Monthly Archives: February 2023

6th Grade

Movement Class

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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.  



6th Grade

My Ideal World

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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?

 

6th Grade, Off Campus

My Field Trip

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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.