This school year at Salt Creek Intermediate all of the 6th graders have had something called D.A.R.E. This stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It has been so fun this year, thanks to our D.A.R.E officer, Deputy Thomas. We have learned skills about decision making, peer pressure, and about alcohol,  and smoking and chewing tobacco. These have helped me make healthy choices like choosing not to smoke or chew tobacco, drink alcohol, or anything to do with drugs. I feel great about this program because it teaches me to make wise decisions and how to handle difficult situations, and I think it is important for kids to learn how to be drug and violence free and stay healthy.

One of the things we have learned is about drinking and other drugs. Drugs are a major problem and so is drinking. There are over 400,000 tobacco related deaths each year and also over 75,000 alcohol related deaths each year. Drinking and drugs have an age limit which is 18 years old or 19 in some states, like Illinois. The reason there is an age limit is because your body is very close to being fully developed and your brain and other organs can deal with the damage the powerful substance called nicotine can cause like heart problems and cancer. This program teaches you a lot of things about drugs and drinking and how to  make wise choices when pressured. Why would anyone want to do drugs and drink if it causes diseases like this to your body?

We also learned about peer pressure, which is someone or a group of people pressuring you to do things you don’t want to do and you feel like you are being pressured. Just for an example, some of your friends are starting to smoke and they ask you if you want to try a cigarette. If they keep pressuring you to say yes, that is peer pressure. One way to deal with this is to use the D.A.R.E decision making model. The decision making model is: Define, Asses, Respond, Evaluate. This is a great way to deal with anything because with pressure because these are the steps to making a wise decision.

In conclusion, D.A.R.E has been a blast. With the things we have learned, and all the fun things we’ve done, I think this one of my favorite things. Learning things about peer pressure, bullying, and smoking and drinking has made me want to stay away from drugs. I pledge to never do drugs.

Emma A.

Back Pack
knapsack
So many things
That can fill that pack

Colors
sometimes they are a bother
Everywhere
Emma wears them when she plays solitaire!

She collects
She suggests
She even wears them
During a test!

Dreams
Dreams
Carried to school
The kids think that they are cool.

Books
going in that nook
with that pack
Makes Emma want to have a snack!

Hear the snap
of that pack
getting filled to leave
when Emma hears it she believes.

Not beating
Just sitting
Like a statue.

Blood dripping,
down the stone,
onto the floor.

Dripping,
Everywhere,
on me, the statue.

Blood on my chest
dripping down my body
pooling onto the floor.

Statue Heart
sits so still
cold, grey stone

Blood never stops
on the statue heart
that is me.

Where I’m From
Inspired by George Ella Lyon

I am from home,
from warm cooking and Nana’s house,
I am from the medical equipment in the bedroom.
I am From the kindness that shows through me each day.

I am from the smell of fresh air and the seeds in the garden
and the close knit family that knows me best
whose smiling faces I see surrounding me
as if they were right there by my side.

I’m from the high chair that sat in my dining room for years.
I’m from the books on the shelf.
I’m from the smell of the home filling the air.
I’m from the friends I have known and the family that raised me.

I’m from family breakfast on Sunday mornings
The bitter taste of strong coffee.
From the life my grandfather lost to the seeds in the garden,
grown to keep us alive and well.

On my shelf was a box
spilling memories of family,
a pile of lost faces
to remember each day.

I am from riding on the tractor with grandpa,
Growing up day by day
Sitting on that tree branch, high up in the oak tree.
I am from the family tree that made me the way I am.

From the softball fields that I grew up on,
to memories of getting trophies and sweat dripping down my back
I’m from times with my family and friends
to the sunburns on my arms

I’m from memories of driving with Grandpa,
around the yard and back again.
I’m from memories of sitting on grandpa’s lap,
from sleeping by the fire place at Grandma’s house.

I’m from the dirt on my cleats from running those bases
around and around for hours on end, the muddy softball fields
I’m from the sunsets on the front porch
to sunrises in bed.

Sitting with mom
and hearing the click click of her knitting needles
and the muffled ring of dad’s phone is his hands,
I’m from home.

Mother To Son
By Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor —
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now —
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’

I can really relate to this poem. I think that Langston Hughes is an amazing writer and I can really relate to some of his poems. There is a message in this poem and that message is never give up and nothing is perfect. I can picture this poem in my head and that is what makes me think about this message. I think that he had a lot of emotions while writing this poem, and I think that one major emotion was sad because this is kind of a sad feeling poem.

Sitting all around me
are these crazy kids
Yelling, talking
forbidden they should be

Friends
Friends
all around
Talking with a funny accent
this is no major event

Talking
Talking
it’s so rude
the teacher was booed

Crazy Wackos
all around
The teacher said hey
Listen to me

They won’t forget
what the teacher said
if they aren’t wackos
they will go to bed.

The book I am Reading is called Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst.  It is about a girl named Eve who keeps losing her memory. She forgot everything, and her Aunt Nicki, takes care of her.

How do I think the book would end? I think that the book will end with someone getting hurt. I think this because of the dreams that Eve has had so far in the book. She has dreamed about creepy circuses and horrifying things she has known in her past,  like buttons being sewn into her skin.

I think that there is something going on with Eve that might be tied to the end of the book. She’s quiet most of the time, she’s curious about almost everything, and she keeps losing her memory. The reason that I think that this is tied to the end is because of her dreams and I think that her dreams and how she acts are tied to the end of the book somehow, just like how she  doesn’t remember who she is and I really think that is a key to the end of the book.

I think that something is making her lose her memory, like someone giving her something that can cause people to have memory loss. I think that this is tied to the end of the book because of the way that some people are acting and how Eve is acting. Aunt Nicki and Malcolm, a character that help take care of Eve with Aunt Nicki, are acting really strange.

In the second or third chapter of the book, Malcolm and Aunt Nicki were talking about something that Eve doesn’t know.  Eve wanted to know what it was, but Aunt Nicki wouldn’t let Malcolm tell Eve. I really think that this would be a great ending to the book to find out what they were trying to talk about with Eve around. I’m not sure what it is, but I think that it’s something about Eve.

On the back of the book it said something about Eve being the only survivor of a serial killer who won’t stop hunting her.  I think that Eve is the person, like I said, going to get hurt in the end if someone does get hurt. The way the world is right now in the book is very complex.

Eve isn’t very knowledgeable about what things are and what she is doing. She doesn’t remember where she is, what he name is, what a library(where she works) is, anything like that and I think that is part of something in the end.

So in conclusion think that the book will end with something (or someone) getting hurt/killed in the end. I am going to say right now that I do not know what is going to happen in the end,and there is a ton of detail being given out about what’s happening and this post is just about how I would end the book/how I think it would end. So, that is how I think the book would end.

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I think that the Divergent series is something that every sixth grader should read. It is action packed, and you can’t put it down once you start to read it.

Divergent is about a girl named Beatrice (Tris) who leaves her faction, called Abnegation, to go to another faction called Dauntless. She is 16 years old, and when she gets to Dauntless she jumps off a roof to land in a net to get into Dauntless. The reason that I think sixth graders should read this is because these books are written for all age groups, and I think that sixth graders would really like this series and they would relate to it.

Divergent is a good series to read if you like action, drama, and an unexpected surprise. Since these books are meant for all ages, I think especially sixth graders would relate to this book, and that is a part of what makes it good.

Some of the things that make this book good are things like the action, and all the surprises you get throughout the book. And by surprises ,I mean the interesting things that happen in the book. The reason that these things make it good is because the action is phenomenal, and the interesting little snippets that happen through the books are amazing, but later on in the books if you think about them and they don’t make sense.

This book is also a little sad. It involves real-world issues and events, like leaving families, shooting, and things like death. These issues might make you want to stop reading the book because they get worse as you progress in the book.

So, in conclusion I think every sixth grader should read the Divergent Series because it’s really detailed, and they might relate to it. So, that is why I think that every sixth grader should read Divergent.

Image from http://www.yaketyyaks.com/

If I were the main character in a book, it would be a book about softball.  I love to play softball. The book would tell how is started to play softball and how much I love it. It would be told from my point of view.

The book would tell what positions I play, and how nice my coaches were. It would also tell how my friends played and worked with me on the team, and it would tell about my injuries. It would tell about the time that I got hit in the throat with the ball, and how my catcher’s helmet came off during the middle of a game.

I would be playing softball in the first part of the book. Then, in the second part, I would be in the middle of the game and it would be telling how I feel and how pumped up I was. The game would be at Pickaway Elementary, the team I play for. The first part would tell how I won the championship when I was on the minor team.

The next part would tell how the team won their games. Then, the last part would tell how much softball has influenced my life. I have played softball since I was four, and I started to like it. The book would tell how hard I worked and practiced to get in shape, play the positions, and even more.

In conclusion, if I were in a book then it would be told from my point of view. So, that is how a book would be written if I were the main character.

My school, Salt Creek Intermediate, should have Year-Round schooling. Benefits of Year-Round Schooling are things like having shorter summer vacations, spring break, and things like that. This is good because some students forget things very easily, and shorter vacations can help prevent that.

Year-Round schooling makes shorter vacations which cause higher retention rates. Retention means keeping something in your memory. Most schools use the ten month school calendar, which means they use it to see how long a school year lasts. So, 10 months is a regular school year, or 180 days which is equal to 10 months.

There are 3,181 year round schools in America. Ten percent of American children are enrolled in Year-Round school. Two percent of kids will drop out of school sometime in their life. Year-Round schools can help prevent that because it will be more fun for students, and they won’t want to dropout.

Some people say the bad thing about Year-Round schooling is it is hard to handle family vacations. They can’t find a time to be together as a family because of Year-Round schooling. And Students like high school kids who have a summer job can’t get to work as often because of Year-Round schooling. It is also bad for financial costs, and that can be bad for students as well. The financial costs have a huge impact on teachers. They won’t be able to get paid if they run out of money and then they will lose their job. there is many more reasons why Year-Round schooling can be bad.

So, I think Year-Round schooling is good for all kids. The Year-Round schooling idea is a really good idea because it could make kids smarter and they could remember things, and then they can really bring up those test scores!

http://www.ehow.com/info_8131173_disadvantages-yearround-schools.html

http://neatoday.org

http://www.reviewjournal.com/

Image from: http://www.clker.com/