dance247

I learned so much in my English class this year. Of all the things that I learned, three things that really stuck out to me were genres, plays, and poetry. Genres really caught my attention because I love reading; whether it’s one of my big brother’s essays or one of Rick Riordan’s Greek mythology books. Another thing I loved learning about was plays. As my Mom sometimes says, I’m a total “drama queen.” So, I’d make a great actress. I also love going to see musicals or plays. It looks really fun to act and to play a part in a play. And finally, poetry. Poetry is something that I have mixed feelings for. Well, then again, isn’t each piece of poetry supposed to tie in a different emotion? Yes, I think so.
A genre is a category of creative structure, like in literature, described by resemblances in form, style, or subject matter. Every book has a genre. For example, my favorite book: Little House on the Prairie, is historical fiction. Historical fiction is a type of book that has fake characters, but takes place in a real time frame, at a real place, and sometimes the events are real (World War I, the Great Depression, etc.). But, in Little House on the Prairie the characters are real, too. Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of those books, wrote each book based on a different part of her childhood with her family. She did tweak some of the stories, but each book is based off of a real time in her life and every single person in the books are real people that Laura knew. So, it’s kind of like half historical fiction, have autobiography. Is historical autobiography a thing? Another example is Victoria Schwab’s book trilogy: My Guardian Angel. It’s about an angel named Aria who needs to earn her wings by visiting three girls who are going through hard times and need someone to help them stay happy. I read all three books, and it’s obviously a fiction book. A fiction book is a book that is completely fake and could never happen in real life. I figured out that it’s a fiction book because the angel travels by walking through her own shadow. That’s not even possible! Another way I know it’s not true is the angel turns invisible! That’s not possible either! Well, I could go on and on and on about different books I’ve read, loved, and figured out the genre of. But, there’s other things to know about genres! Like, when you’re writing a book, or maybe just a three page essay on a story completely off the top of your head. The story needs to have a genre! It could be sci-fi (science fiction), fiction, fantasy, or maybe even a horror book. Sci-fi is a fiction book, but the whole book has science tied into it. Fantasy is like your own fairy tale. It could have princesses, talking animals, fairies, pirates, aliens, mermaids, and so much more! I personally do not like fantasy books because they’re too girly for me. I’m, yes, a girl, but I do not like princesses or fairies or that kind of stuff. But you can write or read whatever kind of book you want to. Another genre I’m not a fan of is nonfiction. There are very few nonfiction books I’ll read. A nonfiction book is a book that is full of facts. Everything in the book is true. I like astronomy nonfiction books, and that’s it. I don’t like anything else. But, everyone’s different. My brother, Chase, loves reading about animals, especially dogs and cheetahs. There are probably at least fifty more genres that I’ve never even heard of before, but what I know now is enough information to help me write a book! This will be useful to me in the future and I hope that if I ever want to become an author, this year’s English class will immediately come back into play.
Plays are another thing I learned about this year. A play is a dramatic work for the stage or to be aired. When I learned about plays, it really stuck with me because when I grow up, something that I’m considering is acting. So I think that learning about plays was perfect for me. There are lots of parts to a play. There’s the script, the cast, the acts, the scenes, and the exit. The script is the text for the play, which is what you read when you’re reading a play. The actors and actresses have to memorize the script for when they perform, because it would just be weird if the actors would be standing on stage reading off of a paper… Anyway, the cast is the group of actors and actresses in the play. For example: a few months ago I went to see Peter Pan, the musical, be performed at the high school. The boy who played Peter Pan, the girl who played Tinker Belle, the girl who played Wendy, and all the other actors and actresses in the play, that’s the cast. In a play, there’s always an introduction. The introduction, just like in a book, sets the stage for the rest of the play. So, the introduction in Peter Pan was a narrator. The narrator explained a little of what the first scene was going to be about. Speaking of a scene, that’s another vocabulary word. A scene is a marker for smaller sections of the play, normally a change of location or characters. So, in Peter Pan, the first scene is Wendy and her two brothers in their room. Once Peter comes and takes them off to Neverland, the curtains spread across the stage so the people watching the play can’t see the people behind the curtain moving everything so they can set up the Neverland scenery. Well, that brings us to the acts. An act is a marker for major sections or changes in the play. Normally in a musical or play, there’s only two or three acts. But there’s lots of scenes; probably ten different scenes in one act or maybe more. After each scene, there’s a cue for the characters to get off the stage which is called the exit, also known as the exeunt. Every single play has these in them.
The topic that I learned a lot about closer to the end of the year was poetry. I learned so much about poetry, I think I’m ten times better at writing poems now. Poetry is literary work in which special amount is given to the expression of emotions and ideas by the use of characteristic style and rhythm. Some poems rhyme, and some make no sense at all. But as long as it comes from the heart and it’s expressing true feelings, it’s a poem. A ballad is a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. For example, if you wrote a poem that was three short paragraphs long, then it would be a ballad. That is a common type of poem. An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. I have never read or written this type of poem. In fact, I’ve never even heard of it before this year. So, these poems are generally sad and dark, and gloomy. These would express deep, dark feelings. An epic is a completely different type of poem. It’s a long poem, normally one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation. So these are poems that were written long ago, and they’re normally about adventures of famous people from back then. I’ve never read an epic before, but I am considering researching, and you should too. Moving on; an ode is a lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular rhythm. So an ode would be more like a song. Singing odes would be very easy. A limerick is a humorous verse of 3 long and two short lines rhyming aabba, popularized by Edward Lear. Here’s what it would look like:

Long verse 1:———————————–
Long verse 2:———————————–
Long verse 3:———————————–
Short line 1:——-
Short line 2:——-

That’s the layout of this type of poem. Another is an epigram. An epigram is a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way. So these would be cool, creative poems. There are lots more types of poems, like acrostic. That’s my favorite type of poem. I know, that’s a super easy poem but it’s my personal favorite. Here’s an example:

Swimming at the beach
Underwater
Making sand castles
More lemonade, please!
Enjoying the sunshine
Racing through the sprinklers

That’s an acrostic poem (I just made this up off the top of my head). I used the word “summer,” then I wrote it down vertically. Then, starting with each letter, I came up with a little phrase to match it. There’s so much more types of poems, but now I want to talk about a famous man who wrote lots of famous and intriguing poems. His name is William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was born on April 23rd, 1564 and lived until he was 51. He was a worldwide famous English poet, playwright, and actor too. He was widely considered as the greatest writer in the history of English language and the world’s pre-eminent author. To lots of people, he is known as the “Bard of Avon,” and England’s national poet. His existing works, including collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other stanzas, some of undefined composition. His plays have been interpreted into every single major present language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. But, there is a conspiracy about Shakespeare. Some people think that William was not the actual writer of these outstanding poems. The conspiracy is that there is an unknown author who wrote these but gave the credit to William, or William took all the credit. No one knows if this is true or false, but there’s evidence on both sides.
This year was full of fun, learning, and reading. Definitely reading! I read a total of twenty books this year, some being ones that I really liked, and some being ones that I could care less about. But genres, drama, and poetry are the three that I really think will come in handy in the future. If I become an author, this information about genres will just swing back like a boomerang! If I become an actress, then everything I learned this year would be super helpful. And if I end up having the passion to write poetry, then this will definitely come in handy. This class was very fun for me, and I hope next year will be great too.

James I of England was the last living heir of Henry VIII in the late 15th century. James’s connection to Henry VIII was his sister was James’s great grandmother. James’s mother was Mary, Queen of Scots. When Mary finally had to give up the throne, James became king. To Scotland, he was known as James XVI, but once he became king of England as well, he was officially James I. He was the first man to be king of Scotland, Ireland, and England all at once! James believed he could do anything he wanted while he was king, regardless of Parliament. Parliament did not agree with this. James thought he was above Parliament, but Parliament knew that the king and they were always equal. Because James was episcopal, he decided to instead let people choose their religion, he advanced the Episcopal Church as the state religion. Because of this decision, the Hampton Court Conference was called in 1604 at the Hampton Palace to address some of the proposed reforms of the church. During this conference, they created the Authorized Version, also known as the King James Version, which was made specifically for the Episcopal Church. Once James gave up the throne, his son Charles succeeded the throne. James I was a good king, but Charles’s reign was not as easy as people say.

William of Orange, or William the Silent, was Prince of Orange in the mid-16th century. He was one of the leaders of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish. William was the oldest of 12 children in his family, so when his cousin deceased, he inherited the position at the age of 11. The requirement for him to be king (once he became old enough) he had to become Catholic. So, he went to school to get a Catholic education so he could become Prince of Orange. William opposed Spain’s rule of the Netherlands because he claimed Spain was being too controlling, and he wanted to end that. He was then proclaimed an outlaw. He was proclaimed an outlaw because the Spanish called a council to punish over 10,000 criminals, including William, but he refused to show up. So, his properties were taken away. Then, William began the Eighty Years War, which lasted until 1648 (after he died). The result of the war was the Dutch regained their independence from the Spanish crown. After William was declared an outlaw, a large reward was placed on William’s head. He was assassinated in his own home in July 1584 by a Catholic Frenchman.
Now, let’s talk about Louis XIV. Louis XIV, the Sun King, was king of France during the late 17th century. Louis’s reign was a remembered one because it was the longest reign in Europe in its history. Louis reigned over France for 72 years! Louis was born in September 1638, and became king at age 4 when his father died. Unfortunately, he was often neglected in his young age; one time he almost drowned! Although his mother did instill values of right and wrong in Louis. Cardinal Mazarin replaced Cardinal Richelieu as the chief minister of France, but when Mazarin died, there was no one to replace him. So, what was unusual about Louis’s choice of chief minister for his reign was he declared himself his own chief minister and controlled his government during his reign. While Louis was king, he accomplished a lot. He brought absolute monarchy to his height, he destroyed the last remains of feudalism, he became his own chief minister, he established a remarkable court at Versailles, he centralized power in France and supported the literature, the arts, and science, and he also fought several wars with the countries around him, making France the dominant power in the world. Those are just some big accomplishments. There are so many more amazing things that Louis did during his reign. The Protestants were once held in jeopardy for their religion, but then gained freedom to whatever they wanted. The Edict of Fontainebleau revoked the Protestant Huguenot’s right to worship. Unfortunately, Louis died in 1715 just four days before his 77th birthday. He suffered a great deal from gangrene and was in lots of pain during his last days.
Louis XIV and William of Orange were both great men, and they will both be remembered.

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright during the Elizabethan Era. He was a very wise, creative man, and he wrote many plays that are still well known today; such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and many more. Shakespeare lived in a small English town called Stratford-upon-Avon, and during his entire lifetime he only lived there and in London. Shakespeare is best known for his plays. He wrote a wide variety of plays too. He wrote comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances. Shakespeare lived in London because the leading play company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, performed all his plays which he wanted to lead, perform in, and watch. The Globe Theater was the sophisticated theater where all Shakespeare’s plays were performed. Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar are three of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Some more are Henry VIII, The Tempest, Richard III, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The works of Shakespeare were so influential; they influenced literature itself and theater, and many authors following such as Charles Dickens, Stuart Melville, and Sigmund Freud. Shakespeare was an amazing person well-known for his plays. Or were they his? There is a controversy surrounding Shakespeare at the moment. There is a great speculation as to whether or not William Shakespeare actually wrote these plays and poems that he is credited for, or if an unknown author wrote these but just didn’t want the credit, so William took all the credit. Until that mystery is solved, William Shakespeare is an amazing, influential, and creative man who wrote many amazing plays and poems.

I learned a lot in my English class this semester, including things about interesting vocabulary words, literature, and genres. I learned a lot of interesting vocabulary words in this semester. Some were about character development, some were tied into a certain book I read. I also learned a lot about literature. There are different examples of literature, which will tell what kind of book it is. Is it a novel? A poem? I also learned a brain full of facts about genres. There are so many different genres, I can’t even list them all!
Vocabulary words can be very helpful in the future, so might as well learn them now, right? I learned a lot of cool vocabulary words at the beginning of the semester while I was reading the first few books. A few examples of the vocabulary I learned were juxtaposition, customs, milieu, and tone. Juxtaposition means: the fact of two things seen or placed together with contrasting effect. An example of juxtaposition is in one of the books I read, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It is when one of the main characters, Clarence, is with a knight in armor, and he’s in rag clothes. They are completely different! Another vocabulary word I learned is custom. Custom means: what people do or what they are like during a certain time period. An example of a custom is the Egyptians. They make hieroglyphics, which is their way of writing their language (a hieroglyphic is a picture used to say a message). Or if you go to a Native American village, you will see that the things they do is weird compared to the things you do. Such as their clothing. They paint their faces, and they wear clothes that they make themselves. We buy our clothes from the store, or get hand-me-downs from our older siblings. That reminds me of family and friends, or a social environment. Speaking of social environments… A milieu is a person’s social environment. A milieu can give a book the special twists and turns that make it interesting. Or, my milieu is with my closest friends, or my cousins and family. The last vocab word I learned from the ‘Connecticut Yankee’ book is a tone. The tone is the way a story is told or the attitude in which it is told. The tone of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is of a comedian mocking the government and lifestyle of medieval England. These are the vocabulary words I learned in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
Literature is a topic that I also learned a lot about this semester. There are many different types of literature, such as a novel, a short story, a novella, or a poem. A novel is a long, prose narrative that describes fictional characters and events, usually in a form of a sequential story. Novels are the longest stories of all types of literature, and it is also the most well-known. A prose is a written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure. Novels and everyday speeches are both made up of prose, which is a general term in literature. Most of the books I have read during this semester are novels. Short stories, like novels, are written in prose. A short story makes use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic components to a far greater degree than is typical of an anecdote, but to a far lesser degree than a novel. A short story’s length is obvious; it’s the shortest of all stories! A few examples of famous short stories include To Build a Fire by Jack London and The Gift of Magi by O. Henry. Another type of literature is a novella. Unlike a novel, a novella generally features fewer conflicts than a novel, but more complicated ones than a short story. A novella is generally longer than a short story, but it has a simplified plot compared to a novel. It usually only has one conflict, and if not a few smaller ones too. Several examples of novellas are Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Poetry is another style of literature. A poem uses rhythm or aesthetic qualities of language, in addition to prosaic language, to create a new style of literature. Poems don’t read like novels; there is a different style of reading required to effectively understand poetry. But like novels, poetry comes in many different forms. Poetry varies in length, where it can be just a few lines, or epics that can take up to more than 100 pages. Some poetry recounts stories, others give fiction in the style of a poem, and still others give a look into the author’s mind and heart, even better than prose does! My personal favorite type of literature is poetry, because I like writing poems sometimes.
There are so many types of genres, I don’t know if I can list them all! A genre is one word that tells what kind of book a book is. If it’s a book about the Civil War, my guess would be its nonfiction. If it’s a book about twin sisters becoming famous unicorn riders at the age of ten, it’s probably a fantasy story. If it’s a Nancy Drew book, then it’s obviously a mystery book. What about American Chillers? Most definitely horror. What about a book about a young girl starting her own baking business and becoming famous? That’s realistic fiction. Sure, that could happen to a lucky young girl, but the author made up everything, from the names of the characters to the setting the story took place to the foods she made. There are plenty of other genres, such as fiction, historical fiction, Sci-fi, biography, and much more. You’re probably now wondering what each of these genre words mean. A nonfiction book is a book full of facts, and everything in that book that can be proven true. A fantasy book is a book where everything is made up. There can be made up creatures, made up universes, made up foods; you name the imaginary thing, it could be put in a fantasy book! A mystery book is pretty much in the name; it’s a book with a mystery that someone or a group of people has to solve it. A horror book is a book that is meant to scare you, or a book meant to give you the chills. Realistic fiction is a genre where it could easily be real today, but the characters are made up by the author. Historical fiction is fiction, but the time period is before the 21st century (our time period). Fiction (just fiction!) is where the author makes everything up, but it has no imaginary things, like a disco planet far away overflowing with dancing blue aliens with pet unicorns. Science fiction (also known as Sci-fi) is fiction, but everything in the book is science-y. A biography is a type of nonfiction. A biography is where the author writes about a famous person’s life. There are so many more types of genres, but if I type them all, we would be here all day!
Vocabulary, literature, and genres are all parts of Language Arts (English). These are just three of many things I’ve learned this semester. In the beginning of the year while reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, I learned some vocabulary words such as juxtaposition, custom, tone, and milieu. I learned what they each meant, and examples of each one so I would understand it better. Later on, I learned about literature. I learned what literature was, different examples of literature (novels, poems, novellas, etc.), and what each one meant. After that, I learned about genres. I learned what a genre is, examples of genres, and what each genre was and examples of each genre.
In conclusion, I learned a lot of useful things this semester that weren’t only the things I listed, and I can’t wait to learn more awesome material next semester.

This week in science we talked about vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other health benefits to certain foods. In lesson 76, I learned that citrus fruits and some vegetables contains lots of vitamin C, which prevents a disease called ‘scurvy.’ Back in the 1800s, people would take whaling expeditions out on the Atlantic and be out on the ocean for months and months, and months! They had to live on a diet of aged meat and hard crackers for the whole trip. That meant they ate no fruits or vegetables, which contains vitamin C. So, about half of the crew would end up dying of scurvy. Scurvy is a disease you get when your body doesn’t have enough vitamin C. Speaking of vitamins, sprouts are jammed full of them! Alfalfa sprouts, cabbage, mung, adzuki beans, sesame, and much more sprouts are packed with vitamin A, B, and C! Not to mention how many minerals, enzymes, and proteins these things have! These vegetables are good for your metabolism because your metabolism requires minerals to function properly. Phosphorous, iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium are just a few examples of minerals that gives you a healthy body. In lesson 77, I learned about pesticides and how they affect organic and inorganic foods. I also learned about some other sprouts and veggies that are really good for you. I learned that the organic foods cost a little more than inorganic, but spending a little more money to be healthy is worth it! I learned that alfalfa seeds are only a little longer than a millimeter! They’re so TINY! Bok Choy is another name for Chinese cabbage. Bok Choy contains lots of iodine and sulfur; iodine helps your thyroid function properly. Mung beans contain vitamins and minerals, but they also contain LOTS of protein! In lesson 79, I learned about the benefits of wild honey and bees. Bees make honey from nectar, which comes from flowers. The nectar is carried from the flower to the beehive in the bees’ stomachs! It seems gross, but actually, it makes the honey healthier for you. The bees regurgitate the nectar in the beehive. Digestive enzymes produce new chemical compounds in the nectar. Wild honey contains antimicrobial and antibiotic properties. Did you know that wild honey is the greatest wound and infection fighter? It is used on wounds, burns, ulcers, and infections in HOSPITALS. If it’s used in hospitals, then it MUST be a big deal! It contains a rich synthesis of nutrients and it has antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory. It is applied directly to the skin surface under a bandage for the best results. I also learned that if it’s taken with ginger juice, lime juice, and cayenne pepper, then it can treat colds or the flu! I learned so much this week about healthy foods; now my brain is PACKED full of healthy foods to eat!

There are so many interesting things to know and learn about Venice; then and now. I think Venice’s history is different from the US, but still interesting. The city of Venice is located on a series of small islands off the coast of Italy. The series is pretty big; the total number of islands is 118! Something unique about Venice is since it is a series of islands, there are no roads (cars aren’t their main source of transportation!). Instead, it is connected by waterways and they travel from island to island on gondolas. A gondola is an open, flat-bottomed boat that serve as the main source of transportation in Venice. A gondolier is the driver of the gondola. Most buildings in Venice use Venetian Gothic Architecture. This style of architecture drew from Byzantine, Ottoman, and Phoenician influences as well as standard Gothic style. Speaking of influences, there were two main time periods that were greatly influenced by the culture of Venice. The Middle Ages was one, but the Renaissance was even more influenced by Venice. One big event that happens in Venice every year is the Carnival of Venice. Something super distinctive about this event is every year, all the attendees wear a mask to the carnival, and there’s a big contest where judges decide which mask is the most beautiful. One interesting fact about Venice is that Antonio Vivaldi, a famous composer, was originally from Venice. Isn’t that cool? In conclusion, Venice’s history was super cool, even though it was way different from our culture.

The 100 Years War was of the longest wars in history. You know from the name, but the war lasted about one whole century! The specific dates for the 100 Years War was 1337-1453 AD. England fought against France in the war. What all started the war was a disagreement between the King of England and the King of France over whether the king of England (and Duke of Gascony) owed allegiance to the king of France. In 1337, the Great Council of Paris agreed that the duchy of Gascony (Aquitaine) should be returned to France. The 100 Years War was divided into three main parts: The Edwardian Era (1337-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), and the Lancastrian Era (1415-1453). During this time, military reforms developed. The use of heavy cavalry fell by the wayside, and a new style of fighting on foot in ranks was instituted. Some military forces were hobelars. A hobelar is a small, lightly armed horse and rider; they were used by Edward of England to enable his troops to move from place to place quicker.

“Inhalants” refers to the fumes from poisonous substances which are inhaled through the nose to reach a quick high. There are more than 1,000 household products that could be battered as inhalants. Ones that are abused most often are shoe polish, glue, toluene, gasoline, lighter fluid, nitrous oxide (“whippets”), spray paint, correction fluid, cleaning fluid, amyl nitrite (“poppers”), locker room deodorizers (“rush”), lacquer thinner, and other paint solvents. Most of these household products effects are close to anesthetics’ effects; they slow down your body’s functions. After an initial high and loss of shyness comes drowsiness, light-headedness, and worry. The chemicals also are swiftly absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream and quickly reach the brain and other organs, sometimes causing perpetual physical and mental harm. “Poppers” and “whippets” sold at concerts and clubs, are filled with poisonous chemicals that can permanently hurt the body and brain. In conclusion, I think that inhalants are super bad for you so never ever, EVER take one! Just say no!

The Hanseatic League was a trade organization in Northern Europe that existed for over 300 years. The League was officially established in 1358, and the center of trade was in Lubeck, Germany. All the cities participating in the League came together because they wanted to protect their economic interests and they all wanted to protect their merchants militarily. The League reached its peak when it forced a treaty with Denmark and gained political control over Scandinavia. During battles, the League protected themselves by organizing small armies to protect each city, separate from any civil authority. The downfall of the Hanseatic League happened when Denmark re-established its independence and the Swedish Empire took over Scandinavia. In conclusion, the Hanseatic League was an important part of European history.