7^th grade was not that bad. There were good parts and not so good parts. I think I was pretty successful. I had some late assignments and other hiccups but I have a gold medal in the end (as far as I know) and I learned a few things along the way too. One thing I learned personally this year is that I really like track. I also found that I am a lot better a shot put than I had intended. If I could change anything, I would study more. I can’t think of anything I learned the hard way. Next year, I will try to give myself more time than I think I need for projects. For next year’s 7^th graders, make sure you find a world history fair topic that you can find enough information on to write an essay. “Live long and prosper.”

I thought this was a good experience to go have something hands on to do. I did not personally learn anything except for all the culture stuff that we were taught in class. If I could change anything, I think I would change the curriculum to be focused on the economic side of the experience. We never talked about that and that was really the thing that I was looking forward to in this experience. That is why Ameritowne was better. That and I had to have one of the staff walk me through when I had to fill out certain forms for my job. My favorite part was getting to exchange currency when one of the specialists was gone. I figured out a trick that made it really fast to do so I was just zipping through “customers”. Overall, it was a good experience but it was lacking on the global economics side.

                World history influences our live today in just about every way possible. This is because all of the actions and consequences of people and civilizations resulted in our technology, culture, government, laws, and so many more things that we don’t think about. My guiding question was, "How were aqueducts effectively made and used in ancient Rome?" and I learned a lot more about the construction than the use. The most interesting part was some of the facts that I learned. One of those facts was that the aqueducts were built so they dropped 2-3 feet per mile of distance traveled.

                I did learn a couple of cool things from other people’s projects. I learned from Isaac that Cӕsar was pronounced Kaiser, like the German leader. I learned that Romans used siege towers; I thought that was just other civilizations. From one project I learned that the Incans created bows that could shoot am mile (I think). I learned from Alec that the Romans used war elephants to win one of the Punic Wars. I did learn a lot of other cool stuff, but these were the most interesting ones.

I did not like the book very much. I thought it was just not exciting enough for me. I liked Sam because he had unique ways of going about things like the competition to see who could get water to the garden. I didn’t like the teacher because she tried to be so controlling about everything, even outside the classroom. I think the big idea is that the author thinks people should cooperate and do something as a community with their community. I liked most of the activities that we did in classes but I liked Mr. Howard’s activity most because it was a hands-on kind of thing.

       My topic, Roman aqueducts, has “created change” in the world in two main ways. The Roman aqueducts have created a design and model for today’s aqueducts and created a lot of tourism because they have lasted so long. My final project is coming along pretty well. I have been working on creating my sugar cube aqueduct and gathering all the things I need on my board. It still needs work but I think it will be pretty cool in the end. My guiding question is, “How were aqueducts effectively made and used in ancient Rome?” I have found lots of good information on how the aqueducts were built but just enough for how they were used.

I have some more random facts coming your way for all who are reading. This week, I have car facts and some origins of abreviations.

The Lamborghini Aventador uses a V12 engine.

Most American made car horns honk at the key of F.

The Ferrari Dino was named after the son of Enzo Ferrari by Enzo Ferrari and the Ferrari Enzo was named after the creator of Ferrari, Enzo Ferrari, after he died.

Mr. Lamborghini, the man who founded Lamborghini was a friend and employee of Enzo Ferrari but the two got in a fight and Mr. Lamborghini said he could make a better car than Enzo could so he went and tried. I, personally, think he did make better cars.

Gasoline is not explosive in its liquid form so the engine sprays it into the cylinder to blow up.

The abbreviation for pound, lb. comes from the Latin word Libra, a measurement of weight.

AM and PM come from Ante Meridiem and Post Meridiem, Latin for before noon and after noon.

E.G. is Latin for exempli gratia which means for example.

MO comes from modus operandi, Latin for way of operating.

I.E. comes from Id Est or “that is” in Latin.

Etc. is Et Cetera meaning in Latin “and other things”.

L.S.D. was the initials for pounds, shillings, and pence in old English currency. It is also why the symbol for pounds is an “ornate capital” L which come from the same root as pounds, Libra.

We dissected the chicken wing to learn about the muscular system. I personally thought it was gross. Mostly because of the bone. I hate touching bones or even looking at them (directly). It just bothers me. I would have much rather just taken notes. I could have learned more and had a better experience by just taking notes. I didn’t even learn anything.

A Monster of a Car

With a plastic body

And only three wheels

It has one wheel in the front

 And two in the back

It is a menace

It perpetually flips

Yet still quite popular

It can be put right side up

With the slightest of ease

By kind people around

It barely hits eighty

But wheelies daily

It costs more than a Mini

It can be stopped without mobbin’

It’s the Reliant Robin

                I thought the movie was interesting to see from their eyes what happened. I just like most people knew that stuff happened and that it was pretty bad, but I had not ever seen a movie presentation of what happened from their perspective. In their position, I think I would have done pretty much the same thing as them. I don’t know what I would have done differently. I think I would have gone either way for the courage to go on and not fight. I wouldn’t have wanted to be at that school alone but with others I think I probably could have had that courage. I think things have changed a little bit because of the fact that we are not as segregated as we once were but there is still segregation in similar and different ways. We don't really segregate againt other races as much but we still segregate people who don't like certain things, or look bad, or go about things differently.

               “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”

-Wayne Gretzky

You have to try

In order to get a result

If you don’t try

You will not get anything in return

At a restaurant,

You won’t get any food

If you didn’t order any

If you don’t shoot

You won’t score

I learned some new things about micro biology this unit but some of it has gone in one ear and out the other. Things like the functions of all the organelles have kind of scrambled in my mind, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down. My personal opinion is that micro biology is not the greatest. You can do whatever you want with that information. The best part has probably been the activities on the side like the vocab word search and the comic creating. The worst parts were probably the microscope days because those microscopes are frustrating to use and because I am just not interested in life science.

Skiing

On the snow of the mountain down the slope through the trees

Over the steep jump down the steep hill into the long line

Up the long vibrating lift off the lift onto the dreaded ice

Toward the softer, better snow under the glowing stars

During the cold, lightly snowing night beside fellow skiing friends

On top of the world on top of the mountain.

The book I am currently reading and am almost finished with is “Ranger’s Apprentice: The Kings of Clomnel,” by John Flanagan. It is a very enjoyable book about a fictional world with people called rangers. Rangers are pretty much the CIA for a medieval country called Araluen. They have amazing longbow accuracy and are very good at moving without being heard or seen. Although it is a very good book, I would not suggest it unless you have read the first seven Ranger’s Apprentice books.

Here are a few more random facts that may or may not be entirely useless.

1)      Orange is the only color that does not fade into darkness.

2)      The color purple in the light spectrum is made up of violet and indigo, it is not really its own color of the spectrum.

3)      A group of rhinos is called a crash which is fairly appropriate considering the fact that they run at 35 miles per hour and can only see 10 feet in front of their faces.

Now, I challenge you to find a use for this random knowledge. Enjoy your week and don’t forget that baking soda and baking powder are not interchangeable.

Poets use literary devices and figurative language to get certain effects out of poems. A poet might use a literary device such as meter to give the poem an upbeat tone. A poet might use repetition to bring a little bit of seriousness to the poem. The poet could use figurative language such as an oxymoron to give the poem humor. Literary devices and figurative language could have many different effects on a poem. For example a simile could be serious or humorous.

              The quote, "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing," by Albert Einstein, is a good motivational quote for most anything, especially school. I think this means that you should always be curios because otherwise, nothing would be learned and you would be too scared of everything around you. I just had a conversation with Gavin and Raphaël about a lot of weird stuff like weather or not we are just in a world projected by our minds and we are really just walking around in a broken building like a crazy person and other stuff like that. Anyway, the concluding statement was that even if this is not the real world, this is where you think and feel you are so this is the real world to you. The reason I gave that example is that something like that is a way to apply the quote to life. The only trick is to know when your being too curios for your own good. This quote can improve someone’s attitude because if you are curios, you could make yourself smarter and help people witch could give them a better attitude or you could get better grades which might give you a better attitude. This quote could make a huge impact on the world because the people who are curios are the ones who will make new discoveries and advances in technology and science.

New Year’s resolutions are always a bit strange in the fact that you get to know people better by what they think their bad at. On that note, here are mine:

1.      I want to study more. I have gotten into a bad habit of hardly ever studying and I want to change that because otherwise that habit will end up backfiring later in life.

2.      I want to stop stressing so much. I want to pace myself on assignments so that I don’t get super stressed out.

3.      I want to finish the year with straight A’s all around. I’m on track with that one already, I just need to finish strong.

4.      I want to become a better archer. I got a bow for Christmas and I want to get really good at it so I’m going to practice as much as I can.

Now anyone reading this knows me just  a little bit better.

             I think that my project could have gone better. I spent too much time trying to cite and collect facts. I spent at least an entire period in the lab doing that and trying to figure out what in the world was I doing. Somewhere along the way my group started getting frustrated with each other (including me) and we ended up in a crunch of time. I think it was a little challenging and frustrating but it was not really that bad working with partners in a group like that. Eventually, we got it done but I was kind of worried we wouldn’t by the end. Knowing what I do now about it, I would have got cracking faster as opposed to sitting there wasting time, trying to make sure I knew what I was doing. I would have formatted the page the same way. I thought that turned out nice. Next year, I think that students might be able to use one or so more class periods in for researching and/or in the lab. I noticed that a lot of people needed to go to the lab during enrichment. I can’t think of any more feedback so that’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.

I know a decent amount about Greece. Right now, Greece is in a bad economical spot but I don’t know many details about that. I know that Ancient Greece was a superpower of the ancient world and conquered a lot of their known world. Alexander the Great was the leader that brought Ancient Greece to its peak. Greece has a famous alphabet that I know. Ancient Greece also had a famous polytheism/mythology. The Roman Empire had virtually the exact same Gods but with different names. The Greek Empire ended up falling just like any other empire that seemed like it would rule forever.

In Humanities class, we are split into city-states by table-group. The city states are Argos, Corinth, Sparta, Megara, and Athens. I am in Argos (Hoo! Hoo! Argos!). We will be competing in different events for points. I take that back, the word “competing” would imply competition(Don't worry, I'm just kidding. There will definately be competition). These events will be things like tortilla javelin and tongue twisters at witch I have been called, and I quote, “prodigetic.” We are also learning the Greek Alphabet, which, like I said, is something that I already know, and putting it to a tune. The only hard part is putting it to “Jingle Bells” (the tune my group decided on) when it’s already to its own tune in my head.

Here are some random facts that will probably come in handy later. First, these are the seven wonders of the ancient world:

The Great Pyramids of Egypt

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

The Colossus of Rhodes

The Great Lighthouse of Alexandria

Next, these are the formulas for finding the volumes of spheres and cones.

Sphere:  V=4/3(3.14)r³

Cone:  V=1/3(3.14)r²h

Finally, the acidic content in Coke is 1,000 times stronger than the acidic content in the water that carved Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system in the world (that we know of).

I am thankful for my family, my friends, and a good education. My family, while sometimes bothersome, is helpful and supportive when I need it and can be great to have around. I am also thankful for all of my friends. Weather new or old friends, it is nice to have someone to be able to laugh and spend time with. Finally, I am thankful for a good education. Living as close as I do to school, as opposed to some kids in different countries walking miles every day to get to school, and having a good school to go to. Being educated will allow me to have a little easier life when I am older. As Thanksgiving comes, these are some of the many things I have to be grateful for.

I personally enjoy blogging more than a normal writing assignment we would get in class. It’s kind of cool to write and share assignments this way. It has gone pretty smoothly for me. I had one technological issue with getting my Rachel’s Challenge blog up. Everything else has been unproblematic. I think it would be better if we were given class time for blogging every now and then. I think we should do more story-like prompts like the “Funniest Thing” prompt.

Veterans Day is a great opportunity to honor past and present servicemen and women. We need to remember those who risked their lives to fight for our freedoms. It is important to honor and thank them for their service. The people who fight for our freedoms could be our best friend or someone we don’t even know. These brave men and women sacrifice a lot for us even if they don’t know us. This is why veterans need to be honored on Veterans Day.

How's this?or?

On October 19, First Bancorp announced the date of its annual shareholders meeting. They said that it would take place on December 9^th, 2011 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The meeting will be for shareholders in the company to vote on the future of the business. They will vote for things such as the director of the company. The people attending the meeting will also be allowed to propose new rules for the company.I think that it is a good idea to have shareholders meetings because the shareholders are the ones that actually own the company, so it is good for them to share their opinions.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/first-bancorp-announces-date-of-its-2011-annual-meeting-of-stockholders-2011-10-19

Years ago, on a snowy day, I went sledding with my brothers and some friends. We made a big ramp by covering a skateboard ramp with snow. Starting from the top of the hill, you could get going pretty fast. Hitting the jump at that speed meant getting a lot of air. I did just that and ended up surfing on my sled in the middle of the air. I didn’t mean to do it and I don’t really know how it happened but it is still my coolest sledding trick.

I greatly enjoyed the field trip to Fox Run! I think the best part was when we played team building activities. That is because it was fun to get to know my classmates a little better and to be active by playing games. My favorite activity was probably the game that Mrs. Lubich was supervising. The game where we had to get our team from one island to another. I liked it because it was exciting and my group was being very cooperative and helpful. Finally, I learned more about ponds from the pond study. Things like the acidic vs. basic scale and what makes a healthy pond.

I think that books should not be banned and that people have the right to read what they want. There are books on the list of “banned” books that I don’t like or don’t want to read, but that doesn’t mean that others can’t read them. I think this has to do with freedom of speech because the author has the freedom to write what they please and the reader can read what they please. To sum up, I think books should not be banned.

The people in the video (the parents and the chef) have multiple problems with their math. In their division, they skipped the 2 in both videos and moved on to the second number as an individual. They should have gone on to add the second number on the end to make a 2 digit number then divide from that. In multiplication, both people did the first step right. Then the chef forgot, when he multiplied the 7 by the 1, that the 1 was actually a 10, so he got 7 instead of 70.  In the other video, the mom made the same mistake with the 1 and the 5. In addition, both counted the 1’s column correctly but again, the 10’s column was counted as 1’s instead. This can work for any one digit number and two digit number that the first digit in the two digit number is smaller than the one digit number. Also, the second digit of the two digit number has to be smaller than the one digit number. The two digit number also has to be divisible by the one digit number for it to be a trick. For example, 48÷6 could work

The funniest thing that I have ever done was on vacation to Mount Rushmore in 2003. My family stopped in Nebraska on our way home for dinner. After dinner, we all shared a big bowl of ice cream. All of us had been eating until there was one bite left. My older brother went to get it and I (for reasons that I don’t remember) grabbed his hand to stop him and took the last bite for myself. My family all thought it was funny, which I didn’t understand at the time because that wasn’t the intention

1) I am a vegetarian.

2) I am a twin.

3) I don’t have any pets.

4) I like pizza.

5) I am a good skier.

6) My favorite color is blue.

7) My favorite meal is breakfast.