TheBookWorm

My name is Rishi Sankar and I am 11 years old. Taekwondo was a very fun aspect of my life. I have gone really far in this martial art. It started when I was finishing a class that was right next to Tiger Jung’s Martial arts. I was walking out door when I saw it. People were inside doing really cool fights, and that’s when I knew I wanted to join.

When I first started the class it was actually very hard for me to learn because everything was so new and I had never done anything like it. But my amazing teacher Master Jung is the reason I was able to pick up in a snap. He taught me new kicks and how to do them correctly. It was only a few weeks in and I was already having fun. Not only was this fun but it was actually helping me stay physically active and in shape. After having a few classes I was able to run faster, have more stamina, and all in all be stronger inside. We also started to learn how to do our forms correctly.

The forms are the things that you have to do correctly and pass in order to get the next belt. Along with the form you need to master a type of kick or punch and perform it correctly to move on. I was able to pass white and moved up to some of the harder forms. My family was helping me get my yellow belt(which is the next belt). I was able to pass that too. Eventually after almost a year I reached  the red belt. It was starting to get a lot more harder but I didn’t give up. Finally I made it to the poom belt. This was the second to last belt from black. But this was a challenge. In order to make it to black I had to perform every form correctly and perform the tornado kick and the spinning hook kick. Sadly I wasn’t able to take the fist black belt test that came out because I wasn’t ready. But that didn’t stop me. I kept training. And with help from Master Jung, I am finally ready to take the test. The forms that I have to do are actually comprised of orange, orange senior, green, green senior, blue, blue senior, red, red senior, and the poom belt with Koryo.

This training is also helping me in school. Every monday I am asked to run a mile under 12 minutes. The kicking that I do is making my hamstrings stronger so I can run faster. Also we have to do a non – stop workout on Thursdays in which the exercises are comprised of using both your hands and legs. Doing Sparring on Wednesdays and Thursdays are helping me a lot with this workout. And even when I am outside the training still helps me a lot. Like for example when I am riding my bike outside, I can ride faster. Also Taekwondo is helping me practice remembering things because when I take the black belt test I am going to have to remember the forms. It took me a long time to memorize each form and do it correctly. But I did it. Taekwondo is helping in extracurricular activities like soccer, baseball, and tennis. Soccer is one of my main sports and things like front snap kick, and tornado kicks, are helping me.

Aside from forms sparring is one of my favorite things about Taekwondo. I get paired up with another opponent and fight them. Master Jung teaches us new technics so we can win when we’re sparring. One of our most common technic’s is sliding back and then kicking. Sparring allows me to be let loose and show the other person everything I’ve got. Mostly at the end of a sparring class I am really tired, but that means that I have worked hard. I also took Taekwondo to learn how to defend myself in a time of need. Sparring is good practice for this because it simulates a real fight. When we fight however we don’t REALLY injure each other. But sometimes it can hurt. And if you do get hurt you can just get back up in a few minutes. I like when I get to do sparring with Master Jung. He teaches me a lot of good technics. Although I get to do sparring with him it’s still hard to actually win a match with him. Nevertheless I am still working to get up to his level and beyond. Master Jung has also gotten a lot of medals from Taekwondo championships. Likewise I want to get some medals too. Sparring days are moreover a good workout and it strengthens my whole body. Master Jung has inspired me on how he does sparring and I want to stand at a top place in sparring since I find it so fun.

Taekwondo has helped me improve a lot and has in a good way drastically changed my life. It is fun and it teaches respect and discipline. After I pass my test and get the black belt I plan to keep learning Taekwondo as much as possible so I can accomplish the goals that I wish to fulfill. I will try my very best and put in a lot of effort so I can do things that I thought I could never do. This part of my life is going to make my future better for me since I have grown so much in Taekwondo, and I hope that won’t change.

As I tore down the stairs, I saw the magnificent Christmas tree with gifts under it just waiting to be opened.  I ripped open my presents and what I saw inside was incredible. I got some great gifts for Christmas this year. The two first class things that I got were a set of dominos and a hover board. They had been the two things that I really wanted and acquired.

The number one gift that I got for Christmas was a hover board. A hover board is really just an electric mini skateboard with two wheels. The only thing to remember is that foot control is key. Lean Forward to go forward and lean backward to go backward. If someone wanted to turn right or left then lean your right foot forward to go left and lean left forward to go right. If you can do these things then its a piece of cake to ride a hover board and even do some cool tricks on it. For example if you’ve mastered leaning your feet then you can lean one of your feet back and the other forward and do a fast 360 degree circle on the floor. A convenient inclusion is that it is literally indestructible. It does well in wet conditions and if you end up making the hover board go on its side there will barely be a scratch on the wheels or anything inside because it has a hard plastic cover on it. Something that makes it really good for hard terrain is it conveys you uphill. Its max speed on a flat surface is 8 mph but going uphill it is about 5.4 mph. The only disappointments to this Christmas gift is that I wish it went just slightly faster on a flat surface and going uphill so it would be much more cooler.

Another thing that I got for a Christmas gift was a set of 300 dominos of different colors with no dots on them. These dominos are not the game dominos that have dots on them. They are rectangular wooden colored dominos. You can build whatever imaginative image that comes to your mind. Speaking of which, you can create pictures as well as designs by placing dominos of the chosen color down in big rows that can be as long or wide as you want them to be, and then connect the rows so the dominos all fall at the same time. Once they have fallen you will be able to see the picture more clearly. An example of making a picture out of dominos can be if I wanted to make a picture of a flower then I think of a flower clearly in my mind and pretend it looks like rows of dominos with color. Then I build the rows, place the colors in the right place, connect them all, and finally knock it down. When all the dominos have collapsed I have the perfect picture of a flower. It can be heartbreaking when you have to knock down all your dominos to see your masterpiece. It almost felt as sad as the cold planet Neptune. But it can still be fun because you worked really hard and wanted to see it fall to create a picture and now you can finally see it. This gift was great overall and had no disappointments, but I would say that when I got my set of dominos I wish I had gotten at least 200 more dominos of different colors and maybe sizes.

It was spectacular, I had got a hover board and a set of dominos. I started to ride my hover board. it was fun learning how to ride it. And soon after I started to build with my dominos. It was really entertaining seeing it fall to make cool designs and shapes. I was really pleased with what I had gotten. I was happy when I had gotten a hover board and dominos for Christmas.

Think of what you got and be thankful for what it was.

As the building came crashing down beside me, I started to tear up as I had suffered long over creating it. Staying positive is essential in life, particularly when worrying about the future of mankind concerning technology and the environment. You are more likely to mess up if you have a negative mindset because you won’t want to do what you’re doing. But with a more  positive attitude you have a higher chance of not failing.

Years and years from now, technology may get a lot more complex and exotic.

As well as there might be many miraculous things, there can also be awful things to come. For example, hackers might be the world’s most wanted criminals one day. A computer virus could spread and endanger an exceedingly large amount of people. Factories with robots can be controlled and technology can create a ruckus and actually may be the next things that live on the Earth. Nevertheless, even if that did happen people would need to keep their spirits high and even try to fight back and try to stop what’s happening to save their species. Otherwise the next generation of humans will not be able to continue civilization and environmental protection on the Earth.

Speaking of environmental protection, that is also a very important thing to stay positive about. An immensely large number of special plants and trees are getting destroyed. Some of these special plants are herbs that most humans use for medicine. As a result of deforestation,

we’re losing the medicine that we need for sicknesses like the flu. Pockets of people all over the world try to stay positive about this by planting more trees and plants and by trying to talk to other people to help and stop others who are destroying the environment. Therefore, you need to stay positive to encourage others or restore the world.

But I didn’t give up and I kept building with a lot of time, effort, and sweat, and finally it was done. I had created the world’s tallest skyscraper because I stayed positive. Staying positive is always important in life. It is essential when you encounter difficult tasks. So next time when you start thinking depressing thoughts, think about the inspirational ones a lot more too.

As the test began I put my life’s hard work into it. It came down to this. It’s good to have goals in life. Sometimes they are used to give an urge to complete something. Other times they’re just there to have something to work for. Every person should have one. Otherwise it can be hard to maintain focus for what you want to work for and achieve.

People would most likely have a goal to maintain their focus to fulfill what they want to do. An example could be if A guy wanted to work at a lumber mill but he hit his head and was badly injured, still he never gave up hope to complete his task. Eventually he healed from his injuries and started to work at the lumber mill. So when setting a goal make sure you put effort into it. That’s what makes a goal something you should do.

Goals can sometimes just be things that are done quickly because of the urge to do it. This is used usually when you need to do something that doesn’t take a whole lot of time and when it is just something that is regular and normal. One example is Joe was a video game tester and coder. For every game he makes it would take him more than 2 years to finish it. But was still a videogame tester. So he waited 2 years or more and finished the game.

I was waiting for my test scores to appear on the board. And there it was, full marks! I had passed the test! It’s good to have goals.  Sometimes they are used to give an urge to complete something. Other times they’re just there to have something to work for. Every person should have one. When done right, goals will take you anywhere.

As I walked fearfully into the arena my arms were shaking and I was sweating. It’s good to not give up. Sometimes it can be hard to do something, and you might give up because of that. But you should keep trying even if it seems impossible, and then you can get something valuable out of it.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He had a lot of responsibility on his hands, and sometimes found it difficult to do what he had to do. But he pushed forward and kept trying. Abraham Lincoln led the U.S through the Civil War. It was a harsh treatment and many people died, but he didn’t stop trying. Through his life he was put through many laborious tasks. Still he ate them up and spat them out like it was nothing. And that was because he kept on trying to reach his goals.

Refugee is a book about three kids trying to escape war in their countries. It was hard and seemed like it took years, but they kept going and in their struggle they found a place to live and grow. Many people tried to hunt them down during their long journey and stop them from getting to freedom. Eventually they got to their different places and lived their lives. All of this happened because they never stopped trying.

I kept on kicking and punching and it seemed like it took forever. Finally my opponent got tired and fell. I had won the competition. Never giving up leaves you in a good position. It may leave you tired or stressed out but you always accomplish something if you never give up on it. So keep trying and never give up.

Summary

 

Refugee is a book about 3 kids(Josef, Isabel, Mahmoud) trying to escape war and slavery in their countries(Germany, Cuba, Syria).Mahmoud and Isabel escape but Josef get’s captured. He was given the choice to escape and let his sister, Ruthie and his mother go to concentration camps or for him to go to concentration camps with his mother and let Ruthie go. He chose to go out of his kindness with his mother. Later Ruthie was found and adopted by an old woman. Isabel found refuge in Miami and spent her life there. Mahmoud found refuge in Europe and met Ruthie later as an older person. They talked to each other and told each other how some of their family members died to find refuge. They decided to find Mahmoud’s sister Hana. Mahmoud’s mother gave Hana to a stranger when trying to escape attack when finding refuge. Now they are going to try to find her.

 

By Alan Gratz

They died so I could live. Do you understand? They died so all these people could live. All the grandchildren and nieces they never got to meet. But you’ll get to meet them,” she told Mahmoud. “You’re still alive, and so is your little sister, somewhere. I know it. You saved her. And together we’ll find her, yes? I promise. We’ll find her and bring her home.”

Mahmoud started to cry, and he turned away and tried to blink back his tears. The old Jewish woman put her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Everything’s going to be all right now,” she whispered . “We’ll help you.”

“Ruthie, komm hier,” Frau Rosenberg’s husband called to her. Mahmoud didn’t need the translator to tell him that Herr Rosenberg wanted them to join him in the living room.

Mahmoud dragged a sleeve across his wet eyes, and Frau Rosenberg tried to hang the picture back on the wall. Her old hands were too shaky, though, and Mahmoud took it from her and hung it back on its nail for her. His gaze lingered on the picture. He was filled with sadness for the boy his age. The boy who died so Ruthie could live. But Mahmoud was also filled with gratitude. Josef had died so Ruthie could live, and one day welcome Mahmoud and his family into her house. The old woman gave Mahmoud’s arm a squeeze, and she led him into the living room. Mom and Dad were there, and Waleed and Herr Rosenberg, and the space was bright and alive and filled with books and pictures of family and the smell of good food. It felt like a home.

 

A new ending to Refugee

By Rishi

As Mahmoud boarded the ship with his father and Ruthie he noticed a crowd of refugees departing a different ship. “Hopefully those families had gotten here safe and sound,” Mahmoud said to Ruthie. “Don’t worry they are now safe from danger and will not be harmed,” Ruthie replied. As they kept walking into the ship  captain James started speaking “We’ll be arriving at Greece, Athens in a few hours.” The ship swayed as it started to leave the dock. “Sorry just some motion control. everything will fine,” James said. But he started coughing abruptly. Mahmoud’s dad shaken said, “The captain seems sick are you sure we’re on a safe boat.” “You’ll be fine,” said Ruthie.

Only 3 hours through the Journey and the boat had stopped completely in the middle of the Aegean Sea.

“What’s happening?,” Mahmoud’s Dad shouted. “Relax. There must be a

simple explanation for this. Let’s just find Ruthie.” “Exactly my point. She’s gone!”Mahmoud’s dad cried. He started to look really scared and confused. Mahmoud slapped him and said “get a grip on yourself. We can walk around the ship and see if she just went for a walk in the night or something. It could explain why the ship stopped moving.” They started to walk in the darkness of the ship looking to and fro and jumped at sounds of creaking in the wood floor. “Ew I stepped on something squishy,” said Mahmoud as he looked down. It was a wet mess of spilled corn soup. Disgusted he wiped his shoe harshly on the dry wood. Loud noises started to come from down the hall. “Somebody’s coming hide!” Mahmoud hid behind a big barrel and his dad hid inside it. Mahmoud was able to make out the faintest sound of a girl and some other people. Ruthie! Mahmoud started to follow them leaving his father behind who didn’t know that he had left him. He continued following the group of people to the captain’s deck. What he saw inside almost made him throw up. Captain James was dead.

The whole group (including Ruthie) laid him down on the floor. Finally Mahmoud came out of hiding and shouted, “What are you doing here and why is the captain dead!” Ruthie stopped moving and turned around. “I was trying to figure out why the boat had stopped. So I went to captain’s deck and the captain was dead so I got some other people to help me. Everyone was saying that before the captain boarded the ship he was having hyperthermia but still wanted to drive the boat. And some person actually let him,” Ruthie said in exclamation. “But who will drive us all the way to Athens now?” said a tall woman. “I can still remember the last time that I rode a boat. My brother taught me how to drive it. I can get us there.” The journey continued and Mahmoud his Dad and Ruthie make to Athens hoping to find Mahmoud’s lost sister Hana. He had given her to a stranger at sea and wished that she might have found safety in Athens.

When they reached their destination they started to look around putting up signs saying that Hana was lost and given to a woman that was traveling to Athens. Mahmoud’s dad pointed to a hotel and said,“Hey let’s look in there.” The trio walked inside and the first thing for everyone to see was a giant staircase. A man came down the staircase and said “Hello. Welcome. Are you looking for a room to stay in?” “No we were looking to see if you had seen a little baby girl with a woman. Her name is Hana.” The man’s expression went from happy to completely crazy. “Do you mean the Hana. The one that survived a furious storm at sea. That girl is in another hotel called hotel Dring but she’s famous. Her caretaker is treating her very well if you wanted to know. Why did you ask?” “Because she’s my sister. I gave her to that caretaker months ago in that storm,” Mahmoud answered. The man said back, “You can still reach her but she’s 5 miles away and is moving to a different city tomorrow morning.” “We got to go,” said Mahmoud. All of them started running to the hotel. The catch was they had no car or vehicle to ride there.The Sun was almost up. “We can still make it,” Ruthie wheezed. They were all running as fast as they possibly could. Still Mahmoud stopped “there can be another way do this,” Mahmoud said “It can’t be this hard.” A car pulled up. It was the man from the hotel. He said “I can help you get to your sister. Get in” All of them climbed in. It took awhile but they all made it to the hotel earlier than expected. From the window in eyes sight the woman was holding Hana in her hands just about to get in a bus. But Mahmoud ran forward and grabbed Hana out of the woman’s hands. The lady immediately recognized Mahmoud and said “You’re that boy who gave me this baby at sea. My name is Sheila” “ My name is Mahmoud. I came here because I knew that there was the smallest chance Hana could still be alive,” said Mahmoud. Sheila said “When you gave her to me I rushed to get back home and see if she was ok. Her nose was blocked up with water, but I was able to get the medic to help her.” Thank you. We can now return home with joy. And so they did. Sheila went back to her own personal hobbies and Everyone else came home. Ruthie, Mahmoud and his family started to raise Hana and Mahmoud would go to school everyday like he used to. Ruthie would come and visit him on holidays. All was well.

I think that students shouldn’t be allowed to eat during class. This can disrupt the student’s attention and focus on what the teacher was teaching. The student could have just focusing on food they ate during class. Also eating in class can get the floor messy. A student may drop crumbs of food and makes it hard for the janitor to clean up. That can result in complaints. And usually when you eat food with friends you end talking with them and that makes you lose focus on the teacher. It also is likely to just eat in a lunchroom instead of the classroom where the food can attract bugs and fall on the floor. The lunchroom is a big open space and can be cleaned easily. There students can talk to other students without having to listen to a teacher. This is why I think students being able to eat during class should not be allowed.  

Have you ever had an animal from the zoo? Well I actually haven’t. It is pretty cool to have an animal from a zoo, and if I had one it would be a rat. A lot of people think that rats are gross and creepy, but there is better side to rats. First of all rats can be carried right in your pocket. Whenever you are going on a long trip and you don’t have a rat carrier you can always fit it your pocket if you have one, and also if you are at someone’s house who doesn’t like to see rats or have rats around them you can carry them in your pocket.Another thing on having rats from the zoo is they can be trained to trust you. For example if you train your rat it can start to trust you and follow you, and also you can train them to find lost things similarly like a dog, but smaller in size. This is all basically tricks for your rat to know.  

 

Also rats are really fun if you spend some time with them.One reason for that is sometimes even just having them in your hands can make you feel very happy, and you can even make a home for your rat made out of leftover box cardboard lying around your house if you have some.And rats are very interesting kinds of creatures that can be researched to find excellent data about them. Doing this you can find more information on how to take care of the rat. For example if your rat is very tiny it must be kept under eyesight, and if it is hairy it should be trimmed so no lice can lay eggs in its hair. And many more things can be researched.

 

Therefore rats are good pets because of their unique abilities and their fun playing that will make getting a rat from the zoo the best idea yet.

Have you had many goals that you had to work on? I have. One is being a good writer. I want to write many stories to share with people, become a good writing teacher and dig deeper into the knowledge of writing. This would be a good goal to make because it would help me learn and get more interested in the subject of writing. Hence it would be good making this goal.

 

One thing  to know is it’s really good if your writing is shown off to people so they can see how good you are. If people know how good you are, they’ll think that you are an amazing writer and they’ll be happy to read your writing. That is why it should be good to know how to write an essay and show it off to friends and family. A lot of kids don’t know how to write so well and that’s why you should be a teacher to them. It would be kind to spread your talent to other people if you know how to do it, and that’s why you should look up to this goal and practice for it. That way the writing talent can be passed on to more people.

 

Even if I am a really good writer already I can still learn more on the path of being an amazing writer. There is never an end to learning. If I kept going on with my goal and be a successful writer, I can learn much more  things about writing that you never knew.  You can learn and become a successful writer in your life.  Having a writing career could earn me lots of money. I could become anything that involves writing. For example: A Newspaper writer. I just have to practice good writing so I could start doing things like that. But the general idea is I would earn lots of money if I am a good writer.

Therefore it is good to keep this goal. I want to make this writing goal because it can help me in making better writing and would make me more interested in the subject of writing. I want to  share my writing with people, become a good writing teacher and dig deeper into the knowledge of writing. If I kept this goal I could earn wealth,health and popularity. What would you do if you kept a writing goal like this one?  

Ben was a dog who really liked to eat hot dogs. Every time he got one, he would lose it. One day, a kid was carrying a hot dog and at the sight of Ben, he screamed.

“Yikes help, it’s a dog!” Then he dropped the hot dog in front of Ben and ran.

“Yes! A hot dog!” Suddenly he felt anxious.

“What if I lose the hot dog just like the other five billion hot dogs that I found?” So he decided to hide the hot dog somewhere safe so he wouldn’t lose it. Then it struck him. He wanted to hide it deep in the ground in a tree. So he tried digging a hole in the tree, but that didn’t work because his paws weren’t so good with digging. So he thought about putting it in the broken down house, but the very thought was just too scary. Finally he decided to just eat it himself. He happily rubbed his stomach.

“That was good! I didn’t lose the hot dog this time.” He had learned a lesson. Just eat it.