Kays World

My name is Kaylene Crespo, I am 14yrs old. I lived between East Village and the Lower East Side the best place ever, but in march my grandmother gave up the apartment we lived in, I was devastated when I found this out I didn't know what to do, me, my mother and my little sisters had nowhere to go. I was so stressed out, my mom was always worried, I felt helpless and then I had to worry bout the issues in my school. This put a lot of pressure on me I didn't show my emotions at all so no one in my school knew what I was going through, but sometimes, there's so much you can hold inside and you cant take it anymore that you let it all out. And when I don't have a way to express my emotions I have a nervous breakdown. And that's exactly what happened to me in school.There were two teachers, that I actually felt like they were there for me through everything I was going through, they put up with my mood swings, nasty attitudes and everything else. I'm so grateful I have teachers like that...........Mr.Locker and Ms.Shah

But my whole living situation was difficult we went through changes I never thought we'd go through. My mom always kept her head high so I tried to be strong for her and myself. My little sisters were really young they didn't know what we were going through, but to have to younger siblings to take care of is EXTREMELY hard. It took a big toll on me experiencing what is to be homeless, and just changing in general, made me weak. Well I thought it made me weak but in fact it only made me stronger as a person because no matter what you go through in life the bumps in the road is what teaches you lessons and shows you what life's about. And with out those struggles I wouldn't be the person I am today. I still go through issues in school with friends and unfortunately boys. But I'm still being the best I can be. Thanks to my mother that helped us out through all this and the friends that helped me in that moment of my life and my teachers too. Also, whenever you feel down and depressed remember your probably not the only one going through issues, so enjoy the life you guys have. Cause your ALIVE!

Angelas life lesson in humanities

There were a few life lessons I learned in humanities class this year. I feel like I'm going to need some of them for the future, however, I did learn some life lessons in other classes not just humanities.

1. Communication is key. If you can't communicate to a person or a group of people, how are you going to get your point accross?

2. Worry about yourself, but lend a hand if needed. Sometimes you're going to have to do what you got to do and not get caught up in different situations. Just get things done and over with and then you'll get all the time you want at the end. But if a friend really needs your help in something don't leave them hanging, help them out. Favors are usually returned.

3. Being open to talk. If you have a problem don't be afraid to talk to someone about it. Even some teachers are actually there for you when you need a person to listen. Most of them do give good advice. Keeping things inside would just keep you back instead of moving forword. Letting things off your chest can really help.

All about Angiie

Well obviously my name is Angela, But my full name is Angela Christine Herrera. Sometimes I wonder whether or not my mom named me because of my father. His name is Angel. My moms name is Elizabeth but most call her Liz or Cucha. I have four sisters and two brothers. Big family right? Yea I know. My two older sisters are from my moms side and my older brother, my younger brother and my two little sisters are from my dads side. All I have is half sisters and brothers, but I don't see it that way. We as close as we can get, and I prefer full instead of half. Being the youngest in my moms side is pretty cool, but sometimes I miss being the youngest on both sides than just one.


I was born in the summer. Yes, I'm a summer baby, was born early at seven months on July 5th, 1995. Lived in my welas house until the age of five, I moved to Staten Island with my my mom and my oldest sister Stephanie. We had a hard time getting things together and my mom wasn't doing to good at the time. When we first moved in, the apartment didn't look to great. We had no furniture and no where to sleep but the floor. My mom took it upon herself to make our new place a place where we would want to come to everyday. Of course it took some time to do so, but she did it and I'm proud of her. When my sisters friend Madeline use to come over when we didn't have nothing in the apartment, but somewhat getting there, we use to play hide and seek since it was pretty big inside and everything was empty. It was fun, but when I was it one time my sister and her friend cheated by going out to the fire escape. I had no idea they were there.

Even though, at the time, I lived in Staten Island, I still went to my regular school in the Lower East Side. It was hard for my mom to travel back and forth especially with me behind her tail. I was so tired and lazy in the mornings. We would get up around five in the morning to get ready then take the bus to the fairy, fairy to the train, train to my welas house. Mind you, I started doing these journeys at the age of five years old. As soon as I got to my welas house I would either fall asleep until it was time to go to school or watch cartoons on t.v. I was a tough trooper and did the same journey on my way back home. I lived over there until I was about eleven. Now I'm back in my welas house.

I learned a lot in my years and still manage to grow and learn even more today. Even though my father wasn't really there like my mom was and is, I give props to both parents. To my mom because she's been through a lot with me and stood by my side. She cares for me, gets me what I really need, tries to understand, and most importantly my only TRUE best friend. To my dad for being a good parent to his four kids, including me, and at least trying to be there for me when he can. Both parents love me dearly and I know that for a fact and they both work very hard until this day.

At first it was very hard for me to concentrate. In Elementary school, I wasn't doing to good when my father left. My mom had an idea that that was the cause of my actions. I wasn't able to read, write, do math. You name it, I couldn't do it. I guess I just needed my daddy there. I was a daddies girl. I was suppose to get left back three times, but my mom wouldn't let that happen. She fought for me and believed I could do it. She hired tutors for me and put me in a program in school. My second grade teacher helped me the most though. She pushed me until I started to get the hang of things. Now look at me, I'm on my way to High School. I'm on the honor roll, got a lot of awards, learned, and matured.

I tried very hard to keep school issues and family issues separate, and I learned when and where it's o.k to let things out and express my feelings. People may not know I have things going on in and out of school that bother me, but that's because letting it out on other people or not doing your work just because your mind is somewhere else is unacceptable to me. To tell you the truth, sometimes, when I'm not having such a great day I tend to keep to myself or I come out nasty to some people and I've noticed that this year. Some people helped me see that. I'm learning how to change some of my ways.

O.k O.k, enough about family and such. What do I like to do out of school? Well I like to do a lot like hang out wit friends, listen to music, spend time with family, play games on any game system, handball, shopping, and let me just say the list can keep growing and growing. The funny thing is I mostly stay home. I don't know why exactly, I figured teens would be out all the time and what not, but I guess I'm just weird. I'm not exactly going to give you all the details of my life, but I guess this is just the beginning. There is never an end to anything. Every ending just creates a new beginning.

Why do we fight?

Kaylene: Why do we fight? That's a good question, but does it only have one answer?

Angela: Well Kay what I know about that question is that people fight for many reasons such as money, power, land, respect, love and many more. Do you remember when we studied the Spanish American war and why the U.S and Spain fought each other?

Kaylene: Yes. I do remember. Spain wanted to take over Cuba's' land and gain power over it, but the U.S wasn't trying to have that because Cuba had something, like sugar, that the U.S needed and was investing from. Hm what else went down?

Angela: Um well Spain was accused of blowing up The Maine during the time when Cubans were put into concentration camps, killing American soldiers that were on board. However some managed to survive, and Spain took it upon themselves to save those soldiers. It came to a conclusion that The Maine blew up by an accident and it wasn't caused by Spain.

Kaylene: Oh, but President McKinley still declared war on Spain not taking their sympathy at all.

Angela: What do you think should've happened instead of declaring war Kay?

Kaylene: I think McKinley should've handled the situation more appropriately like trying to compromise instead of taking a violate path, but hey people fight for different reasons right Angie?

Angela: Yea Kay, your right, but anyways um what would you rather fight for?

Kaylene: Something more serious and that has a point behind it. Fight because I have to not because I want to.

Kays Reading Corner

So to be honest I didn't really like reading before coming to 8th grade, I mean sometimes I still get tired of reading because it gets me tired, but I enjoy it now. I pick out books that I like. I'm learning how to use the stragities my teachers taught me to pick out books because it does get hard for me to pick out a book I may like, but other than that, reading is fine.

I've picked up on my pace, I time myself while I read so I know how many pages I've read in an hour or something. After I mastered that I started reading bigger books like Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and the other sequels to it. I'm proud of myself for finishing those books all in a month, although Breaking Dawn took longer to finish. I accomplished something I wanted to do for along time which was to read A BIG BOOK.

Okay, so I told you about the whole book thing, but what about focusing while your reading? I have a hard time concentrating. At home I can't really read because I have two little sisters that I help my mother with so of course my mom is always going to interupt whatever I'm doing. I do get mad because if I'm reading a really good book and I hear "KAYLENE GET OVER HERE" that just throws my whole attention away and I don't want to continue reading. That messes up my grade and my stamina. I am working on keeping my full attention on my books and not getting side tracked so easily. I won't lie that's pretty hard for me because I love to do something else rather then work, so if someone else is talking to me I would just start a conversation with them.

Well, now basically you know my reading life. I am improving. I do read more even though I still have distractions, but overall my reading is well. This wouldn't have happenend if I didn't have such strict teachers that cares about your reading so much and friends that recommended me good books that I liked reading.
[KAYLENE]

AngiieKays BIG "W'... Writing

Writing is a big thing for both Angela and Kaylene, however, they didn't realize they could do better. Mr. Locker and Ms. Shah was a big help this year in 8th grade. They pushed them into making their writing better. They have different strategies for different things in writing such as grammar, spelling, transition words, introductions, conclusions, and others. Angela and Kaylene had a hard time improving on their writing. They both get upset easily when the teacher points out the little mistakes they've made in an essay or passage.

Angela is a big writer. Before coming to the 8th grade Angela liked to write little stories and a bunch of poems. She improved tremendously, but she can still make improvements. During the E.L.A practices, on the essay part, she felt like she wasn't going to finish on time in the real test. In order to go through it fast enough she would go straight to writing without really planning the outline to the essay. She realizes, now, that planning things out before hitting it head on is the better thing to do because then you get to know what exactly you need to add or take out and plus it keeps you organized.

Kaylene is an improved writer. She didn't really have experience with writing it was hard for her, she had to always figure out a way to put her thoughts on paper. She would always get stuck and it would be hard for her to continue writing. But the help of Mr.locker and Ms.shah definitely helped her out. They did charts and ways to organize writing. Now she is able to write essays with out of problem but I mean still have times that she gets stuck but she is working on it .

In sum, they both had a situations that needed to be improved and with their teachers they are progressing and growing . So a big thanks to the 8th grade teachers.

Angiies Reading Corner

Before coming to 8th grade, I barely read. Reading just wasn't my thing. I use to take days to read a short book and took my time reading. I never really paced myself, however, that has all changed this year in 8th grade. Starting the first day of school, Mr.Locker had a goal for each and every student in his classes he taught, that was to read fifty books by the end of the year. When he announced that it was required to read fifty books by the end of the year (by the way if you didn't you wouldn't be able to walk on graduation day) I lost confidence because I felt like it was impossible.

The first big book I've ever read is called Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. My first big book and I read it in seven days. I was proud of myself and my confidence started to grow. I kept going for bigger books or books that seem to interest me in some way. My favorite genre is teen issues. I feel like I could relate to some of them and get something out of it, learn something new. This year I realized what I like and don't like and I realized that it's o.k to abandon a book. It's o.k if it's to hard or to easy, that's how you figure out what fits you when you try out different things.

In the beginning of the year it felt like I was on a roll. I kept on track and read books after books, but something changed. As the year went closer to the middle, my reading habits went away. I started to read less, didn't reflect as much in my reading journals, I was just not on point. I noticed what changed and realized I had to get back in the game in order to do good. Now I'm doing much better, but not as good as the beginning of 8th grade. I think what effected me the most were the distractions like listening to music, issues at home, my phone, text, AIM. I was caught up on other things and I thought that reading everyday, like I use to, took up my time, when it really didn't. I realize, now, that reading should be on my everyday basis in order to grow as a reader.

However, in the future reading wouldn't be too often for me. I feel like I am going to be to busy with school or even work, but when I do get the chance to pick up a book and read I'm going to be comfortable and relaxed. I know I'm going to enjoy the times I read when I get older because I could use my imagination to picture what's happening in the book, reading takes me outside this world to another. Things I've never been through could actually be experiences by reading. As an 8th grader now almost a 9th, I could truly say I love to read.