My Morning Routine

     First, my dad comes in and wakes me up at 6:50 in the morning, but sometimes I sleep in until 7:15 or 7:00. Anyway, we have to be out the door and going to school by 7:35. That means I have about half an hour to get ready and do other things.
     Next, I eat breakfast, I usually eat cereal or if my dad is up early, he'll make bacon, eggs, and maybe pancakes. I eat breakfast REALLY slow, and it will take me about 5 minutes just to eat a bowl of cereal. That's why sometimes I have to get up at 6:50, because my dad is making breakfast and he knows I eat slow...
      Next, I brush my teeth, because I have tried to brush my teeth after I am done doing my hair and I almost forgot, and that would be nasty, so I decided that right after breakfast I go and brush my teeth.
      Then, I do my hair, which takes about five to fifteen minutes depending on what I think I am going to do. Like if I am curling it or doing something that takes time to do, it will take about fifteen minutes, but if I am putting it into a ponytail or something simple like that, then it only takes about five minutes.
     Then, I get my shoes on and pack up my backpack for school. Sometimes I have to decide what shoes I am going to wear, and sometimes I just know right away. Packing up my bag and deciding what shoes usually take about 5 minutes.
    Finally, my dad and I leave for school. It takes about 3 minutes to get from my house to the school, so we are at school by 7:40. That is my daily morning routine.



     ~Sammie

My Weekend!!

      This weekend is the best one yet!! One reason why is because we have our home football game against North Cedar. We are good this year! The next reason is because I am going to be going to a track meet in Waverly! I am so excited! I hope I do good! The last reason is the best reason because I am going to another IOWA game!!! It is a night game and it is at Kinnick Stadium, and it is also a night game so it's going to be so cold my insides will be frozen!! I'm going to have to put on my TWO pairs of fuzzy socks for this one!! Iowa is going to be vs. Penn State, too bad the Joe Pa isn't there anymore. I am going with my cousin to the Iowa game and we are going to have fun! Hopefully it's not too cold. That's my weekend, hopefully it's not going to be as crazy and hectic like I think it's going to be!!


~Sammie!!

The Ghost of Graylock!!

     The Ghost of Graylock is an amazing book by Dan Poblocki.

 Facts About Graylock:                                                                                    

- it used to be a hospital for mental children
- it shut down because there had been drownings in the lake
- it lies deep in the woods

           The Main Characters:

1. Neil, which is the boy who it is mostly about.
2. Bree, Neil's sister who is in it to solve the mystery of "Nurse Janet"
3. Rebecka, the ghost that helps them find her killer.
4. Neil's friends, The Bastise brothers, also help with the mystery.
5. Andy, the friend that picks up the bunch when they "attempted" to go into Graylock. 
6. Neil's aunts, the caretakers of Neil and Bree.

Rebecka's Life

     Rebecka had great and happy life, until she saw her mom get murdered by her own stepfather. She had been depressed since then, didn't eat, didn't sleep, and never came out of her room. At school, she wrote a beautiful poem, but if you read the first letter of every sentence it spelled daddy did it and when her stepfather found out about it, her was crushed. Then Rebecka ran away to Graylock, which wasn't very hard because they lived in the same town as Graylock. She said that that was the only place where she felt protected and comfortable. She was hurt after a while that they said that she was getting better and is going home. She never left her room. On one night the power went out because there was a nasty storm, the rain and sleet were spitting at the windows. Her stepfather snuck into the youth ward and killed her, he then dragged her body and threw it in the lake, so it looked like she drowned. There were never any nurses during the night except one. Who always patrolled the outside. The townspeople said that she did it and they ran her out of town. Her name was Janet Reilly. Rebecka has been haunted Graylock in hope that someone will get to hear her story, she wanted the townspeople to understand that is was not Janet Reilly, it was her stepfather. 

Story Structure

•     It is amazing because at the beginning it is very scary and pulls you in. Then it gives you a scary part and then a mystery that you are wondering "What could it be?"

•      Next is the settling out moment of when you are trying to sink in everything that happens.

•      Then, there is the turnaround part where your thinking of who it might be was definitely wrong, and a new suspicion comes into play. 

•      Finally, the mystery is unraveled and the action packed action begins and you are at the edge of the seat, and boom it what you least expect to happen happens and you fall right off your seat!

• The last part of the book is the flattening out of the book where they wrap things up.

• Then it is "The End"

 The Excited and Interesting Parts (top 5)

     5. The fifth exciting/interesting part of the whole book was when Neil saw a girl crying next to his bed, and thought it was his dream. When he actually woken up, he stepped down and it was wet, so he asked his sister, Bree if she had been in his room and she said, "No, why would I be in there at 5:00 in the morning?"

     4. The fourth exciting/ interesting part of the whole book was when they went into Graylock for the first time and saw the ghost.

     3. The third exciting/ interesting part of the whole book was when they learned that the ghost of Graylock was NOT Nurse Janet  (Janet Reilly), it was a girl who drowned in the lake close by the hospital.

     2. The second exciting/interesting part of the whole book was when Andy was chasing them through the woods with a log poker for a fireplace and they went in Graylock, the abandoned hospital, to hide.

     1. The top thing that was exciting/ interesting in this whole book would be when they figured out that the mom's and the stepsister's killer was there dad, who was named Andy, and was standing right next to them.

Other Facts:

- The reason how they found out about Rebecka was because she communicated with them

- They found out who did it because they found a poem that Rebecka did and if you read it down it said "daddy did it"

- Rebecka haunted Neil in his dreams, like pretending like he was drowning to communicate with Neil

 

  

You Should Join...

     You should join an AAU basketball team. The amazing reasons why you should are because you can meet new people and maybe they will become your friends, and of course, it will help you improve your basketball skills! Another amazing reason is because you can travel to many different places, such as Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin and Lincoln, Nebraska! Trust me because I've been there to play basketball for my AAU team. We are also planning on going to Kansas City, Kansas! My point is, you should join an AAU basketball team.


      ~Sammie

Snow Valley

     Snow Valley is a basketball camp in Waverly. It is where you stay in the dorms and eat in the college cafeteria. It is a hard core camp because you have to get up at 6:00 in the morning and be in the gym ready to play basketball at 6:15. The other bad part about Snow Valley is that you don't get to bed until 10:00pm. They say that they do that because they wanna get you out of your comfort zone, and I got to tell you, it really works! I go to Snow Valley in the end of summer and I usually go with my friends from a different town. Snow Valley is a good way to improve on your basketball skills, I suggest that you check it out!

David Robinson

                                                                   David Robinson 
     David Robinson was born on August 6, 1965, in Key West, Florida.
                                                                      On the Court
     He played basketball at the U.S. Naval Academy. After that, David joined the San Antonio Spurs in 1989. With that team he won 2 NBA Titles. He also won NBA's Rookie of the Year award. He won NBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and the Most Valuable Player of the Year in 1995. He was also recognized in the 50 greatest in NBA history. Robinson was also a member of the 2 gold-medal winning U.S. men's basketball teams, including the "Dream Team" that dominated the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Finally, in 2009 he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame! I think David Robinson loves and has a passion for the game of basketball and he's pretty good at it.
                                                                   Off the Court
     David Robinson is not only a great basketball player, but also a great person. In 1997, he donated $5 million dollars to found a college prep academy in a San Antonio an economically challenged neighborhood. Robinson and his wife also donated over $11 million dollars to Carver Academy, and it's not even named after him. However, the NBA's community service award is. Robinson also served 2 years of the active Navy Duty. David Robinson is a generous and caring guy.