Founding Fathers

Author’s Note: I tred to add some transitions in between my body paragraphs.

Dear Thomas Jefferson,

I am really glad to say that you are my favorite founding father. I really think that you worked really hard for the rights of our country. It wouldn’t seem right if we were suppose to stay under the order of the king of Great Britain George III, if he were to be abusing the colonists. Since the rights include the ability to live free, to have liberty and to pursue happiness,  you  really proved that by writing the Declaration of Independence.  I think that separating ourselves from the British was a peaceful resolution. Even though the British probably would have been mad about it, the Americans did say that they always would be like brothers with England.

In addition I really appreciate the country that now it became, it was a land of opportunity for many people throughout the world to have a new beginning to their life. Since you wrote the Decoration of Independence that let my ancestries come from Germany and Italy to build a new life. If you wouldn’t have wrote this most people in my world now wouldn’t be a live right now because this had a true impact on our country. People now were able to get land, find a job, and build a house for their family. The decoration of Independence  gave people the opportunity to practice their own religion, and live their life freely not under the command of someone.

Therefore in our current world today, I think if many people had a chance to talk to you or any of the founding fathers they would say that they thank you very much for giving us freedom and rights. If you didn’t create this document our world now would be very different not in a good way. I really am thankful for courage, in the United States and benefit from the educational system that we developed, and the protection by the soldiers that we have now.  

Shouldn't Have Gone to the Mountains

Author's note: This is a piece that is about the cause and effect of the book Pictures of Hollis Woods. I tried to work on the AB transitions and making sure that I don't start my sentences with the same word.

In the book Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff is a story about a girl that is a foster child that normally doesn’t find a house that she likes. Usually she will live with a family and not enjoy being with them so she will run away from the home. Although once she met Steven, Izzy and the old man she knew that this was the family that she should stay with. 

Therefore while Hollis was thinking of living with the perfect family, Steven and her got into a car accident, which was the climax. While they were staying in the summer house Hollis always wanted to go up on the mountains but the old man wouldn't let her because he thought it was dangerous. Which he was right she went up on the mountains and hurt her ankle she wasn't able to call for help because Steven was fishing, and the old man and Izzy went out. Once Steven got back from fishing he couldn't find Hollis, he worried and figured she went to the mountains. Steven quickly drove up the mountain and found her injured. On the way down from the mountain the brakes on the truck weren't working, Steven told Hollis to jump right before the truck ran into the door. Hollis thought it was all her fault and felt really bad that Steven got hurt.

Since Hollis thought the car accident was all her fault she ran away from the family. This really effected the story because if the brakes were to be working when they were going down the hill they would have never got in a car accident. If they weren't to get in to a car accident then the story would have been really different she would have never ran away and she would be living a nice life the old man, Izzy and Steven. Nothing can ever just be perfect, and if it would have Hollis would have never met Josie.

  

Hiding From the Germans

Author's note: I wrote the main conflict and resolution of the book Yellow Star.

In the book Yellow Star by Jennifer  Roy was about a young girl named Syvia  that lived during the holocaust. The main problem of this book was that Syvia had to live in the ghetto with Germans directing her around,  which then she had to start to hide from all them because they sent all the kids to concentration camps. There were many kids in the holocaust that had to go through this too, like Anne Frank she tried to hide from all the Germans. This book really is a group vs a group, because it is the Jewish people vs the Germans but the Germans are mainly over powering in the beginning and middle part of the event. 

Therefore Syvia  hid underground to make sure the Germans wouldn’t find her and the other children.  Right in the middle of the war the Germans got really bad and they killed so many Jewish people, by either shooting them or putting them in gas chambers.  Many innocent  people died throughout the war, but eventually the Russians and the Americans teamed up and defeated the Germans in the war which stopped the holocaust. The end to the war let the Jewish people that were still alive to leave to start a new life, which Syvia and her family decided to go to France. 

Basketball Championship

Author’s Note:  This was a game that I will never forget, and I tried to add some transitions to meet my goal.

Everyone walked on the court very stressed out, both teams knew it was going to be a complicated game. My coach kept saying "Relax girls just play this game like any other." I keep thinking of that when we were warming up, but I still had butterflies in my stomach. We started the game and all I could hear is my coach yelling, which got everyone really nervous but we have played Franklin before so we knew who their best players were. This game meant a lot to me, it proved to me that my coach believes in me.

After playing awhile there were just 5 minutes in the half and we were losing by 3 points, we had a lot of time to catch up. It was our ball and we were running a play for one of my teammates Becca, it was for her because my coach knew she could shoot three pointers. She made her cut which got her open, I passed her the ball and she made it. I heard all the parents clapping, and my coach howled "Great shot Becca! Now let's go into our press." From there the game keep going back and forth we would score then they would score.

Suddenly I heard a voice say "come on ladies let's finish our tournament with a great victory and a perfect record. " My coach said at half time while pushing some people on the court. They were winning by a couple points, we could get those back pretty easily. Although after a few minutes into the second half we were all kind of tired we had 3 games before this one. "Go into twelve defense" Our coach realized we were kind of tired that is why he told us to go into zone defense. We weren't that good at zone defense because we didn't play it that much. Anyways now there was 5 minutes left and we were winning by 7 points then the other teams coach called a timeout. "I think you girls are doing a great job just make sure you don't let them back in the game. Also get more water if you were just in." My coach said while taking a glance at the other team.

As soon as the ref blew his whistle my teammates and I walked on the court like we thought we had this game in the bag; the other team walked on the court playing with their clammy hands. It was the other teams ball, and it seemed like they were doing a play so we tried our best not to let them score, which turned out awful they got a three pointer. Next thing we knew it was a tie game with only one minute left, and it was their ball. We seemed to already know the play that they were running so we stopped them from shooting the three pointer, until number 32 came from nowhere and got an open three which she swooshed it. Now it was our ball left with only 10 seconds left on the clock. “Timeout!” my coach screamed while the veins were popping out of his head and neck. Right away he grabbed his whiteboard and throw it hard against the ground. He picked up the old damaged whiteboard and started to draw out a play for us to make a three pointer, which I was the one that was going to shoot it.

Behind the thick black out of bonds line Becca received the ball from the old grumpy ref and right away she threw it right to my teammate Kenzie. The others players were setting me up, I did my big loop around the other side of the three point arc and I was open. Kenzie passed to me with a lot of force, then I noticed that there were two defenders coming towards me. The only decision I had was to dribble the basketball down more towards the corner but still outside the three point line. I picked up my dribble and had no choice but to shoot there was only 3 seconds left. I struggled to get my hands underneath the ball so I put the ball in my right arm and did a right hand hook shot. The clock buzz real loud. It was going towards the hoop it looked like it was going in! Then it plopped down. Everyone was disappointed I could even hear everyone saying “Why would she shoot it like that?” in a real snotty tone. All a sudden we heard the refs whistle blow and it was a foul that meant 3 free throws, I could tie the game.

Therefore I stepped up to the free throw line sweat dripping down my face, I felt really nervous. I could hear my heart beat rapidly, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. The ref passed me the ball, and I started to dribble it a couple times then  I shot it. The ball went right in the net so nicely no one could hear it hit the rim. I heard all my teammates cheering then the ref passed me the ball again, I did the same amount of dribbles as usually and I shot it, and it went in. I felt a little more relaxed, everyone was still cheering but I knew this was the last shot to see if we went into overtime. I dribbled it 6 times again, and shot my last shot when the whole gym was as quiet as a mouse. Instantly my whole team ran over to me hugging me and cheering as loud as they could. We all sat down on the bench with huge grins on our faces, but we still haven’t won yet we still had an extra minute of overtime.

In addition Becca jumped as high as she could, and we got the ball off the tip off. Kenzie caught the ball and went in for a lay-up beating everyone up the court, and no one could catch her so we scored. All we had to do is not let them score then we got 1^st place and a perfect record of 15-0. The other team was so in shock of what happened they couldn’t even score, they keep the ball around which was wasting time. Evenatually there was only 10 seconds left and they set up a play to make 32 shoot a three. “Shoot it!” yelled the other teams coach because there was only 3 seconds on the clock. The ball went up in the air but Haylie jumped in front of the shot and blocked it a little. The clocked buzzed real loud, we won! The other teams heads were all real low, and our team could not stop smiling.