Where I Am From...Poem

Where I’m From

By Prasadini Gross  

 I am from spanish and sign language

From a land of three brothers

I am from nature and nutrition

From quiet meditations to loud family gatherings

I am from “help ever, hurt never”

From the electrifying sight of the mountains, and the fishy smell of the ocean

I am from the thrill of a comedy movie and the excitement of a fantasy book

From wearing skirts when I was three to skinny jeans now

I am from stolen high fives with my silly friends and playing unfair games of monopoly with my family

From playing sports and singing songs

I am from art and creativity

From positive attitudes and “just keep trying”s

I am from hot summers and warm winters

From Goofy and Mickey Mouse

I am from a million and one unknown relatives

From stories of Dog and Rabbit

I am from endless days of being thrown at the pool and summer days at my dads yoga camp

From sweet almond milk in my granola and tangy lemonade with burritos

I am from dad rapping old school raps

From never-ending games of 20 questions in the car

I am from the epic adventures of The Boy Who Lived

From the loud chatter of my friends continuously yapping over each other like chihuahuas

I am from “I don’t like this” or “I am allergic to that”

From constantly moving from one house to another

I am from home, and that’s where my heart is!

Idyllwild Fauna

Black-Headed Grosbeak
Scientific name: Pheucticus Melanocephalus

• I believe that a Black-Headed Grosbeak is diurnal, diurnal means it comes out in the day, because on all the websites that I looked at they didn't say if it was nocturnal or diurnal. 
• You can identify this animal because it has a thick beak, white patches on their black wings and it has reddish- orange breasts, and a black head.

Refrences 
Wikipedia.org
(I'm not sure) Birdsandberries.com

Photo Essay: Cooking With My Family

 We made vegetarian pizza. So first I pre-set the oven to 360 degrees.

  Then greased pan so that the pizza wouldn' t stick.

 Then put sauce on the pre-made pizza dough. I was spreading it around with a spoon.

  Then I spreaded soy cheese (I'm allergic to milk)  on to the un-finished pizza.

 I like mushrooms so I decided to put mushrooms. Luckily my mom just went shopping before I made the pizza.

 Then I put some chopped olives, yum. (FYI they looked really really gross).

 And then into the oven! My mom had to do because I was to scared, I didn't want to burn my hands.

 Then I cut up salad.

 Then finally bon-apetit! Time to eat! Horay!

The Qur'an and the Sunnah

 Left: whole star, right: my part of the star

• What facet of Islam did you present?

Well Emily and I were working on the Qur'an and Sunnah but Emily was absent the day that we were supposed to present so it was just me and Natalie.

• What are some concepts that you learned?

I learned that a guy named Caliph Uthman made an official edition of the Qur'an and he destroyed other versions. I also learned that they do not let copies of the Qur'an touch the floor get dirty. And most Muslims memorized a great part of the sacred book. And that Muhammad received passages from the angel Gabriel. And what I learned about the Sunnah is the example that Muhammad set for Muslims during his life time. He (Muhammad) told all the Muslim children "God forbids all of you to disobey your mothers". And the most basic acts of worship are called the Five Pillars of Faith and the Sunnah shows how to use them using Muhammad's example.

Hunger Games Movie Review

I honestly think that the movie was okay. It could have been way better. I didn't like how they took parts from the book and changed it. For example when Katniss gets the mocking jay pin in the book she gets it from her friend Madge at the reaping. But in the movie she gets it from the hob when she barters for food and the lady says she can have it for free. Then Katniss runs home and gives it to Prim. That didn't happen. They also left out the part when Gale is getting taken out of that place when he is talking with Katniss and Gale says "I will always-" they left that out and that's really important for the next book, Catching Fire.
The movie was definitely not what I expected. First of all the cornucopia was supposed to be gold and I thought that it was gonna be like an actual cornucopia that they use at harvest time... you know made out of basket. But in the movie it looks really odd and square-ish and silver... Oh! and the wolf mutation things. They didn't really look like wolves, they looked like pitbulls. And when that one jumped out, me and Emily and I think Tori too all screamed and then Clara she was laughing at us :(.

Photo Essay: 24-Hour Diet

 This is a lemonade from Coco's Restaraunt and Bakery, I had already dranken some of it when I remembered I had to do this photo essay 24-hour diet thing. I don't remember at exact what time I drank this so I'm gonna guess it was around 4:30-ish PM on Tuesday, April 10th. I choose to drink this because I really like lemonade and I wasn't in the mood for a soda.
This was my breakfast. It contains a bowl of cantalope, one whole grain bagel split in half and a teaspoon of margerine and a teaspoon of honey,  half dranken bottle of water and a tablet or a pill of some kind that keeps me healthy. I aproximately ate this at 7:00-ish AM on Wednesday April 11th. I did not choose to eat this, my mom just gave it to me. But if I had a choice I probably would have choosen this to eat.
For lunch I had two mini lemon cakes, a buttered crosaint sandwhich with toferky meat (not real meat), a tangerine and CapriSun juice pouch. I ate this at around 12:15 on Wednesday, the 11th of April. I choose to eat this 'cause would I need the energy to go on with the rest of the day and open my brain so that I could listen to the teacher trying to teach. And I also ate it 'cause that's what my mom packed.
I honestly forgot to take a picture of what I ate for dinner on Wednesday, the 11th of April. So I got a picture off the internet of what I had for dinner Thursday, the 12th of April (tonight). I had a soy cheese Boboli (pizza crust brand) pizza. (But without the garlic as it shows in the image above). I ate at about 6:00. I choose to eat this because I was in the mood for pizza and it was the fastesting thing my mom could make before she left.

Macronutrients

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmWjgoThz2vWdHdhOG1neUVsbThtS1ZkZDdrd3BNWGc&pli=1#gid=0

My graph shows the calories (blue), carbohydrates (red), fats (orange) and proteins (green) of me and my two close friends, Emily and Kimberley. Macronutrients are nutrients that provides calories and energy. A calorie is a unit of energy. Protein is an important part of every cell in the human body and makes up a large part of your skin, hair, nails, muscles, organs. There are two main carbohydrate groups: sugars and starches. As you can see I get more calories than Kimberley or Emily does. This is a little...weird 'cause I'm the skinniest out of all of us even though I eat more calories. I wonder if calories can make you obese? I wonder if it's because I excercise more? Anyway, it seems that Emily doesn't get enough protein and fats. It also looks like I eat the most carbohydrates which I kind of expected because I know already that I eat a lot of breads. It also looks like Kimberley has the most fat.

I believe that we all need to change our diets. I need to eat less carbohydrates because I think that carbs have more calories than other foods, but I could be wrong- okay I was wrong, fats have more calories than either carbs or proteins. I also think that Emily should eat more proteins and fats because if she doesn't eat enough protein it can weaken the immune system and then it's easy to get sick. Kimberley also needs to change her diet. I think she takes in more protein than her body needs and her body can't store the extra for later in the same condition that it's in so her body turns it into fat for storage.

Hunger Games 25-27

Chapter 25: (This is a prompt that I made up, so it's not on the response sheet)
How would you feel if you were Katniss at this point in the book?
     If I were Katniss right now I'd be freaked out. If I saw those muttants charging for me I'd be so scared 'cause they're smarter than the average wolf. But honestly I thought it was kind of dumb to follow Cato. I thought one way or another they were going to die. Cato was either was going to kill them or the wolf-things were going to eat them. But it actually turned out well. And when Katniss realized they were the tributes that died and the smallest one was Rue I was like "please remember Rue. Please, please remember Katniss and leave them alone. Come to your senses". But obviously that didn't happen.
     I was sooooo happy when Katniss killed Cato. I was like "heck yeah!!! That's my girl!" But then I was like "WHAT!?" when Claudius Templesmith (the anouncer) said that there can only be one winner and they have to kill each other. I thought it was really smart of Katniss to come up with the idea to kill themselves if the Capitol only wanted one winner. Frankly I would have been scared to eat the poisonous berrys... I don't want to die!

Chapter 27: On page 371 (paragraph 4), Haymitch walks up to Katniss and Peeta and says "Great job, you two. Just keep it up in the district until the cameras are gone. We should be okay". If he said that to me I would have hit him. Peeta didn't know what he was talking about so he asks Katniss what he meant by that. And she tells him by accident that Haymitch has been coaching her to keep up the "love act". Peeta being Peeta took it the wrong way and thought she never really liked him but truth is that she doesn't know what she's been feeling. If that were me I'd probably grab Peeta by the arm and tell him what I felt, what was real, what I thought all about this and it wasn't my fault and all that non-sense.
     I did not like the way the book ended. It ends with Katniss and Peeta holding hands and getting off the train. It ends with Katniss preparing for the cameras and dreading for the moment when she'll have to let it go. That's it? What about what she felt to be back home? With Prim, her mother and Gale? Nope. Nothing. Zip. I'm sure Suzanne Collins intended it to be that way so that people will read her next book, Catching Fire, but honey I would have read it anyway. Im just saying that the ending could have been better. But overall the book was great!

LAST POST ABOUT THE HUNGER GAMES!! WHOO!

on to Catching Fire!



24 Hour Diet



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmWjgoThz2vWdHdhOG1neUVsbThtS1ZkZDdrd3BNWGc&pli=1#gid=0



Total Calories: 3,672
Total Carbohydrates: 551.5
Total Fats: 95.9g
Total Protein: 114.1g

1. How does your total calories compare to the recommended 2000 calories per day?

• Well, I had 1,672 calories more than what I should have. 183.6%

2. What time of day do you eat most of your calories - morning, afternoon or evening?

• For the afternoon I had a total of 1,762 calories. Then the next one where I get the second largest amount would be in the evening with a total of 1,144 calories. Morning with a total of 766 calories.

3. What does your answer to question #2 imply about your long term health?

• Well I guess since I eat most of my calories in the afternoon, I won't gain a lot of weight because I usually exercise a lot during the day. Especially after I eat.

4. Describe how many minutes you exercise per day and what activities you engage in on a regular basis.

• On Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's I usually run for about five to ten minutes with my family before school. And then at school I usually run and play games with my friends for at least five minutes, the same thing goes for lunch. Oh, also in the mornings the whole seventh grade goes for a hike which usually takes about an hour. So my exercise total everyday is about an hour and fifteen minutes at least.

5. Use the internet to find out how many calories you burn doing the activities you listed in #4. Considering that the average person burns about 2000 calories per day without doing any extra exercise, how many total calories do you think you burn each day?

6. What is the most important thing that you can change about your diet or lifestyle to improve your long term health?

• I think to improve my long term health I have to not eat a whole lot of sweets as I have been doing.

Hunger Games 22-24

(This is a prompt that I made up, so it's not on the prompt response sheet) How do you feel about what's going on at this point in the book?

annoyed

sorry

scared

happy

I feel a whole bunch of different things. So many feelings are running through my head, it's giving me a headache. Ok to start with I'm feeling happy for Katniss and yes Peeta (he's kind of grown on me) because they are the last three tributes left in the Games (with Cato). Another emotion I'm feeling is that I'm scared for Peeta and Katniss because I know that they're on the same team but Cato he is so strong and trained his whole life for this. Sorry because I feel bad for Foxface because she didn't know that the berries were poisonous. But then mischevious 'cause that's what she gets for snooping around and stealing other people's food. Relieved 'cause Katniss and Peeta don't  have to go against Thresh. Excited at the idea of Katniss and Peeta winning the Hunger Games. Regretful for Gale 'cause he "supposedly" likes Katniss and if she moves to the place where the winners live, they might not go hunting together. Annoyed at the fact that Katniss and Peeta are always kissing on each other. Nerve-racking that Peeta almost killed them (Katniss and Peeta). And finally hopeful that there is an advantage of having another tribute from your district at your side. I think that's it... yep, I'm pretty sure that that's it- or at least for now. ;) Oh! And euphoric that they've made it this far!!

Hunger Games 19-21

What would you do if you were Gale Hawthorne at this point in the book?

If I were Gale Hawthorne (Katniss' "best friend") watching The Hunger Games I would be kind of jealous of Peeta Mellark. Because I believe that Gale likes Katniss (I'm guessing 'cause the book never says, so far) and he has already asked her to runnaway with him but she declined and then all of a sudden when Peeta gets hurt she's all over him, kissing and everything. I'd also be angry because Katniss just sees Gale as just a friend (supposedly) and I bet he has been trying to get her to like him ever since they'd met and it's only been about a few weeks in the games and she's already kissing him like they've been together a long time. And if/when Katniss returns to the Seam (district 12) I bet Gale will ask her why she was kissing all over Peeta and I bet you she'll say "it was just for the show and the audience". If she says that I will be like "uh, huh sure. Don't lie like you don't like Peeta." I wouldn't be surprised if she said that then broke Gale's heart. If I were Gale, when/if Peeta came back, Peeta and I would have a "manly talk"- if you know what I mean.

Hunger Games 16-18

What has happened in the book that seems important to the story?

         At the end of chapter 18 Claudius Templesmith (the Hunger Games announcer person) told the six remaining tributes (that includes Katniss) that there was a new rule change. The new rule is that two people from the same district can win. This seems very important to the story because that means that Katniss and Peeta can win. At first I was like "darn! I wish that Katniss would take all her anger out on Peeta (muahahaha) because I don't like him... at all!" But now I think that if they both win Peeta can prove if he is a jerk or not. By pretending if he really does like her or if she like's him....GASP!! I really don't want that to happen. But that can change the story greatly. What if he accidentally shoots Katniss!? That would be horrible! Or if they do win together and then Peeta's just like "I dont like you anymore" at the last moment then bang! He kills her. That would be so messed up!

Hunger Games 13-14

What has taken place in the book that reminds you of something that has happened in your life?

The tracker jackers or wasps in chapter fourteen made me remember something that happened when I was five with a wasp. It was the summer that I was going to turn six. It was a hot day as usual in San Diego, my brothers and were playing on the porch in the hose as we always did on a hot weekend. It was a fun day until my brothers and I went in to the house to dry off. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had a wasps nest right outside our door. So everyone was inside but my little brother who was the last one to come in was supposed to close the door behind him but didn't. It was like an hour later, I was in my room still in my bathing suit when I heard my mom scream. I ran outside to see what was going on. I saw a big yellow and black wasp hovering around my dad's favorite blue lounge chair! My mom told my brothers and me that we should go to my room and close the door. I could hear the loud hum. My brothers leaned against the door. After about twenty minutes my dad told us that it was safe to come out. The next day my dad got rid of the wasps nest. I was still catious for about a week though.

The Hunger Games Chapter 12

Is there something that has happened so far that reminds you of another character, book, or movie? Why?

Peeta Mellark reminds me of this character named Vikas from this book  I read called Twelfth Grade Kills, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. He reminds me of Vikas because they both are traders. Peeta is a betrayer because he said he loved Katniss and she trusted him and he turned around and ganged up with the Career Tributes (kids from  the rich districts who train their whole lives to volunteer for the Hunger Games) to kill her. I know that's the whole point of the game but c'mon seriously? Then Vikas is/was a loyal friend/brother to the father and uncle of main character. But it turned out he was just helping the father to do a really, really, really messed up thing and back-stabbed the uncle and the main character in the worst way possible. So now I don't like either of those characters because they are liers.

The Hunger Games Chapter 10-11

What would you do if you were Katniss at this point in the book?

If I were Katniss entering the Hunger Games at this point I would run past the cornacopia instead of going torwards it because everyone would go torwards it to get the good stuff and then I bet half of the people that thought they were smart would run away from it trying to get as far from it as possible. So in my opinion the best way to run would either be the sides or go past the cornacopia. But I would have to run my fastest to avoid the blood shower or become part of the shower for that matter. I would run torwards the water areas and stalk up if I saw anybody there, I know this seems harsh but I would kill them then hide. I bet I would try to climb a tree because I'm an excellent climber thanks to my dad. I would also try to pick some berrys that I familiar with so that I can eat. But still of course play the game.

Hunger Games 8-9

What does the author do an excellent job of? Why? What quotes demonstrate this?
       The author, Suzanne Collins, does an excellent job at keeping suspense. Because of this I'm always on the edge of my seat and holding my breath. I'm glad that this book has suspense and it's interesting and makes you wanna read more. 
       For example at the end of chapter one they're announcing who the girl tribute for the Hunger Games is. And when they said Primrose Everdeen, I completely freaked out!! After that, when we didn't read for like what seemed forever, I kept wondering what would happen to Prim. If she would go to the Hunger Games? Would someone step up for her? Would Katniss pretend to be her and go up instead? It was unbearable.
       Also at the end of chapter nine when Katniss and Peeta are at the interview, it was Peeta's turn to be interviewed. He and the interviewer, Caesar Flickerman, are talking about if Peeta has a girlfriend or not. "Handsome young lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?'' says Caesar. "Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping" says Peeta. "She have another fellow?" asks Caesar.  "I don't know, but a lot of boys like her," says Peeta. "So, here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" says Caesar encouragingly. "I don't think it's going to work out. Winning... won't help in my case," says Peeta. "Why ever not?" says Caesar, mystified. Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. "Because...because... she came here with me." Now there! There is the suspence I was looking for! It makes me feel all jittery every time I read it. Oooh, I can't wait to read more!

Applied Mathematics Semester Review

Last semester I learned how to calculate volume of a rectangular prisim and I will never forget it. 

Now here are 10 formulas I've learned last semester:

• V= l*w*h= volume of a rectangular prisim
• V=pi r squared*h= volume of a cylinder
• A= pi r squared= area of a circle
• A=h*w= area of a rectangle
• P=2b*2c=perimeter of a rectangle
• A=1/2*bh= area of a triangle
• C=pi*d=circumference of a circle
• Move the decimal to the right to change to a percent

The Hunger Games, Chapter 1-7

What do you think is gonna happen to Peeta Mellark in the future? Make predictions.
I think that Peeta Mellark is trying to make a  a plan so that it would be easier to kill Katniss Everdeen, his opponent. I think that he's pretending to be nice so that he can see what her weakness is or is not. I also think that the only reason he was helping Haymitch Abernathy (a past Hunger Games winner who is now very, very drunk) was because he wanted to be a favorite and get more sponsors. I believe he is being nice until the games begin and then he's gonna pounce like a jaguar pouncing for food. 

Write a letter to the author.
 Dear Suzanne Collins,
           I love your book! I can't put it down-except when my teacher, Tony, tells me not to read ahead. Anyway I love how you put the location as "what used to be North America" but now is Panem. How in the world did you think of that? That's so awesome. I bet you live in North America and was like "hey, since I live in North America now I wonder what it would be like in the future" then, bam! Out came Panem, the shinning capitol that was made out of ashes that  rules twelve districts. I wonder if that would really happen? Oh that would be scary!
        Now lets talk about some of the characters. I think my favorite character would have to be..... Katniss. Because she's so brave and she seems athletic, because of all the hunting, and a leader because she takes action, for example she helped around her house when her mother mentally disappeared and her father died in a mining accident she took action by putting food on the table and taking care of her little sister, Primrose Everdeen and going out hunting for other families to trade for something. I don't really like the character Peeta Mellark because he seems like a big fat jerk. 'Cause    I bet he's acting all nice to Katniss and then when he gets in the games he's gonna kill her strait off. But then what would happen to Prim and her mother? I havn't read that far yet.
 Keep writing,
Prasadini Gross

Pea Growth Rate Experiment

This is the pea experiment we've been working on for the past three weeks. This one isn't mine 'cause my peas didn't grow. (I think I over-watered my peas).

STAR Test Math

At least three math concepts that I've learned (or re-learned) are:

• Exponent rules

Example- Anything to the power power of 0 equals 1.

• Fractions (how to multiply and divide)

A vocabulary word that I learned for dividing fractions is "reciprocal" which means to flip the fraction on the right side so that it is upside down and converts into multiplication.

• How to solve for "X" 

You can use distributive property to solve for "X".

Tomorrow-Cast 2032

My topic relates to living organisms because global warming is taking place all over the world. From the United States to the North Pole. It could cause small changes to big changes really quickly. Charles Darwin had a hypothesis about survival of the fittest, which means that we (everyone in the world) are made/fit to survive in certain climates. And if the temperature changes we wont be able to survive because as I said before we are not made to be in this climate. 
Global-world wide 
Temperatures- degree of hotness or coldness of something
Arctic-relating to the North Pole or the region near it
Sea level-the level of the surface of the sea especially at its mean midway between mean high and low water
ice-frozen water
melt/melting-to change from a solid to a liquid, usually by heat

Letter

Prasadini Gross
San Diego, CA

January 20, 2012

Chrysler Group Customer Care
P.O. Box 21-8004
Auburn Hills, MI 48321-8004

Dear Chrysler Company:

As you may know the ice in the Arctic is getting thinner due to global warming, and we must make every effort to stop it from melting further. There are many reasons for this but there is one in particular that stands out to me that should be stopped.

One of the reasons that the ice caps are melting is because of car companies. I understand that Chrysler, for example, has made at least three cars that have made the list for most polluting cars of 2006. The Dodge Ram SRT10 made number one, Dodge Durango ranked  number four and the Dodge Ram 1500 made number five. And last year, the Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab made number three on the list. Last year the Dodge Ram made seventh best car in 2011. Now I don’t expect that you wouldn’t want your seventh-place-winning car to be a car that doesn’t help the Earth, now would you? Maybe there’s a way to be a seventh-place-winning car (or higher) and one of the cleanest car companies at the same time? Oh wait, there is! Since one of the reasons the ice is melting is carbon dioxide (CO2) which cars give out, the Chrysler company can make cars that help the environment instead of making it worse. Therefore, the Chrysler company may get better business because the customers know that the cars that they’re driving are helping the environment.

The melting of the polar ice caps also causes a rise in sea-level. Why should Chrysler be concerned you may ask. Because this is a little bit of your doing and if not yet, it will affect the world at some point or another. Scientist project as much as a three-foot sea-level rise by 2100. This may not occur to you as a lot, but to some people this is extremely terrifying. This increase would inundate approximately 22,400 square miles of land along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, primarily in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina. This should concern you as a car company.

You may be aware that global warming also causes weather changes - they could be severe. Warmer winters are horrible news for wheat farmers, who need extremely cold temperatures to grow winter wheat. What does this have to do with Chrysler? Once again Chrysler is a contributor to this devastating disaster along with many others in the melting of the polar ice caps. And in summer, warmer days would steal Kansas soil of 10% of its moisture, drying out valuable cropland. This is a place where we get a great deal of our crops.

In conclusion, Chrysler as a car company, should make cars that are environmentally-friendly so we as a group have a better chance of saving the Arctic from being completely melted.

Sincerely,

Prasadini Gross

Infograph

When the my classmates critiqued my infograph it wasn't finished (as you can see). But when I finished my infograph it was colored with pictures. I also added more interesting statistics that would (I hope) catch the readers interest. To make sure that the writing and drawing were readable I outlined everything in black pen and black sharpie for the most important things. For example,  my call to action. 

This is my infograph when I finished it.