SBC Week 10 Activity 2: Evaluation of The Student blogging Challenge

Hi Bloggers,

Can’t you believe it is already the last challenge, until March 2017? Anyway, for this post, I will be evaluating the challenge with five questions,

1. the most interesting challenge for you
2. how often you visited other blogs and left comments
3. whether you read the challenge Flipboard magazine
4. a PMI or plus/minus/interesting point about the challenge
5. the most important thing you learned while doing the challenge

Here are my answers.

1. I think the most interesting challenge to me was Week six because we got to visit and comment on various student’s posts and blogs.

2. I visit at least two or three people per week, but I rarely add comments or put people on my blogroll, because I am usually busy doing a challenge for a post.

3. Same for the Flipboard magazine.

4. A Plus point is a good experience, a minus point is that we could probably have more activities, and an interesting part is that I would like to continue to do it next year March

5. An important thing that I learned from the challenge is that you must use creative common license, and give proper attribution. You should do this because you will prevent being accused of copyright, and you are practicing fair usage.

 

Thank you,

 

-Chad

SBC: Week 10 part 1: Audit

Hi Bloggers,

For this post, I will be answering the following questions,

  • How many posts did you write?
  • How many were school based, your own interests or set by the challenge?
  • How many comments did you receive from classmates, teachers or overseas students?
  • Which post received the most comments? Why do you think that happened?
  • Which post did you enjoy writing the most and why?
  • Did you change blog themes at all and why?
  • How many widgets do you have? Do you think this is too many or not enough?
  • How many overseas students do you have on your blogroll?
  • Which web tools did you use to show creativity on your blog?

1. I wrote 16 posts, including this post

2. All of my posts were set by challenge

3. I didn’t receive any comments from my blog, but, I did get a response from one of the teachers in Week 4

4. I didn’t receive any posts 🙁

5.  The post I enjoyed writing about the most was week 9, activity 1 because, I love traveling and had a lot to write about.

6. Yes, I changed my blog theme once, because, I thought my old one was a little too bland, so I looked for a new one.

7. I have 12 widgets, and I think I have a little bit over average.

8. I have five oversea students.

9. I tried changing my wallpaper into something creative and added a lot of widgets on my blog

 

Here are the questions I asked my mom to review, and these are her answers.

 

  1. Q. What were your first impressions of this blog? It was alright. A. A few more pictures might make the reading more interesting.
  2. Q. What captured your attention? A. I really like the oriental design on your first page of your blog.
  3. Q. What distracted you on the blog? A. Nothing really distracted me.
  4. Q..What suggestions can you give me to improve my blog? A. As I mentioned earlier…add a few more pictures.

Bye bye

SBC Week 5: Kumon

Hi Bloggers,

I didn’t really know what to think of when I first saw this post, but, I thought for a moment and thought, why don’t I do a post about Kumon?

Anyway, I have been doing a math and reading comprehension called Kumon since Pre-Kindergarten. I first went to the program because my mom went there before, and was working as a mentor there. At first, I started doing math which at that time was a breeze for me it was too simple, so they upgraded me by two years. A year later, I was enrolled into Reading comprehension which I liked and still like a lot because English is one of my favorite subjects along with math. When I was in 1st Grade and didn’t know any better, so doing the math which was two years ahead of me, I got frustrated over it and said, “I WANT TO QUIT” but, owner of the Kumon I go to told me that it was supposed to get harder which was how I was going to learn.

Since that day, I never gave up and actually liked it, even now. This life lesson helps me, especially now because I am about to do Algebra I which I have to solve for two variables and learning to graph polynomials.

SBc week 7: let’s Talk School

Hi bloggers,

Today I’m going to be talking about school. Like I said from my About Me Page, I’m in the sixth grade at Hongwanji Mission School. My school is very small compared to most middle schools,  only consisting of 63 middle school students in total, (students from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade combined.)

Because we take up more than half of the roster, we are split into two section, 6A, and 6B. We have four teachers who teach the four core subjects. There is Ms. Kojima, the English Language Arts teacher who is giving us the opportunity to do this blogging challenge. Mrs. Bunch is the teacher who teaches Math. Mrs. Weisberger who teaches science. Finally, Mr. Bart teaches Social Studies.

Now, to talk about my schedule. 7:45-7:50, we are to report to our designated homeroom and chant the Pledge of Allegiance and Golden Chain of Love which is a Buddhist chant. After our Morning Business, we have three periods that are 45 minutes each, and starts at 8:00 and ends at 10:25 for all Middle School. We have a 15-minute recess, and we are off to our next two periods which are from our extracurricular classes and elective classes occurring on Monday and Friday. We have a 25-minute lunch break and a 2o minute recess before we go to our last classes of the day. Unlike our morning classes, we have two Afternoon classes that are 10 minutes longer than our morning classes. At 2:45, we are dismissed either going home, after school classes, or study hall where students do their homework while waiting for their parents, or their after school class.

Thanks for reading!

SBC week 4: Author Visit

Hi bloggers,

I have a question for you, do you think Gaia exists? Gaia was the name of the Greek Goddess of Earth. A scientist thought that the Earth was very special claiming that it was a living thing due to being currently the only planet that can support life.

I debated ‘no’ because if the earth was alive, wouldn’t it be able to prevent or stop natural disasters.

What do you think? Comment in the comment section to state your opinion.

SBC: Week 9, Activity 1- Travel

Hi Bloggers,

On this post, I will be sharing about all the places I have been to. I have been to many places in my life, but region-wise, I have been to the west and northeastern parts of the United States. In the west, I traveled to California, and Nevada. In the East, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. I have also travelled to Japan. The main islands I visited were Hokkaido and Honshu. Last, but not least, although I live in the Pacific Region on the island of Oahu, I also traveled to the island of Hawaii.

My first trip was to Las Vegas, Nevada when I was probably less than a year old, probably eight months. I went there to see my aunt, who resides there. Of course, since then I have been traveling to Las Vegas frequently to spend time with my favorite aunt. It’s not unusual that I celebrate Christmas or summer vacations there, but this year, she is coming to Hawaii for Christmas. My mom and grandmother especially like visiting the casinos where they can gamble. They always go there hoping to get money from their winnings, but they often lose. XD! It’s not at all boring for me while they take their chances. Luckily, I have been to many fun places in Vegas where there is entertainment for kids (that are mostly in casinos) such as the Excalibur, Circus Circus, Sam’s Town, California hotel, and Ceasar’s Palace. They have many amusements such as arcades, shows, exhibits to walk by, and much more.

The next place I traveled to was the Big Island of  Hawaii. I first went there during a family vacation where we stayed at HiltonWaikoloa. I was probably only in Kindergarten. Honestly, I don’t remember much from that vacation except that it was water-themed and there are lots of pictures of me having a good time doing all the activities available at the resort. Two years ago, I went back to Hawaii during a Study Tour with my fourth-grade classmates. During our four-day tour, we went to sacred areas such as the Pu’uhonua ‘o Honaunau, The place of Refuge and the Pu’ukohola Heiau. We also went to the Mokupapapa Discovery Center and the Imiloa Astronomy Center to gain a more in-depth understanding of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and we also learned about Hawaiian astronomy.

My travel to the west coast also included California. Of course, anyone who goes there must visit Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm. In San Diego, which is only a short drive from Los Angeles, I also visited Lego Land, the San Diego Zoo, and Seaworld. It was the most fun-filled amusement park trip of a lifetime! The park I enjoyed the most was Legoland because I love playing with legos and they had all sorts of creative buildings of well-known places all constructed entirely of Lego! Disneyland was fun, too. I got to ride many of the rides more than once, tried their delicious churros, and collected pennies with an engraving of the ride or area. I don’t remember much from the other animal amusement parks except in San Diego Zoo, I saw many museum exhibits about different types of animals.

A year after my trip to California, I went to Japan which has very good food, eloquent history, landmarks, and history, and is very economical. First, we went to Hokkaido, where I rode my first bullet train and  I believe was about winter time because it was さむい (it means cold; frigid in Japanese). In fact, the temperatures dropped so low that outside, it was snowing! Next, we went to Tokyo where I had a chance to visit Disneyland by the Sea which, in my opinion, was way better than the one in California. I also went to the Meiji shrine (which was a shrine in honor of Emperor Meiji, the 122nd emperor of Japan) and the Tokyo Tower, which is a tall building inspired by the Eiffel Tower. The last place we went to is Osaka, where we went to the Osaka Castle is one of Japan’s most famous landmarks and played japan a major role during the sixteenth century.

The region I have been to the most recently was the East Coast of the United States. My fifth grade went on an 11-day study tour. We went to New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut (it was nonstop traveling!). We visited historical landmarks and monuments such as The State Capital building, The Statue of Liberty, the National Monuments, the Liberty Bell, and the Smithsonian Museums.

Phew, I think those are all the places I have been to. Although I have done a lot of traveling,  I am looking forward to my next tour to in the eighth grade that will take me to some of the southern islands of Japan.

Bye,

-Chad

SBC Week 8: Community

Hello,

Okay, this post will be pretty unambiguous because I am not really involved in many communities. The communities that I am involved with is a family community, class community, three taiko communities, and a Kumon community.

In my family, there are four members excluding myself, my mother, grandmother, grandfather, and great-grandmother. My job is to help assist my grandmother with my great-grandmothers needs such as her dialysis and helping her get her in the car in order to go to the doctor’s office. We need to do this because she is already getting old and is currently bed-crippled. When I get home from school which is usually 3:45, I try to finish my regular homework in the designated time for a sixth grader (6o minutes), so I can try to finish as much Kkumon as possible. Strangely, but rarely, I sometimes finish in double the time XD. I usually go to bed at 8:30 if all my homework is finished. Some of my friends are surprised that I am able to sleep so early. Honestly, I think it is both odd and unhealthy that some of my classmates are used to going to bed at 2:30. I mean if you have a tight schedule you would need more time to finish to get a good grade, but 2;30, OMG, THAT IS SO LATE :o!

The next community I am in is a class community which consists in 34 sixth-graders in total. Because our class is so colossal, we are the only middle school grade level that is split into two sections. Most of us like to horse around, give each other funny names, and chat, especially in Japanese class XD.

I go to three taiko communities. One for my choice elective in school, another one being taught by Kenny Endo, and a group playing in the Hongwanji temple Bon Dances. In my elective, it consists of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders with 11 of us in total. In Kenny Endo’s class, there are about 15 students of all certain ages from 9-15, (I am in the Advanced Youth Group, a group more advanced than the beginner youth group. In the Bon Dance group, it consists of main adults and I forgot how many there were because our last performance was in early August. We play all sorts of patterns outside school such as, ‘Tottemo Yoi” and “Mikoshi Bayashi,” and in school, we learned two arduous, but fun patterns called ‘Taiji” and “Ma.” In the third group, we focus on only one pattern played repeatedly.

The last community I participate in is a Kumon community. This center has students from the age of four to probably late teens which I have no idea how many people attend because people sign in early and some sign in late. We just sign in, give our work from the previous few days, and sit down and complete a packet of about three or four pages of a certain math or reading comprehension topic. No oral teaching, just a packet, but if we need help, there are tutors who can assist you.

M’kay, I believe those are all the communities I am involved on.

Bye bye

SBC Week 9 Activity 2: Favorite Blog

Hi bloggers,

 

I visit a blog called Thaunami’s Blog.  I visit it frequently because I am into the Thai culture and like reading her unprecedented, long, but engrossing posts like her post talking about her interest in waterfalls. This is also the reason why I want to nominate her, because she writes long, eloquent, and interesting posts, and adds a lot of pictures with attribution and videos.

Bye

 

 

 

 

The Best Book I Have Ever Read

Hello,

 

The name of the best book I’ve ever read is called Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. The book is about an eleven-year-old girl named Melody Brooks. Unfortunately, Melody has a disability called cerebral palsy which is a disorder that prevents her from moving and talking. Despite this disability, she has an open mind and photographic memory that helped her get a perfect score on a trivia and making the team for a national trivia bee.

Being stuck in her mind caused Melody to go out of her mind and think of a way to speak for the first time ever, using a machine called a Meditalker. Now Melody can speak, but is the world ready to hear her voice?