8th Grade Project Editing

For my 8th grade project, I made a snowboarding video. After I had finished all the filming I had about two hours of raw footage to work with. I started working on my laptop with the program Windows Movie Maker. After I got pretty far with editing my video, I realized the program I was using did not have adjustable audio (I could not go from music to the audio from the camera). I decided to restart on the computer at school which had the program iMovie '08. After I got pretty far in that I realized that iMovie was unable to produce visual effects (like slow motion). Unfortunately olny iMovie '08 ( the one I was using) was the only iMovie that did not have slow motion. I then had to make the decision whether to use iMovie and not have slow motion, or use Movie Maker and not have audio going from music to audio from the camera. I decided to use Movie Maker. I spent the next few weeks choosing which jumps I was going to keep because my video was too long. After that, I had to re-arrange the order that the jumps and rails show in. I did this because if there were too many of the same jump or rail in a row, it did not look good. After I finished doing that, I had to put nice transitions inbetween each jump so it looked nice. I then went to re-arraning it again so it looked good with the music (which by the way took a really long time to pick out). Thoose were the main things I did when I was editing my snowboarding video.

Did you stand up straight but stay relaxed?
It looks like a stood up straight. I am not sure if it looks like I looked relaxed.


Did you pause for a moment before you began your speech?
I don't think I really paused before I began. I can't be sure though because the video starts right when I start speaking.


Did you look at your audience?
I think I looked at the audience a lot. I did not look at the the whole time though because I had to read my notes.


Did you let your facial expressions naturally reflect what you were saying?
I don't think I made any facial expressions at all. I used a few when I was talking about how cruel they were.

Did you use your hands?
I am pretty sure that I did not use my hands at all. I might have but I can't see it in the video.


Did you speak loudly enough so that everyone could hear you?
I think I spoke loud enough. I could hear myself for the entire video.


Did you change your tone to show how you felt (upset, excited) about an idea or to emphasize a point?
I did not do it to much. I might have done it a little bit when I was talking about how cruel people were.


Was your speed of delivery too fast, too slow or just right?
I think it was just right for most of the time. I think it was to slow sometimes though.

Did you practice your speech at home before giving it?
Not really, I just went over what I was going to say in my head. I think if I had it would have been better.

What did you notice that you did well in your speech?
I noticed that I did not speak to fast, which was good. I also think I talked loud.

Describe one aspect of public speaking you will work to improve?
I think I need to improve on a lot of things. The main thing is probably talking clearly, or practicing at home.

Face Metaphor

Eyes - His eyes look like small black whales
Ears - His ears look like ovals
Mouth - His mouth looks like a circle
Forehead - His forehead looks like a smooth surface
Hair - His hair looks like an eagle
Chin - His chin looks like a boat
Teeth - His teeth look like stones
Lips - His lips look like bananas
Skin - His skin looks like the color of a football

Frontier House Application

Frontier House OFFICIAL APPLICATION

Family Name: Ellis

Occupations/Schools:
Langley Middle School

Open answer questions (attach additional pages. All questions must be answered.):

What attracted you to this project?
I think that the main thing that attracts me to this project is that I would be away from where I live and I could have a new experience.

What hobbies and interests do you have?
Some of my hobbies and interests I have are, playing soccer, snowboarding, listening to music, playing video games, and watching movies.

What image do you have of pioneer living?
The image I have of pioneer living is not great. It seems like all you do is work.

What's the most challenging thing you and your family (or group) have experienced?
I am not sure.

If you were chosen what do you think you would most miss about modern life?
I think I would miss everything about modern life. If I had to choose one thing though it would be probably be watching TV.

What qualities do you and your family have that make you suited to this experience?
I think that we have good teamwork.

What skills do you have that may help you?
I am in a adventure eduacation class.


What would you hope to get out of the experience?
I would hope to learn how to live that way.

What do you think will be the most difficult challenge of pioneer life?
I think that the most difficult thing would be working and not eating very much food.

What skills would you like to learn from the experience?
How to survive wih little food.

We'd like you to tell us: What interests you about this project?
Living like a pioneer. Also learning how to live without technology.

Do you have any concerns about your participation?
I would probably get really lazy. I also would get too hungry.

How much do you know about your family history -- do you have pioneer roots?
I do not know a lot about my family history. I don't think we have pioneer roots.
How did you hear about Frontier House?
I heard about it in school. My teacher made me watch it.

A Memory

A memory
Is a gateway
When you forget the memory
The gate is closed
And you are trapped in a cage
The cage of present life
When you remember
The gate is open
And you can travel
When you remember
A bad memory
The gate closes
And you can not

Return to the cage
When you remember
A happy memory
The gate stays open
You are able to travel
Through happiness
And you may return
If you choose

River Ellis

Intimate Conversation Poem

Dear Gerbils
Remember all the times
We had together?
Remember all the things
I bought
For you?
You were like Friends

I am sorry
For what happened
So very sorry.

River Ellis

This is Just to Say

I am sorry
I broke
your nose
It felt like
Breaking a twig
There was
A ton of blood

I hope
You forgive me
I am sure
It was painful
I just want you
To know
I am not paying
The hospital bill

River Ellis

Riddle Poem

I am a sword
I come in many colors
I shine bright
I am red when evil
I am fictional
I make noise
What am I?

(Highlight for answer)
a lightsaber

What If Poem

What if your life was a dream?
What would happen when you woke up?
What would you do?
You could try to follow your dream
Or you could learn from you flaws
You could do the opposite
How would you forget about it
And just live life

River Ellis

Sci-Fi Monster Descriptive Paragraph

This is a paragraph about Lil' Monsta. From top to bottom this is what the monster looks like. It has two horn, the horns are on the edge of the top of the head. Each horn starts straight then curves to the outside into a half circle. The head is a oval shape and the chin looks more like a square. The two eyes are in the position of human eyes. Each eye looks like a water drop. The pupils are in the center of the eye and cover from top to bottom. The nose is below and in the middle of the two eyes. The nose looks like a small triangle. The mouth of the monster is open and has six teeth on top and bottom (all which look like shark teeth). Coming out of the right side of the mouth are two drops of drool. The ears are on the outside of the head, below the eyes. The body of the monster is a mix between a oval and a square. The head is in front of the body as if were leaning toward you. There are two arms both are raised up. At the end of each arm is a hand with four fingers. Each finger has a long nail. At the bottom of the body are two legs that look like chicken legs. Both of the legs have bent knees. Where the legs meet the body there is also a tail that comes out of the right side of the monster. The tail is verticle to the mosters side. At the end of the tail there is an arrowhead looking spike and there are small spikes along the whole tail. The two feet are at the bottom of the legs. Each foot has three toes. The entire moster is orange except for the horns the mouth and the eyes. Those are colored gray. That is the description of Lil' Monsta.

NFL Playoffs

The NFL playoffs are back! This year the 8 teams in the Wild-Card were the Atlanta Falcons, the Arizona Cardinals, the Baltimore Ravens, the Miami Dolphins, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings, the San Diego Chargers, and the Indianapolis Colts. On Saturday January 3 the Falcons played the Cardinals and the Colts played the Chargers. The Cardinals beat the Falcons and the Chargers beat the Colts. On Sunday January 4 the Ravens played the Dolphins and the Eagles played the Vikings. The Ravens beat the Dolphins and the Eagles beat the Vikings.

In the Divisional playoff round the 8 teams left were the Arizona Cardinals, the Carolina Panthers, the Baltimore Ravens, the Tennessee Titans, the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants, the San Diego Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. On January 10 the Ravens played the Titans and the Cardinals played the Panthers. The Panthers lost to the Cardinals and the Ravens beat the Titans. On Sunday January 11 the Eagles played the Giants and the Steelers played the Chargers. The Eagles beat the Giants and the Steelers beat the Chargers.

The 4 teams moving on to the Conference round are the Eagles, the Steelers, the Ravens and the Cardinals. Im voting for the Philadelphia Eagles! My prediction for the Super Bowl is Eagles vs. Steelers. Who are you voting for?

Claymation Reflection Essay

The first project I had this year was in Mr. Bergquist's class. We had to make a claymation video on a famous explorer. I did research on Amerigo Vespucci, but I decided to do it on Henry Hudson. My partner was Sienna. I learned a lot doing this project.

My favorite part of the project was finishing it and watching it. Even when I watched it I realized there were a lot of flaws it was still turned out OK. I liked the ending the best because it seemed we were more relaxed when we were talking. I also liked the end because it had different music than the video had for the rest of it. The second scene was my least favorite. I think it was my least favorite because we thought we should talk louder at that point, so it sounds like we are yelling the whole time. Also when ever I watch it I don't understand what's going on because you can't understand what we are saying. In some parts it was funny and others it was just stupid. I had a lot of fun watching the video. And it felt good when we were finally done.

The most difficult thing during this project was the computer work. Even though I had a fun time doing it, it was still very confusing. At first I am not that good at using a Mac. I have a PC at home so I'm more used to that. The first thing that I can remember that we had to do on the computer was making the animated map. That was probably the most stressful thing that me and my partner did. First of all the computer we were using didn't have the program we were supposed to use, so we had to a different one that we had no idea how to use. Lets just say it wasn't to pleasant to work with Sienna on this one. You can ask the people that were sitting by us. They will tell you how much we were yelling at each other. During the end of the project though we started to understand how to use the computer way better than before.

The most important thing I learned was... well there was a lot of things I learned. But probably the most important was how to work well with other people. Like I said in the most difficult thing, me and my partner had many problems. Some times it was Sienna mad. But sometimes I was the person in a bad mood. I remember one time, we were making a scene for our video and that day I was in an especially bad mood. So that day everything anybody said made me mad. Another time Sienna was in a bad mood or something, and she wouldn't let me even touch the computer mouse. But as the project went on, we got less and less mad at each other. And at the very end of the project I actually enjoyed working with my partner.

Overall, this was one of my favorite projects. I had a lot of fun doing this project and I also learned many things I wouldn't have thought I would be learning this year. I had to deal with some hard things along the way, but it was all worth it when I watched it at the end.

Angie Coomber

Well I know this kid named Angie, she thinks she is a lot taller than me but I dont see it. I have known her for a little bit more then 1 year I think. The first time I saw was at a football game i think, and I thought she had a nose ring, yeah, I am not sure what I was seeing, I am a little bit blind. But anyways, over time, I got to know her better. And now we are like, best friends. I know a lot of her secrets and she knows some of mine. She said in her blog that she is scared of the day I start driving. And what I say to that is you probably should be, because I bet I will drive to fast and crash! But I a pretty sure she will like run into a mailbox or drive off the ferry into the ocean with her car. Umm both our favorite TV shows is Lost. Even though she has kind of stoped watching it, we still call eachother lost buddy 1 and lost buddy 2. I am lost buddy 2. She is really good at volleyball. I dont mind that she is for sure going or is just thinking about going Archbishop Murphey High School. I was thinking about going there too, but I decided it wasnt for me. Hmmm closing sentence... I ate like 8 brownies while I was writing this thing.

The Tire Swing

When I was about 5 years old, my friends and I were swing around on a tire swing. We were in Kindergarten and we were not very smart. Not only were we swinging on the tire but we were also jumping off them while it was swinging in a circle. At first it was going fine and we were having lots of fun. After a while of jumping off, my teacher told us to stop. We did not listen, which was not the best choice. About a minute after my teacher told us to stop, my friend, Darby, was pushing the tire and I jumped off the tire while it was rotating at a fast speed and I flew straight into the pole. I had a huge cut from the side of my eye to my mouth and I had a black eye. I tired to hide it from my teacher by covering my cut and eye with a hat. But some kid ruined it by telling on me to the teacher. I did not get in trouble very bad though. The teacher mostly just tried to help me.

My trip to Maryland

A couple years ago I took a trip back to where I used to live, Maryland. The trip did not start out to well. We missed our flight, so we had to catch another one (which was very stressful). When we arrived in Maryland, one of my Uncles picked us up. He then dropped us off at our Aunts house. When we got there, we all took a nap. We then visited our Grandma. After a couple of day of relaxing. We took the subways to Washington D.C. I don't remember the exact order of Monuments we visited. But we did go to a lot of them, and it was a lot of walking. After that, we went back to our Aunts house, packed up our things and went to my family's beach house. The rest of the trip we just hung out at the beach. It was very warm at the beach and so was the water. There were tons of people there. We went along the boardwalk and bought many things. When we there we also went to one of my Uncles indoor soccer games and we also went fishing on another Uncles boat. On the boat I got very sea sick. Overall it was a very fun and great trip and I hope I can go again as soon as possible.

Life Graph

This is my my life graph! I am going to tell you about one of the things that have happened in my life. This story is a little sad, so be ready.

In March of 2007, when I was 12 years old, I got two gerbils as a gift. I was very excited, I was always feeding them. I put a hamster wheel in the cage and one of them was always running on it but the other one could not quite figure out how to use it. I also bought a hamster/gerbil ball and the same one that had got onto the wheel right away, learned how to use the ball and always wanted to go in it. The same thing happened to the other gerbil and he could not run very well in the ball.

After about 6-8 months, I was not quite as interested as I used to be in them. A couple of times I would forget to feed or get them water for a day or two, but they did not die from it or anything. But one time I forgot to feed them and give them water for more than just a couple days. I found a bloody half of one of my gerbils later that week. It seems that the other one had got so hungry or thirsty that it had started to eat the gerbil it lived with. After a week or two the I found the cannible gerbil very weak. I tried to make it eat some more but it could not. Then it started to run around the cage like it was crazy. It died that night.

Snowboarding

One of my new favorite things to do in the winter is snowboarding. The first time I ever went was in March 2007. I only went one time that year and I went on the easiest run pretty much the whole time, and I thought I was really good. In 2008 I went 7 or 8 times. The first time I went in 2008 was with my friend Darby and his family. I thought I was going to do pretty well, but it ended up that it took almost the whole day to get OK at it. The second time I went, I was on the skibus. Skibus was a lot of fun, we had to go to Red Apple store parking lot at 6 am, which was the only thing I can remember being a disappointment. The way to Stevens Pass was a very long drive, so they usually played a movie. I Think the only movie I liked watching was I, robot. The way to Stevens Pass was a very long drive, so they usually played a movie. I Think the only movie I liked watching was I, robot. When we got to the pass we had to get all our equipment on and then it was off to the slopes. I remember one of the times I went, I got stuck in powder and it took a long time to get out. I also remember one time I was following Cameron, Madison and Jaidin and I fell behind, but they kept going without me and when they realized I was not with them anymore, they thought I was lost, when really I had just ended up in the R.V. parking lot some how.

After a few days of snowboarding, I decided to see what the terrain park was like. It turned out to be lots of fun. I was in the park for most the of the next times I went.

Sports Update

I had my first select soccer game on Saturday, September 6th! We lost though, the score was 2 - 0. At the end of the first half, the score was tied 0 - 0, but when the second half started, that's when the game started to change. At the moment, my team has three players that are injured, Cameron, Daniel and Stryder. Stryder is not going to be able to play for the whole season. He has a broken collar bone. Cameron, most likely, is going to play this weekend and Daniel is going to play in a week or two. Go Islanders!

The Seattle Seahawks lost their first football game on Sunday, September 7th, against the Buffalo Bills, they lost 10 - 34. Nate Burleson, the Seahawks starting WR for week one had a knee injury and is out for the whole season, along with the starting running back, Maurice Morris. The Seahawks will play the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday. The 49ers also lost their first game, against the Arizona Cardinals.

Welcome to my Blog.