Teams Are More Than You Think

Team
noun
a group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport.

This morning I was browsing the New York Times website when I found this article about the New York Rangers.  It caught my attention because I really like hockey and the Rangers are my very favorite team.  I think that the main idea of this article is that the Rangers have had a big comeback and that every part of the team is a huge part of the team.  I think that another aspect of this article is that you need to work to get something that you want.  You cannot just sit around and wait for victory to come to you, because it never will.  You have to get up.  Get up and fight.

I also think that part of this article is about being in a team.  You can't have everyone arguing and not understanding the coach.  There are 24 people on the team, but they are one.  St. Louis, one of the Ranger's players mother had passed before Game 5 of the Eastern Confrence, but he says that his teammates helped him get through the situation by supporting him. The team's goalie, Henrik Lundqvist stopped 35 of the Pittsburgh Penguins 36 shots. “It was such a good feeling at the end, when you know it’s a done deal, and we did it,” Lundqvist said. “We came back.” The article quotes Lundqvist. Even though he is not a skater, he is a big part of the team. Every member of the team is valued in different ways.

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Just Because You Can't See It Doesn't Mean It's Not There

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I recently read an article by the New York Times about Poor Sanitation in India.  It interested me because in sixth grade we learned about India economically so there were a lot of things in this article in which I was familiar with.  I already know things about this topic so I could get a lot more out of it.  The article stuck with me because I could learn more facts and expand my knowledge on the topic. 

I think that the main idea of this article is to teach people that even though something like malnutrition may not happen close to you, it is still happening and it is also a very big problem worldwide.  I think it is also meant to make you think.  There are many stunning facts throughout this article.  For example in one paragraph, it says, "More than one in four newborn deaths occur in India."  This is a devastating fact that sticks with you. I think that the writer of the article wanted you to take a step back and put things into perspective, instead of just zipping through the article.  They want you to realize how big of a problem this is.     

BRICS Studies

In humanities we have been learning how to solve extreme poverty and were given a project realted to that. We learned about 5 different topics relating to poverty; health, education, employment, environment, and gender. We were assigned a topic and one of the B.R.I.C.S countries. I was assigned gender in Brazil. First, we had to find a project that had to do with resolving the problem. Then, we had to find websites that explained the following things: overview of problem, overview of solution, challenges of the project and successes of the project. Then, we had to create a paper about it. The week after we turned in the paper, we had the BRICS Summit where we were separated into comitees. It was interesting to collaborate with so many other people because I saw so many other points of view. The core values I noticed the most were critical thinker, communicator, curious and risk taker. I think that the most challenging part of the assignment was forming the resolution. I think that the easiest part was probably collaborating with other people because you can share ideas, it is not only you thinking of everything. I think that I did pretty well. I previously did MUN, and that it helped a lot. I think that it is important for us at Graded to learn about extreme poverty so that we can learn about the world that surrounds us. The purpouse of our study of poverty was to learn that there are so many aspects of this world, and the people in it.

You Can Never Get Too Deep When it Comes to Data!

In math, we have been working on a project with data from the responses we got from the Challenge Success Survey.  I thought that this project was extremly interesting because we got to encorperate our knowledge of most of the things we had learned about in that math unit.  I really liked taking on my project from a different perspective.  I also got to expirement with different websites that were really cool.  I got to learn all about misleading graphs, graphs and so many other things that I hope you find as cool as I did.  I embedded my project, but unfortunately, after all my hard work I discovered that my animations and audio files do not play in blogger. Therefore, Ms. J, I have emailed you the full powerpoint presentation which includes ALL audio and animation. If any of my classmates or other teachers are interested in seeing the full presentation, please just send me an email or comment below! I will send it to you right away.  Enjoy!

                                                                                                                              Tashi

Relato Pessoal

Na aula de Portuguese, fizemos um projeto chamado "Relatório de Pessoal." Neste projeto, tivemos que seguir as regras 5

1. Considere quatro contas pessoais
2. Compartilihar com outra pessoa
3. Escolha o seu favorito
4. Escrevendo sobre o momento
5. Grave seu áudio

Gostei deste projeto, e eu gostaria de fazer algo assim de novo!

The World in A Drop of Water- Wrap Up

Last week, we finished Lab Nine.  It was one of my favorite labs.  In this lab, we looked at water under a microscope.  We got to see so many amazing things, and one of my friends in the other block saw a "water flea" (a cladocera) laying eggs.  I learned about things I never would have guessed have happened before.  Somethings that suprised me were-

• The Eyespot- This is a feature we saw on the euglena.  It can sense lighter or darker.  When it senses the light, it directs the euglena to the light so that the plant can perform photosynthesis.  
• A feature on the amoeba allows it to form a layer around it called a cyst when conditions are harsh.  If the water is too cool or too warm, the cyst is formed and will stay there for as long as it needs.
• On the paramecium and vorticella, small hairs are around them called the cilia, which means eyelash in latin.  They are small  hair-like extensions that help the cell capture food and also help it move around.
• In the paramecium, there are not one, but two nuclei.  The larger one is called the macronucleus, and the smaller one is called the micronucleus.  Both nuclei are of equal vitality.  A scientest performed surgurey on the cell twice, once extracting the marconucleus, once extracting the micronucleus and concluded that the cell needed both nuclei to function.

I enjoyed this unit so much, because I was able to learn so many new things about fresh water, and I had never really wondered about it.  I am so excited to see what this next unit shows us!    

Science Test

In science, we had a test about cells.  We got to look at our test, and correct it.  I thought it was a good experience to correct it, because we were able to understand what we got wrong, or how we could improve in what we got right. 
 In general, my answers were coherent and clear, correct, but I maybe could have added more details.  One of the hardest things for me was finding the similarities and differences between the cells, but once I understood it, it was much easier.  I think that I could have speant more time studying, although I did study a lot.  Overall, I think I earned a B, based on what I got wrong, and how I improved my answers.  (My responses demonstrate mastery of the learning goal(s). There are no major errors or omissions regarding any of the content and skills that were explicitly taught. Some evidence of analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation; may demonstrate originality and insight.  )