The Smallest Things to Me Can be The Biggest Thing to Others

In geography, we have all been given different current events in Europe.  The topic in which I was assigned to is independence movements.  The movement that I chose to research about is the Welsh Independence Movement.
Before I had been assigned to independence movements, I had no knowledge of the fact that this is happening in Europe.  I had seen flashes of it when I look at the New York Times website, and had overheard snip its of people occasionally talking about these movements, but the fact that these independence movements were changing people's lives had never dawned on me.  I chose to learn about the Welsh Independence Movement because I hear the most about it.  I figured that if I were to gain more background knowledge about the topic, then I would be able to participate on conversations about this, or at least understand what people are talking about when they say "Plaid Cymru," for example.
Throughout my researching so far, I have learned that the minority of the population is backing Welsh independence.  One the other hand, nearly 50% would like for the Welsh Assembly to have more power.  (The survey was taken  over telephone to 1,006 random samples by ICM Research.)  I think that this survey is very interesting, because even people in Wales are not supporting their independence.  This makes me wonder what the downsides to Welsh independence are, because the Welsh would not just vote against their county's independence.
In conclusion, I have found out very much about something in the past few weeks.  I had not thought of the significance of the Welsh Independence Movements.  I have looking forward to finding out even more about the movements!
  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Protest_Cymdeithas_yr_Iaith,_1972.jpg

Summing Up The Unit.. With Pictures!

My visual slide:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VRBxXzoXPhe7rHeUI5vZqUNXaheScnO2z9bB2aagrDY/edit?usp=sharing

Why do enduring stories survive over time?
In Humanities, we have just finished our unit about the Epic of Gilgamesh, and have just started reading "The Story of My Life," by Helen Keller.
These two stories are extremely different, but do have some similarities.  For example, both stories are stories of endurance.  Early on in "The Story of My Life," we learn how desperate Helen Keller really was.  The Epic of Gilgamesh is also an endurance story because throughout the book, Gilgamesh is fighting to find immortality.  I believe that s tories of endurance last over time because they are stories that make us realize how important our life is.  For example, in "The Story of My Life," I noticed how Ms. Helen Keller's life must have been so scary.  She was both blind and deaf, and also mute.  We take for granted that we have the ability to see how beautiful our world is, hearing the noises that fill our world, and being able to share these expressions with others.  Eventually, with the help of Ms. Sullivan, Ms. Keller learned to speak.  This is a miracle and it serves as an inspiration to us all.

Why do enduring stories survive over time?
In Humanities, we have just finished our unit about the Epic of Gilgamesh, and have just started reading "The Story of My Life," by Helen Keller.
These two stories are extremely different, but do have some similarities.  For example, both stories are stories of endurance.  Early on in "The Story of My Life," we learn how desperate Helen Keller really was.  The Epic of Gilgamesh is also an endurance story because throughout the book, Gilgamesh is fighting to find immortality.  I believe that s tories of endurance last over time because they are stories that make us realize how important our life is.  For example, in "The Story of My Life," I noticed how Ms. Helen Keller's life must have been so scary.  She was both blind and deaf, and also mute.  We take for granted that we have the ability to see how beautiful our world is, hearing the noises that fill our world, and being able to share these expressions with others.  Eventually, with the help of Ms. Sullivan, Ms. Keller learned to speak.  This is a miracle and it serves as an inspiration to us all.  

Studying- It Pays Off!

In math class, we have had three quizzes.  The first one, I had a decent performance.  On the second one, I was unhappy with my final grade.  On the most recent one, I got a grade that I was very happy with.  I owe my good grade to something that I have always dreaded.  Studying.
The weekend before the quiz, my mom asked me how I was doing in this unit.  I told her that I was doing fine, which was the truth.  She nodded, but told me that I should study.  Grudgingly, I walked to my room and grabbed my studying untensils and brought them out to the kitchen table, where I found my dad working on his computor.  He volunteered to help me study and I willingly took his offer.  First, we made a list of things that I needed to study by looking on Veracross.  Then, my dad organized the topics with time.  For example, study mean for ten minutes, median for ten and so on.  And so, for the next hour of so, I studied.  Every so often, I asked my dad questions for clarification and he would check my answers.  The next day, I was prepared and confident going into the quiz.

When we got the results, I was overjoyed with my grade.  I looked at my mistakes with my tutor and corrected them.  I realized that both of my mistakes were really things that I just had to look over my quiz again.  So, for my next quiz, I will definitly study hard-  it pays off!

Looking in The Mirror With "The Epic of Gilgamesh"

In humanities, we have just finished The Epic of Gilgamesh.  Personally, I enjoyed this book so much because it spoke of values that writers nowadays lack.
In the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh, I did not percive Gilgamesh as a hero.  He was spoiled, opressive, and greedy.  Despite this, he grew into an epic hero by the time the book reached the end. Gilgamesh transformed into an epic hero because when he is finally gets to the resevoir for to which he must dive into to uproot the plant of life from the bottom.  Once he did get the plant, he thinks that he has finally succeeded in his quest, but while he is not looking, a snake eats the plant.   He had continued to persevere through the project, but he was faced with a setback.  Gilgamesh's true colors show in this chapter because he had wanted to share the Plant of Life with Uruk's men.  He accepted defeat and mortality in this chapter.  Also, Gilgamesh defeated the Bull of Heaven when Ishtar sent it down.  This shows that he posesses great power and confidence if he is able to stand up the beast and slay it.  Also, when Ishtar, the goddess of love bribes him to marry her, she stands up to the heartless woman by bringing up examples of the terrible things she had done to past "lovers."  This shows that Gilgamesh is larger then temptation. He is will not let things that are bad but tempting get to him.


The values of acient Mesopotamian society compare to our values today?
In ancient Mesopotamia, the people valued, among many things, peace, religion, and curiousity.  Some of those things still shine through nowadays, but are faded.  They are like old paintings.  Back then, they were vivid and detailed, now they are faded.  Nowadays, some of the things that we value are technology, power, and social status.  We are so caught up in things like "who has the newest iPhone."  We have forgotten to enjoy the little things in life, because one day, we will realize that they were the big things that we had missed out on.  This is what the book Gilgamesh highlights.  The things that have stayed with us since Mesopotamian days.  These are things like curiousity, achievments, friendship and family.

How Many People in How Much Room?!

In geography, we finished making an infographic about population density.  It was really interesting to learn about this because now I have an idea of the size and population of my three countries, Belgium, French Guiana, and Panama.
Belgium Population density:  889 people per square mile
French Guiana Population Density:  6 people per square mile
Panama Population Density: 54 people per square mile.
I think that there are different population densities between these three countries because they have different landscapes.  French Guiana has a lot of rainforest, so not as much housing areas in all of it.  French Guiana's rainforest probably not suitable for people to live in.  Belgium is more metropolitan and has many cities, so they are more packed together.  There is a variety of landscapes, but they are nowhere near French Guiana's dense rainforests.  Finally, Panama is more mixed in terms of landscape, although there is more forest than metropolitan area.
 

Purple Marbles Out of The Bag

My math document

In math, we have been working with probability.  My work is in a link above.