Interim Term

Interim Term is a great break from the normal school year. It's a great time to get used to going to school again after the winter break. During this interim term i took three classes. Reading for Pleasure, American Religions, and Cinema for Spanish Learning. I learned a lot in all three of these classes. In Reading for Pleasure I read 6 books and I learned how to blog! I think it was a great course choice as a freshman. American Religions was a class that came with a lot of work. I liked it a lot, we learned so much about all the other religions, not only in America but in Houston! I loved visiting all the different places of worship. And I also loved having the chance to have Mr. German as a teacher since he is retiring this year. Cinema for Spanish Learning was a good class but not my favorite. I loved watching movies and getting better at understanding spanish as a fluent language. Overall my first interim term was a great experience. Can't wait for next year!!

K@+!3 B@|\||\|3®

Katie is my dear friend. She makes me laugh whenever i am with her. If i am sad i go to Katie, cause i know she will make me feel better, by just being her. Today, Katie is so fashionable! Like always. She is wearing jeans, a black top, and a snazzy white vest. And her accessories include a gold necklace and gold dangly earrings. But to top it off she's wearing one of her sassy headbands (white, of course, it has to match her vest). WHAT A HOTTIEE!! ;)

Laguna Cove by Alyson Noel

Laguna Cove is book about four girls; Anne, Ellie, Jade, and Lola. The novel is set in Laguna Beach, California in a small, wealthy, gated neighborhood.

Anne is the new girl who just moved into Laguna Cove after her parents' divorce. She is living with her dad, who is never home, in their huge, beautiful new home. Going to the public school in Laguna is completely opposite from the Connecticut prep school, and the social scene is totally foreign. The only things the kids care about are the beach and surfing. But finally when Anne finally makes a friend at one of her dad's big hollywood parties, she decides to California a chance.

Lola is the first friend that Anne makes at a big Hollywood premiere. Lola moved to California from Mexico City when she was 8. Her mother is always trying to control her life, wether it is what dress to wear to cotillion or what mexican boy she is to marry, emphasis on mexican. But when she is dumped by the supposed 'love of her life' she has not intention on meeting the new boy, Diego, who her mom has set her up to meet.

Then there is Jade, a sweetheart who has a soft spot for people in need. She has made a new friend, Ben, who has a lot of problems. She wants to help him, but everybody else seems to think that he doesn't want the help. This doesn't stop Jade, until the police get involved and her parents are called. Just like most parents, Jade's aren't too happy about what trouble their daughter had gotten into. So now Jade is on 'house arrest' and isn't allowed to compete in the Surf Fest, but will that stop her from going anyways to root on her friends?

Lastly there's Ellie, who is gorgeous, smart, and talented in almost everything she does, especially surfing. But when it comes to Chris, the boy she has been in love with since she can remember, she is completely different. And now that Anne has come into the picture she has no idea who she has become. She knows she has to focus on what is most important in her life right now, which is winning Surf Fest after choking in the last heat last year, but how is she supposed to practice when everywhere she goes there's Chris and Anne the happy new couple.

I really liked this book! And i really recommend it to any girl that is looking for cute and fun book to read!

Critiques:
http://www.amazon.com/Laguna-Cove-Alyson-Noël/product-reviews/031234869X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
http://sarasbookjourney.blogspot.com/2010/07/laguna-cove-by-alyson-noel.html
http://us.macmillan.com/lagunacove

Research on Peer Pressure, the main topic of my book Geek Magnet

Peer pressure is something that occurs throughout your entire life, but it is mostly talked about during your teenage years. In my book, Geek Magnet, the main character, KJ, is pulled in so many different ways and is influenced by her peers to do things that she usually does not want to do. There are two different kinds of peer pressure, good peer pressure and bad peer pressure. Bad peer pressure is when you are pushed into doing something you don't want to do. Where as good peer pressure is when you are pushed into doing something you usually would not have the courage to do but have always wanted to. Studies show that kids who have families that do not stress about how their child achieves academically but that child hangs out with with a more academically oriented group is more likely to do well in school. Compared to a child who started with the same grades whose family did stress on how well their child did in school, but the child hangs out with a group of people who did not focus on academics as much, and they did not do as well. Even though peer pressure can be both bad and good, the majority of peer pressure that has affected the teenagers of our generation is bad. Kids are pressured into doing drugs, drinking, going to parties, etc.

I trust the source i used because it was featured on a health website that talks about a lot of different things that affect teenagers and children today.

Susan Colasanti

The author of my book, Something Like Fate, is Susan Colasanti. Susan is from a small town in New Jersey, Peapack-Gladstone. Her town was surrounded by other small towns and mostly woods. Even though she was raised in the country she always dreamed of moving to the city one day. In high school, Susan says, she was an outsider. She was an only child so she spent a lot of time alone, she had a few friends but she believed that none of them really got her, "Books were my true friends." says Colosanti in an article written by herself on her website. Susan always loved giving back to the community, she has been a hospital candy striper, a Girl Scout leader-in-training, and the arts & crafts director at a sleep-away camp for children affected by AIDS. When she finally did leave her life in a small town of New Jersey, she went to the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, Colosanti moved to New York City and received her master's degree in Physics Education from NYU. When Susan first started teaching she lived on the Upper West Side, she had heard of some schools in some other neighborhoods that didn't have basic supplies, and she heard how kids didn't have science teachers that cared about them. So she packed up her stuff and ended up teaching High school Physics and EArth Science in the South Bronx from 2000-2007.

After teaching for a few years Susan realized it was possible to have more than one career. She wrote two books while she was a teacher, When It Happens and Take Me There. Then she decided to leave her teaching career so that she could dedicate herself to writing teen novels.

The reason I used and trusted my source is because it was written by Susan Colasanti herself.

Double Birthday in my Family

Today is both my mom and my brother, Clay's, birthday. I think it is a special time in my family because not many people can say that they have 2 birthday's in their family on the same day. I think i got my mom the best present, pearl earings, i knew she would love these because she is obsessed with pearls. Tonight we went to dinner with family and friends to Pappas Steakhouse, it was great.

-Hannah