Isaac’s blog

This wasn’t actually a Caravan Day, but we did it anyways to get used to Caravan Days.

Five most important things I learned were:

•  Jinns are made of fire and can be good or bad. Satan is a bad fire Jinn.
• The Arabs invented the guitar.
• After his first revelation, Prophet Muhammad’s revelations continued for 23 years.
• Prophet Muhammad’s revelations started at age 42.
• Islam forbids pork.

Our class is starting to write about what went on during class; what we talked about, what we learned, what we daydreamed about, and what we wanted to say(or maybe what we did say).

During math there was a test, once we’d finished the test we were allowed to go to the library to work on math “poem.” During science, I had another test. I learned that the toxins are a poison that can cause the disease tetanus. When I found it hard to pay attention during class I daydreamed about what to do when I got home, what movies to watch.

A caravan day is when the groups take turns rolling dice. Depending on what number the group gets, they’ll get a trivia(quiz) card, wisdom card, or the chance to challenge another group. If a group is given a trivia card, they will be asked a question, if they get the answer right, they receive five durhams, if they get the answer wrong, nothing happens. If the group is given a wisdom card, the teacher reads out the information out loud for the class to hear and then gives the card to the group to keep. If the group gets the chance to challenge another group, they roll the dice and call odd or even. If the sum of the showing numbers on the upper face of the dice is odd, the team that called odd wins 20 durham from the other group, if the sum of the showing numbers on the upper face of the dice is even, then the group that called even wins 20 durhams from the other group.

My group learned several facts during the first Caravan Day. These are the five that I thought were the most important: There are 1.4 million Christian Arabs! Baghdad was the most famous city during the Golden Age of Islam. Muslim mathematicians contributed to math with Arabic numbers, Algebra, and Geometry. All prayer rugs point to Mecca. Arabs between the 14th and 18th centuries contributed to astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.

Mr. R gave each student in my class a sheet with questions about A Wrinkle In Time. We were told to post our answers onto our blogs. Here are my answers with the questions before each answer:

1. What thoughts do you have about Meg’s Personality as you read chapters 1-4?
I think Meg is very defensive about her family. She hates it when anybody says anything bad about her family. As well as defensive about her family she seems like a trouble maker. She gets into fights with her teachers and scorns the offers of help from her counselor.
2. Why is Meg Murry unhappy at school?
Meg is unhappy at school because she’s so different from everyone she knows. She isn’t “normal,” and feels like nobody likes her. She loses her temper easily in class and gets into fights with her teachers.
3. How and why does Calvin fit in with the Murry family?
Calvin fits in with the Murry family because they’re generally a smart family, Mrs. Murry is a scientist, Charles Wallace is a genius in his own ways, and Meg is pretty much a math genius. Calvin feels unloved and the Murry’s are a very loving family.
4. Where and why do Calvin, Charles Wallace, and Meg go with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which?
Calvin, Charles Wallace, and Meg go to Camazotz with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. They go to Camazotz because that’s where Meg and Charles Wallace’s father is imprisoned by IT. Before going to Camazotz, they stop on Orion to see the Happy Medium so that the children can see the Black Thing at Earth.
5. In your opinion, why do the three children accept the three Mrs. Ws rather than fear them?
I think the three children don’t fear the three Mrs. Ws because when Meg first met the first of the Mrs. Ws, Charles Wallace already trusted them and Meg thought that if Charles Wallace trusted them then they couldn’t be bad.
6. In what ways does Meg seem like any other young person? In what ways are her feelings similar to yours?
Meg is like any other young person because she feels like an outcast; she thinks she’s the only person that isn’t normal, when that’s what most everybody thinks at some point in his or her life. Meg’s feelings are similar to my own because we both hate it when people insult our friends or family. We also both have at some time, felt like an outcast.

Mr. R told the class to post about what we thought of the upcoming Islam Unit, and any questions we might have about the Islam Unit or about the packet we were given during class. These are my thoughts of the Islam Unit, and my questions.

I’m excited to be studying the Islam by doing a simulation of the history and culture of Islam. I am also eager to see the true Islam religion, not the one portrayed by the news. I want to understand why over one billion (one sixth of the world’s population!) is following this religion. I look forward to learning how Islam grew to be so large and learn of its beginning.

In the packet our class was given, there was a section where it was explained that in Arabic, Islam means “submission to God.” What is meant by “submission to God?” The packet also said that the ancient shrine of the Kaaba was “originally built by Adam as the first building to glorify God.” Does this mean Adam from Adam and Eve? Or is there another Adam of religious importance? I also wondered exactly what was it that the angel Gabriel told the Prophet Muhammad?

In Language Arts, we’re reading the book A Wrinkle In Time. Each student was to write a short story(less than 700 words) that had some of the characteristics of a Fantasy and Science-Fiction story. Here’s mine:

I stared vacantly into the flames, the only source of life in the dark cave. Lizards scurried here and there as bats flew overhead. I didn’t know what planet I was on, only that it wasn’t Earth. Sitting beside me was John. I felt as if I knew him, though I’d never met him before in my life.
John had mysteriously appeared when I had left the ruins of my ship, the lone survivor of a failed attempt at teleporting spacecrafts. The attempt had been meant to land on Mars. They’d been equipped with tracking equipment that would still be good at the border of the galaxy, but I couldn’t seem to find where I was, so I must have left the galaxy.
Daylight came, if it could even be called that. Instead of one source of light, on this world, light seemed to burst from everything. I looked at John and saw that light came from him too, but when I looked at my hand, there was dullness to its color that made me look away.
I glanced at the ground to see the shadow of a figure that was standing beside me. I whirled around and saw that the shadows on the ground looked exactly like the figures that they had represented. Suddenly something akin to a rapid screeching filled the air.
Slowly the screeching started to make sense to me. There were words to the their screeching. As the words formed, so did a tune. It was a song! The song was something about a hole in the bottom of the see. Every two seconds or so a thunderous clap would ring from the shadows.
The song and clapping were deafening me. I clamped my hands over my ears to dry and block out the sounds. I screamed but couldn’t hear my voice. I looked to John hoping he could help me, but he wasn’t there.
In John’s place was what looked like a small star. The star radiated not only such a bright light that the shadows slowly dissolved, but it also radiated beauty. The beauty of the star forced me to look away. The moment I looked away I felt frozen.
One of the shadows stood in front of me, screeching louder and faster than ever. The shadow was approaching me when I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. I blinked and felt warmth flow throughout my body as I heard the sound again, coming from the star.
The sound coming from the star the and screeching seemed to battle each other for an eternal moment before the screeching stopped and the shadow disappeared. I fell on the ground and stared into the endlessly blank sky as I drifted off into the marvelous sound coming from the star.

These are two videos from one of my favorite bands, Anberlin. I posted these videos because when I watched them I just really liked them.

Paperthin Hymn - Anberlin

Lyrics for Paperthin Hymn can be found here.

The Unwinding Cable Car - Anberlin

Lyrics for The Unwinding Cable Car can be found here.

By making this blog I hope to build a place to store all of my work, where I can get reviews from other students. In June, I want to see four months of work and posts, not all of which should be school related. I want to work towards making a site that’s for myself as well as for school work. I envision a site with videos and posts that I chose to make instead of having been told to make them.