Language Arts - I revised and typed up my paragraph from Alice in Wonderland.
I wrote in my journal. I had a spelling lesson and did a big spelling word review.
In Art of Argument we are learning about fallacies. We learned about the ad
hominem abusive, which is basically just insulting the person making the argument
rather than arguing against their position. We also learned about the genetic fallacy,
which means that an argument is invalid just because of the place it came from. That
can be the case, but it isn't a valid argument on its own. We also did ad hominem
circumstantial, which is saying that an argument is invalid because the person making
the argument does the thing they are saying not to do. For example saying, "You
shouldn't smoke because it's bad for your lungs," and arguing back "But you smoke."
Math - I did XtraMath facts practice and Hands On Equations 3 lessons. I finished up
the Chapter 3 review in Math Mammoth 7A. I did some basic algebra equations practice
from Learn Math Fast. I started Chapter 4 Rational Numbers in Math Mammoth. A rational
number is a number that can be written as a fraction and when written as a decimal is
terminating or repeating.
Makerspace - This week we learned about eTextiles. You can use electronics in textiles.
This week we used copper tape and paper to make circuits on the paper.
Art - No art class this week, but my class starts up again next week. I have worked a lot
on mastering my Rubiks cube, so maybe that counts as art in some way? Ha ha.
Science - I had a lot of science this week, which is great because I love science. Uzinggo: I learned about P and S waves. A P wave is a primary wave, and
these are waves often caused by earthquakes. S waves are secondary waves and they
are vibrations. Scientists can mimic waves through a planet to measure how many layers
a planet has. P waves can travel both through solid and liquid, but S waves only go
through solids. P waves go slower through liquid.
Biology class: we learned about cellular respiration which is how cells get energy from
food. So in class we did an experiment with two beakers, each with 100 mL of warm water.
One with sugar water and one with regular water. We added yeast to both of them and
measured which one rose up more. The one with sugar, the bubbles rose up to the 300 mL
line. The one without sugar didn’t bubble at all. This showed that the sugar helps the yeast
activate and make more foam.
Mystery Science: We learned about rocks and erosion and did an activity where we shook
sugar cubes in containers to “erode” them and see how they would lose their sharp edges
from being tumbled around with other rocks over time.
Family: We did two more activities from our Steve Spangler science box. One was a foam
glider and the other was a crystal growing tree. We took a time lapse video of the crystal
growing tree that was cool. I posted the video down below.
Other - Last Saturday we had our First Lego League Tournament. Our team accomplished
two missions. Our project was pretty good and we scored in the middle of all the teams.
Hopefully next year we will have a team that is a little more experienced or dedicated. This
year I was really the only member who had any programming experience.
Pictures from our Sugar Cube Erosion activity
My dad, myself, and my sister. My sister was an assistant coach this year.
Our First Lego League Team: The Ovorp Flying Platypi
Language Arts - This week I watched the next video lesson in IEW Student Writing Intensive B. He talked about the “dress ups” of connecting sentences with “because” and also not using weak verbs like said, thought, and go/went. I checked one of my assignments from earlier to make sure I didn’t have weak verbs and also did a keyword outline and paragraph about a section from Alice in Wonderland. I also had a spelling lesson. One of my co-op classes is The Art of Argument which I think kind of fits with language arts, too.
Math - I did more Hands On Equations 3. I also did Chapter 3 review in Math Mammoth 7A.
Makerspace - Still working on our logo project in Inkscape.
Art - My teacher is still on break and I had a busy week so I didn’t do any extra arts on my own.
Science - We learned about different types of lava that volcanoes have. Volcanoes with thick lava are more likely to explode because the gas gets trapped inside the volcano. Thinner lava lets the gas out more easily and so those are less likely to explode. We had samples of “lava” (flour plus water and food coloring and then just plain water) that we blew bubbles in. In my co-op Biology class we reviewed differences between plant and animal cells and parts of cells. In Uzinggo I learned about ocean currents and how they are affected by different things, such as continental deflect, the spinning of the earth, temperatures, and winds.
Other - We have our First Lego League tournament tomorrow. Unfortunately our team this year is not very good because most of them are first years and it’s hard for kids to learn enough in one year to be any good. My dad was the guest speaker in our Guest Speaker class and that was fun. He talked about how programs are able to learn things through trial and error. Programs can do 1000 attempts in an hour, for example, so they can “learn” something completely new in 3 days given an objective.
Language Arts - I did a key word summary and paragraph from the story The Donkey and his Driver. I did a journal entry about our first week of co-op. I had spelling lessons and did TTRS.
Math - I did more Hands On Equations 3. I went over division and multiplication one step equations in Math Mammoth 7A. I practiced math facts on XtraMath.
Makerspace - We are still designing our project in Inkscape.
Art - Still no art class because my teacher was on break. I didn’t really have a chance to do any art on my own because we were pretty busy with co-op starting up again this week.
Science - This semester I get to learn a lot of science. I am in a Mystery Science class at our co-op that my mom is teaching. This week we learned about the volcano that popped up in a Mexican field in 1943 and about the Pacific Ring of Fire. We split into groups and graphed where different volcanoes are.I am also doing a biology class and this week we learned about the parts of cells and what they do and in class we got to make a cookie cell with candy organelles, so that was really fun.
Other - I had a Junior Jazz game this weekend. We lost the game but I scored 18 points. At co-op I am taking an Art of Argument class and a Highly Effective Habits for Teens class. I am also in a Guest Lecture class, and this week my dad’s business partner came in and talked about one of the jobs they are working on which is developing AI stuff for a drone. He brought the drone, which was pretty cool. I also had First Lego League. Our tournament is next Saturday. My dad (the coach for FLL) and I had a group phone call with a scientist about our idea for something that would help water quality.
Language Arts - This week I proofread and made changes on my keyword summary on the farmer and his sons. I also had spelling lessons. I am rereading some of my Tom Gates books because I need to get some new books to read. On Friday we did a freewrite on our favorite candy. We also did bit of a refresher on basic sentence diagramming. I did TTRS lessons.
Math - I did more Hands On Equations 3 as well as some XtraMath practice. In Math Mammoth 7 I did chapter 3, One Step Equations. It was mostly review since I’d already learned about equations and practiced them a lot in Hands On Equations.
Makerspace - We didn’t have Makerspace this week because of the holiday.
Art - My art teacher is still on break but my siblings and mom and I did some Art for Kids Hub videos on YouTube. They were pretty simple but still fun.
Science - We watched videos this week. Quite a few about atoms and also a really neat one about how televisions work by the SloMo Guys. In my Uzinggo lessons I learned about water testing of surface water and learned about groundwater.
Other - I had a basketball game this week. I scored 7 points in my game. I also got to go skiing at Sundance with my dad and sister since we FINALLY got a good storm.
Language Arts - I did a keyword outline from a story and wrote a summary of it. I also typed up a poem from a book that I liked. I also had spelling lessons and we read more of A Wrinkle in Time.
Math - I did some lessons in Math Mammoth 7A about negative fractions and averaging
positive/negative values. I also went over Order of Operations and did the reviews for Chapter 2.
Makerspace - We worked on Inkscape to design a project. We are making logos for things we thought of such as as a super hero, a company, a fashion line, etc.
Art - My art teacher just had a baby so we won’t have classes for a few weeks. We did take a field trip down to the Springville Art Museum and it was fun to see the art. They also had some fun interactive activities that my little siblings and I played around with.
Science - In our Steve Spangler box we had some fun Science of Toys activities/ experiments. We got to play with Magic Sand, which has a hydrophobic coating so it doesn’t really get wet. It also looks really shiny and clumps together when it is under water. We also got a Drinking Bird and it was cool to see how that works. I thought it was interesting that the evaporation off the head was enough to cool it down and cause the whole thing to work. In Uzinggo I am learning about the Water Cycle. We also watched some videos on water and its properties including surface tension, and saw how many droplets of water we could get on a penny or a quarter.
Other - I had my 3rd Junior Jazz game this week. We won and so we are undefeated so far. I really like my coach. I also had First Lego League and went skiing with my dad and sister. I had to teach a lesson at church. I actually was supposed to teach it in December but I got sick, then they wanted me to teach it a couple weeks ago but it ended up being a combined lesson, so I FINALLY taught it on January 7th. I was really glad to have it over with!
Language Arts - I did another key word outline and paragraph from IEW SWI Level B. I also did TTRS. Over the break I finally finished The Death Cure. My mom started reading A Wrinkle in Time to my siblings and I this week. It is interesting so far. I also did some spelling lessons.
Math - I did XtraMath practice, Hands On Equations, and also some Math Mammoth 7 lessons on negative integers, and multiplying/dividing with negative integers.
Makerspace - We didn’t have Makerspace this week.
Art - I did a Christmas painting during the break and I finished and brought home my mountains/lake painting this week.
Science - We watched some Magic School Bus Rides Again videos with my little siblings. I also did Uzinggo lessons and learned about the different types of chemical reactions. Exothermic and endothermic. Exothermic means it gives off heat and endothermic means it absorbs heat energy from the environment.
Other - Over the break I had my birthday (Christmas Eve). I got a new Rubiks Cube, a Lego Technic set, a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, the PieFace game, and I got to go skiing with my dad and sister. Christmas was really fun. We played a lot of board games and video games.
Language Arts - This week I did some spelling review and a new lesson. I also did another key word outline and paragraph from my Student Writing Intensive program. This passage was about characteristics of cephalopods. I read more in the Death Cure. I did some TTRS.
Math - I worked on Math Mammoth 7-A and did assignments about positive and negative integers and adding and subtracting them.
Makerspace - We finished up our tee shirts and got to bring them home. I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of mine yet though.
Art - I worked more on my painting project that I started last week.
Science - We did an activity where you write with a dry erase marker on the bottom of a glass dish and then pour warm water over it. The ink will come off the bottom and float around. You can even put your hand in it and the ink will go on your hand. It’s cool. We also watched a Brain Games video on how your brain perceives 3D and also a couple videos of Magic School Bus Rides Again. One of them was about ecosystems and how everything has a role to play. We did the tablecloth experiment from our Steve Spangler box (see video below, in slow motion). I also did some Uzinggo but I can’t remember which specific ones I did this week because I did them at the beginning of the week. I usually write them down on my notebook but I forgot to this week.
Other - I had some basketball practice this week but no game. We went night skiing with my Dad Saturday night up at Sundance. Hopefully they get some snow soon. All the snow was manmade and so it wasn’t that great. I still had fun though.
