It’s getting close to the final week of my 20% project and I have learned a bunch of things. This week I went over the signs I have learned over the weeks. And I also got down learning my facial expressions. Facial expressions is super important. And body language too. I really did not have failures this week besides messing up a few hand signals like good morning and the number three. I don’t really know why the numbers 3 is hard for me it just is. I also have a hard time forgetting things too so I adjusted to filming myself learning my new signs or me having a conversation with my teacher because she is my mentor. Next week will be the time I start doing my trifold for presentation in class.

My seventh grade year is coming to an end at my middle school . Next year I am going to be an eighth grader and I am overcoming all the obstacles of being in my final year of middle school. I made lots of memory’s this year especially in core. One of my memories I will always keep with me is doing the knight of the museum . When me and my friends came together in a group of three to build a giant person made out of cardboard. This was so fun because I got to spend Time with my close friends. And I loved the person we built out of cardboard. And the person we built was named Beth. I have had a great year in my Core class. And there are a lot of fun things my teacher has put out for us. But having fun with my friends doing this project was definitely one of them. Outside of core I had good memories with my friends like for example when it was my birthday I got gifts from my friends and that will be a good forever memory. Second is doing my pj pants in home economics. I did it with my really close friends and it was fully of laughter and fun.

This month I decide to read A Good Girls Guide To Murder by the author Holly Jackson. This is a three book series based on a 17 year old girl named Pippa Fitz-Amobi. Her nickname is Pip and on her senior year of school she has been required to do an EPQ project. She takes this opportunity she investigate a potential unsolved murder. The Andie Bell case. This murder happened 5 years ago in pips own town Fairview. The reason pip thinks it’s unsolved is because she doesn’t think Sal Singh did it. Sal was Andies boyfriend the police had enough likely evidence against Sal. But a day after the police found out it was sal who “murdered” andie Sal was found dead in the woods of what was claimed suicide. They could never find Andies body so the presumed her dead and they closed the case. Back to present time Pip thought the time stamps of everything was off and the alibis. She teams up with Sals brother Ravi Singh to prove Sal innocent and solve the case correctly.

This book has to be the best book I have ever read. I love how holly Jackson wrote the book . She made you think along with pip in the case. And all the wording and tiny plots Twists leading up to the big plots twist was amazing. This book leaves you wanting to know more. Such a page turner and it always keeps you on edge. I finished this series super quickly because it left me wanting more.

My favorite character is usually never the protagonist but this book changed me. I love the character pip as a human. The police didn’t believe she could solve this murder because she was a girl and a child. I would say she is very honest. She is honest with herself because in this quote “pip wished she was strong enough, but she learned that she was not invincible she could break too.” Shows that pip is honest that she could break to. That is not immortal that she could die to “Sometimes, the truth is hidden in plain sight.” This is a quote from pip and honestly this is one of my favorite quotes. I really like this quote because it serves as a reminder that we should remain vigilant and open minded about situations in front of us and think outside the box.

This is now week three of my 20% project. If you can’t tell I am doing ASL also known as American Sign Language. This week I accomplished my goal which was being able to have a fluent conversation. Facial expressions are very huge in ASL. They show the person you’re signing your emotions. I had tried a conversation with one of my classmates who is also doing ASL. I have adjusted to practicing the signs I have learned every Friday. The struggles of remembering is difficult and having a conversation is hard because you have to remember the signs. But I have also accomplished learning all the family like cousin, aunt, uncle. Like more of the family members besides the ones I learned last week. Next week you will see me learning body language which is also important in asl.

Everyone has there own space in there home that makes them feel comfortable whether its your room, the kitchen, or even your backyard. You can even choose a comfort space at someone else’s home. I like too read. Reading is fun in my opinion. I like to get lost in books because it blocks all the worlds problems that is going on. My aunt lives in Utah where all my other dad’s side of the family is. Ever time I go visit her over the summer or spring break I always spend most of my time in a room at her house. I do also spend my time with my aunt ,but she has a library in her house that is about the size of my 1st period classroom. It has books shelfs from floor to ceilings. They are filled with books that are old & new. In the middle is a couch and tables because this room can also be used as a study. It has a coffee table ,but it can be used as a hot coco table. The room has air conditioning so it always has a nice breeze. Lining the books shelf’s between the books are plants or a figure to represent the book that it is sitting next to. What is my personal favorite part is in a case on a book shelf is A typewriter that used to belong to my great grandmother. She used this typewriter to write notes to her family in world war 2. This room always gives me time to think. A room that is so magical.

This is officially week 2 of my 20% project. ASL has been so far an easy language to learn so far. This week was family members so I learned the family members in sign language. Mom, dad, sister, brother, grandma, and grandpa. I accomplished learning this which was very surprising to me because honestly these were challenging. The struggles of this task was to tell the difference between brother and sister. They were also hard to remember. It was not as hard to review the signs I learned last week luckily I remembered. There are a bunch of things I Could’ve adjusted a little differently but when I pick up next week I will learn how to but the family members names in a normal everyday conversation. I feel like I should’ve gone higher up in the number count because the numbers are easy to learn. Except the three and thirteen. Next week I will learn to learn facial expressions. Facial expressions are super important in the ASL community because they need to learn your emotions and feelings through your face.

This week in home economics we learned how to use sewing machines. The week before that we threaded the needle. On Monday my teacher gave use paper to sew one. We did this becuase we moved the needle by hand. How? you may ask. On the side of the machine there is a wheel like circle and when you spin it the needle moves up and down sewing the paper. Once she thought that our class was ready she let us plug in aka start sewing. She handed 4 or 5 sheet of fabrics to each table. You plug in by connecting the cords the an outlet or extension cord and then you take another plug and plug it using another cords. Once you switch it on you put your fabric under the presser foot then switch the presser foot down. You have to make sure you bobbin thread and needle thread or threaded right or else the machine wont sew the way you want it to. Once you start it can be a bit scary at first but the key is to go slow so your line stays start go to fast and you line will go side ways. Trust me I had to learn the hard way. We sewed again yesterday and it turned out just the same as Monday. Sewing is fun but scary so your always have to stay safe.

For my 20% project I decided to do ASL also known as American Sign Language. This is a language made for the deaf and hard hearing. Today I learned the numbers all the way up to 20. It was a struggle to remember the signs but the number 3 and 13 was the two hardest sign for me to do because of the way you have to do the sign. The easiest sentence for me to Learn was “what is your name?” Another thing I struggled with was face expressions. You have to do face expressions so the person you’re signing to knows your emotions. I accomplished introducing myself and asking how the day is. What I would adjust or fix is not trying to “is.” My mentor Miss Moffat said they don’t use the sign is. Like if your speaking to someone you would say “how your day” and you would not say “how IS your day.” I left off learning how to say the family members like mom, dad, sister, brother. I feel like remembering signs will be difficult but it’s ok.

There are a lot of people I would invite to dinner with me but my top free would be Charlotte, Mia, and Aliya. These people are my top three friends and also they are really fun to talk to. Charlotte is my top friend becuase she is incredibly kind and also she knows how to bring a smile to my face. Mia is my second person i would bring to dinner. Mia is really funny and nice to talk to. Aliya she is one my favorite person literally ever. She never doubts to bring a smile to my face. She is incredibly confronting and easy to talk to. These are the three people I would bring to dinner with me.

This month I decided to read the book Divine rivals by the author Rebecca Ross. This book is a fantasy romance . A eighteen year old girl Iris Winnow is trying to keep her family stable whiles dealing her moms addiction and her brother Forest Winnow fighting at the front lines for the war between the two gods Dacre the underling and Enva the skyward. The Oath gazette is a place where they write the paper. Iris is one of the writers at the gazette and is fighting to be promoted to columnist. Roman Kitt is portrayed as the rich, stuck-up, and exasperating handsome rival against iris. Roman gets letters from his wardrobe. He knows its iris she confirmed it in the first letter she sent. But he doesn’t know how the letters get to him but he believes its the magical typewriter he posses. Iris types letters on her own typewriter. These letters she slips beneath her wardrobe disappear as soon as they go under. Iris hopes these letters go to her brother at the front lines. But No. when iris soon or enough finds out its not forest writing back she. Shocked with curiosity she try’s to find out who she has been talking to this who time. But she doesn’t. Iris finds herself falling in love with mysterious person that she doesn’t know it Roman. Does Roman have the strength to tell his rival iris he is the mystery she is wanting to know? Is Roman in love with iris? Will he go to ends meet to protect iris from what the war holds?

I loved this book because of the nail bitting page turner plot it has. Rebecca Ross has phenomenal writing skills with amazingly good vocab. The best part was all the mini plot twist leading up to a major plot twist I am not gonna give away. This was a 5 star read for me.

My favorite character from the book was iris’s brother forest winnow. I would say forest was very determined. When forest got sent to the front lines always from his family he would always worry about his younger sister iris. Because she was just about 20 she in forests eyes she was still a little kid. He was determined to end the war by helping in the war. Forest worried about his mom because she was an alcoholic. Forests changes when he get captured and is brought to the bad side (dacres side) a quote from the book saying forest was determined is “to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear.” This was forests last saying to his sister.

My favorite quote from this book is “I think we all wear armor. I think those who don’t are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again. But if I’ve learned anything from those fools, it is that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are.” This is quoted form iris when she sent a letter to Roman thinking is was some mysterious person. This quote means a lot to me because its true Everyone has kinda a Safe place.