The Stock Market

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Recently, in Language Arts class we did a stock market project. The project involved each student getting an imaginary $20,000 and choosing to invest it how we liked. I invested in McDonald’s first because it seemed funny and weird since I never go to McDonald’s. Next, I invested in Nike, because I felt inspired by an article I had read. I also invested in Ford 6%, New York Times, and Walt Disney Cooperation. 

At first, my stocks looked good. McDonald’s turned out to be going up quite a bit. Nike and New York Times also went up. Ford 6% stayed the same, and the only stock that went down was Disney. I was up $300, then $400, then $450, and eventually I peeked at around $600. In real life, I probably would have sold right then and focused my money on the companies that were doing better. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to sell early. This would turn out to be a big problem.

The next week I was at -$500. Yes, that is a negative number. Nike, Disney, and New York Times had all crashed, and Ford 6% and McDonald’s went down. Two days later, McDonald’s crashed. I had $1000 less than what I started with. The next week, not much had changed, so I ended the project down to -$1041.47.

This project really showed me how unpredictable the stock market is. I learned that even though some stocks looked good, they actually ended up falling 10 points in a few weeks. This project was very interesting and fun.

TED Like Talk

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In my language arts class, for sort of a final project, we did a TED Like Talk. A TED Like Talk is similar to a TED Talk, but it is not turned into an actual video. We used TED’s guidelines to make the project and presented it in front of the class. It was suggested that one should make a script, so I started doing that. I then realized that I had already essentially planned out the whole thing, so I didn’t end up using a script.

My TED Like Talk was on the three blades in fencing. Fencing is a sport where one attempts to hit the opponent with a sword before the other person does. There are different types of fencing (different blades) that I talked about during my TED Like Talk. I enjoyed this project because it made me think about presentation in a different way.

The Last Cuentista: Writings

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During the beginning of the school year my Language Arts class read The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. This book takes place in a dystopian future where Halley’s Comet is going to hit Earth and destroy everyone living there. A corporation called the Collective created ships and are bringing people from Earth to another planet to survive. This seems like a good cause, but the Collective is not what they seem. This book was a fun read with a main theme of stories called cuentos. I actually wrote my own cuento here:

The Tooth Fairy

Retold by Connor M ~ Told by Frank S.

It is tough to be a single dad. My wife had recently passed, being sent to a plague center, to die from Tuberculosis. I was left to raise my two children by myself during the Great Depression. On the weekdays, I drop Frank and Irving at school before work, but on the weekends, I bring them out with me. 

Although it is a tough time, my family is managing thanks to my job as a doctor. I go door to door treating patients, so I spend a lot of my time in the car. The kids love the long rides during the weekends. I try to make things fun by sparking their imagination. 

Imagination is so important to me because as a child, you have a lot of it, but as an adult, I find that imagination is in vain. I help my children grow up imaginative by letting them believe what they want to believe.

Sometimes, when I’m driving the kids down the long roads they lose a tooth. I start to drive a little wobbly and reach out the window to bang on the roof. Suddenly, I stopped. “It’s the tooth fairy!” I yell. Excitedly, Frank and Irving get out of the car. Magically, there is candy on the roof! Frank and Irving eat their candy, and I love how they look up at the sky, looking for the tooth fairy. I really hope to spark their imagination in a way they will remember forever.

*************************************************************************************************

Because the people in the book went to another planet, I wrote an ideal world blog post here. This blog post was about my ideal world to live in. It is told like a tour of a city, but it is a planet. This was very fun to write about. I would recommend The Last Cuentista to anyone who loves science fiction.

Finally, I made a handmade book. The cover of it says “Spirit,” because the name of my ideal world is Spirit in Latin, and my cuento is about spirit and hope. These messages made making the handmade book super fun. Inside there is a platypotupus, one of my ideal world’s many creatures. This was a great project that was fairly enjoyable.

The Recipe For A Strong Persian Empire

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Recently in Social Studies (History) class, we learned about what makes a strong empire. Our example was the Persian Empire. As a class we learned about King Cyrus and agricultural trade. The Persians created a successful empire, and we were tasked with figuring out what made them so successful. 

First, we made a list of the top ten things that made the Persian Empire powerful. I included “Creating a Powerful Army” and “Taxing Invaded People.” The most important thing was “Become Wealthy Through Agricultural Trade.” I then took these topics and turned them into “ingredients.” For example, instead of “Become Wealthy Through Agricultural Trade,” there was Agriculture Trade Flour. I created a series of steps to follow while creating the “recipe.” I called the recipe Persian Hand-Made Brownies. The image of it is above, and the recipe is right here: 

Persian Hand-Made Brownies

Ingredients:

  • 2 heaping cups of agricultural trade flour
  • 2 cups of invaded land chocolate
  • 1 cup of tax sugar
  • 4 eggs from a social hierarchy
  • 3 ounces of free religion butter
  • 1 tablespoons of benefits like land for the wealthy (substitute for salt)
  • A pinch of human rights baking powder
  • ½ a teaspoon of vanilla coinage extract.

Procedure:

  1. Preset the oven temperature to 550 degrees fahrenheit. 
  2. Beat other invaded land chocolate with a powerful army rolling pin until broken up. Collect all the invaded land and make sure to continue collaborating with the smaller governments inside the chocolate.
  3. Mix agricultural trade flour and tax sugar together to make lots of money. Add the benefits for the wealthy to keep the recipe from rebelling.
  4. Put the social hierarchy eggs into a bowl with the invaded land chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is in a lower spot in the hierarchy than the Persians. To keep the invaded land chocolate sweet, add free religion butter. Put these into the microwave for 3 minutes.
  5. Whisk together the wet and dry ingredients while adding human rights baking powder so it will all work out well. A vanilla coinage extract to make the agricultural trade flour and tax sugar work better.
  6. Cook for 220 years so the empire can last long.
  7. Serve and enjoy your empire!

Tips:

  • Never cook for an Alexander, as he will probably destroy your dish.
  • Try to use ingredients from lots of middle eastern countries, especially Iran.
  • Make sure to only put the food in the microwave for 3 minutes, because there were only 3 leaders in

Do not make this recipe, because I’m pretty sure it will be a disaster. Please, do not try this at home. It will not turn out well. Anyway, this was a really fun project, and I look forward to more history projects in the future.

My Ideal World

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In the year 2764, a new planet was created. I am here to give you a quick tour of Spiritus. The oxygen there is breathable by humans, and there is fertile land so plants can be grown. This world was made by me, as an ideal world. 

First off, there is a completely different government system. It is a representative democracy, but leading the government doesn’t give you the power to change laws. The power to change laws comes from a vote from every single person over the age of 18. The president will decide when a law change is needed, and the people will vote on it. To elect a president there is a ranked voting system, so the person you put first gets 3 points, the person you put second gets 2 points, and the person you put last gets 1 point. 

It may sound like this world is boring, but it has lots of, well, confusing life forms. Have you ever wanted a pet mouse that breathes fire? You’re in luck, because these friendly creatures called Burn Rats can be used as ovens. Burn Rats cannot die unless they die of old age. Platypotypusses are native creatures that swim between islands and can be ridden around. They are useful for transportation between places because of their friendly nature. Special bushes can produce a meat-like vegetable that tastes similar to steak. Variations of these bushes produce different meats, so everyone can be vegetarian. Because of this world’s unique soil, there are several different types of bananas. Some are smaller and have a raspberry flavor, and some are wide and are mushier than normal bananas. There are still some life forms from Earth, but these life forms are very unique.

On Spiritus music, video games, movies, education, housing, and basic food is free. You might ask, “Why do people make these things if everyone gets them for free?” That is a great question. On Spiritus, people who make houses get paid a lot of money. If you make music, video games, or movies, the government pays you based on how popular your product is. Teachers get their wage from the government, just like public schools on Earth. Farming makes you lots of money if you make enough food, but if not, you will get less money. 

Spiritus looks like a giant grid of islands and ocean. The islands toward the north are bigger, and most people live there. The islands toward the south are smaller and mostly used for farming. Between the islands there are thick plastic tubes that go under water. The tubes are large enough to fit cars, and that is exactly what they are used for. Ever want to drive underwater? Well now anyone can! 

Come to Spiritus today, and get a discount on your price of living. Because living here is free! What are you waiting for? Come off Earth, and live on Spiritus!

The Raleigh Museum of Natural Sciences

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Credit to DA Teacher

It was a Friday morning and I knew that today I was going to go to the Raleigh Museum of Natural Sciences. My grade was going on a field trip there. I was a little excited, because the last time I went to that museum I was only eight years old. This time I would actually try to read the signs and not just look at all the models. I was getting more and more excited as I got closer to the bus. Today would be great.

When we first got the museum, it was pretty chaotic. People were running around to meet up with their advisors, and some kids were talking about things that happened on the bus. Once I got to my advisory, we were ready to go. 

I walked into the building, and the first thing that stood out to me was how absolutely massive this place was. There were four floors and two buildings. I had no idea how we were going to see everything in two hours! Once we got a quick message telling us to not do cartwheels down the escalator, we were off.

The first exhibit was about creatures that were home to North Carolina, the state I was in. There was a huge panther that was extremely cool. There was also an exhibit about sea creatures that had some really interesting models.

The next floor was about ecosystems in North Carolina, including jungles, marshes, and forests. We then went across to the other building, which had lots of interesting things. There was a game about managing an economy while saving the environment. There was a way to visualize a light year. There were actual meteors from space! And last but not least, there was a whole lab about 3D printing. There were some very amazing models. There was a blanket of these little clips that was printed together, and some D&D dice. 

After a quick lunch break, we headed back to go to the fourth floor. There was a very interesting exhibit about race. It made me think about how something that was just our body adapting to its surroundings became a huge part of our day to day lives. There was also an exhibit about women of our past who became leaders in engineering, entrepreneurship, and so many other things. 

This trip was pretty fun. I had a good time hanging out with my friends, and I learned a lot about animals and history. The trip there and back was fun too, with some of the most chaotic bus rides I’ve had since Camp Hanes. Overall, still a fun trip though.

Window & Mirror

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Image from Sora

There are two types of books, window books and mirror books. Window books are books that you don’t relate to, so you’re looking at them from a window. An example of a window book could be a fantasy book with dragons and fairies. Mirror books have a character or setting that you can relate to. For example, if you were a doctor, a book about a doctor might be a mirror book. The reason I say “might” is because some books that have characters like you are still windows because they are having a completely different experience.

I am currently reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. It is about a boy in middle school in the year 1967 during the Vietnam War named Holling. He thinks his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him, but her family’s company is associated with his family’s company, so he has to act like he is good friends with his teacher. Meanwhile, President Lyndon B. Johnson is stepping down, and Martin Luther King Jr. was just assassinated.

This book is a window because even though there is a middle school boy as a main character, I don’t live in a time of war, so it is still a window.




The Red and Blue Coat in Scratch

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https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/754418545

Recently, I had a school project. Our grade read lots of stories from the book Wisdom Tales Around the World. We picked one of the stories and made a project about it. My project came in the form of a Scratch game and animation. It starts out with some narration and then goes into a little boss fight game. After that the story finishes. I hope you enjoy it.

   PS. In the game instructions it says WASD to move. This mean you press the W key to go up, and the S key to go down.

Why You Should Play Dungeons and Dragons

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    Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is an amazing role-playing game. Adventures can provide a great way to hang out with friends, while also creating a whole new world. It is a great alternative to screen time for children, because it has no screens involved, but is equally entertaining. The gameplay in D&D can be fast paced or slow paced, depending on the way the party wants to play. You can play many different roles, including tanky fighters, sneaky rogues, and powerful wizards. You also can be the Dungeon Master (DM,) who runs the game. This makes D&D great for everyone, super fun, and exciting.

    Another great thing about Dungeons and Dragons is that it is great for people just starting out, people who have played a little, and veteran players. This is because of the great versatility in rules and play styles. If you are just starting out, you can just buy a starter kit, which comes with simplified rules and some classes to start out with. Those who have done that before can start using the real rules, and learn about more complicated role-playing and classes. Finally, veteran players can start looking into complex rulebooks and adventures that travel the planes of existence. If you are new here, you probably didn’t understand most of that veteran player stuff, but trust me, you will eventually. So what are you waiting for? Go out there and start rolling some dice!