IT Brickfilms #3

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.

First Brickfilms

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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