Christian_S_Homepage_2_2008

 Welcome!!!!! I think that the menu task was very effective and a good way to use description and make up our own menus.

** A found poem from: **//__ Nancy Woods __//   
 * By: **//__ Christian __//
 * Each day is an infinite puzzle, interlocked with all the preceding days and the ones that follow. **
 * We are all alive alone **
 * Two sisters dressed in the threads of the universe lived together in the sky with only the sun and moon for company **
 * Every time we take a breath we become the universe **
 * The space between events is where most of life is lived **
 * The burden of living so full a life is reflected in your eyes **
 * Deep in the sanctuary of my loneliness **
 * I watched the earth’s reflected harmony **
 * Reminding me of the blessings of my life **

** “I Am a Drummer”   ** I am now talking to my friends who have survived the bloody battle. We are discussing how this war must end and how the Confederate states should just give in to the new way of life. We are in Virginia, which is far away from my home in New York. I miss my beloved family dearly. I especially miss waking up in the morning to the sound of birds in the trees instead of rifles on the field. I am not an armed soldier like many others. I carry my instrument with no way of defending myself. I may be scared, petrified even, but it is my job as a drummer to keep up the morale of those on the front lines. All around us there are short, frayed shrubs, but no trees to protect us from the blows of enemy fire. Only fourteen men of our original forty in the drum corps have survived today’s horrifying battle. The battle took place on the field I am standing on currently. As I marched out of my tent and on to the battlegrounds I prayed to God that he could maybe spare my life. Right in the first seconds of the battle I heard screams like a little child who does not get what they want, but these were not the screams of a youth, these were the cries of grown men dying. Blood stains covered my boots and all the ground around them. Faces looked up at me with the lights taken out of their eyes forever. Quivering bodies lie all around me begging for mercy from Southern troops. As I just started walking away trying to blank out the memory of the time when almost all of my friends and fellow Union soldiers fell to the ground never to rise again, a bullet came speeding at me with such great force like a cannon ball. Luckily, but at the same time sadly, the bullet hit my best friend in the chest making him fall to the ground in a curled up ball. “At least he died knowing you were safe”, I recall one of the generals saying. Nurses in white outfits were constantly carrying stretchers with wounded or dead lying cold and helpless. Right as I thought I would surely have this battle be my fate, I heard my friends shout, “Drummers RETREAT!” That was the bloodiest battle I had ever fought. All of our drums are covered with blood and gunpowder from our friends’ wounds and our army’s cannons. The grass around me is yellow and dry from hundreds, maybe thousands of boots thumping down onto the earth like the beat of a bass drum or the pumping of a heart. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Who knows? Tomorrow’s battle can end this retched war, or it can prolong it for decades.

Starlab Planetarium Comments:

I had a very fun time having star lab visit our school. I thought it was a very educational program that taught us a lot about stars and different constellations in the northern hemisphere. Overall, I thought this was a fun filled experiance that was very knowledgeable. 

Grammar Guide:

Definitions: Noun-a person place or thing ex. Sarah went to the __park__ Verb-an action word ex. She will __run__ five miles Proper Noun- a specific person place or thing ex. __Bob__ went to the beach Common Noun- a non-specific person place or thing ex. Will came to the __tree house__ Adverb- a word that modifies a verb or an adjective ex. Jillian will go to the __park__ Adjective- a word that modifies a noun ex. The __green and yellow__ ice cream looked __yummy__! Preposition- it relates a noun or pronoun to a different word in a phrase or sentence ex. The house is __around__ the corner Pronoun- a pronoun replaces a person place or thing ex. __She__ walked down the lane Demonstrative Pronoun- focuses in on a person place or thing ex. __The girl__ walked down the lane Compound Noun- noun made of multiple words ex. The __paper crane__ flew through the sky Antecedent- noun modified by pronoun ex. __Sally__ dropped her ice cream cone Personal Pronoun- refers to narrator, reader, or topic ex. __I__ Jerry Sprite live in a log cabin Singular Pronoun- one person ex. __She__ walked along Plural Pronoun- multiple people ex. __They__ played for awhile Action Verb- mental or physical action of a noun ex. They __thought__ very carefully Visible Action Verb- you can see ex. People __dashed__ through the door Mental Action Verb- emotions or feelings ex. They __felt__ scared Linking Verb- joins noun or pronoun at start or close to start of sentence with other word near end that describes ex. Molly is a fisherman Helping Verb- comes before main verb and modifies its meaning ex. The fast runner ran 12 miles Article- a, an, and the ex. The girl walked Indefinite Article- any member of group or common nouns ex. The park is cold Definite Article- specific noun ex. Sally walked down the Woodrow Wilson Park way Proper Adjective- proper noun as adjective or adjective created from proper noun ex. The Kelly Billon Park was very cold Possessive Adjective- personal pronoun as adjective if modifies noun ex. She owns that sweater



Obama 08 MY INAUGURATION THOUGHTS: I thought that the inauguration of President Barack Obama was truly memorable. Now I definately know that segregation has ceased in our country and that Obama will lead our country through good and bad times with no doubt. Also, I think Obama will help make the USA a happier, healthier place for all Americans including our present generation who many people say can change the world. Now I know that that is possible because of the barriers our President broke and I know that never again will this country turn someone down because of their skin color or beliefs and I know that someday someone from our generation will change the world thanks to Barack Obama's positive influence on America and the world.

This is my NC Piece*

Imagine a big YMCA camp with luxurious cabins, a giant slide, a mountain, and great counselors. Poof! You are now at Nature’s Classroom, one of the best experiences of your life. Once there, you will have an array of exciting and emotional experiences. Don’t think Nature’s Classroom is all fun and games though; there is also a wide variety of educational classes to take. My favorite was building rollercoasters with J-Dogg. Also, I took a farm class with Papa Bear, a deer survival class with Seastar and Rockstar, and both a bear survival and a super ball class with Pez. Once at Nature’s classroom, our huge group of eager 6th graders was divided into two smaller groups, stuffing and cranberry sauce. I got to see so many of my friends that I usually didn’t see at school. In my farm class I got to hold a cute, fluffy chicken that we named Padoodle and pet a giant pig named Stanley. In my deer survival class, when I was a deer, Leela kept killing me because she was a coyote. Also, in rollercoasters, Sydney, Hannah, Nathan, and I made an immense rollercoaster with two loops and a big drop. So, as you can see, classes at Nature’s Classroom were exciting and educational. If you journeyed away to Nature’s Classroom, you would have a huge part of your memories be of Cabin Life. When I boarded the bright yellow school bus the first morning, I gazed down at my card that said I would be in Cabin S, Field Group 13, and Table 11. I was so overjoyed because Cabin S meant Senior Lodge, the cabin my dad said he would be staying in. Although, when we got there Cabin S didn’t seem as appealing as it had first seemed because of the steep, leaf covered hill we had to climb up with all of our luggage to get there. Finally, after trekking up the immense hill, we got to Senior Lodge. Once there, Bobcat and Doug showed us inside. We had to pick our bunks and meet everyone else in the cabin. There were 24 guys and 17 girls in Cabin S. At night in the cabin, our chaperones lit the fireplace and we wrote in our blue journals and played card games. I got along with almost every guy and girl in my cabin for those five days and four nights. Over the week that seemed to stretch on forever, I missed my mom a lot, but at the same time, I learned to be independent. In about the middle of the week, we made a huge fort in the woods by Senior Lodge. My dad knocked it down accidentally, and part of the fort landed on Jake Vittorini’s head. So, the first fort did not go so well. That was when we decided to build a bigger and better fort farther down the hill. We fit 20 people inside it. Also, outside Senior Lodge we discovered a stage used to put on what must be awesome performances, for there were about 100 seats around it. In the stage we found a trap door that one of my friends went inside and found a snake. So, life in Cabin S made me realize how independent I can be if I just try and that friends can be like family to you when you miss home. At Nature’s Classroom there is a special fun time between activities, this is called transition time. There is a huge dark green eighty foot long slide. Everyday, I made sure to go swooshing down the slide at zooming fast speeds. My fastest time on the immense slide was seven seconds. Also, during this marvelous time of fun and games, you could take a short stroll over to the mini-farm. Once there, you could hold chickens, pet a giant pig, play with the fuzzy white sheep, or watch the llamas and goats play. And if you still didn’t know what to do, you could go into the huge rock room, where there were colorful pegs jutting out of the rocky colored wall, the four square courts, the soccer fields, or play tetherball. Also, if you were daring enough to make it all around the fun room, there is a fort at the very end where kids could barge in and hang out for a few minutes. But, if you fall, you don’t have to worry, because on the ground is soft, cushy plastic chips. With four square, you could play by gym rules or illegal rules. Soccer, basketball, and tetherball were among some of the many sports kids chose to play here at Nature’s Classroom. Another thing that will occupy your time at Nature’s Classroom is nighttime activities. Some of these may include a science fair, quiet sing, a nighttime experience, or TNL. During the science fair, you might do experiments like separating fat in milk, putting alka-seltzer in a film canister to make a rocket, make a fire, or use teamwork to get through a square. At quiet sing, you might sing songs like Brown Eyed Squirrel (Brown Eyed Girl), The Ort Report, Don’t Stop Believing, or Imagine. At the end of quiet sing every night when your cabin was leaving, you would be presented with a cookie. For a nighttime experience, you might go with your field group into the soccer field and use rodobsun, or use wintergreen lifesavers to make your mouth glow. TNL was fun because we got to do skits in our field groups and watch so many other funny skits. So, nighttime activities were pretty cool. A nighttime activity that played a big part in your week at Nature’s Classroom was the Underground Railroad. During this activity, you will be told to imagine that you are a slave who was pulled from your village and treated like a thing and not a human being. The NC teachers would yell at you and you would have to be crammed into the rock room and pretend you were on a ship. Also, once you got out of the ship, you would have to escape with one of the MMS teachers. Finally, when you got to freedom, there was a quiet sing. So, the Underground Railroad was a cool simulation. If you want to learn an important life skill like independence and have some awesome activities, come to Nature’s Classroom for the best week of your life!

Christian Santa Maria LA3 December 16, 2008 Christmas

If I could spend Christmas in any other time period, I would spend it back when the first Christmas occurred. I would want to witness the first Christmas because without Christ being born, we would not have Christianity. I would love to see the Christmas star glimmering up against the night sky of Israel. At the same time, I would like to be guided and told by angels that God’s son, Jesus Christ had been born. Also, to travel to Bethlehem to see the greatest biblical events happen and to be part of it would be truly extraordinary. Then, once I got to Bethlehem, I would rejoice with all the others that were there and I would help spread the word that a king was born. That would be a truly memorable way to celebrate Christmas! I would then be able to know that I helped not only have the first Christmas, but form Christianity. Like I said, this would be my idea of the perfect place to celebrate my Christmas holiday!



A Favorite Sentence from my pumpkin piece:

So, to be sure that I would come back next year and since I really owed these terrific people a favor, since then, I made sure that on Halloween night, I would make their steps gleam and radiate through the gloomy night for the rest of my life! A Favorite Paragraph:

I finally had my one life goal and destiny realized! I was glowing by a tea light on Halloween night on a cold rocky stoop looking at the smiling faces and gruesome costumes of children clomping up and down the bitter cold steps of the gigantic, exciting house on 35 George Street. I can’t wait until next year where I will get to glow by the light and intense warmth of a candle once again on spooky, exciting Halloween night. So, to be sure that I would come back next year and since I really owed these terrific people a favor, since then, I made sure that on Halloween I came back to glow again!!!!

A Favorite Sentence:

So, to be sure that I would come back next year and since I really owed these terrific people a favor, since then, I made sure that on Halloween night, I would make their steps gleam and radiate through the gloomy night for the rest of my life! A Descriptive Sentence:

Suddenly, things took a big turn for the worse when the human man grabbed me in his scraggly hands and I could see his fingernails were caked with dirt and he had not brushed his teeth in years, for they were a sickly yellow color. Topic Sentence: Well, it all started when my totally annoying little sister, Bertha, triple dog dared me to break off our thick, lime green safety vine on the big, muddy hill where we were first planted.

This is my name piece I wrote at the beginning of the year:

My Name

My name is Christian David Santa Maria. And it took so much time and thinking to choose.

My mom and dad told me that it took a lot of thought to choose my name. I was going to be named Toby, but when I was born I did not look like a Toby. So, my mom and dad finally decided to take my dad’s name David Christian Santa Maria and flip it. That’s how Christian David Santa Maria came to be my name. I do not know my name’s country of origin, but I do know the country of origin for my last name. I come from many countries including Poland, Scotland, and England to name a few. But, like I said I know the country of origin for my last name which is none other than Italy! Many people think my last name comes from Spain or Latin America, but my family roots do not go anywhere near either of those places. If I could change my name, it would be David. This is because I would like to be David Jr. and have my dad be David Sr. I think that would be really cool, but my real name means believer in Christ. The only nickname I have is my dad calls me Supey. So that’s my name. You should find out about your name, too! This is my Pablo Picasso piece:  Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso  Pablo Picasso had a very eventful life and was a commendable artist. He lived from 1881-1973. At age 10, Pablo Picasso made his first painting and by age 15, he was enrolled in art school. Picasso is actually his mom’s maiden name; his real name is Pablo Ruiz. He started Cubism in the early 1900s and made his early works in monochromatic. His invention of cubism was influenced by Greek, Iberian, and African art. He went through two periods in his artwork: the Blue Period which showed sad times when he lived in Paris from 1900-1902; and his Rose Period which took place in happy times from 1904-1905. Picasso was also a print maker and made lithographs. He was also a sculptor. Over the course of his life, Picasso made 20,000 works of art before his death in April 1973. He was born and raised in Spain, moved to Paris, and overall, was a brilliant painter, sculptor, and inventor.