I have learned many things throughout 7th grade. I learned: new ways to factor/ solve quadratic equations, new vocabulary, many new things about history, etc. I could probably not write all the things I learned thoughout the year, even if I wanted to, because I learned so many things!  Personally, I learned that dance is a very important part of my daily life... the hard way. (I couldn't dance for a whole YEAR because of foot surgery). I'm EXTREMELY excited to start dancing again in the summer! Advice for upcoming 7th graders? Don't stress about getting perfect grades... because it's almost impossible to get straight A+'s in 7th grade. Not worrying about getting straight A+'s makes your life easier. Trust me, I know from experience. Overall, 7th grade has been such a great year for learning new things!:)

I think that, so far, Seedfolks is a great book. I like how the book has a lot of different people and how they changed. I think Seedfolks is about how something small, like starting a garden in the ciy, can change so many people's lives. The activities I did so far, based on Seedfolks, are planting tomato seeds in Mrs. Koster's class, making flowers out of recycled cans in Mr. Howard's class, and listening to music from different countries that the characters came from and trying to match the music we heard to the right country. My favorite activity so far is making the flowers out of recycled cans because it's amazing how many different creative things you can do with one little can. I liked every activity I've done and I'm excited to see how our tomato plants turn out!

For my World History Fair project, I chose to do the Japansese kimono and how it evolved over time. My guiding qustion is "Why is the kimono as it is today?" Well, here is the answer. In the Nara period, the kimono started out as a simple top and trousers or a one- piece (dress). Then in the Heian period, a new method of making the kimono was developed. This method is called the straight-line-cut method. This method make the kimono look like it is today. But in the Edo period, the all different kinds of designs and ways to make the kimono were developed. My history project is going great so far and I hope to finish it by Wednesday so I can make changes if needed over the weekend.:)

As America has pop music, so does Korea.:P The only difference is that K-pop is better.:) I think that K-pop is better because the tune and lyrics are better in general speaking. I think it's also better because I'm Korean and I guess I can "relate" better to Korean pop music than American pop music. Don't think that K-pop is weird or anything because it's from Korea. Lots of people who don't even know Korean like K-pop. You never know... you might like K-pop. So I say you try it out and see how you like it!

I learned many things through the chicken wings dissection. First off, I learned that chicken wings are a nasty thing when raw, are greasy, and make you feel sick to your stomach. But academically wise, I learned that muscles are really the things that do all the work in moving your body. There were these two muscles on the chicken wing that you pulled and then the wing would go straight. I also learned that if chicken wings are complicated, then human bodies are extremely complicated. I never knew that we used so many of our muscles everyday to do everyday things. Another thing that I learned is that I'm not looking forward to the frog dissections.:)

I thought that Ernest Greene had so much perseverance, determination, and courage. Not many people would have been able to do what he did. He went through all that discrimination and taunting just because of his skin color. My first reaction to the movie was that it was totally unfair to the black people of America. The whites looked at the blacks like they were animals. Especially when Ernest accidentally bumped into that blonde girl, the girl started to act like a rodent touched her. She burned her clothes=http:// It was just wrong. I would not have been able to endure that cruelty. I would have left the first day and never came back to Little Rock in my life. Outcasting and bullying others just because of their skin color is just plain mean and nasty. But now days it is different, but some people still outcast people because of their skin color. I hope that one day everyone will realize that we are all made equal and should be treated equally, too. But other types of outcasting is going on too. People leave people out because of what they wear or how they look. I think this is just as bad as leaving people out because of their skin color. I just hope that one day will come that nobody would be left out because of dumb reasons.

"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world." ~Thomas A. Edison

This quote really speaks out to me because friendship should not be because the person is popular or rich. Friendship should be true. Friends should just be friends because they know that the other has their back and will never talk behind it. Friends should be able to be friends through rough patches and through soft grass.:)

Friends will never betray you

Nor will they leave you behind

They'll always be beside you

No matter what the time

Friends will always be there

In your times of need or greed

Friendship is beautiful

But only if it is true:)

In science we're learning about cells. Animal cells, plant cells, and bacteria cells are the main types of cells we studied. We looked at all these types of cells under a microscope. I'm really not a fan of science but looking at the cells was actually pretty fun. It was cool seeing how the cells looked like up close. But, I really don't like all these new words we have to study and know. In my opinion, there are too many words!!! In general, I liked the cells unit this quarter.

I really enjoyed reading Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. It's a great book. There is a second book following that, it's the Steven's brother's life when he grows up. It's called After Ever After. But, onto the book I'm reading.:P I'm reading Gone by Michael Grant. I really like how the kids in the book slowly begin to piece things together about this "dome" that appeared suddenly. In the book, all the people older than 14 years old disappear! I didn't read very much of it but so far it's a great book! I would definitely recommend this book to other students who like mystery and kind of a science fictiony book.:) I don't like how the rising action is kind of slow, not too slow, but slower than the pace I prefer. Overall Gone by Michael Grant is a great book so far!

The "tools" that are used to create effect in poet's writing are personification and tone. Personification is a tool because it makes things that don't usually have human qualities, have human qualities. It can make us see things in a different perspective. For example, if a poet made a poem about a flower that's personified, the flower would have human qualities. So if a person steps on the flower, the flower would be hurt and crying in the poem, so we would see things in the flower's perspective. Tone is another tool because tone is how the reader understands if the poem is sad, happy, or other moods. Tone is like how a person talks to you (annoyed, happy, sad, sarcastic), but the poem is talking. These are two examples of the "tools" poets use to create effects in poems.

I chose quotes #3 by Dalai Lama ( "Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.")  because it's a great quote to reflect on. People think that just by being nice you are "weak". People discriminate others because they think it's "cool", but really it's just being mean. Showing compassion and tolerance makes people want to like you because you are kind. If you are mean then they probably are just friends with you because they think you're scary.  Instead of being mean, we should show kindness. If everyone reflected on their attitude towards people, how much different would the environment, everywhere, be!

Well, my goals for this year is to be able to do my middle splits completely (I'm sooooo close!!!), catch up in ballet when I start in the summer, and try to get on pointe shoes!:P I can't do dance for another 6 months because of foot surgery.;((((((( I have to stretch everyday and practice the ballet moves that I can at home, to be better when I start. I really need determination and perseverence (I'm good with this so far, but who knows about later:S). I start out good then kind of get lazier later on..... kind of bad. Other than that I can't really do anything about the other 2 goals until summer starts.:) Wish me luck! haha;)

I think that overall the wiki went well. The communication was very difficult though. Our whole group wasn't really communicating in the discussion tab very much. The communication made this project hard, but we got the video finished! It was kind of stressful at the end, but our group got the video done! Yay! I would have gotten the communication thing figured out in the beginning rather than at the end. I think what went well was that everyone contributed to the main page. I think what would make this project better is to make it a requirement to put at least one post on the discussion tab everyday or every other day. This would make the communication easier and make the group work together more.

      All I really know about Greece is about my city-state, Argos! Well, the Argives are enemies with Spartans and Athenians. IF the Argives can't win in an event against our enemies, we cheer on the Corinthians. But that probably won't happen! We will win in all we do!!! Argos's mascot is the hydra. A hydra is a snake with a lot of heads. A hydra is our mascot because Hercules killed a hydra near where the Argives lived. What I know about Greece in general is that they worshipped gods and goddesses. There were also five city-states.

      In humanities, we are doing a "Greek Simulation". All the people in the class are separated into the city-states of Greece. The city-states are Argos, Corinth, Megara, Athens, and Sparta. In my opinion, Argos is the best! HAHA. Right now, we are memorizing the Greek alphabet by putting the alphabet into a tune, and make a "song". Our group chose "Mary Had a Little Lamb". It works very well, except for the ending. That's what we are doing so far. I really enjoy doing this "Greek Simulation".

I don't really have anything to talk about, so I chose to put what my favorite animal was. My favorite animal is a panda. No, it does not have anything in common with the fact that I'm Asian. I really like pandas because they’re cute. That’s pretty much it. Haha. Pandas look so cuddly! They’re especially cute when they are cubs.

I'm thankful for my family, friends, and to be able t live in the U.S.! My family is always there for me and they take care of me. They help me when help is needed and they're there for me whenever I need to talk. I'm grateful for my friends because they are AMAZING people! They always stand up for me and care for me. They are always there when I need a buddy to encourage me. I'm thankful that I live in the U.S. because we have so many freedoms. But the sad thing is we take advantage of those freedoms. These are the things I'm thankful for!!!

      I love reading Sir Conan Doyle's mysteries! He just puts a lot of red herrings. I really like the "Adventure of the Priory School". You think you know the person who did the crime, but you are so surprised to find out who really did it! It's crazy! Sir Conan Doyle is an AMAZING mystery writer! I love the way he likes to leave the answer to the crime until the very end, when Sherlock Holmes tells all the things he figured out.
For my own mystery I think I will start out with the preview of the ending and then start with a flashback. I really like the mysteries that do that. This is probably what it is going to sound like. "She was in front of my eyes. Standing like she had been awaiting something terrifying. Where had she been? But I began to see the mystery unfold, starting with the rope that bound my sister's ankles." I don't know if that is what I'm really going to do. It's just a little jotting of things that I thought would be a good start.

     So far, I absolutely LOVE blogging! It's a fun thing to do!:) I don't know about you guys, but I much rather do blogging than BBOOOOOORRRRIIIIINNNG writing assignment.  Blogging was pretty easy for me to get the hang of. I think the "hardest" part was getting your assignment saved..... no just kidding. HAHAHA! Are you laughing? No, probably not. I'm heartbroken! NNNOOOOOOOOTTTTTT=http://=http://!!   I'm really JUST KIDDING!!! The part I really did think was hard in a way of another was when you typed up a blog (perfect) in "text" mode, then click "graphical" mode all your hard work was gone! I probably repeated that mistake at least ten times! That got me MAD!!!  HEHE. I think that blogging is a perfect writing assignment for each week, and it's a creative way to be interactive through the internet!

On "CNN Student News", I saw a section about this safe motorcycle. Now you’re probably thinking,” How can a motorcycle be safe?” An inventor named Daniel Kim created a motorcycle that looks like a skinny car, but with two wheels. The motorcycle has a steering wheel and is fully electric. Now how exactly can a mini car survive an accident? The motorcycle has sliding wheels that make the motorcycle always be upright! How neat is that?! I think that the invention of this safe motorcycle is AMAAAAAAZINGGGG!!!  :0 You can see this for yourself at http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/

The book I’m reading is called Heist Society by Ally Carter. Actually I just finished it in enrichment. :P I really enjoy reading Carter’s books because I like mystery and adventure books. She makes her books good paced and very fun to read. I have read another series written by her, too. I like how Heist Society has so many little mysteries in one big mystery. The main character’s name is Katarina, but she goes by Kat. The name matches her very well because she is part of the family business, which is thievery. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend or classmate. But really, this book is more of a “girl” book. :)

I think that everyone has the right to read what they want. Of course people have the freedom to speak out their opinions of banning certain books, too. But really just because someone doesn’t like some content in a book, doesn’t mean that they have to ruin the chance of someone else reading the book. For instance if a person really liked Harry Potter, and then it got banned, how would they feel? It’s just like taking your freedom away a little at a time. I certainly do not support the banning of books in the United States.:)

Yesterday I was at Lifetime Fitness when two teenage girls came up to my friend and me and said,” That man has been here all week and we think he’s R. Kelly! Ask him if he is R. Kelly then get two autographs if he is. We’ll give you $5 each of you do it!” We agreed to it and asked and turns out he was! In the end my friend and I got R. Kelly’s autograph and $5!:D Btw if you don’t know who R. Kelly is, he’s a famous singer and sings “I Believe I Can Fly"!