Friday, December 08, 2006

Step Off the Scale!

This article (click the post title) discusses teens' obsession with their image and weight. In conjunction with the article I found this cool flash video about "real beauty." (If you are unable to view it here, you can go to YouTube and search "dove" and "evolution.") I bet you watch it more than once!
I'd like to know what you think about the claims in this article and the movie clip online. Also, do you think these unrealistic expectations are different for boys and girls? If so, why? At what point in a person's life does "beauty"discrimination start?

Thursday, December 07, 2006

NEW YORK BABYS

Im in New york! Have fun in school kids! The plane ride was very Turbulant I thought it was so cool my mom was holding on to her seat

where's the article???

Isn't someone supposed to post an article?!?!?!?!?!

Sixth Hour Angel

Your Angel Tree child is named Jerrell. He is a nine year old boy whose dream gift is a bike. His shirt size is medium, his pant size is 10 regular and his shoes size is size 5 (kids).

I'm so proud of this class for coming together as a community to help someone else. You guys rock!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

My new favorite word is BENEVOLENT it means to be very kind and always work to make another person happy, it is so asome just thought id share that!
Are we going to get the little boy a bike or a scooter? and it is a boy right? Are we only gonna get a bike or are we gonna get more stuff To. I think we should bring 10$ each then we will have enough for the bike and the rest of the stuff plus some extras! also ms. LAmbard What is the new little boys name?

I NEED SOME HELP

Did we have any math Homework 1st hour Gross?

-waway-

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Wheres the current event?

Isn`t someone supposed to be posting a current event? I need the perosn to put it up soon! I need to do it.

Science

For anyone who had to build a balloon powered car in science class, basically I don't understand any of it. So anyone want to help? :] I just don't get the whole straw part. And wheel part. And...basically the rest too. ANY help will be appreciated!

Lets raise money for a kid to get a bike on Christmas!!!!!!!

Hey every body on team 8D.MCR and NJP are collecting money to buy a bike for a kid that can not afford on. So we are going to raise money to buy the kid a bike. The price for the bike I think is going to be in the $200.00-$300.00 range or less. But I would like to have everybody bring in $5.00 or more. MCR will be starting to collect money tommorow. So please bring in money so a kid could have a bile.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Article

The first week he rode the bus to school was tough for his mother.But for Nickolas Sills, 6, it was a victory.


Nick suffered a massive brain hemorrhage at birth, resulting in severe brain damage and cerebral palsy. Though he can see objects up to 5 feet away with his glasses, he is legally blind. He also has an aggression disorder, some characteristics of autism, and seizures. To ride the bus to H.L. Johnson Elementary School, Nick spent three years at Potentials Charter School, a Riviera Beach school for children ages 3 to 10 who are unable to walk or talk.Now he can do both."They weren't expecting him to live past 1. ... but he's still here. He's always proving everybody wrong," said his mother, Amy Burch Reynolds, 27.Nick is now a happy, social little boy who shares a cozy home near Royal Palm Beach with his mother, stepfather, Jonathan Reynolds, brother, Jason Kristian, 3, stepbrother Ender Reynolds, 5, a dog and five cats.On a recent afternoon, Nick was glued to the TV, watching one of his favorite DVDs, The Muppet Show. He looked up only to say "Hello!" to a visitor. Meanwhile, his brothers dressed in superhero costumes and ran through the living room. Reynolds, nine weeks pregnant, rests on the sofa in pink mouse slippers while Jonathan tends to the kids.But when Nick was born, Reynolds was alone.She sought specialists, therapists and the Easter Seals Child Development Center in West Palm Beach. When Nick got too old for his program at Easter Seals, Reynolds stumbled upon Potentials.The Arc of Palm Beach County, which provides services for people with developmental and mental disabilities, opened Potentials in 1998. The school now serves 30 students in Riviera Beach and 15 at a second school in Boca Raton.Nick had a vocabulary of 8 to 10 words and was in a wheelchair when he started at Potentials in 2003. Some children do not walk because their muscles are tightly contracted, making movement difficult. That wasn't Nick's issue, said Mary Pengelley, his physical therapist at Potentials."He did not choose to be on his feet," Pengelley said. "It was often a behavioral thing."His classroom had a teacher, several aides, a physical therapist, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist every day. Nick's therapy was folded into the curriculum, and the silent little boy became a chatterbox, Pengelley said."We set high expectations. We look for children to be as independent as possible," Pengelley said. "The day they start school here, they are no longer diapered. They have to stand, have to balance, wash their hands, feed themselves."The staff also recognized that progress comes slowly."We're not asking them to go 100 feet, but a few steps," she said. "Every day it's more and more and more."Because it is a public charter school, Potentials receives state funds, but grants and fundraising help pay for the therapy. The school also helped Reynolds buy a wheelchair and a walker.Reynolds saw the dedication of the staff personally because she volunteered at least twice a month, leading art projects for Nick's class."Whatever they did at school that I could do, I did at home," Reynolds said.Nick's vocabulary has increased to 27 words, and he gets around with a walker and leg braces that help straighten his feet and stabilize his ankles.This spring, Potentials instructors told Reynolds some good news: Nick was ready to graduate.But she was "scared out of her mind" that Nick would regress without the staff's attention, she said. Eventually, she found a good program at H.L. Johnson. Nick was placed in a classroom with children of different ages but similar abilities."He was a little unhappy at first, but the awesome thing about the staff at The Arc was they came to his new school a couple days a week. They helped him big-time with the transition," Reynolds said.He still receives physical, occupational, speech, language and vision therapy at school, and additional therapy at home, Reynolds said.This fall Nick suffered a setback, missing two months of school with a new set of seizures, but he is back in class and getting ready to celebrate his birthday Dec. 14.And while Nick is at school, Reynolds occasionally volunteers at Potentials."I love it. ... Because they helped me so much, that's something I can do to give back," she said. "When you have a busy life, it's not so much to add another thing to the chaotic-ness, especially something like that."

1) How would you think you would feel if you had this disease?
2) What is the author's purpose in writing this article?

Sunday, December 03, 2006

The BEASTLY BLOG is a great name and i love the picture, it was a great choice, comment on waht you think.
Remember Christopher Reeve's quote about "America is a family"? We will be adopting a less fortunate child this year in my class through the Salvation Army Angel Tree program.
Her name is Joanna, she is two years old and wears 4T sizes in shirts and pants. Her shoe size is 7 1/2 (in kids). If you don't have a two-year old in your life, they love Sponge Bob and Dora the Explorer, and girls love all that princess/dress up stuff. Anything I forgot that she might enjoy? Comment to this post and let me know.
I would like for you to bring in anything NEW you think this little girl would enjoy. I will buy her "main gift," which is a doll house. If you want to get together as a class and get her something, that would be wonderful as well (you can discuss all of this here on the blog if you want).
All of the items must be to me by December 14 so I can return it to the drop-off location.
Thank you for remembering that there are others who have less than we do.