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monkopotamus 

In The Garden

On a sunny day, in the garden, across town, lived a creature who made sounds like the screams of a coyote. He loved sleeping beneath the ground in slimy muck. The creature weighed around 600 pounds. Right after midnight without a sound he'll sneak inside the house,

Encyclopedia Entry #4

Autumn

Some people refer to Autumn as Fall. When I think of Autumn I think of warm colored leaves, such as orange or yellow falling off of the trees. I also think of the weather getting a bit colder. Here in Trinidad the weather is a bit different, you never really know what to expect because right now the weather has actually been warmer even though it's getting closer to Winter.

Musicals

Musicals remind me of our school plays. I remember a few years ago I was going to audition as one of the orphans in the Little Orphan Annie musical, but I chickened out. Instead I got to help with the behind the scenes, which was actually really fun. Mrs. Young also gave me two roles as extras. I think it was a good thing that I didn't end up auditioning as a main character, I have stage fright anyway...

Photoshop 2

Encyclopedia Entry #4

Gardens

My mom and I have a small garden in the back yard. I’m not sure if the plants we were growing are still alive or not, I haven’t checked on it for about a year now. My mom might still keep it healthy but I’m not really sure. Three years ago I had my own little garden, I grew peas and roses.

Instruments

A couple years ago I played piano, violin and recorder. When I started home schooling is when I stopped playing violin because Mrs. Young was the one who was teaching my how to play, Emilia also used to help me learn violin. I stopped playing piano when we moved into a new house and got rid of our piano. The whole class learned how to play recorder so I stopped playing that once Mrs. Young stopped teaching us to play recorder. 

Encyclopedia Entries #3

Tia Collins

Video Games

When I was younger me and my brother would always play Zelda and Mario games on our GameCube and Wii. I also remember having a GameBoy, I would carry it around with me on road trips. I don’t play video games that often anymore, but every now and then I’ll play Mario kart.

June

June happens to me my birth month and the same month summer starts. I would consider June my favorite month, or December, which is a bit funny because they are nearly opposites. June is warm and December is cold.

How to Fool a King Response

9-19-13

Tia Collins

            I think that it was very brave of Frier Monteisinos to stick to his words and refused to take back what he said, even after people started to wish death upon him and say hateful things to him. I think that Frier Moteisinos did the right thing, he stood up for what he believed in, and what he thought God believed, he even told the people of the church that they would go to hell if they didn’t treat the Indians with love and respect. He didn’t regret saying the Indians were equal.

Morning Girl Free Response

            

        

          Morning Girl was a short, easy to read book. It was a good story, it’s a bit interesting to read from their perspective, I know a bit about Columbus’s story about coming to the island, and I’m now learning more in class, but I never really knew about the Indians point of view. Knowing that people did live like that on islands for hundreds of years ago, and maybe still do, other than the part where Columbus comes, is quite interesting…

            My favorite part of the book is when Morning Girl was curious about what she looked like so she looked into her fathers eyes to see. It was interesting when she felt her mom’s face, but I understand why she did, I just can’t imagine never getting to see your own face for years. It makes me think about how many people, including me, spend time putting on makeup to make themselves look “better” when some people don’t even get to see what they look like.

Nature Name Response

I think my nature name would be something like "mouse girl" only because I'm sort of quite and I'm shy... I can be a bit annoying at certain times though, it matters how I'm feeling or who I'm around at that moment.

Encyclopedia Entries 2

Preschool

When I was four years old I went to Salmon berry Slugs Preschool here in Trinidad. I remember every Friday I would make sure to bring one of my favorite toys for show and tell. Me and Symi used to always sit next to each other on the colorful rug.

Kites

When I was seven I had a "monster cyclopes" kite. Whenever my family and I went to the beach I would take it with me. It worked very well, my brother had the same one, except mine was purple and his was either blue or green. I don't remember how or when we got rid of them, maybe I broke mine?

Personal Space

9-4-13

Tia Collins

A Day in the Bay

            It was a windy summer day in July, my mom brother and I stepped out of the car immediately breathing in the salty sea air. We made our way through the busy parking lot and walked out on the brand new concrete pier. Part of me misses the old creaky wooden pier, but this new modern pier sure attracts a lot of tourists. We take the steep ramp off to the right, the sharp shiny aluminum grate under my feet leads us down to the floating dock. The pungent smell of fish in the air burns my nose. Large swarms of kelp flies surround us as they scour the floating dock for bits of fish. I hear seagulls calling as they fly over head. Nearby a harbor seal and her pup circle the boat hoping to catch a snack from the filet station.

            Today my dad volunteered to run the taxi boat as the harbor crew didn't have anyone to run it. My dad thought it would be fun and knew it would help out the bay. He called us and invited us to take a boy tour in the taxi. My mom and brother wait with me on the bench and I feel the floating dock beneath us moving with the rhythm of the ocean. Off in the distance I see a small taxi boat approaching, this boat seems so tiny compared to the fishing boat my dad usually runs. 

            The taxi pulls up to the float with my dad at the wheel. We carefully step in to join them for a ride. He revs the motor, I hold on tight to the rail and we head out in to the bay. We weave through the large boats parked on their moorings, and cruise out along Trinidad head. My dad pointed out all the sea life, such as; harbor seals, otters, birds and sea stars. It was really interesting to see Indian beach from this perspective. This short little ride was a lot of fun, I hope to do it again some day. 

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

Anxiety

Having to speak in front of a group of people. 
Example: Presenting or reading in front of the class
December

December reminds me of Christmas and drinking hot chocolate while listening to the sound of rain hit the windows.

Piano

I was eight years old when I started to play piano. When I was ten we moved across the street and our piano didn't fit through the door so we sold it. I no longer play piano.

Tiana Collins

My parents named me Tiana mainly because they wanted me to have the same initials as my grandpa. T.J.C, I'm Tiana Jade Collins, my grandpa is Todd James Collins.

Tweet Memoir

Last month at the One Direction concert, there was about 20,000 screaming girls in one giant arena. During the concert  I remember seeing lots of lasers shooting around the room.

Six Word Memoirs

I am now an eighth grader

I like to eat yummy food

Poetry Response #4

I liked the poem  Isolation by Hazel Talkington. I think that her poem is about loneliness. It's a very sad poem. I thought she did a great job with her choice of words, for example, "Forgotten Like your old pair of neglected sneakers." I really liked how she compared herself to objects that are alone or unwanted. I noticed that she repeated the words "nothing" and "unwanted", when she did that I think it emphasizes that in the poem she is unwanted and all she sees is nothing. One of my favorite lines in her poem is "I'd rather be the growing warmth that you feel inside when happy." I thought she did a great job at ending the poem,  "I have learned to live, to be unwanted for all I am is exactly that, Unwanted." In my opinion, she wrote an excellent poem.

Another poem that I really liked was A Life Misunderstood by Sophie Roberts. She had very good imagery. I really liked the line "I hear gags, caused by my revolting smell," I think that her poem is about disgust, she did a very well job at making the noun seem like it's a living person. Sophie also used a really great choice of words. I noticed some alliteration in her poem, for example, in the line "I am a miserable, misunderstood millipede." she repeated the 'M' sound. I think that she has amazing writing skills.

I Have Seen Poem

Tia Collins

I have seen the look on a mothers face

when her beloved child wins first place

The ringing bells of a love filled wedding 

The deep orange sky of the sun setting

In rain soaked earth a budding flower grows

Warmth of sun rays creating rainbows

A baby's first step as dad gives a smile

An athletes triumph in beating their best mile

I have seen families come together

To spend time celebrating one another

This sense of warmth and peace

Shall continue and never cease

Brag Rap

Tia is my name

I'll put your rhyme to shame

You may think I'm pretty tame

But I know how to play the game

If your my friend I've got your back

I won't be talking smack

But I won't pick up the slack

When it comes to running the track

Trinidad's my home town 

You'll see me runnin around

Runnin my dog at the park

Playing ball until it's dark

I'd love to see a show

A concert? Lets go!

I always love a tune

My birthday is in June.

Poetry Response #1

Tia Collins

5-1-13

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20036

I chose "Who Has Seen the Wind?" by Christina Rossetti. One of the lines in the poem that I like was  "But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through." I thought this poem was interesting because she's saying, you may not see the wind but you can see the affects it makes when it is there. In this poem, Christina Rossetti used repetition with the line "Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I." She also repeated "The wind is passing." Another line in the poem that I liked was "But when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is passing by." In that line, I can imagine the trees leaning down because of the wind. Even though it is not a very long poem with tons of description, I still enjoyed reading it. I noticed it had rhymes in it, making it have a good flow. It has some imagery, in the line "But when the leaves hang trembling" and "But when the trees bow down their heads" It gives you a picture of how it looks when the wind is blowing.

Limericks

Tia Collins

There once was an artist named Chilly,

his paintings were really quite silly,

he made elephants with hats

and put shoes on his cats

and all their clothes were frilly.

There once was a house on a hill,

Inside lived six brothers named Phil,

they loved to make tea,

and practice tai chi,

they have never left home nor will.

There once was a boy who would cry,

nobody ever knew why,

one day a girl stopped to sing,

and it was the strangest thing,

the boy looked up and dried his eye.