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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Days 27, 28, & 29


7 x7 Seven Subjects & 7 things I learned                                October 15 & 16, 17, 2012      
Days 27 & 28 & 29

1.       Math

a. I learned about formulas and equations. Equations are ways to save time, space, money, and energy. Allow you to calculate large, complicated math problems

b. I learned that 3 + (1.5 x 6) = 12 in. that’s how tall my six inch cone was.

c. An eighteen inch cone would be 27 in. tall. 3 + (1.5 x 18) = 27in.

d. 3 + (1.5 x 50) = 102 in.

e. I learned that if I was opening an ice cream shop and needed to figure out how to charge my customers for 2 scoop cones if it costs me c. 50 I used “algebra” to figure this out. Each cone costs 3.75

f. I learned that each of my ice cream scoops were 2 inches but overlapping they were 1.5

g. My cone / base was 3 inches

2. Science

a. I learned that cells and organelles are related. Cells are alive. Organelles are not. However, organelles and molecules, and atoms are inside cells.

b. Organelles are made up of molecules and atoms.

c. Dr. Birdley thinks that cells are alive because their smaller components are not alive.

d. Dr. Birdley’s student Nate wants to know what makes cells alive.

e. I learned of some key characteristics that cells would need to demonstrate in order to qualify as living. Reproduction, growth, breathing, age, death, and birth

f. I learned that cell growth is demonstrated through plants in this comic, but it is true for other living things that cells make up as well.

g. I learned that reproduction is a major reason that scientists know that cells are alive

3. History--Long, multi-day lecture about the British Monarchy 1066-1600
a. I learned how to take notes during a lecture. Instead of interrupting the teacher when I had a question I put a question mark to the left of my note. When something was important, I made stars off to the side.

b. I learned about William the Conqueror and about how the Normans invaded England around 1066 and how in the battle of Hadrons Wall William the conqueror usurped Alfred and became king.   *Battle of Hastings—but close! There is a Hadron’s Wall

c. Vocabulary words: Usurp: deposed king in battle, Acceded: become king, Abdicate: Willingly leave the throne, Regent: Spouse of king or queen, Protector: protecting the throne in place of a child king until the child king is the right age to rule, Subjugate: to overcome, sometimes protectors subjugated child kings.

d. The two biggest questions asked in England all throughout history was, “Who’s King now?” and “What religion are we?”

e. I learned about Matilda and Geoffrey Plantagenet, who became the first, Tudor, kings and queens. Matilda deposed King Steven in 1141

f. Matilda and Geoffrey had a son, Henry II. He married Eleanor of Acquatine and became the king of England and the King of France. He fought a lot for keeping France and England. Henry and Eleanor did love each other, but they also hated each other. So when Henry sent two of their four sons off to war and when they both died, Eleanor tried to make her other two sons, Richard and John usurp Henry II.

g. Richard the Lion heart succeeded Henry II around 1200. Most people loved Richard except for when he left for crusade and left his brother John in charge. John raised taxes and made lives miserable for serfs and other poor people. This is the story of Robin Hood. John signs the Magna Carta in 1215

4. Language
a. I finished my Latin book, Minumus Secondus. I enjoyed this book because it taught me about Latin and what it was like to be a Roman family in England which I am learning about in history.

b. I learned that Appropinquo means I approach. Animal means animal, and attonitus means astonished in Latin. Animal Appropinquo attonitus est Sofia.  Sofia was astonished when she approached the animal.

c. Benignus means kind, bonus means good, bulla means locket. Lilia Benignus Avia bonus bulla est. Lily’s kind grandmother gave her a good locket.

d. Colligo means collect, candela means candles, Caledonia means Scotland. Corria Colligo candela Formosa Caledonia. Corrie collects candles from Scotland.

e. Descripto means drawing, deletes means destroyed, and domus means house, Sofia deletes architectus descripto un domus. Sofia destroys the architecture drawings of the house.

f. Erubesco means I blush, Euge means hooray, and exspectatissimus means very welcome. Corria Erubesco Kevinus Euge! Kevinus exspectatissimus. Corrie blushes when Kevin says your very welcome and hooray!

g. Foedus means disgusting, fundo means I pour, and frigidus means cold, and fronds means herbs. Lilia fundo Foedus frigidus pointus fronds on Sofia est. Lily pours disgusting cold poisonous herb on Sophie.

5. History (continued)

*Search, Copy, Save As 7 Images

 Henry V

 Eleanor of Aquitaine

 Henry VIII

Elizabeth I

Edward Long shanks

Henry II

William the conqueror

a. I learned how Edward the “Long shanks” Conquered Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in 1277. He was the villain in the Scottish movie Brave heart, which was about the Scottish rebellion led by William Wallace.

b. I also learned about Henry V, who fights in Agincourt in 1413. During the 100 years war, Henry V loses France, but he was a very brave king. Henry V is a Shakespearian play told from the Tudor side making Henry V the hero. Henry V dies in battle at the age of 25.

c. I learned all about the War of Roses, which is between the house of Lancaster and the house of York. Henry V’s son Henry VI was deposed and murdered, which left the question, “Who gets to be King?” the number 1 question in England at all times. There was a huge battle between Lancaster and York, and York wins. Edward the IV, who is 19 years old, becomes king.

d. Edward IV dies after only a couple years of ruling. On his deathbed he appoints his son Edward V who is thirteen to become king and his 9 year old brother John to be his heir. Richard III is their protector. Lancaster is very upset with this and says that Edward V and his brother are illegitimate, which turned out to be true. So York said, ok then, Richard III who is the brother of Edward IV can be King instead. Shakespeare wrote a play about Richard III making him evil. In the middle of this, the two boys were sent to a castle, and they either were murdered, or they disappeared forever. It is one of history’s mysteries.

e. In 1485 there was a great battle between the roses, and this time Henry VII wins of Lancaster! Henry VII then does something pretty smart, he marries Elizabeth of York. A white rose! Joining Lancaster and York together and the war of Roses ends. Elizabeth of York and Henry VII have a son. Henry VIII. The most famous Tudor King.

f. In 1509 Henry VIII becomes King at the age of 18 after his brother died; he married Catherine of Aragon, A Spanish, Catholic lady who he probably loved. But this was his brother’s old wife and she was very old. However they had a daughter, Mary. And she was also very catholic. They were married for 10 years but, they never could have a son! This was Henry’s great matter. NO SON! He believed that it was because God was punishing him for marrying his brother’s old wife, so he divorced her, but the pope would not allow that to happen so he created the Church of England where the King was the Pope, and he divorced Catherine of Aragon. His second wife was a very young and beautiful woman named Anne Boleyn. She was a Howard and a protestant. Anne and Henry VIII have daughter, Elizabeth who Mary hates. People start believing that Anne Boleyn is a witch and Henry VIII starts believing that too, so he executes her. Then only 2 weeks after Anne’s death Henry marries Jane Seymour who was probably the only wife that Henry VIII actually loved. During this time Henry had a hunting accident and his leg got all messed up and he started getting really fat, stinky, and disgusting but Jane took care of him. Jane died after the birth of her and Henry’s new son Edward. Henry was heartbroken. The court then ordered Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleaves from Germany. He didn’t really want to but he kind of had to. She did not love him and he not her. She was Catholic. They were only married six months before Henry VIII divorced her. Then he married Catherine Howard. They were married for 2 years with a very unhappy marriage and apparently they never spoke, Henry VIII executed her. Wife 6 was Catherine Parr. Who was about Henry’s age, she was a widow, and she loved him. She took care of him until he died in 1547.

g. Henry VIII ordered on his deathbed that Edward was to be King and if he died, Mary and Elizabeth would be queen. Edward dies at 15 years old from a disease and then decides that Howard lady, Jane grey should be queen. Jane Grey rules for 9 days before Mary murders her. Mary then has to become queen. Mary’s nickname was Bloody Mary. She tortures and executes, and burns 1,000 of English Protestants. She was believed to be ugly, sick in the mind, mean, bitter. She had no children. Marries Phillip of Spain. She dies after 5 years and on her deathbed she allows Elizabeth to be queen. Elizabeth never marries. She is a great queen. She wins the Spanish Armada in 1588.

6. Writing
a. Equivocation: The misinterpretation in an argument with two meanings. I learned about equivocation through an argument about the declaration of independence and the misuse of the word equal.

b. I learned about contractions I learned that goodbye is a contraction for God be with you. I listed ten other contractions: careful, won’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t, isn’t, y’all, doesn’t, who’s, and don’t

c. I learned about how Hamlet felt Angry, foolish, crazy, frustrated, and stupid during one of his speeches in the Shakespeare play, “Hamlet” these were all of his tones.

d. In critical thinking I learned how to separate iron, mustard seeds, and sugar that are all in the same bowl. You could use a magnet to get the iron out and then pour water of the sugar and mustard seeds so the seeds would float and sugar would dissolve. If you boiled the sugar water you would make what Buddy calls isomalt.

e. Ride and hide are similar verbs with different past tense ending I had to find other similar verbs like this with different endings. I found fell and tell, fallen and told, this is harder than it sounds, I’m still working on it.

f. I had a riddle/question in my critical thinking daily spark book. It explained how a father and son got in a car accident, the father dies and the boy was taken to a hospital and operated on by a doctor. The doctor saved the boys life. The boy was the doctor’s son. This made me feel really silly after I answered it. See if you can figure it out!

g. I learned that moose and goose are nouns that are similar but have different past-tense endings, moose and geese; this is the same with fish and wished, fish and wishes, Tooth and booth, teeth and booths.

7. Music
a. I learned how to sing “Someone Like you” from Jekyll and Hyde

b. I learned all about chords. I played the base clef chords for a Taylor Swift song and now I can read almost ant music!

c. I learned an anagram for the treble clef music, : Every girl buys designer fashion

d. I learned how to sight sing sol fej

E.Treble clef spaces spell out FACE

f. 

g. I learned how to play “The Mexican Hat Dance” on piano

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Days 25 & 26


7 x7 Seven Subjects & 7 things I learned    October 11 & 12, 2012   Days 25 & 26

1.       Math--from 5 Minute Math Problems workbook

a. Anna has 15 coins in her purse, All are nickels and dimes. They total $1.35 how many of each does she have? A. 3 nickels and 12 dimes

b. Royce has $1.30 in dimes and quarters. He has one fourth as many quarters as dimes. How many of each does she have?

 (I used the birthday cake method to figure this out!) A. 8 dimes and 2 quarters

c. Letty has $5 in nickels, dimes and quarter. She has 3 times as many nickels as dimes. She has 5 times as much money in quarters as she does in nickels. How many of each does she have? 15 n, 5 dimes, and 15 quarters

d. I am the number between 2 feet and 2 yards. What number am I? 48

e. I am the number of tons in 5,000 pounds. What number am I? 2.5

f. I Am the difference between the number of minutes in a hour and a half, and the number of seconds in a minute and a half, What number am I? 0!!!

g. I am the difference between the number of inches in a quarter mile and the number of inches in 880 yards. What number am I? 15, 840

2. Science—Questions for Science Teacher Chapter 2. The good Earth

a. Q. Why do most Thunderstorms happen at night?

A. During the morning hours the air near the surface of the ground is cool. The Sun comes up and heats the air around it. The temperature doesn’t reach the dew point until late afternoon; the dew point is when thunderstorms start.

b. An average Thunderstorm lasts about thirty minutes

c. Q. Why can’t we feel Earth Spin?

A. The Earth is always flinging us away from the surface as it spins around, And we do weigh less than if the Earth didn’t rotate. We are not being held to the surface, the effect is just very tiny.

d. If Earth were spinning about thirteen times faster, we would probably feel it.

e. Q. Which way does Earth rotate?

A. The Earth rotates counterclockwise, as seen from above

f. Q. Why is Earth round?

A. All the planets are round because of gravity when the Earth and other planets were forming, gravity gathered up bits of gas and dust into bigger and bigger clumps. Collisions caused the material to be hot and molten.

g. Gravity pulled all the material inward as much as possible to make a sphere. Later all the molten materials cooled and stayed as a sphere.

3. History

a. I learned about how the Aborigines vanished. I learned that more Aborigines died of disease the British brought and the tribes shrank.

b. Settlers spread across the island and the British cattle replaced the Aborigines’ kangaroos so the Aborigines starved. The tribes shrank again.

c. The long suffering natives finally stopped having children altogether and that eventually made the tribes die out

d. Some aborigines even began to slaughter their own children…..babies can get in the way when you are fighting to survive.

e. In only 75 years the population of the Aborigines went from 20,000 to 0 thanks to the Brits.

f. I learned about Henry the 2nd and the mystery of history about how Thomas Beckett died, and if murdering him in the Church, on a Sunday, is what Henry the 2nd meant.

g. I learned that went Brits went to Africa; they killed elephants to get their tusks and make piano keys, combs, knife handles, false teeth and more out of them

4. Language—Queen’s English cards

a. Flummoxed: Bewildered, confused, perplexed, British sentence: I’m feeling a bit flummoxed me self. U.S translation: I’m feeling a mite discombobulated. Adjective  

b. Doolally tap: Adjective, British sentence: She’s gone completely dolally tap. Definition: Mad, insane, originally military slang.

c. Berk: noun, British sentence: I feel like a right berk! Definition: A fool, an incompetent, a very stupid person. U.s translation: I feel like a dufus!

d. Diamond geezer: noun, British sentence: He’s a diamond geezer! Definition: An excellent fellow, a sterling chap, a good man, U>S translation: He’s number one in my book.

e. Clobber: noun, British sentence: Get your clobber one! Definition: Clothes or belongings on! U.S translation: Get your best duds on.

f. Lugholes: noun, British sentence: “Pin back your lugholes!” definition: ears, hence pin back you r lugholes, means listen very carefully

g. Tiswas: noun, I’m all of a tiswas. Definition: nervous, U.S Translation: I’m all in a tizzy  

5. Reading

a. I learned that the story in my reading workbook, is about john F. Kennedy’s funeral on November 25, 1963

b. I learned that John F. Kennedy’s funeral was based on Abraham Lincoln’s.

c. I think that John F. Kennedy’s funeral was one of the saddest days in American history. Other ones would be, the sinking of the Titanic and 9/11

d. A symbol of a fallen leader was a missing fighter jet from an overhead formation.

e. Mrs. Kennedy had two children, John and Caroline, they held her hands as they walked up Pennsylvania avenue to the white house.

f. I think that the riderless horse was the most powerful symbol of a fallen leader at the funeral

g. I want to know your opinion of a greater loss, Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy?  I think it was Kennedy

6. Writing

a. I learned about proverbs and how they contradict like,

Absence makes the heart grow fonder vs.   Out of sight, out of mind, these are contradictory proverbs and I think that the best advice would be a combination between the two.

b. Look before you leap vs. he who hesitates is lost. These are contradictory proverbs and I think that the best advice would be a combination between the two.

c. You’re never too old to learn vs. you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. These are contradictory proverbs and I think that the best advice would be a combination between the two.

d. I learned a new vocabulary word: Colloquialism, a word or phrase employed in conversational language or in slang, example, “Y’all come right back in ya ere!”

e. I wrote a descriptive writing piece on one time that I went to Target,

On one rainy day in July, my family and I needed to run some errands. One of the errands was to go to Target, the large department store on the other side of town. When we arrived, we ran quickly to the front entrance so we wouldn’t get completely soaked from the rain outside. It was nice to see the yellow-white colored bright lights mounted from the ceiling of the store since our house had no power. We decided to split up; my sister went with my dad, and me with my mom. First we headed to the café. I could smell the roasted coffee and the greasy pizza from an isle away! So good! My mom walked faster than I did, so when I tried to catch up with her, my squeaky sneakers slipped on the sleek floor and I fell down onto the hard ground. My mom laughed silently to herself and then asked me if I was ok. Frustrated with her I got up brushing the back of my rain jacket saying, “Ya, I’m good,” then we both laughed. After we got the coffee for my mom and a creamy milkshake for me and my sister, we shopped for an hour and then went home to our dark house.

f. I learned that adjectives and adverb can change a sentence so much. The sentence, “Marching in a parade can be tiring.” Look what happens when I add some adjectives and adverbs, “Swiftly marching in a long parade can be very tiring.”

g.  I learned that you can make long words with only three letters, like banana and cocoon. I had to find words with a little amount of letters and double the amount. I came up with, tattoo, papaya, and Hannah.

7. Art—Web Quest: Mannerism

1. I think that Parmigianino’s style represents the stretch of a figure very well; I think that Self portrait through a Convex Mirror is a good example for mannerism because it makes the illusion of distortion very clear.

2. I think that Angelo Bronzino’s piece is a good renaissance picture of mannerism because the distortion and contortion is subtle but still noticeable. The young lady’s forehead is stretched and her eyes were made larger.  

3. I love Giuseppe Arcrimbodo’s so much! It is a fantasy like style of mannerism. A man made of fruit! That is Giuseppe Arcrimbodo’s twist on this portion because it gives the painting a humorous look.
 

4. El Greco’s painting is very pretty. The imaginary setting makes the picture mannerism, but the lady is untouched. The pose she is in probably unnatural at the time, but I think this represents the Greek version of mannerism.

1. Michelangelo did some mannerism paintings, including the Last Judgment and Sistine Chapel frescoes

2. As a whole, mannerism tends to be more artificial and less naturalistic than other renaissance paintings.
 

3. Early mannerism was known for its “anti-classicalism”  

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Days 23 & 24


7 x7 Seven Subjects & 7 things I learned     Oct. 29, 2012    Days 23 & 24

1.       Math

a. I learned how to add and subtract fractions which is super hard

b. I learned that if fractions have the same denominator, that it is easy to subtract them, like 4/5 and 1/5 you just add up the top and keep the denominator, 4/5 + 1/5 = 6/5

c. Adding and subtracting fractions with different denominator is hard because you have to find the LCD them divide with copycats then add across and then reduce!  

d. 7/ 15 – 1/45 = 4/9

e. I used the birthday cake method to figure out the LCD the Lowest common denominator before I added or subtracted a fraction

f. I reduced 250/300 and 6/18 and then added them to get 1 1/6 which I turned into improper fraction, 7/6

g. I learned that fractions with the same denominators are common denominator fractions, because they have a lot in common, deep down below the fraction line!

2. Science

a. The nervous system, and other systems, is made up of tissues, which make up organs, which are in a system. Tissues are made of many cells, the neural tissue because it is inside the brain.

b. I learned that a cell and an organelle are different because a cell is living and an organelle is not alive however the organelle is inside a cell.

c. I learned that the Atom is the smallest unit of matter.

d. I learned that a molecule is a cell part that performs a specific function.

e. I learned that an organelle is a part of the body that serves a specific function since it is not alive .

f. I learned that the Aorta tissue is connected to the cardiovascular system.

g. I learned all about the neuron cell, did you know that is connected to the brain?

3. HistoryHorrible Histories  

a. Q. In Barma, the babies take a suck of their mother’s milk and then a suck on a cigar. True or false?

A. TRUE!

b. Q. The Nikkuls of Afghanistan worshiped one of the queen’s soldiers- John Nicholson, True or false?

A. TRUE!

c. Did you know that in Lucknow India, in 1857 some British soldiers ran out of tobacco, so they smoked tea leaves instead! How absurd!

d. Did you know that Sir Lanka, a British soldier, died after being attacked by a crocodile on a battle field?!

e. Did you know that one officer had a job of hanging a group of rebels; just for fun he hanged them in a figure eight!

f. I learned that the Indians rebelled against the British in 1857.

g. I learned that the Thugees that came from India to England in 1857 had a secret code.

4. Language

a. I learned about participles in this chapter of Latin.

b. I learned Placetne tibi means is it ok with you, or does it please you?  

c. I learned some participles, ducta = lead, empta = bought, iussus = ordered, missus = sent, vocatus = called

d. I learned that if a Latin participle is masculine it usually ends in us, and if a Latin participle is feminine it ends in ta.

e. I learned that Hispanica in Latin means Spanish, Lepidina looked at a Spanish slave at the slave market

f. Germinica is Latin for Germany, Flavius decided to buy a German slave named Trifosa, which means delicious

g. I learned that Graecca in Latin means from Greece.

5. ReadingThe Last Unicorn & workbook

a. Amber is hardened tree resin that has been fossilized

b. Because of amber, scientists have had to revise some theories about evolution

c. Most Amber is mined in the Baltic Sea area

d. The amber room of Tsar Peter the Great of Russia is being recreated, but the original is missing

e. Many pieces of Amber contain fossilized insects, plants, or animals

f. The amber room of Tsar Peter the Great is worth approximately $200 million

g. In The Last Unicorn, Mommy Fortuna has taken the unicorn to her Midnight carnival, with the help of Schmendrik the magician she lets all the disguised animals free.

6. Writing

a. Consecutive Class. “Try to find as many words as you can that have the same letter in a row”

Ball, fall, tall, call, mall, shall, hall, wall, soon, moon, cartoon, baboon, buffoon, fluff, raccoon, noon, cheese, knees, troops, loops, coops, oops, hidden, bidding, bitten, ridden, tripped, tipped, slipped, sipped, shipped, ripped, flipped, juggling, hugging, shrugging, tugging, chugging, giggling, lollipop, hammer, grammar, manner banner, canner, runner, funny, bunny, sunny, balloon, typhoon, maroon, macaroon, happen, trapped, nabbed, scabbed, fibbed, nibbled, dribbled, mopped, sobbed, matter, flatter, fatter, bitter, batter, butter, fuzzy, fluff, ruff, tuff, cuff, taffy, daffy, zoo, cocoon, monsoon, written, kitten, mitten, bitten, smitten,

b. In writing today I learned about descriptive writing.

c. I translated descriptive writing words out of a paragraph about a mega store, Descriptive sight words

See. Groceries on one side, Neon signs hanging from the ceiling five feet apart, yellow wastebasket      

d. Hear: Whining, whirring, back-up beeps of a scooter.

e. Smell: Spicy scent of grilled chicken coming from the café.

f. Touch: tall, cold glass

g. Taste: Spicy grilled chicken, sweet iced tea

7. British Culture

1. I learned how British people communicate with each other.

2. I learned that Jane Austen only had one portrait painted of her and it was a scribble painted by her sister.

3. I learned that Charles Dickens had two wives, and that he died at age 58.

4. I learned that BBC stands for British broadcasting network, its most of the shows appear on like, Eastenders and Are you being Served?

5. I learned that there have been over 6 James Bonds.

6. I really liked Mr. Bean and Monty Python because I really thought they were funny!

7. I learned that the Bronte sisters wrote Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

British Culture Web Quest

Monty Python:

1.       Flying Circus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218



Mr. Bean:



James Bond:




Charles Dickens:





BBC: 





Jane Austen:



Bronte sisters:



The Eastenders:




Are you being Served?



Upstairs/Downstairs:



Downton Abbey:


Personal Narrative Final: State Games of America by Sophie Calderwood


The State Games of America
In August 2007, when I was 6 years old, I qualified to compete in a figure skating competition located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When my family got there, we were invited to a big opening ceremony event. All my cousins and friends and I from Maine were really excited. The next day I competed in the freestyle event with my “beautiful program,” as I called it. I competed against the whole country and I was really nervous. I skated in the beginner level against many other little 7 year old girls, in fact there were about twenty! I felt very happy with my performance after I competed, I got fourth place, which was super exciting. Fourth place did not receive a medal but I did get to be in newspapers all over the country, which was awesome! I finished competing for a while after that. I didn’t skate again for another couple of days.

The next day my cousins, Amanda Ben and Connie competed. I felt so happy and excited to support them and watch them skate. Amanda competed against some of her friends from Maine which, was kind of upsetting. It’s always hard when you have to compete against your friends because the results might tear your friendship apart. Amanda skated beautifully however, and it did not bother her at all that one of her friends scored a higher placement than she did. I looked up to her for that. Everybody was ready to compete again the next day, including my cousins. We all competed in the Showcase event, which is my favorite part of competitions. This is where you wear real costumes and perform to fun music. My music was “Buffalo Gals,” “Skip to My Lou,” and “Polly Wolly Doodle” all mashed up together, and I wore a wonderful little cowgirl outfit covered with rhinestones and sparkles.

I felt nervous, let me tell you! There were ten girls in my group and five of them were wearing cowgirl outfits like mine. Now you may think, how could I beat them?  I was only six back then and it didn’t bother me much, because I was just worried about them having the same music as me! I skated onto the ice for my warm-up and saw the other girls practicing. I started getting really scared but then realized that being nervous would not make a good impression on the judges so I tried smiling instead! My family said that I smiled so big and so hard that it looked like my teeth were popping out! The announcer called my name. “And now Miss Sophie Calderwood representing the Skating Club of Brunswick and the state of Maine.”  I grabbed my 5 foot tall light up moon and carried it to center ice, took my opening pose, and skated like my life depended on it! I felt so impressed with my performance and so did my family and coach! We waited an hour to get the results. We were about to leave because my one  year old sister started to cry and disturbed everybody, when Travis, my friend Shania’s brother, shouted out, she got first! I ran to the scoreboard yelling “What?!” and realized it was true. As you can imagine, my family and coach were so proud of me, me too! Now, among my 65 medals, that big gold one that I won at the State games of America, in Colorado Springs, is still my favorite.