In geography class we are currently learning about Canada.  We studied the map which contains ten provinces and three territories.  The provinces are: Ontario, Quebeck, Saskatchewan, British Colombia, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Foundland/ Labrador.  The territories are: Yukon Territory, Northwestern Territory, and Nunuvut.  In case you didn't know, Canada is cold.  I would not want to live there. Ever.  Unless America happens to be blown up.  Anyways, another fun fact is that the border between Canada and America is the longest undefended border in the world.  It's true.

So I mentioned the other day that I wanted to increase my vertical jump, and so Dad and I measured and I have a 16 inch vertical jump which is pretty good for my age.  So I have been looking on the Internet and have come up with a workout routine that will improve my vertical.  It is:

70 pound front squat. (3 sets of 10)

15 pound Dumbbells in each hand, jump as high as you can without a running start.  (3 sets of 10)

Jump up from floor to 5'th stair without a running start.  (3 sets of 10)

Finally, the most important thing to do is just to practice jumping.  Try touching the backboard on a regulation size basketball hoop, touch the net, jump and try to touch the ceiling, anything that has to do with jumping.

So that's it and I hope it works well!

In Advanced English, we are learning about Shakespeare, and his plays.  The one we are learning about currently, is A Midsummer Nights Dream.  It's probably the most confusing play ever.  Basically, the main girl character, Hermia, is in love with and person named Lysander, but her dad wants her to marry a guy called Demetrius who she doesn't like.  But another girl named Helena likes Demetrius and is trying to get him to like her.  So Hermia has to marry Demetrius or be put to death.  One night, she and Lysander run off into the woods.  There is also a fairy realm which is really confusing but also has to do with love I think.  We haven't gotten to that part yet.  Then, there is basically a play within a play because these horrible actors who think they are amazing put on a play for the king and queen.  That part is supposed to be the funny part.  Isn't it really confusing!

Personal Best

The other day in gym class, we ran the mile.  Last year, I would have been nervous, but since I ran it so much over the summer, it was easy.  The only thing I was worried about was running with my sprained ankle.  You have to have a doctors note to be able to be excused from a gym class, but we didn't go to the doctor, so I didn't have a note.  I knew I could just run through it.  And I did.  I got third place.  I ran a 6:08 minute mile with a sprained ankle!  And most people in my class got between 8 and 12 minutes for their mile time.  It was fun!

Elevation

So my friend Ricky is pretty cool.  He can basically touch the rim on a regulation size basketball hoop.  So he has hops.  I was asking him what kind of exercises he did for his legs and he said that he saw this Youtube video about this 5 foot 7 inch white kid who dunked.  That is only one inch taller than me and the same hight at Ricky.  He said that the video had a link underneath to the exercises that the kid did, and that Ricky does.  So I am going to be working super hard to be able to at least touch the rim these next couple of months!!!!  Here is the video in case you wanted to see it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGvyEg4_v30

Shakespearean Language

So in English, we are learning about Shakespeare's plays and how he talked and things like that.  Lets just say that I don't exactly have an ear for interpreting poetry stuff.  At all.  I spent like 5 minutes trying to decipher this one line that was more literal than I thought.  If I were to make a poem, it would be the worlds easiest poem to understand.  Also, we are going sometime in November to see the play, A Midsummer's Night Dream.  So that will take a while to understand.  But it will be fun so I am all for it.  At least I am told it will be fun by my English teacher because we are all going as a class.

Atmosphere

In science we have been learning about the atmosphere.  There are four layers of the atmosphere.  First, there is the troposphere where planes and birds and things like that fly.  Then there is the stratosphere, on top of that is the mesosphere, and on top of that is the thermosphere.  The troposphere is extremely important because it absorbs ozone which is like oxygen, just with 3 oxygen molecules.  Without the troposphere it would be way to hot to live.

In Photography class, we are doing a really fun assignment.  I hate photography class because the teacher is so boring I could fall asleep and wake up with her still rambling on.  Also, the assignments are pretty dumb.  But it's better than taking a music class, so I have to suck it up.  Anyways, the assignment we see doing is about overlays and so we went on our iPads, took a picture of ourselves, and then we had to take another picture of something with a lot of texture.  So I am doing a picture of myself with a white background all around me.  Then my skin is the texture of a basketball, and you can see the basketball close up, but also see me.  It's pretty sick.  

Spanish Class

Spanish class has been really fun.  I have learned a lot and I had been practicing Spanish for about two years now!  I have learned more in a month than in two years!  But I have been a little ahead of the curve because I knew more than the average kid signing up for Spanish.  Not as ahead of the curve as the two Spanish speaking kids, though.  They are way ahead of the curve.  We have learned greeting, good byes, months, days, numbers, the alphabet, and other things like grammar and stuff.  It's pretty confusing but I have been doing really good at it.

Air Pressure

So in science class we are learning about air pressure and out teacher did this really cool expirement. He got out a balloon and put it inside of an airtight vacuum thing.  Not like the vacuum you use for the carpet but the more sciency one.  So basically, he sucked all the air out of the vacuum and something awesome happened - the balloon started expanding!  It got really big and we thought it was going to pop.  Then he let the air back in and the balloon shrunk back to its normal size.  He also did it with a marshmallow, a crushed plastic water bottle, and the coolest one, shaving cream.  They all did the same thing and it was pretty sick.  They all expanded when the air was sucked out because there was less air pressure pushing on it and so that let whatever the object was, expand.  Then when he let the air back in, it shrunk because there was more air pressure forcing it down.

Rest

Before I say anything, let me just say that I am a super active person.  I hate rest, I have no time for it except for when I'm sleeping.  I move all day at school, even bouncing my legs or something like that just to move.  So when I injured my ankle on the first practice of the year, let's just say that resting for  three days, doing nothing all day, sucks.  If you want to torture me, make me rest.  That would make me reveal secret information to the Russian Secret Service.  If that's a thing.  So now that my ankle is halfway better, I can exercise all I want, except for jumping or running unless it's at practice.  Whew! (:

Basketball Practice

So we had our first basketball practice the other day and it was sick!  My coach, Richard Marshall, is so awesome!  Best coach I've ever had and probably will ever have for a while.  He is African American and he played D1 college basketball at Oklahoma.  He said he is all about defense which is something that haven't been emphasized on the past teams I have been on, and I also love being on defense and am pretty good at it too.  Anyways, he is also cool because he said that we are going to win a ton of games this year!  None of the other coaches that I have had have said that.  They just said we were going to have fun, but Coach Rich said that we are going to win!  And that is something that didn't happen to any of my past basketball teams.  He also said that we are going to scrimmage and best the A - team this year!  That's cool.

Poisonball

Today in gym class we played a really fun game called Poisonball.  It is almost exactly like dodgeball, except that there is only one ball.  Also, you can only hold the ball for 3 seconds before throwing it.  And you can only take 3 steps with it.  The most challenging thing though, is that the court shrinks as more people get out.  It starts with a full court basketball court, then shrinks to half court, then shrinks to free throw line to the baseline, then finally shrinks to the middle circle in the middle of the court.  It's really fun and I think I like it more than dodgeball.  That's how fun it is.  :)