biology relfection

This year in Ap bio I really learned a lot more then I thought you could learn in a year. It was also a lot of fun. my favorite thing we did was all of our labs. The labs helped me learn better because they more fun and relaxed then tests and taking notes. It was a way for me to make an example of the notes I just took. I didn't like disecting the frog or the starfish. It really grossed me out. I did the packet and watched from a little further back and let Marquis, Kalfas and Avery disect. but overall I think Ap biology was one of my favorite classes this year. It really challeneged me and taught me time management and how toreally pay attention or else you get totally lost. My favorite subject in bio would probly be the genetics study. I like to learn about how people get their genes and traits from their parents and how we all look different. because its something you notice everyday but never realize how muchi behind how someone got brown eyes or blonde hair. I also liked watchin Lorenzo's oil. It was really sad but taught me so much. If I didn't do that packet with the movie I don't think that I would have realized how educational the movie was. it taught me so much. I think I learn better when it has to do with emotion and hands on projects. thats why I liked bio because we were always in a lab doing something or watching something. we didn't just sit there all the time.

AP bio lab :

(fun.but.nasty)

Blooms Taxonomy :)

10 question quiz.

1.what do you think could happen to George after he killed Lennie?
I think that after George killed Lennie the rest of the guys all saw and were happy. I think that Candy and George never got that house and the land. I think that their dreams also died away with Lennie. George probably went on with his life from farm to farm trying to be happy.
2.Can you name the person that wanted to get the farm with Lennie and George?
Candy
3.What do you think would change if Lennie never killed Curly's wife?
I think that if Lennie never killed Curly's wife then Lennie would still be alive and that Lennie George and Candy would have gotten their dream house and Lennie would be tending to the rabbits (which he probably would wind up killing) and Candy would cook and grow veggies and George would work at different farms.
4.What questions would you ask Candy at the moment they killed his dog?
I would ask him how he felt? why didn't he fight more for the dog he loved? If he could go back and save his dog would he?
5.Is this book similar to Native Son? why or why not?
I think the book is similar to Native Son but only in a few ways. I think that the killings and deaths that were accidental were similar, and how some of the characters seemed lost and out of place and weren't really sure who they were yet and were trying to get to their dreams.
6.What do you consider the turning point to be?
I think the turning point would be when Lennie killed Curly's wife because that's when the whole story changed. It went from a happy story that could end with all of their hopes and dreams happening to a sad ending with the killing of Lennie and their dreams.
7.What differences exist between George and Lennie?
George is smarter obviously, but he lives a sheltered life, unable to appreciate the small things in life and he works hard to provide for him and Lennie. on the other hand Lennie is a happy person who is easily amused and finds the little things of life most pleasurable.
8.could this have happened in our time?
I think that this could happen anytime and probably does happen we just don't know about it.
9.What are some of the motive behind Curly's violent behavior to everyone?
He is a smaller man and he feels threatened by the bigger stronger men. He also wants to keep the other men away from his beautiful lonely wife.
10.If you could describe this book in one word what would it be? why?
depressing.

5th Day of Service Learning

For Service learning we all went and met up in the counseling room and we talked about all the things that we have accomplished this week. My group: Me, Veasna, Mo, Arlette and Gribbin all got our letters done. we wrote a letter to Dr. Davidson and told him about everything happening in our project. we also wrote a letter for our grant. then we found out we can't get another grant this year so we are saving the grant for next year. the other group: Juliene, Tabitha, Brandon and John worked on something, but I'm not sure what they did because i wasn't working with them. Then we went to the computer room and we typed up the letters and then we made an intro paper to hand out at the meeting that we will be having to tell the principal what our plan is for the school store. This week went really well and we got a lot of work done.

OMG! service learning..

Service Learning To Do List :D

THINGS TO DO:

-PICK A SUPPLIER
-DESIGN A NEW SCHOOL HOODIE
-FIGURE OUT WHAT WE WANT TO SELL
-GET A CASH REGISTER
-FIND SOMEONE TO MANAGE THE MONEY
-WHAT DO WE WANT TO DO WITH THE MONEY WE MAKE
-WHO SHOULD RUN THE STORE
-WHERE SHOULD THE STORE BE LOCATED
-WRITE THE GRANTS
-WRITE THE LETTERS
-SET UP THE STORE
-HOW MUCH THINGS SHOULD COST
-WRITE A LETTER TO DR. DAVIDSON

4th day of service learning

This day of service learning went the best out of all. It seems that with each week we all get better and we get more work done. We all split into our own groups and my group: Me, Veasna, Mo, Arlette and Gribbin, we went into the other room and we wrote two letters. the one letter was to Dr. Davidson to let him know about our service learning group. what we are about and what our group and the other letter was to the people we wanted to get to sponser us with some money. It was sort of like a grant. I think that the splitting into 3 different groups worked really well because we are grouped with people we get along good with, yet still get all of work done too. I think that this week everything went sucessful. The only challenge was thinking about what to put in the letter to Dr. D. So far i have learned that it takes a lot more work making a store then i thought it did. You need people to supply stuff to you, you need to figure out what supplies you need, where you want the store, how you are going to set it up, who takes care of the money and much much more. for everything you need there are a milliom tiny things you have to do to get that. it is a lot more complicated then most people might realize. the coming weeks we really need to just get all of our information. like our supplier and such and see if we can get a grant for the money. its going to get harder with each week. next year i don't think that much needs to be changed maybe just give more time to do this and you independent hours also.

third day of service learning

on the third day of service learning we actually started to get our stuff together and made groups. one group: Juliene, Brandon, Tabitha and John went and looked at different spaces to use for the school store. the other group: Veasna, Ashlee, Tiana and Morgan were writing the grants and letters that needed to be sent to people to make everything possible. the last group: Jessica, Mo, Gribbin and Arlette we wrote out on paper everything that needs to be done. sort of like a check list of supplies we wanted, our ideas on paper and everything. just so we could have it in writing.

second day of service learning

The second day of service learning went a lot smoother. even though we were all still really upset about how the first day went, we all came together and decided to change our groups purpose. we all talked the whole entire time trying to come up with different ideas to make our group do. then finally after a looooooot of talking and fighting and getting mad, we decided to make our group do a school store. we would get all the supplies, and build a school store. it could have some snacks, hoodies, book bags, pencils and basically everything you would need in school. we were trying to think of who would run the school and take care of the money we make. this service learning actually went really well.

first day of service learning

on the first day of service learning we all sat in a room with each other and it didn't go to well. everyone was stressed because our group didn't have a solid plan of what we are doing. everyone was yelling random ideas out but we never got anything done. a lot of people said they were about to leave the group. i wanted to change because it was too stressful. the group didn't have anything we can sow for it. it seemed like the whole entire project we were working towards was pointless. so all we did the first day of service learning was sit around, yell out what we wanted to do, wrote it down and fight with each other.

our service learning group

the group that I am working in is called menotring group. the groups purpose is to make a lounge and have kids come to our group and get to know each other. it is a way for the new kids to become friends with people and relax with people. we can find a room in the school that is not being used and make it into a lounge. we will also be making a how to survive constitution high school book. it is written by freshman and sophmores so we have everyones opinions. it is about what you need to do to survive such as keeping you stuff organized, making friends that will help you, and so on.

National History Day reflection

my topic for national history day is illegal street racing around the country. my group is Juliene, Veasna and John. we chose this topic because it is something they are all really interested in and it would be fun to interview racers and make a documentary about it. it is something a lot of people are interested in and a lot of people consider it a hobby. so it will attract people into watching the movie we make. it also has a lot of history and documents we can use. there a lot of court cases for street racing and it started back in the 50's. when cars were made a lot of people started racing them and it traces back a long time ago. it might be harder to find street races from a long time ago but we have found 2 documents for that already. we planed to video tape cars racing and there are a lot of videos online that we can use too.

there were some problems we had when doing our project. the one problem that had the biggest effect was when we didnt do our voice over's quick enough, but once we got them done and over with everything went well. the things that we did well were the entire documentary. we had great videos, pictures, information, voice overs, and music. i really loved the engaging begining. that was my favorite part. if i had to do something diffrent next year i think i am going to do an exhibit. it is a lot easier then a documetnary. the documentary takes so much more time. and i also only want to work with 2 more people at most.


some things i learned is that street racing is a big problem in our country even though many people dont realize it. many people are dying and getting injured from it. there are a lot of things being disturbed and damaged because of racing. people are trying to stop it and help make other ways people can race legally and still get that adrenaline rush. but then again a lot of people love street racing and think it should be legal. thats one of the reasons we wanted to make this documentary. we can video tape both sides and show the debate and reasons for their opinions. it can help other people base an opinion on street racing.

street racing has also improved cars a lot over the years. people who race have invented things to make the cars go faster and ways to make the car lighter so its gets to a higher speed. it has helped make new kinds of cars and helped make cars that run without gas.



my links that helped with the project:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_racing
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/street-racing-racing-risks/1225200336
http://www.fazeteen.com/spring2002/streetracing.htm
http://www.jmooneyham.com/fast-kills-the-best-street-racing-kill-stories-on-the-net.html
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1058379/
http://www.superstreetonline.com/index.html
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=1418

independent service learning

for my independent service learning there are some things i can do...

-i can babysit for my neighbors for free

-i can clean up the playgrounds around my neighborhood

-i can volunteer at a hospital

-i can volunteer at an animal shelter

-i can volunteer at the zoo

How to Cook a White Girl :D (based on Native Son)

Recipe for White Girl
How to cook a white girl

Ingredients
1 white girl
1 pillow
1 trunk
1 furnace
1 newspaper
1 hatchet
1 pocket knife

directions:
-preheat furnace 550 degrees.
-Place pillow over white girls face until she stops breathing.
-stuff her body into a trunk.
-carry the trunk to the furnace.
-try to stuff her body into the furnace.
(if body does not fit do the following)
-take your pocket knife and try to cut off her head.
-if that doesn’t work, put down newspapers so the blood doesn’t go everywhere
-then use the hatchet to chop her head off.
-throw her head into the furnace and make sure it burns.

Then you have yourself one really burnt white girl.

By Mo&Jessica

Jessica's Blooms taxonomy questions

Knowledge
Describe what happened at the house with the rat.

At Bigger’s house they were all just getting up and a big nasty rat ran across the room. His mom and his sister started freaking out and got on the bed because they were scared. Then Bigger and his brother tried to catch and kill the rat. The rat jumped and bit Bigger’s leg. Then he got a skillet and beat the rat on its head until it died.


Comprehension
Can you write in you own words what happened at the pool house?

At the pool house, Bigger was talking about the plan they had made to rob the white man Mr. Blum. And Bigger was secretly scared and nervous. But he didn’t want his gang and friends to think that he was a chicken. So instead he tried acting tough and he started yelling at Gus because Gus didn’t answer Bigger when Bigger asked him if he would go through with the plan. He wanted to turn the situation around and make everyone think that Gus was the one that was scared and not Bigger. And when Gus didn’t answer Bigger. Bigger got really anger and frustrated so Bigger started screaming threatening and cursing at Gus.


Application
What questions would you ask of Bigger?

I would ask Bigger why did he freak out at Gus and cause all of that drama instead of just saying that he thought robbing the white man was a bad idea? I would also ask why he murdered Mary? What made him think of burning her? How did that make him feel? did he feel even a little guilty for killing her? Or did he feel powerful? There’s a lot I would ask Bigger if I had a chance. I would ask him, if he was so worried about his families future in the beginning of the book then why didn’t he think about them when he was making his decisions at his job?


Analysis
What events could have happened if Bigger agreed to rob the white man?

I think that if Bigger went along with the plan to rob the white man that he would never have met Mary or murdered her or any of that. I think that he would of either got enough from the white man that he didn’t have to take the new job with the Dalton's or he would have gotten caught and in a lot of trouble and sent to jail or something. I think if he had robbed the white man that the story would be a lot different in many ways.


Synthesis
What would happen if Bigger was a white man?

If Bigger was a white man I think that he wouldn’t live in the small one room apartment, he wouldn’t be dreaming about flying and living like the white man. He wouldn’t be faced with as many fears as he has. He wouldn’t have made the plans to rob a white man. He would have never met the Daltons or murdered anyone. I think that his whole entire world would be different and he wouldn’t have to deal with all the stuff he went through in the story.


Evaluation
Is there a better solution to not robbing the white man then fighting and threatening Gus?

I think that there are other ways that Bigger could of gotten out of robbing the white man then beating up Gus. He could have told them that it was a bad idea. He could have said that he was scared. He could have made up an excuse or lie to say that he was too busy and couldn’t do it. But in this case I think what Bigger did was what he needed to do. He did what he felt was the right way to get out of the situation without looking like a chicken and losing respect of his friends.


Y

5 ideas service learning

some things that we can do for service learning is...

-make a garden

-raise money for a diseases

-volunteer for a hospital

-recycle at our school

-clean up trash in neighborhoods

-paint a mural

chapter 3 : a change of plans

summary:
Bigger, G.H, Gus and Jack all talk about the plans they made a long time ago to rob Mr. Blum. then Bigger makes fun of his friends and tell them that they are all to scared to rob a white man and they wont go through with it. G.H and Jack agree to rob him but Gus stays quiet. then Bigger accuses Gus for being too scared to rob a white man and that he would never do it, while inside Bigger is filled with fear. Gus stays quiet and Bigger snaps and freaks out. he started screaming and cursing at Gus. Gus blames Bigger for being the one who has a really bad temper and he is the one who causes the most problem is their gang. Bigger became furious and was ready to hit Gus and freak out at him. he really wanted to fight him.

analysis:
i think that in this chapter Bigger would rather have fought Gus and look tough because he beat someone up then go through with the plan. he didn't want to rob the white man because he was too scared. he thought that if he screamed fought and cursed at Gus then his friends would think is tough. but if he chickened out of robbing the white man he would lose respect from his gang and friends. so to cover up his fear he uses anger and violence.

chapter 2 : useless dreams

summary:
Bigger is sitting outside and his friend Gus meets up with him and they just watch as a plane flys by above them. Bigger talks about how he could fly good if he got a chance. and Gus agreed with him but only if he was not black and had some money. Bigger complains about being black and how the white people never let him do anything. and he feels like he is in prison. then Bigger and Gus pretend to be high ranking white generals and they give each other orders and play around for a little. then Bigger and Gus walk to Doc's pool hall and meet up with their friends Jack and G.H.

analysis:
i think that this chapter was mainly to show about racism and the rights and privileges that were not given to black people at this time. they are talking about flying planes but i think that is a symbol for being free and breaking away from the racism that they have to face everyday.they are sick of not being able to do all the things that white people do and they just wanted to be treated equally. and then they joke and make fun of how the white people talk and act. i think this was just to cover up how they are jealous that they get to do whatever they want and are a lot more free then Bigger and Gus.

chapter 1 : "that damn rat"

summary:
Bigger Thomas and his family wake up in their Chicago apartment. and bigger and his brother have to turn away from their mother and sister as they dress because the apartment only has one room. then a big black rat runs across the room and Vera and his mother scream and jump on the bed. Bigger and Buddy run around trying to catch and kill the rat. but the rat attacks Bigger and bites a hole in his leg. then he takes the skillet and smashes it over the rats head, killing it. then Bigger takes the rat and holds it in front of his sisters face to make her scared. then Bigger's mom sings a song while she is cooking and he gets really annoyed by it and he storms outside. then he started thinking about the plan he had with his friends to rob a white man names Mr. Blum. Bigger and his gang have committed other crimes but never against a white man. which was a little scary to Bigger.


analysis:
the first book is called fear probably because in this book he is overwhelmed with fear at many times. when the big black rat is in the room, when he is being interviewed by the white man for his job and many other times. he holds fear because he cant afford to help his family with their needs and make enough money to help them by getting a bigger house or food. i think they put this beginning of the rat and all the craziness because they wanted to show everyone how the first book would be. it was all about fear and trying to overcome his fears.

mayor web

fear web

religion in school

should religion be taught in school?

i think that religion shouldn't be taught in school because a lot of people have different religions and it wouldn't be fair to everyone. i think the only school that it should be taught in is if you go to a catholic school. because you went there for a specific religion. but in public or charter schools, it shouldn't be taught. to many people can be offended and religion is more opinion then actual facts. so when you teach the facts and religion it can confuse people into believing a certain religion. it also causes unnessasary drama between schools and parents and students. people get very strongly opinionated when it comes to their religion and they hate when people tell them what to believe or do. some people dont want their children to be taught a religion. and how could you pick one certain religion to teach about in school. if you teach one then you have to teach all of them.  i think that your parents and your church can teach you about religion and that should stay at home. if you bring it to your school then you can make bigger problems then needed. it doesnt matter what god you pray to or what holidays you celebrate. all that matters is learning what needs to be taught at school. as long as you are learning what you need to, religion doesn't need to be brought up. it causes way to many problems.