MSS's blog

A Look at Croatia -- 05-15-13

2013-05-15T13:02:29-05:00

In Social Studies class we were assigned a country in Europe to do a report on the country; I had Croatia. There were many different criteria to write a paragraph about like their culture, climate, government, etc. There were also on fun things to write about like a traditional recipe and a creative page to write about anything. I learned many things about Croatia ranging from their Independence War to a classic cuisine.

Surveys and Infographics -- 04-03-13

2013-04-03T12:20:30-05:00

For the data I collected I used a Google form which is a simple setup to make a survey. The second graders of my school took the survey and then the Google form calculated and presented me with the results. If you have a Google account you can access the Google form in your drive and it gives you plenty of options for questions. A problem that I faced in the survey was the correct vocabulary to use with second graders. I could not use words that they would have trouble with and I would have to ask questions I think they would understand. I would probably try to ask better questions that would get better results from them instead of a unanimous negative result. If you want to see the questions I asked click here.

Creating the infographic in PowerPoint was very fun but somewhat difficult at times. You could create your own images and use them in you infographic but it was also hard to show the information you wanted to show using mainly pictures and animations. One of the rules I had to remember when creating this was the CARP principles which are contrast, alignment, repetition, proximity. They are the guidelines of what infographics should be, they should have contrasting color so they text is legible compared to the background. It should have proper alignment. It should have the same colors and have repetition in the colors and have proximity. I had to change the PowerPoint into different jpegs and then copy those jpegs into another document and made it one big infographic. The information that the infographics is very helpful because it gives quick and accurate information for people who do not have time or do not want to read paragraphs of information. Please click on the smaller image to see the full size image.

Roller Coaster Web Quest -- 04-17-12

2012-04-17T09:03:35-05:00

In science class we were doing a chapter on the Newton's Laws and did a project to make a roller coaster to understand how much science and math was involved in creating one. Newton's first law is an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force, this law is also called the Law of Inertia. Which means if a ball is at rest on the ground it will stay at rest unless an outside force, which would be you, moved it. Newton's second law is acceleration of an object depends on mass of the object and the size of the net force applied. Which means if you are pulling a wagon with twenty bricks and your friend pulls a wagon with twenty feathers, you (acting as the net force) will go slower than your friend because the mass in your wagon is heavier and you won't be able to pull it fast enough. The third law is when a force is applied to an object the object exerts an equal force in the opposite direction. Which means if you have a fan on a skateboard blowing into the sail on the other end they will cancel each other out.

In the project there were four roles for everybody in the group. There was the design engineer, who found out how roller coasters are designed. The lawyer, who found out the legal matters in making roller coasters. The physicist, who found out the science involved in a roller coaster, and the one I was, the historian which found out where the first roller coasters were built and where the tallest and fastest coasters are. I found out that the first roller coasters were ice slides in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the tallest is Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey, USA.

This roller coaster was a success because it had enough kinetic energy to make it through the loops and hills and it didn't have to much so that it would crash.

This roller coaster failed because it didn't have enough speed and velocity to make it over the first loop.

We called our coaster the Sharp Pencil because we didn't know what to call it because we saw a pencil and decided to call it 'Pencil' but that was too boring so we called it the sharp pencil.

If you want to check out the roller coaster creator website click here.

Fitness Results - Grade 4 - Sit and Reach/V-Sit -- 03-06-12

2012-03-06T10:14:12-05:00

During this school year our students in grades 2 through 8 completed the President's Fitness Challenge. We took part in a variety of physical endurance tests. The sixth grade students charted the results for each event and grade. Here are the results of the Sit and Reach/V-Sit for grade 4. As you can see from the chart below, 9 or 26% of the students achieved Presidential Level, 12 or 35% of the students achieved National Level, and 13 or 38% of the fourth graders were at Participant Level.

Description of the Event

Qualifying scores

My Glog on the Egyptian God Amun -- 01-10-12

2012-01-10T10:06:42-05:00

In this project I was given the god Amun, the god of universal power. The whole purpose of this project was to learn about Egyptian gods and goddesses. In social studies class we are learning about ancient Egypt. This project helped me learn more about Egypt and their religion. This was an interesting and fun project and I hope you enjoy my glog. To view my glog full size click here.

An Interview with the Pharaoh Tutankhamun -- 12-19-11

2011-12-19T13:46:37-05:00

MS: Tutankhamun or the more common name for you, King Tut, thank you for coming here to speak with me today. Even though you're one of the most widely known pharaoh, many people don't know much about your life. I would like to ask you some questions.

KT: I would be delighted to answer the questions you have for me.

MS: Many people know you as King Tut or Tutankhamun but those certainly weren't your birth name, so my first question is what is your birth name and what did it mean?

KT: It is true that neither King Tut nor Tutankhamun were my birth name. My birth name was actually Tutankhamen, which meant Living Image of Aten. Aten was one of the many gods we had in ancient Egypt. I was given this name by my father, Akhenaten, and my mother, Nefertiti.

MS: When and why did you become pharaoh and how long was your reign?

KT: I became pharaoh soon after my father died. I was only a nine year old boy when I became pharaoh of the Egyptian empire. I ruled for a short ten years before my untimely death.

MS: What did your father do in his time as pharaoh and why did you change the religion he made back to the normal religion?

KT: As pharaoh my father changed the religion that we had been doing for hundreds of years by changing the religion from many gods and goddesses to one god. This angered many people and priests, therefore when I became pharaoh I was left with an angry Egypt to rule. A few years after this happened I changed his religion back to the old religion to keep citizens calm.

MS: At what age and when did you die?

KT: I was still a young boy when I died. I was nineteen years old when i left Egypt. I was the pharaoh of Egypt before I died in mid-Janurary 1343 B.C.

MS: People say that you put a curse on your tomb. Is that true?

KT: Well when my tomb was discovered the man that discovered it ,Lord Carnarvon, was bitten on the cheek by a mosquito. He would irritate the bite and it soon became infected. He became very ill, and died from the bite and at that exact moment all the lights in Cario (Egypt's capital city) went out and his dog howled and died too. But most of the problems were probably caused by the bacteria on the wall gave off spores and when breathed in could make the person ill which contributed to his death.

MS: My final question for you is how did you get the crack in your skull?

KT: People say that someone murdered me and that is how I got it but the crack probably was in the mummification process. The priests who mummified me probably dropped my body head-first on the ground. That is how i got the crack in my skull it wasn't murder but a mistake.

MS: Thank you King Tut for taking time to speaking with us today. I hope that everyone has learned more about you.

Reasource Credit:

http://www.kingtutone.com/tutankhamun/

http://www.site-ology.com/egypt/KT.HTM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100216-king-tut-malaria-bones-inbred-tutankhamun/

http://www2.fi.edu/tut/about.html

http://www.king-tut.org.uk/in.htm http://dsc.discovery.com/egypt/ Image Credit KINGTUT /sizes/m http://www.flickr.com/photos/96781829@N00/363743273 /in/photostream/ by: omdaa - CC license

Seven Random Facts -- 09-27-11

2011-09-27T10:21:38-05:00

1. I am on my school's soccer team.

2. I like to eat Italian food.

3. I went to Ocean City, MD, for vacation.

4. I also play basketball for my school.

5. I have two older sisters and one older brother.

6. The Capital building is beautiful to me.

7. My favorite soccer club is Real Madrid.

Constitution Post 5 - The Amendments -- 05-01-11

2011-05-01T17:09:38-05:00

I will be telling you what the articles are and tell you three amendments. The amendments are something changed or added that have been made to the Constitution. The thirteenth amendment abolishes slavery in the United States. The nineteenth amendment allows women to vote in all of the elections. The twenty-forth amendment makes all poll taxes illegal. These are only three of the amendments that have been to the Constitution.

Constitution Post 4 - The Seven Articles -- 05-01-11

2011-05-01T16:47:21-05:00

I will be telling you about the seven articles of the Constitution. The first article outlines the Legislative or lawmaking branch of the government, Congress. Article two lays out the frame work of the Executive branch, the president, vice president, and the departments of federal government. Article three outlines the Judicial branch, the Supreme Court and the other federal courts. Article four tells about the relationships between the states, the federal government, and the states themselves. Article five explains how the Constitution can be changed (amended). Article six makes it clear that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land that means that the states can't make national laws or laws that go against the Constitution. Article seven says that the Constitutions will not go into effect until it is accepted by nine states. Those are all seven articles of Constitution.

Constitution Post 3 - Three Principles -- 05-01-11

2011-05-01T16:22:38-05:00

I'm going to be talking to you about the three principles of the Constitution. The first one is the Separation of Power. It means that the power is divided between the three branches of government. The second one is the system of Checks and Balances. It means that each branch has some power over the others, so no individual branch can have more power than the other branches. The third one is called Shared Powers. This principle means that the Federal (Central) Government shares power with the states. Those are the three principles of the Constitution.

Constitution Post 2 - The Virginia Plan -- 04-27-11

2011-04-27T16:22:50-05:00

I will be talking to you about The Virginia Plan, and why it was important for the delegates to compromise. The Virginia Plan would divide the government into three branches. The Legislative Branch would enact the laws. Another branch was the Executive Branch its part was to see that the laws were carried out. The third branch was the Judicial Branch which would see that justice is done under the law. Many opinions were presented in what the government should be and through compromise they found solutions. That is what The Virginia Plan is.

Constitution Post 1- The Articles of Confederation -- 04-18-11

2011-04-18T12:18:24-05:00

This post is about three reasons the Articles of Confederation were not working. One problem was that there was not a head of government. Another problem was that the Congress did not have any power. A third problem was that there was no court system. These problems caused the Articles of Federation to fail, and leaders met in Philadelphia to change it.

My Glog of the Deep Sea -- 02-28-11

2011-02-28T12:04:50-05:00

We have studied biomes and I was in a group that did the deep sea. We researched this biome, and I did the geography of it. It was interesting to learn about the terrain and the location of this biome. In the glog below my partners and I showed you the climate, plants, animals, and geography of this ecosystem. I learned a lot of different facts about the deep sea. To see my glog full sized click here.

The Dangers of Smoking -- 01-09-11

2011-01-09T18:46:37-05:00

You should never start smoking but if you already started you should stop now. One danger of smoking I learned in health class is that you can get lung cancer from it. Another that I learned is that cholesterol forms blood clots in you veins. In my poster I try to tell people that smoking is a terrible thing for you. The grave represents that when you smoke you can die from it. The pack of cigarettes with the "no" symbol on it shows that you shouldn't start smoking. That is how I feel about smoking.

Saving Energy -- 10-25-10

2010-10-25T12:35:18-05:00

Saving energy is very important to the world. My class got a kit to help save energy, using the kit helped me save energy. In the kit we got things to help us save. I've learned that we have nonrenewable resources to use like oil, natural gas, coal, etc. We have renewable resources too, like solar power, wind energy, hydro power (the power of running water turned into energy) etc. I've also learned that the world has very little clean water to use. To conserve water you could turn the water off when you're brushing your teeth. To conserve energy you could turn the TV off when you are not watching it. I hope I've influenced you to start saving energy.

Image Credit:

Solar Panel

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davedugdale/4160370798/

This Year -- 10-04-10

2010-10-04T12:26:36-05:00

This year I think is going to be fun, and challenging. We have a lot of fun activities and field trips. The work is going to be extremely hard too. We have great teachers this year also. I hope that everyone in our class will have more fun than work.

Christmas day -- 12-16-09

2009-12-16T08:45:41-05:00

Every Christmas day our family comes over to our house and have Christmas dinner. It's great, we all go to the table and wait for the dinner to come out. There's ham, soda, water, corn, carrots, apples, etc. I think the dessert's the best though. There are two cakes and sometimes surprises. Those are the best Christmas dinners ever.