Language Arts: I did some reading in Unwholly, the second book in the Unwind series. I did a lesson in my dyslexia workbook. I wrote in my journal about our visit for scouts to a mechanic shop.
Math: We had a lot of review assignments this week to make sure we understand a lot of algebra fundamentals. I did the assignments and took the online tests.
Science: I learned about Newton’s first law of motion in the Physics class on Khan Academy. I watched the first video and the "more about" video.
History: I missed my co-op history class this week because I was sick.
Makerspace (Tech): I missed Makerspace because I was sick that day.
Programming (Elective): We had FLL practice two days and then the state tournament on Saturday up at Weber State. It was fun but we didn’t place. Lego League was good this year and I’m glad we did well at the local tournament but I am also glad it is over for the season.
Other: I had basketball practice and a basketball game. For scouts we went to an auto mechanic shop and also learned about some of the jobs you can do with training instead of a college degree. In my co-op Survival Skills class we learned about different kinds of emergency shelters you can make and we also made one in the classroom out of a tarp and some other items.
I'm the one hunched over--I had the ball and the white guy came after me to get it but ended up falling down so I got a foul called on me.
My cat Bandit hanging out on my bed with my math
We had to leave at 6 am to go to the FLL tournament. My mom took this picture before we left.
Language Arts: I finished reading Unwind. I did lessons in my language arts programs, including a review of homophones and comma rules. I wrote a journal entry about my birthday.
Math: I completed lessons 28-31 in the textbook. In our session with the tutor we went over how to use Google classroom, reviewed linear equations, and did a test of sampling of problems from the textbook to check our understanding on different concepts.
Science: we did a couple of the chemistry experiments from our MEL science kit. We did the carbon snake and tin hedgehog. The carbon snake forms as the carbon dioxide and overheated water vapor move through the carbon that comes out of the calcium gluconate’s decomposition. We added baking soda to the fuel so the flame would be more visible and therefore less dangerous to work with. The tin hedgehog formed because of a substitution reaction. Some of the zinc pellet dissolved into the solution while tin precipitated (came out of solution) on the surface of the pellet and made the spines. We weren’t able to get great pictures but it was cool to see.
History: We didn’t get to have a history lesson this week.
Makerspace (Tech): we are working on 3D printing. This week we just worked with the software, though, and didn’t do any printing yet.
Programming (Elective): Super busy week for LEGO League because we had our Qualifier tournament on Saturday. We ended up winning the Robot Design award and we got second in the robot performance competition with 139 points. We will go on to the State Tournament on February 2nd. The event was at the Provo Rec Center which was really nice because in years past we have had to travel up to Lehi or even all the way up to Kearns. Plus the Rec Center did a really good job organizing the event and they had fun decorations.
MEL carbon snake
Tin Hedgehog
Tin Hedgehog - out of solution
Tournament day - at the practice table
Satellite on the mission table
Working on programming the robot with my dad (he's our FLL coach)
Language Arts: I did the language arts lessons in my program. I wrote the first body paragraph for the essay on how optimism affects our physical health. I am still reading The Art of Racing in the Rain. I did some TTRS typing/spelling practice. I am currently memorizing the poem Trees.
Math: I finished the unit 2 tests. I got through chapter 20 in the textbook. With Mr. Rosa we went over a lot of different things but one of them we covered again was solving a set of equations using the substitution method or the elimination method.
Science: I am working on a gear box made from Legos. I have made a couple of different versions so far. There is a boomerang video below of it but it doesn’t show how you can switch between gears.
History: In my co-op history class we learned about Davy Crockett. In the We Didn’t Start the Fire song it mentions the name but doesn’t specify whether it is talking about the person or the tiny nuclear missile. We learned about the Davy Crockett show and listened to the theme song from the show.
Makerspace (Tech): We did machine sewing. We sewed some designs on pieces of fabric and I also made a very tiny pillow just to practice with the machine.
Programming (Elective): This week at First Lego League I worked on making one of the tools we we already created be able to complete two missions at once. One of them is Escape Velocity and we made the run for that also complete the mission Observatory.
Other: I am working with a basketball trainer named Coach Buddha and we met this week and worked on shooting and fine-tuning different aspects of my shots to improve them. For guitar we are working on Christmas songs some more because we have a recital coming up. I also taught myself how to play (with a video) Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.
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
