Today the newly wed royal couple Willaim and Kate arrivred in Ottawa to kick-off  their 9 day stay in Canada.  Upon arrival  the Prince stated that he and Kate are “delighted” to be visiting Canada.  Thousands went to downtown Ottawa and the Rideau Hall this afternoon to see the two together.  Some spectaters descirbed the experience as fun and unforgettable. I am sure that it was. During the time that Will and Kate have been here so far they have already laid a wreath on the Tomb of  The Uknown Solider, took a walk down the line of veterens, and spent so much time socializing with onlookers that they ran behind schedual. The royals will be here in Canada until July 8th. I’m glad they got the opprtnity to visit us here in Canada.

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I am finally done elementary school! Last week on Wednesday the rest of the grade eight class and I received our diplomas. There are  a lot of things that I will miss about elementary school like my friends since some of them are going to different high schools and going to such a small school where everybody knows everybody. However I think I am ready to move on to high school and face the future challenges presented to me there. To be honest I can’t wait!
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We are now officially finished The Diary of Anne Frank and after reading it I can honestly say that it is like nothing I have ever read before. I think that a very important event in Anne’s story is the diary entry she wrote on Tuesday March 7, 1944. In this entry she describes how her actions, situation, and even her attitude toward life changed drastically since she arrived in the “Secret Annexe”  in 1942. She describes how she perviously lead a very privileged and fun-filled life, being constantly surrounded by friends and family and even quotes Peter Van Daan saying “If I ever saw you, you were always surrounded by two or more boys and a troupe of girls.” You were always laughing and the centre of everything.”  She said also that she was quite likable due to her positive attitude and that her teachers were “entertained by her cute answers, her amusing remarks, her smiling face and her questioning looks.” Looking back on this life any 14 year old girl be would envious. To be popular, to have friends, to be loved what more could you want? But Anne didn’t feel the same way. About her life in 1942 she says, “Yet I wasn’t entirely happy in 1942 in spite of everything; I often felt deserted, but because I was going the whole day long, I didn’t think about it and enjoyed myself as much as I could.” As she grew older she grew more and more wise in her ways and she came to realize that life is not about material things or even about being popular and having lots of friends but having a sense of self-worth and working to be happy with yourself and not caring so much what others think. I think that this is an important event in the book because it was an important event in her life. This diary entry represented a new era in her life and  even in her writing. If you read the book you’ll notice that from this point on her enteries become more mature as a reflection of herself that is why, although it may not be exciting or life altering I believe that it was an important event in the book. 

The Diary of Anne Frank was definitly an eye-opening book. Perhaps the most important part of this book was that in brought the human aspect to a world-changing event that we only normaly see the political side of through things like history books and telivison documenteries. I have always enjoyed reading fictional dairies and accounts of young women during historical events but the fact that this was non-fiction makes it even more amazing.  Anne Frank was real. A real girl who had to be pulled from her regular life to go into hiding and then be caught by the Nazis and die in Belsen, a German concentration camp. I always knew about the insane number of people that were sentenced to death during the Holicost but to be able to put a name and face to one of the victims of this tradgedy is, I feel, nessisary to grasp the whole reality of what theses innocent people went through. Therefore I would recomend this book to anyone. I believe that even though it is not a pleasant thing to think about we must remember the Holicost and its victims so to make sure somthing like this never happens again and to honor the memeries of those who died in this cruel way.

I think that reading the Diary of Anne Frank in inquiry circles was very benifcital in understanding the book. I say this because when we had group disscusions I was able to gain more insight into the events in the book by hearing the veiws of others. We also kind of fed off each other’s knowledge by sharing information about apart the parts we felt we had a good understanding of with those who didn’t. I think having someone to talk about the book with helped me to comperhend the book because sometimes when I read my mind wanders and being able to stop and talk about what I read made me focus on what I had read. I think that in the end inquiry circles helped me to understand the book better. 

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Most of the Metis who lived in Canada in the late 19th century lived in Red River settlement. Most where either farmers, self-employed hunters or traders, or employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company.  Over half of the Metis who lived in Red River settlement had ancestors that came from Quebec and many people still knew people who lived there so predictably French was the most common language used amoung Metis there. Both the Scottish and French Metis had developed their own distinct culture and way of life but both lived in the Red River Settlement together.

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So far my group and I have read upto page 208 in the Diary of Anne Frank.  A lot has happened in the last 130 pages. Some of these things include Anne becoming more receptive to the Vann Dans and excepting the fact that her and her family are somtimes in the wrong in the arguments between the two families. Her relationships with her family members have also changed as well, now she regrets saying that she ever hated her mother but still feels slight resentment towards her, her relationship with her father has changed was well. Although she still loves and respects him very much she realizes that she cannot tell him everything. It is the same way with her sister, Margot. Anne has also developed a romantic interest in Peter Vann Dan. There have also been the usual arguments and even an encounter with burglars but perhaps the most notable change throughout the dairy is her growth in maturity. Almost over-night Anne went from constantly complaining about her situation and the people she is stuck with to praising God for her fortune in finding a good place to hide  and trying to respect the views and opinions of others. I admire her for that.

This account of the time spent in the “Secret Annexe” is told by Anne Frank. This is quite obvious as the book is called “The Diary of Anne Frank” and the diary  is record of the writer’s thoughts, views and opinions. If another characters point of view it would be very different because she has such strong views of her housemates. For example about the Vann Dans she writes, “Are most people so selfish and stingy?” and explains their arguments in a one sided way only. I have a feeling that had this been one of the Vann Dan’s point of view the arguments would be described differently. I also think that if the story was told from a flat characters point of  view like Margot’s it would be different because we would hear more about Anne’s exterior personality because Anne states in her diary that the dwellers of the “Secret Annexe” would be shocked to see Anne as we do by reading her diary.

Anne is the main character in the Dairy of Anne Frank. I feel a very strong connection to Anne even though I am not living in hiding or being persecuted for my beliefs and we lived so many years and miles apart I am still a fourteen year old girl going through the same things she is in a different time and place.  Although when I began reading I thought that she was just a complainer who was ungrateful for the chance she was given to survive about half way through the book it dawned on me that I was being unfair for two reasons: 1) This was her diary, her release, the one place where she could complain without being accused of negativity and 2) I was often only thinking of one alternative to hiding, a concentration camp.  I wasn’t thinking about the other alternative, regular life. I wasn’t thinking about what it be like to taken away from my friends and home so abruptly and placed in such tight living quarters with people she didn’t even know. All things considered I think she was a very strong bright young women and I would have loved to have met her. Anne Frank allowed readers like myself to get to know her better by writting  her deepest thoughts, feelings and opinions about everthing and everyone.

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There is nothing I love more than a good old-fashion holiday! In Canada we are lucky enough to have a speacial holiday in May. Although it is often only referred to as May 2,4 Victoria Day is celebrated yearly in Canada to remind us Canadians of this great female ruler. So here is a little history about her and the holiday. Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819 (hence the date of the holiday) to parents Edward,  Duke of Kent and  Victoria Princess of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria’s father passed away when she was 8 months old and her uncle became king. In 1837 Victoria’s uncle died and she became Queen. She was 18 years old.  When she began her reign there was little respect for the royals however, her modest  and straightforward demeanor soon won over the public. Under her reign England’s social and economic situation was greatly improved. In 1840 Queen Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and together they had nine children. Unfortunately Prince Albert wasn’t as loved by England as he was by his wife and he was not given the tittle of Prince Consort until he had been married to Queen Victoria for 17 years. In 1861 Albert died of typhoid fever and Queen Victoria mourned his loss in seclusion for 10 years. When she recovered she began to regain popularity. In 1887 she celebrated her 50th year as Queen of England and she started once more to embrace public life. The reason that Queen Victoria is so celebrated here in Canada is that she helped to make Canada possible through her support of the British North America Act and although she passed on in 1901 we are fortunate to be able to honour Queen Victoria’s legacy through holidays such as Victoria Day.

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Do you beleive in angels? I do. I think they are sent here to help us when times get hard. It is a very comforting thought. My friend Anne has an awesome poem about angels on her blog. Check it out Here.

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       In three sessions of Inquiry Circles my grounp and I have read 78 pages of The Diary of Anne Frank. So far Anne and her family have left their comfortable home and went into hiding to avoid being captured by the Nazis. Their escape was successful and they were later joind by the Van Dann family and a dentist named Mr. Dussel. The people in the “Seceret Annexe” spend plenty of time arguing and do not get along well together for the most part. Anne often feels isolated from the rest of her family and compainions and feels hurt by their somtimes critical comments. We have found that Anne’s realationship with her mother is very poor but her and her father are very close. She feels very fortunate to be able to have a place to hid in saftey and comfort and has very strong views about the Germans and Hitler. 

       There are several flat charactors in this book. Some of these include Elli, Meip, Henk, and Mr. Koophuis who are helping the Fanks, Van Danns and Mr. Dussel by getting them their rations and any supplies they may need. As well as Margot,  Anne sister, Peter, the son of the Van Danns, and Mr. Van Dann.  The round charactors include Mrs. Van Dann, Mr. Dussel, Anne’s mother and father and of course Anne. I could tell that these are round charactors because of the number of times they appear in the diary and how she descibes them. It is clear that Anne has very strong veiws of all the charactors. This she portrays this mostley through auother’s comments and speech or thoughts. For example Anne quotes Mrs. Van Dann saying, “I too, have an unassuming nature, more so than my husband.” She later then explictly states that “This sentance in itself shows quite clearly how thoroughly forward and pushing she is!” From quotes like theses I have been able to draw the conclusion that she is not very fond of Mrs. Van Dann.

       I think that one of several significant events that took place thus far is when Anne metions seeing the Jewish people being taken away to concentration camps from her window. She describes the incident like this: “Day and night more of those poor miserable  people are being dragged off, with nothing but a rucksack and a little money. On the way they are deprived even of these  possessions. Families are torn apart the men, women, and children are all being sepatated.” The reason that this is such an important in my eyes is that it reveals that although they were in hiding they were not isolated from the outside world and unaware of what is happening on to their people. It also helps to solidify the fact that Anne feels very fortunate to be able to be in hiding. If I was in that situation I think that I would feel the same way she did which is kind of guilty for being safe while the others suffered. I think that I would also feel quite angrey at the way my people were being treated and the fact I couldn’t do anything about it.

      I predict that future diary enteries will describe how the families in hiding get along with each other and her feelings about the war.

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On Friday April 29, 2011 at 11:00am in Westminister Abbey the most anticipated media event of the century will finally take place! That’s right The Royal Wedding! This event is expected to be veiwed by nearly one billion people world wide on television but only 1 900 people will have the oppurtunity to see it take place in Westminister Abbey. The cerimony is to last one hour and fifteen minutes and will be followed by a reception in Buckingham Palace. This is a very important event for the royal family since Catherine is the first commener to ever marry a Prince of Whales. Catherine was born in a small town called Bucklebury on January 9, 1982 to Michael and Carole Middleton. She has two siblings, a sister, Philippa and a brother, James.  Growing up she lead a fairly simple life much in contrast to Prince William’s childhood. Had they not attended St. Andrew’s college in Scotland together the two may have never even crossed paths. But they did and the two became fast friends however, it wasn’t until the end of the first year that William saw Catherine in a fashion show and their romance began. On November 16, 2010 their long-awaited engagement was finally announced and now after months of hard work and planning the big day is just around the corner! I hope that they will have a long and happy marriage!

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For language arts we had to make a book of poems. In my last post I wrote 5.  Here are two more in my podcast. Enjoy!

poetry podcast