Rachel C’s Blog

At Channel 3 Country Camp (C3CC) our grade did initiatives,egg capsules/drop, and skits. Everything was a challenge to sprout teamwork and trust for the group.

Our first initiative was the Chopsticks.Our whole group got on to two flat boards at the edge of a sand pit. Surprisingly, there were ropes that looked a little like angel hair pasta but of course wasn’t. They were to lift up and pull the “chopsticks” to the other side of the sand pit. Another was the “A” frame, which took full concentration or someone could and most likely would get hurt. One person inside the frame that, most likely, had been hewed into the shape of an A, and everyone else had to move them 30 ft. using only ropes and not touching the frame. You can see how those tasks involve lots of teamwork and cooperation.

The building of and dropping of our egg capsules was also a great attraction for our school to C3CC. First we began assembling our egg capsules using only a few materials. It is amazing to think back on our painfully long hike to Bloody Rock. Our science teacher then had help from chaperones transporting our packages up to the top of the overhang.Everyone around me held their breath as he held up the first capsule. Once someone claimed it he would throw it down as hard as he could, someone would check to see whether or not the egg was alive or cracked, then it was on to the next parcel, and it was in that manner that we continued on until we had finished then as a group of at least 80 people we made the hike back to our dorm rooms.

Almost two hours after we got back from Bloody Rock we performed Thursday Night Live. Most people came up with or performed a song, dance, skit , or cheer they knew. My favorite skit was when 4 girls imitated our teachers. After they finished an avalanche of applause erupted from our “stadium”. everyone had fun watching other’s talents (or weakness).

It’s late and we all need to get some sleep down here in Florida (where I’m writing this from), so when you go to bed you can sleep on the idea of going to Channel 3 Country Camp someday. If you do go I hope you remember TEAMWORK is very important in the initiatives, pack your egg really tight with newspaper for the egg drop and try to be creative and make your own skit, dance or cheer for a talent show, that you could end up happily arranging with your group.

During Social Studies our homeroom opened our “Secret Snowflake” presents. EVERYONE had fun, and I think almost everyone liked their present. Also it wasn’t about receiving, it was about giving. For the rest of class after our “Secret Snowflake” students shared posts they had done on their blog.

In L.A. we had a sub, Mrs.Gudmunson. She helped us with our final copy of our Tonka poems. To earn an A your Tonka poem had to be written in cursive, have  lines with syllables in this order:

5

7

5

7

7

After completing that you should have glued the decorated side of the card to the construction paper. Then glued your neatly cut out poem that describes your card to the other half of the construction paper. You need to have 2 different poems and cards done in this fashion. One to be handed in and graded and the other to be sent to our Italian pen pals.

Many people in Africa have malaria.That is because they have no bug repellent to put on their skin, or solid doors to keep mosquito’s out. This virus is passed by mosquito’s and within 10 days the person infected will get sick with signs of flu-like symptoms. This disease can turn deadly. that is why people every where are taking action and you should to. By donating money to a group, you can save lives. Certain groups will by bug nets and give them to families in need. When draped a few feet above the bed this net stops mosquito’s from entering. Also DDT (which is a pesticide) is being put on the outside of houses in small amounts to keep mosquito’s out.

All the information from this paragraph gotten from TFK November 27 issue. For more information about TFK go to http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK

Rent is my favorite movie! It’s a musical that performed on Broadway a little more than 10 years ago. In 1996 Rent won the Tony Award for best musical. Do you have a favorite movie? Also if you’ve seen rent you can comment hear on it.

Picture from http://www.siteforrent.com/images/RENTBLUE.gif

On the sixth of December in Social Studies Mr.Hetherington handed back our tests. In our class most people got high scores, but some people didn’t show the true length of the Sahara Desert. Our homework from the night before was to finish our study guide questions on Libya. Instead of just correcting our answer we had a Socratic Circle on Libya. The first group made points about Libya used to having been involved with terrorism but recently pledged not to and also talked about why they thought Libya might have been involved with terrorism. The second group discussed how people get there water supply in the dessert (they get it from oasis’s and piping the government put in) and also discussed that the government may get money from exporting things but the dictator can do whatever he wants to with that money.

this picture is from http://style.vibe-net.com/musicinfo/push/img/bio_green_day_Biography.jpg

My favorite band is Green Day for a couple of reasons. They have cleared the path for many other punk rock bands like Panic at the Disco and My Chemical Romance. There drummer Tre Cool is the clown of the band. Once he pretended to be Ringo Star and another time he pretended to pass out and fell off the stage. Mike Dirnt , the bassist of the band, keeps the band headed in the right direction while still joking around all the time. Billie Joe Armstrong , who is the lead singer and electric guitarist of the band, writes most of the songs about either something thats hapend to him or something he’s felt emotionally. When you put them all together they make an amazing band!

this picture of bleached coral is from http://www.newint.org/issue378/pics/water-2.jpg

Every Tuesday at my school I sit at my desk to read Time For Kids. As I was reading a report, called Coral Reef Rescue by Katheryn Scatterfield, my eyes got wider the farther down the page they got. It was trying to tell me that as water gets warmer corals are being bleached and dying. Also that in 25 years, 60% of the world’s coral reefs will be dead!Yeah right, whoever heard of bleach in the ocean? But that’s not what they meant and I started to realize that the more I read. I also was realizing that this was the truth!The coral is home to so many species of fish that it would wipe out a huge amount of aquatic wonders if the coral was to die. This water warming is caused by motor boats in the ocean but it is also caused by pollution, or more specifically Global Warming. So next time you need to go some where first think if it is worth killing millions of fish or you can find a way to get there not using gas or anything that will cause pollution. If you are taking a big trip where more than one person you know is going car pool. Please, try to think of the fish!

If I could go anywhere in the world I would want to go to poor regions in Africa to help the population gain health and knowledge. With a few other friends to help we could stay for about a year and teach kids how to read and write. I would know I made a difference.