Ferguson, Missouri

There have been several riots in Ferguson, Missouri lately.  It started in the summer and is still going on!    There are a lot of different rumors on news and everywhere about what happened, so I will just describe the basic events everybody knows.  A white police officer shot and killed a black teenager who was robbing a store and running away.  The police officer shot him ten times.  The teens name was John Brown.  I can't really say any more because I don't know what exactly happened, but it is truly sad and I hope that the police officer didn't shoot him out of racism or a bias against black people.  I think he did, though.

Basketball Season

My team and I's basketball season is going bumpy, but we are getting the hang of it.  We are the best my grade level's A-Team has ever been!  Last year, the A-Team had zero wins in A-Tournaments, but this year we already have one win.  Plus, we have gotten third place in a tournament!  I'm not the best player on the team, but I am it the worst.  If we just play as a team and play under pressure, we will be great the rest of the season.

Coefficients

There is a term in math called a coefficient.  It is where there is a number in front of a variable or exponent basically.  So a coefficient is, 4y, 28a, any number in front of a variable or exponent.  We learned it in math today and I was confused by why we even need to name something that comes before a variable or exponent.  But there is a name for it, so I guess we should bother wondering.  (:

Inequalities

In math, we are learning about inequalities.  You know things like < (less than) or > (greater than).  Yeah, those.  But we are learning more in depth about those.  There are also things like that, but it could be great her than or equal to, or less than or equal too.  Also, there are different ways of saying greater or less than.  Blows my mind!  (:  Those things are, < and >, except they have little dash marks under them.

                                                                                           

Glory

In history, we have been watching a movie called, "Glory".  It is about the very first battalion of black soldiers in the Union during the Civil War.  It is a very hard watch, but it is very well done and I almost cried at the end.  But I didn't.  :)  I saw the true devastation of the Civil War, not just by taking notes on my teacher talking about it.  You should watch it!

G.E.L

I really like my G.E.L class. It's full of kids who love and who want to learn.  They are also pretty smart. The teacher doesn't talk down to us, she says everything like she expects us to know.  She's a really nice teacher and good too.  It's the one class besides math that actually gets me thinking hard . (:  Our concept for this year in G.E.L is utopia.  We get to read a lot of short stories and write articles and stuff about them.

Expressions and Equations

In math, we have been writing expressions and equations.  An expression is when it gives you a problem, say, 8 more than the number b plus 10.  That would be, b+10+8.  I think.  (:  Equations are like, k plus 10 is 33.  Is means 'equal' so the answer would be, k+10=33.  Pretty fun and easy.

Cells

In science, we are learning all about cells.  We are learning all the parts and what they do.  Here are some cell organells: the mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi body, cytoplasm, chlorophyll, cloroplast, nucleus, nucleolus, cell membrane, and cell wall.  It's all pretty interesting.  We are trying to relate them to things in a city or town by what they do for the cell.

Snow?

WHY IS IT SNOWING ALREADY?????  Yes, you heard me.  It's snowing today!  Sadly, it's about less than one inch, but in the Twin Cities and further north in Minnesota, they have 5-10 inches!  We might be covered in snow before Thanksgiving even!  I hope not.  I think that it will go away soon, and come back after Thanksgiving.

Basketball Game

Today is our first basketball game!  I am really excited and nervous.  There are some pretty good scorers on my team and I need to remember that I'm not the main scorer.  Not even close.  I just need to remember to do the little things that make a big difference.  Things like: boxing-out, rebounding, fighting for my space on the block, run the plays aggressively, etc.  me and my teammates have been counting down the hours all day long until our game.  I think everybody is ready and everybody is focused.

Gettysburg Address

Did you know that the Gettysburg Address was only about 2 minutes long?  It was.  Imagine you wanting to see the president for your whole life, and when you do, he only talks for two minutes?  That would be crazy!  (:  The speech was basically saying, "We are here today to honor the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and to announce that we will make a graveyard for them."  That's basically it.  Abraham Lincoln just makes it seem like so much more with all those big, long words.  (:

Utopia

In GEL, we have been having a unit on the concept of utopia.  Things like, is it possible to have a utopia?  Does each person have a different utopia?  What things would you have to change to make the earth a utopia?  It's pretty cool and since we are in GEL, everyone is an active listener and 

participator, and they have good ideas to contribute.  We have also read books and short story's about utopian societies.

First Tourney

My first basketball tournament is this Friday!  We are playing are rivals, but I think we will do good.  If we beat the team on Friday, then we don't play at all on Saturday, but if we lose, we have to play Saturday and Sunday.  That means that I will have basketball something or other 6/7 days this week.  I had practice yesterday and will have it again today, we have a skills training camp in Thursday, and probably games all weekend.  But it is my favorite sport and thing to do, so it's good!