Today
at school we did an activity.  This activity is where we were instructed to make items called parcoes with groups that we were assigned.  Parcoes are little pieces of paper with one blue line across that has to be one inch wide and one red square in the corner that had to be 1”x1”.  We were told to make these and the team with the most wins, we had to pick a CEO, a salesperson, and assign jobs to the people in our groups such as cutter or tracer. In my group are strategy was to have an assembly line.   You were allowed to trade in parcoes for more supplies and insert them to a bank.  We rotated 3 minutes making them and 3 planning.  Before putting them in the bank you had to have them certified by a teacher, to make sure the blue line was an inch and the red square a 1 by 1 inch.  Our group made about 6 and at the end rushed to put the square on when we certified it we were told that all the squares were not perfect and we were out of time.  Sadly we only had 1 parcoe.

We did this activity to learn to work well with people and be sufficient with items.  I liked this activity because it made me feel like we were a company.  If I ever do this again I will learn from my mistakes. The things I learned today will help me with life skills and teamwork.

Source:  My Article

Who:  The Oscar Winners

What: The Oscars

When: February 28

Where: Hollywood

Why do we care?: The Oscars are one of the most watched things n tv.  It gives people all over the U.S entertainment.  Most people have seen the movies who win and can relate to them.  The Oscars are held every year and lots of people enjoy watching them.

Last week our class when toCampbellStone a retirement home.  Our table groups each got one person from Campbell Stone to interview.  My person’s interview went well but we had a bunch of questions, so to sum it all up this is his interview.  His name was Robert he was born in Ohio and lived there till 1974. His first car was a 1950 dodge. He spent most of his time outside, and his favorite sport to play as a kid was hockey and baseball.  He didn’t go to college and he loves all types of music.  He says he likes it at Campbell Stone and has been there at least 8 months.  He had dogs growing up and their names were Brownie and Smokey.  His favorite sports team is he braves, favorite color is blue, and his favorite type of food is Chinese food.  He has met actress Susan Louche and his favorite TV channels are 2 and a half men and the history channel.  His favorite movie is Casa Blanca and loves bingo and exercise.  He likes coke zero the best and would love to live inArizona. His hobbie is collecting music and the most fun thing that has ever happened to him was going on a roller coaster.   His favorite season is summer and his favorite holiday is Christmas.  His dream job would be to travel all around the world. If he could be famous it would be for an invention his favorite store is target.  He said he lived a good life and was lucky that he worked through recessions and happily retired at 68. He was very interesting and I hope to see him again.

Koly learned how to embroider quilts at a very early age, just like the rest of the women in her family.  She believes that each sari she embroiders becomes part of her life.  One of her favorite things to do is embroider and she’s getting paid for what she loves!  When Koly learned to embroider that young, she became better and better at it. When you spend hours even days on each individual sari it does become part of your life. After a while you really become familiar with that piece.

Koly always expressed her feelings and life in her embroidery.  When she got married she made a quilt reflecting her life and in it, her childhood.  When Mr. Das first decided to hired Koly he wanted something original from her to see if she was right for the job. He wanted something from Koly’s heart.   Koly decided to copy off someone and stay on the safe side.  Mr. Das was very upset and almost didn’t hire her, he made her redo it and Koly did a heron that she saw earlier.  Mr. Das was very pleased and praised her for coming up with something from her mind and more importantly her heart. 

So much of Koly came out when she embroidered that it was really a part of her life.  Each quilt and sari she made had a story in them and it really shined when she did work.  Some stuff on her quilt and saris were about her old village and family or nature.  She observed a lot of stuff and had a gift of showing her life in her embroidery.

Just over a week ago the U.S.A woman’s soccer team had an amazing win over Brazil.  Their hopes were high and minds in the focus zone.  They were in the championships against Japan for the FIFA world cup in Japan. In this article you learn a lot of stuff.  With sold out seats 48,817 people were there to watch the final showdown.

Regulation score was 1-1 Then 2-2 overtime.  Then Japan got a penalty kick shot it right past Hope Solo the goal keeper leaving team U.S.A in the dust, and Japan with the cup.

Although the loss was devastating I think it was a wakeup call for everyone.  It said that we need to come back harder, stronger, and better this year and we could take home the cup!

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2011-07-17-usa-japan-wwc-final_n.htm

Homless Bird

There are many things I would do if I was Koly.  First of all I would run away.  I would sell my earrings and try to go home.  Secondly I would go to town and try to find a friend and make the best of life.  I would learn to read and maybe become a scribe and live on my own.  As you can see there are really good things to do I you were in Koly’s position

Do we ever think how much we help the community?  We don’t that much but it’s probably because people think that it takes a lot to do something very small.  When really it takes not money, or any of that stuff, it’s time.  Every minute counts.   If you’re just giving a little time like an hour you can do a lot.  And have a ton of fun doing it!  Over the break I did a small but helpful thing.  I started to walk my neighbor’s dog, then my sister comes running up to me.  “Will you please please take us on an adventure?!”  My sister Annie (7) her friend Grace (7), and her other friend Kate (6) were all batting their eyes pleading.  I thought about my gift of time, was walking a dog really my best effort?  I agreed to take my sister and her friends to the creek, right after I gave my neighbor’s dog back.  We were soon on our way.  When we got there we all got big sticks and started cleaning the creek.  We were there, for about 30 minutes and till the water started flowing pretty fast then went home.   Then I played on a rope swing with them for a few more minutes.  That day I realized I probably made their day while having a lot of fun!  It only took about an hour to do something that simple and made someone really happy.

We have one dog but lately have been thinking about getting a smaller dog.  We have an Australian shepherd.  His name is Thunder, we go to these cleaners who have a dog who attracts customers named snow he’s white and small and very cute.  We asked them what type he was?  They told us he was a multipoo.  They also said they got him in Texas .  We were not about to drive to Texas but Tennessee we could do.  My dad found two multipoos in Tennessee! (Oh yeah did I mention my mom doesn’t know!) The dog’s names are Africa and Apricot.  We don’t really like those names so we wanted to re-name it.  I suggested snoop dog but no wan wanted that either.  My dad said this Wednesday we can go to Tennessee and pick them out! (they are both girls.)   I’m so excited and can’t wait please if you have and good dog names for girls leave a comment.  And wish me luck!!!!!

Dear Readers, I love comments, and advice.  If you are from somewhere far and don’t know if you should comment, please do.  Thanks -kate

Lately I’ve been thinking about restaurants, there are so many everywhere.  What if you could make a restaurant? What would you sell? What would its name be?  I have been thinking about that and if I could make a restaurant I would name it Triple Threat.  I would sell frozen yogurt, cupcakes, and coffee.  You could get your coffee, your fro-yo and your cupcakes.  Instead of going to all the trouble of making three trips to Yogurt Land, Starbucks, and Cami Cakes you could get it all in one.  Hence the name Triple Threat.  I would have eat-in or to go.  The walls would be neon blue, green. yellow, and pink.  It would be completely self-serve and there would always be awesome music playing.  If you could run your own restaurant what would you do? Please comment answering the questions above and maybe one day it will come true.