How to Celebrate National Popcorn Day

Easy!

Step 1: Make popcorn.

Step 2: Grab a book to read and nibble as you go! 

We are reading our "BAM Club Books." BAM means "Book-a-Month" Club. We get to pick any book we want to read. Each month, there are prizes for those who finish reading a whole book. 

This is harder than you think! But, we can read in class sometimes. We can take the book home to read. We can also use our Learning Ally account to listen to the book.

Why is using Learning Ally important? Because if you have a disability that affects your reading, reading is really hard. Learning Ally lets us pick books that match our interests and intelligence and we can listen as we read so we can enjoy the book.

We are learning to use Learning Ally because we will want to be able to use it when we go to college. We can even put it on our phone so we can read our book anyplace!

Second Semester: We are half way there!

On Monday, we started second semester. That is half-way done with the school year.

Selecting our favorite Word Wall words to launch Second Semester.

Some of us have different classes for second semester. We also got two new students in Learning 4Life Success. Summer is taking high school geometry. Cadence is taking English and Math. We're glad they are here. Tahtay Wih is also back to school. We are glad she's back.

Now we have three students who are working at a real job! Tahtay Wih got hired to work in Dietary at Tekakwitha Nursing Home. She gets her schedule soon. Winter will also work at Tek. He starts this week. Mike is helping with training. Jaden already has been working at Dakota Crossing, our tribal grocery store. He worked last summer and all year so far. He has the most experience with working.

In second semester we had some changes. We got a raise! We get the same wage for attendance ($20 per day) but now our Bonus Wage went up to $30 per day. (Don't worry, we don't get real money though. It is a workplace simulation to get us ready for adult life.)

To get bonus pay, we have to follow the Workplace Expectations. They are the six PBLOs (Performance Based Learner Outcomes) of our high school. Plus, four more: 90% attendance, Ohoda (respect), On-Time, and On-task. It is hard to do all 10 at once!

Second Semester Workplace Expectations

We started building our new Word Wall for Semester 2. We each got to keep a favorite word from First Semester's wall to start us off. We added a lot of words already, and it is only Wednesday.

We already are filling up our Word Wall!

We started new things in Math. Per. 3 is working on improper fractions and mixed numbers, which is confusing so far, but we are getting it a little. We finished our math lab and made line graphs. They came out good. In Per 6/7, we started learning about the brilliant Greek mathematician Pythagoras. He is dead. But he also invented the Pythagorean Theorem. We have to learn about triangles always having 180 degrees (it is a rule and we proved it.) We have to learn about using variables. That is cursive letters instead of numbers, like this:

4 + x = 7
What is the value of x?
x = 3

In English, we have a mini-unit on Martin Luther King, Jr. We will have to write a different day about that because the bell just rang.

The Effects of Ice Cubes on Water Temperature

We did a lab.

First, we had to make a hypothesis. That is an educated guess. We considered our life experiences. We agreed that the effect of ice cubes on water temperature would probably be that the water temperature would go down (decrease). We wrote the hypothesis down in our lab booklet.


Then we had to follow a procedure (plan). We used a measuring cup to measure 1 cup of water into a glass jar. We went outside to get two ice cubes (Sister Patrice had brought them from home and she stored them outside because it is colder out there than in a freezer.)




Then we used a thermometer with Fahrenheit and Celsius to take the temperature of the water. It was "room temperature." We used Fahrenheit degrees. We wrote the starting temperature on our data table.




Next we added in the ice cube. We used tongs. We started the timer. Every 20 seconds, we looked at the thermometer to see if the temperature had changed. We wrote down the temperature on our data table every 20 seconds.

We put a star on our data table when the ice was totally gone.


We had 19 data points.

Then we had to analyze the data. We used a line graph. It shows how something changes over time. 

Our line graph shows how the temperature changed over time. 



First we had to label the vertical axis (y-axis) and the horizontal axis (x-axis). Then we had to put the scales (numbers) on the graph. Then we put a small dot or point on it where the temperature and time in seconds matched our data chart. We used a straight edge. Sister Patrice didn't. You can tell.



Next we had to draw lines to connect the dots. That's why it is a line graph.



Then we had to answer questions about our line graph. We also had to find the mean, median, and mode. We had to figure out how much the temperature decreased (went down/ got colder). After the star (the ice was gone), we could see that the temperature then increased (went up).



After we answered all the questions, we checked to see if our hypothesis was correct. It sort of was. We didn't think about that the temperature would go back up. We made a new hypothesis that after a while (overnight) the temperature would increase back up to room temperature. We did not have enough time to test the new hypothesis because we ran out of time.

When we got all finished with the lab, we wrote up our notes. We added a diagram (picture) in the booklet. Then we glued it into our Handbook for Adulthood next to our notes on making line graphs.

Architecture

by Jevon Neilan

Preparing the portfolio.

I finished my portfolio for Architecture class. It turned out fine.

Some of the things in it are my one-point perspective drawing, ten different definitions of architecture words, floor plans of my build, and information about sustainable architecture, too.







Looking back at this whole course, in my opinion the most interesting part was doing the one point perspective. 

One point perspective sketch by Jevon N.

I also liked doing the research on all the architectural styles. In addition, I also enjoyed doing the floor plans using a computer program called "Room Sketcher."

The computer program "RoomSketcher" also lets you see photos
of the inside of your rooms when you finish designing
them.

In my opinion, the hardest thing was actually building on Minecraft. It was hard because it took a really long time. It was hard to get it how I wanted it to look. If you mess up, it is frustrating.

Each Minecraft build (see bottom of the photo above) required research on the design principles and
characteristics as well as on the key architects associated with that style.

If you don't want to do traditional art, then this course might be more enjoyable. Even though it had more work, I would recommend this class. You can earn .5 Art credit if you do the work.

To see Jevon's prior article about the Architecture class, please go to: https://collettitz.blogspot.com/2018/11/architecture-in-minecraft.html