Stocks

Above are two photos from a project that I have been working on in Language Arts for a while. The project was stocks. We began doing this project because we were reading a book called the Westing Game, and a character in the book called Turtle liked stocks and invested money in them. First, we started by (theoretically) investing $20,000 in stocks. I invested in 30 shares of Apple, five of Adobe, 30 of Sonos, 70 of Newmont, and 500 of Macys. We created a spreadsheet (image on top) to keep track of how much we earned/lost. We entered the current price every week or so and saw the money we earned or lost. The other image is of the piece of paper we used to write how much we earned/lost down. We created a logo and a name for our investment company. Mine was Smith’s shares. My company earned money for the most part, and I only lost money twice. In the end, I earned $2,316.

TED Talk


I know two questions you might be asking right now. 1) How are the two above images related? and 2) Is this girl flunking math class? I will give you an answer to both. I’m going to do things in reverse order, so the answer to number two is; probably. Now on to number one. I recently did a project (if a say this you can assume it’s in language arts) where I had to present a TED talk to my class. The photos above are pictures of some of my slides. You probably think that the second one is a joke. But, actually, the first one is the false one.

My topic was complicated, so I used an example to describe it. Why do we think two plus two is four? The first image was a joke slide I put first to trick people. The second one was my actual first slide. For this particular topic, I couldn’t find a lot of information on the web, so I looked through a book called 1984, which is where I got the 2+2 example from (great book, by the way). Most people wrote flash cards, but to be completely honest, I did not have a plan whatsoever. I was really nervous and ended up talking fast so my presentation was pretty short, but it was still a fun thing to do.

Tree Book Project

My language arts class has been working on this project for awhile, and we finished last week. Artist Peg Gignoux has been helping us with this  book. The cover is screen-printed paper, and the inside is collaged Akua ink-covered paper, which we made by rolling Akua ink on a rubbery platform called a jelly, and we added plants to make prints. We also made little pockets on the book to store our writing pieces, which were collaged with the Akua ink. We put one thing in each pocket; a life list (things we want to do before we die), a roots essay (an essay about our family members), and the last pocket held a Polaroid picture of our self. Funny story about that picture. The flash on a camera makes me blink. So I look like I’m asleep in the photo. We also wrote a wish on the inside of our books.

To go along with the project, we are reading the book Wishtree. We haven’t finished it yet, but it is a good book. A lot of good messages in it. It’s kind of sad though. We also put our books up in a gallery for a bit. My dad, his parents, and my brother came to see my book. My mom was in New Jersey for the weekend, so she couldn’t come. It was a fun exhibit, and the project itself was even more fun.

Check out Peg’s website: Peg’s website

Also check out frank gallery’s site, which is where we displayed our books: Frank Gallery site

 

Frances Dowell Story


The image above is the end of a story I wrote. We have been writing our stories in Language Arts since around the middle of the year. An author named Frances Dowell helped us write them. She taught us what parts needed to be in a story, such as the background check, which tells you a bit about the main character(s) life or personality. I used this and the “sticks and stones” problems (little problems that aren’t the main one) in my story. I am proud of it (although the ending isn’t as I planned originally) and I love to write fiction. I will definitely continue to write more stories.

Below is a link to Frances Dowell’s website. Check it out if you get a chance!

/https://francesdowell.com/

Window Or Mirror?

(Image from Sora)

I will start by explaining what a window and mirror is. No, not the literal meaning, in case anyone thought it was. A window is a book that brings you into another world, not like a book about planets, but one that doesn’t mirror your own life. That last sentence basically told you what I am going to explain now. But I am explaining it anyway. A mirror is a book that is similar to your own life. The main character might be like you, the situation in the book might be like one you are in, or it could be both.

The book Shadow Weaver (which is, first of all, a great book) is a window for me. The main character is not at all like me, and the situation is not like one I am in. I wish it was a mirror because being able to move shadows would be awesome, but it’s not at all like my life.

The story is that a girl has a special power that she got from a comet, the power to move shadows and make things out of them. Her own shadow also talks to her, but no one believes it. Her shadow gets her into a lot of trouble, because it actually can move around and cause harm. Her parents try to send her off to a “special” school, but it is run by an evil person who has a plan for kids with powers from the comet. The girl runs away and has to hide from the evil woman. So yeah, nothing like my life.

My New Daily Habit

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I was doing a daily habit. In the beginning of the year it was plank, (which was required), and in January it was writing. I’m starting a new one, which is drawing every day. Above are two of my drawings for today and yesterday (I use the app sketchbook). In January, I wanted to improve my writing skills, which I did, in my opinion. I wrote about random things mostly though. But it still helped.

Now, I’m trying to improve my drawings. I am kind of cheating by using an app because a lot of shapes are provided so I don’t have to make a perfect circle by hand. But still, I hope to improve by doing a drawing every day. I also really like to draw and I usually draw each day regardless of a habit tracker. By the end of February I want to draw a really good galaxy (seems easy but I’ve tried and it never comes out well). I think I’ll start with a lot of smudged backgrounds because I will use the smudge tool a lot for a galaxy. Daily habits have helped me improve things (except plank, I’m still horrible at it) and remember to do them. Also the tracker helps me set a schedule. Post your habits in the comments if you want.

And, just like last time, another horrible joke.

Q: Why can’t you hear a psychiatrist go to the bathroom?

A: Because the ‘P’ is silent! Hahahahahahahaheeheeheeheeheeheehee!

I really need some better jokes. Post ideas in the comments if you want.

What Kind Of Punctuation Am I?


I recently had an assignment where I had to say what type of punctuation I was. I put semicolon because it’s a mix of different punctuation marks and for me is something that I randomly use when nothing else will fit. I have a mixed personality and can be a random person. It can also be a confusing punctuation mark that doesn’t know what it’s used for. If you asked me what my personality was, I’d probably ask you why you asked me, give you a vague answer, and ask you to ask someone I know.

I had a lot of trouble with this assignment because I find it hard to define my own personality without someone else telling me, but I think I got it pretty accurate. If you like, comment on what punctuation you are.

 

 

 

 

Daily Habit

This is my daily habit chart. For my LA class, we have to choose a daily habit to do and mark the days we do it on a chart. I mark mine on a pdf. I’m also writing a story in LA, (I might post some of it later) so I’m making a daily habit of writing of writing in a journal every day. It isn’t my story, it’s just a bunch of random thoughts. I chose it because #1, I want to improve at writing, and #2, we already had to write in a daily journal for LA so I’m not changing anything.

Earlier this year we also did a planking habit as a class. We would slowly increase the time that we would plank to get better at planking. It didn’t work for me, but it was still a good habit if you want to get better at plank. I’m not very strong, so it was hard for me, but like I said, if you want to get better at something you have to build a habit. All that a daily habit really is, is a habit that you do every day to improve at something.

Here is a time-honored knock knock joke just because:

knock knock.

who’s there?

Lettuce.

Lettuce who?

Lettuce in, it’s cold outside!

Another horrible joke, I apologize.

Wisdom Tales Comic

 




Another school assignment. We had to do a comic based on a wisdom tale and here is mine. I did “The Blue Jackal Who Showed His True Colors” and I chose it because when I opened the book it was the first story I opened to and I read it and it seemed like it would be cool to draw. First, I did the drawings on an app called sketchbook. I only had to draw the jackal once because I made a screenshot of it and added it to each sketch changing minor things.
I used another app called Comic Life to access a comic template and insert my drawings. I added the title and stuff and then saved it to my photos and put it in my post.