Social Media Argument

Scratch Game

Running Reflection

I think that something I did well on was pumping my arms and keeping me arms at a 90 degree angle. As you can see in the video, I kept on pumping my arms and when my arms were at the back they still were in the 90 degree angle. I think that another thing that I did well on was running tall. Something that I need to work on as a runner would probably be running on my toes. Another thing would be keeping my head up and my eyes forward. As you can see in some of the clips, from time to time I would be looking at the ground. And as it's hard to see, I'm not consistently running on my toes, from time to time my feet are flat on the ground which is slowing me down. In conclusion, some of my weaknesses in running is keeping my head up and my eyes forwards, and running on my toes. While some of the strengths are pumping my arms and keeping that 90 degree angle.

Should Insects be Included in Our Diets?

Have you ever realised that insects are already included in your diet? Never thought about that right? Insects are contained in most of your foods, leading to 500 grams of insects being eaten per year. If insects are being eaten already in some form, why stop now? Continuing to include insects in our day to day diets can bring us many different health benefits.  Without us already knowing, most foods already contain bugs in them. From processed foods, chocolate, to even fruits and vegetables. 1,000 species of bugs are being eaten, without us even knowing. If vegetables and fruits are bringing us vitamins and health benefits, aren't the bugs that are included with them too? Everyday, people in developed countries are eating 80 kilograms of meat per year. We all know that pigs, and animals such as cows have the ability to carry unwanted diseases without us being aware of it. Pigs are just like humans, we're able to use their organs to replace one of ours'. We're always worried about catching an unwanted disease, but knowing that you could get a disease from an animal you are eating, is unbearable. On the other hand, insects are nothing like humans. Insects wouldn't be able to pass on deadly diseases onto people, if insects are part of our diets, our chances of catching an unfortunate disease would decrease.  Out of the many different animals in our world, 80% of these species are insects. If we continue or start to eat these insects, we would never get bored! With all the choices and the ways we could eat them. In some countries, insects are known as a delicacy. Cooked in many different ways, this could lead to another health benefit of the huge spectrum of insects. Insects could be sneaked into a diet by putting them into dishes with other healthy ingredients. We all know that food dye isn't as healthy as we thought, but what we didn't know was the insects are one of the many ingredients in it. Food dye with insects as one of their ingredients would cost the same amount as gold. People who eat insects would have less of a chance of getting a disease and a healthier way of eating them.

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Healthy Snack

Crunchy Berry Parfait 
Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of vanilla low-fat yogurt 
• 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries 
• 6 fresh strawberries 
• 1/2 cup of granola 

Directions:

Layer 1/4 cup yogurt into the bottom of a bowl. Top with about half of each of the sliced strawberries, blueberries, and granola; repeat layering.

Q. How might I make my snack even healthier? If you think it cannot be improved because it is already extremely healthy, explain why is is so healthy. Consider fat content as well as sugar levels.
A. I think that I could've changed some of the ingredients, so that the sugar level is lower. I think that by changing the fruit into something else that is sweet but has less sugar in it. Other than that, I think that it's still pretty healthy, all the sugar is natural and is coming from the fruits.

Q. How did my snack compare to others?
A. I think that the presentation of my snack was pretty good compared to others, they also had really pretty food. But before presenting I forgot to bring spoons, so I had to run to the Grab and Go to receive spoons. The taste of my snack, was healthy and tasty, even though mostly everyone had tasty food, but some had snacks that tasted too healthy.

Q. What advice would I give next years 7th graders about this assignment?
A. One advice that I would give to the 7th graders next year about this assignment is to spend time on it. Spend a lot of time preparing it, and maybe even try it out before the actual date. Make sure that you spend time finding the recipe, and make sure that if your first attempt doesn't work to have extra time. Another thing that I would give them as advice is to really think about the ingredients they're putting into the snack, and to be aware of the different sugar and fat levels. Overall, they should just have fun with it.

The Cause Of Destruction?

As all buildings will not fight the forces and destroy, our building could crumble due to our light styrofoam base. Even though our base is isolated and is weighed down by several washers, this could end up into pieces. With forces of the shake table being strong, if the satay sticks don't stay in the foam, our building could go flying when forces shake up and down. This could also lead into the second factor behind the destruction of our building, and that factor is the satay sticks. During the "earthquake" the satay sticks could completely just fall out of the foam, not being securely stuck into the styrofoam. The satay sticks, which are also holding up the floors and are in a cross bracing method, could lead the building into collapsing. Either the shake board could be so strong that the sticks fall out, or the floors fall onto each other. In conclusion, the cause behind of the destruction of our building would be due to the isolated styrofoam base and the cross bracing of satay sticks.

Our Credible Source

What's Influencing Engineers' Choices For Buildings?

Q: What are the factors that influence engineers’ choices for adding elements that make a building more resistant to earthquakes?

A: I think that one factor that influences engineers' with their choice for adding elements is that bigger buildings should be able to sway. If they make sure that their building sways, but they also have to make sure that their building doesn't sway that much till the point of touching nearby buildings. So the factor would be the location of the building. Another thing factor that influence engineers' choices is making sure that the first story of their building must be well supported, and that the connections between layers should be strong. Another factor that is very important that would influence an engineers' choice is the different types of materials they choose to use to build their buildings. Using wood and steel is better than using brick, stone, and adobe, which are brittle and will break. By using wood and steel to support your building, it would also absorb the shock of the waves.

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How are we doing?

I think that we're doing pretty good, we had our base done and started on adding our different floors. We started off roughly, not having the right materials or not having the right amount, but we still didn't want to spend that much money. We had another plan with our base, which was similar to our first plan, but we twitched it a bit. After figuring out how to deal with our isolated base, we started rolling. We started to join the base and the first floor, and even started to add our cross bracing. During the next lesson, we plan on finishing adding the floors and the cross bracing, and maybe to even start practicing.

Before the cross bracing 

Our isolated base 

Current Progress 

Learning From Earthquake Resistant Buildings

Recently, we've been assigned a group project to make an earthquake resistant building. Before actually getting down to business, we had to independently come up with ideas of how we could build these resistant buildings and what we should avoid. Something that I learned that would help the building from being destroyed is to use cross bracing. By using the cross bracing method, it absorbs the motion during an earthquake and protects the building from damage. Another thing that I would make sure to add to our building is that the bottom or also known as the foundation should be symmetric. The third thing that I learned from my building design board is that the materials that we use should be light weight. One thing that I would definitely avoid is having the foundation be asymmetric, as I read that asymmetric buildings undergo torsion and extreme corners are subjected to very large earthquake forces. Another thing that I learned, that I will not be adding to my building is having sudden changes in lateral stiffness. Something that I learned, that is pretty interesting but will not fit to class made buildings, is that buildings should not have swimming pools or large tanks of water at the top of the building. Thirdly, we will avoid to make our building very slender. Lastly, something we will avoid is to make our building in a inverted pendulum type building. In conclusion, with this activity, I've learned a few things about what makes a good earthquake resistant building and what we should avoid in this project.

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Mathematical Reflections #2

In math class, we've recently started a new unit on integers and rational numbers. In the last unit, we started off with the first mathematical reflection, so here's another. The first question asked was (1.A.) "How do you decide which of two numbers is greater when both numbers are positive?" Well, when you first look at a number, if one number has more digits than the other, then that number with more digits is greater. If they both have the same number of digits, then look at the first digit of the number, if it's greater than the other, then that number would be greater. If the first digit is equal to the other number's first digit, then look at their second digit. Looking at the second digit and so forth, and seeing if they are greater or less than the other number's helps identify the greater number. (1.B.) "How do you decide which of two numbers is greater when both numbers are negative?" You can tell if one negative number is greater than the other by looking at a number line and looking at which one is close to zero. If you're not looking at a number line, just ignore the negative sign, and look at the actual number (digits.) The smaller number is greater while the greater number is smaller. For example, -10 and -5, -5 is greater. (1.C.) "How do you decide which of two numbers is greater when one number is positive and one number is negative?" We all know that the positive number is always the greatest. When you look at a number line it could help you determine the greater number by looking at the placement of the numbers. The positive number would be on the right and the negative number would be on the left.

(2) "How does a number line help you compare numbers?" A number line can help you compare numbers because as said before the negative numbers are on the left and the positive numbers are on the right. When comparing one negative number and a positive number you can just look at where the number is, either on the left or on the right. If you are comparing two positive numbers, you can look at a number line and see which one is closer to zero, if it is closer to zero than it is less than the other number. Something similar would go for the negative numbers, the number closer to zero would be greatest. Something that could help you on the number line, is using the jumping method. No, you don't actually jump on a number line. When you are using the jumping method, you see how many jumps it would take one number to get to another.

(3) "When you add a positive number and a negative number, how do you determine the sign of the answer?" When you add a positive number and a negative number, the answer will also be a positive number. For example, if you're looking at a number line, and the problem you're trying to figure out is +7+-5=? You would start at 7 and you would count towards the zero, since negative numbers are on the left, you would "jump" to the left. You would end up landing on 2. Alway remembering that whenever you add a positive with a negative, you end up with a positive number.

(4) "If you are doing a subtraction problem on a chip board, and the board does not have enough chips of the colour you wish to subtract, what can you do to make the subtraction possible?"
Knowing that when you add negative one to positive one, those numbers cancel each other out, meaning that they would equal zero. If you add an amount of pairs (negative one and positive one) to the problem, it would just be adding zeros, so it wouldn't harm the equation. Then, by breaking these pairs up, you get enough chips for both the positive and the negative, by erasing the extra chips, you are able to make the subtraction possible.

This picture of a number line, was taken from Creative Commons. 

This picture of negative and positive number chips, was taken from Creative Commons.

Wellness/Fitness 2014

How smoothly would your wellness wheel roll?
I think that my wellness wheel would roll pretty smoothly, but sometimes it may not. I think my wheel is mostly pretty balanced, but in some places it would be a little unbalanced.

In which areas of your life are you most well?
One area of my life that I am most well is in my social wellness. I have many friends that I can go to in good times to celebrate and I have friends that I can call whenever I feel sad or low. Sometimes, not most times, but sometimes I also express my emotions by laughing, crying when I'm sad and I also express anger or fear. I take time for fun and I have a satisfying and fulfilling relationship with my family, even though sometimes we fight.

In which areas of your life are you least well?
The area of my life that I'm least well in is my psychological wellness. I don't always achieve goals I set for myself, but sometimes I do. Most times I put off important tasks to the last minutes, and I definitely need to work on that.

What improvements would you like to see in your wellness wheel?
I would like to see my psychological wellness improve, so my wheel could be more balanced. I can achieve this by achieving more goals, associating with more people with positive attitudes, etc.

MY WEEKLY FITNESS

Record an average week of fitness. List your average daily exercise in the table below.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1 hour of walking	30 minutes of walking	1 hour of walking	1 hour of jogging	30 minutes of swimming	1 and a half hours of power walking/running	one hour of swimming

What healthy benefits of exercise caught your attention?

One of the healthy benefits of exercise that caught my attention was that exercise improves your posture and that it can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 60%.

What benefit would you like to improve at?

One benefit that I would like to improve at, well as I said before, exercise improves your posture. And as my mom has always told me, I have pretty bad posture, so that would be something that I would like to improve at. 

In your opinion, are you getting enough exercise? Explain.

Even though I do get some exercise in throughout my week, I still think that I should be getting more exercise. I do walk and run throughout the week, but I think that if I joined a sport that I enjoyed I would definitely get enough exercise.

If you need to make some changes, what are they and how will you achieve them? If you get enough exercise, how will you maintain?

One change I need to make is to do a lot more exercise, I will achieve this by getting motivation such as friends to come and join me, so I could also fit in another factor of wellness to the exercise part. If I do achieve the goal and if I do get enough exercise I will hopefully maintain this by writing down a schedule and writing how long I've been doing exercise.

List 3 ways in which exercise helps you maintain different areas of your wellness

1. Exercise can help you socialize with more people. Joining a new sport, means joining a new team full of people, so what a better place to meet new people.

2. As most of the benefits were talking about, exercise really helps your physical feature. It makes you more fit, and yet you are much more healthier. Exercise also reduces the risk of sicknesses.

3. Exercise can help your spiritual wellness improve.

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Themes and Memoirs

We've just recently started the unit of Memoirs in RLA. To lead us with the process of learning about this genre, we read Everything Will Be Okay. This story/memoir talks about when James Howe found a kitten in the forests, this kitten wasn't in the best condition, it had pus coming out of it's nose and eyes. James, brought it home, hoping he would be able to finally be able to call something his own. When his mom found out, she immediately told him to give it to her so he could put his clothes in the wash, never knowing what type of diseases it could carry, waiting for Paul, James' brother to come back. Paul worked at Dr. Milk's, the vet that was located in their town, James hoping that he could someday follow in the footsteps of him and work there too. Soon, James finds out who he really wants to be and discovers that it's okay to be different. I think that one idea from this mentor text that has stuck with me constantly, is that it's okay to be different and that you don't always have to follow in the footsteps of people. This mentor text taught me this because, well, James was taught from Paul and his father that hunting was right. James had a thought and a dream that he wanted to go hunting with his dad to make him proud. After, finding the kitten, and seeing Paul putting it to sleep, it made James wonder, was this really what he wanted to do? Thinking about the deer that once hung from the tree, haunted James but still helped him learned that he didn't have to be like his brother. "I will never work for Dr. Milk. I will not go hunting with my father. I will decide for myself what type of boy I am, what kind of man I will become." This lesson today, we were talking about "themes," I was asked why my teacher decided to give us "characters" to think about it? Well, a theme is a lesson that the reader learns from the story, the story is about the characters, a story without a character is like a story without a plot. We learn the lessons from what the characters go through, what the author wants the reader to leave the story with. If we were looking at Everything Will Be Okay, the different characters taught and showed different themes. Therefore, I think that's why even though we are looking at themes we were also looking at the characters.

Power to Move Continents?

What do you think gives the power to move continents? I think that since that there are layers under the Earth's crust that attract to a magnetic force, such as iron in the outer and inner core. The world is round, the magnetic force would go around the world, instead of one area. So, what really does give the continents to move? Well, continents are able to move because of the iron and the magnetic force that is around them, making them move with whatever is attracting the iron.

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TCK

Family Rituals

Grit

Grit. It's not the first time I've heard this word, but it's a word that always makes me think. Some people might have Grit while some may not. This word means to persevere for a goal, to work hard enough to accomplish something, or to make a passion come true. For me, grit is something I may have at times and I may not have in some situations. Personally, I think I need to build more grit, I give up easily, I don't work hard to accomplish a goal all the time. I find a way out of that situation instead of working for it. In the past, I've played sports, from tennis to swimming, so far I've stopped playing these sports for several not really good reasons. If I had grit I would've been able to be playing these sports till this day on. Even though I do think I can build a little more grit, I also kind of think I do have a bit of grit. I persevere to do something and accomplish a goal that means a lot to me. I remember how this summer I would line up in a line at 5 A.M. to meet a YouTuber, I stayed in line for up to six hours straight. I think this shows grit because it shows that I persevered to get out of bed (and that was quite hard), I didn't even think about getting out  of line. I was hungry and tired, but I was gonna have to work hard if I wanted to meet them. I persevered to stay there with one of my best friends, to make the best out of the situation and to meet the person I was lining up for. I think what helped me stay gritty at that moment, was thinking about how much the YouTubers' persevere to make their videos the quality people expect it to be. In conclusion, I think that I can gain more grit, while I think I also already have grit.

Hope, it's always there for you to remind you to improve on something. One hope there is for me, is that if I had grit, I would be able to accomplish more of the goals I have. It would also help me to try new passions, and to improve on them, whether I might be bad at it, or I might not. I think another hope for me would be to keep on trying to work hard to be able to use grit in better educational ways. I hope that I can use this grit in an educational way so I can get better grades and have a not as stressful school year.