May 9

History Of Chocolate

Chocolate Tuomo Lindfors via Compfight

You are standing in the shade under the beautiful cacao tree in hopes that a foot long pod will drop off the tree and into your hands. When it does you run, skip, and leap to your parents. You say, ‘let’s make chocolate!’ Chocolate tastes amazing but how is it made and what is it’s history?

Chocolate comes from cacao trees. These trees grow in tropical rainforests full of exotic birds, animals and flowers. They grow under the shade or  canopy of the other trees around them. The beautiful cacao tree grows clusters of flowers and football sized pods. Inside these pods is white pulp. If you dig deeper down you will find dozens of rows of chocolate seeds! Once the chocolate seeds are gathered they are fermented, dried, roasted, shelled, and crushed into a smooth paste from which that sweet and melty chocolate bar is made.

The Maya Indians of Central America might have begun using cacao seeds as early as 600 BC. The Maya built a great civilization that included huge temples, hieroglyphics, and a passion for chocolate.  From remains of hieroglyphics, we know that the Maya loved chocolate very, very much. During their religious holidays, they offered chocolate to their Gods. The Maya did not eat chocolate, they drank the sweet sensation out of carved pots. The Maya flavored their chocolate with chilly, flower petals, and vanilla. The Aztecs, who lived around 1500 AD used many of the same chocolate making strategies as the Maya. Just as the Maya had offered chocolate to their Gods, the Aztecs did the same.

Spanish explorers came to Central America in the late 1400s in search of gold. That is when they were first introduced to chocolate. Spanish Conquistadors adored chocolate. One Spanish Conquistador named Hernando Cortes, called chocolate the divine drink. The Conquistadors drank the sugary sweetness both hot and chilled. Chocolate first arrived in Europe in the mid 1500’s. But it is not known who brought it there.  At first the Europeans gave chocolate mixed reviews. For 2,000 years chocolate was a drink only served to the upper classes. Hundreds of thousands of African American people were kidnapped and forced to work on sugar and cacao plantations.

This is an open Cacao pod.

Around the late 1800’s there were many advances in chocolate making. First came Daniel Peter who invented milk chocolate. He added evaporated milk to a mixture of liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar which created milk chocolate. He got this recipe from Henry Nestle. In the 1920’s Milton Hershey began to bring chocolate to the public in a grand way. He sold hundreds of thousands of chocolate bars at prices most people could afford.  In the 1920’s many candy shops made their own chocolate. World war one gave chocolate a boost. American troops were given chocolate as an energy boost.

From cacao trees to delicious candy bars and from its beginnings in Central America through Europe and to the United States, chocolate has come a long, long way. According to the Farmers Almanac  more than 58 million pounds of chocolate candy is sold during Valentines week. But Halloween takes the top spot as the number one chocolate candy holiday. 90 million pounds of chocolate candy is sold during Valentines week and Americans consume on average over 12 pounds of chocolate each year. What’s your favorite kind?

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May 8

Super Glue

Super glue is truly super!!!

There is a lot of things to talk about when the topic super glue. In fact, this article is all about super glue and trust me you would want to read it. So please stick around and read this because you it keeps getting better and better.

Super glue is used for fixing stuff and putting things back together but it was originally made for clear plastic gun sights to be put on guns for World War 2. Then World War 2 soldiers found out about the super glue and thought it would be a good material for sealing up wounds from battle. Then they started bringing a small bottle of super glue into battle and used it they got a huge cut and a medic wasn’t available. Later a company found out about its true use (actually gluing stuff together and fixing broken things) and started to sell it as sticky stuff we call glue.

Super glue is not all as dangerous as you may have thought. When I was little, I thought it was horrible if I touched super glue so I was very careful around it. It is even sill fine when you get super glue in your eye. Eventually it will dry but fall off and your eye will be free again. And when you were in World War 2 and you didn’t have time for a medic to stitch you up you would just pour super glue on your cut and it would get sealed.

Super glue is also used for dealing with bad cuts (that are clean so you don’t get an infection) when you don’t have time for the doctor. My brother fell at school and got a concussion, we went to the ER but they didn’t use stitches and they used their slightly tweaked version of super glue. If you get a bad cut that isn’t that big, you can use super glue to seal it up but just make sure it is clean.

Now enough with the facts about super glue. Let’s get to he funny accidents with super glue. One time a lady in Florida got some dirt in her eye so she searched through her purse for eye drops but got super glue and accidentally glued her eye shut. Another funny story is about when someone illegally put super glue on a toilet seat the day before April Fools Day. Then another person sat on it and got his butt stuck. Then the people who worked there detached the seat from the toilet and he had to go to the hospital to remove it.

So if you are still here then I hope that you liked reading this. I liked learning about super glue and I hope I was able to help you learn about super glue too.

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Category: Student Posts, Uncategorized | 6 Comments on Super Glue
December 9

Vending machines are moving up

Coke Machine In Reno Curtis Perry via Compfight

Vending machines have come a very long way since the British inventor Percival Everitt invented coin contraction now called a vending machine. That was in 1833 and look how far the vending machine has come. I bet you love vending machines when you are on the go and get chocolate. Now they accept credit cards and dispense electronics like phones iPad chargers steaming hot pizza cold sodas water etc. But now the vending machine is going to the next level. Now they dispense…(drum roll please)…CARS! Yes, cars! How cool is that?
I think the vending machines are now the coolest they can get. Just imagine how cool  it is to get a car from a vending machine! Auto sales company have been working on this since 2013. That’s close to 3 years. However, the awesome car vending machine that opened in Atlanta required the customers to go through a special process before they get their brand new car. That requirement was not needed at the 5 story glass vending machine in Nashville. All you needed was to insert a special coin, (that’s worth a lot of money) choose what car you want, and drive away! What do you think they should put in vending machines next?

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April 21

The World Needs a Hero and It Could Be You!

Kid President has a pep talk for you. You’re awesome! You don’t need a cape to be a superhero. What are you not okay with? Think about it and take a small step to do something about it. We all have a hero inside of us so be the hero you were meant to be.

 

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January 17

Common Core

 

Did you know that the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will cost Washington state about $300,000,000 of taxpayer money itself?  Common Core is a school standard nationwide that was imposed on us and almost all schools had to go with. Most people don’t like it. It should be repealed nationwide. CCSS is one of the biggest changes in education. It brings grades down, teaches nonessential material, wastes money, and provides insufficient training and resources for teachers.

 

CCSS uses money to bribe schools to use CCSS.Washington state of Superintendent of public instruction estimated that CCSS will cost the state itself $300,000,000 of taxpayer money but that’s a waste,  although instead why not focus on important things wrong with America such as the homeless, curing cancer, hunger, or even child obesity.

 

CCSS makes math different and harder to understand. Sandra Stotsky a professor at the University of Arkansas who served the committee to validate that CCSS said the “Standard dumb American education down by 2 grades worth to comply with CCSS.” That’s like if you were in 5th grade and your school or state didn’t fit the CCSS you would  maybe do 3rd grade learning as a 5th grade student but a bit more advanced.

 

CCSS teaches material that lack essential info or don’t make sense at all,. Only 33% of California 4th graders were proficient according to the scores on the 2013 national assessment of educational progress. That ‘s less than the results before CCSS. CCSS drains your friendship with education and makes you friends with confusion

CCSS provides insufficient training and resources for teachers. 54% of teachers claim they had no CCSS training and that’s over half which is the majority of teachers who claim it. Also more than 63% percent of teachers said that they need new formative and summative assessments that make sure how well the students are learning the standards  and that’s the majority of teachers.

this doesn't make sense

this doesn’t make sense

CCSS reduces the money states pay for test development, scoring,and  reporting, but is it really worth it when we get bad grades due to CCSS. If we get bad grades then we probably won’t get to a good college and if we don’t even get to college , how will we earn money back? CCSS might finally become Common Corpse because states are dropping out such as New York, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri,etc.It brings grades down, teaches nonessential material, wastes money, and provides insufficient training for teachers .Support the standards before not the Rotten Core.

 

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November 20

Pokemon is awesome

Pokemon is a fantasy land of imaginary creatures. Trainers use them for pets to battle or play with it. Pokemon in Japanese it means pocket monsters how can this fit in your pocket? What Pokemon is exactly?Pokemon is magical creatures used for lots of reasons. Who it is you and your pokemon doing what you chose to do. Where the Kanto, region Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova,and last the Kalos.Why I don’t know, what do want to do battle, play or as a pet.

Playing Pokemon TCG (trading card game) is very fun from Pokemon from Kanto region to the Kalos region (Pokemon region). But watch out for fakes! Watch this video to find how to identify fake Pokemon cards. They look like this…

fake slow king prime.

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This is not fake it is in a different language

Most of them I have poke blue sister poke crystal.They recently announced the new games alpha ruby and omega sapphire. Pokemon is awesome and many ways to play. What’s your favorite? Share in the comments below.

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October 17

How Halloween was created

Have you wondered how Hallobooh!ween was created? Well here is how it was create from real facts researched  by me.

Halloween was first known as a festival and celebration by Samhain. Samhain was part of the ancient Celtic religion  in Britain at the time, Samhain was also in some other regions and countries of Europe said Google and bbc.co.uk. I read  an article that said, “At the end of Summer the border between the human world and the ghostly spirit world would get very thin that it sent the Celtics the message  that peculiar  spirits and ghouls and would be lurking out and about to the human world.” The Celtics would have a grand and big party that was all about scaring spirits away lurking ghouls and spirits. But later on the Christian religion got involved with it and the eve of November 1 became All Hallo’s eve.

America’s first Halloween took place in the 19th century when Irish immigrants immigrated to the U.S.A then when the word was spread out about Halloween , from there Halloween in America rose to it’s popularity with trick or treating, costumes, and most importantly CANDY!!!
Photo Credit: Martin Fisch via Compfight
Photo Credit: Martin Fisch via Compfight

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October 13

The Road Not Taken

We are reading Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. What do you think the poem is about?


Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Indy Kethdy via Compfight

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
*Pasted from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536
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September 30

Pep Talk to Teachers and Students!

Kid President believes we’re all teachers and we’re all students. What are you teaching the world? Who are you learning from? Share this with a special teacher in your life! And don’t forget to comment below.

 

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November 20

Bring Back Dodgeball

ドッジボール 2
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Zach Stern via Compfight

Do you like dodgeball ? Kids across the country have played during recess and in PE class for years and a lot of people say it is fun. We need to bring back dodgeball for schools that got banned from dodgeball.

Dodgeball can be a safe game for kids to play. Why not use gator balls. Kids won’t get hurt. Gator balls are soft foam balls that are easy to throw. I have played dodgeball with wall balls and it hurts but when I used gator balls I didn’t get hurt.

It is a PE game so that means that you could play it during recess and PE we could have another game to play. It is a fun game and a lot of people have played it and they say it is fun. My school does not have dodgeball so at PE we play the same game over and over.

Dodgeball builds  teamwork and is a good form of exercise. It builds teamwork because people have to make a plan. A way of using teamwork is all the people in through the balls at once. I have played dodgeball and we had to make a strategy.

Dodgeball is fun and a lot of people play it. If we bring back dodgeball a lot more kids will be happier at school when they play dodgeball. Our school and other schools will have fun and be happy. I hope you will agree to bring back dodgeball to schools.

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgeball for picture above.

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September 12

Mia’s Bio Poem

miniature food en masse
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Stéphanie Kilgast via Compfight

Mia

Amazing, intelligent, creative, stylish

Related to mom, dad, brothers, me!!

Who feels she needs sweets.

Who gives hope.

Who fears nothing

Who needs chocolate

Who would like to see Italy

Who dreams of being a pilot.

Resident of San Diego

Student of Curie Elementary

Mia

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August 14

Junior Lifeguards

Yesterday was the first day of JR.Lifeguards also known as JGs. I was excited and happy to go.

The first thing we did was warm up we did 20 push ups, 20 sit ups and 40 jumping jacks, it was hard but my best friend was there so it was fun. Then we did a run/swim test in the bay so the lifeguards could sort us into groups of our speed. Then we walked 1 mile to the beach, did a sprint, ran into the water and swam back. The 2 hours went by fast. It was a great day.

The 3nd day was hard we did warm up the we used padelbord

View Video of Junior Lifeguards

Junior Lifeguard Patch

Junior Lifeguards

Junior Lifeguard Warm Up At Mission Beach 😉

 

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May 17

Amazing gopher snakes

The San Diego Gopher Snake’s habitat includes Rose Canyon in San Diego.

People think of all snakes as a rattlesnakes, a venomous snake but did you know there is a non venomous kind of snake that lives here in San Diego too? This snake eats pesky rodents, is not dangerous, and helps people by killing rodents. It’s a San Diego Gopher Snake! Gopher snakes are also called bull snakes. Does it eat gophers? How does it catch its prey? What does it look like? What’s the difference between a gopher snake and a rattlesnake? Keep reading and find out!

What does a gopher snake look like? A gopher snake is long and sometimes up to 9 feet but 4 feet is more common. It is  long and skinny and it has no rattle. Its colors are dark brown, red, and yellow. Gopher snakes have bright, shiny scales

What does a gopher snakes eat? A gopher snake eat mice and rodents and gophers. A gopher snake sneaks up on its prey wrap around its prey and squeezes its prey to death. When the animal is dead, it swallows the prey whole. Gopher snakes are helpful to humans because they eat eat mice and  rodents.

People kill gopher snakes because they think they are rattlesnakes. So, how do you know if a snake is a gopher snake or a rattle snake? A rattlesnake has a fat body, a gopher snake has a thin body. A rattle snake has a rattle and  a gopher snake does not have a rattle. Rattlesnakes have poison and gopher snakes do not have poison. Rattlesnakes have a triangular face gopher snakes have a thin face.Rattlesnakes have cat eyes gopher snakes do not have cat eyes. Next time you see a snake be careful because maybe it’s not a rattlesnake but a gopher snake.

I think gopher snakes are amazing animals and they help people. There are all kinds of gopher snakes that live along the west coast of the United States. Lets not think they are all rattlesnakes and let’s not kill them! Remember if you see a snake it may not be a rattlesnake but a gopher snake!

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March 28

Israel Country Report

Here is Nadav’s country report on Israel.

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March 28

Who loves soccer?

Soccer is a popular sport. Why? It’s good exercise and fun. It’s also fun to watch your favorite team. Lots of people play soccer and soon if they keep playing they can become a really good or maybe even a famous soccer player!

Soccer is a good way to exercise because you sweat in soccer, and you run back and forth. That means you need lots of water. Before a game people drink water, eat a good healthy snack, and get a good night’s sleep to be prepared for their game.

If you ever are going to play soccer you have to wear the right gear. You need cleats, long socks, and shin guards to protect yourself when something hits you hard.

A lot of people do soccer for fun. Especially famous soccer players. I am going to show you two soccer teams. The one on the bottom is called  LA  Galaxy. The one on the top is called Mexico.

Qué les dirîa?
Photo Credit: Celso FLORES via Compfight

People in for Mexico cheer for the team Mexico because they are from Mexico but not always. They can cheer for different teams too. People in Los Angeles like to watch and cheer for LA Galaxy.

Lots of famous soccer players use the ball called a jabulani because that ball does not have patches or hexagons. We can use many different type of soccer balls. Here are some balls that we were talking about that have no patches.

Do you like soccer? Why?

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March 19

Exploding Glove

Our class in B12 did a chemical reaction. It was awesome! I’m not going to tell you about it now. I’m going to show you the video first. Enjoy the video!

Now that you saw the video I’ll tell you how we did it. In the video the glove inflated because the vinegar and baking soda mixed and there was a chemical reaction. It brought CO2 or carbon dioxide.We thought the glove was going to explode as it grew bigger. There was a glove over the bottle and the gas was so strong it popped the glove!

How did we do it? First, we put 10 ml of baking soda in a rubber glove. After, we put 200 ml of vinegar in a empty water bottle. Next,we put a rubber band around where the cap is supposed to be, then tucked the opening of the glove under the rubber band. After we shook the water bottle and the glove started to get bigger as it filled with gas…and then it POPPED! Finally, the glove got all the C02 (carbon dioxide) out of the bottle.

We want to try this again with five times as much baking soda and vinegar and a large balloon. What do you think?

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March 10

What we’ve been up to Week 1

How can we make our blog better? That was our goal for week 1. We split into groups and focused on different tasks.

We noticed we have many visitors to our blog from different countries. We decided to add a translator widget. Connor’s group work on finding just the right translator widget. They added Google Translator to the sidebar on our blog. We hope  it will be very useful for our visitors.

Ryan’s group updated our About Us page. They wandered around school and took photos. Next, they created a slideshow in Animoto.

We noticed that making great comments is a challenge for most kids…even parents don’t always follow good commenting guidelines. We already have a video and so we wanted to add something else. Devon’s group decided to create a Glog with quick tips to help kids make great blog comments. (And we’ll post this as soon as they’ve finished the final touches.)

Finally, many of us visited different class blogs, read posts, and left comments. We’re in the process of making a list of our favorites and then we’ll add them to our blog roll this week.

It was a busy first week. We learned a lot about working together this week and what is necessary to do a good job.

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February 26

California’s Natural Resources

Hello, in class we have been working on Natural Resources. This is Mackenzie’s and Caitlyn’s glog. Hope you like it!

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February 26

More homework

Some kids think we have too much homework already. I think my homework is too easy. I want it to be more challenging and interesting.  I also want to have fun with homework. I want more homework i want more fun with homework.I want kids to have a better future.

I think parents should make kids do more homework so they can realise they will have a better future because I think some kids don’t think homework is fun they think it’s boring so I think we should add more stuff to our homework.

I think my  homework is not fun or interesting at all.We should add science for experiments, writing for getting a better job when they are 20, and history. That’s what I think to make homework fun. I want to study  science and natural resources for homework. I want more homework and not get bored.

Do you know how much time kids are wasting. They may be wasting 5 hours on the computer and TV. If we have more homework they won’t have glasses and have a bad future. I think everyone should have more homework and get a better future and a better life.

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February 26

Biking

This weekend I went mountain biking at Mission Trials Park with my dad and his friend, Steve. The weather was perfect, not too cold and not too hot it was perfect weather. There were a lot of hills, which were steep and slippery and made of gravel so it was hard to ride on them. You could see a long way from the top of the hill. You could see Mexico, the ocean and the freeway. It was very pretty! The biking was both fun and hard and I hope to go again.

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