Independent Reading #4

By dgray24.

Early in the book, I wondered how Anne was able to focus on such trivial matters when she is just lucky to be alive. Upon finishing the book and watching her character and personality evolve, it becomes more clear. It brings the theme of identity and the moral universe into focus. Anne did have a life before she went into hiding, and throughout her diary she describes this part of her life as ideal. Towards the end of her diary, Anne had been in hiding for approximately 2 years. All she had known for 2 years was the annex of … Continue reading Independent Reading #4

Independent Reading #3

By dgray24.

In The Diary Of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, two themes that emerge are loneliness and coming of age. Although Anne has been placed in an incredibly uncommon situation, she still has the same feelings that many have around her age. Anne feels like she is alone, even though she is in a small, cramped space with 7 other people. She feels that no one understands her, and that she is exiled by everyone around her. There are brief moments when she connects with her sister, her mother, and her father, who she tends to feel most comfortable with. However, … Continue reading Independent Reading #3

Independent Reading #2

By dgray24.

In no way am I attempting to compare my current situation to Anne Frank’s experience in hiding. Instead, I would like to point out the similarities, as well as the differences. Throughout the story, Anne tends to focus on things that may not seem very important, such as how one of the people she is in hiding with won’t give her cookies. “Except for the first week, I haven’t seen even one of the cookies he so generously promised me.” (p. 78.) While she is worried about this trivial matter, there are millions of other Jews who were not as … Continue reading Independent Reading #2

Independent Reading #1

By dgray24.

In The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, it is baffling how Anne is able to obsess over such small and unimportant things, even while she is in hiding. In the story, which takes place during the Holocaust, Anne and her family are hiding from the Germans in a secret annex of a building. They are in a small space with another family, and Anne feels that she doesn’t fit in with anyone, with the exception of her father occasionally. She is bothered by many trivial things, such as having to eat vegetables. “If I take a small helping … Continue reading Independent Reading #1

Rube Goldberg – Post #6

By dgray24.

Here is our finished iMovie: (video to come) Now that we really are done, I can verify that I enjoyed doing Rube Goldberg. This project was very interesting. We could see if our ideas actually worked, and I also was creative (which I am normally not). I stand by my opinion that it would be close to impossible (for me) to work alone on this project. I know some of my classmates did it and I don’t really know how. I’m sure I could, I would just need a time extension. While I’m on the subject of groups, I think Tyler … Continue reading Rube Goldberg – Post #6

Rube Goldberg – Post #5

By dgray24.

Success! Success! It worked! Our machine worked! I don’t know exactly, but I think it took about 15-20 tries. To make up for our first step, we added a mousetrap at the end. The golf ball falls into a cup that not only hits the books, but also lifts up another cup that triggers the mousetrap. It was so stressful. There was always something to fix. Either the mousetrap didn’t go off or the books didn’t fall, there was always something. I am very happy to be done, though. I actually shouldn’t say that we are done, considering we still … Continue reading Rube Goldberg – Post #5

Rube Goldberg – Post #4

By dgray24.

Tyler and I are halfway done. This is what we have so far: Basically, a Nerf gun shoots a Nerf bullet which hits some dominoes that push a small, clay ball which goes into a pipe and falls into a cup which pulls up a peg that was stopping a toy truck so the toy truck hits a golf ball which goes down a ramp. How many reactions was that? So far we have been pretty productive. We have only built for like 2 and a half hours and we are already halfway done. We plan to finish building Wednesday, … Continue reading Rube Goldberg – Post #4

Rube Goldberg – Post #3

By dgray24.

New plan. Tyler and I tested the Nerf gun idea and it didn’t work. We also realized how stupid our first sketch was and how hard it would be to build. So, instead of having one step on a pegboard, the whole machine will. This is our new sketch: When we were making the new sketch, we used this video to help us. It will be much easier to build the machine now that it will be on a pegboard because we will be able to build it up and down. As for the actual pegboard, Tyler has one. As … Continue reading Rube Goldberg – Post #3

Rube Goldberg – Post #2

By dgray24.

Everything is coming along well. Tyler and I finished the sketch via FaceTime last night. I think the way we will start the machine is cool, but it is unclear if it will work or not because we haven’t tested it yet. The plan is to tie one end of a piece of string too a Nerf bullet and tie the other to a toy car so when we shoot the Nerf gun, it pulls the toy car. Although it would be very cool if it worked, I don’t think it will. One way I think I could make it … Continue reading Rube Goldberg – Post #2

Rube Goldberg – Post #1

By dgray24.

Rube Goldberg seems very cool. I think it would be very hard to work alone, though. Tyler and I are having trouble even coming up with a sketch, so there’s no way I would be able to do this project alone. For some reason it is very hard to think of steps because whenever we thought of something we could test, we would and most of the things we tested didn’t work. We have about five reactions planned so far. For our simple task we were thinking of hitting one of those Staples buttons that says, “That was easy!” I have … Continue reading Rube Goldberg – Post #1