, we will be able to see him again someday...


  I think that the author's intent was to inform the readers of her personal feelings of the loss of her cousin. The pattern of organization that I saw most of  was cause and effect.

04.08 Free Choice Blog

My First Collaboration!

 This was my first ever blog collaboration on Florida Virtual School! I will admit I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I made it! The person that I partnered with for the assignment was Zanya Lorentsen. While reading her blog I was able to find out a few things like where she was from (Indonesia), some of the music she likes to listen to, and her favorite books (Harry Potter). Interesting enough, Harry Potter is exactly what I am going to talk about because Zanya had written about Harry Potter in one of her blog posts that I read. So anyways... here I go...

                                                  Harry Potter

  I learned through Znaya's blog that "Harry Potter" is about a young wizard. Now I am not going to lie... I do know who Harry Potter is already... but I will say that I have never read the books, so that's a good thing : ). Anyways, back to the story. So Harry Potter is this young boy that lives with his aunt and uncle and their spoiled son. Harry's parents had been killed when he was just a baby by a man named Voldemort. Harry's somehow survived and was left with just a small scar on his forehead. So he grew up with with his aunt and uncle and cousin. One day though, he started receiving letters that were addressed to him. But before he could read them his aunt and uncle would take them from him. For some reason they got pretty freaked out and even decided to move to an island that they had never even heard of. Harry was confused and had no idea what was going on. One night when they were on the island about to go to sleep, they heard a knock on the door. Whoever it was wouldn't go away and pretty soon the was a large man standing in their house. The man told Harry that he was a wizard and Harry was as well. He told him that he wanted him to go with him to a school named Hogwarts.  The next day the man ( now called Hagrid), took Harry shopping for all of the things he would need for school. Everyone that met Harry or already knew who he was were in shock and amazed to see him. Then Hagrid told Harry the story of Voldemort...

 This was where Zanya had stopped reading. I really liked her post because it not only told all about what she had read and even went into detail. But it showed that she really did understand what was going on, which made me understand what was going on better as well. I think Zanya wanted her readers to really get the meaning of the things that were happening in the story.

03.07 Free Choice Blog

                  Hope Rising:

   

   Hope rising is a book I recently finished reading about a youth horse ranch in Oregon. The author of the book is Kim Meeder. Kim and her husband Troy founded Crystal Peaks (the ranch) in 1995. Both she and her husband are amazing people. They have both gone through hard times in their lives and now, thanks to the ranch, they reach out and help other people every day. The book “Hope Rising” combines an entire collection of stories about the ranch and puts them into one book. Each story is unique and inspirational in its own way.

                            My Thoughts:

   I really liked this book because I could relate too many of the stories it had. Each story was about something different. Not all the stories had a happy conclusion. However, at the end of each one I felt a little more peace in my life. That is why I recommend this book for anyone, and everyone. I learned a lot with each story and I hope that anyone else that reads it has the same feelings I do.

  

   I believe that the author intended on sharing many sweet stories about the ranch and showing people that they’re not the only ones.

I think that this book used compare and contrast and cause and effect organization. 

02.07 Free Choice Blog:

              Pray For Kate:

   

    Recently I came across the story of a little girl that has been fighting for her life over the past 18 months. Her name is Kate McRae, she is six years old, and she has a massive brain tumor wrapped around her skull. It is amazing how fast someone’s life can change. Kate went from having a perfectly normal life, (going to school, playing with her friends, and doing all the other things a little girl should do in her life,) to living in the hospital  not knowing if she was going to be with her family much longer. This all happened in only a few days over time.

   That was just the beginning. Kate went through many things over the course of the year. Many heart-wrenching stories were told on the blog that her mother started so that other people would know Kate’s story. There were many bad days but there were also many good days. The thing about Kate was she was always trying to find the good in her situation.

   Nowadays Kate is getting better. She is still fighting cancer but she has not been on Chemo in over eight months. She continues to spread cheer to everyone around her. She is an inspiration to everyone she knows and has helped many people. I hope that she continues to progress in her treatment and that one day she will be able to live a cancer free life again.

                            My Thoughts:

   Personally, this story touched my heart. I feel for Kate and I hope that she knows that there are people in the world that really do care. I admire her parents as well. You would have to be a very strong person emotionally to go through something like they are going through. I sincerely hope that she continues to get better.

  

   If I were to create notes to help identify the major points in this selection, I would just create a list. I feel that making lists are the easiest ways for me to take notes.