Charity fair project blog

https://drive.google.com/a/oakgrovesd.net/file/d/1ygCtgDi1ofGbY5IxSDjFoYiRJdvIFbqF/view?usp=sharing

Summary: 

        When you are looking to donate to a charity you always need to make sure you know how much is going to the cause and how much is overhead. You need to make sure that you know what your money is really going to in the long run. When you are pitching an idea you have or something that you are passionate about you have to make sure that you have compelling images with little to no words. The words can make your slides detracting and if your slides are automatic your presentation should not rely on your slides. You need to make sure that you are being as compelling as possible and that you are prepared to answer any questions that might come your way. Even when something goes wrong or you forget you have to move on and improvise. You should not memorize a script and only memorize the big idea of what you need to say in that time.

Backward-looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started? 

         I knew a lot about what we were going to do for the charity fair and I knew a lot about St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I knew this stuff because this was my 4th and last charity fair that I will get to do and my mom has donated to St. Jude's in the past and taught me about it. In 5th, 6th and now 8th the charity I picked was St. Jude Children Research Hospital because 100% of donations go to a good cause and they focus on research and treating kids with no bills. I did not expect that our product would have to do with our charity each year and that we would have to do a map but most of the things I knew we were going to do. Charity fair is something we do every year and we always make it better and there is always new things and more to learn.

Inward-looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?
        I love getting to do the charity fair each year and getting to see what people are selling and what charities people like. This is something that is like a AdVENTURE tradition and it is something that I look forward to all year. I like getting to present our idea, making and selling the items, the backboard, and getting to be creative. I do not like it when the teachers have lots of different things going on at once and when there are a bunch of things due on one day. I also do not like it when some teachers are working on charity fair and some are not because it gets me all jumbled up. I enjoy getting to know other people better through this projects and all of the memories. I like that we get to be creative and that we get to customize this project, we have lots of freedom for choice.

Outward-looking: Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?
        Everyone is given the same standards, instructions, and overall project but there is a lot of creativity and lots of customization. Everyone was different because we all made different products and that is something that makes the charity fair fun. We also get to choose different charities that we like and that we feel happy and a connection with. We all were also similar in the sense that we all had to present an 8 slide presentation in 2 minutes and that we all were selling things from 1 to 5 dollars, we all had a backboard, cost and profit, etc. There were things that would make the groups similar and different but everyone made amazing and cool products to sell and let people buy.

Forward-looking:What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?
        If I had to do the charity fair over again I would make sure that the money was not misplaced again and that we would practice a little more for the presentation. I would make it so that we would get ahead so that there was less stress and so that we had more time to improve our work. I think that in the long run it was a good charity fair and I think that it was fun and the experience I had was amazing. I would mostly just want to make sure we practiced more for the presentation and that we handed out more business cards to raise more awareness. I wish that I made the products weeks before charity fair because near the end I was rushing and it made it hard to practice presenting and not be stressed. Overall the charity fair was fun and something that I enjoy every year.

weekly blog 12/8/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Distancedisplacement.svg/2000px-Distancedisplacement.svg.png

Summary:
        Distance is the path you go and how far you traveled overall. If you walk 1 mile north and then you run 1 mile south your distance is 2 miles because that is the total that you walked. Displacement is how far out of place you are from start to finish but it is not the path you took but the total you are displaced. If you walked the previous 1 mile north and 1 mile south you would have a displacement of 0 miles because you ended up where you started. Another example of displacement is if you walked 1 mile north, then you walked 1 mile east and then walk one mile south your displacement is 1 mile because you are 1 mile from where you started. and your distance is 3 miles. To find displacement you can use a2+b2=c2.

S&EP 3:
        We made drawings to represent and graph the distance that the path was and the displacement to see how far it was. We were given problems that we needed to solve so we would graph them and then we would use Pythagorean theorem to find our displacement. We also did a experiment where we went outside with a partner and then we would mark a starting spot. Then one partner would walk a certain about one way and then the other partner would measure. We would do that a few times for our distance and then find our displacement. At the end you had to graph one of the paths and then you would have to answer some questions about the experiment that you did.

Weekly blog 12/1/2017

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Winkel_triple_projection_SW.jpg

Summary:
        Anything that you have had to be made somewhere like China, the USA, Taiwan, etc. With google my maps you can mark where each of your thing you get and connect them to have a visual to show where the product had to travel. Knowing where your products come from may not seem important but your carbon footprint is. A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon a person leaves behind like fossil fuels. It is important to know how much carbon you are putting in the environment because we want to always make sure we are helping to save our environment. You want to buy things that are more local so that you do not leave as much carbon behind and so that you are doing your best to preserve the environment.


SP2: Developing and using models
        Using My Maps to create an interactive map my partner and I for charity fair made a model showing where our products were made and we also created lines showing where everything that we used traveled. We had to color coat things to show how they traveled like if they traveled by plane truck, car, train, etc. We had to make find the manufacturing address of all of our products to find where they are made. We had to also calculate our carbon footprint by guessing if it traveled by car, truck, plane or train so that we would know how much carbon we were leaving and how we are impacting the environment. In the end this was worth it and was a very cool and good visual.

Weekly blog (biological classification)

https://swh-826d.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cladogram.gif

Summary:

        A cladogram is something that is used to classify animals and show how they are related, it is like a family tree or a tree of life. A tetra-pod is an animal that has 4 limbs with movable muscles and joints. Humans would be technically considered tetra-pods because we have 4 limbs, joint's and muscles. The picture above is a cladogram and is is showing that similarities that animals have like how crocodiles and birds have eggs with shells and how rodent's, rabbits and primates have hair. Everything has a vertebrae in the picture and a vertebrae is very important because it has lots of nerves and things connect and send signals to your brain. Every part that an animal has is useful and important to what that animal does and where they live.

SP 2: Developing and using models:

        I had to use a cladogram to find my information and to find the similarities and differences in animals. We also read a google presentation about who first classified animals in a organized manner. There are lots of different animals and ways to classify them like with a cladogram to find the traits that match with different animals and connect them to a common ancestor. With a cladogram you can organize by finding what is a fungi, mammal, green plant, and more by finding what makes something put in a category like if something gives live births and needs to breathe air it is most likely a mammal. There are lots of different ways to organize animals and one of the ways is by using a cladogram.

Weekly blog (bone structure)

http://kylehallnationaltrust.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/3/7/24374307/4139762_orig.jpg

Summary:
        Comparative analogy is when scientists compare different animals bone structure and their anatomy to see the similarities and differences. This is is something that shows things like common ancestors and it shows how closely related one animal is to another. The picture is showing how what the different bones are in animals and each color shows each part of the different animals like how humans and cats have fingers and a bat has longer finger type bones, while horses have a hoof, and more. In the picture the cat's arm looks closest to the human arm then anything else and that is showing how humans and cats are the closest to each other and could have a common ancestor. This is something that is to find the common an ancestors of animals and it is something to see how things are related.

SP 4: Analyzing and interpreting data:
        We made a graph this week to observe the similarities and differences in animals like T-Rex's and if they were extinct or things we would use the comparative analysis. We had to add a + or a - to show if the animal did or did not have a certain feature like hair and things but if we did not know like how we do not know if the T-Rex had hair we would put a question mark. The graph was to show the similarities and differences between animals. We also looked at the arm bones of different animals and color coated the bones to see what the bones were in one animal vs another. We did lots of different visuals and analysis of animals to find the similarities and differences.

Peppered moth's Weekly Blog

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Peppered_Moth._Biston_betularia_2_-_Flickr_-_gailhampshire.jpg

Summary:

A peppered moth is a moth that can be all black or is can be with with spots of black. The multi colored moths like on tree’s with light bark like birch tree’s and there is a thing called lichen (a fungus that can grow on trees) that the moth’s also blend well into. The black moth’s will usually live in a darker area and this is something that can help them to camouflage better than with the light tree’s. The moth’s are all nocturnal which also helps them to avoid predators that may hunt during the day. Flying around in the night also makes it so that it is harder for predators to spot them and makes sure that they can survive better. Their predators are birds like flycatchers, European robin, nuthatches, etc.

SP:3

To help illustrate the peppered moth’s example we played a game where the player would act as a bird and you would try to eat as many peppered moth’s as you can in a minute. You could chose if you wanted to play in a dark or light forest and there would be 50% dark moths and 50% light. Depending on which one you choose it will be easier to see the moth’s that stand out rather than the moths that blend in with the environment. In the end you would see which of the two there were more of and it would tell you why. This was something that was interesting to play and to see what it would be like in a bird's view to have to catch the moths.

Weekly blog evolution

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Anatomy_and_physiology_of_animals_Various_vertebrate_limbs.jpg

Summary: 
        Evolution is when a species develops certain traits to live better in the certain environment it is in so when you look at certain animals from one environment it is. Evolution is the thing that made creatures look, like how people think that animals have a common ancestor, humans evolved from apes and things. The diagram or picture above is to show the similarities in arm bones off different animals vs. human, you can see that some look more similar then others and they all have the same function and this is showing proof of common ancestors. When something has a similar function to another in a different animals like arms, legs, eyes, noses, teeth, etc. it is called a Homologous structure.

SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:
        This week we did a experiment where we would take a fork spoon or knife and some buttons and beans. Then we would have a timer for 20 seconds and we would have to pick up as much as we can with our tool, and if we had 20 or more we would stay alive but if you got under you went extinct. When you get extinct you get replaced and this was to show how in natural selection it is more random and it is something that is chosen based on their fitness in the environment. This experiment was something that helped as a visual and an example and it was something that seems fun to do with more friends.

Weekly blog 9/15/17 mutations

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/DNA_com_GGN.jpg/1280px-DNA_com_GGN.jpg

Summary:
        There are many kinds of mutations and most of the time they do not affect the look or anything about the organism. The bases are A, T, C and G, A is always paired with T and C is always paired with G. You can have insertions, deletions or substitution. An insertion is when you have an extra base added to your DNA, deletion is when you take away a base, and substitution is when you have the wrong base with the wrong base. Not all mutations are hidden and not shown by the person with it but in rare cases it  can help or harm the person.

SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:
       This week we did a lab where we investigated mutations and how they survive. We got M&M's and tic-tac's, the tic tac's were the mutation and we had to have 5 of them mixed in with the 12 other M&M's. We had to blindly remove 5 each time and replace it with whatever we thought made sense according to our population. We were observing how mutations survive and what mutations would be good and bad. This ended up being a good and fun way to learn and represent mutation. We had a good visual of the tic- tac' and the M&M's to represent mutations.

Project Blog Geologic time scale

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Geologic_time_and_mass_extinctions.png

Summary:

The Paleozoic era was a time that had 6 different time periods in it called the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and the Permian time periods. Some interesting things about this era is that the continents had shallow water covering them, larger animals like 5.9 foot centipedes and things. In this time it had lots of marine life and the first jawed fish and the fish had certain body shapes and things for special tasks and fins for better swimming. There were 3 major mass extinctions, one of them was in the Ordovician time and the Silurian time where lots of the marine life was killed and reduced in numbers. Another one is in the late Devonian time 3/4 of life on earth died and it was not necessarily all at one time, it could have been over several years. The last mass extinction was the Permian mass extinction or the Great Dying where 96% of species went extinct and the 4% left is what all current life is descended from.  There were lots of crazy things that happened in this time that would be hard to imagine happening now.

Backward-looking: How much did you know about the subject before we started? 

I knew some basics about the dinosaurs that lived in the Mesozoic era and things like the meteor's but I did not know anything about the Paleozoic time or what it was. I have learned a lot of things from this project and I did not have any background on my era because I did not know about it. I am slightly happy that I did not know anything about it because it has taught me a lot and it is something that helped to keep me interested in it and something that was more fun and surprising. I did not know much so it was something that made me think more and was something that was cool and different to learn about. I did not know anything about this but it turned out fun and well in the end of it and I am happy with how it turned out.

Inward-looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I think that this project was a great and fun project and it was not too long for time and not too short of time and I think that it was one of my favorites. I like this project because it had lots of creativity and flexibility to the end product like how we could make it with flaps, 3-D, a poster, diorama and more but it was definitely fun. I liked almost everything but it was hard because our team would argue and it would create more stress for the project and getting it done. I think that I would love to do more projects like this because it had lots of flexibility because everyone's was unique and it was fun getting to come up with and be creative. Overall this was one of my favorite projects and I would love to do more like it.

Outward-looking: Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar? 
Ours was different then everyone else's because we had the giant flap for each era and the small flaps on the inside and even when people did flaps they did not have a giant flap with smaller ones inside. Every groups was unique and In some ways it was similar because we all had the same base with the information about the era's but everyone wrote different things even if it seemed similar. The process was that we had to do the research and that we had to create the project in the end. This process was similar to everyone else's and we all did things around the same time but it always ended up different. Everyone did a great job and everyone made theirs different and unique which I liked.

Forward-looking: What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?
If I did this again I would make it so that we would have done a little bit more at our house or met up after school so that we would have had extra time to add more drawings. I think that we did pretty well and I am happy about the end result of our project. I would want to do another project in a similar manner with the fact that the project was flexible for everyone to make something different. I think that our project looks great and even if we wanted to change anything it is done now and I am happy that we have it done and I am happy that our whole group was happy. Everyone did equal work which was nice and no one had to do someone else part and when it came to supplies we did not have to by much and some of the stuff our team already had or we used from the maker lab. I would not want to change much but it is over now and it was a great project that I would like to have another project done in the same matter.

Era report WAC

WAC: Era Report

        Have you ever heard of the Paleozoic era? The Paleozoic era happened from 541-251 million years ago and is separated into 6 different time periods. The different periods were the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and the Permian. The Paleozoic time Era was the era after the Precambrian and it is before the Mesozoic. During this time the continents looked a lot different then now and the things on the equator are different too. All of the continents were closer together and in the beginning of this era the continents were mostly covered by shallow water and a supercontinent called gondwana was formed by the south pole. Another thing is in the beginning on the equator was australia and kangaskhan but near the end continents were conjoined and on the equator was South China and the top of South America and the top of Africa There are lots of interesting facts to learn about in this era that I am sure not a lot of people knew about.

         In the Silurian period there was the first plants with vascular channels appeared and they could transport food and gases so the plants became larger. There were lots of plants in the Paleozoic era and three examples are the Cooksonia, Zosterophyllum, and the Fern. The Cooksonia is the oldest known vascular plants and it grew to about 6.5 cm long, on the tips of its branches its arms it had Sporangia which was terminal. The next one is the Zosterophyllum and this was a plant in the late Silurian time, it had no leaves and only branches as well as a short body with Sporangia. The last one is the Fern that was found in the Carboniferous and is similar looking the the current tropical and floral plant that we know today. These 3 plants are all different and unique plants found in the Paleozoic era.


          During the Paleozoic era there was lots of life and most of it was marine life but during this Era life started moving to land. In this period there was the first jawed fish and different animals were special for what they need to do like some were tube shaped for burrowing and fins for better swimming. Some land animals that were there were the scorpion, dragonfly and the centipede but they are different then we now know them. The scorpion was larger than they are now and they were about 19.5 inches or about 1 foot and 7.5 inches, the current world record for the largest scorpion is 9 inches and in this Era they were 10.5 inches more. The centipede's in the Paleozoic time could get to about 70.8 inches or 5.9 feet and the current largest centipede is only 10 inches. The current largest dragonfly has a wingspan of 7.5 inches but in the Paleozoic time they could have a wingspan of 27.5 inches. In the Paleozoic time lots of the life was larger than we now have our life.
         
         In the Paleozoic time the weather ranged from about 57 degrees fahrenheit to 78 degrees fahrenheit in the first 3 periods/ the beginning. During the last 3 periods or the end it was about 53-80 degrees fahrenheit. There were also three mass extinctions and one of them was in the ordovician time and the silurian time where lots of the marine life was killed and reduced in numbers. Another one is in the late devonian time 3/4 of life on earth died and it was not necessarily all at one time, it could have been over several years. The last mass extinction was the Permian mass extinction or the Great Dying where 96% of species went extinct and the 4% left is what all current life is descended from. Lots of life on earth died during the Paleozoic time and it may have been good ad it is what made our world what it is today.

          The Paleozoic time is something that was very different then now with all the mass extinctions and the different life and more. This time is something that happened long ago and it was something that we should be happy we do not live in because lots of land was covered in shallow water, the life was so much bigger, etc. The Paleozoic time had lots of mass extinctions which is what caused lots of life to die and go extinct. There were lots of cool and different animals and plants that is very interesting to learn about and it is weird to think of how our planet used to look and have on it. The Paleozoic time was a very fun and interesting time that had lots of interesting events happen.

Weekly Blog 9/15

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=201810&picture=mixture-of-fossils

Summary:

          For things that used to be alive like plants and animals you can find the age of the fossils or bones by using carbon dating. A half life of something is when half of the carbon decays from a fossil so the amount of current carbon divided by 2 would be a half life. One example of this is if you had 25% carbon a half life would make it to be 12.5% carbon. Pangaea is the theory that before the continents were made they were all one big piece of land and over time they split up into the current continents. Their is proof for this like how the mesosaurus  lived on two different continents across the ocean but it was a fresh weather creature so it did not make sense but they pieced together the continents  and it stared to make sense there are all so other pieces of proof but that was just one example.

S&EP: SP5: Using mathematics and computational thinking:

          For science this week we had to incorporate math to help us calculate how many carbon(or other) molecules there were in fossils. We had to divide the current amount by two to show a half life and it got harder when we got down to 25% because then we had decimals. A example from what we were given is 12.5 divided by 2 which would be 6.25 which was slightly hard. The math was not that hard but it still took a second  to think of it and to figure it out but it was still math to do. It was important to get the math right because it takes multiple steps so if you do one wrong you can get the other's wrong too.

Weekly blog 9/5-9/8

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_Layers_at_Quebrada_de_las_Conchos_-_Salta_Argentina.jpg

Summary: 

        There is two different kinds of age, relative age and absolute age. An example of relative age is she is younger then her brother, an example of absolute age is she is 13 years old so absolute is more specific while relative is more general. The law of superposition says that if something cuts across a body of rocks it is younger than the rocks that it goes through. Faults like the San Andreas fault are always younger then the rock that it cutes through. Index fossils also help geologist tell the relative age of a layer of rocks which the fossils occur. When lava cools on the surface it is called an extrusion and it is younger then the rock below but when law cools below the surface it is called an intrusion and it is always younger ten the surrounding rock layers. Unconformities are also when new rock layers are much younger then the rocks below it.

S&EP: SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:

        This week we did a lab about the rock cycle first we cut up the starbursts to make it like sediments. After we did that then we had to press them together and compact them to make sedimentary rock. Then we had to take the sedimentary rock from there and make it into metamorphic by pressing down on the starburst with lots of pressure till it was almost flat. After that then we had to melt down the metamorphic and then cool it to make igneous rock. This gave a visual of the rock cycle and what steps it goes through.

Weekly science blog rock cycle 9/1/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Coastal-rocks.jpg

Summary: The rock cycle consists of many parts and the main rocks are sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks. If you start with magma you can crystallize it in the ground above or below, above makes extrusive igneous and below makes instructive igneous rock. If you then go to to instructive igneous you can melt it into magma, expose and weather it to soil and increase temperature and pressure into metamorphic rock. If instead you went to extrusive you could weather it into soil or increase temp. and pressure and make it into metamorphic rock. If you went to soil you could erode it into sediments.

Weekly blog 5/15-19/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Brno-%C5%BDidenice_-_environment_of_forest_park_Ak%C3%A1tky_3.jpg

Summary:
        When you are making a building you have to think about more things such as how you are going to impact the environment like the wildlife, air the water, trash, pollution, etc. A example of an environmental accord is to make sure is to make it so that in 7 years to make sure that there will be more recycle and composting so that there is less waste in landfills and incinerators by 25%. Another one is to make sure we  have 50% more shade for walkways by adding things like trees so that it will make you cooler to make sure that people do not use the air conditioning as much and waste energy or create more pollution. One more example is that in 7 years there will be at least 20% or more locally grown and organic foods served.

S&EP: SP2: Developing and using models:
The way that I used a model is that I had to make a small presentation about the environmental accords that I wanted to include in our environmental accords in our urban village. What we had to do was choose some environmental accords and we had to put them in the slide and decide how we are going to include it like how if you wanted to compost who is going to do it and how will it work in your space. An example is like how we want to make it so that there is more shaded walkway so that people use less energy for the air conditioning. We wanted to do this buy making paths with tree's for shade on both sides. The accord for this was to make sure that there 50% more shade for walkways so we wanted to add more trees.

XCC: Cause and effect:
When you throw away any of your trash for the landfills it will eventually decompose and become methane gas which is a pollutant. When you do simple things like when you turn the air conditioning on it will waste energy which we should be conserving. When we pour water down the drain or leave the water you are wasting the water that could be used for other purposes and we are wasting some of the little fresh water we have. When we do things like when we compost it make sure that we are being better for the environment and reusing our natural resources. When we turn the sink off when brushing our teeth it can help to save and conserve the little fresh water that we have on this earth.

Weekly blogs 5/8-12/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Kivioli_chemical_plant.JPG

Summary:
        To make bases, acidic or to make them neutral you have to add acids and if you want it neutral you might have to add some neutral also. To make acids, basic or neutral you have to add bases and if you want it neutral you might have to add some neutral. To make something neutral basic you add a base and to make something acidic you add a acid. Human impacts on the world are most of the time bad and there are ways that we can help to slow down global warming, pollution and save the environment. Some ways we can help is walking, biking and using public transportation, having more shade to use less air conditioning and saving energy, stop deforestation, etc.


S&EP: Conducting investigations
        Alien juice bar is a game where you test the pH of different liquids to see how acidic, basic or neutral something is. After you know what is acidic, basic and neutral you have to try to balance liquids to be basic, acidic or neutral for your costumers. This helps you to see how to make an acidic solution into a basic solution and the other way around. I found that to make an acid or a base into the opposite then you have to add the opposite. I learned about different things that are acids and bases like how window cleaner, cough medicine and toothpaste are bases and how coffee, tea and soda are all acids.


XCC: Cause and Effect:
        When people do daily tasks like drive your car to school or to work,drive to the store or driving at all can increase pollution and smog. When you walk, bike or use public transportation that makes it better for the environment and does not create as much pollution and smog. When you throw trash away that goes into the landfill it will eventually turn into methane and increases pollution and global warming. When you compost and when you think more about it before you throw your trash away we can help to prevent this. All of these things that humans do impact the environment and most of the time we do not have a good impact.

Weekly blog 5/1-5/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/PH_Scale.svg/1120px-PH_Scale.svg.png

Summary:
        Any solution with a PH level of 7 is a solution that is neutral like water. When a solution is acidic it creates hydrogen ions and makes it lower on the PH scale like citric acid and sour candies. When a solution is a base it creates hydroxide ions and makes it higher on the PH scale like soap. To test if a solution is acidic or if it is basic you can put a piece of litmus paper and seeing if it turns a red or a blue color, if it turns red that means the solution is acidic and if it turns blue that means the solution is basic. Your pee is slightly acidic and see water is slightly basic but surprisingly is is safer to drink your own pee rather then drink sea water. When something is more concentrated it means that there is more acid or base dissolved into the solution and when it is diluted it is the opposite.

S&EP:SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:
        I did an experiment to see how bases and acids can be identified by color by using cabbage juice, an acidic and a basic solution. What we had to do was take the neutral cabbage juice and put them into 12 different tester cups. Then we took the two solutions and made them more concentrated by adding more acid or base to the solution each drop that we added to each cup. We saw that when we had an acidic solution it turned from the basic purple to a light pink to a darker pink and closer and closer to red. When we added the basic solution it made it like a teal and dark green to more of a lime green color. We also compared the colors to their PH levels.

XCC: Structure and Function:
        When something is concentrated and it is very acidic it makes it great for doing things like removing rust from metal to make it more clean and look better. When something is concentrate and it is very basic it makes it good for cleaning laundry and to make it brighter like bleach. The bleach is very concentrated and is higher on the PH scale to make it so that it can easily remove the stains off of your white shirt. The rust removing solution is very concentrate and acidic to make it better remove all of the rust off of the metal where you do not want the rust. Neutral things like water are good so that we can drink it and stay hydrated without having it be acidic or basic.

Article blog/ Cheetahs

Summary:
        A cheetah is the fastest mammal and can run as fast as 60-70 mph but when it is chasing other animals and things for food it does not run that fast. Even though cheetahs are very fast they can not run for long and takes about half an hour to rest and to eat it's prey. This animal hunts in the day and has great eye sight for this and will bite into its preys neck to kill them for food. Cheetah's only weigh from 77-143 pounds and are about 6-8 and is considered a big cat. Cheetah's live for about 10-12 years, are carnivores and live in the grasslands. Cheetah's are endangered because of low food supply and more and we need to protect this species to make sure it does not become extinct.


Citation: "Cheetah." Kids' Games, Animals, Photos, Stories, and More. National Geographics, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2017. <http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/cheetah/#ww-wild-cats-cheetahs.jpg>.


S&EP:SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:

                The authors of the national geographic, cheetah's article had to do lots of research to know all of the things about cheetah's in the article. They had to make sure that all of their facts were correct by doing investigations. National geographic had to plan out how they want to organize and how they want to format the site. They had to investigate live Cheetahs to see how they live and what their lifestyle is like in order to write accurate things about them. The authors must have had to have a long process and this must have taken lots of planning and investigations.

Weekly blog 4/14/17

Weekly blog bonds.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Ionic_bonding.svg/2000px-Ionic_bonding.svg.png

Summary:
        Ionic bonds are when you have two atoms that are bonded like magnets and to make a ionic bond you need two atoms, one with a negative charge and one with a positive charge. Ionic bonds are formed between two metal and a non metal. When you have a covalent bond you have two different atoms that share electrons because of potential energy. Covalent bonds are with two non metals. Chemical reactions require two or more reactants to create a new product. The product/s have the same mass and atoms as the reactants just in a different order. There are different ways to know if a chemical reaction happened and a couple are fizzing and gas being released change in color and more.

S&EP:SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:
       We had a worksheet that we had to fill out by investigating on a website and observing how the different kinds of bonds are formed and how they react with each other. For the convalescent  bonds it showed how they are attracted to each other and how the potential energy changes. For ionic bonds we found how they would want to stay with each other and were like magnets. We also observed and took notes with chemical reactions to see how much vinegar and how much baking soda you would need to make it so that it would not over flow in a 100 ml container. We found that it would take about 1/2 of a teaspoon of backing soda and 7 ml of vinegar along with 2 drops of laundry detergent.

XCC: Cause and Effect
        When you have two different reactants and you mix them together to create a chemical reaction it will causes the atoms or molecules to rearrange and create a different product. When there are different charges in atoms and they are attracted to each other then bond then it would make an ionic bond. When there are two atoms that get attracted to each other that causes a covalent bond. When there atoms that have lost electrons and have a positive charge they have cations because of their charge.. When there are atoms that have gained electrons and have a negative charge they have anions because of their charge.

Weekly blog 3/31/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/18_column_periodic_table%2C_with_Lu_and_Lr_in_group_3.png

Summary:
          A element is something that is made out of only one type of atom. Element's are things that can't be separated. There are over 100 different kinds of elements in the periodic table of elements such as things like gold and hydrogen. A pure substance is something that is made up of only one kind of  matter. Compounds are pure substances contain two ore more different types of atoms such as water. Mixtures are two more molecules that are not chemically combined and can be separated by physical means. An example of a mixture is iron fillings and sand by using a magnet to separate the two.

S&EP: SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations:
   I worked on play.lol  or an interactive game to find out different way that chemical reactions can happen and different signs of chemical reactions and what different reactions make different reactions make. In a chemical reaction you can mix different things to make different products. Some examples are mixing chlorine and mixing sodium to make table salt. You can also mix things with heat to make different products. Some different ways that you can know if there is a chemical reaction is things such as bubbling, extreme heat, change in color, consistency and more.

XCC: Cause and Effect:
          By causing a chemical reaction you mix two ingredients to make a different product. The reason that we have things like simple table salt is because sodium and chlorine got mixed and when they mixed the product was table salt. The reason that we have carbon dioxide is because oxygen and carbon met to make carbon dioxide. The reason why we have water is because of hydrogen and oxygen meeting to make water. The reason why we have some of the simple things that we do like water, salt and carbon dioxide is because of chemical reasons or two different things meeting to make something new.

Weekly blog periodic table 3/26/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Periodic-table.jpg/640px-Periodic-table.jpg

Summary:

        There are different parts or groups of the periodic table, such as alkaline metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, boron family and more. These are all different because of the amount of electrons in the outer shell and they also are different because of looks, how chemically reactive and more. The numbers of protons is what defines type of atom an atom is and there is typically the same or close to the same amount of protons, neutrons and electrons. The periodic table organizer is Russian Mendeleev and he organized it 25 years before the electrons were discovered.

S&EP:SP1: Asking questions and defining problems:

        I had to find out how many protons neutrons and electrons there were in each kind of element. To do this I found the number of protons by the atomic number and then I found the electrons number because there are the same number of electrons and protons. To find the number of neutrons I took the average atomic mass and I subtracted the number of protons, rounded and found the number of neutrons. We did this for 20 of the different elements that were from hydrogen to calcium.

XCC: Cause and Effect:
        The amount of electrons that you have vs the protons can make it so that the there is a positive or negative or no ion because the charge is unbalanced. When you mix certain elements with things like water and acid it might have a cool chemical reaction because of how chemically reactive a thing is with the other. The reason that the periodic table is formed like it is is because it is from the lowest to highest or the increasing atomic number or number of protons.Another reason that it is formatted like it is is because of if things are metal, non metal etc.

Weekly blog Atoms 3/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Atom_diagram.png

Summary:
       Atoms are the building blocks of life. Atoms are made out of protons, neutron and electrons and the protons and neutrons make up the nucleus of the atom while the electrons float around the nucleus. If an atom were blown up to the size of a football stadium then the nucleus would be the size of a marble. Neutrons have a neutral charge, protons have a positive change and electrons have a negative charge. The amount of protons identifies the type of atom it is. The periodic table is a list of all of the elements. Elements are made up of only one kind of atom and Density is how much stuff is in a given space. Volume is the amount s space that something takes up.

S&EP: Did you plan and carry out an investigation?
        To find out more about density, mass and volume we conducted an experiment to find out about the differences in between them. We had a tub of water and different materials with different densities, mass and volume to see what things had less density and would float on the water. Most of the things sunk because they had more density and mass and they all had the same volume. The things that floated were things like wood and things that were less dense and had less mass. We also had a piece of aluminum foil and when we had it in one big piece it floated but when we folded it and made it more dense and take up less volume it sunk.

XCC:Cause and Effect:
The amounts of protons in an atoms is what identifies the type of atom that it is. If you have an atom that has lost protons that causes it to have a positive charge because there are not enough electrons and it needs more. When an atom has a negative charge it is called a cation. If you have an atom that has an electron added it causes it to have a negative charge or a negative ion. because there are too many electrons and some should not be there. If an atom has a positive charge or a positive ion it is called an anion. The amount of protons effects the type of atom that it is and the amount of electrons effects if there is an ion and if it is a positive ion (cation) or a negative ion(anion).

Eucalyptus leaf beetle invasive species project

http://cisr.ucr.edu/images/eucalyptus_leaf_beetle/04_eucalyptus_leaf_beetle.JPG

Summary: 

        The eucalyptus leaf beetle or the eucalyptus tortoise beetle is an invasive species to California. This species is native to Australia and it came to California in about 2003. This beetle can come in many colors such as red, brown, grey, etc. and it is also a beetle that is about as small as a tic tac. This beetle eats the leaves off of eucalyptus plants and it don't have many predators in California because it is an invasive species. When the beetle eats some of the leaves it damages them and is not good for the plant and the leaf. This invasive species is being biologically controlled so that people can help to make this invasive species less of a problem and a threat. 

Backward-looking: What process did you go through to produce this piece?

        To make this piece we had to first come up with the animal or the invasive species that we wanted to do by looking at a long website with lots of different species. We choose three each as a partnership and then did a little background research. Then together we had to choose the species that we wanted to do. Once we did that we both choose a job and did the research for that job. Then we did research together and we made our poster. Once we made our poster digitally we then printed it and presented.

Inward-looking: How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?
        Personally I liked this piece of work because we got to learn more about what an invasive species is. I liked that we got to choose if we made a poster or a flyer or a video etc. because I feel like it gave us some room to be creative with it and to have more fun with it. I did not like that we only had about 5 in class days to work on it because it was hard to have to do the research then make a way to advertise it then present it because to me it was slightly hard to do. I enjoyed this piece of work because we had a variety of species to work with and to choose.

Outward-looking:Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?
        I did my work like some of the class but some of the groups were not teams of two but of three and when there was a group of three they got to work on the endangered species project. ours was different because lots of people choose different species to study and to advertise. Ours was also different because we did not make a brochure or a video or a website but we decided to make a poser/flyer. They were all similar because we all got to advertise a type of living creature and they all related because invasive species can cause or become endangered species.

Forward looking:One thing I would like to improve upon is ...
        One things that I would personally like to change or improve in our project is that we made a poster/flyer and the things that we knew about the species. I would like to do this because I feel like I did not know a lot of things about the species and it made it so that our presentation and product was boring. I also feel like if we made something like a website it would be more interesting and more interactive so that it could have drawn in the viewers . I wish that the end product that we made looked better and was more interesting to the people that looked at it.

Weekly blog invasive species

http://cisr.ucr.edu/images/eucalyptus_leaf_beetle/01_eucalyptus_leaf_beetle.jpg

Summary:
          An invasive species is a species that lives in a natural area or place and then moves to another and can cause lots of problems. Some of the problems that can come out of an invasive species is a mess up in the food chain and overpopulation because of no or little natural predators. There are lots of invasive species around the world and some of them are plants, snails, insects. The eucalyptus leaf beetle is a beetle that eats eucalyptus leafs and is an invasive species. The eucalyptus leaf beetle is a type of beetle that originally lived in Australia and was introduced to California in 2003 and became an invasive species there.

S&EP: Conducting investigation:
          I got a packet of questions about the forest ecosystem and some of the food chain in the forest. I had to use gizmos to investigate what would happen if you lowered or took away the population of certain things. I also had to find if things were decomposers, producers or if they were consumers. Most plants are producers, most animals are consumers and fungi like mushrooms are decomposers. A producer is an organism that can make its own food, a consumer has to eat other organisms for energy and decomposers break down dead organisms.

XCC: Cause and effect:
        The cause and effect in food chains can be major to if organisms survive. Invasive spices can make a major effect because they can take away a certain food source from another and then there is not enough food. The invasive species can also overpopulate because of not having a natural predator in the food chain. The invasive species can cause other problems to food chains because they are not part of that natural ecosystem so when they enter they can make the food chain get messed up which is not good for the organisms in that food chain. When a invasive species come it can cause a bad effect.

weekly blog energy pyramid and the food chain

https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3680/13578545323_cdb82a80ba_b.jpg

Summary:
        The energy pyramid and the food chain relate because in a food chain you have to have the parts of the energy pyramid. There are usually decomposes in a food chain and those are things like mushrooms and bacteria. There are producers which are things that are able to make their own food and don't have to eat other organisms like plants. Consumers that are the things that need to eat something to make their energy like how we are consumers and so are mice and other animals. When you are on the top of a food chain that means that you are only a predator and you are not prey to other animals. Humans are at the top of the food chain now but it wasn't always that way. The nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle are two cycles that start as a gas and end as a gas.

S&EP: SP3: Planning and carrying out investigations
        On gizmos to investigate and experiment to see what happens in a food chain when you change different parts. Sometimes we might make a diseased animal that was sick or we might take away a certain amount of the animals. We would sometimes predict what we thought was going to happen and then we would test it out to see what actually happened. As well as the gizmos we played a board game of the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. Some things that happened to me is I was in an animal and then it disposed, then I went to the surface water after I dissolved. a plant needed my nutrients to it took me, then the plant died then I decomposed. There was a forest fire so I went to the atmosphere,etc.

XCC: Cause and effect
        In the food chain every animal depends on another animal to be healthy and for them to have a large population. In the food chain if you did certain things like if you made it so that the producers all died then the rest of the food chain would die because the consumers need the producers to survive. In a food chain when you wipe out a animal or plant it would effect everything else as well and the population of things would go wild. The food chain might seem sad but it is very important to make sure all of the animals stay at a steady population and they don't over populate or go extinct. The food chain can be very delicate but sometimes with major disturbances the populations will go wild but eventually even out.

Genetic Super hero Project

https://drive.google.com/a/oakgrovesd.net/file/d/0B_cxd3Aa1R5faGlsc215YnkteHM/view?usp=sharing

Summary:
        Genetic traits are passed down from each parent half and half. You can use punnet squares to see what possibilities of traits a child has by taking the parents traits and filling in the array. Your life choices and things that you are exposed to can cause you to have problems like if you are getting too little sleep you can get breast cancer, etc. A genetic mutation can be caused by someone getting exposed to something that causes their DNA to get modified. Some ways that you can get a genetic mutation is you can have insertions, deletions or substitutions. Insertions are when your DNA has extra bases added to your DNA and that can cause a genetic mutation. Deletions are when some of your bases are deleted and substitutions are when bases are paired with the wrong other base. Most of the time when people have mutations is is neutral and it doesn't help or harm the organism that it is effecting.

Backward looking: What process did you go through to produce this piece?:
        To make this project it took a long time. The first thing that we did is find out what animal we wanted our hero to be based off of and find what super powers it has. Then we had to create the rest of the concept work and we had to draw what we wanted our super hero to look. After that we had to learn more about genetic mutations and create the origin story about how our super hero got their powers. Then we got to chose a villain of the opposite gender and make a love story about how they met. Then we created their child and decided what the child was going to look like by using punnet squares. Then we did epigenetics for the kid and we used a coin to see how healthy our child was going to be based on the choices they made. Then we created our animator and out villain work on their looks and how they changed. Last we made how they became rivals and then we put all our work on a poster or trifold.

Inward-looking:How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?:
        This work took a long time and it was a very fun project and I liked that I got to be super creative with this project. To me I think that it was good project and it was a great way to learn about things like genetics. To me I enjoyed getting to do the work for the villain because we had to go into more depth about how the organs changed to give the villain the powers that they have. I also enjoyed getting to make the animator and getting to make the trifold or the poster. To me the thing that I liked the least is when we had to make the love story and how we had to choose a villain that already existed to be the mate but I still liked it and I liked everything else as well. I loved this project and that everyone's was unique and was special.

Outward-looking: Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?:
        Everyone's work was different and it was similar in some ways and they were all unique. My work was like  the others because when we set up the poster everyone's looked similar and was formatted in a similar way. I also had the same as as others and we all had to make a super hero, villain, offspring, a animator, etc. We all had the same instructions but mine was different because we all choose different animals to make the super hero based on. Everybody's offspring, villain, poster, etc. was different because we got to be as creative as we wanted and we got to make lots of choices and we got to decide a lot even though we had instructions it still allowed us make it unique and be creative. 

Forward-looking:As you look at this piece, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon:
        I personally think that there is a lot that I could have improved on and I think that I could have done better. The main thing that I would like to try and improve upon is that I with my drawings were better and I also would like to do more research about things like how genetic mutations and GMO's are caused. I wish I knew a little more so that I could have a better origin story. There was lots of things that I could have improved on and I wish that I did a little better but I am pretty pleased and happy with what I did. The main things that I would want to change or improve upon is my understanding of GMO's and genetic mutations and I would also like to be a little better at my art and how I drew all of my characters.

Weekly Blog 1/30-2-3/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Wikipedia_mobile_en.svg/2000px-Wikipedia_mobile_en.svg.png

Summary: 
        To make a QR code from a google document you first have to publish the document you want to make a QR code to the web and get that link. Then you open a tab and type in goo.gl and then you shorten your url. After you have got your shortened url you copy that into a new tab and before you hit enter you type .qr after your shortened link. When you hit enter it should take you to a picture of a QR code and then you can copy it into another document and print it if you would like or you can just scan the code. To scan the code you must have an app on your phone to do that. Then you can scan your code or have others scan it to get to the google document you want.


S&EP: SP2: Developing and using models:
        I started to make  a poster and a tri fold to organize all of my drawings and the super hero work that we all did recently and earlier. I am modeling all of my work on a tri fold so that I can present it at the exhibition night and so that all of my pictures and stories are all organized and easy to show and to look at. I had to make the QR codes so that if people have any apps on their phone they can scan the codes to get to my things like my origin story and so that they can get to the love story. I have to put all of the things on my trifold like my drawing of my hero and the drawing of her daughter and the drawing of the enemy or the villain of my hero and how all of the villains organs change when she changes her modes. 


XCC: Cause and Effect
I wrote a story about the cause and effect of why my super hero and my super villain are such rivals and why they are each other's enemy. They are enemies because the villain used to be a bully to the hero and when they got super powers they became even more of villains they started to fight because the villain started to use her powers to do bad and the hero wanted to fix it. Now they both fight and they are both trying their best to win against the other. The cause of them being enemies is because the villain used to bully her and they got powers and the villain used them for bad and they effect is now they are enemies and are trying to stop each other.

Weekly blog 1/23-27/17

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Lungs_diagram_simple.svg/2000px-Lungs_diagram_simple.svg.png

Summary: 

        There are super powers that may be possible if you changed some of your organ systems. A way that you can see better in the dark is if your pupils got larger than usual because your pupils let in light and when you are in the light you have smaller pupils and if you are in the dark you have larger pupils. If you had pupils that were extra large you could let more light into your light you can see in the dark. You can also have lager muscles in order to do more and so that you can be a stronger person. There are many things that you can change of your body to make it better and more powerful.

S&EP:SP2: Developing and using models:

        I drew a super villain that is made up to be the enemy of our made up super hero. They have to have two modes a normal and a nefarious and in nefarious mode their organ systems change to give them powers. We had to draw the organ systems before and after. For me I changed the eyes, lungs, ears and muscles. The eyes change by making the pupil larger so that she can see in the dark, the lungs got larger so she can hold her breath longer, her ears got curvier and larger so she can hear better and she got larger muscles so that she is stronger and can do more.

XCC: Structure and Function:

In order for people to see in the dark their pupils have to grow larger to let in more light and the larger the pupil the more light you can see. If your lungs were larger you would be able to hold more air in your lungs for a longer time and you could do more stuff like be more active and still not be out of breath. If your muscles are larger than you become stronger and this means that you can do more things like lift more weight, jump higher, run faster, etc. If your ears got rounder and larger than you could hear more than you usually would and your ears are what make is to that you can hear so much in the first place.if you had rounder ears you could hear more like when you put your hands around you ear.

Weekly blog 1/13/27

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Translocation-4-20.png

Summary:
        There are many kinds of genetic mutations. There are also many ways to get genetic mutations. You can have an external or an internal factor which means external is something that is outside that make you have a genetic mutation like toxic chemicals and an internal factor is when something inside goes wrong with cell duplication. You can have insertions, deletions or substitution, insertion is when you have an extra base added to your DNA, deletion is when you take away a base and substitution is when you have the wrong base with the wrong base. Most of the time when people have mutations it doesn't help them or harm them and it is just neutral to them but in rare cases the mutation can help the person or it can harm them.

S&EP:SP1: Asking questions and defining problems
        I asked the scientific question of what causes genetic mutations and what causes GMO and what is the difference? I found that GMO is when someone modifies their DNA on purpose and they do it when they want and they get to make the decision. Genetically modifying your DNA is when you don't get to make the decision and it happens when your cells duplicate wrong or when you have external factors like toxic chemical or somehow some outside force effects your DNA. The main difference is that one is when you choose and if you want it and one is just natural and you do not get to chose if it  happens.

XCC: Cause and Effect
        I had to find out what the cause and the effect of my my super hero got her powers. I got to make up the story and I had to have some scientific explanation behind it. the cause of my super hero getting her powers was she was investigating a recent case from her job as a police officer and when she was exploring she got bit by a pit viper and accidentally got some of the toxic chemicals in it. This causes her genes to have extra bases added to her DNA and so that is what caused her to get her power. There are many other ways that people can get genetic mutations and most of the time genetic mutations do not help. The cause and effect was she get bit and then she got an external factor or the chemicals into it and so then she got her genes to have insertions and so she had extra bases and she got her power.