Category Archives: Core Learning Strands

The 8 Old Town Academy Core Learning Strands.

Animal Cruelty

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If we don’t stop hurting the living things around us we will have nothing left. Do you think it’s “Ok” to abuse the living animals around us? I believe that animal cruelty should be restricted and animals that are at places like SeaWorld should be released immediately.

The amount of animal abuse happening to animals every year is turning into a serious problem. Some of these animals are kept in cages or facilities their whole life and never get to see the light of day. Other animals such as dogs are captured to fight or race. “Thousands of Greyhounds die each year-some in the name of Selective Breeding,” (dosomething.org). This is a major problem and needs to be outlawed. “Today dog fighting has been reported in urban, suburban, and rural settings in all regions of the country”(dosomething.org). To force these animals to fight others for there survival is wrong all in definitely, if this animal was you how would feel by killing your own kind?

The percent of animal abuse happening every year is shocking. “In media-reported animal cruelty cases in 2007: 64.5% (1,212) involved dogs 18% involved cats and 25% involved other animals,” (humansociety.org).  When dogs and other animals are trapped or attacked they fight so hard to stay alive even though they are starving to death or bleeding to death. I believe that animals don’t deserve any type of abuse no matter the situation.

In addition, animals in the wild are hunted, such as wolves, whales, and bears should be left alone. Many animals are going extinct. WWF estimates that “at least 10,000 species go extinct every year.” People someday will realize that many animals are gone all because of our careless behavior towards other living animals. I believe this can be resolved by making and enforcing new laws such as fishing, hunting, and logging restrictions. Also, we should make more nature reserves to protect the environment.

I believe that we don’t realize what we have until it’s already gone. Animal abuse will probably won’t stop until a very long time or maybe even it won’t. I believe that if we try hard enough and just stop abandoning or punishing the animals then we wont have to worry about any animal being harmed or going extinct.  Animal abuse is very wrong and no animal should ever deserve it.

“Dream On”-Song and Story

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Link to Song: Here

Do you agree that the song should be made into a remix of some sort? I believe they should add more then just,”Dream On.”The song, “Dream On” by Aerosmith includes a lots of literary elements such as repetition and imagery. I also believe to anyone that this song could of been better. In this critique I will be talking about how they should make the song stronger to the listener including more literary elements like imagery and repetition.

“Dream on Dream on dream until your dream comes true.” I understand when you say,”Dream On,” over a thousand times it gets old, you should add something else like in the beginning and include more dialogue. It should also include some imagery if you name the song “Dream on”, it really should be replaced with all the repetition that you use. I believe that these changes should be added in a remix.

“Yeah, sing with me sing for the year sing for the laughter, sing for the tear, sing with me, if it’s just for today maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away.” In this part of the song I believe it should not involve god or anything that would involve Christianity, because people who don’t believe in the bible may be offended. The song sounds great, but you really need to think about getting rid of any religious quotations and put something else like rhythm or some rhyme scheme.

Rhythm and rhyme is used in the song to make it sound very good. If they made a remix to the song I bet the song would be on the top ten, but only if they make the song longer better and stronger to the person listening. The rhythm and rhyme scheme used is when they say, “Yeah sing with me Sing for the year, sing with me if its just for today maybe tomorrow the good lord will tai you away.”

“Guitar Opening,” This part is at the very beginning, it takes up a quarter of the song it should be replaced with more imagery and or repetition.

If these changes are made this song, I am sure that I am not the only one who would like the remix. Thats all any song really needs is repetition, rhyme, imagery and rhythm.

Poem#3-My Fantasy Life

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I am from potatoes
That are soaked in dark happiness
I am from the green side of Greenland
Where there is smelliness
I am from a Post Office located in Hong Kong
I was born in a Garbage truck on its way to pick up a hitch hiker
My favorite thing to do is tour Burger Kings in North Arizona

When I see my friend I yell at them YOU’RE GARBAGE because of where I was born
I see garbage that is a good thing my adopted dad who never passed ninth grade said
Potatoes are my life
When I see a potato I yell CHUPACABRA because of its hairs

When I see a moldy soggy big lumpy potato in a garbage can I say, “Here’s Desert”
If you ever do see a moldy soggy big hairy potato, you should try it
It will taste chewy and delicious like moldy bananas

The Hippie and the Genie

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It was the year 1986. The Hippie was a wanted criminal, and was known as the Chief of Thieves. He had just escaped a jail at the time. The Hippie eventually found a house with a old man named The Genie. When the Hippie tried to rob the old man he ended up talking about the world the Hippie said, “What has this world come to” and The Genie responds saying nothing but, “who are you.” At that time the Hippie thought the Genie was blind… and he was. When the People Police found him they say, “FREEZE” but the Hippie just ran. Eventually after five long hours the Hippie hits his head and trips on a Tree Tunip.

The Hippie later passed out. And later woke up in a factory were he met a Genie. When the Genie asked him to, “make three wishes that will depend upon your future,” the Hippie had no idea what he meant, but he knows what he meant when he says, “make three wishes,”. The Hippie’s first wish was to have a flying carpet, the genie then thought the Hippie was weird. When the hippie wished for infinite magic in his flying carpet it later led to the final wish and that was for the Genie to leave the Hippie alone so the Genie did.

The hippie was later caught abusing his power and started flying over New Fork throwing forks at everyone. A few hours later the Genie showed up saying, “HOW DARE YOU ABUSE YOUR POWERS!” The Hippie was scared and the Genie took his powers. The hippie was starting to fall out of the sky because of the Genie taking his wishes and making the flying carpet disappear beneath him. Just before he hits the ground from falling over one hundred feet, he woke up, in a trash can.

Before he could get out he saw the People Police chasing after him so the Hippie ran away from them again. He was eventually found in a hotel parking lot. The hippie had no idea what he had done but he knew he had done something bad. He later was told while in a police car he was going to be put in jail for robbing a bank and committing many other crimes like refusing arrest. He thought for years to himself about what he had done, “it must have been a dream,” or was it, the Hippie said to himself, he then remembered the Genie and said,”ill remember one day,”.

The Homeless Man and The Future Homeless Man-Creative Writing

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There once was a homeless man who couldn’t do anything because he was homeless. He said to his future self, “Why you gotta be so homeless man you can’t do anything.” The homeless man responded in a mean way he said, “CARROTS.” The future homeless man was really dumb; he wasn’t even real. The homeless man was just talking to a person who wasn’t there. It was as if he was in his own world. The Future unreal homeless man was going to punish him if the homeless man said one more offensive thing.

The very next words the past homeless man said were, “you are a POTATO.” Then something horrible happened; the past homeless man was turned into a homeless man, the homeless man was in shock he told the future homeless man, “WHY!?,” and he said, “Because You Are A Taco.” And with those words the Future homeless man left the homeless man. The homeless man now that he had the powers of the homeless, he could finally be homeless in peace, but this wasn’t the end of his new homeless self. Then the future homeless man left the homeless man. The homeless man was really hungry so he started stealing from, “Bob’s Pizza,” and every time he stole cheese from Bob, Bob would say, “THATS NACHO CHEESE.” He eventually stopped because the homeless man had better things to do, and one of them was to sleep in dumpsters; he enjoyed this a lot.

He could now do activities and one of them was chase trash around stores and dumps. One day the homeless man was on a boat in the middle of the deepest part of the ocean with the biggest waves. He eventually saw a seagull and jumped off The Titanic and landed in the ocean, but the seagull wasn’t a seagull it was a shark. When the boat left he immediately had a heart attack and died. The End

The Civil Rights Movement- Summary

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In the late 19th century Plessy was arrested for sitting in a whites only railroad car. The law was “Separate but Equal”and this was going to make things tougher for everybody. Eventually in 1964 Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize and was the youngest recipient, he had done many non-violent protests and had been known for his, ” I Have a Dream” Speech, another nonviolent protest and is named,”The March on Washington”. M.L.K Jr. was later shot just when he came out of his apartment. After M.L.K Jr.’s death there were many protests to stop racism and many were angry at just how easy a white man could get away with the death of another black man or woman. The Voting Rights act was passed in 1965 and blacks finally were able to have more rights.

Shooting at the Canadian Parliament

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Just a few weeks ago a man named Zehaf-Bibeau stole a car from a pedestrian and arrived at the outside of the Parliament of Canada. With this he rushed into the Parliament killing a guard named Nathan Cirillo. Eventually Zehaf was found dead at the scene. By the time the Secret Service had arrived the man had already committed suicide with a bullet to the head. The man is also known for making a complete embarrassment for the Secret Service and making it known how easy it can sometimes be to hurt people when they are not paying attention.

The author’s opinion is that he is trying to make people feel aware of how easy it can be to hurt others when, “When there is no protection”. He also wants to make a statement when he says, “The Parliament could be now known as a target for terrorists”.

My opinion is that the author and I have the same opinion except that the Secret Service should have been there so an incident like this doesn’t happen.

My parent’s opinion was that Zehaf-Bibeau made a huge embarrassment for the people who were defending the Parliament from attacks like this.

Civil Rights Leader Robert F. Kennedy

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UnknownRobert F. Kennedy was the brother of President J.F.K. He was born on November 20th 1925 in Brooklyn, New York and was known for running for president. Robert F. Kennedy was the 7th out of nine children to be born in the Kennedy family.

Robert went to law school and graduated from Harvard University and the University of Virginia. Robert later served as a general in WWII for the Navy in 1939-1945. Later on June 17, 1950 Robert Kennedy married Ethel Skakel. The couple later had eleven children. After completing his military service he eventually ran for president in 1960.

During the civil rights movement Robert fought for African American rights. He also fought organized crime. During the civil rights movement he stood up to whites. During his time as an attorney he made speeches to make African Americans have the same rights as white Americans.

On June 5, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan while in a kitchen corridor in LA. Robert eventually died the next day at age 42. Sirhan was sentenced to life in prison for shooting Robert Francis Kennedy. Robert was later buried in Washington D.C. He is still remembered for his good work that affects us today