Wildfire Forest Game

In my computer science class, we used a website called CS First to learn how to code using blocks. CS First was like coding on Scratch for school. Scratch is another website for coding with blocks, and I was first introduced to it when I was younger. I have been coding using Scratch and CS First ever since, and here is a project I worked on using CS First. It is called “Wildfire Forest Game”.

In this game, you are the hero, a cup of water. You try to put out fires by going to them. Once you put out 25 fires, you win. On the other hand, if the fire gets too big before you reach it, the fire spreads and you lose. Someone who helped me make the game is Benigno, also from my computer science class. I had a really fun time making this game and I hope I will be able to make more games. 

 

The Peak of Hong Kong

Have you ever been to Hong Kong? The Peak of Hong Kong is a nice place to visit, if you ever will. It has a tremendous view of the place from the peak of a mountain. There’s a balcony stretching around the top of the mountain where you can eat or stare at the view.

My family and I went there twice, once during the day and once at night. Both times were beautiful,  but the winds were considerably stronger at night. I liked the night view a bit more because the lights of the city were clearly visible and lit everything up. I hope that I will someday be able to go there again.

My Ideal World

 

Have you ever imagined a world unlike Earth? In my Language Arts class, we each created our own worlds.  Mine was called IAL AETERNUM, a world in a book, full of magic. IAL means relating to or connecting to. AETERNUM means forever or always in Latin. I chose this name for my planet because IAL is my last name backwards, and I wanted my planet to last forever or always be there. If something went wrong, you could turn a page and start over again. I made it this way because I wanted a way to start over, to have a second chance at something. 

The magic part has to do with my wild imagination and reading a lot of fiction books. I wanted a world kind of like Harry Potter but different in a way, so I made sure the people can learn magic starting at 10 years old and start using magic with their hands at 16. The magic will never run out because it is connected to the original book that’s immortal. 

I took all the best and most beautiful parts of Earth and put it in my world. There are beautiful creatures and magnificent nature, magical foods and the best clothes ever. Towering waterfalls and brilliant lakes line the many forests and hills. The sunset shines the picture perfect landscapes. Pollution doesn’t exist. Endless fields  of grazing animals reach toward the horizon. There are no monsters, no evil. There are palaces and princesses and royal events. There is no government system and everyone has power. There are advanced technologies, and people can teleport.

I hope that someday, Earth might be as beautiful, magical, peaceful and incredible as IAL AETERNUM. 

Museum of Natural Sciences

My whole grade recently had a field trip to the Museum of Natural Sciences. Here is my experience there. On January 27, a Friday, we set off on two buses to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. The bus ride there was almost 40 minutes long, but it went by quickly. We were there for a couple of hours, including lunch.

My favorite parts of the trip were these super cool 3D printed things and the realistic animals. In my opinion, the most interesting thing about the museum was the race exhibit. There were these interesting posters about race and I learned a lot from it. About halfway through, we had lunch outside, which was really nice. I recommend the museum and wish I could go back again. Thank you for reading!

 

Window or Mirror Book

(Photo from Sora)

I just finished this novel by Stuart Gibbs called Evil Spy School. This book was the third book in the Spy School series. I recommend it to people who like realistic fiction and have already read the other books in the series. I recently learned about window and mirror books in my Language Arts class. Window books are books that don’t reflect your life or situation. Mirror books are books that mirror you or the situation you are in. To me, Spy School is a window book because I am not an undercover spy for the CIA. I typically choose window books to read, like science fiction or fantasy books. I hope that later on in the year I will read some mirror books. Thank you for reading! 

Book Spine Poem


These are my book spine poems from books I found in my room:

Wishtree,

Gift from the Sea,

Ungifted.

 

 

Token,

The Secret Token,

Last of her Name,

Ungifted.

Trip to New York

I’ve been wanting to go to New York for a while now. When my parents told me I’d be going for Thanksgiving in two weeks, I was super excited and happy. I’d be getting to go to New York for the first time, and it was in just two weeks!

When my parents told me that I would be going to New York, it was a Thursday night, and my family and I were having dinner. They broke the news to me midway through dinner, and I thought I would choke with happiness! I would finally be going to a big, famous place! Better yet, my parents scheduled a bunch of activities and fun things to do. They excitedly told me the schedule: On Monday, we would be driving up to Washington D.C., where we would meet some of my mom’s old friends and stay there for the night. Then, on Tuesday, we would drive all the way up to New York and go to a museum, and afterward, stay at a hotel again. The next day, we would go to more museums and some events, and meet some relatives. On Thursday morning, we would go watch a show and go sightseeing, and then drive back down to Baltimore in the afternoon. On the last day, Friday, we would hang out around Baltimore and walk around. I am so glad and excited about me and my family going to New York for the first time! Although driving may be a hassle, I am thankful and glad for the extra time my family can spend together. I am really looking forward to my trip to New York and thank you for reading! Have a nice day.

 

   

Camp Hanes

My 6th grade class of Durham Academy had a lot of fun at Camp Hanes, although there was a hurricane brewing on the coast of Florida. Early Thursday morning, I woke up and went to school, still tired from yesterday. Once we all got there, we all started boarding the buses and carrying our luggage onto the buses. I boarded bus two, with my friends. The two-hour bus ride was long but not too long. I enjoyed it, talking with my friends, eating candy, and watching movies. Once we got there, we dropped off our stuff at the big gym and headed inside. We played games like four corners and battle master. It was a lot of fun, and soon we were dismissed to go move our stuff to our assigned cabins. I was super excited because I was in a cabin with my friends!

    We then got everything ready for our next activities, which for me was canoeing, archery and rock climbing, s’mores, etc. I had the most fun in rock climbing, so I will describe that. We had a huge wall with things to climb on both sides and a huge sky loft on the top, above all the walls. To go up to the sky loft, you had to climb either the pixy sticks or the slanted climbing wall. I climbed the slanted one, and then went down with the pixy sticks. Since you could fall down on the pixy sticks, it was a bit scary climbing down. There were also different levels of difficulty on the climbing wall and overall it was just really fun. I loved the sky loft and the walls. Afterward, my class and I had s’mores, and it was delicious!

    Something that I am proud of for this trip was that it was my first time staying away from home excluding sleepovers. I loved everything about it excluding the hike, which sadly I could not go on because of hurricane Ian. I hope that next year I can go to camp again with my friends and class and have a blast!

 

Emily’s Backpack

During the summer, I read Finding Someplace by Denise Lewis Patrick. The book was about a girl named Reesie during Hurricane Katrina. Reesie was being forced to flee from her hometown in New Orleans because of the hurricane. She had a backpack that she had packed at the last minute on her own, which included important papers, her phone, some food, and other emergency supplies. I think she packed well, considering she didn’t have much time on hand. 

When I read Finding Someplace, I decided to pack a backpack of my own. In my backpack I packed extra clothing because I didn’t want to be cold, basic food/snacks because I didn’t want to be hungry, a water bottle/filter because I wanted something clean to drink, and an iPad/portable charger so I can contact people and recharge my iPad without needing a plug. I also brought a flashlight/batteries because I wanted a light when it’s dark outside, a First Aid kit if anyone has any injuries or gets hurt, and an umbrella/rain coat if it starts raining outside. In case something happens to my flashlight, I would also bring a headlight and a lantern. I hope I packed everything I need if I were to go on the same adventures as Reesie.