rj # 24

I am currently reading the book Chasing Lincoln’s killer by Jmaes L. Swanson I am loved this book because it is giving me information I did not expect a lot. This book includes information from how Lincoln was around the house all the way to who he was personally and all the hard parts he went through in life.Abraham Lincoln lived a life as a boy who works for his parents. He was a very nice boy in his childhood and in his teens.

          I used many strategies throughout before reading I looked for literary elements and I skim and scanned for text features. During,.reading I reread parts I did not understand and I summarized every chapter to my-self. After reading the book I tried to compare it to a different book I have have about Abraham Lincoln, and after reading I also made names for the chapters because they did not have any. 

          The genre of this book is Historical Fiction, the topic is Abraham Lincoln, and the main idea is Abraham Lincoln's life as he grew up. Three supporting details were he worked hard, he was a good kid & , he had some issues as he grew up almost like every kid back then. The elements in this story are very different. The pattern of organization is identify and explain. The authors purpose informational. A response I used was I found out how hard Abraham lived a hard life. 

          I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 for now because it is pretty well especially the way it is written.  

    Sincerely, B.P

C.E # 8

Current Event 8

Title: Warm and Furry, but They Pack a Toxic Punch

Author: Natalie Angier

Source: The New York Times

The topic of the article is: The African Crested Rat.

The main idea of the article is: the African crested rat and all types of studies and  what family he belongs to and how his size is different than any other rat. This is implied from the text meaning it is not said in the text but you can tell what it is by reading the text.

The authors purpose for writing this article is to inform us about the African Crested Rat. By this I mean he is trying to help us find out about this animal by giving us facts and details about the topic of the article which helps us find ou more about the topic of the story; The African Crested Rat.

The authors perspective in this article is objective (unbiased) because he does not go on one specific side of the argument he actually supports both sides by giving detail and as much information for both sides of the topic to be very specific. He also gives some statistics to help the reader find out about the article.

The pattern of organization of this article is argument and support because he states the argument and then gives very detailed information after stating the top

The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is to help the reader understand the topic of the article because he can give the argument and then support it with many facts, details, and many other things such as statistics these thing help support the author because it can prove the author right or wrong in may ways.  

The text features included in the article are: different ink color emphasizing the topic of the sentence, quotes showing what people have said , another text feature is an illustration of an African Crested Rat which help the reader get a clue of what the article will be about and it also help you find out the topic and sometimes the main idea if it is implied.

This article is about the African Crested Rat and how and what are the differences from the rat to other rats and it compares different type of mammals each to the family they belong to and talks about their differences to their family also the similarities. 

The significance of the article is how the author say from barks such bite can cause a lion to fall over when I was thinking about that I was pleased because a rat can bite a lion which is one of the biggest and strongest animals in the world and make it fall over that is a crazy and significant statement said in the article that came to my attention a lot even though that this rat is considered one of the biggest to be found in the family of rats.

What I learned from this article is that their is an animal called the  African Crested Rat. I never knew that their could be such a thing because rats are usually so small some even crawl and are found in peoples houses and imagine this huge African Crested Rat coming in your house that would of had been so scary.

What I liked about the article is that the article is how the author gave the scientific name for the rats because  after reading this article I wanted to find more about the topic so I did not get rarely any information when I put just the African Crested RaT, I got way more information when I put Lophiomys imhausi because it is much more specific and gives you way more factual information because it is related to science.

What I did not like about it was how the author illustrated a picture of the African Crested Rat it should of gave a real picture of how it looks in real life because an illustration was drew by somebody and the picture looks really much like a cartoonist rat.

Who should read this article are scientist or other people who like to find out new 

things because it is a creature I have never heard of and maybe some scientist did hear about it but not that much so they could read the article and find more information relative to the topic.

This article reminds me of myself because for example their are many new creatures that are discovered and this relates to me because when I go to Israel to visit my family I always find somebody that is relatives with me and I do not even know who they are or what their names are.

This article remind me of a  book called Questions Kids Might Ask About Science because it talks about kids asking questions that how do scientist discover new creatures in the world and get so much information about them.

This article remind me of the world because it is part of the world animals that was probably just discovered in Africa which is one of the continents in the world and it has many animals that come from their.

                                            

                                         Vocabulary

              word                  context clues                       meaning

1. super specialized              more than                 more than special.
2. phyletic                         other characters                  some other things 
3. repellents                      rare in nature              you don’t find in nature.      

RJ # 23

 RJ # 23  1/31/12   702

                  I am currently done with the book called Shaq Uncut, an Autobiography. First of all I would say that this is a  great book to all the NBA fans out their it can match to you even if you don’t like Shaq personally or if you did not like the teams he played on. In this book you find many things that you do not know about Shaq like for example he came from a ghetto neighberhood in Newark,New Jersey everytime his parent saw dug people they would kick them out of their place this was a phenomenal  thing how Shaq was very poor and how we can compare to what he is today. This book is nonfiction, meaning that it's real, it is an autobiography so the person who wrote this was Shaquille O’neal with some helpers supporting him. The topic of this story is Shaq.

This paragraph that can be found on page 160 made me realize a big lesson:

        "His goal was to be part of the SWAT team when he was part of the Los Angeles Lakers ."

       This was meaningful to me because it showed how much he tried not just was he a superstar basketball payer but he still wanted to become part of something else this taught me that no matter what you did you can always get more done.

         The main idea is that Shaq grew up in a bad childhood, however he still managed to fulfill his dream and become an NBA player. This is implied. The name I would give this book is Shaq retired in a great way."

          An example of a chain of events happening was he tried not to get involve with drug attics he does not have any crimes on his personal folder. I would compare Shaq to Michael Jordan because were two great players to the game of basketball and broke many records and both set goals to achieve for other players who in order to achieve they need to work very hard.

    Some strategies I used before reading this book  was to skim and scan for text features, and quotations from a dialogue, also the title page, publication page, and the opinions from from celebrities.

         This story is organized by time order because it gave the dates of the times in his life. Another strategy I used before reading was to make a prediction.

     During reading I confirmed my predictions, and I also reread some parts I had trouble with finding the meaning of the words. After reading I asked myself what had happened in the story, and do a reader's journal. The author wrote this book to share the story of Shaq to the reader in a first person point of view. The essential message is that if you are good at something do not hold back from doing it. Some resources I used to check that this story was true was to go online and read some true articles about Shaquille.Some new vocab I learned was crenate . 

    I would relate this to my life because I had to research about Shaq and found some info.

     This is related to another book called  Dr.MJ because it relates to Michael Jordan a lot all their sportsmanship. I would compare this to the world because their are many good NBA players to come but not many will live a life like Shaq did.

         Some supporting details in this book were that his dad was a person who left him at a early age although gave him child support. Another was that when he went to his grandparents house he would always play with his cousins and feel free because he was raised with his grandparents.  

  I would rate this book 10/10  because It was a great autobiography that led me to think you can be who you want to be as long as you try your very best.                                                                      

                              

                                Sincerely,

                                   Bar Peretz   702

C.E # 7

 Current Event 7

Title: Upfront

Author: John D’Amico, Alex Koroknay-Palicz

Source: The New York Times

The topic of the article is: Driving age

The main idea of the article is: Should the driving age be raised to 18 years old.

The authors purpose for writing this article is to inform us about some people who are debating whether if kids should drive at the age of 18 instead of 16 which leaves space for opinions to be said by some people.

The authors perspective in this article is objective (biased) because he does not go on one specific side of the argument he actually supports both sides by giving detail and as much information for both sides of the topic to be very specific.

The pattern of organization of this article is compare and contrast because he introduces the topic and gives details that would support it including other people who support it as well and then gives opposing facts for the other side of the argument by supporting it with many facts and details to show both sides of the argument.

The reason the author chose this pattern for the article is to help the reader understand the topic of the article because he can compare and contrast the problem of being 16 years old and driving and also he introduces the benefits of both sides which lets the reader pick one side or the other.

The text features included in the article are: different ink color emphasizing the topic of the sentence, quotes showing what people have said and lastly a red color ink showing the title of the article big and fat, another text feature is a subheading  which is under the title and that helps the reader by finding what the story will be about and also introduces the main idea without even reading the story yet.

This article is about people who are debating whether the driving age should be raise to 18 years old  from 16 years old and the author supports both sides by giving pros and cons to help the reader feel which side of the argument is better. 

The significance of the article is how the author the author gave detailed information supporting both sides so it shows the reader which they think is better and a smarter choice to make.

What I learned from this article is that their was a statistic showing that 77 percent of people who die in a accident are men. I think that was a surprising fact to me because I a man and I would not think of that at all. 

What I liked about the article is how the author supported both sides of the article by giving some important information relevant to the fact that you should only drive from age 18 or age 16 they had all good facts supporting each detail and also showing why at what age should teenagers drive at.

What I did not like about it was how the author put the names of the people who supported each topic I do not think that was a smart thing to do because people can criticize them for many reasons and can harm them personally inside or outside all together.

Who should read this article are parents who care about their children that when they get their driver license their parents shouldn’t always be worried and asking themselves questions about their children's safety.

This article reminds me of myself because it is for my safety when I get to the age where I will want to drive this can effect me a lot because I can drive by the age of 16 or 18 which is a lot it is a two year difference.

This article does not remind me of any book because  the article is very short and it is hard to relate it to a big book.

This article remind me of the world because it is part of the world big problems because it can result in two ways bad or good the bad part could be you can get into an accident at the age of 16 and you can die, the good part is you don’t have to tell your parent to take you everywhere if you have your drivers license you take yourself to places if you have a car and you are responsible enough.

                                            

                                         Vocabulary

              word                  context clues                       meaning

1. mobility                                cars                        people who have cars.
2. necessary                         for , in oder                   important thing.
3. convenience                  doing, right thing             support by doing right  things.