Wrapping Up for the Sale Website

Ah...my days on the Sale Website for term 1 is done...I feel so relieved. Actually, I finished it a week earlier, including all the student trivia, current events (3 threads + 25 responses), food for thought, and the sale trivia. But I still log onto it everyday, checking to see if anything new comes up. Today I am really surprised to see my sale trivia suggestion being selected for the sale trivia (ya! Extra 3 points) and lots of new posts popping up. Lots of people are jamming in their posts for the sale website, and when I logged on I saw 14 users all posting on the Sale Website. Seriously, people should not always leave these things to do at the last minute. I post a lot and have already earned two sale scholars: the TMaster and Guru. Now I am aiming for the Eater. Yep. More posts are coming up today!

It's Baskteball------Again!

Today we had basketball for PE again. It's not exactly my favorite sport, but it was okay. I think that I am starting to get the hang of it, because most of my shots went in the hoop. Today we moved on to dribbling. I thought that it was a really easy move, because what you just do is to dribble. But when I really tried it, it was not as easy as I thought. Mr. Pears changed the tempo after a few seconds so that we could speed up while keeping the ball under control. It was hard for me to look up while dribbling, because I was afraid that i might lose control of the ball. Shortly after the practice, we played a fun game, different than last time's. The girls formed a border, and the boys must keep dribbling the ball inside the boundary, while trying to knock someone elses' balls out. As more people got out, the area within the boundary became smaller, and finally, it was down to two people: Garry and Michael. But Garry quickly sent Michael's ball rolling out of the boundary and won the round. The girls did the same thing, and the final winner was Raida. It was a fun game, and then we switched to last time's old game again, but this time we added dribbling. The game was tense and the players were clearly challenged, but that just made it more exciting. I wonder what we will do next week?

Still Working...on My Science Project

This week I finally got my proposal back! Now it's time to take action. Last time I visited several websites to find the ones I want as good suppliers for my experiment. I went on numerous gardening website to find chives, marigolds, catnip and mint, while other website which specializes in lab supplies for my termites. However, there's a problem. All of these stuff have to be delivered from the United States! I mean, shipping is fine, but because I am importing live animals, I must apply for the Canadian Department of Agriculture for permission to import my termites. Now that's a bit of problem, but it says on the website that I only need to fill out a form and the application will be done in three days. Meanwhile, I worked on the construction of the containers. I am not that satisfied with the store-brought containers, so I decided to DIY them myself. Each contain will require 5 piece of foam board, 4 pieces of translucent plastic cover and some crazy glue. I can simply get them at a dollar store in order to decrease the cost for my experiment. I am quite satisfied with the topic I chose, because it's a real challenge for me.

Finally! My First Book Test!

Today is Friday and it's also the day I am taking my first book test. The book test was at lunch and I was pretty nervous. I studied a lot last night, but I was just not sure if I studied enough. But there was no turning back. So I bravely stepped into Mrs. Greskiw's room and grabbed my test sheet when she called my name. When I quickly scanned over the test, I found out that it was not hard at all! It was basically multiple choices and true or false. I finished the test in a flash and handed it in. Oh boy, was I dreading to know if I have passed or not! Then during my English class after lunch, Mrs. Greskiw marked all the tests, and a lot of people in our class didn't pass. I didn't think I would fail. I have just finished the book I had the test on recently and the memory is still fresh. Finally when she read out my name, I found out that I have passed! Thank God! I was quite relieved, and I was left with 7 more points to score in order to complete the mark for this term: 12 points. I am planning on reading another Challenging book which is worth 5 points, and maybe an Easy book which is worth 2 points. I have to do it before November the 20th, because term 1 will end shortly after and I wouldn't be able to score enough points if I don't finish the tests before that date. I wonder which book shall I choose?

Big Tests Tomorrow!

Tonight I feel so nervous. I am going to have a book test tomorrow at lunch, and the points will count towards my grade. I have chosen a challenging book, Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. Tonight I reviewed the book again and look for essential points in the novel. I even did a little bit of research online and took some online quizzes as well. I have never taken a book test before, and I am not sure what's gonna be on the test! Oh boy, I sure feel pressured. I collected a lot of information about the book on a notebook so that I could study. I also have the Applied Skills test, which is gonna focus on the skill of drafting. For that I am not too worried, because I think that I have everything under control for this upcoming test. Wow, isn't it exciting? Two tests in one day! My heart is pumping like crazy, because I do care a lot about my scores. In fact, that is the second most important thing in my high school life! I hope that I can pass the book test and gain 5 points so that I will only be left with 7 more points to earn, and hopefully that I will pass my Applied Skills test as well, and maybe get an A on it.

Tonight is a Busy Night

I have tonnes of work to finish tonight. First, there's the Social Studies homework then I have to study for a little quiz tomorrow, and there's the Science homework. They don't sound like a lot, but believe me, they are not time-savers. I have to do these things in two hours, then I have to read Angela's Ashes, my Independent Reading Program book which I selected for my book test. I have arranged my book test to be on Friday at lunch, and I still have a little part of the book to finish. I am planning to reread the book again after I have finished the whole book, just to make sure that I understand everything clearly. Most important of all, I have to finish the homework tonight. The book can wait, because I have got plenty of time tomorrow, but still, I want to save some time for my free time. My high school life is getting busier and busier now, but I still have it under control, and it will always be. Uh-oh, the clock is tickling now, I might as well get started on my work.

Drop Everything and------Read!

This is probably too late to mention in my blog, but yesterday at Applied Skills, we had the Drop Everything and Read activity 20 minutes before the end of the class. Drop Everything and Read------that means when the announcement goes on, you have to put down your pen or whatever stuff you are working on, pick up a book, and start reading. Luckily I brought a novel so I wouldn't be doing nothing during the reading time(It would be a little embarrassing, don't you think?). I think this is a very good activity, and there are certain ways to extend it. For example, we could encourage people in our school to read daily by starting up a reading club. The Independent Reading Program is probably a good suggestion as well, because it's a list filled with wonderful books for you to read and discover. Our English class is already doing the Independent Reading Program, so this is not new. You know, maybe we should have 20 minutes reserved at the end of each Applied Skills class for reading time. Reading is definitely a good thing. It gives you knowledge and creativity, and it also teaches us how to view the world around us and let our imagination flow.

There's a lot of Posting Going on!

The favorite thing I like to do during my free time is to go on Mr. Sale's website and do a little bit of posting. There's a lot of stuff there, like current events, food for thoughts and student trivia. I have already published three articles on current events (unfortunately, one got locked because I forgot to post my link), and about four or five(I don't remember how many) posts on food for thoughts. I posted numerous posts on student trivia and earned myself a rank call TMaster (Trivia Master).Sometimes when there's not much on these things, I go to games. The games on the site aren't bad. My favorite one is the King of the Hill. It's basically a game where you can become a king and dominate the hill. However, once you have become the king, other people can say something that will cause you to fall off your throne and they would become the king. For example, you can say: I am the king of the hill because I said so. Then another member can say: Oh yeah? Well I stabbed you in the heart and you died and now I am the king of the hill. You can post anything to get other people off the throne and make yourself the ruler. Sometimes I go on polls too, and I remember the first poll I went on was the anime poll. I couldn't really find my favorite anime in there so I randomly selected three of them from the list. I have also created my very own poll (two of them, actually). One is about favorite books and the other one is about favorite manga. For favorite books, it looks like most people are really obsessed with The Hunger Games trilogy, which is also my favorite. For Manga, Naruto seems to be the most popular one (Not exactly my taste). Anyway, Mr. Sale's website is a very educational and fun site where you can share all your good ideas and knowledge and news around the world.

Say No to Homophobia

The school really wants us to focus and emphasize on the idea of say no to homophobia, so we had an assembly based on it. Today we had a special guest (I think his name is Jeremy), who talked about his high school life as a gay kid. He had lots of humor in his story, but it was also shocking to hear how hard his life was, living in that kind of life. Jeremy told us about how he was being bullied in his high school and how the principal and teachers took no notice of his problem and didn't even bother to , and how he struggled with his everyday life with kids calling him names and being disrespect to him. However, he did have some friends who stood up for him, and he felt really thankful for their kindness. The  presentation took the whole third period, but it was a fantastic presentation. When he finished his last word, cheering exploded in the auditorium and every hand was clapping in the air. I felt happy for Jeremy, but also sad for those kids who are being bullied and treated differently just because they are gay or lesbian. Tomorrow it's going to be Purple Shirt Day. It's a day when we wear purple shirts in order to support the idea of say no to homophobia. I think that's a great idea, and that's why I am going to put on a purple shirt tomorrow, because everybody in our community deserves respect, and it doesn't matter if they are gay or not.

Yes, It's Homework!

Tonight I have to finish my map assignment for my social studies class and the science project proposal for science class tomorrow. These are only two tasks but they take time to finish, especially the map assignment. The science project proposal is very easy, because I only need to make minor changes on my previous proposal. For my map I need to finish labelling it, draw the International Date Line and color it properly. I would say that to finish these work will take me about 1 hour, which is my whole working period tonight. I also have to read, and tonight I am planning to finish three chapters of the book Angela's Ashes, a book I chose for my book test for English class. I have a lot of work to do tonight, and these tasks will certainly keep me busy for the whole night, but I don't think I will have to stay up till 11:00. Sometimes I can finish my homework pretty quickly, and sometimes I just feel kinda lazy and take my time doing all my work. After writing this blog I am going to finish my daily task: washing dishes, then I am going to get started on my homework. You never want to hand them in late and unfinished!

Science Quiz

Today we had a little science quiz on Microscopes and characteristics of living things. I studied really hard for it, even though it was just a quiz, not a test. However, when I got the quiz, I quickly read the questions over, and I found them extreme EASY. I studied too much and almost covered everything the teacher had taught us on microscopes and the characteristics of living things! Well, it was better to have a good preparation, because you never know what the quiz or the test is going to be like until you get it. I scanned through the questions and quickly filled in the blanks. There were three main questions. The first one was a matching game. We had to match each part of the microscope to its function. The second question was to label a microscope, which was really easy as well. The third one was to list all 6 characteristics of living things, and I wrote them down as well. The quiz was a short one, and I was really confident about getting a good mark on it.

Science Proposal

Today we finally got our science proposal back! I was very worried if my proposal would pass or not, since I am doing an experiment on termites and I have to eliminate all of them at the end of the experiment. My proposal almost got pass ( I got 22.5 out of 25), and I only need to add a few more details and a little change to it. However, Mrs. Smedley suggested that I should not kill the termites. Instead, I should find someone with pet lizards or frogs and give the termites to them as pet food. I gotta admit, that is a good idea, because I am going to have 300 termites and it's going to take a lot of time eliminating them, and I would not want to clean their carcasses up (EWW!). My friend Maia has a pet scorpion and a tarantula, so I am probably going to give the termites to her pets. My next proposal is due on next Tuesday, and I will make sure everything is ready, so that I will pass and get a better mark on it. I look forward on transforming the proposal into a live experiment, and believe me, it will be an awesome project.

Debate Tryout

Today after school, we had a debate tryout for the debate tournament in UBC. Even since I joined the debate club, I have been looking forward to this tryout for days. Although this was my first time debating, I was still excited, and I was really confident. We had ten people who came to the tryout, so we split into five groups of two. Our first topic was on legalizing prostitution in this country, and my team was the opposing team. We only had about 7 minutes to prepare our speech and summarize our ideas, so it was very tense, but we were able to manage it. When it was my turn, I got up stage and greeted everyone, then brought on my speech. During my presentation, people from the other team stood up and asked me questions, and I answered some of them, because I have only got 5 minutes to do my speech. After my timing was up, I got off stage and listened to the other team's speech. While I was listening to it, I also took notes, so that I could come up with idea to break down their reasons. The debate ended shortly after and it was indeed a good match, and on Thursday night we will be able to see on the email they send us to see who is the lucky student who gets to go to the UBC tournament.

Debate Club

Ever since school started, I had been dreaming about joining all these fun clubs in school. On Clubs Day I signed up for the debate club, the piano club and the dissection club. Today we had our first debate club meeting, and we were introduced to our two trainers from UBC who will be coaching us and teach us how to debate. They briefly introduced what debate is, then they invited four experienced debaters from the club, including our class president Vivian. A topic was chosen: should drugs be legalized for amateur athletes? The four debaters were split into two teams, and they were given 5 minutes to discuss and come up with their speeches. Two people represented team "Government", the other two represented the opposing team, and one person was chosen for the timer. Team Government quickly greeted the whole club and introduced the topic and their point of view towards the topic. Team Government explained why they support drugs for amateur game athletes because they could pull everyone to the same level and let them compete, but the Opposing Team immediately rejected the idea during the other team's speech. When the other team's timing was up, the Opposing Team brought up their idea of why drugs should not be legalized for amateur athletes because they could become addicted to the drugs. During the debate we paused, then our coaches pointed out what we should do and what we should not do during a debate. The debate had to end early due to the time, but now I have a clear idea of what it looks like in a tournament. I can't wait for my tryout on Tuesday. Who knows, maybe I will be good at it!

Homeworks!!!!!!

I just checked my student agenda and found out that tonight, I will be doing a LOT of homework. Scrolling down the list, there are several things that needs to be completed: art, social studies, English and science. For science, I need to draw graphs according to three data, and I also need to complete a short essay for English. For social studies, I have got three pages of worksheets which I have to fill in, and for art it's basically to draw a picture of my own choice. According to my daily schedule, I have got an hour and forty-five minutes to finish those tasks. Uh-oh, I feel pressured! However, I am very confident that I will be able to finish them on time, because even though they sound like a lot of work, they are not that hard. I have done this kind of work a thousand times back in China, so tonight it's only going to be a small challenge. I better get started, because I don't want to waste a single minute doing nothing right now!

Bingo Bingo!

Can you believe it? I won bingo four times in the whole game! Today at our French class, we played Bingo after we have learned the numbers 1 to 100 in French, and I got bingo for four times. Boy, was I lucky today. The Bingo game was excellent, and it really gave us good practice for French listening. I had no problems understanding the word our teacher was pronouncing, because I have had lots of hearing practice when I was in elementary school. The first round and the second round I got one bingo each, but when we got to the third round, that was when things started to get interesting. I got two bingo in a row! Even my French teacher, Mrs. Chuaqui, was surprised that I got so many bingo in one game. Although there were no prizes at the end, I still had lots of fun and I quite enjoyed the game.

Cool Website

Social Studies is always very fun and today, Mr. Sale took us to the computer lab and introduced his website to us. It's a website where you can discuss current events with people and do cool trivia. Once I have logged on, I quickly clicked the student trivia session, and there were questions about history and things related to social studies. When a person answers a question correctly, he/she gets to ask a new question.
and the next person answers it, and so on. The food for thoughts is like a discussion. Mr. Sale posts a topic, and we discuss it and publish our opinions online. For the weekly Sale Trivia, we need to answer the question by sending a private message to Mr. Sale, so nobody will know what you wrote. I haven't checked out the current event discussion yet, but I think it will be fun just like the others. Later on we can go on the websites at any time at home, and I think this is an awesome website.

Social Studies Class- Fun and Weird

Social Studies class is always very fun. At the beginning of the class, we would have some time to discuss current events. Today we went from whether we Canadians should have death penalty in our laws or not, to "100 ways to die", then to the Chinese economism. It was really weird how you start topic, and then relate it to other ideas. So when one of our classmates asked about how you put a prisoner to death in the United States, the whole class was getting excited at the idea of "death". Some talked about torturing, some talked about shooting, and even others related the topic to burning the prisoner alive. Gosh! Then we talked about how people treat death penalty prisoners in China by shooting them, and for some reason we started talking about Chairman Mao. It was fun discussing those events with the whole class though, because everybody was able to share their information with everybody else.

Artistique!

Art is always one of my favorite school subjects, and today, our whole Art class went outside for sketching. The weather was really nice with plenty of sunshine. Everybody settled down to draw down what they want to draw. I found a nice spot under the shade, then I looked around and decided that I should draw the girl not far from me. At first, I drew a rough shape of that girl, then I began to shape her features: the hair, the face and the clothes she was wearing. During that procedure she moved a lot, but I was able to remember what her position was in the first place. When I was done drawing her, I began to shade her surroundings. By the time the bell rang, I was pretty much finished with my picture. For someone who has never learned how to sketch before, I have done a good job, and I was very proud of my artwork.

Field Trips------ Hooray!

Boy, am I excited today! Our English teacher, Ms. Greskiw told us that we will be going to Granville Island for the Writer's Festival in October------ and guess what, we will get a chance to meet Kenneth Oppel! The cost of the trip, however, is 17 dollars, and our transportation fee will be 8 dollars. But I think it's all worth it.
Meanwhile, another field trip is going to happen in the same month: the Vancouver Playhouse! The whole English class will go and see a world famous play called The Fantasticks. This play is the longest running play in the world, and it has been played all over the world! These are the special events which will happen next month, and I cannot wait to enjoy the fun.