Pearsonal Blog Nov.21-23

This week in the Academy we started this pretty cool project in art. We are making short videos describing all of the different things we do in ILA and how it’s all constructed. I’m not that great and am really horrible at making videos but I’m willing to try my best. Once I heard that these were being sent to all of the 8^th grader from all the different feeder schools for arrowhead I was very excited because I now a lot of them from Merton and am hoping that mine goes there. I really want to show them what the academy is all about because I now some of them will really enjoy it and if it’s around next year, they will probably join. In ILA English this week we were still reading the book Of Mice and Men. I usually don’t like reading books, especially the ones that we get assigned from teachers at school. Usually because they are really boring and what they are about, don’t really interest me. This book is totally not like that. It’s so interesting and I just want to keep reading. I like how easy to read it is. The swearing sort off weird cause I’ve never read a book with this much in it. I’m almost done with the book and am looking forward to how it turns out in the end. I think I have a pretty good idea but lots of people say that the endings exactly what you wouldn’t think would happen. In social studies this week we were working on our "Think Globally, Act Locally" projects. I’m really far behind on it and am working my butt of to try to finish it before Monday. I’m not exactly learning anything from doing this project. Most projects I’ve done in here I haven’t learned that much from. After this long break we are going to be starting a project with these projects. I’m sort off curious on what we’re going to be doing. On Wednesday for science we presented our skits. I thought they went pretty well, except for the fact that I couldn’t hear anything that they were saying. I thought some of the groups did a great job with their props and with their enthusiasm as they were reading of their scripts. I thought that we did a pretty good job, thought maybe we could have had better acting skills as in not reading of our script the whole time. Also we could have practiced it a little more than just once before we presented and also our props could have been better. Now we have to write a paper on all of the different scientist when I couldn’t get anything out of the skits. This is going to be very difficult but I’m going to have to make the best with the info that I already have. This is really pretty much just information on the JJ Thompson theory which is the guy that I studied.    

Pearsonal Blog Nov.7-11

This week I had a lot of fun in Art. We started of the week in Mr. M’s room. We did this experiment to try and figure out what this mystery substance was. He had about 12 out on the tables and we had to go around and say if they were an Element, Atom, Compound, ext. and right down why we thought it was one of those. Then once we found out which substance we thought the mystery substance was then we had to do a test like a flammability test and see if it really was the substance just so that we could prov it was. After you did the test then you had to put all your data into a table and right out a short lab report telling why you though this one substance was the mystery one. When my partner and I went and looked at the substances we knew we were only looking for one that was white because that was what color the mystery one was. Then when we put all the white ones next to each other there were some that we like an off white color so we eliminated those. After we only had about 4 or 5 and just looking at the substances you could figure out which one the mystery substance was because it was sparkly in the light and looked like crystal. Also it was really grainy looking so just by looking at the substances we figured out witch one it was.

Another thing this week that I had an awesome time doing was in art. We are starting this awesome new project now that were all done with all our videos and grid enlargements. WE are now constructing sort off like a 3D model of a crystal. It’s going to be the size of a basketball when we are done and then were going to make it into a bowl by cutting a lid in the top. We have already cut out all of the shapes that we are going to need to make them and now we are constructing then. I have found it really cool how they are all just perfectly fitting together and making a circular bowl at the same time. Im about half way done. Im so excited about what it’s going to look like when im all done. Also we get to glaze it im pretty sure which im probably going to do a blue or brown so that I can have it in my room and it will match.

In social studies this week we had to take a test on chapters 3 and 4 in this one social studies book that we all received last week Friday. I found it really hard to understand all of the talk in the book. It was all about the government and the budget and if I read something that I really don’t care about usually it’s hard for me to interpret it and remember it. The first time that I took it I didn’t do so well. Then we had a retake on Friday and I still didn’t do well.

So this week I would have to say I had a lot of fun in the academy. I hope next week is as fun. There was just one thing this week that I didn’t like and that was that for this one project that we did in English I mean I didn’t exactly mind doing it, it was sort of fun It’s just that my partners didn’t do anything. So now im scared that im going to get a bad grade because of them. I mean I worked for 3 hours on my part of the project and then they only right about 5 sentences and then make me get the bed grade. I didn’t think that my project was that bad I thought it was one of my best that I have done in English. That’s why I think this partner stuff for project has to change or something because all of my partners that I have had throughout all of the projects have done nothing on any of them. I don’t think that’s right and no one’s doing anything about them. They just tell them to do better next time!   

Pearsonal Blog Oct. 31- Nov.4

During this week in Academy i have learned lots. I’ve learned some very useful info and some not so much. We learned a lot about sentence fragments from Ms. Miller and i found it very helpful because im not the greatest at them. The most fun thing that I did in the Academy was in Science. We got to make crystals and now get to grow them for 2 or 3 weeks. I had lots of fun saturating the solution. My partner was great and I think that our crystal will turn out really cool when it’s done growing. We saturated the solution and did the whole lab on Tuesday and on Wednesday we got to take a little part of the powder of our chemical and attach it to a string. Then we attached it to the cup that the solution was in so that the little piece of crystal was suspended in the solution. Im so excited for what it’s going to look like when it’s all done. I really enjoy doing labs in science and am looking forward to conducting more. In social studies this week we learned about the structure of the constitution. Everyone was split up into different groups and had to work on the part of the constitution that we were assigned to. We had to put them in our own words and take out things that we didn’t like or disagreed with. My group had to do the amendments witch really weren’t that bad to do. I hadn’t really ever read through all of them and found some of them very interesting. Then everyone posted them on Google docs and we put all of the parts of the constitution together. I think that everyone really did a great job doing their part. In English we are starting this new book called "Mice and Men". Lots of my friends have already read the book and lots of them said that it was a pretty good book. I really don’t like reading all that much but hearing what other people said about it, it actually sounds good. Also this week we started a new project in social Studies. I don’t exactly understand what were supposed to do it looks sort of interesting but also confusing. When he explain it to us he was sort of vag but hopefully he will explain it to us more this week so that i can get a start on it quickly! Well id have to say that this week was a pretty good week i have learned lots about the parts of the Constitution, sentence fragments, crystals and how they form and lots more. Im looking forward to next week and to what lies ahead!