My Stock Experience

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In Language Arts we did a Stock project! (Yes in LA crazy?) We had $20k to spend on stocks. Of course it wasn’t real money. I didn’t know anything about stocks at the beginning so I just chose popular stocks. Apple, Amazon, General Electric, and Tesla. Sounds smart, until the weeks go by. Every week we checked our stocks. In google sheets we had a formula in so it would automatically calculate it for us. Some days my stocks were up, most days, they were down. I bought a lot of stocks from each company. I mean a lot. So even if one was down (most likely Amazon or Tesla would do this) it would bring my whole total down into the negatives. We also got to make an investing company of our own. Mine was as shown above, Superior Stocks. I even came up with a slogan. But obviously, they weren’t superior because at the beginning I knew nothing.

Did I like this project? Yes, it was a fun long-term project. I learned a lot from it. Like, don’t buy popular company’s stocks. Also, it’s better to buy new companies stocks and hope they go up. We weren’t allowed to change our stocks though. I’ve thought about investing in real life. But my money! I don’t want to lose my money! I mean it’s worth a shot. I would recommend studying or talking with a real investor before doing so! You can also invest like we did before you start. Have a nice day.

 

My TED Talk

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I gave a TED talk to my class. It was fun. Now let me take you through it. We came up with a topic that we liked. I thought of body language. I studied a little about your brain and testosterone and cortisol. I put charts and diagrams in my slides. Studied my note-cards and finally I was ready. 

Those are some of my slides. Studying wasn’t hard. Putting the slides together wasn’t hard. Presenting was hard. I had to memorize my cards and what I was going to say. I presented it to my parents, sister, and babysitter. I was corrected if I was wrong. That really helped me prepare for the final presentation.

When I presented I was nervous but excited. It felt good to teach people something while talking about something I love! I think I had a good presentation and I’m happy about how I did. Would I give this TED talk in front of a live audience? Possibly. That takes about a year of practice and I’m not willing to do that. Also that’s scary. In front of that many people?! Well I think my class is enough for me. I do recommend you learn about a topic you love. It might come in handy someday. 

Tree Books

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For two months we have worked on tree books! What are tree books? Well, think of them like a pop-up book that’s nature themed. They were very fun to make. But, what was the process like?
Well to end up with this…

We had to go through a series of art techniques. It was very fun. We started with screen printing and Akua ink. We took dictionary paper,  unlined paper, and maps. We rolled the ink on and then put a leaf or flower under and rolled again. Out came a beautiful outline of the nature. If you rolled again the veins would pop more. It looked so good! It was also very fun to make. With the help of Peg (https://gignouxart.com/) and Mrs.Donnelly, we then folded the paper to attach everything on.

It came time to cut. We cut and folded the outline even more. Then we attached our trees onto it. We glued on our Akua ink and cut it out to make designs. I decided to go with a bird theme. I cut out a bird and it looked decent so I made some more!

Later when the Akua dried we added some pockets. Inside them there were, a picture of us, a life list, and a Salute to my Roots writing. In the Salute to my Roots we wrote about our family members and how they shaped who we were.

Working with Peg was an honor and I really enjoyed it! I would definitely make a tree book again it was fun, and if you payed attention, the process was quite simple! In the end our artwork was displayed in Frank Gallery! (https://www.frankisart.com/). Art is calming and if you have free time, try it out!

Working With Frances Dowell

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Story Cover

For a while my LA class has been working with an author, Frances Dowell. She is a great author and has written many books, one of them being “Ten Miles Past Normal”.

Since around the beginning-middle of the school year we talked with her about making stories. We learned how to start a story and pull in the reader, to making big scenes where people run from giant monsters.  My opening scene is a man reading the newspaper, not intriguing? Read the next sentences. Frances showed us how you can make a good start in scene just from someone sipping tea on their couch.

Sticks and stones, as we learned are amazing additions to your story. Which is better?

The monster came, then the super hero attacked yay they win. OR

The monster came, the super hero attacked! His attacks weren’t working! The monster was absorbing his power!

That is a “stone” problem. The monster is absorbing his power, so he has to find another way to beat him. Stick and stone problems can make your story longer and make people want to read more. I am very happy we got to speak with Mrs. Dowell. And without further ado, here is part of my story…

 

 

Story Cover

 

ISLAND WITH A SHOT OF MURDER

BY: REBECCA T.

 

Chapter One – The Invite

  

    Professor Plum was sitting on his white and purple couch wearing a purple suit, as always. He was reading a newspaper, New York Times. That was the only paper he read. As he flipped to page 4 of the paper he heard a knock on the door. He got up mostly using his right leg, the next day he had a doctors appointment. He walked to the door and answered it. 

“NOW SIR, this oughta be important because YOU interrupted my 30 minutes of reading the paper!” He exclaimed not even looking at the man at his door. The delivery man’s face was straight. He knew Professor Plum had a schedule but frankly, he did not care. 

“You got an envelope, don’t know who it’s from and I don’t care,” Then he continued “Somethin’ important,” He handed the envelope to Professor.

“Better be important!” Plum fought back. The delivery man shook his head and turned around. Plum opened the envelope, it read

      

   LUCKY LUCKY MAN

YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO THE MANSION 

ON THE ISLAND..

“What in tarnation!” Plum exclaimed to himself. Then he continued to read the letter,

 

NOW WHAT ISLAND WHAT MANSION? YOU MIGHT ASK.

COME TO THE GEORGIA TOWN AIRPORT AT EXACTLY

4:55pm THEN YOU WILL TAKE THE FLIGHT WITH A CODE TAG OF 

85474

MEET YOU THERE!

 

“Island? Plane?” Plum was confused. He went to his purple kitchen and drank some grape juice.

“4:55 tomorrow, is this guy insane? That’s my newspaper time!” Plum exclaimed

“SHUT UP I’M TRYING TO STUDY FOR MY CASE!” Mrs.Plum exclaimed. Plum rolled his eyes, he went upstairs to his room and got packed.

 

I hope you liked the start of my story.  It was amazing working with Francis and I hope you learned a little from this post.

Here’s the link to her website!: https://francesdowell.com 

Have a good day!

Window Or Mirror Book

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Book

BLOG POST

 

    Right now I’m reading The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson. Is this book a window or mirror? What is a window or mirror book? No, It’s not a literal window or a mirror. A window book is a book that doesn’t relate to you, but it shows you another story. Like looking out a window at home and seeing a deer run around, you aren’t the deer, but you can see how the deer lives. A mirror book is a book that reflects your life. Let’s say you were adopted and the book is about another kid who was adopted. That “mirrors” your life. 

 

    The Vanishing Stair is a story about the protagonist Stevie. In the first book Stevie is sent to Ellingham Academy, made by the one and only Albert Ellingham. He was the richest person in America and made a school on top of a hill in Vermont for only the finest students. Though, most of them were his friends’ children. Stevie gets invited to this school, while she’s there a series of murders go on. Stevie being Stevie puts herself into the investigation to try and solve the murders. Now, this book would be a window for me. I don’t go to a school made by the richest person in America. Not to mention it’s in Vermont. At my school there isn’t a series of murders going on. So, I think it’s safe to say this book is a window for me. It’s very good you should read it. (Amazon links here)

 

1st book: Truly Devious

 

2nd Book: The Vanishing Stair (Book I’m reading)  

 

Daily Habits

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Habit Tracker for February

At the beginning of the school year, we started daily habits. The class did. Daily habit together. What was it? You might ask. We did planks. Now, WHY IN THE WORLD would we be working out in Language Arts class? Well, my LA teacher decided that instead of having us do daily habits and not seeing the progress, she would make it physical. When you plank every day, let me tell you, you notice the difference. Planking was a nice experience and I got to see that when you do something every day you’ll only get better at it.

Here comes January, and no more planks! Now, we are coming up with our own daily habit. We had a January habit tracker that my wonderful LA teacher made for us. (I will link her blog). So I decided that my daily habit would be working out daily. Yes, I know, I know I do gymnastics and soccer and I have them 6 days a week. BUT, if I don’t have a game or competition on Saturday or Sunday, I’m super lazy. Like really lazy. Like I had to force myself to do it. It did feel nice to get moving more though. Honestly, January went 1,2,3,4,5,6,15, 20, 21,22,23,27,28,29,31. 

Now, it’s February. We had to come up with a new daily habit. So I decided (because I’m super unflexible) to stretch every day. So far it’s going pretty well. I haven’t missed a day, yet. For me stretching is just a good way to relax and well, stretch. I think you should come up with a daily habit. (If you haven’t already)  Are you up for the challenge? 

 

What Punctuation Am I?

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Exclamation Mark

 

 

 

 

Question Mark

What punctuation am I? That was the question that I saw. Who knows what I am. I could be a period, a question mark, a comma, an exclamation point. I could be anything. But, if I had to pick one, I would say I am an exclamation point. Why, you may ask. I am very loud, I mean VERY. I talk a lot and make my point. I make sure I am seen and my opinion is heard. When you see an exclamation point, what do you think? When I see it I know someone is emphasizing something or making their point or argument heard. Let me be clear with you, I make my arguments heard. It’s just great when people can hear you! See exclamation point. Are you more likely to hear someone being loud with an exclamation mark, or quiet with a period? Now that I’ve explained myself, what punctuation are you?

 

 

Daily Habit

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In my LA class, we did a daily habit, planking. To show that doing something every day makes you better at it my LA teacher decided to show it in a physical way. Every 2 days we would go up by 10 seconds. Towards the end we went up by 10 seconds every day.  It was a cool experience and I definitely saw the difference from the beginning to end. If there’s something you want to get better at, take as couple minutes out of your day to practice. It’s worth it.

Now that we are finished with our planking daily habit, everyone gets to start their own. We have a daily habit tracker. Every day that we do it, we mark it in our tracker. My daily habit is working out everyday. This one is something I though I should do, even though I have gymnastics 3 days a week. When I’m not focused to perfecting my skills and I’m at home, I like to go on our treadmill and run. Even for gymnastics I have terrible endurance. I cannot run for long periods of time. Like I said in the first paragraph, daily habits are worth it. You should try them.

My Interests

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As you can tell from the photo, I have an interest in soccer. Specifically, goalkeeping. In this photo is Hope Solo, she was an amazing goalkeeper who played for the US National Women’s team. She is now retired and is a commentator for soccer matches. Why am I talking about her, you may ask. She is the goalkeeper I look up to. Now about me. I play for an NCFC Classic Gold team. I one of the teams goalkeepers. This year I started playing 11 v 11 on the big goals. Now let me tell you, I’m pretty short, I’m an ant compared to it. Not to worry because I am working on high balls. Soccer is super fun, and just being there for the team saving goals is great.

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