Skateboarding with Dustin

Hi my name is Dustin, and I skateboard. I skateboard because it looks fun. I started to skateboard at age 10 because I saw some kids that were skateboarding, so I got a skateboard and started to skate. I have an Element skateboard, and it has an Element logo on it. I can Pop shove it, Ollie, and Shove it.  (They are tricks that I can do.) I also ride my skateboard to get around to places. Places I like to go are stores, my friend’s house, to school, and my house.

I hope that St. Thomas gets a new skate park because we need a skate park. We need a place to skate and not ride uptown all the time, because we do not have many places to skate where it is not so dangerous. We also need a place where we can make more skateboard videos to get sponsored.

Don't Judge Someone By His/Her Cover By Chase

Many people think the word “foster” means bad, non-normal, and stupid right? Well think again because I know from experience these stereotypes are not true. They are kids have had problems in the past with family or step parents and stuff like that, and you can think whatever you want, but here is a little info about my life with my Dad running a foster home.

D.J. and Jacob (not their real names) are people that were fostered when they were younger, but now they each have a job, kids, a spouse, and a family who loves them. They are good people. They have stories, and they have problems, too. But we all have problems; such as, some of us wet the bed, some of us have anger issues, and some of us have problems with our family too. All of this has nothing to do with us now because we grew up and moved on.

With my Dad running a foster home, we are so much happier. The foster kids are not nonsense; they are family. We have tournaments, and we have races. We bake together, make forts, and play outside: sunny or cold. We have fun together. They don’t think of me of the “foster dad’s daughter that does what EVER she wants” and I don’t think of them as “stupid.” We think of each other as friends and family.

When I saw the first foster kid, he was in pants WAY too big, a REALLY small shirt, and bed head hair. I thought I was going to die, but it turned out he was funny, nice, and I just did not understand why someone would not want him!!! I asked and he told me his story, and after he was done telling me I thought I was going to cry. I said that they gave up a REALLY GREAT person, because I know that it would hurt to act like nothing ever happened and to see people on the street whispering behind my back.

I guess what I’m saying is you cannot judge someone by his/her cover because YOU could be missing out on awesome friend and a REALLY GREAT PERSON.

Click here to learn more about foster care in Ontario.

Katelyn and Emily's Report on Giving Back

For the past couple weeks our Student Advisory Group has been working on giving back to families in need for a wonderful Christmas. We have been having meetings every Monday, were we have been talking about the progress we have made. Some of the things we have been doing are a Canned Food Drive, Adopt a Family, and donating coats and such to Salvation Army. All of this ended on Friday December 14^th.

Today, Monday December 17^th the Times Journal came to our school to take pictures of what we have accomplished, and the reporter also interviewed one of the students from the Student Advisory Group. The main reason why we put all this together is because we feel like everyone should have a thankful Christmas even though Christmas isn’t all about presents. It’s about spending time with people you love. People may be asking why we did more then one thing to give back? The reason why we chose to do more than one thing is that even though doing the canned food drive is a lot to handle, we thought that we could take on more tasks to make four families' Christmas the best that we could.

With all the cans everyone brought in, we have collected over 300 canned goods. There was over 70 dollars of Canadian Tire money to spend on more presents for the families. Also we have at least 20 coats to donate to the Salvation Army.

We would like to thank everybody who brought in presents for the families, canned foods for the canned food drive, and Canadian Tire money to buy even more presents for the families. Also, we would like to thank Mr. Jackson, the Heath unit, and the rest of the Student Advisory Group. This would not work out if no one helped the families in need.

Thank you

What is Literacy? by Patrick

To answer this question, I went to this website called this IS literacy.ca created by the Child Youth Network of London, Ontario. This group is trying to help people understand what literacy is and it’s trying to develop people’s level of literacy. According to their About link, they explain that literacy is the skills, knowledge, and abilities to understand other people's ideas and to express our own ideas to other people. This website is trying to help people understand literacy by trying to get them to do literacy on their own.

How does this website do this? There are different links for specific groups of people, such as parents, children, teenagers, and professionals. In these links, you can find homework tips for kids, book reviews, like The Hunger Games, video game reviews, like NBA Jam (PS3), and websites, like an online library and a skateboard magazine.

Literacy is a highly difficult concept. This website has good navigation and it helps so you do not get confused or lost in the in the site. I would like it if the concept was easier to understand, but this website helped me understand what the word literacy means. The things I liked about this website were that there was a good variety of sections to look at, and there are lots of things you can learn about. I would use the skateboard magazine and the video game reviews too, in case I was looking for a new skateboard magazine to read, or a new video game to play.  If you’re looking for something interesting, look at the links on the website.

Lead Out Loud By Emily

Miss. Brown, Ms. Basson, and Mr. Pearson's 7/8A and 7/8B classes are standing up to bullying!

Lead Out Loud is a program that tells you a little bit about being an upstander, not a bystander. Also, it is a pledge to stop bullying in school, at home, and with your friend(s).

I think everyone should be nice to one another, and it would make our world much better then it is right now. Just think, people have tried to kill themselves because of bullying.

When you go to school do you feel safe? When you go out for recess are you scared that someone is going to bully you? Maybe you don't, but a lot of people do. Maybe you do know how it feels. Maybe you are the one that is the bully.

My pledge is to stop bullying whenever and wherever I see it happening. If I see someone bullying another then I will say "Get real!" I know you think that telling the teacher makes you a tattle tale, but it does not. All you are doing is standing up to bullying by saying someone's feeling are getting hurt. Then the teacher will ask you for more information. That's what I will do. How about you?

So make the pledge!!(Click here to go to visit the Pledge website)

The Cell Phone Game By Prachi

Wherever and wherever we go, we always carry a cell phone. Either if we are with our friends or out on a dinner or even at home on a couch, we always have our cells with us.

The time we spend with our family and with our friends is precious. We should spend our time with them wisely, but you are texting away when you are out with them. You are missing what is personal. You are not seeing their expressions or hearing their tone of voice.

So, I have created a game so we can enjoy every moment with the people we see but don't really see. The game is...

Whenever you are out with another or a group of people, put all of your cells in the middle of the table or somewhere. Don't pick up the phone if it rings or someone just texts you. Don't answer it. Whoever does should have to pay the restaurant bill.

What Does Remembrance Day Mean To You? By Mr. Durston

This very important question received an artistic response recently in the 6M class. The class assignment was to make a drawing in a cross that reflected each student's vision of what Remembrance Day means; in addition, the assignment was to demonstrate the use of the artistic element called value. According to the website Studiocodex.com, value is "often described visually by a scale of varying shades of gray arranged between black and white" (http://www.studiocodex.com/value_tone01.html). Studiocodex.com also notes that colours have value too.

One notable Remembrance Day cross entry was submitted by Andrew. Andrew's favourite part of his cross is the dove featured in the centre. A dove is a symbol of peace. Have a close look at Andrew's cross, and see if it is your favourite part as well. Think about how Andrew used the placement of the dove to emphasize its importance. Also, consider how Andrew uses value in his dove. You might notice that the dove is the lightest part of his drawing. What might Andrew want you to understand about Remembrance Day from looking at his cross?