Rochester Tourney

We have our Rochester Tournament this weekend!  It is the best and most fun tournament of the year because we get to stay in a hotel.  Also, our competition is more around our level.  This year we are supposedly staying in a different hotel than last time which is good because last year's hotel sucked.  They usually have pools, so its basically the highlight of the tournament -- swimming along with basketball.

Today during history, we looked at this very racist ad.  It was a picture of on one side, a monkey leaping for a tree branch, and on the other side was a picture of an African American basketball player dunking.  On the bottom it said, Born to be Agile.  It took me a minute to understand it.  The monkeys legs were spread apart and its hand was reaching up, like the Air Jordan logo.  The basketball player was doing that too.  People used to think that African American people were basically monkeys.  So we spent the whole time picking apart this very rude ad.

Dieting

I have been dieting for about a week now.  I decided to diet because with all the running and working out I have been doing, I still find myself not in my top shape.  I figured it was because I eat more than I burn.  I burn a lot, but I also eat a lot!  :)  I like food.  So I decided to diet.  Now I'm not talking only-eat-one-seed-per-day kinda diet, just kind of a more regulated diet.  Like I don't usually have snacks after school, I ONLY have sweets on the weekend, I can't have more than two helpings, I eat half of a bagel instead of a full bagel for breakfast, only four tacos per night (even though I like tacos), and only four pieces of chicken maximum.  It's not that hard, it's just teaching me better self control and helping me stay in better shape.

Titus

Some kids are good at basketball when they are young.  But this three-year-old could probably beat most kids!  (: Watch this video, AND BE AMAZED!

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmMbm78sEB4

What I find amazing about this is that he is a three-year-old!  I mean, what makes him want to do basketball?  Does he even understand the concept?  :)  That kid is awesome!

Spanish-American War

In history, we are now learning about the Spanish-American War.  We just got started today, but my history teacher is really cool so we learn a lot everyday in a fun way.  We learned about types of power, like economical, political, etc.  we also learned about why empires want power and the ways power affects people.  

Suffragettes

In history, we have been learning about the suffragettes and what they did to accomplish what they wanted.  We watched a movie on it called Iron Jawed Angels.  It was pretty great.  The women were so dedicated, they stood outside the White House, holding up signs and banners and calling the president, Kaiser Wilson.  It was ironic because at the time, WW1's leader for Germany was called Kaiser.  

In science, we are doing a self-paced unit on the body systems.  I am ahead of schedule and things are going pretty good.  I have already covered three units, and it's the third day.  We are recommended to have a unit per two days.  I think there are six units, but I'm not sure.  I have a fun group I'm working with, too.  

4.0

As of now, I have a 4.0!  I have straight A's in all my classes, not A-'s!  (:  I'm so proud, but I still have to keep up  work until the end of the quarter.  I really hope I do because I haven't had 4.0 before, but I have had A honor role.  So that would be awesome!  (:

We only have three basketball tournaments left! I'm sad but also glad.  I have improved so much and gotten in better shape, but it will also be a relief to have some free, calm nights.  I hope to go beast mode in my last three tournaments this season and have fun, too!

National History Day

We have a huge project I thinki already wrote about in one of my earlier blogs, called National History Day.  I am creating a website on Malcolm X - it's done!  We had months to work on this, so the teachers are expecting big things.  Sadly, I can say that about 50% of our 7th grade haven't even started.  It's due Monday!  But at least I have mine done.  And I have awesome helpers... Cough, cough, Mom and Dad, cough, cough.  (:

Frog Dissection P2

Let's just say the second day was worst than the first day of the frog dissection.  Yesterday, we just had to cut it open but today, we had to take all the parts out and stuff!  It was nasty and smelly.  I was so grossed out, I didn't even want to know what was the stomach, or what was the lungs - I just wanted to get out of that class!  (:

Frog Dissection

Today in science, we had a frog dissection.  We will be dissecting the same frog tomorrow, too, because we didn't have enough time to finish.  It was way grosser than the earthworm dissection!  With the earthworm, I can trick myself into thinking that its just a noodle of something, but with a frog, uh-uh.  I got a headache from some smells you don't even want to know about coming from the frog, too!  (: