Who did it?

     There are many characters in the book "The Westing Game" and one of them is a Murderer. I believe that that person is Grace Windsor Wexler. Grace Wexler is a wealthy woman who likes luxurious things. For example, when she and her husband moved into Sunset Towers she wanted to redo all her furniture. Grace Wexler also liked that the apartment building looked classy on the inside as well as the outside. Grace Wexler likes everyone to know that she is wealthy. During the reading of the will in chapter four she would not take off her fur coat so that everyone would know that she had money. She is a very vain woman. Following are the reasons why I think Grace Windsor Wexler is the one who murdered Mr. Westing.

     Grace Windsor Wexler is always trying to make herself look good. First of all,when she moved into Sunset Towers she decided to get new fancy stationery to show off to her so-called friends. Then when she was asked to write down her occupation she wrote, "heiress". Grace Wexler likes get what she wants. When Barney Northrup showed her and Dr. Wexler the apartment, Grace whined to her husband about how great the apartment was until he agreed to take it. In chapter 3 while Angela is having her wedding dress made, Grace is always there telling the dress maker what to do.  Because of these character traits I think that Grace is guilty.

    Sometimes a person who likes to get their own way and who likes nice things can go to extremes.  Grace Wexler murdered Mr. Westing to get her inheritance. She thinks that they were distantly related and she wanted to claim her money as soon as possible. In Addition, Grace Wexler would do anything to maintain her status. In other words, because she likes to look good in front of others and likes to have things done her own way, Grace Wexler could have gotten rid of Mr. Westing because he owed her something or maybe he got in the way of something she wanted. Of all the characters in "The Westing Game" I think the Grace Wexler is the one with the means and motive to murder Mr. Westing.

Basketball!!

Lets talk basketball. I already know some things about basket ball. It's played on a court with five players and a big orange rubber ball. The NBA (National Basketball Association) is the one of the biggest sports associations in the United States and millions of people watch the games.

I only know a little bit about basketball. I want to know more about it. If I want to learn more, I have to figure out what kinds of questions I can ask to get the write answers.

I know the question words but how can I use them to ask the right kind of questions?

Who?
What?
Where?
 When?
Why?
 How?

These are probably words that I can use to ask questions about basketball and where it came from. Then I know what I'm looking for when I go and do my research.

Chasing Giraffes

My little sister graduated from High School. Usually when something big like that happens, families plan a vacation together. Ours happened by accident. We missed our flight home - and had to stay with some friends for a while until we could get our flight changed. Our friends live on a ranch. Not a ranch for cows and horses, but for wild animals. This ranch had giraffes, ostriches, wildebeasts, and impala. The giraffes were the coolest. I think they might be my favorite animal!
FACTS
Did you know that there are 4 different types of giraffes? Each different type lives in a different part of Africa. The only way to tell what kind it is is by looking at the spots. This giraffe is called a Maasai giraffe. They're the ones that live in Kenya. If you click here, you can see what the other types of spots are, and where in Africa they come from.

Just from looking at the picture I took you can tell that giraffes live in very dry places where there is lots of grass and short trees.  National Geographic said that the only other animals that giraffes had to be afraid of were lions and hyenas (like Scar's army from the Lion King).

So on this ranch that we were visiting there were lots of giraffes. I watched one eat the leaves off a tree as I had my breakfast. After we were all done with breakfast my whole family thought it would be fun to go for a walk and see how close we could get to them. Giraffes are super quiet - so we had to be too.
When we got this close to them we took a picture because we weren't sure if the giraffe was going to run away from us. Their legs are so long we would never be able to catch up!






Then we tried to get closer. . .

I didn't get much closer than that to a giraffe. I don't think I was quiet enough for them. I got close enough to take the picture below, and then it began to run off. 

Maybe I wasn't any good at chasing giraffes. But why would I want to scare such great animals? They are so beautiful and interesting I would much rather watch them than chase them.