Happy Thursday! Our Core Concentration blog prompt for today is to put ourselves in the shoes of someone from a long time ago, a nomadic hunter-gatherer. We're to imagine that we're the leader of a tribe of them and we've just discovered new land. Do we settle there or keep moving? Explain why we chose what we did.

If I was in the same situation, I wouldn't choose one option. As the leader of the tribe of hunter-gatherers, I had control and authority over the others in my group, and I would do what was the best for all of them, and mix both of the options. I would have some of us settle and see if we can use anything to farm or build our living and have others venture out still and try to find new lands. In addition, I'd also call back certain or all members of the tribe who were still moving back if what I found in the new land was fortunate, plenty, or fertile. If I was the leader of a hunter-gatherer tribe, I'd want my group and its settlements to be large and plentiful for the benefit of the group I was leading.

I chose this answer mostly because of what I mentioned above. If I wanted to make a memorable settlement and civilization, I'd spread it out and make it large. This would give the people I led a better chance at finding a larger variety of food and more environments as well as a sense of pride in their land and people. This is how the people we're currently studying, the first people in the Americas, came to create their settlements and civilizations. Once the emphasis on hunting and finding bare needs could be set aside, other things came into play. In fact, this is how most early human civilizations, even great ones that eventually became empires, were first formed. 

Happy Thursday! Our Core Concentration blog prompt for today is to name our favorite book that we've read so far this year and explain why it is our favorite.

When I first read the prompt, I wasn't sure if it meant what our favorite book we'd read in class was or our favorite book that we had read for leisure or Reading Counts. I've decided to name the latter, which was Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.

The book is about a street urchin in the distant future, born as a genetic experiment in a world where that's possible though highly illegal. In the world, a race of aliens called the Formics, commonly known as the Buggers, have invaded the earth twice and the world is in constant fear of a third one. It's a parallel novel to the more famous Ender's Game, which I read last year. The book follows Ender's friend, Bean, through his early life and his admission and time in Battle School serving and befriending Ender. It also follows him as he connects his past and goes through the last book's climax, ending when Bean finds out who he really is and what his future could mean.

One of the things I liked about the book was the writing and overall the plot. I liked that the author fleshed out some of the characters from the previous book, Bean included, and gave full closure on what Bean was feeling and thinking when Ender was becoming himself. It explained his back story in great detail and showed us how complex and developed the character really was. In other words, it showed Bean coming out of being "Ender's shadow". 

Good morning! Today's Core Concentration blog prompt is to explain why the Scientific Revolution was so important in history using claims and evidence.

There are a lot of reasons why the Scientific Revolution is important. For one, most of the science we study and practice today was discovered and first used during the period following the Renaissance and preceding the Enlightenment. We call this period of time the "Scientific Revolution". It's typically said to have lasted from about 1540 to 1700. It's called a revolution because it completely turned around the way people thought of science and their world. This is one of the reasons it's viewed as being so important.

Another reason why we study it and its significance is because many important scientific discoveries and observations were made during this time. The scientific method was first said to be used by Tycho Brahe in the late 1500s, and the more famous Galileo Galilei used it all the time to test and prove his experiments. Scientists like Brahe, Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus fought hard to prove their ideas about the solar system and stars as true despite being accused of heresy. Others, like Sir Isaac Newton, were renowned for their work in other fields, like physics and optics. Many important scientific laws and theories were first proposed during this period. Many early scientists built their work and research on past teachings, with many eventually disproving them and each other. It was also a great time for philosophy and art, as it shares some years and elements with the Renaissance.

Happy Thursday! Today is not a late start as we had Monday off. Our blog assignment for today relates to an important historical figure we are learning about, Martin Luther. We have to list five things we dislike or want to change about the school. This mirrors Luther's 95 Theses written in 1517 that began the Protestant Reformation. Here is my list.

1. This seems very picky and selfish, but I think that the class periods should be lengthened by just a bit. This isn't my biggest issue or concern with the school, but I do feel like we don't have enough time to get all of the material we need in sometimes, especially on late start days.
2. This is more of an issue with the district, but I don't think we should have as many days off. We have to make up holidays at the end of the year, which explains why we get out in the middle of summer when we could be having fun and enjoying ourselves. Other districts don't have almost month-long vacations and three-day weekends every few weeks and their students get out at the end of May or at the very beginning of June.
3. I'd like the dress code to be a bit more loose, if anything. I think we should be able to wear jeans on days that aren't Jeanious Day, even though I like the idea. I also think we should be able to wear pants in more shades and colors and not have to change in the office. I've never been dress coded, though.
4. The amount of work I get in some of my classes can be a bit overwhelming for myself and others. Some students are just plain slacking on their work, but others are trying their hardest and still not getting good grades because the amount of work creates a lot of pressure for them. This is especially true when teachers don't give good enough instructions, which is a good way to slow kids down in their learning.
5. This one, I'll admit, is really picky. I feel like the CCN broadcast isn't up to stellar quality sometimes and should be a bit more vividly spoken and reported.