Emmy’s Blog

Today in L.A Mrs.Ekstrom had to talk to us about how the homework finish the Westing Game notebook and if you didn’t you would get a detention! She had to do this because 15 people were failing!! Anywayafter that we discused as a class what the connection between Sam Westing and Sandy was. That just about waps it up.

 Here is one of the covers for the book.

Even though it was special persons day on Friday we had classes. In Social Studies we went over the homework from the night before. Afterwards we watched the end of a movie. It was about the Ancient Myans. They lived Central America on the Yucatan Peninsula. They were great astronomers but they also belived that the king could talk to the gods so they sacreficing people so they could give their blood to the gods. They also build many great pyramids. They were a very interesting civilzation.

 This is one of their many great buildings.

Well tomorrow is the End-Of-Year test! In class since it was the last day to review we spent the entire period reviewing for the test. We reviewed all of our skills like angle puzzles, converting decimals to precents and so much more. I bet that I will do my hardest.

Today in S.S. we had a map quiz on all of Asia! At first it seemed hard, but if you studied hard you would probably do ok on it. After that when you were done we read our silent reading book. Now after everyone was done we started to look at Japan. I learned that Japan is made up of many islands so Japan is an archipelago. The four main and largest islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. This country is also located on the ring of fire or an area where earthquakes happen often. That is about all we got to today but tomorrow is another day.

Today in math class, actually not much happened today. We mostly reviewed for tomorrows quiz on adding and subtracting negative numbers. But first we did a homework check for the night before. Then we did a couple warm-up problems. One of them was 4 to the 4 power. After a couple of those we did study link 6.3 which was all on adding and subtracting negative numbers. The homework was to study foe tomorrows quiz and finish study link 6.3. It was a somewhat easy class, but I need to work on these kinds of problems.

Today in social studies we kept going on our studies on China. First we went over our homework. It was to choose our favorite Confucius quotes. My favorite quotes were “respect yourself and others will respect you” “Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it” “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart”. We talked about what they meant and how it applies to every day life. After that discussion Mr.Hetherington taught us a way how to remember what inventions the Chinese made. They were compass, silk, clock, gunpowder, fireworks, paper and ink. We remember them by a story that he told us. Here is the story: One day Nichole was lost in the woods so she took out her compass and it was made out of silk. After she found where north was she flipped it over and looked at her clock, but when she opened it gun powder came out and went into her eyes. Then all of a sudden fireworks came out of her eyes and the smoke-streams turned into books. Then paper fell out of the books and one of the pieces cut Nichole in the arm. Insted of blood ink came out. Luckely she found a town and had tea with a nice family. That is how we remember the invetions that China made. We also learned a story for remembering the main dynasties of China. Here is the name of the dynasties: Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qhing. That is what we did that class.

This is Confucius.

After getting back from vacation it was hard to start up, but when we were settled we started working with compass. The kind of compass i’m talking about is one that architects and graphic artists use. We use them to make circles and even to copy a line segment. Let me explain how to use on. A compass has on sharp point and a pencil. What you do is put the sharp point on the paper and make sure that it does not move. Then you turn the compass so the pencil part is moving not the sharp point and make a circle. You can also turn the paper around so you make a circle. I prefer tyning the paper[leave me a commet telling me how you make a circle with a compass]. So after we read a page in our student reference book about how to use it we exparemented with the compass. We made good and some of us made concentric circles[they look like a bulsie or circles that have the same center].  After that we did a journal page in which we had to copy a line segment only using a compass. Then we read until the class was over. It was a fun class.

    This is a compass.                     These are concentric circles.         

North India is a very interesting place. It is the birthplace of the  Hindu and Buddha religions and people there believe that the cow is very sacred. It also has a river named the Ganges. This river is located in the city of Varanasi.  The people there consider the river to be holy. People there can bath and wash their clothes in it, but it’s one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Since it’s considered holy, they burn up dead bodies and throw the ashes into the river. Also they throw dead animal bodies into the river. North India also has a beautiful monument called the Taj Mahal. It was built by Shah Jahan, the emperor of the Mushal Empire, who built it for a tomb for his wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. The construction started in 1631 in the city of Agra and took them 22 years to complete it. Later he was also buried there. Another fact is that in North India people can ride on elaphants.  I think that North India would be a very exiting place to visit.

Oil is a very interesting substance. It helps us drive cars, heat our houses and is also in plastic. But some people say that the worlds oil supply won’t last long. U.S. government scientists think that there are 2.6 trillion barrels left. 1.7 trillion barrels are “discovered” oil and 900 billion barrels are “undiscovered” oil. The western part of the U.S. has oil shale. Oil Shale has to heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit so that they can pump it out of the ground. OPEC controls the Persian Gulf region of the Middle East making it have 65 % of the worlds oil supply. They limit their oil exports so that can keep prices up. That means that the non-OPEC countries have to rely on their oil supply which runs out faster. Paul Roberts[ the author of a book called The End Of Oil] has some suggestions like people could start driving gas-electronic Hybrids or a MiniCAT[ which run on compressed air] in stead of using liquid Petroleum. It would be better for the environment if we could get off our dependency of oil.

Credit goes to Emma Davy for “Crude Awakening” Current Science 3-05

There are many reasons to grow your own garden. One reason is that it’s more convent. If you go to the store and you forget to get the tomatoes, you could just go outside and pick them. So, if you are sick and can’t go anywhere you could go outside and pick several of them. Plus, it’s nice to have a garden because it’s fresh. If you go to the store to get some tomatoes they could have mold on them. But if you go outside to get some they would be fresh and you would know that you picked them yourself. When I bit into a fresh picked tomato it was as juicy as water dripping out of a sponge. Also if you have too much you could sell it. If you are running out of money and need it for gas you could sell the extra veggies. Not only that, but it’s a good hobby. Instead of watching T.V. you could be outside planting a garden. That makes me think of when we grew cucumbers and named them Larry [ like from Veggie Tales] and when we cut them up so we could eat them we would always say NO! Finally it’s healthier than eating junk food. Dr.Doolittle, who only eats homegrown vegetables, says,”If you eat homegrown veggies, you will be very fit”. Growing vegetables is entertaining and very rewarding.

Dear Rose,

In case you do not know,  Kemal Ataturk means ”The father of the turks”. He has also been called Mustafa Kemal. After serving as  an officer in WWI he became Turkey’s 1st  President. He has been in office since October29 ,1923 to November 10, 1938. Did you know that he wanted to bring the modern world to Turkey?  Even though he honored the Islam religion, he banned men from wearing fezzes!  He did that because he thought that what men “wore on their heads would help change what went on in their heads”.  My dad was upset when he couldn’t wear his fez anymore. But my mom was happy because Kamal said that they were not allowed to wear veils anymore.  He also gave women the right to vote, go to school and even get jobs! I’m very happy about that! Even though there were elections, he was still a dictator.  He also moved the capitol from Istanbul to Ankara. I’m just learning about the alphabet Kemal introduced based on the Roman alphabet that is used for Western European languages. He has ordered all newspapers, books, and street signs to print in this new way. Mustafa Kemal also adapted western style clothing[which I like to wear]. I hope that you have learned something new about one of my country’s most favorite people. Good Bye.

From, Emelia

If I could go to any place in the world it would be Australia. I would like to go there because I could go on a safari and see Kangaroos and the outback. Also I would go there because I could learn about their culture and their history. Australia would be a cool place to go to.