Graduation Speech

I will always cherish the time I spent in this district. I remember my first day of school, watching the big yellow school bus pull up to my block, and slowly climbing up the steps to find a seat, knowing that it was just the beginning of a new journey.

We had a lot of fun in Kindergarten. Watching butterflies grow and then releasing them, making friends, playing outside on the playground, and of course having nap time. Our first field trip was to the circus, where we watched elephants perform tricks, people being shot out of cannons, and acrobats, while we ate popcorn and played with our red foam noses.

    First grade, we made more friends, and learned advanced addition and subtraction.

    In second grade, we talked about tadpoles turning into frogs, and even got to watch them grow and take the frogs home at the end of the year. Some people's frogs are still alive!

    In third grade, we learned multiplication and division, and took a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium.

    Fourth grade, we played silent-ball, spent G-Bucks, and even got our own customized bucks at the end of the year.

    Fifth grade, coming to this school scared of the big kids, worrying about getting lost or trampled, and taking a field trip we would rather forget. I remember taking a tour of the school and thinking how cool the school was because of the commons with the purple pie shaped couches, and how we could walk to each class without having to have a teacher walk us.  

    In sixth grade, we took an amazing field trip to Medieval times, touring the dungeon, eating the food, and cheering for the black/white horse and knight. In Mrs. Nelson’s class, we chanted the greek and latin roots so many times, i can still remember some of them.

    In seventh grade, we took a field trip to Springfield.

    In eighth grade, the class of 2016 successfully performed “The Living Storybook” Play three times. I will never forget the fun we had creating the play, having our hair and makeup done, and bonding with our cast members. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to go to D.C. this year.

    I’ve known most of my classmates since kindergarten, i've even known a few of them since preschool. We have all grown up so much since our first day of school and I look forward to seeing how we all grow up in high school. Thank you to all the teachers throughout the year who have taught us so much and to the parents for supporting us. Thank You!

Testing

I think one day of standardized testing should be allowed per year. From personal experience, I think two weeks (like the PARCC) is too much because its stressful and not fun for the students, and students lose valuable class time. For example, because of the shortened classes, teachers can't teach their full lesson that they planned. The lessons will be pushed to a further date, taking time from future lessons. I think one day of testing should be enough because the state can still track how students are performing on the tests, and the teachers don't use a lot of class time.

Endings and Beginnings

"With every ending comes a new beginning." It's hard to think about endings even though they bring new beginnings. In two months I will be graduating middle school and moving on to a new high school. I look around the classroom and its crazy because I realize that I probably wont see some of them anymore. Everyone's taking different classes and some kids might even be going to another high school. I've known most of my classmates since Kindergarten when I was five. There are even some kids that I've known since I was two or three because I went to preschool with them for years. It makes me sad knowing I won't be close to my classmates anymore. Since the advanced class stays together through all our classes, we've all bonded in a special way. I'm going to miss the jokes the boys tell during class, talking about old memories from Hynes, and the field trips we've took like Camp McLean and Springfield. Even though endings are sad, we have to take a minute to think about the beginnings. Beginnings can be happy, for example, we will be starting high school in the fall. We will be joining sports teams, taking harder classes, moving on with our lives and making new friends.  "With every ending comes a new beginning."

Field Trip Blog

       In third grade we went on a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium. When I woke up that day I was oblivious of the horrendous day to come. i ate a quick breakfast of cantaloupe and a small bowl of cereal. As I was getting dressed I realized my stomach hurt. I told my mom and she said I was probably just excited to go on the field trip. Since my mom was chaperoning the trip, she drove my brother and I to school. When it was time to leave, we boarded the bus. I was sitting next to my friend Maddy. About 5 minutes into the bus ride I felt sick and threw up in the aisle. The bus driver pulled over the bus and I was moved to the front seat of the bus with a garbage can and a water bottle. I instantly felt better so I thought I was going to feel fine for the rest of the trip. We finally arrived at the Shedd so we ran inside and viewed some of the exhibits. I was excited to see the rest of the aquarium. We saw stingrays, turtles, fish, baby sharks, and more. It was so exciting seeing all the exhibits and learning all about the different animals! I was having a lot of fun but then we had to take a break for lunch, we went into the downstairs cafeteria to eat. After I ate, I threw up again. My mom asked me if I wanted to stay and I said no so she called my dad, who was at work, and told him to pick me up. I sat on the bench waiting for my dad to come pick me up. I saw my mom talking with my friend Elina's mom. Elina came and sat down next to me and then my mom came and told me that we would be driving home Elina too because she also nauseous. My dad came and picked us up and we talked on the way home. I remember talking about how happy we were that we missed the field trip because we didn't have to write an essay on what we learned there. But, we were also sad because we missed the dolphin show that we were both looking forward to. I later learned that I had the stomach flu. Going home early wasn't so bad, I got to lay on the couch and watch movies, and Maddy got me a stuffed turtle because she felt bad that I missed the field trip. Field trips are important because you can learn and have fun at the same time.

Diary Entry

(August 22, 2015)

Dear Diary,

      Today, my little cousin was born. I was so excited when my grandma called and said Nicole was at the hospital and she would be having the baby soon. I was anxious to know the gender of the baby, ever since I found out about my cousin I wanted to know the gender but Nicole wanted it to be a surprise so I had to wait. I always thought my cousin was going to be a girl, but I was the only one who thought so. Everyone else said the baby was going to be a boy because my grandma had 3 boys and 1 girl, and Nicole has like 2 or 3 brothers and no sisters so girls are kind of outnumbered in the family. I was hoping for a girl because on my moms side I was outnumbered with Nick and my cousin Sean being boys.
      Anyway, last night Uncle Bill called me and said the baby would probably be born overnight or in the morning, so I made him promise to call as soon as the baby was born. I got off the phone with him and went to bed. I awoke from a strange dream, I don't really remember a lot about it except for seeing a little girl turned away from me. She looked about 3 or 4, it was hard to tell because I couldn't see her face. She had long light brown hair. I checked my clock, it was a little after 3 a.m. Suddenly I sat straight up, the baby! Was it born yet? I quickly grabbed my phone and yanked it off the charger. Instagram notifications and text messages from last night popped up but no calls or texts from my grandma or uncle Bill. Disappointed I placed my phone back on the table next to my bed and rolled over. I was just about to close my eyes when I heard a shrill ringing sound. My heart raced, was it uncle Bill? I sat up and listened, I heard my mom talking softly, then I heard her say "Let me get her" and I knew it was Uncle Bill. My mom quietly came into my room and handed me the phone. "Do you want to know the gender of the baby?" he asked. "YES!" I exclaimed. "Okay, it's a..." he paused and then continued. "GIRL!!!" "I KNEW IT!" I shouted. "What's her name?" "We aren't sure yet, but we are leaning towards Raine. I'm going to let you get back to sleep but later you guys can come over and see her." This morning they decided on a name "Raine Elizabeth Dempsey".
        I can't wait to see her and watch her grow up.

Daniel's Story Quote

“We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place.  And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in dignity… I want you both to live…And to remember...You must choose love.  Always choose love.”  

(from Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas, page 70)

In honor of "Once Upon A Time" (one of my favorite TV shows) returning tonight!!! I will write about a famous quote from the show.

• Snow White & Prince Charming; If you watch the show, you will know that Charming has a special quote that he says to Snow all the time when something goes bad. That quote is "I will always find you." For example, when Snow and Charming thought they were going to be split up because of the curse, Charming promised Snow that he would find her, and that he wouldn't stop looking until he did. I like that quote because it shows how much Snow and Charming love each other and would do anything to be together no matter what comes in their way.

Leap Year

It is weird to think about leap years. Leap years only come every four years and the last time we had a leap year it was 2012. I was in fourth grade. It's crazy to think that the next leap year will be 2020 and I will be graduating high school. I will (hopefully) be driving by then, I will be thinking about what my career will be, and I will be applying to different colleges.