Blizzard

Author's Note: Today a huge snow storm started, so I decided to write about it in a short, quick, descriptive poem.  
 
Winds are picking up
Snow is swirling around
The sky is as white as ever
Temperatures drop so frigid
Icicles freezing to gutters

A Day at the Beach

Author's Note: I felt like writing this poem dedicated everyone.  I see that a lot of you like my warm, summer poems in the winter.  I am making a free verse poem and I am trying to be as descriptive as possible.  

Squishing sand though my toes
Riding the vigorous waves
Making castles atop the golden sand
Having a picnic in the grass
Sun beating down from miles above
Playing in the refreshing waters
Climbing rocks and jumping off
Spending time with family and friends
Taking a sunset walk on the shore
You wish this day will never end
But then it's time to go
You will see the joyful beaches again someday
It will stay in your memory forever

Civil Rights Movement

Author’s Note: I decided to do my essay on the Civil Rights Movement because it interested be, but I did not know much about it.  In my paper, I tried to put in a fictional narrative.  Throughout my paper, I was working on a little bit of vocabulary and transitions.  

Everywhere you go, you are discriminated by white people because of your race.  You want to fight to be as equal as whites, so you participate in the marches, involve yourself in the boycotts and sit-ins, and strive to desegregate public grounds.  Repeatedly, other non-whites like yourself were beaten, arrested, and sometimes killed trying to get equal rights.  This was what it was like for non-white people between the years 1955 and 1968 - the Civil Rights Movement.  It was when non-white people, especially African Americans, rallied for equal rights.  

Many great leaders such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. came together, organized, and lead these rallies.  The reason behind the Civil Right Movement rallies were because people of non-whites were discriminated and not treated fairly, especially African Americans.  In all public grounds such as bathrooms, water fountains, and restaurants they would have a signs that said “white only” or “colored only.”  Buses also had rules.  If a white person wanted to sit down at a seat that was taken by someone non-white, the non-white person would have to give up their seat and move.  Non-whites also did not have fair housing or equal rights.  If anything was not followed there could have been harsh punishment.  

               

One of the most important civil rights rallies was the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  The Montgomery Bus Boycott was took place between 1955 and 1956.  It began when Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, declined to move from her seat on the bus for a white citizen.  She was arrested, and the news spread about the incident.  Fifty African-Americans organized the bus boycott[1] that protested for a more humane[2] bus system.  In Montgomery, there were about 50,000 African Americans, which most of them joined the bus boycott.  After 381 days, the segregation on buses was overruled.
              

After the bus boycotts, the sit-ins began in the 1960s.  The first sit-in began during the Civil Rights Movement.  A sit-in is when someone would simply sit down in segregated places, or a place that they thought should protest in.  The sit-in started when four students sat at a segregated[3] lunch counter to protest against a policy that excluded African-Americans from being served.  The protesters would dress professionally and would sit quietly.  When protesters sat, they left a space on both sides of them to let any white supporter to sit too. That one sit-in encouraged many others throughout the United States.  Protesters started to sit-in places other than lunch counters.  Sit-ins took place at parks, libraries, theaters, and other public places.                 
 

Freedom Riders took place right after the sit-ins.  The Freedom Riders were Civil Rights protesters, both African-American and white, that took trips on interstate buses into southern states that were segregated.  They went to states and tried to desegregate buses, trains, water fountains, and restrooms.  Protesters soon found out it was a very dangerous mission to do.  Fights had broken out, a bomb was set in one of the buses, and protesters had gotten brutally injured.  Yet, the Freedom Riders kept on going.  Over a period of time, over 300 protesters were arrested and imprisoned in extremely harsh conditions.   In the end, due to sympathy from the public, President J.F. Kennedy decided on a new desegregation law.  All citizens were allowed to sit anywhere on buses, and signs that said “white” and “colored” were taken down.  In addition, desegregation in restrooms, water fountains, waiting rooms, and lunch counters was put in place.  It did not matter what race someone was, he/she would be treated as an equal.
              

In 1963, there was the March on Washington.  Although the Freedom Ride gave a lot of equality to the non-whites, they still had things that they were not allowed to do. For instance, they could not vote, and they could not have good housing.  According to the Committee on the Appeal to Human Rights (COAHR) the March on Washington had six certified goals: “meaningful civil right laws, massive federal works program, full and fair employment, decent housing, right to vote, and adequate integrated education.”  The March on Washington turned out to be a grand achievement.  Over 200,000 people gathered around the Lincoln Memorial and heard Martin Luther King Jr. say his famous “I have a dream” speech.

Over the thirteen years of Civil Rights debate, there were many more marches, Freedom Rides, sit-ins, and boycotts than what was mentioned previously, but these were some important civil rights actions.  There were many life-changing achievements and leaders who lived between 1955 and 1968 who made this movement possible.  Today, everyone is more equal, thanks to the Civil Rights Movement.

Resources
1960, the end of, and border state. "African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_%281955%E2%80%931968%29>.
Only, Invitation. "Atlanta Student Movement - Schedule 50th Anniversary - An Appeal for Human Rights - Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR)." Atlanta Student Movement - Schedule 50th Anniversary - An Appeal for Human Rights - Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR). Committee on Appeal of Human Rights, n.d. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.atlantastudentmoveme

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[1] To refuse (In their case, to refuse to move from their seats for a white passenger)
[2] Kind
[3] To keep apart, separate

Sleeping

Author's Note: When I wrote this poem, I was in a peaceful yet tired mood.  I just felt like writing a small poem about sleeping.  I am trying to be descriptive throughout the poem. 

I imagine myself slowly rocking to sleep
A pillow as fluffy as a cloud holds my head
Bundles of comfy blankets surrounding me
The relaxing sound of silence or maybe some music 
Feeling of being free and thinking of nothing
After a long day of learning and activities
I lay in bed, goodnight

Don't Let a Little Mistake Hold You Back

Author's Note: This is based off of a quote that I read. "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." ~Albert Einstein

Some may think mistakes are bad,
Others say it's good,
When you do something wrong,
Then give up on it,
It will hurt you,
When you do something wrong,
And then learn from you mistake,
Everything will be fine,
Just remember to never give up,
Even if a mistake gets in your way,
Stay positive,
Never look back,
Don't be scared,
Keep going on forward

Explosions

Coca Cola Trial 1

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Diet Coke Trial 1

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Coca Cola Trial 2 (Sorry it's cut off at the end)

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Diet Coke Trial 2

Untitled from Madeline A. on Vimeo.

Scientific Process

Problem/Purpose

What will react more, Mentos in Diet Coke, or Mentos in regular Coke?

Hypothesis

Mint Mentos will react more in Diet coke more than regular Coke because Diet Coke has more carbon dioxide, which creates more bubbles, so that it will make a bigger explosion. 

Experimental Design

Materials

o    3 bottles Diet Coke

o    3 bottles Coca Cola

o    6 packs of mint Mentos

o    95 inch stick

o    Buckets

Variables

o    Constant

·         Flavor of Mentos

·         Amount of Mentos

·         Temperature outside

·         Elevation of the coke bottle

·         Weather

·         Amount of Coke

o    Independent Variable

·         Type of Coke (Diet vs. Regular)

o    Dependent variables

·         Size of explosion

·         Amount of Coke left in the bottle

o      Procedure

 First we went out and gathered all of our materials.  Then we brought both the bottles outside in the snow. We set the Diet Coke in a bucket so it would not fall over on a flat surface in the snow. After that, we opened the Diet Coke bottle and taped a tube onto the top and inserted the Mentos. One of us stuck our finger in the tube to keep the Mentos from going into the coke. Meanwhile, the other one of us stood next to the bottle holding a 95 inches stick to measure the explosion. One of us removed our finger from the tube and we watched as the Diet Coke shoot up into the air and using the measuring stick we calculated how high it went. Then we repeated with the Coca Cola. We did both of the experiments two times.

Observation

We did the experiments two times with the Diet Coke and two times with the Coca Cola and we did a test trial with both. In our test trails we tried to get the Mentos all into the coke at once by stringing them one by one on tape. That didn't work because the first time only half of the tape dropped into the Diet Coke bottle and the rest hung out and clogged the bottle so the explosion went two inches high. The second time was with the Coca Cola and it was a tragic blunder because the Mentos didn't stick to the tape and they all fell off before we put them into the bottle. Only about two reached the bottle and the only reaction it made was a little fizz. 

After that, we did a little research on how other people have done the experiment.  We came up with the idea to use a tube with something clogging it to stop the Mentos from going in.  We cut a little hole in the tube and I put Madeline's finger in the hole while I inserted the Mentos. That way all the Mentos went in at once. When we did the Diet Coke using the tube method the Coke shot up 80 inches (approximately) into the air and because of a slight draft coming from the south the Coke went to the side and came down on me. Now you probably are wondering why I was standing that close to the explosion. It was because I was holding a 56 inches stick to measure the height of the explosion. We did not expect it to go that high that is why 80 inches high is an approximate height.  Then we did the Coca Cola using the tube method and a longer stick.  We did the exact same thing that we did with the Diet Coke, but it only when 64 inches. 

Just like our hypothesis stated, the Coca Cola when less high then the Diet Coke.  That reason was because the Diet Coke had more carbon dioxide to fill in for the high fructose corn syrup.  Also, the reason why the Mentos reacted to the Coke is because as the Mentos began to dissolve in the Coke, it released gelatin and gum arabic. Gum arabic a natural ingredient used to make many gummy candies. When these chemical are mixed with caffeine, potassium benzoate, aspartame, and carbon dioxide, which are all ingredients of Diet Coke, it makes a jet-like reaction. Now some of these chemicals are not in Coca Cola which is why it didn't explode as much as the Diet Coke. Then we did both the explosions again using the tube.  The results were about the same. The Diet Coke when 76 inches and the Coca Cola went 56 inches.

Conclusion

Our hypothesis was correct.  The Diet coke had a bigger explosion than the Coca Cola.  The average height of the Diet Coke was 78 inches and the average for Coca Cola was 60 inches.  Also the amount of Coke left in the bottle for Diet Coke had an average 2.9375 cups, and the Coca Cola was had an average amount of 3.375 cups left.  Therefore, because Diet Coke has more carbon dioxide to make up for high fructose corn syrup, it went higher.  Thus there was less left in the Diet Coke bottles.  Now, remember to never eat Mentos with Diet Coke, or any other soda with carbon dioxide. 

Narrative

Madeline and I had some ups and downs for our Coke and Mentos project.  Though we had a great time, we had some conflictions in our process.  Our project used almost all sections in the core competencies rubric.  We used the problem solving core competency to solve our input problem of the Mentos.  Then it worked very well when we did the tube.  We also used creativity and innovation by creating a different way to input the Mentos by using a tube and finger.  We also collaborated and communicated with each other and teachers to share ideas and facts.  In addition, we used a fair amount of technology throughout the project when we made graphs, taped videos, and used blogs.  For college and career readiness, we mastered the scientific process!  We are very proud of project and how great it worked.  We learned to move on and learn from our mistakes. 

               

Goals for Next Project

               1. Do a better job logging time

2. Do more research before we start our experiment

3. Use more out of school resources

Bibliography

"Soda and candy eruption - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_Coke_and_Mentos_er

Spangler, Steve. "Mentos Diet Coke Geyser at Steve Spangler Science." Science Projects Experiments, Educational Toys & Science Toys . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000109>.

"Why do mentos make diet coke explode?." Food Allergy Symptoms | Living with Food Allergies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://babyandkidallergies.com/diet-coke-mentos.php>.

Skiing

Author's Note: I am using the stream of consciousness and I am picturing myself skiing down a hill.  I am also working a descriptiveness and vocabulary.  This is somewhat based off of my first time skiing. 


At the top I get ready to go

I begin to descend downward
The wind is blowing against my face
A chill is going down my back
I swerve from side to side
Excitement fills the air
I end a the foot of the hill
And it only took a few seconds
Skiing is so fun
So I go up the tow rope again

Summer

Author's Note: I am using the five senses (feel, taste, smell, see, hear) to describe summer for me.  I know that it might be odd to write about summer in mid-winter, but I just wanted to write something that can make you feel warm in this frigid weather.  


The green grass tickling my feet as I run through
A delicious frozen treat dripping down my hand
The fresh nature scent surrounding me
I see the smiles on people's faces
And I hear the ice cream truck coming closer

A boiling, bright sun bringing warmth to my skin
Juicy fruit so good I am gobbling down
The smell of fresh cut grass
I can see the birds flying so high
And  hear the waves crashing down near by

Summer fun will soon be the past,
Make the best of it as if it's your last

How the Sun Works

Author’s Note: I had a science essay due and I decided to do it on the sun because I thought it was an interesting topic that I have not learned much about.  
 
The sun has been shining bright out into the solar system for 4.6 billion years!  How could it possibly last that long without burning out?  There were a couple different theories, but Albert Einstein was the man who figured it out.  

The sun is an important part of our solar system.  It provides light and heat to meet our essential needs.  The sun’s mass is over 99% of the mass of the solar system.  The circumference of the sun is approximately 2,720,960 miles.  Basically, the sun is a big, hot ball made up of gases and layers.

The sun is made up of a large variety of gases.  The gases are as listed from most to least: hydrogen (73.46%), helium (24.85%), oxygen (0.77%), carbon (0.29%), iron (0.16%), sulfur (0.12%), neon (0.12%), nitrogen (0.09%), silicon (0.07%), and magnesium (0.05%).  When some of these gases are mixed together or fused, they will create something new and make energy for the sun.

The mixing together of the different gases contributes to the creation of separate layers.  The sun is made up of different layers, in which each layer plays a different role.  The one thing each layer has in common is energy moving through them and to the next layer until it reaches the surface.  First, there is the core, which is the innermost part of the sun and where energy is formed.    Next, is the radiative zone where the energy from the core moves by waves, also known as radiation.  The convective zone is third.  In the convective zone gases move in a circular motion also known as a convection, hence convective zone.  Following that is the photosphere.  This is where energy is turned into light which will shine on Earth.  This is the only layer that is visible from Earth, unless there is an eclipse.  In fact, photosphere means light ball in Greek.  The chromosphere is the fifth layer of the sun.  When a total eclipse happens, the chromosphere is one part of the sun that can be faintly seen.  Lastly, is the outermost part of the sun: the corona.  Like the chromosphere, the corona can be seen in a total eclipse.  Instead of a little ring, the corona will create a thick crown around the sun.  

   

Before the energy makes it through all of the layers, there is energy forming in the center of the sun.  Albert Einstein answered how the sun lasts without burning out.  The process is called nuclear fusion in which two or more nuclei (plural for nucleus) fuse or unite forming another nucleus.  During nuclear fusion, energy is produced in the center of the sun, and that is the source of the sun’s energy.  For instance, if four hydrogen nuclei unite, then it can fuse which creates one nucleus of helium.  Then, the energy from the fusion will be sent through the layers of the sun, which keeps the sun burning.  This process takes over one million years!
   

The sun is an important and elaborate part of our solar system.  All of the energy that is needed to keep us alive has to go through years of a complex process and numerous layers.  With Albert Einstein’s discovery, we have a better understanding of how the sun functions.
   
Resources
"NASA - Sun." NASA - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2010. <http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/sun_worldbook.html>.
Astronomy . Austin: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 2007. Print.