Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Passing Through the Darkness

Everyone must pass through the darkness to get to heaven. This is what my dad has told me many times. But it is very true! Everyone has big struggles in their life. Whether it is in their childhood or adulthood.

I have been struggling with my darkness for about three years now. In 5th grade I realized I have major anxiety problems. I was really confused on why I felt this way. Why would God do this to me? What is going to happen? A million questions ran through my head. But with time I found my purpose.

I really struggled in 5th and 6th grade. I switched schools in the middle of the year and had a lot going on. 7th grade was okay and 8th grade has been good. But there were times through the journey that I wanted to scream at God and say, "Hey, umm so like, why is this happening? Did I do something wrong or like yeah?" But I never really knew till this year.

God works in mysterious ways. He knows everyone's troubles, even if you don't feel like it sometimes. God will never give you a struggle that he knows you can't handle. This is how I realized why God had me have anxiety. My mom told me something this year over Christmas break. She told me,"Carm, your really strong. You may be small and skinny but your heart is really strong." This is when I realized that God gave me anxiety because there is someone out there who couldn't have handled it, But I could!

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. I got through my struggle and so can you!

It might be cheesy but this verse is very powerful to me.God sends us through these paths because he is testing us. He is wondering, can this person take in this struggle and find the positives of it? He knows what will happen too. He has a plan for us and we just have to trust him because one day his plan will lead us out of the darkness and into the light. Into his open arms.

We want to be able to say that at the end of our journey the darkness was worth it and I now understand why God put me through this.



Do you remember the story of Zechariah, John the Baptists Father? He was chosen to go into the temple and go to the most important secretive part of the temple and burn incenses to the Lord while others prayed outside. This was a huge honor for Zechariah but all he really wanted was a child. But his wife and him had no luck so far and were getting older. The time for Zechariah to go into the temple had come. He prayed to the Lord when suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared. Zechariah was frightened but the Angel said to him,"Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:5-25. Zechariah was very confused by all this because his wife was very old and could not bare child, he told the angel this. The angel was upset that he didn't believe the word of God so he made Zechariah unable to speak. 

As the story continues Zechariah comes out of the temple unable to speak and everyone is confused. Then later his wife gets pregnant like the Angel said. And we come to the day of which the baby is born.

All of Elizabeth's friends were there for her and to help deliver the baby. Zechariah was there as well. Once the baby was born they wondered what they should name him. Zechariah ran to the other room to write his name on a piece of paper to show his wife. Once he returned he spoke and said,"His name shall be John." Everyone was astonished. Zechariah could speak again! They named their baby John and he became the world to Zechariah. 

Zechariah's darkness was not being able to speak and his light at the end of the tunnel was John, his son.







































Friday, May 1, 2015

Genetics Rap Lyrics

Hey, hey, HEYYYYY! It's ya girl Carmen Dioxide in the house! But you can call me C02. I enjoy making songs and being the artist I am but recently my STEM teacher,  Mrs. Mc, has assigned me and 3 other fabulous singers/artists the challenge of creating a Genetics rap/song. Below is my rough draft for the lyrics to the tune of Bang Bang:


You got a body with chromosomes

You get 23 from each parent

This is the process of meiosis

Which occurs in a gamete (oh)

Which is a diploid cell that undergoes two cell divisions

Forming for haploid cells having half the number of chromosomes

Genes genes chromosomes (I know u have em) 

Genes genes chromosomes (can't live without them) 

Wait a minute you have brown hair

Brown Hair is dominant

Genes genes there are so many (like recessive)

Genes genes and many more (like dominant) 

Wait a minute you have blonde hair

Blonde hair is recessive 

Gene is a piece of DNA that contains info to make one protein

They make code for all of the proteins in our bodies

And are what give us most of our physical traits and beauty

Not everybody looks the same because of our genotype 

Genes genes chromosomes (I know u have em) 

Genes genes chromosomes (can't live without them) 

Phenotype is physical Characteristics 
From parents.

(rap)

Chromosomes in a body

Parents give them 23

Meioses is the process


In the end my teammates and I came up with a wonderful rap to the tune of bang bang. Here is the final copy of the lyrics.

Final Draft Lyrics:


Mitosis occurs in body cell
which is uh, diploid cell
This undergoes cell division
forming two diploid cells (oh)
(You’ve been waiting for that…
Mitosis, process)
Mitosis divides parent cell
Into two identical daughter cells (oh)
(Chorus)

Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
wait a minute you have Brown hair (ah)
Thats because its dominate (ah)
Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
Dominant takes over (ah)
in Punnett squares

Punnett squares are when you
can figure out your DNA (oh)
take your parents genes and
it will tell you about your Traits (Oh yeah)

Not everybody looks the same because of your DNA
Genotype is inherited genes from your parents. (oh)


Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
wait a minute you have Brown hair (ah) q
Thats because its dominate (ah)
Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
Dominant takes over (ah)
in Punnett squares



It's guanine and cytosine
It's adenine and thymine
together and get your nucleobases
they work and make proteins
If you mess them up you get a mutation
it happens with an extra chromosome, somewhere in the body
cancer is common, issues within muscles, and genetic disorders happen

It's  me, Mo, Carm, and Lex
Chromosomes in a body
From a producing cell gamete
Gamete is a diploid
dividing to a haploid
4 haploid cells forming
half the number of chromosomes
In the process of meiosis
G-to the E- to the N- to the O
T- to the Y- to the P- to the E-
See anybody could teach you
You need science to blow your mind your mind


Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
wait a minute you have Brown hair (ah) q
Thats because its dominate (ah)
Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
Dominant takes over (ah)
in Punnett squares


Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
Genes genes genes genes genes genes genes genes genes genes genes genes


Genes genes and chromosomes (I know you have em)
Genes genes and chromosomes  (Can’t live without em)
This is the song
About…genes


Some of Our Location Ideas:
-School hallway making it look like we ditched class
-playground
-Pictures of punnett squares, genes, and meiosis and mitosis process.
Now you can look at these wonderful things in our genes genes rap.



Link to Our Rap: 
Genes Genes




































Friday, October 3, 2014

8th Grade Engineering Gift

Strengths of Holy Cross:
  • Very organized class rooms
  • There is plenty of side rooms to study in
  • The gym is nice
  • The technology is great
  • The windows open and close
Problems Within Holy Cross:

  • The playground doesn't have enough equipment for the older students to enjoy.  They do not get a chance to get there physical activities in because they are bored.  
  • The middle school is getting bigger and locker spaces are getting smaller.  Students have to jam all their supplies in to one locker which promotes disorganization.
  • In our outdoor property there is not enough areas to be calm, peaceful, and enjoy God's gift of nature which is essential considering the number of kids these days that do not go outside enough.
Solutions to these Problems:
  • For older students to enjoy their recess time we could build a tree house or a gaga pit.
  • Since the locker space is getting crammed we could build more lockers or add back pack storage areas in the homerooms of the students.
  • For students to enjoy nature I believe we could either build an outdoor prayer garden or an outdoor classroom/pavilion for students to learn, grow, and enjoy nature.
     

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Carbon

By: Carmen

Fun Facts:
  • Carbon has been known since ancient times but was named by french scientist Antoine Lavoisier named carbon in 1772.
  • Carbon is known as an element.
  • Carbon is often found in the compound carbon dioxide.
  • Carbon has 6 protons, neutrons, and electrons.
  • Carbon's atomic number is 6
  • Carbon's atomic mass is 12
  • About 20% of the weight of living organisms is carbon.
  • The second most needed element in humans is carbon.
How was this Element Discovered?:
Carbon has been known since ancient times but it was named by Antoine Lavoisier and he discovered it in 1789 by putting a diamond and charcoal each in a separate glass jar.  And put them in the sun's rays.  The diamond and charcoal started to burn.  During the burning the diamond and the charcoal show off oxygen which they are combined with to make carbon dioxide which is a compound that includes carbon which proves carbon is real.
The  Experiment They Did?
Antoine Lavoisier bought a diamond and closed it in a glass jar.  They focused the sun's rays with a huge magnifying glass.  From the sun's rays the diamond burned and disappeared.  During the burning the diamond and the oxygen combined to make carbon dioxide which is a compound that contains carbon.

I Spy Carbon:
You can commonly find carbon in carbon dioxide which is in the air we breath and every living organism.
Which Period is Carbon Apart of and Why?
The element carbon is in period two of the periodic table because it follows the Octet Rule.  The Octet Rule is a rule that means the atoms that combine in the element must have 8 electrons in its valence shell (the outer shell of an atom) giving it the same electronic configuration (distribution of electrons) as a noble gas.
Which Group is Carbon Apart of and Why?
The element carbon is in group 14 of the periodic table because it like the rest of the elements in group 14 of the periodic it has only 2 electrons on its outer orbit.  Each element in grip 14 has the distribution of electrons of: ns2np2.  They are also fairly unreactive.  The elements also tend to form covalent compounds (a chemical link between 2 atoms when electrons are shared.)
More Carbon From Carmen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRTKHAP_s-I