Population Pyramids

Today in class we talked about population pyramids. I thought these graphs were really fun and informative. In the beginning of the class, we were told that we might be confused by them, but I found that they were really easy to understand after multiple examples and explanations. I learned things like how the males are always on the left, and how the females are always on the right. I also learned that the colors vary depending on the graph and really have no significance overall to how it effects the graph. I would like to look at population graph tonight on Maryland to see how it differs from what we saw in class!

October 29th

Today in class we were given time to ask questions about our recent assignment, and we were given time for the kids who didn't do the CIA assignment to complete it. I used this time to do my blog and get caught up on writing down what I need to do for homework. This was a good thing for me since I have been out of order today, and completely unorganized. This mod helped me relax and take a minute to calm down after all of the tests and assignments I had prior to this class. We also talked about how our grade works every semester. I thought this was interesting because our semester exams are only 20% of our grade. Also, the lowest grade you can get on it would be a 50% which I think is helpful.

CIA facts

On Friday in class, we were assigned to look at cia.gov and find five interesting facts. Here are some that I found:
1. Hong Kong has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States
2. The net migration rate in Mexico is -1.8
3. Guatemala's total fertility rate has slowly declined during the last few decades.
4. Almost 9% of the population of Costa Rica is foreign born
5. In Niger, there is 6.49 children born per woman
I believe all of this relates to what we were doing in class because it covers most of the topics we had talked about. Mostly, I focused on migration and population in different countries. I also looked at a few facts on fertility, death rate/birth rate, and infant mortality rates.

Migration and Population

Today in class we talked about migration and population. I think it's surprising how many people there actually are in the world. I knew there were a lot, but i never knew exactly how much. Yesterday, we got to see a live population counter which had gone up quite a lot just by the end of class. We also talked about migration. One thing that surprised me about migration was how many people immigrate to Canada. I've always assumed more people migrate to the United States because of how relevant it is in todays news channels and politics. However, I was surprised to see that Canada's immigration rate was actually much higher than the U.S's. Another thing I found interesting was how Canada provides less expensive health care.

Sick day

I missed class today because I was sick.

Test Day

Today in class we took our test. It was nice because we didn't have to learn anything new, and for me tests are relaxing. I say they are relaxing because to me, when you have a whole period just to sit down and show what you've learned, it's stress-free and calming. I also liked how we had time at the end to work on our homework, which I surprisingly have a LOT of for a Friday. It helps me out a lot because I'm going to the beach this weekend, and I won't want to spend my time there worrying about what is due on Monday. The test wasn't to hard in my opinion. I think I did really well, which is good since it should help me bring my grade up a little bit. I'm trying to get on honor roll and so far the only classes I have a B in are this class, and math. I took tests in both classes today though so hopefully I end up getting a good score on both of them.

Review Day

Today was our last class before our test on Friday. We reviewed a lot of things including longitude, latitude, distortion, and lots of time zones. I feel like with some studying, I have the potential to do great on this test. I am going to start studying some terms and things I need to memorize tonight, and I will practice with time zones tomorrow by quizzing myself with random places around the world. Also, we had two shadows today who seemed nice! I hope they end up coming to John Carroll next year. Based on what I've seen so far, the incoming 9th graders for next year seem promising. Hopefully they wont be too loud since I'll have to share the same lunch with them next year. Ive also started a new studying system that I'm excited about. I have a fresh new composition books that I will write my important notes in, and what I need to study. I've decided to do this instead of typing since studies show that writing things helps us remember things better. Hopefully this helps me on the test this Friday!

Culture

Today in class we talked about everything that goes into culture. The first thing that I think of when I think of culture is clothing and other things that have something to do with appearance. For example, lots of places around the world have specific garments that people wear everyday. These may include items like hijabs. Another example of culture is how America changed after 9/11. We now have a whole new department of security called homeland security. After the sad event that changed many people's lives seven years ago, we are now much more specific when it comes to security. This may include security at the air port, train stations, and even at a baseball game.

Classwork 10/15/18

What is Eratosthenes known for? (Other than making the first map)

1. He found the first accurate measurement of the circumference of the world.

2. He became the second head librarian of the Library of Alexandria in 236 B.C

3. He created a mathematical technique to provide a way to find prime numbers up to a specific integer. This is now known as the Sieve of Eratosthenes.

If it is 10:00 AM in Bel Air, Maryland, what time is it in..

1. It is 7 AM in Portland, Oregon. They are 3 hours behind us.

2. It is 3 PM in Greenwich, England. They are 5 hours ahead of us.

3. It is 10 AM in Toronto, Ontario. They are in the same time zone as us.

4. It is 10 PM in The South Pole.

Locations and Place names:

1. Five toponyms that are named after physical features:

         1. Blue Creek (Neb.)         

         2. Cedar Valley (Iowa)         

         3. Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.)         

         4. Greenfield (Wales)         

         5. High Rock Canyon (Nev.)

2. Five toponyms that are named after Native American places:

         1. Philadelphia

         2. Chicago

         3. Seattle

         4. New York

         5. Boston

3. Five toponyms that are named after a person of prominence:

         1. Columbia

         2. Bolivia

         3. Adams, Massachusetts.

         4. Floyd, Virginia

         5. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

4. Five toponyms that have religious affiliation:

         1. San Francisco

         2. St John

         3. St Peter

         4. San Juan

         5. San Diego

Antipodes:

"In geography, the antipode of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it" -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes

1. Beijing's antipode: Depatamento Conesa, RN, Argentina

2. Bermuda's antipode: Only Water

3. My Houses antipode: Only Water

Sources I used:

https://www.windows2universe.org/people/ancient_epoch/eratosthenes.html&edu=high

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_after_people_in_the_United_States

Culture and Location

Today in class we talked about how your location can affect your culture. Culture includes what sports teams you route for, what traditions you inherit, and how you feel about a certain place. For example, in Maryland, we have a prominent tradition of crab feasts. Other places around the world may not understand this, and might think it's weird. I agree that it is kind of odd, and I would understand why other places think it's completely insane. If i walked into arizona, and saw then picking apart squirrels for a "squirrel feast", I might scream and run away. It also determines what things you believe in. One example is sports teams. Since my dad lived in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Maryland when he was growing up, he routes for the Eagles and the Phillies, along with the orioles and ravens. Even though he lives in Maryland now, he still brings his old beliefs with him.

Pop Quiz

Today in class we were surprised with a 10 question pop quiz. It wasn't too hard and it didn't effect our grade too much. It was only about 3%. I'm not too upset about it, as I got an 80%. I'm glad I know some of the questions that will show up on the next test though. I learned two new things from taking the quiz, so I don't think it went badly at all. We also talked more about location for about twenty minutes after the quiz. It was odd to hear that crabs are such a Maryland thing, for some reason I haven't though about that before. Now, I understand that it's completely different from what people from other states are used to. I personally am not much of a crab person because I get so frustrated from all of the cuts, and the old bay coating my hands. It's not super fun. My family, however, LOVES crabs. I don't think I'll be carrying on this tradition. Lastly, we talked about learning languages. I personally am very interested in learning multiple languages. Right now, I'm learning spanish, and it comes pretty easy to me. In the future I'd love to speak mandarin, french, german, and dutch.

Location Notes

Today in class we talked about ways we refer to location. When we got later into the class we talked about how different places natives have different accents. I find it really interesting how just the way your family talks and how the people around you talk completely influences the way you speak. My cousin attends a college a few states away from here, and whenever she meets new people they all say she has a "cute country accent". I think this is funny because she talks exactly like me and my family, and I don't think of us as country people at all. When I think of country, I think of Texas and Kentucky. I wonder if people in London think that we have American accents!

Test Review/Test day

Today in class, I took the Socrates test. The test wasn't too terribly hard in my opinion, it was just difficult after not talking about it for so long. I'm glad I finally got it done though! I couldn't remember everything on it, but I remembered enough of it to get an okay grade. It was not my best test, but i'm glad that now I have room to improve. We also had time at the end of the mod to do our blog, which is what I'm doing now! I'm glad I can do this now instead of for homework since tonight is a busy night for me.

GPS notes

Today in class, we talked about things like GPS and other technology. I thought it was interesting how a couple years ago no one had even thought it was possible to have such a precise tracking system. Now, it's completely normal to use a GPS wherever you go. The other interesting thing was when we talked about amazon Alexa. It's a little bit unsettling to know that these things are always listening, but I feel like I've grown up being used to these things. I also think that our phones listen to us because of the feature "Hey Siri". I've known this for a while, so I'm okay with it. I think that if they needed to, the government could use these recording for catching criminals which is good.