Take a moment.
Take in that fresh air. Do you hear the bird’s whistle and the children playing at the fair? You know what that means, You surely do. Take a bite of the food you adore. Take a moment and make a list in your head of what it tastes like. Grab on to a hand Owned by someone you love. Feel the texture of the skin with the pads of your thumb. Blow a dandelion’s fluff as you pick it from the ground. Make sure to not tell the content of your wish. I hope you made a wish. Today can you do me a favor? Can you smile at someone you hate? Can you laugh at a joke that you find corny? Can you spread love? We are having a drought, But don’t worry about that now. Right now, Yes, right now, you have to do the previous steps I instructed. Before you spread that love Spread it to your soul. So many people decide to help the Earth in all the wrong ways. The best way to make a difference is to make one on yourself. These steps to you might seem ridiculous, but I assure you I’m not crazy, at least not yet. You can only take these steps if you are ALIVE, As your alive there is a hill needing to be climbed. Unfortunately, there is no way to fly, But you have legs, And if you don’t you have hands. If you don’t you have heart. You can climb to the tip of your life. Breathe in that air, Breathe it deep as you know realize and end to your story is not in sight. Love, Tiana Melendez P.S. If you are alive, you have the time, you have the right. By AG
In public schooling, single sex education did not become popular until the last fifteen years or so when title IX regulations were changed. These are regulations that in part regard the legality of single sex education in the United States. The changes to title IX regulations made it much easier for the Department of Education to allow single sex schooling. Single sex education in the United States has become popular, because of the belief that males and females not only learn differently, but they also in general, have vastly different interests. It has become the hope that by using gender specific teaching techniques males and females will have a better chance at succeeding in public schools. Personally, I don’t agree with this. One disadvantage of single sex education is that it could impact a student's social skills negatively and make it harder for him or her to function in mixed-gender society. Students in a gender segregated school have less opportunity to interact with the opposite sex and this could make it harder for students to communicate with the opposite sex. In society, men and women often work side by side. It is a disadvantage if you do not know how to communicate in an articulate manner with the opposite sex, when it comes to the workplace and personal relationships. Another issue is that most teachers have not learned gender specific teaching techniques. Most teachers do not have the experience or the expertise required to teach in a gender segregated school. Most teachers are trained to teach mixed-gender classes. This is a problem, perhaps the demand for teachers ready to employ gender specific teaching techniques, is higher than the supply of teachers ready to do so. If single sex education is going to be promoted in the United States, than we need more teachers educated in gender specific teaching techniques. My biggest issue with single sex education is the alarming amount of research that shows there is little to no difference in the grades and test marks of students attending gender segregated schools from those of students attending mixed-gender schools. If the research is showing that students in gender segregated schools are barely doing any better than students in mixed-gender schools, why should single sex education be promoted over mixed-gender education? The slight positive difference in the success of students attending gender segregated schools can easily be explained by the fact that gender segregated schools are usually smaller and better funded than mixed-gender schools. The American Psychological Association analyzed 184 studies and found that single sex education does not educate males and females better than mixed-gender schools. Funding gender segregated school is often more expensive than the funding of mixed-gender schools, even when it's highly debatable whether or not gender segregated schools educate students better than mixed gender schools. This is why I believe that gender segregated schools aren’t a better option than mixed gender schools. However, I’ve never attended a gender segregated school. Have you? If you have, I would love to hear about your experience and opinion on single sex education in the comments. If you would like to read about research done by The American Psychological Association on single sex education, click on the following link: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/02/single-sex-education.aspx. By AG
Do you know what microbeads are? Well, not long ago I didn’t know the answer to that question. Microbeads are tiny pieces of plastic, five millimeters small or smaller. You can find microbeads commonly in various skin care products, soap, and tooth paste. Microbeads are used as an exfoliant in personal care products, but their effectiveness is debatable. However, they are having a dangerous and devastating effect on the environment. "Marine plastic pollution is a global problem and microplastics can have negative effects on the health of marine organisms," said Dr. Mia Hoogenboom, lead researcher at the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. There are a few different environmental issues that microbeads are causing. Microbeads are washed down the drain and are so small that they aren’t filtered properly, so, the microbeads end up in bodies of water. Microbeads are not biodegradable and are accumulating in the ocean rapidly which isn’t good for ocean life. Another issues is that coral is not capable of telling food from pieces of garbage. Research shows that coral has been consuming a lot of microbeads which clog their digestive system and prevent them from digesting real food. This could cause the coral to starve. Coral reefs are very important. Coral reefs provide shelter and protection for many different species of fish. Coral reefs also play a part in controlling how much carbon dioxide is in the ocean. Coral reefs provide a barrier between the sea and the shore. This is why coral reefs are important for the environment. One of the more alarming issues caused by microbeads is that sea creatures cannot discern microbeads from food. Sea creatures often mistakenly eat microbeads. Some sea creatures can successfully digest the microbeads, but others cannot. Microbeads can also contain toxic chemicals that have been added to the plastic. This is all very dangerous for the sea creatures, but it’s also dangerous for humans. Humans eat seafood and it’s been proven that we are indirectly ingesting microbeads this way. I find this alarming and scary. Our bodies are not meant to digest plastic and some of the chemicals applied to the microbeads has been linked to causing cancer. Microbeads are having a negative impact on the environment and possibly on our health. That’s why I believe microbeads should be banned in every state. In several states microbeads have been banned. Recently, in New York the Microbead Free Waters Act was passed. The Microbead Free Waters Act prohibits any personal care products which contain microbeads. “By passing the Microbead-Free Waters Act, the Assembly has taken an important step toward protecting and restoring New York’s waterways, from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River to Long Island Sound,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “I am grateful to Speaker Silver and Assemblyman Sweeney for their partnership in the effort to stop the flow of plastic pollution from ill-designed beauty products into our vital waters where it jeopardizes wildlife and public health.” Many beauty companies have promised to stop selling and distributing products that contain microbeads. I think these are great steps forward. However, I won’t be pleased until microbeads are no longer used at all. If you would like to learn more about microbeads, their effect on the enviornment, and the battle to ban them, click on the following link: http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/. What do you think can be used as an environmentally friendly alternative to microbeads in personal care products? Tell me in the comments. By AG Did you know that flowers arrangements were once used to send secret messages? No, I'm not kidding. The language of flowers, which is also called floriography used to be quite popular, especially, during the Victorian era in the United States and Europe. However, floral arrangements had been used to communicate messages in Asia and the Middle East long before that. In the United States the interest in the language of flowers during the Victorian era is attributed to Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. He wrote weekly about the language of flowers in a popular newspaper and this stirred up interest. The meanings assigned to flowers was based on myth, medical purpose, imagination, and traditions. That is the reason why there are various meanings assigned to each flower. During this time people would send floral arrangements to others to secretly profess their love, hate, and everything in between. During the Victorian era etiquette was very important and the social classes were distinct. Flirting had to be discreet and certain topics were taboo. You could use a flower arrangement to say something that you couldn’t say out loud. Flowers could have many different meanings and people actually carried around dictionaries filled with the meanings assigned to certain flowers and plants. A common gift was a small bouquet of flowers wrapped in lace and tied together with satin. A proper Victorian lady was expected to understand the meaning behind a tussie mussie and be adept at creating one. One thing that’s interesting to think about is how red roses are still associated with love even in these modern times. However, floriography is not nearly as popular as it used to be, although, some people still use this old artform and way of communication. Meanings behind some common flowers are:
I could go on! One thing that’s interesting to think about is how red roses are still associated with love even in these modern times. So, the next time you have something you need to say why don't you send flowers instead of a text message? It's a bit more elegant. What’s your favorite flower? Tell me in the comments. If you’re interested in learning more about the meaning assigned to certain flowers, you can go to this website http://thelanguageofflowers.com. By: JG “American Pickers” is one of my favorite shows. It`s about two men, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, who travel throughout the United States in their mini truck collecting antiques and collectibles to resell in their store, Antique Archaeology. Mike and Frank get calls from their employee, Danielle, who gives them leads on people who at one time used to collect items and are in the State and area they are driving through at the time. Sometimes while they’re driving down the road they will just stop at a home that has a lot of junk on the land. Mike and Frank will ask the homeowner if they can look around. If the owner says yes, they will start searching the property for items. Sometimes the property has sheds, garages and even barns full of items.
Frank likes like collecting ``smalls’’, smalls are small items like toys and hand held items. Mike likes antique motorcycles and bikes. When they find items they like to buy, they ask the owner for the price and if they think it’s too high to resell, they negotiate. Some of the owners don’t want to sell anything, even if they have no use for it or it’s been buried and hasn’t been seen in years. Most of the time they will give in and start selling when they realize Mike and Frank will give them cash right away. Some of the places they visit are dangerous to search because many of the people are hoarders and just pile stuff up in the space, often up to the ceilings. Mike and Frank gets excited when they see this, they know there will be plenty to pick through. By: JG Cesar Millan is the Dog Whisperer. He trains dogs and shows owners how to discipline their problem dogs. He has a television show called, “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” on the show Cesar goes to the dog owners’ homes. He observes the dog’s behavior and how the owner reacts to the bad behavior. Cesar will then work with the dog alone and show the owner proper technique to train the dog.
On one of the shows I watched, the dog owners had rescued two small dogs. Both the husband and wife were afraid of the dogs because they were very aggressive. The wife would get bitten all the time. After a few hours of training with Cesar, the dogs were calm and the owners were very happy. If you ever have a problem with your dog, check out “The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan”, you may learn a few helpful tricks. By: S. H. My topic is bearded dragons. Bearded dragon are lizards that live in the Australian desert and are kept as pets all over the world. They are genetic and kind animals. Bearded dragons are omnivores, meaning they eat both meat and plants. They eat cricket, mealworms, wax worms, and phoenix worms as well as lettuce such as romaine and green lettuce. They also eat strawberries, but only for a treat. They are a good beginner pet for first time reptile owners. I have a bearded dragon named Hero. I feed him phoenix worms, crickets, wax worms and mealworms. I also take him out to sit on my shoulder for long periods of time without moving. The bearded dragon is an excellent pet, and I recommend it for people who want to buy a lizard.
By: J. C. In August of 2011 Aaron Freed, a native of Seattle, decided to travel the world after his 12 year military service as a pilot in the United States Air Force, where he progressed to the rank of major. Aaron Freed has used many different ways of transportation to travel the globe including 22 different boats, cycling, and even hitchhiking. Apart from his travels, Aaron works online as a freelance consultant in business strategy and marketing. Mr. Freed has been through many struggles along the way, even getting stranded penniless in Tunisia where he had to work in a hostel to gain enough funds to continue his journey. Mr. Freed is currently cycling from Cairo, Egypt to South Africa. If you had the chance to travel the world where would you travel to and why?
By: M.R. Fellow Classmates,
Check out the link I accidentally discover below. You can create a Christmas tree to be shown at the White House and displayed on a state tree. There are also other projects in the link provided. So go to https://www.madewithcode.com/projects. |
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April 2018
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