Vas happenin'? Today's Core Concentration blog assignment is to name some positive and negative effects of the Columbian Exchange. I'm going to do this in bullet point format, if you don't mind.

Positive effects:

• Most notoriously, a ton of new crops were introduced from the Americas to Europe as a result of explorers navigating there and claiming land for various European nations and states, and vice-versa. From the Americas, Europeans got things like corn, potatoes, cacao, and turkeys, and from Europe the native Americans got things like grapes, coffee beans, and onions.
• Cultures of Europeans and native Americans blended and many new cultures and traditions were born.
• Both Europeans and the people of the Americans became more worldly and their knowledge of the world and its people increased, probably the most important thing you can pick up from this history unit and these chapters. This helped Europeans develop the philosophies of enlightenment and human responsibility that were born in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• European countries gained more land, as I mentioned before, and Europeans as a whole expanded their reach politically.

Now, some negative effects:

• Reminder: Africans were also involved in the Columbian exchange in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Millions of West Africans were sent as slaves to the Americas and subjected to mistreatment, the tradition of which lasted until the late 1800s.
• The native peoples of the Americas were also mistreated by the Europeans who conquered them. Social hierarchies formed within the new European settlements and Americans were always at the bottom. Their cultures were erased like those of the Africans.
• European explorers and conquerors also brought diseases with them when they went to the Americas. Many natives and slaves died because unlike the Europeans, they had not built immunity to them. These diseases included smallpox and the measles. This caused a population decline among these native Americans, which contributed to the erasing of their culture and the racism involved in the interactions between Europeans and Americans.

I hope that this blog post helped you see that while the Columbian Exchange had many positive outcomes and results, one of the things that makes it a unique and memorable historical event was its many negative effects. In this way, we can study and learn from the Columbian Exchange in terms of its success and its mistakes. I hope this helped. 

Hello ladies!!!!!! Today's Core Concentration blog entry is to explain what our favorite station at the zoo on Tuesday was and say why we liked it!!! This was also a question on the Zoo Reflections sheet we were given out that afternoon.

My personal favorite station at the zoo was probably the Sea Lion Cove one. I thought the exhibit itself was pretty rad, and it was the first station my group did in the morning, so I had a lot of energy and wasn't very tired. Basically at the station, we stuck our hands into various substances, each to represent a layer on the coat of a sea lion. For fur, there were soft feathers. For blubber, there was a bag of Crisco. To represent water, there was cold water. We had to measure the temperature of our hands in the bag and write it down. I think we learned that the one that best insulated a marine mammal like a sea lion was the fur. I liked this part because it was fun and not difficult.

I also liked it because it helped us to better understand some examples of animal adaptations. In addition to their coats and layers, sea lions also have sleek bodies and flippers to help them move around their environments. My group's zoo animal was the plecostomus, which we learned has whiskers and a dark, spotted body to help sense things around them and hide from predators, among other things. Learning about adaptations this year in Science was very fun for me, so I enjoyed finding practical examples of them like these ones. 

Happy Thursday, y'all!!!! Yeehaw!!!!!! Today's Core Concentration blog assignment is to explain how the fall of the Inca civilization was similar to that of the Aztec civilization. Okay, this thing can be done!!!!

The demise of the South American Incas was similar to the fall of the Aztecs of Mesoamerica in a lot of ways, probably, but most people usually recognize one thing that made them alike. Like many other civilizations before and after them, both the Incas and the Aztecs were conquered! Both were taken down by the Spanish, though both ambushes were carried out differently and had different commanders and results.

The Aztecs fell eventually in the early 1520s after a Spanish Conquistador Dude named Hernan Cortes decided to team up with a poorer enemy tribe, the Tlaxcala (sp?). The Aztecs, religious devotees to the end, believed Cortes to be the second coming of God -- literally. They were tricked by themselves into treating Cortes with respect and worship, and eventually, it was too late to stop Cortes from taking them down.

The Incas were also invaded and conquered by the Spanish, but their conflict was not the cause of any religious tale being retold. They were simply overpowered by the small but fierce army of Francisco Pizarro, a fellow Spaniard. The Incas were amazing craftsmen with innovative and inventive stone tools, but as was a problem for the Aztecs, the Spanish had horses, guns, and swords. Eventually, the current Sapa Inca was captured along with many of his people and killed. On the other hand, the ruler of the Aztecs at the time of their fall, Montezuma, was killed in a riot, possibly by one of his own men. 

I hope this helped explain how the respective collapses of Aztec and Inca civilizations were similar but different.

Bonjour! Today's Core Concentration blog assignment is to name one of our strongest or most fun memories of this school year, since it is coming to something of an end. I have a lot of memories, positive and negative, but I guess I'll talk about one or more in particular.

I think it was in January or February, but one of the memories I remember most fondly was the pizza party my French class had because we sold the most tri-tip fundraiser meals. I hadn't sold any, but one of my friends sold more than 70 of them. We had it in my Core classroom at lunch one day. Other than eating, we had a lot of fun talking and bonding, I guess.

Another memory I remember fondly also had to do with French class, only it was more recent. It was the fashion show we had a few weeks ago! The best part was acting silly with my friends and on the camera, and showing what kind of music we liked. The best days in any class are the ones where we get to combine our curriculum with having fun, as corny as that probably sounds. We have those days in almost all of my classes.

The end of the year is usually my favorite time. Tonight, I have an end-of-the-year concert. It seems almost surreal because  concerts at the end of the year are supposed to be the prime for the band, and even though we're good, it still feels like the beginning of the school year. My memories from that time are faded, but I still don't feel at all like the school year is really coming to a close. I didn't have very many memories that would seem to stand out to a lot of people, but I really do feel like I worked hard this year and will continue to work hard through the end and next year. I think the feeling of accomplishment I'm telling you about right now is something I remember fondly. 

Good morning, soon to be afternoon! Our Core Concentration blog prompt for today is to explain which of the theories about the downfall of the Maya civilization we believe to be true.

Background information: scientists have, and have had for awhile, a lot of theories about why the Maya civilization suddenly began to collapse around 900 CE. They didn't really collapse, in a classical sense, but rather the people suddenly began to move and disappear, leaving behind only ruins that modern-day Mexico would grow from and that Spain would one day have to their own. Some scientists and historians believe that it was due to the Mayans feeling overwhelmed by demands from their rulers. Some believe that it was due to too much warfare and slash-and-burn agriculture destroying the climate. Others believe the climate changed naturally.

As usual, I'd definitely say it was a mix of some of these theories. My best bet, however, probably leans toward the second theory that I named as well as the last one. People tend to take the environment of the area where they live for granted. Human innovation, as brilliant as it is, can always be harmful, especially to nature. This is what global warming is doing to all of the world now, and it's the reason we're told to recycle and conserve energy. Even though the Maya were masters at their arts and running their civilizations, they didn't know any better than to continue doing as they always did. They didn't have conservation efforts like we do now. Even though Western society as it is could definitely learn from the Maya, they weren't aware that everything should be taken and done in moderation. I guess.