14th of December: 1st Semester Final Exam: Expository Writing Essay

22nd of November: Homework/Project: Letter to My Grandma

2nd of November: Homework: Advertisements and Consuption

Question 1: How does advertising influence consumption?
Advertisements make you want to do something. Advertisements that advertise an item make you want to buy the item. When you buy something, you consume and if you buy a lot of things because advertisements make all of these items look so efficient and good, you'll consume a lot. But there are some advertisements that are made to make you more aware of a problem. These advertisements, if they inform about ecological footprint, can make people more aware of their consumption habits and that would make people consume less.

Question 2: Do you think citizens are sufficiently informed about the sustainability of our consumption habits? If not, how can we become more informed about sustainability issues?
Citizens are not informed about the sustainability of our consumption habits. We can make more advertisements about sustainability and spread the information around. We can also try to research on our own more.

Question 3: Do you think these advertising techniques influence what you and your friends purchase?
Yes. The techniques such as putting models or celebrities in the advertisement really make you want to buy the items.

27th of October: Homework: Examples of Sustainable Development

These are my examples of sustainable development:

1) Use dams to make hydro electricity.
2) Use solar energy.
3) Use renewable and recycled materials.
4) Use efficient water fixtures.
5) Replant trees after cutting them down.
6) Use less chemicals in growing crops.
7) Plant more trees in urban areas.

9th of October: Migration/Immigration Assessment: Modified Version

Thanh was a girl living in the outskirts of Da Lat with her parents. Her parents grew strawberries and sold them but the prices were dropping rapidly leading to great economic failure for her family. Better economy acted as a pull factor for her family as they decided to relocate. Not having much money, her parents couldn’t migrate to anywhere farther than Ho Chi Minh City. Since Ho Chi Minh City had a lot of economic potential, Thanh’s family decided to settle there.
Only living in the outskirts of Da Lat for her whole life, Thanh was not used to Ho Chi Minh City. It was too crowded and too polluted compared to Da Lat. Thanh and her siblings frequently got sick. There were a lot of benefits in moving to Ho Chi Minh too. Moving to Ho Chi Minh City widened Thanh’s range of knowledge. She was able to interact with new people and she found a lot of things that she could never find in Da Lat. Thanh misses her homeland a lot but she’s sure that her family has made the right choice in moving to Ho Chi Minh City.

5th of October: Migration/Immigration Assessment

Thanh was a girl living in the outskirts of Da Lat with her parents. Her parents grew strawberries and sold them but the prices were dropping rapidly leading to great economic failure for her family. Better economy acted as a pull factor for her family as they decided to relocate. Not having much money, her parents couldn’t migrate to anywhere farther than Ho Chi Minh City. Since Ho Chi Minh City had a lot of economic potential, Thanh’s family decided to settle there.
Only living in the outskirts of Da Lat for her whole life, Thanh was not used to Ho Chi Minh City. It was too crowded and too polluted compared to Da Lat. Thanh and her siblings frequently got sick. There were a lot of benefits in moving to Ho Chi Minh too. Moving to Ho Chi Minh City widened Thanh’s range of knowledge. She was able to interact with new people and find a lot of things that she could never find in Da Lat such as traffic lights. Thanh misses her homeland a lot but she’s sure that her family has made the right choice in moving to Ho Chi Minh City.

21st of September: "A Message From Mother Nature"

Question 1: What is the main point of this article?
The main point of this article is nobody is sure whether the extreme weather for the past few years was caused by global warming.

Question 2: List four vocabulary words that you do not recognize or understand, look up the definitions, write them out using your own words.

Vocabulary word: Battered
Definition: damaged

Vocabulary word: Skeptics
Definition: someone who doubts a belief

Vocabulary: Cite
Definition: present evidence

Vocabulary: Torrential
Definition: pouring in great quantity

Question 3: What is the difference between "weather" and "climate"?
Weather changes daily and climate doesn't change for a long period of time.

Question 4: What are the examples listed in the article of “extreme weather”?
The examples listed in this article of extreme weather are:
- Torrential monsoon rains in Pakistan
- Record-breaking heat wave along with a record-breaking drought in Russia
- Flooding in New England, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma
- Record heat wave in the eastern part of the US.

Question 5: What experiences have you had with “extreme weather”?
I have never experienced any extreme weather.

Question 6: What does the word “perception” mean?
The word "perception" means the understanding of an issue.

Question 7: What is your “perception” of global climate change?
My perception of global warming is that it's impossible to completely stop global warming but it is possible to slow it down.

12th of September: Project: Map Final Assesment: Explanation

Location:
Olrope is between twenty degrees West and eighty degrees East. It's between eighty degrees North and the Equator. Alice Kingdom is to the East of Zero Kingdom and to the North East of Forever Kingdom.

Movement:
In 1713, during the Olrope War, Alician spies were overused by the government. Sick of the mistreatment, the spies moved to Zero, betraying their country.


Human-Environment Interaction:
Olrope has a lot of rivers and most villages and cities are located next to them. There are two main rivers: Vertical River and Horizontal River. Head, the capital of Alice, is located at the cross section of those two rivers. Forever country is located on the Lambda River I and Lambda River II. There's fertile soil and good water supply. Forever Kingdom is also located near the Uncertain Ocean for easy fishing. People in Olrope had to build a lot of dams because the land was too low compared to sea level.

Place:
Olrope has a very small population. That's why there are so little cities. Most cities are surrounded by forests. Most military bases are in big cities to protect the people. The largest military base is in Head, where the King and Queen live. There are a lot of rivers such as Fast River and Quick River.

Region
Olrope is a very low land region. In fact, the highest point in Olrope is fifteen meters high. Rivers provide very fertile soil for Olrope which helps Olropian people grow crops but not rice because of the climate.

2nd of September: Homework: Study Guide

Vocabulary:

• Geography: the study of people and environment of places
• Environment: the physical surroundings of location
• Spatial: where a place is located and it's physical relationship to other places, people or environment
• Location: an exact position using latitude and longitude, or a description of a place in relation to places around it
• Place: a geographical term that describes the physical and human characteristics of a location
• Region: an area that has one or more common characteristics that unite or connect it with other area

Topics:

• 3 types of maps: physical, political, thematic
• The 5 Themes of Geography: location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, regions
• The 6 Essential Elements of Geography: the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, the uses of geography. 

Ideas:

• How to read maps

Because I don't know what "ideas" means in this homework, I can't list that many.  But I know that that's no excuse 'cause I'm supposed to understand all the lessons.

1st of September: Homework: Family Tree Project

I've learned a lot from this project. So much that I don't know where to start. First,  I'll talk about what I learned about my history. I knew a lot about my family to begin with. But I asked my parents about how they met when I was assigned this project. I learned about my grandparents' hometowns (though I didn't include that in my project because it was too long). I also learned that a friend that I thought I knew for 5 years is actually my friend of 9 years already (I looked through my birthday pictures and found that friend in my 3 years old birthday pictures).
There are a lot of things that I learned about everyone else too. I realized that there are so many AWESOME people around me. Cecilia is so good at swimming (she had so many medals) and Eddy's ancestor is awesome too. And many many more awesome facts about my classmates! The most surprising thing was that Henry cooks. That was so (how can I say this)...  unbelievable.

24th of August: Homework: Describe Place or Region

Describe place/region that you have been/live in. Talk about at least 3 physical characteristics and 2 human/environment interactions.

I used to live in Moscow. Moscow was located on flatland. It was built near Moskva River. In winter, it was freezing and days were very short, even at around 8 in the morning it was still as dark as night. In summer, it was pretty hot and days never seemd to end, sometimes nights were as bright as day. Because it's so cold in winter, Russians eat a lot of fat and meat, there's even this dish called salo (сало) which is basically fat. The windows in apartments always had 2 layer glass to keep the heat inside the room. Everyone had really thick coats stored for winter.

19th of August: Homework: About me

I have a problem with remembering things. I can't remember numbers and streets. Sometimes I forget my user names and passwords. That's why I have to write things down. I was practicing my memory skills over the summer. I tried remembering streets but so far I've made no progress. Just this week when I finished my math period (3rd period). I went down to my locker and left my bag there. Then I went to the library to wait for Aeris to go to lunch. As I was waiting for her, Mr. Ford (the librarian) asked if I had lunch now. That's when I remembered that my lunch is another period away. I was late to class.
I'm still working on my memory skills but I can't guarantee any progress.