The Hunger games!

Just wanted to post a review about the Hunger Games book’s because the movie is coming out so soon I can’t wait! I started reading these book 5 to 7 months ago and I read them because friends said it was good and I liked the cover. These three book are adventuress and part violent but if you like action and a good fight this is a good book, but don’t be fooled by the cover this is not a bird book.

I finally made the connection that Susan Collins made this wonderful young adult trilogy, I also have read her other book Gregor the Overlander that’s what got me excited, I had read the first Gregor the Overlander book and loved it so that motivated me even more to read this trilogy.

Now back to the Hunger Games. This book starts out in the voice of Katniss Everdeen (a sixteen year old girl) letting the reader know that she lives in a cruel world ruled under a big city called Panem where the counties of North America used to be and that there are twelve districts, there used to be seventeen ect, ect. All details you need to know, and not for me to tell.

 Anyway if you have seen the commercials for the movie, she gets into the hunger games, she goes through training and many other things. There are a lot of facts I am missing, for example she had hunted all her life secretly from Panem, and many other things. the book gives a lot of detail that helps the reader to understand. To make this post not a book I won’t state everything.  Wait! Ohh sorry forgot to tell you something.

 Reewwwwwinnd…

the “Hunger Games” is basically a time when the Capital Panem comes and tells the districts that they have control over them and can do whatever they want. They pick a boy and girl from each district and have them slotter each other in a arena wherever in the world, whoever is the last standing wins riches and will never run out. Now this is the part where I have to say go read the book.

Sorry when there is a book trilogy this good how could I spoil it, I have not seen the movie but planning to ASAP (as soon as possible) I just want to see of they followed the book. In my opinion I think all books are better than movies, (my brother might disagree) but they can explain so much more, I also like how you need to use your imagination to understand the book, but in the movie it helps you to visualise what it might look like. They are both a good combination. Overall Susan Collins is in my top three favorite authors.


Who is your top three authors and if you have read any of the Hunger Games books leave a comment and let me know! Thanks, David.

 

Playing Solfeggio (Video)

Solfeggio is a piano piece composed by Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach he lived from 1714-1788. I was doing my school on a regular day suddenly I got an email from my teacher saying that there was a contest for Piano Marvel (an online piano learning site) it was for elementary, middle school, and high school.

I could not resist since I have been using the program and been playing piano for most of my life. The competition rules was that I had to pick any song from what songs they had in Piano Marvel and then take a video of myself playing it, post it on YouTube and then submit it to Piano marvel and I was good to go (the deadline was 2/29/2012).

I was looking though the hardest songs and ran across Solfeggio. I decided to play the song, as soon that music hit my ears I new it was the perfect one for me to enter in the competition. Then I realized I did not know any of the notes or the hand positions to put my fingers in, then I thought ”I should just bring a copy of this to my piano teacher and she can teach it to me.” 

That was the best decision ever. When I went to my piano teacher she was willing to help, Mrs. Kellerman even gave me extra lessons. It was not easy for me to learn how to play this songs it has flats and sharps everywhere and goes up and down up and down with notes. In the end I spent around 82 hours working on that song. I almost convinced myself to wake up in the middle of the night and play!

When it was time to record my song it was not easy, it took at least 12 times to get it right. I did not get it perfect but I did the best I was capable of. The prize for first place in the middle school group (which I am in) is $100 I don’t care really about the prize I just love competition and piano. Also, if I am one of the 15 finalist I have to play a whole new song! I think it will be very fun if I get in the finals.

If you would like to see the video of my playing Solfeggio it is below. If you can’t see it here, see the video of me playing Solfeggio here. I would like to give a special thanks to my piano teacher Mrs. Kellerman for helping me with this song.  Thanks for reading and if you have had any experience with piano please share a comment below, thanks!

Image credit UNL announce.

Going Back to Branson School Online

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This post was intended to be posted during the beginning of the school year; I just never got the chance to post it. Branson School Online… going back from summer to school it is not that exciting for a kid like me but I try to make it enjoyably, you never know what you are going to face but whatever you … Continue reading

My Robotics Experience

Robotics is a fun activity I do every week during the school year; it incorporates programming, building (Lego’s only), research, team work, and having fun. The league is called  First Lego League( FLL ) and there are teams that participate from all over the world.

One thing necessary to succeed in these competitions is that you must have an NXT brain that is where you put all the data and programming. You build Lego’s around that brain and then add the gears and wheels. You have a minimum of eight weeks to work on programming, your research project and the robot.

Each year there is theme and that theme represents the theme on the competition board, are Robot  that we build has to perform on the board and the board is different every year.

They corporation ( FLL ) picks any kind theme for the board, this year’s board is called Food Factor. This month my team has participated in a district and placed second out of 32 other teams this means that we cwolified for the state competition!

Below is the FLL board, for this year.

The first FLL competition was in 1998 and only 201 people competed, the theme for this year is food and every theme has to have a solution to a problem last year there where 16,767 people competed.

Through_the_Years

A team just has to have an idea that can be proven to work, or that sounds like a creative idea that could be possible. Every week I go to my robotics class we come up with ideas to enhance our project, and to perfect programming and missions.

I would like to thank my coaches, Mrs Matt and Mr. Kathy and for there hard work with setting up my team and helping me in the time of need.

Are team even made a video, if you want to see click here. And our teams Facebook page, click here.

Have ever been or participated in a robotics competition? Please leave a comment and let me know, thanks for reading this post. :)

Image credit Evolution toys , WKU, Robotic Realm, and FLL.

 

My Twenty Fifth Post!

I can’t believe this is my twenty fifth post, for me and this site it is a big accomplishment. I have been working very hard to get to this point and now I am here, but I could have not gotten to this point without the support of my family and friends.

And I am glad to have this support and I thank everyone for helping me and I do appreciate it with all the joy in my heart.

I have learned many things in making all these posts, I learned to never give up, to press through, and when one post is keeping you down don’t let it get to you… because when you are making this post it will not only help you in this topic but it will help you in the future and it will add more quality to your site.

I have also learned that when you start on your first, second or third post it is very hard but when you get into a groove of making posts you don’t stop. And that to get into that groove you have to schedule time. My schedule is to do 2 posts a week during the summer, and during the school year, one  post a week.

Also, when things can be distracting you have to press through and not stop and say that you will finish the post later so you can watch TV or play video games… well those are mine. It is no harm to take a break and get a little bit of water it is just when you get away from your blog post it will throw you off schedule.

If you’re typing is slow it will be much harder for you. That does not mean you give up. My only sibling (Daniel) feels he is a slow writer, but he is getting better at it every day. To prove it here is his site, click here. By the way he is only nine and started at the end of his 8th year.

I encourage everyone of all age that has the ability to read and write to start blogging and to never give up. And encourage others to start blogging and you can pick any subject to blog in.

No matter what stands in your way you can press through. Even if it is hard you can do it, and believe me, it was very hard for me to start blogging. Now I am here at my twenty fifth post, and I intend to go further on in blogging.

Anyway, this is what I have learned from these 25 posts, and I hope this helped you. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of this post, thanks David.

Image credit: Creative thinking.

Review of Rio the Movie

Rio is a cute and funny movie, this is a movie for kids 6 an older. I have been to Brazil a few times, and the movie describe the culture and landscape very well. The animation is so detailed that every side walk has a pattern to it and looks like the side walks in Brazil.

I would rate this movie 4 stars, because it is kids friendly, enjoyable to watch and is very funny.  The movie has lots of adventures and excitement. It is well done.

This movie starts out when a bird named Blue is captured by hunters, and when the hunters import Blue to the USA his box falls out of the truck and a little girl finds him in the winter snow.

They live together till a man from Rio de Janeiro comes and tells the lady that her bird is a rare bird. The man says that he will pay for the trip to Rio to prove that it is not a scam. When they arrive in Brazil their adventure begins!

This movie was worth seeing in the movie theaters, and it was very enjoyable for my mom because she is from Brazil and lived close to Rio de Janeiro.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this review and if you have seen the movie Rio please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Image credit, The Mom Reviews.

The Roller Coaster Story

In Branson School Online I made a story about a boy with a dream to go on roller coasters, and hear it is.

Roller coasters are a lot of fun, there are different kinds of roller coasters. They are big, small, wooden, metal, high, long, scary, and fun.

When you are on a roller coaster you feel the wind on your face and you get lots of butterflies in your stomach going up and down up and down.

I know a boy named Tim, he went on a big roller coaster, it’s a great story, let me tell you. Tim was five years old when he started to like roller coasters. He saw roller coasters on TV, he had pictures of roller coasters, he had roller coaster toys, and his friends that went on roller coasters told him all their favorite ones.

When Tim turned seven, his parents took him to an amusement park, he saw all kinds of roller coasters, and he was so excited! His first ride was called The Dragon, he was tall enough to go on that ride.

The roller coaster zoomed up, down, over across, and through. After the ride he said “I love roller coaster’s they are lots of fun!” Unfortunately he could not go on all the rides that year because he was not tall enough, he was okay with it but the ones he could not go on were the best.

That afternoon they went on a total of 15 rides, and after that they got popcorn, ice cream, and cotton candy.

When he and his family left the park he dreamed of going on the big big roller coasters that he was not tall enough to go on that day.

He tried to get bigger day after day by eating healthy foods that his mom told him to eat but he never did until now. After three months, he had grown five inches, he went trough his growth spurt.

His goal was to grow  to 54 inches by his next visit to the amusement park, which was in two years.

Tim also started doing stretches everyday in the morning but after a week or so, he gave up. In fact he gave up everything, eating and stretching, he just got tired of them and after a while he completely forgot about his goals.

Six months have passed and winter came. One day after school he and his friends were making a snow roller coaster in the front yard of his house and at that very moment Tim remembered his goal.

He froze just like an icicle! Then he ran into his house and measured himself. He was so surprised that he had grown four more inches. He was so excited, that he started jumping up and down because he only had four more inches to go and ride the big roller coasters!

The next day at school, his teacher Mr. Watson told him and the other students in the class to write about their favorite thing to do. You probably know what Tim was going to write about, if you said roller coasters you are right. In Art class, his teacher Mrs. Butterfinger told him and the other students in the class to draw their favorite thing to do.

Again, roller coasters were his pick. Mrs. Butterfinger told the class that she would choose the three best drawings in the whole school to enter the State Art Festival, which was in a year.

The next year he finally grew tall enough to go on the big roller coasters he was so happy that he could not sleep that night. Tim and his family traveled by car for two and a half hours to the amusement park. On the way there, they stop to eat lunch.

When they finely arrived at the park, they got out of the car and Tim went wild, he saw the two big roller coasters that he could not go on two years ago, they are called: The Melter, and the best one of all, The Speeding Bullet.

The first one he went on was The Melter, the line was not that big, and he only had to wait 30 minutes. As soon as he got on the ride Tim was shaking all over with excitement, as soon as the ride started it went in a big tunnel and stopped for a few seconds. There where hot boiling pots all around them it was so hot in the tunnel that the people on the ride started to sweat.

The roller coaster started to move again getting faster and faster, they came out of the tunnel and a splash of water hit their faces and when Tim rubbed his eyes he saw a big hill going up, Tim new he was probably going to get one thousand butterflies in his stomach, as soon as he got to the top of the hill the roller coaster went down so fast that people were screaming so loud. Tim loved the ride, after three flips in a row the ride ended. He got off it and told his family all about it.

The next ride was The Speeding Bullet, the line was the longest of all, it was an hour long but it was all worth it. He finally got on the ride with his dad, he strapped in and he was ready to go, as soon as the started it went up and did five flips in a row in the air and zoomed down.

“The ride was so short but the fastest of all, it was a thrill to be on it” said Tim .

Tim went on many rides that day and when he left the park at 8:30pm his dad drove the family home that night. It was 11:00pm when they got home. Tim was so tired he went to bed as soon as he got home.

The next day Tim got a call from his teacher Mrs. Butterfinger, she said that he had won 1rst place in the State Art Festival, and the prize was a trip a amusement park, he was so shocked with the news and ready to ride again.

Image credit, Family fun, Toxel, Roller Coaster, B&M

Fun Safe Online Games for Kids

Fun, safe, online game are always fun for kids, and I have played many before I started blogging. I would like to share some with you.

Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network games are fun, enjoyable, and you can earn badges. I have an account and I have had no problems with it, I enjoy the games and it’s a blast. My favorite games are Project Exonaut, and TKO. (TKO stands for Titanic Kungfubot Offensive).

Club Penguin

Club penguin is fun and exciting but what stinks is that you have to be a member to buy and play further into a game. You can interact with friends and get stamps, I have an account but don’t use that much.

Cool Math games

Cool math games is a very fun site, all the games are free. My favorite game is the Civiballs series..

Safe online kid’s games

This site is kid friendly I have not come across anything bad  and they are all free. This site is for kids 3-10 years old. For me this site is okay, I do not like all the games and I don’t have a favorite.

Image credit, Cartoon Network, Cool Math games

Review of Thor the Movie

Last month, my family and I went to to watch Thor. It was the nice o’clock showing and we had a blast.

The movie starts off with a battle that tells you a story about a great war and how the world almost went into an ice age.

Then it turns to Thor as a little boy with his brother Loki, and they both try to impress their father many times, but Thor was the son that was going to be king until Loki delays it and  Thor is banished from his home and from his hammer, that’s  how Thor’s story begins.

He lands on earth and it’s very hard for him to live there, since he has to deal with human beings and he finds himself serving them instead of being served. Thor and his friends have to fight a giant metal robot,  I do not know its name but it was huge! Loki tries to kill them.

This movie was very entertaining and it had a lot of action. It kept me on the edge of my seat, I would rate this movie four and a half stars. It was worth going to see in the movie theaters. I would say it is for kids 9 and older, and it is very well done.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this post. Thanks.

image credit: Movie wallpapers

10 Things to make your Road Trip More Enjoyable

Summer is a time to have fun and go places. Our family loves road trips, and every year pick different places to explore.

This 2011 summer we will be going to Mount Rushmore, and to get there it takes us about six hour. Our family has taken longer road trips before, like the time we drove cross-country from Ohio to California. That trip took us about 40 hours with only two nights at a hotel. We had to pass the time by doing a lot of things and here are the top ten we use in our road trips. I hope this helps you.

1. Printable Road Trip Games

There is a site we like to use called momsminivan.com, they have a great selec

tion of fun things to do. Printable games always help me to pass the time by focusing on something else rather then how long it takes to get to my destination.

2. Read

Reading a book is also very good during a road trip. In my opinion, when you start reading a good book, you can’t stop it!

3. Music

Listen to some music on a CD or radio. You mite even fall asleep in the

car, hope not the driver. And before the road trip if you have all the CD’s in one spot together it will be much easier to find and put away. You can even listen to an audio book.

4. Movies 

Watch a movie, if you have a mini-portable screen player you can take it on rode trips and watch some movies.

5. Portable Game consuls

Take a portable hand-held consul like a PSP or DSI. This will also pass some time in the car. But taking  too long on you consul, you don’t want to drain your battery.

6. Card Games

You can play some card games, like Uno, Go Fish, and War.

7. Scenery

Enjoy the scenery and look outside the window to see what great views there are.

8. Food

Have healthy snacks, meals, drinks and have water handy.

9. Breaks

Take a break from driving and have a pit stop so you can use the restrooms and stretch. It is also good to do this every 5 to 7 hours.

10. Draw

And last but not least you can draw on a peace of  paper in the car it really helps to take your mind off the long travel.

 

Please leave a comment and tell me if this helps… thanks.

Image credit from Cameron Maddux,