The stock market is something that people talk about every single day. Maybe your parents, teachers, and maybe even your classmates talk about the stock market. But what exactly is the stock market? The stock market is not an actual place but it actually refers to the business fo buying and selling stock. In order for ompanies to grow, they of course need money. If they issue a stock, the company can raise money without loosing money to the bank. A business that is own by a single person or a group of people cannot issue a stock. Small businesses can form a small corporation with the bank, however, in order to issue a stock. People buy stocks because it means that a person can own a part of the company known as a share. Those people are called stockholders or shareholders. When people buy shares of the company they help the company grow and typically they expect to recieve dividends from owning a share. In my case, all of the eighth graders had to pick 4 stocks and pretended like we bought a certain number of shares in each stock. I chose Bank of America, Apple, Coca-Cola, and Pfzier. I didn't pick those four for a certain reason but I did make sure that they were all from different catergories. Even though there may be an advantage in owning any type of property as well as a share in the stock market, there are also risks so be careful with your money. To learn more about the stock market click here. 

I remember my sister well. She was a wonderful person, full of kindness and spirit. People all over the world deserve to hear of Clare’s story. Clare was my older sister. We were the daughters of the wealthy Favorino Scifi and his wife Ortalana and born in Assisi, Italy. She was born as Chiara Offreduccio. As a very young child, we all saw Clare was very devoted to prayer. She rarely engaged in the world and its activities, telling me she wanted more of a spiritual life. Since I was so young, I didn’t understand what she meant. I didn’t know what was so bad about the world in which we lived in. But later I grew to appreciate her words and have a better understanding of them. At the age of fifteen, my mother and father wanted her to marry a wealthy young man who could provide for her and them in their old age. They thought Clare was old enough and ready but she wasn’t. I knew Clare very well, of course as we were sisters and the best of friends. I knew she couldn’t handle becoming a wife and becoming in charge of a household. She just wasn’t ready. So Clare compromised that she would marry the man at the age of eighteen. However at the age of eighteen, Clare heard Francis of Assisi preach and it changed her life. We were walking to the markets one afternoon and a throng of people were gathered around him. He was speaking of the Messiah and how we should repent for our sins. It was very powerful and moving. I was only about fifteen or so and I still didn’t understand much of the world. I did as I was told and questioned nothing, unlike my sister. On the night of Palm Sunday, Clare ran away to follow Francis. I seldom heard from my sister after that. She wasn’t allowed to have contact with the outside world. I overheard a late night conversation of my parents that Clare was at San Paola delle Abdesse which was a nearby Benedictine monastry of nuns. My father almost took her out of the convent since he still wanted her to marry the wealthy man. But Clare was very reasonable and comprising and my father let her stay.

I didn’t admit it to my parents then, but I really missed my sister when she was away. I began to grow closer to God and devoted my life more to prayer, following in my sister’s example. I heard news that my sister then moved for a brief time to Sant’Angelo in Panza on Monte Subasio, a house of female penitents. I then decided to join Clare in a life full of prayer. We moved to a church Francis of Assisi built himself called the church of San Damiano. The first women to join San Damiano were called “Poor Ladies”. We wore no shoes, ate no meat, kept mostly in silence, and lived in a poor house; however, we were happy. Later on, I saw how focused Clare was on San Damiano and it soon became the main point for her new religious order. I tried to help her as best as I could but Clare was very independent so I tried to just stay out of her way. The order was known as the “Order of San Damiano”. I supported Clare throughout the entire process. We lived in an enclosure and our life consisted of manual labor and prayer. For once in my life, I was quite content and generally happy with my lifestyle. I never knew that the simple ways of living could make one so elated and closer to God.

For awhile, Francis of Assisi directed the order but then Clare received the role of abbess of San Damiano when Francis died. We were all very sad and devastated by his death. Francis was a like a father to all of us. Clare was one of the closest people to him. She looked up to him as a spiritual father figure. I was proud of my sister, however, since she had more authority than when she was prioress. Clare then continued to expand her Order as abbess while I tried to grow closer to God. I recall times when Clare was in her office working late, writing to abbesses and hindering the attempts of the pope to impose any rule on her Order which would decrease their commitment to corporate poverty. As she grew older and fell into poor health, Clare still worked hard. The pope around that time, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull “Solet Annure” on August 9, 1253. It confirming Clare’s rule would be the governing rule for the “Order of the Poor Ladies”. It was such a tragic day when Clare passed on to our Father in 1253, at the age of 59. I greatly missed my sister, even when she was alive. I barely saw her. She worked hard however, to preserve her order, the Order of Poor Ladies. It was then changed to the Order of Saint Clare or the “Poor Clares” in honor of Clare.

Clare was not only my sister and my best friend; she was an inspiration to all. Her strength was tested numerous times, even at the most smallest occasions. I greatly admired her strength. There was this one scare that I remember at the convent. It had been attacked by thieves and atheists. If I was in Clare’s place, I wouldn’t know how to handle the dilemma. But my sister knew. She put her faith fully in God and displayed the Holy Sacrament in s monstrance at the gates of the convent and prayed. I too prayed silently from where the other sisters and I hid for safety purposes. The attackers then left and the convent was saved. At that moment, I was overwhelmed with a mixture of pride, utter shock, and a new understanding of who my sister really was. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and it reflected in her actions. Then there was the time when she was younger and my father wanted her to marry and she refused. Typically a young girl doesn’t deny her father’s request, but even at that age Clare knew God had a life planned out for her. I am intensely proud to be Clare’s sister. She has taught me to persevere and have faith in God, something that I intend to teach everyone everywhere. Although the future is unclear, Clare has taught me that if you put your trust in God everything will be alright eventually. I hope others learn this from Clare too, even if you never knew Clare. She was a wonderful person. Even though my legacy might be long forgotten after I pass on, I hope hers lives on forever.

       

Postscript: 

I have picked Saint Clare of Assisi as the Saint I wish to choose for Confirmation. Saint Clare became a saint because she cared for others and had strong faith in God. Her work towards her order proved she was a resilient woman. Justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, and love were the virtues Saint Clare possessed. I chose this saint because she is a great role model to look up to seeing as she had accomplished so much during her lifetime. Though Saint Clare and I didn’t share similar struggles, in the future Saint Clare could help me to heavily rely on God, keep faith in him, and possibly strive to be a saint as she had strove throughout her life to accomplish many things relying on just her faith. The name I wish to be called at Confirmation is Clare. The image is a fresco of Saint Clare holding a palm expressing her thoughtfulness.

Image: Saint Clare of Assisi by Simone Martini

                          This year, 7th grade has learned about nutrition and exercise for our bodies in health class. Super-Size Me is a documentary that we watched during class to learn more about nutrition and exercise. This is a reflection on the documentary.

                          Super-Size Me is about documentarian named Morgan Spurlock who decides to prove that McDonald's foods are unhealthy by eating only McDonald's food for thirty days for three meals a day. And if he is asked if he would like his meal super sized, he has to say yes. Morgan also has to eat every single thing on the menu by the end of the thirty days at least once. Before Morgan starts his experiment, he is tested by three doctors- general practitioner, a cardiologist, and gastroenterologist. They say his health is good and will monitor him during the experiment. Morgan also talks to a dietitian/nutritionist and an exercise physiologist. Morgan is also imitating the lifestyle of the people who eat fast good so he will not exercise for the thirty days, limiting his steps to under 5,000 per day. As the experiment begins, Morgan starts off good. He eats three meals a day and tries to limit his steps to under 5,000. He finds the meals addictive because of the ingredients in the food. During the documentary, Morgan discusses issues in America's obesity and the problem with McDonald's food. As the days go on, Morgan finds himself feeling sick eating McDonalds food. His visits the three doctors again as well as the dietitian/nutritionist and the physiologist. They tell him he is gaining more fat and loosing muscle mass and if he does feel sick and unwell, it would be wise to not continue the experiment because it could endanger himself. But he continues with the experiment anyway. Then as the experiment nears the end, Morgan experiences heart palpitations. The doctors tell him he should stop immediately because it could cause his heart severe damage. And despite the warning, Morgan continues.  Doctors are surprised at the damage done to his heart and other problems that the diet had caused as he finishes his experiment. He makes it to day 30, achieving his goal.

                       I learned from this documentary that McDonald and fast food is not healthy for you. It doesn't provide all the nutrients you need to have a healthy diet and life-style. People should exercise at least 30 minutes a day or depending how many calories you had eaten that day. You can also eat foods that are not so healthy for you less and foods that are good for you more. The more calories you eat and the less you exercise, the more weight you gain. The fewer calories you eat and the more you exercise, you can end up losing weight. But if you eat the same amount of calories and exercise the same amount, you can maintain good body weight. This documentary taught me to really watch how I eat because it could really affect my health. Seeing Morgan feel sick and unwell from eating McDonald's food made me realize that I shouldn't eat those foods and put whatever is in them into my body because it could do damage to my body and to my health.

           7th grade social studies for a part of the year is learning about Europe. For this project, everyone in our class was assigned a European country to learn more about. I was assigned the country of Switzerland. For each country, we had to write about the location, culture, history, etc. on a Google document and then our teacher turned the document into a flipbook. Here is a look at my project. 

Nations all over the world are joining together to help countries in need. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were made to focus on some of the serious problems we have in our world. If we all come together, the world can be a better place. For more information on this topic, click here. 

           The Millennium Development Goals are: 

                        1. End hunger and poverty 

                        2. Education for all 

                        3. Gender equality 

                        4. Child health

                        5. Maternal health 

                        6. Fight HIV/AIDS 

                         7. Environmental sustainability 

         and        8. Worldwide partnership 

The Millennium Development goals are taking action too. In Afghanistan, the number of girls attending schools jumped from 15000 to 2.2 million from 2001 to 2008. In India, 20 million more out of school children have been able to attend school since 2001. They are both enhacing Goal 2: Education for all.  

Picture: Young Girls learning the Coran by hdptcar under CC license

Information: Development Goals 

                         Our class wanted to test and use Newton's Laws of Motion. They are: 1. An object at rest stays at rest unless acted on and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted on. 2. The greater the mass of the object being accelerated, the great the amount of force needed to accelerate the object. 3. For every force there is a reaction force that pushes back in the opposite direction.

                          My group made the "Waffle Napalm". It was made out of wood and steel. You started going up a large hill, dropping down, and then going into a tube. You looped into a shark-tank cave and speed would make you loop and twist, giving you a small sensation of weightlessness. You would come across a few small hills and then stop where you began. You rode in waffle bombs and were drenched in syrup when you came across steep hills. Energy, acceleration, and force made you go. Our roller coaster had a lot of kinetic energy so it moved fast. I was the historian. The other two people in my group were a physicist and a design engineer. The historian found out history about roller coasters. The physicist found out what made a roller coaster move. The design engineer found out what roller coasters were made of.

                           Our roller coaster worked fairly well. The first one we built on a roller coaster stimulator was a failure but our current coaster was a success. I would have more steep hills to bring a rush of adrenaline to the rider. The momentum of the hill going up would result in more loops and twists in the end. I would also have made it a little more realistic, even though I enjoyed making the "Waffle Napalm". 

                          Click here to learn more on roller coasters.

Image Source:

Beautiful Wooden Roller Coaster by netwalkerz_net

http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-2483060388  

When communicating online by instant message, text, or e-mail, be safe by using these tips:

                                                 1. Be sure you know that everything you do or say can be seen by everyone and be traced.

                                                 2. Respect everyone's privacy as well as your own. 

                                                 3. Before you send a text, e-mail, or instant message, check it before you send it. 

The Internet can be fun but you should also know how to be safe.

For more info on this topic, click here.                                                  

My project, my Vacation Destination, is New Zeland. You can view the full size of my glog here.

Hi, everyone! You might know me as Nickel, the faithful pet and loyal sidekick to KB. Or just the blue ferret jumping at your curser on the page. But whatever you know me as, this is my story: 

                                     I was born a regular ferret, black, brown fur with those "beady" rodent eyes. I was born in a litter of five. My brothers and sisters and I just started to get more active out of our haven when those evil two-legged scruffy men caught us and took us away from our home. They sedated us (which hurt a lot). We were taken to a lab (I just looked up the word) to be experimented on (looked up that one too). I was seperated from my family into a special room of my own. The two-legged clean man with a white coat on (ooh, he's a scientist!) examined me with a glass thing and goggles (oh, it's called a magnify glass!). Then, they took ths tube-thing with blue water in it and dropped it on my fur. Then they bathed me in a metal box (oh, a sink). My fur turned blue! Blue! Then they put me in a white box (a cage), stuck more needles in me, and dumped me in a dark room. I started to feel homesick and bared my teeth at those lab-coat people every day. Finally, I was taken out of the dark room and sold overseas.  

                                    I ended up here. (Thank goodness for that!) Now, I'm happier. People visit me and play with me and feed me! (Oh, yes!!! Food!!) I have an owner and visitors and family. 

                                   As you might've notice, I like learning new words and meeting new visitors!!!! I help reading the comments and I LOVE what people have to say!!!! So write us some (me especially, hehe, kidding!) telling us how you like the page, other things, or new vocabulary for ME!! 

                                                           Thanks for reading, Nickel ≈ 

Hey Soccer Fans,

           Soccer season is finally here and I'm excited!!! I can't wait to get on the field and start playing!

           We're facing some pretty good teams this year so there's going to be some good games!! And fun ones!!

             Wish us luck!!!

             Remember: Be Loud, Be Proud, and Be GROWL!!!!   

                                                    Happy Blogging,

                                                            KB