Portrait Photography

     This is my selfie I took for my photography unit. To photograph this image, I realized that I wanted to use reflection to capture myself instead of just the regular selfie. At first, I wanted to just use my laptop without the screen on, but as I continued trying out different was to photograph myself, I realized, why not just use photobooth? Once I decided to use photobooth, I had to decide the style. I was going to use just a regular black and white filter at first, but I realized that having it look like an old movie would be cooler, plus I thought it looked better and more unique. Once I took the photo with the sepia filter, I realized that it only needed a little bit of editing. I cropped the photo so that you could see a little bit of what was behind the computer, then I made minor changes to sharpen it and make it brighter or darker in certain places. Once I did that, I realized that the background was way too full, and you wouldn't focus on me (not trying to be selfish), so I used the retouch option to black out the entire background which gave the photo a really cool effect.

      1. Exposure is the amount of light per unit area in a photograph. In this photograph, I used exposure to help make this photo overexposed, or very bright.

      2. This, I believe, was my best photo because it shows frame inside a frame so definitely, and because I barely edited it to look this way once I made it black and white.

      3. Background and lighting are major for portrait photography because it can show a personality better, and make a photo so much more interesting. In this photo, I considered using a light background to show Laura's personality as being jubilant and bright.

Seed Germination

These are my steps for germinating my cucumber seed.

1. Soak the paper towel
1. Dip quickly - moist but not soggy
2. Fold the seed into the paper towel
3. Put them in a zip-lock
1. To keep the moisture inside
2. Leave outside on the ledge by the window
4. Take out the seeds
1. Take them out after a couple of days

Advice Letter

Dear Abby/Abner- My friend has a personal blog and she/he is constantly writing inappropriate comments about people at our school. Although there are no names mentioned, sometimes it’s obvious who the person is. I know it’s wrong and it makes me uncomfortable, but my friend thinks it’s funny. What should I do?

Dear Amethyst,
It is not uncommon to be friends with a cyberbully. Many people struggle to make that decision, after all, cyberbullying is related to low self-esteem which many people have nowadays. You are stuck in the middle of going with or against your friend, I know how difficult it may be, but your heart will help you decide.

At these times you may be indecisive about many things. All you may think about is hurting your friend or hurting those around you. If you are not careful you may accidentally join your friend. Avoid all gossip-related conversations to keep all of your friendships intact.
If her actions make you uncomfortable - take some independence, gain your strength, you don’t have to follow in her footsteps. Confront her to help your’s and other’s self-esteems. You can help save others and your friend who is cyberbullying. She can get to them through emails, texts, and social media sites, causing low self-esteems for many people. It may make you and others uncomfortable, but she needs to stop before more get hurt.

You have been friends with her for a while. If you talk and yell at her to stop, you are only giving her more reason to continue her posts if she finds it funny. At my old school I went to, I found myself surrounded by people who were constantly cyberbullied.
I am now annoyed with myself for doing nothing about it because I didn’t know how. I realized that even if I didn’t know who was the cyberbully was, I could have still helped all of my friends who were cyberbullied.
I felt like I had an inability to simply comfort my friends. Not because I was annoyed or anything, but just because I didn’t know how to comfort them.
The solution is to report your friend. If she finds it funny, she obviously is oblivious that she is hurting so many around her, which needs to be stopped to help whoever she is bullying. Here are some steps you can take to stop her from cyberbullying.
Step 1: Try to reason with her. She may find it funny while you don’t, but she should still understand if you just try to reason with her to stop. DO NOT start rumors yourself!
Step 2: If you have tried reasoning with her, you can go to the social media site she makes negative comments on, and report her to the social media site so they can take action and take down her account so that she can’t post anything. For example, at my school, there is a site like that, and people reported the account to the site to shut it down.
Step 3: If she still finds a way around the blocked account, report her to your principal. The comments are about students at your school, so your principal should be able to help.
Step 4: If the principal can’t help with the problem, which shouldn’t happen, you can go around to the people who were cyberbullying, and just comfort them. They are distressed, they need comfort from others who were cyberbullied. You can also ask them to report the account if it was never taken down. You can also tell them that they can block the account and change the settings, that way they will never have to see that account again.
Stand up for the people who are bullied to help their self-esteem, do the right thing!
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Abby

Resources: Cyberbullying, Report Cyberbullying, BrainPOP

SAS Eagle Design

In art, we worked on a design unit focused on variation. We looked at and attempted many different types of media and techniques. This was my final work.

For my eagle based on the principle of design, I decided to create a scratch artwork. I focused this piece on contrast because black and white are perfect contrasting colors. I also focused on rhythm because the different designs I created on the scratch board showed perfect rhythm.

The most challenging part of this assignment was doing my best but also turning it in on time. I did a scratch board last and it took me the longest, I even had to do it at home.

My favorite technique was ombre. I decided to ombre both my eagle and my background. I used colored pencils and I enjoyed it the most because it gave texture, and it was very easy and simple to make!

Cluster One Reflection

1. What are your friendship strengths and challenges?

One friendship strength I have is that I am always there for my friends. If they get hurt or need help, I am always there to help them. A challenge that I have is that when we pair up for something I may boss them round because I always end up being the leader. It may sometimes pull us apart because I act differently than if we were just talking.

2. Explain what you’ve learned about the movement pattern (rotations) and concept (tactics and shots).

I learned that having a good movement pattern doesn't just come to you, you need to practice A LOT before you get the proper movement patterns. For concept, you also need to practice a lot and learn how to control where you hit the ball.

3. What are 2 specific things you’d like to accomplish this year in PE?

a. I would like to be able to control the ball when I play to catch them off-guard to improve my play in the game.

b. I would also like to work on my movement because I feel like by the end of seventh grade I should be able to give my swing or hit with more momentum so that I can better improve my play in the game.

Batting Reflection

  One thing I am doing well while I;m batting is that I place my hands the proper way in order to bat. I also lifted the bat off of my shoulders.

  One thing I can work on is my trunk rotation. I can also work on "Load"s.

TCK iMovie