Where Children Eat and Sleep

Hi Bloggers,

 We looked at where children eat and sleep around the world from different continents and countries. I am writing a letter to an Indian boy called Manoj. We share the same life conditions, but we can still cheer each other. Here's my letter to him and some pictures. Enjoy!

Dear Manoj,

    Hi, how are you? Hope it's all well! I am writing to tell you a bit about my family and myself. I am an African girl called Abeke. I am 15 years old. I have four other siblings, two sisters, Adanna and Adamma. Also I got two brothers, Adebayo and Abiolo. We live in a hut in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. We live in the rural areas.

 here's a picture of our town

We spend around 10 dollars on food per week. Our favorite dishes are Jollof rice, Efo (Greens Stew), Dodo (Fried Plantains). In our town, we grow some potatoes, rice, tomatoes, cabbage and other few plants. We sell some of the vegetable to get some money for the week or the month.

 I've read your story, it's pretty sad. It's not sympathy, it's more like empathy my friend. I live in the same situations as you. You don't really need to be rich in order to be happy. I pass by the rich houses when I go to buy the grocery. The people don't really seem to be happy. I like where I live. I thank god for what I have, I sleep on some blanket, it's not too comfortable but it's what we have.

"Life plays tricks with magic sticks, and makes life's swaps and switches people's economy high and their joy low and the poor ones glow, because they don't plan events they just go with the flow." -Abeke

Here's a quote I wrote to prove that you don't have to be rich to be happy! So smile and thank god for what you have!

Ours lives might not be much but we can still make something out of them. I know a lot of talented kids in my little town who can make a change in the world. They can sing, dance, some can write poetry, some are even talented at just being funny or being themselves. Life isn't about money. But if you have it, watch where and how you spend it. Here's a message that we could get to those rich people who spend their money on big houses and cars when they don't need them.

I have to get going now, I hope this really helped you Manoj. Greetings to your family. Stay safe.

yours faithfully,
Abeke

Assignment #24: Canadian Political Parties

Hi bloggers,
So miss Pollock asked us to read this article.  Then, we had to chose one Party that we would vote for if we were 18!

Conservatives – Stephen Harper (Blue) 
Liberals – Michael Ignatieff (Red)
NDP – Jack Layton (Orange) 
Bloc Quebecois – Gilles Duceppe (Purple)
Green Party – Elizabeth May (Green) 


I chose LIBERALS!

Liberals seem to take the even way. They believe in the people and in the business of the country which is a good balance. They say the best solution is the middle path. I would chose liberals for putting the people as their priority. And the reason for that is what is economy without a strong bond between the people? The business in the country wont run without the people. Meet the people's needs because it's the base to a peaceful country. Also, the better future plans are made for the Citizens, the more willing they are to pay for the taxes because they know it's going to pay off when their children get to college and university.

When each of us gets a chance to succeed, we all succeed together. -Micheal Ignatieff
This quote speaks for the help with the costs of university and college fees.

Life is a matter of balance, and this is what the liberals are heading towards. They have successful plans to make equal opportunities for every Canadian. However, they will also provide affordable child care for the young families that NEED it.

If you noticed I put "need" in capital letters to stand out. It is very necessary to provide things for the people who need it. People in need are also the priority for the Liberals.

Vote for Liberals!

Assignment #25: Haneen's Childhood Top Ten

Hi bloggers, this is my childhood top ten! Enjoy!

1) Tom and Jerry show!
This is my absolute favorite. I really liked this show cause it really showed that strength isn't in your size. It's in your brain. And how always taking quick decisions can always lead you into trouble.

                                                       2) Police Academy Cartoon                

 This show was another favorite show of mine! I really liked the different characteristics in the different characters. I also liked how they had female police women. It sometimes made me think about being a police women.

3) Dragon Ball Z
Even though mostly guys who watch it. I really still liked Dragon Ball Z! I don't really like it now, but if it was on the TV I would still sit and watch it. It's one of my top ten because I kind off liked fantasies when I was young. What's funny is that I actually believed that one day we'll have these powers. I am now laughing just remembering those stupid thoughts I had when I was little.





4) Pokemon
I really liked this show and the Pokemon balls too! I thought they were really creative but I thought they weren't realistic at the same time. I really liked how the main guy (forgot his name) is really courageous and brave!








5) Diaries
One of the little things I liked doing was writing diaries. However, I wasn't the one writing them. Each day one of my friends would take my note book and write me something sweet. Some would also spray their perfume at the edge of the page. I liked writing on people's notebooks too. I still like doing it. I like it a lot because when I am feeling down I read them and it brings the smile back on my face. I absolutely love it and thinks it's a great idea!


6) Cinderella the book
Cinderella the book was one the books I considered the best. Even though I've watched the movie  a lot the book was still my favorite! I really liked the characters. However, I liked the moral of the story, that the evil side doesn't always win. Beauty is in the soul!

Here's a link to a book review.

                                 

                                    7) Pinocchio  the book 

I know, I know. This might seem stupid, but again, I liked the book better. What I liked about this book is how his nose gets longer every time he lies. I still like this book and I wish it would be real. It would be nice to see how many people lie in this world. 

 Here's a link to a book review.








8) Frindle the book
I laugh every time someone brings up this book. I think it's really cool how people call certain things in different names. I find it really unique. Kids books taught me a lot!



Here's a link to a book review.






9) Goldilocks and The Three Bears book
The Goldilocks and  the three bears is amazing. It shows how small little things/ mistakes can lead to trouble. For example, the three bears left there house door open and Goldilocks got into the house and ruined their food and furniture. Never leave your house door open. Learn from the three bears. I think I learned a lot from that little book, I thought It was the best!

Here's a link to a book review.






10) HIDE AND SEEK!
This was the best game I liked to play and still do! It's not about scaring the people what I find funny but their expression when they get scared. It also worked our brain to create creative, sneaky places to hide. I played it with my siblings all the time. I still like scaring them. Too hilarious!






So this is about it for my top ten! Hope you liked it.

Chinada. (My new combination of China and Canada!)

Category	China	Canada
Population	1,336,718,015	34,030,589
Population growth rate	0.493%	0.794%
Urbanization (population)	47% of total population	81% of total population
Government type	Communist state	a parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy
National  holiday (independence)	Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, 1 October (1949)	Canada Day, 1 July (1867)
Head of government	Premier WEN Jiabao	Prime Minister Stephen Joseph HARPER

Starting tomorrow, we will be having new exchange students from China! Here's a very brief summary of rather comparison of Canada and China that I found on CIA- The World Factbook.


  As you see in the first category  the comparison of the population and there's a big major difference. However, it might throw people off that the pop. growth rate in Canada is higher than in China. I think the reason to that, that the Chinese government only permits each family to have one child not more. The sad part too is that people who have more than one child and the government finds out there pay a fine.

The government type differs as well. Canadian government is parliamentary democracy where the prime minister is selected through an election. Thus, China's government is a Communist State. That mean the Premier is selected in a political party.  

The independence of Canada and China obviously are different. But what I found cool is that they are both on the first day of the Month! Canada celebrates the unity of the country. China celebrates the re-publicity   of Chinese people which took place on October 1st 1949. And this seems not too many years ago. So in my opinion, China is a very fast growing country in economy, population, industrial work and urbanization as well!

Welcome to all the Chinese students who will be joining us tomorrow! Let the love and warm welcomes spread. 


-Haneen 

Discussion #4 Summary

Well I must say it was a pleasure hosting discussion #4 for the book Sketches By Eric Walters. It was a very juicy discussion as usual! The question was: why do you think Dana cuts herself? (Don't read ahead or skim-read!) Well we all know she cuts herself to forget the pain she's been through, right? But what kind of pain do you think she's trying to escape?  (Home or the streets?) And if you were in Dana's situation, what would you do to forget about your past? 




We all answered in juicy interesting ways. We came to a conclusion that she cuts herself to feel a pain different than the one she'd been through. She expressed it as the type of pain that runs through your body then sparks in your head that makes you forget everything. However, we came up with way better artistic, athletic, personal ways of escaping unwanted thoughts or pain. For example, Hannah mention reading. Adrianna mention sleeping. Sara and Hannah mentioned playing their guitar and dancing. Karran mentioned jumping off the CN tower which we found kind off devastating but thank god it was all a joke! Melissa mentioned punching bags which I really liked because I do it most of the time. I mentioned playing sports, or writing poetry. (My favorite thing to do while I am stressed.) So we came to very good ways of releasing stress, unwanted thoughts and "life" pain in general. 


One of the interesting ideas that popped up is making a whole book about ways of releasing stress. I think it's SO important for youth who are in need of support to know what to do in these type of situations. Taking your life away isn't the best way. Because killing your pain will give life to a new pain to start in other people's life who care about you. To be honest, I am thinking about writing this book myself! 


Here's one last thing I would like to leave you with...
If you hate being in emotional pain, then why take away your life and plant it in someone else's life?   


Thank you all buddies! 


-Haneen

Faces Of The World

Hi bloggers!

We just started our Geography unit! I am super excited! To start off we had to watch this video, And now we have to this assignment to finish off. 

Do you guys know what Globalization means? If no, here, let me tell you.

Globalization is communicating with people over the world in many ways. For example, marketing, financial, economical, industrial, informational, etc. And that's through, communication, trade, and transportation. I could relate this to the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway). Canadian white men, black slaves and Chinese workers worked together on it. This allowed transportation, trade, and communication. So to Zuhair and Walids question, yes it was worth it! Maybe not in the days where the workers where treated badly and NOT with equality but now it plays a big role in Canada's globalization! So Globalization is communication, trade and transportation in marketing, financial, economical, industrial, informational and more activities. 

These average faces are made my photo's of people of different races and genders and use photo shop to stack them up. The most common feature is the one appears in the result. Those facial identities change over generations due to the change of genetics I believe. For example, maybe two married people from two completely different race and skin color get a baby and that way the created a whole new combined Identity. Also

While playing around with the website "Faces of Tomorrow", I noticed many things. First of all, I noticed the different characteristics in different people's faces from different places of the world. Second, one thing that really caught my attention is the characteristics change as the different identities and genders are added to the stack of identities. Third, I noticed that in every country the female and male faces look very similar. This shows that in each country of the world there is certain physical characteristics make up most of the population's identity whether it's skin color, eye color, nose shape etc. 

After playing around with Face Research I believe that this is the face of tomorrow for there reasons. To begin with, because it's in a middle range of skin color. Second, It shows off both genders. The females with the soft feature in the face and the shape of the eyebrows. The males, with the shape of the nose and the short hair. Third, It's a mixture of a lot of identities, so it's hard to define it as one certain identity. 

As being from the middle east I think my characteristics show my identity pretty well. For example, I got the wide, dark, wild eyes. I got the pale, yellowish skin. My dark hair, sharp nose and also the religious head-wear counts as one too. 

History Fair 4321!

Hi bloggers!
We had the most amazing history fair held at our school last week. Here's just my reflection on the fair.




4 - The four most interesting things that you learned about your topic in your researching.
-Black slaves used African textiles on their quilts to lead each other to freedom.
-Quilts that led to the freedom was made by a lady's family called Ozella's McDaniel  Williams.
-The word "Rapper" came from New York city at night clubs. They were basically just MCs talking to the audience while the DJ is playing.
-NEVER  treat someone differently for there skin color, race, language or anything else no matter what.

3 - Three things that you felt proud of on the day of the Fair.
-I was ready to present.
-The way everyone had different, creative ideas for their project.
-Judges were asking deep questions and sinked more into out thoughts.

2 - Two specific researching or presentation techniques that were helpful to make your project so wonderful.
-Using different type of resources.
-Speaking loudly and a confident posture.

1 - One suggestion to make the History Fair even better in the future.
Having time for the judges to judge and a time for other students to watch. Because it was very noisy and distracting for the student to present and for the judge to hear the students.

Sketches Discussion #4!

Hello Bloggers! Warm welcome to Karran, Arianna, Andrianna, Hannah, Sara and Melissa! This week, the amazing Hannah and I are hosting the discussion for the incredible book "Sketches." Again Eric Walters surprises us with the unexpected! Who ever knew Brent could be gay, or questioning? Who ever knew Ashley could be a sweet, soft girl to Dana? Who ever knew ASHLEY would want to also feed Pumpkin. (The stray cat)

Who also knew Dana would cut herself?! So fellows, why do you think Dana cuts herself? (Don't read ahead or skim-read!) Well we all know she cuts herself to forget the pain she's been through, right? But what kind of pain do you think she's trying to escape?  (Home or the streets?) And if you were in Dana's situation, what would you do to forget about your past?

Now we also found out that Brent is gay or questioning. Do think Dana is going to act strange around him and make him feel different? Or is she going to act normal like nothing happened? Or is she going to ask him or confront him?

We've been doing great guys! Let's keep this discussion juicy and thoughtful!

SOLE presentation.

Hi Bloggers!

This is our SOLE presentation about Plagiarism on the Internet. So here's three things I want you to keep in mind. First of all, plagiarizing isn't really fun. You are just proving that you can't do your own work and you don't have the ability to learn by yourself! Second of all, don't rely on other author's work, because it's not always reliable. And you can always get caught if it seems that this work isn't your level or work or abilities. Third of all, when you get to high school, getting caught plagiarizing can get you a suspension or even expelled from school. So don't plagiarize and be safe!

If I had a $100

In this assignment, we were asked to imagine that we have a 100 dollar and chose that which organization we would donate to. I chose GIRL EFFECT!

Here are the reasons I chose this organization. First  of all, all girls who are suffering from AIDS and HIV and poverty and pregnancy without their consent should have the rights to their bodies just like I do and most of the girls do. Second of all,  me myself, I wouldn't like to be one of those girls. So I am not just going to stand there and watch them suffer. Right? So If I had a $100, I would donate them toward girl effect. I would donate the whole $100 to train 15 girls in HIV/AIDS peer education.

It is really important for those girls to learn about what they're going through and how to prevent it. And they have the right to be educated like we do. In addition, there should be a balance in this life where everyone is living equally and treated the same and have the same right as everyone else.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Eric Walters Response

 We had the pleasure to have the VERY famous and talented author Eric Walters come to our school and talk to us about his life and books.  So Miss P asked us to do a response about his visit!




select three Eric Walters books and write, in one sentence, what you think the main idea or message of each of those books is.  

Book #1

Black and White.

I just started reading this book few days ago and I am really into it. It's about this guy who's in grade 8 and he knows a girl in grade 7. They both play basketball on the school's team, play rep basketball, do well in school and have lots of friends and great families. They start liking each other, so them dating shouldn't be a problem. But for some people it is because He's white and she's black.

Book #2
Full Court Press

Nick and Kia are two grade 3 students who are trying to make the rep basketball team. However,  the rep team is traditionally made up only of grade five players. So are they going to be able to convince their teammates  that only teamwork is going to take them to the championship games?

Book #3
I've got an idea


The people you hang out with can have a big influence on you. And the way you can act as well.

                                                    

MY STORY:

                                                 The Candle That Never Runs Out.

     "Ha ha, are you serious?" was the first thing I spat out after the news I heard. My mom walks in my room with a saddening face expression. She tells me the news with disturbance. The results of my MRI. "Haneen, guess what?" "You have a disc in you back", she said with a shock. 

"Ha ha, are you serious?" 

"Yes, I am. Sorry, sweetie”, she says as she walks out of the room with no emotion.

I took it calmly because I never knew the consequences. I thought it was just a little back problem. But sadly it turns out the worst. I walked out of the room as if it's OK and sat on the couch in the living room where everyone was. I sat with my back leaning to the front. "Sit properly"! My mom shrieked.

"What’s the matter mom"? I questioned with confusion.

"A person that has a disc has to always sit with their back straight! Got that"? My mom said in a loud, caring pitch. 

"Mom, it's OK, it's no big deal”, I said calmly.

"Yes it is"!

I couldn't help it but run to the bathroom. I slam the door shut. And drowned in my own tears. I am a really sensitive person. However, I try to act tough most of the time. So I tried to calm down myself and went back to my room. Two days later we had an appointment to the doctor who called and informed us I had the back problem. I was also a very active person. I have always tried out for sports in school. I've been on the school's basket ball team in grade 6 and 7 but I still don't know about grade 8. I was also on the soccer's team in grade 7 as well. 

"Haneen, get dressed. Our appointment is in 40 minutes" my mom says interrupting my thoughts. I nodded. I was ready for a whole lecture and a bunch of exercises from the doctor. So I just dressed and walked out to the living room with a plain face expression. "Mom! I am ready, I called out.

"Ok get in the car honey, I am coming" my mom called back. I walked up to the car and it was pretty warm and another sunny summer day in Amman. In no time my mom jumped into the car. I kept silence and we got going. I didn't say a word until it was our turn to see the doctor. I have a good relationship with my mom and I tell her mostly everything but I was just still in shock.

"Hi, Haneen. How are you doing today"? Asked the doctor in a friendly voice.

"I am fine, thanks." I replied.

Just like I expected. A lecture. He pulls out my file and sighs. "Well let's start with the No's for this back problem sweetie" He said with another sigh.

I smiled and nodded. “No competitive sports like, Basketball and...”

"NO BASKETBALL"? I said loudly with a shock. "I can't live without sports" I continued.

Basketball was my favourite sport of all times. I started playing it in the summer at the end of 3rd grade, and I've been playing it since then. "Haneen"! My mom said in a loud pitch as if she was pissed.

“I am sorry mom, I am sorry doctor" I apologized looking down in shame.

"Thanks. I understand how hard it is to not be able to play the sports you enjoy playing or any other activities" the doctor said.

I nodded.

“Ok so now, no competitive sports, like basketball, soccer, volleyball or kickboxing" he continued.

He knew I played kickboxing as well. I didn't like the sports when I first started playing it. But eventually, I loved it! I went to practice every day. However, now it's erased from my life and so is basketball and soccer. I sighed and nodded. And no dabke as well or any kind of dancing. Dabke was an Arab traditional dance but each country has its own music and leg moves and steps. It required hopping and some weird move steps that are hard to explain. So jumping and dancing will affect my back as well. "Your back has to be straight at all times" he said as he kept going down the list.

I couldn't say a word but nod.

He kept going and going down a list and he said crunches were one of the exercises that are going to help strength my back muscles. I already did that in kickboxing or gym, but if I do more at home it going to grow me some abs. and it did I was right all my girlfriends made fun of me until I went to my health teacher and asked her. She said it's a sign that you're fit and if it's not showing that much then it's not something you should worry about. I didn't care after that I kept up with the exercises and didn't gain weight like the doctor said not to. I went back to Canada and everything was fine. I had an appointment with a specialist here and he said the opposite, he said to play sports as much as a wanted as long as I don't hurt myself. Because there's a possibility of getting paralyzed if I fell hard on my back. That's what the doctor in my country said. So I am kind off confused right now. However, I don't feel that much back pain anymore! So I am trying to convince my parents to try out for the basketball team this year.

Basketball is my favourite sport. I am not going to give up. I will try out and if I feel any pain I will stop. Taking risks and having hopes is not bad even if it might hurt sometimes. I will convince them to tryout and I will no matter what. I will never give up on something I love.

                                                 

                                        

                            

                                                          THE END