Current News

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/19/search-missing-north-carolina-girl-turns-landfill/

In the news story that I found, a little girl named Zahra Baker was kidnapped. She is a bone cancer survivor and she is only ten years old. She has a couple disabilities such as hearing aids, and a prosthetic leg. Her father reports having found a ransomn note stating that the kidnappers were taking his boss's daughter. Instead, after a fire was set in his backyard, they took his daughter, and he thinks they plan on going for his boss's son next. Zahra's stepmother is one of the top victims so far. The police have been frantiqually searching for over a week, and there is still no sign of Zahra or her body.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MISSING_GIRL_NORTH_CAROLINA?SITE=FLSTU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

This link above is similar to the one from fox news. In the link above, they talk more about the mother's charges, and increasing her bond. The ransomn note that her mother wrote on the day she went missing makes the police suspect that the girl is dead, but without any evidence towards her body, they haven't charged anyone with her killing yet. Her stepmother's other three children were present in the courtroom and they said they were scared of their mother and often moved as children.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/zahra-baker-case-searching-evidence-north-carolina-landfill/story?id=11926357

In this story, it just restates what the other two stories already told. The mother was arrested for obstruction of justice and has many charges towards her for her missing daughter. The police are searching a landfill that is close to her home for evidence that might help them in this case. The police did not state what piece of evidence they are looking for yet.

This story is really sad. I feel horrible for this little girl. She has already gone through so much in her life, being a cancer surviver, losing her left leg, and having hearing aids at the age of ten. I respect her so much, I think she is very strong. To hear that her stepmom has addmitting to writting the ransomn note is heartbreaking. I don't understand how she could put Zahra through any more trouble in her life. To think that she might be dead, is one of the worst feelings.

Voicethread!

http://voicethread.com/?#q.b150713

This post was kinda funny. It is interesting how you can make arrows and drawings on your voicethread, like if you needed to point something out in the background, or circle it to draw attention. The girl in this thread seems weird. It wasn't very long and had nothing in it, but arrows and a little bit of talking. The purpose was to describe a friendship between her and her friend Al, but it didn't say anything about their friendship except for he has white teeth, she didn't like him in sixth grade, and she has purple lips. This video was a waste of time.

http://voicethread.com/?#q+Romeo+and+Juliet.b1011524.i5396939

This is my video! It is from Honors English last year. It was my first time using voicethread. It was confusing and hard to understand, but somehow we pulled it together. It talks about Act 1 and Scene 1 of the play Romeo and Juliet. We tried to put a lot of information in our presentation, so people knew exactly what was happening in the story. Also we incorporated vocab words so people have a little more understanding of the language and everyday talking back then. This project shows that we still need to work on voicethread because there is a ton of features we didn't use.

http://voicethread.com/?#q.b425796.i2574380

I like this voicethread. It has teachers and students talking, so there is changes in the voices. The pictures are very sad and really show the struggles people endured throughtout the years during the Great Depression. The children are especially sad because they talk about not having anything, enough food, clothes, rain, jobs, and all the other things that came along with the Great Depression. The pictures really opened my eyes to the way people lived. They had nothing and today we take a lot for granted. I like this project and I think the kids did a really good job. The voicethread also has a lot of information, or poems that deal with the time period, so you can actually image what was happening during the Great Depression. The teachers did a really good job with this project!

Spirit Week!!!!

I love homecoming week. It is the one week of the school year that I look forward to most. It gives you the chance to dress up and act stupid, and no one will care. It also proves that homecoming is right around the corner. I love spirit week because its a week that you can just let go, but everyday that you dress up it helps your grade. I also like it because a lot of people get into it. If you have good themes, you will have a lot of people participate. It all leads up to the Friday that you play games and have fun. I think Homecoming week is important to the school because its almost like a week off. The first couple days of the week you may have some homework to finish off, maybe some projects, but for the most part its a slacked week. The teachers dont give out much homework, the students are not under so much stress, you can dress up in different outfits, express yourself, and show others a different side of you than the student side they always see. Spirit week is a great week because it puts everyone in a good mood. The students are happier, taking lots of pictures, and enjoying school. When the teachers get into it too, its especially fun because you get to see a different side to the teachers than what you usually see. I think that the principals and staff also have fun watching the students and seeing what they are going to wear from day to day. Spirit week gives the students something to look forward to since after summer most don't want to come back to school. Homecoming week is most exciting because that means homecoming is just days away. Homecoming is one of the best days of the school year, so the students are all excited, and they have a better attitude towards everything at school.