Softball Is Finally Here!!

As the title says, softball is FINALLY here! I have waited to play it for a long time and we just had our first game Wednesday! It was so much fun! We ended up beating the team we played by one point.

That game was my first time playing in the minors league. You see we have four leagues and those are Peanuts, which is 2nd grade and below, Mosquitoes, which is 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Then there’s Minors, which is 6th, 7th, and 8th grade and then last but not least is Majors, which is the people who are in high school.

So I had played in Mosquitoes the past couple of years and for my first game in the Minors league, I thought I did pretty well. One inning, I was playing second base and there was a runner on first. The batter hit a grounder close to me, so I sort of dived for it. Once I stopped it, I fumbled around with it, but managed to get it in my glove. My sister was playing short and she was already covering second. I didn’t have time to throw it with my hand, so I threw it with my glove and got it to my sister just in the nick of time. She caught it a second before the runner stepped on second base!

All and all, it was a great game! Next we have a double-header on Saturday! Wish my team luck!

Now I’m going to tell you some of my favorite softball quotes! Here are some of them!

Softball, ain’t nothing soft about it.

They practice until they get it right….. We practice until we can’t get it wrong.

Softball is life! It’s more than a sport, more like a passion. Red dirt and bruises are in fashion. The wind up, the pitch, scrambling defense. This is what softball is all about. Intense parents in the stands, anxious coaches waving their hands. The swing of the bat, the ball, the bases, the gloves. This is softball, the game I love!!

Now here are some softball cheers!

From the East to the West, [team name] is the best.
We’re gonna B-E-A-T, beat em.
B-U-S-T, bust em.
Beat em! Bust em! That’s our custom.
Come on girls, lets readjust em.
Hocus pocus, thats our focus,
Lets go [team name]!

Leader:  We don’t wear no mini skirts
Team: We don’t wear no mini skirts
Leader:  All we wear are softball shirts
Team:  All we wear are softball shirts
Leader:  We don’t drink no lemonade
Team: We don’t drink no lemonade
Leader:  All we drink is gatorade
Team:  All we drink is gatorade
Leader:  We don’t play with barbie dolls
Team:  We don’t play with barbie dolls
Leader:  We just play with bats and balls
Team:  We just play with bats and balls

Leader: Down the road to the old cemetary
Team: Down the road to the old cemetary
Leader: That’s where the other teams going to get buried
Team: That’s where the other teams going to get buried
Leader: Six feet wide and seven feet under
Team: Six feet wide and seven feet under
Leader: Watch us as we play like thunder
Team: Watch us as we play like thunder
Leader: BOOM!
Team: BOOM!

Images from http://agsafastpitch.com/page/5/

http://retzdezign.blogspot.com/

Hello People, Comment!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, for awhile now, nobody has commented. What are you waiting for?! The years almost over and people will be busy during the summer, so come on! If I see that people have read my post but don’t comment, I’m going to think that my post wasn’t that good. So if you liked it maybe only a little bit, then please comment!!!!

McDowell: A Step Up

Yesterday, all the sixth graders from Laurleville, Washington, Pickaway, and Salt Creek went to McDowell for our orientation! Let me tell you, it was AMAZING!!!!!! I got to see all of my friends from the others schools and introduce them to my other friends! We also got to take a tour of the building and meet some of the teachers!

Most of the people on the bus ride over kept saying how nervous they were. Then at the end of the day, the kept saying how excited they were to go there next year and things like that! I really wasn’t that nervous though because I knew a lot of people from the other schools and are really close friends with them!

I think that whoever came up with the idea to take the sixth graders over there for a day is a genius!   That’s because we got to see what it’s like so we will be ready for next year. Instead of just going there the first day and not knowing what it’s like. It is also helpful because now we know where everything is so we won’t get lost.

Are day started out like this: We came to school and got on the bus. When we got there, we went to the auditorium to talk about choir and listen to a boys choir sing. The we went to the gym to talk about the sports that are there and what you have to do. After that we played a quick game then went to meet some of the teachers and see the classrooms. Once we were done seeing all the classes, we went to lunch and then headed back to our schools. It was a GREAT experience!!!!!!

I’m really going to miss Laurelville next year because I have gone there for so long.   However, the things I won’t miss are all the stairs and having to line up with your class and walk around with them all the time. That’s why I like McDowell because you don’t have every single class with the same people and it’s one story. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not lazy, it’s just that I don’t like going up and down four flights of stairs multiple times a day!! The thing I will like the absolute best though is the FREEDOM!!  I think everyone will agree with me on that!

I had an amazing time there and an awesome day! So 6th graders, what did you think?!?!?!

My D.A.R.E. Essay

I have really enjoyed having D.A.R.E.this year! It is such a fun class and I wish we would have had it the last couple of years! This class has been really important to me because I had never realized what drugs can do to you and people around you. The things I have learned will be with me for the rest of my life and I will always keep in mind the consequences of doing drugs.

I really learned how to make smart choices when stuck in a situation by following the D.A.R.E. decision making model.

D- Define. Describe the challenge or problem.

A- Assess. What are my choices?

R- Respond. Make a choice using facts and information.

E- Evaluate. Did I make a good choice?

I think everyone should always follow this decision making model no matter what.

In D.A.R.E., we learned how drugs can really mess up your body and how your mind works. So I’m never going to do them because I want to be successful with my life. I want to be on the all A honor roll all through school. Then I want to graduate from high school as valedictorian and then go to college to become a veterinarian. Also, I always want little kids and people to look up to me as their role model. If I choose to do drugs, people won’t look up to me and it might ruin my chance of reaching all of my goals.

We have done a lot of fun things in D.A.R.E.! Such as the D.U.I. goggles. I really enjoyed doing these because they made your vision be all messed. If you think about catching a ball and walking in between two lines, you’d think it would be easy. If you’re drunk though, it’s a challenge. Mainly they just showed you what alcohol can do to you. I never want to get drunk because I might drive while I’m drunk and hurt someone. I would never want to live the rest of my life knowing that I killed someone who was completely innocent. Plus drinking can really affect your growth.

Another fun thing that I liked was playing Family Feud. I think this was a good thing to play because it showed how much we have learned in D.A.R.E. this year.

The two things I enjoyed the most though were Mr. Dip Lip and Smoking Susie. I really liked her because we got to see how much tar is in one cigarette. I think that most people who smoke don’t realize how much tar they are putting into their lungs. Which could cause lung cancer. Mr. Dip Lip showed what can happen to your mouth after doing drugs. It was disgusting because the gums were all messed up and there were blisters in there. Then there was the Jar of Tar that we saw. It showed how much tar you put into your lungs in a year, which was crazy! Honestly, I don’t see why people think it’s so cool to get yellow teeth, wrinkly skin and bad breath. Why would you even smoke something if it has over 200 KNOWN poisons in it?!?!

Something I have learned in D.A.R.E. is how smoking tobacco can not only affect you, but other people who are around you. I would never want to be responsible for someone getting really sick or hurt because of me. Especially my family and friends.

Another thing I learned was the 5 kinds of peer pressure. These are friendly, teasing, indirect, heavy and positive. At first I thought there was only on kind, heavy, then I learned that there was more. There are also 9 ways to say no to someone. These are avoiding the situation, walking away, cold shoulder, saying “no”, strength in numbers, giving a fact or reason, changing the subject, skipping CD and humour. These are all good ways to say no.

All and all, D.A.R.E. has been an amazing life changing experience for me and hope it has been for everyone else too because there are many bad things about drugs. So I, Molly, pledge to NEVER use drugs so I can keep me and people around me safe.

Oh, and F.Y.I, this is probably my longest post!!! 

Image courtesy of http://www.lexingtonprosecutor.com/d_a_r_e.htm

How To Be Successful!

In the Reading Workshop, we wrote a comment about how to be successful on the OAA. And pretty much anywhere This is my comment that I wrote for people to see on how to be successful!

My advice for students to be successful is to always try your hardest no matter what. If you give up on something that’s hard and you think you can’t do it, then you won’t be able to be successful. You should always tackle challenges knowing that you can do it!

To be successful, I also use all the strategies that I have learned. For example process of elimination, looking back in the passage for key words and using virtual headphones. Virtual headphones is where you plug your ears and whisper the questions or the passage to yourself. If you whisper without plugging your ears then it’s not that loud, but if you whisper while plugging your ears, it makes it sound loud in your mind. For some people, if they read a question out loud, then they get it better so doing this is helpful. Plus you’re not disturbing other people.

My other advice is to use all of the time that you can get on the OAA. Most of us get two and a half hours, but some people get longer. Even if you have all day, you should still use pretty much all of that time. That way you can take your time on questions and check over it however many times you want, so you can be sure to get them right!

Also don’t be nervous! It’s nothing to get really upset about. All you have to do is pretend that it’s just another one of those test that you have taken all year. If you don’t worry about those then don’t worry about this!

Before you take the test though, you should make sure that you get a good nights sleep and a good breakfast on the days that you take the test. That way you’ll be ready to do your absolute best! Good luck everybody!!

Image from http://ifcamedia.org/fireinmybones/?p=239

Test Taking Strategies

In the Reading Workshop, we had to write a comment about what strategies we used on the practice OAA. So these are some of the strategies I used.

The strategies that I used on the practice OAA really helped me out. One that I used was looking back in the passage for key words. This is the one everyone should do because you can get the correct answer right away if you just look back. A strategy that I also used was going back in the passage and numbering where you found your answer for each question. With this strategy, you can easily find where you found the answer to a question when you double-check to make sure you got it right.

Another strategy that I used was crossing out answers that I knew were wrong. This one is very helpful because if you cross out two, then you have a 50 / 50 chance of getting it right. Considering that’s more than what you need to pass, this is a really good strategy. Also reading the question out loud to yourself will help you understand it better.

The last strategy I used was looking over my answers however many times I could. Just to double-check to make sure I filled in all the circles I needed to. Plus taking my time on the test is a really big strategy to use!

Catching Fire

In the Reading Workshop, we were writing about what problems the main characters in our book face and how it makes it interesting. The book I was reading at the time was the second book in the Hunger Games series called Catching Fire. Here’s what made it interesting:

Katniss, which is the main character in this book, faced a lot of different problems. One of the problems is that she had to try to convince President Snow that the only reason she almost ate the berries was because she was completely in love. You see, Katniss insulted the Capital by almost giving them no victor at all and President Snow got mad.

Another problem she faced is trying to get Gale’s family and her’s to run off into the woods with her. She wants to run off because of something bad that might happen to everybody she loves if she stays. Katniss also faced a problem of Peeta loving her, but she doesn’t love him back. During the Games, they played this little act about being in love, but for Peeta, the love was actually real. Also, one more problem she had to face was the fact that her home, which is District 12, got destroyed. You see, the Districts were fighting against the Capital because they disagreed with them so the Capital bombed District 12.

Image from http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/Catching_Fire

The Hunger Games…. Again!

Yesterday, the sixth graders at Laurelville all went to go see the Hunger Games movie! It was so much fun! Everybody got their own thing of popcorn and a pop. Plus I got to sit by my friends, which by the way, are hilarious! At the part where the mutts jump out, we all practically screamed because it was so unexpected! Just watching April and Hannah react to it was so funny! For me though, I knew it was going to happen but I think that it’s more scary the second time you see it, in my opinion. Anyway, it was still as great as the first time I saw it!!

After the movie, we got back on the bus and went to Ted Lewis Park to eat pizza! Yum! Then we walked over to the park and played there for a long time. I had a great time playing with Emily, Hannah and April!  I also saw my dad there working on the new softball diamond. Then we headed back to the school and went in Mr. McGuire’s room to talk about the movie. We talked about when it took place and what it was about and other things. Finally we went outside for recess for the rest of the day!

All and all, I have to say that was the best, most funniest day in my life because I got to hang with my friends and just have a blast!!!!

 

Image from http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/02/the-hunger-games-soundtrack-track-listings-revealed/

An Amazing Movie!!!

Yesterday, my friend Emily and I went to go see the movie The Hunger Games! We went around six to see it and let me tell you, it was the most crowded movie I ever went to! I had never seen a theatre that filled up.

I had just finished reading The Hunger Games book the day before we went to see it! I think that was a good thing because I could compare them really well. However, I don’t know which one I liked better! The book had some things in it that weren’t in the movie, but I think if they were in it, it would make it too detailed. So I think I would have to say that I like the… movie better!

Some of the characters in the movie were exactly like I pictured them! For example, Katniss and Peeta. Others were not how I pictured them at all, like Rue and Haymitch. I liked it anyway though!

In the movie, Katniss sings a song to Rue while they’re together and I wanted to share it with you. Here it is…

Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your eyes
And when again they open, the sun will rise

Here it’s safe, here it’s warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it’s morning, they’ll wash away

Here it’s safe, here it’s warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you

I really LOVE this movie! I am officially obsessed with The Hunger Games!I wish every one in the world could see it!!!  Now here’s some pictures of the cast!

This is a picture of some of the cast.

                            These are pictures of Katniss.

This is Gale (left) and Peeta (right).

                                                                                                                         This is Rue.

Images from http://www.inquisitr.com/196730/the-hunger-games-cast-to-go-on-national-mall-tour/
http://www.disneydreaming.com/2011/11/03/the-hunger-games-cast-in-vanity-fair-magazine/
http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2012/03/hunger-games-beauty-get-every.html
http://www.slashfilm.com/imax-banner-character-photos-the-hunger-games-unveiled-advance-tickets-sale-tomorrow/the-hunger-games-amandla-stenberg-as-rue/

My Opinion Of Protesting

Okay, I was looking through my drafts on my blog and I found this draft from awhile ago. In Social Studies, we wrote about what we thought of protesting, if it was a good thing or a bad thing in our opinion. So this is my comment from awhile ago…

I think protesting can be a good thing because in places all over the world that have rulers or kings, it is the only way to get things to go other people’s way. For example, in one country, all these people disliked their ruler or king because he was mean, so they protested against him and he finally resigned. That just goes to show that protesting can get you what you want.

Sometimes protesting can be a bad thing for the people though because they can get beaten or even killed, but in my opinion, besides people getting killed or badly injured, it usually is a good thing. However, I wouldn’t be one to go and risk my life about one protest. I would probably be the first one to agree with the protest, it’s just that I wouldn’t want to die or get badly injured from it.