In my sixth grade language arts class, we read a book called The Westing Game. In this book, a character named Turtle Wexler followed the stock market. Like Turtle, our class decided to follow the stock market as well. I invested in Boeing, Nike, Berkshire, General Electric, Microsoft, and McDonalds. We invested twenty thousand fake dollars into the stock market. I lost some money and I also gained some money. Overall, this project has taught me how quickly and unpredictably the stock market can change. It also exposed me to how you can either make a lot of money or lose a lot of money with the stock market.
TED like Talks
Have you ever watched a TED talk? In our language arts class we all researched, wrote, and presented a TED like talk about something we are passionate about. My topic was neural networks. First, I researched my topic. I used Google and I also talked with my parents, who had a rough understanding of the topic. Then, I began creating a slideshow for my talk. I didn’t have a script to base my slideshow off of. I actually liked this better than writing a script first because a slideshow gave me a general idea of what I wanted to talk about. Once I had a slideshow, it was very easy to write a script to go along with it. My slideshow was mostly pictures and very few words. I think this helped my audience pay more attention to my voice. All in all, this experience has really helped me to develop my public speaking skills and has helped me share my knowledge with my peers.
6th grade language arts
In my sixth-grade language arts class, we read a book called The Last Cuentista. It depicts a girl named Petra and her adventures as Earth is destroyed by a comet. Some people, such as Petra, were saved and taken to another planet. When they arrive, Petra is the only passenger with any memory of Earth. Everyone else has been brainwashed by a group called the Collective. Eventually, Petra’s storytelling awakens people’s memories of Earth. I enjoyed reading The Last Cuentista because it was futuristic and is based on an interesting idea. Although the book had many strengths, I think the book needed more action. A major theme of the book was how important storytelling and keeping stories alive is. Because of Petra’s storytelling, the brainwashed children begin remembering their past and start to take action against the Collective. Telling stories reminds us of the past and is an important part of most, if not all cultures. It can pass on important life lessons and can also be a fun pastime. In this case, telling stories saved people from a soulless existence.
In addition to reading The Last Cuentista, my language arts class and I wrote a piece on what our ideal world would be. My world would be named The Matrix and it would have several interesting features. First, my planet would have floating islands. They would be like small moons that appear stationary relative to my planet. They would be topped by futuristic skyscrapers and glass skybridges linking them together. Second, there would be birds known as Cherpers who are easily trained and specialize in putting on aerial shows. They are commonly used to cheer on sports teams. Third, my planet would have an education system based on apprenticeships, which would allow students to focus on what mattered most to them. Finally, my planet would have highly advanced technology. The most recent breakthrough was interstellar travel, which allowed people to travel almost anywhere in the universe in a matter of seconds. Overall, writing about my ideal world has been a very creative experience and I also had a great time reading other people’s ideal worlds.
Half way through the year, we started making hardcover, handmade books. First, we used leaves and flowers to create beautiful paintings. Next, we folded and cut a large piece of poster board into a book. Then, we collaged our paintings into our book. Finally, we copied and pasted our ideal world writing and our cuento writing, a project in which we wrote a story that one of our family members told, into our books. Of course, we couldn’t have done this without the help of our local artist, Peg Gignoux. All in all, Bookmaking was one of the highlights of the year and it was fun to do something with my hands in class.
In conclusion, I had a very diverse and enjoyable time in my language arts class this year. I read a book about storytelling and comets. I imagined an entire world and watched it spring to life on my paper. I even made my very own book! Throughout my experience in language arts, this was an inspiring and memorable year. I look forward to language arts next year!
La Ciudad de Durham
Soy David y tengo 11 años. Yo vivo en Durham y me encanta jugar videojuegos. También, me gusta ir a la playa. Voy a hablar de las actividades de Durham.
Primero, en Durham tú puedes visitar el Museo De La Vida y La Ciencia. Tú puedes hacer experimentos, comer en el restaurante, aprender sobre ciencias y ver animales. ¿Te gusta aprender sobre ciencias? ¿Te gusta hacer experimentos?
Segundo, en Durham tú puedes visitar Los Jardines de Sarah P. Duke. Tú puedes observar flores y ver peces. También, tú puedes tomar fotos y caminar. ¿Te gusta ver peces? ¿Te encanta tomar fotos?
Tercero, en Durham tú puedes visitar el Estadio de Béisbol de los Toros de Durham. Tú puedes observar un juego de béisbol: ¡Un juego de béisbol es muy divertido! Además, tú puedes comprar recuerdos, comer comida, y hablar. ¿Te gusta ver un juego de béisbol? ¿Te fascina comprar recuerdos?
Cuarto, tú puedes ir al Museo de Arte de Nasher. Tú puedes observar pinturas, tomar fotos, ver esculturas, y observar monumentos. ¿Te gusta observar pinturas? ¿Te gusta ver esculturas?
Finalmente, en Durham hay muchos edificios, museos, y teatros. Asimismo, Durham tiene universidades, jardines, y estadios de béisbol. Yo pienso que Durham es una ciudad muy bonita, interesante, colorida, y divertida. ¿Te encanta visitar Durham?
Movement Class
My movement teacher, Mrs. Norkus
In my school, I am currently taking a fine art called Movement. Movement is a great class that helps me relax and increases my spatial awareness. One of my favorite parts of movement is when we take a walkabout. We usually take walkabouts when the weather is nice and when movement is the last class of the day. During a walkabout, we walk outside and do stretches. After we do all our stretches, we use the remaining time to play on the playground. I like walkabouts because it refreshes my brain after a long day of school.
Another thing I enjoy about movement is when we play wax museum. In wax museum, one person is the night guard and everyone else are statues. The night guard tries to catch the statues moving while the statues try to move without being caught. When we play wax museum, we have to be aware of where the night guard is and which way they are facing. Wax museum is a fun game to play that increases our perception of the world.
Overall, movement is one of the best fine arts that I have taken. It makes me more sure of my body and is an energizing break from school work.
My Ideal World
The Matrix
If you could design a planet, what would it look like? My planet would be called The Matrix. Some of its physical features would include floating islands, three moons, and tall mountains. The floating islands would be more like very small moons than actual islands. They would orbit around my planet at about the same speed that the planet spins at. This would cause them to appear stationary relative to the planet. The islands would be filled with futuristic skyscrapers and glass sky bridges would connect the islands together. My planet, The Matrix, would also have three moons. These would appear brightly in the night sky. Two out of the three moons were colonized by humans. The third moon would be an inhospitable piece of fiery rock with average temperatures of 2350 – 2400 degrees fahrenheit. This is due to a massive runaway greenhouse effect. The last distinct physical feature that my planet has is towering mountains. Their peaks would disappear into the sky and be covered in snow. Beautiful waterfalls would cascade off the sides of these mountains. The waterfalls would be located low enough in altitude that they wouldn’t freeze. These waterfalls would be the main way that humans get fresh water. Those would be the three physical features that my planet has.
My planet also has many diverse animals. These include birds that put on aerial shows when they migrate, and bugs that produce a sticky substance much like concrete. The birds are known as Cherpers. Their name is a combination between cheer and chirp. The cheer is because the birds look like cheerleaders when they perform aerial shows. The chirp is the sound that they make while they perform. Cherpers are easily trained and are commonly used to support sport teams. They are also a popular form of entertainment for young children to watch. The bugs are called Vivis. They secrete a concrete-like concoction to build their homes. Humans utilize them to construct soaring skyscrapers. However, their concrete is very expensive. Therefore, their concrete is only used to build very important buildings. The one thing that my planet would positively not have would be mosquitoes. Anything that produces itchy and annoying bites for humans would either have been eradicated or would have gone extinct due to natural causes. If anything like a mosquito is ever discovered, a state of emergency would be declared. The world would scramble to eradicate the new pest.
Those would be the signature animals that my planet, The Matrix, would have.
The Matrix has highly advanced technology. The most recent and interesting invention is interstellar travel. In the late 35th century, the most brilliant people on Matrix were all racing to create a ship that could achieve interstellar travel. This race was much like the space race on Earth. Interstellar travel was eventually invented by an engineer named Robert Travowski. The interstellar engine allowed people on Matrix to travel to almost anywhere in the universe in a matter of seconds. Today, interstellar travel is almost taken for granted and people commonly use it to go on vacations to other galaxies.
My planet would have a unique education system. The education from preschool to 5th grade would be very similar to the education system on Earth. After 5th grade, children would be educated by a system called Apprenticeships. Children would get to choose one or two particular subjects to excel in. If they are unsure what subject to choose, there would be an option where kids learn a bit of everything. Children who do choose one or two subjects to devote their time to would be taught by experts in the field. For example, if a child wanted to learn science, they would be taught by an experienced scientist who had worked in the field before. Once students have reached high school, they can choose a few subcategories of main subjects that they would really like to shine in. For example, if a student was learning about science, once they enter high school, they may choose to focus on archeology. Students would still be taught by professionals in the field. After students graduated from college, they would have the option to continue their education through graduate school. Graduate school would function similarly to how graduate school works on Earth. All education would be free, because the government would pay the school. That would be the education system of The Matrix.
Those are the main unique features of The Matrix. I believe that it would function well and that it would be fun to live there. What do you think? What would be your ideal world?
My Field Trip
Last week, my class went on a field trip to The Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, North Carolina. The buses we rode on were holiday travel buses. They had plushy seats and were very tall. The other cars looked like cookie crumbs! Once we got there, the first thing we saw was the skeleton of a blue whale. The jaw of it was the size of a car! After that, we went up an escalator and saw a pool of fishes. It happened to be the exact time that the museum staff were feeding the fish. We watched as the museum staff would put pieces of food on long metal sticks and slowly lower them into the water. The fish would swim up and snap the food off the stick in a very sudden motion. It was so fast, you could hardly see it!
Next, we went to an exhibit on climate change. There were many interactive models that we could play with to help us understand how humans were damaging the environment and how we could help fix it. We then walked to an animal exhibit. There was a miniature model forest with animals hidden around it. They were hiding in between the leaves and camouflaged in the ground. The longer you looked, the more you saw! Then, we gaped at the colossal dinosaur exhibit. Their heads soared into the sky! It was amazing that such a large animal could ever have walked the Earth.
Penultimately, we had lunch outside. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Finally, we went back inside to an eye-opening RACE exhibit. There were many beautiful and informative posters. They combined color and words to make a spectacular and captivating billboard. One thing that I learned from that exhibit was medical racism. I hadn’t been aware of medical racism before I went to that exhibit. Overall, the race exhibit enhanced my knowledge on the topic and gave me useful tips on how to stop racism in the future.
After that, we left the museum. The experience was quite enjoyable and educational for me. I got to see live animals eating and living in their natural habitat. I saw models of ancient dinosaurs and skeletons of massive blue whales. I would recommend the Museum of Natural Sciences to anyone who loves nature and science.
My Current Book
Credit for image: Sora
This January I started reading a book called The False Prince. I have loved it so far because its plot is captivating and suspenseful. An orphan called Sage and two other orphans are bought by a wealthy noble for a mysterious reason. The False Prince was written by Jennifer A. Nielsen. It is the first book in a quartet. I picked up this book because it was one of the five books my librarian recommended to my class. I had already read the first four and had thoroughly enjoyed them, so naturally I read this book as well.
In my language arts class, we were discussing window and mirror books. A window book is about a story that you do not relate to. A mirror book is about a story that you can relate to. This book is a window book for me because I am not an orphan and I am not living in a medieval time period. One interesting thing that I notice is that I typically read window books and not mirror books. This could be because I enjoy reading fantasy and adventure books and most of those books are window books to me. I am on track to finish this book soon.
EAT MORE CHICKEN,
David
If Spines Could Speak
My Wisdom Tales Project
In school this week, we did a project called Wisdom Tales. We would take a fable or short story that had a moral and make a project with it. I chose to make a comic that showed my Wisdom Tale. I used an app called Comic Life 3. It made it really easy to import images that I drew in an app called Sketchbook. Once I had imported my images, I could add speech bubbles to help tell the story. You can find my comic above this blog post. I hope you like it!