My Years at SMS

After all of the years that I spent at SMS, I'm finally leaving! I've been here since kindergarten and now I'm going on to the high school! I have so many good memories from this school, and I'm sad to leave, even though I'm excited for high school! I've had special memories in almost every grade that I've been here. One of my favorite memories from eighth grade is going up to ELC with the whole grade!  From making a teddy bear with my mom to our final concert, I'll never forget my years here. :)

Liana, Me, and Grace


Here's a pic of me and two of my best friends here!

A Butterfly's Life

 'Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar' 

image by Nicholas Doumani

 'Monarch emerging' 

 'The lady in all her glory' 

Borrowing Money

For my 21st Century skills class, we just learned about borrowing money from the bank and paying loans back, and on time.  We watched two videos about paying back loans on time, and not spending more than you earn.  You also have to choose the right plan for you, because if you choose the wrong one, you could go really far in debt, and have to pay even more fees later.

Image by RahiDelvi

Nominated Blog

I want to nominate the blog http://lolblog.edublogs.org/ for the student blogging challenge nomination.  I like their blog because they have lots of good posts and colors! Their blog is very interesting, which is why I like it.

image by laffy4k

UP!!

I LOVE RUSSEL!!

Squirrel!

Doug is SO cute!

Tangled!

This is SOO what I would do! :-)

I <3 Maximus!!!

Finding Nemo!

Squishy!!

Whale Talk!!!

ELC!!

Hey I'm back!  I just got back from ELC (Environmental Learning Center), also known as Wolf Ridge.  I went up with my 8th grade class for a week of fun! We also got to miss a week of school for this which is an added bonus. The bus left on Monday morning at 5:00! I was so tired, and on the bus most of us slept. We got up to Wolf Ridge around noon, and then had lunch before our first activity.  I had a Lake Superior view hike first.  Then we got back, ate supper, and went to our cabins.  I had a cabin with 4 of my friends, plus a chaperon, who's really nice.  The next day we were gone all day doing a stream study and learning about beavers.  We had lunch in between, and almost everyone jumped in the creek! They called it the "Polar Plunge".  Luckily it was really hot out; I even got sunburned! After we got back and had supper, the girls gathered together in a small group and talked until 12:30! I never got more than 6 hours of sleep up there!

Image: 'Deep View' 

 On Wednesday it was cold and rainy, and we learned about smammals (small mammals) and climate.  In the evening we went on a night hike, even though it was cold and rainy.  Someone even fell in the lake!  Thursday was one of our really fun days.  After we woke up and ate breakfast, we had the adventure ropes course.  It was about 30 feet off the ground, with four challenges, and it ended with a zip line!  A rope bridge led up to the first platform.  The first challenge was probably the hardest- a single tightrope with bungee cords leading up from it to wires at your waist.  Then there was just a single log, a single tightrope, and two logs.  On the zip line at the end it felt like I was flying! I even did the ropes course blindfolded! It was so fun! After lunch we had competitive orienteering.  I was with my friend and a chaperon, and later we teemed up with four other people.  We did really bad, but we got to slide down the side of the mountain in loose dirt! In the evening, we had F.I.R.S.T. games.  We had a bunch of activities, ending with us getting the whole grade over a flat wall that we had to pull everyone over!  On Friday, before we left, we had rock climbing.  We learned how to belay, and then we got to start!  It was so fun! I almost kissed the goat, but I couldn't make it to the top of that course.  On the bus ride back, most of us slept, and then we stopped at Gooseberry Falls.  We finally made it back at about 8:00!  It was such a fun trip!

Jobs

This is another post for my 21st Century skills class.  It's about work, and what kind of job I want to have when I get out of school, or even when I'm still in school.  You can enjoy going to work each day if you like your job a lot.  Also, you don't always have to get paid.  You can work in a non-profit organization and donate the money that you earn to charity.  I'm not exactly sure what kind of job that I want after I get out of school.  I think that my dream job would be either something with food, like a chef in a restaurant or working in a bakery.  Or it would be like a fashion or wedding dress designer.

Image: 'Ore Producing Cupcakes' 

Images

This is another post for my 21st century skills class.  I watched a video about giving correct attribution to the pictures that we use online.  Also, I learned about the different kinds of limits that you can use on your pictures that you put on flickr-creative-commons.  For example, you can have a symbol that says that people can use your image if they give attribution to you.  Or you can have a symbol that says that people can't use your image to make money without your permission.  There are more symbols that you can put on but these are just a few.  I learned lots of things from this video, and now I know lots more about flickr-creative-commons.  I enjoy using that website and think that it is very cool.

          image by:cat's_101

Saving Money

This post is another assignment for my 21st century skills class.  It is about how I  spend money.  I spend money on things like jewelry or clothes.  Also, when there is a movie I want to go see, or somewhere I want to go with my friends, I spend money for that too.  A way that I could change my behavior before I spend the money is asking myself before if I really need it and if I would use it or wear it.

image by: stevendepolo

Health care law

This blog post is about the new health care law that might be passed. It is another assignment for my 21st century class.  The law is called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and it states that everyone must have health care by 2014 or they will have to pay a fine.  Some people agree with this idea, but others think that it is against the Constitution because it would be forcing people to buy something.  The Supreme Court will make the final decision soon.

Spring Break!

So next week is spring break, and we get a week off of school! I'm so excited! My family and I are going  up to our cabin, which is up north! It's always so fun up there! At my cabin we like to go hiking, canoeing, kayaking, play games, and eat lots of chips and queso dip!  After we get back from our cabin, me and my friend are going up to Mall of America to shop! It's going to be so fun! Well that's what i'm doing for spring break! Comment and let me know what your doing for spring break!

Here's a picture of my cabin!

Working

This is a blog post about the minimum wage and the work hours for teenagers with jobs.  I am doing it as an assignment for my 21st century class.  The work hours for teenagers under 16 during the school year is no more than 3 hours of work per day, no more than 18 hours a week, and they are not allowed to work after 7:00 p.m.  During the summer, they cannot work more than 40 hours per week, no more than 8 hours a day, and they cannot work earlier than 7 a.m. or 9 p.m.  For teenagers ages 16-17, the only rules are that they cannot work before 5:00 a.m. on school days, and no later than 11 p.m.

There are 3 different minimum wages depending on the size of the business. The minimum wage for a large employer is $6.15 an hour.  For a small employer it is $5.25 an hour, and the training wage is $4.90 and hour.  These are all state minimum wages.  There are also federal minimum wages, and workers get these wages plus any tip that they receive.

image by borman818

Mentor Interview

Hey, I'm back! So this is a post just for my mentor in this challenge- Patricia Alexander. Here's a couple questions that I have for you and I hope that you answer them too! Also, if anybody else wants to answer any of them, feel free to comment!!

1. What's your job?
2. Do you have any pets? If you do, what kind of pets and what are their names?
3. What's your favorite song?
4. Do you/ did you play an instrument? If you do, then what instrument?
5. What's your favorite movie?
6. What's your favorite food?
7. What do you like to do in your free time?
8. What's your favorite dessert?
9. Where do you live?
10. What's your favorite place to go for vacation?

Blogs that I like

Hey these are some blogs that I really like. I like them because they're colorful and fun! I hope that you like them too!

Abbie's Blog: abbie-dance.blogspot.com
Liana's Blog: lianas-place.blogspot.com
Danika's Blog: danikajlover-danika.blogspot.com

High School!

Last night I registered for high school! I'm so excited and nervous! I hope that I'll stay close with all my friends and make some new ones too! It's going to be so different in high school compared to the junior high- I hope that It'll be ok! Wish me luck!

Pop's Concert

On Thursday night our junior high had a concert.  We call it the Pop's concert because we get to pick most of the songs for it.  The girls picked the songs "Set Fire to the Rain" and "Rumor has it/Someone Like You". It sounded really cool!! Then the boys choir sang and we sang as a mixed choir too.  We also played our band pieces.  I'm in the Jazz band, and we played two songs, as well as one song with the high school jazz band.  Our choir director said we were in the top 15!!

All About Me

Hi.  My name is Tessa and I'm in 8th grade.  I created this blog in one of my classes at school called 21st Century Skills.  In class we work a lot on computers, and we focus on and learn about current events.  We also learn about the government, and we often post on the class blog.


One of my favorite things to do is play tennis, and I play varsity tennis at our high school. I also play piano and clarinet.  I enjoy hanging out with my friends, and traveling up to my cabin.  At my cabin I like to hike, canoe, kayak, and play games. I have two golden retriever dogs, named Bella and Boomer, and one cat named Oreo. I like to play with them too.

By rkleine