Presentations

Today we presented our religion slide shows. Also we had a shadow, Brooke. After everyone was done presenting we looked at a study guide slide show that Mr. Schick made for us. It told us everything we need to know for tomorrow's test. I'm a little nervous for the test because on the past few tests i didn't do so well. I am hoping i can start the second quarter off on the right foot! 

Religions

Islam 

• Islam is a monotheistic belief in a god or gods
• it is an Abrahamic religion 
• the book of worship is Qur'an 
• the book is supposed to be the exact words of God
• the Arabic world is mostly Islam
• the people in this religion don't eat pork 
• most Islams live in: Indonesia , Iran, Turkey, Bangladesh, Pakistan, & India  
• followers are called Muslims 
• it is a belief that God is one 
• its purpose is to love and serve him
• it is the universal version of faith 
• revealed through Abraham  
• they think Muhammad is the savior 
• we think Jesus is the son of God or Messiah 
• Allah is the one and only god who should be worshiped/obeyed 
• they think Allah is perfect 
• no one shares divinity with Allah even the angles 
• Allah never sleeps, gets tired, or dies 
• Allah means God 
• humans in the Islam religion humans are not created in his image 
• humans can ask Allah for anything they want 
• five pillars
• the pilgrimage allows Muslims form all around the world to be able to worship God 
• in 1999 about two million Muslims went to Mecca 
• very ritualized
• they throw seven pebbles at a pillar- symbolizes Abraham 
• they symbolize the completion by cutting off their hair

Christianity

• there are many different types of Christianity 
• 50.1% catholic 
• 36.7% protestant 
• 1.3% other christian 
• 11.9% orthodox 
• there are about 2.8 billion Christians in the world 
• about 1/3 of the worlds population 
• believe Jesus is son of God and savior of all humanity 
• emerged in the mid 1st century 
• became common to Europe in the middle ages 

Buddhism

• is a religion indigenous to the Indian subcontinent 
• they have a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices 
• worship Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) "the awakened one"
• 6% of the worlds population is Buddhism  
• top five countries that practice Buddhism are China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar (mostly Asia) 
• more of a practice instead of a religion 

Religions

Today in human geo we went over our culture quiz. I didn't do too well on it, but i got 10 extra credit points so now i passed. Also we had three shadows Alexis, Marisa, and Sarah. When we were done, we worked on our religion power point. Ellie and I got a lot done, but Drew's internet wasn't working so he was just watching. I learned a lot of new things about Hinduism. 

One lap down, three to go

Today in human geo we took a quiz on spacial divisions and cultural differences. In the beginning of class we reviewed with teacher Jazzmine. I though the quiz was the hardest one we've taken all year. I must have studied the wrong things because i didn't know a lot of it. I probably got all of the questions about the abbreviations wrong because i didn't study them and had no idea what they stood for or men't. I'm glad the first quarter of my freshman year and we only have three more to go!

Notes for Quiz

Cultural Geography- 

• parts of a groups everyday life
• the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members
• these same characteristics can also link or divide a region 

Examples of cultural characteristics-

• language
• religion 
• ethnic heritage 

Language examples- 

• Arabic units the Arab world 
• Spanish unites the Hispanic world 
• Brazil is the only south American nation which does not speak Spanish, they speak Portuguese
• Canada is a bilingual nation, English and French are its official languages 
• Switzerland has multiple languages but its not a conflict 
•  English is now considered the official world language 

Ethnic Heritage examples- 

• In Yugoslavia, many ethnic groups were made into one country
• when strong leadership died out, the different groups fought a very bloody war and now they all have separate countries
• The US and Switzerland have merged multiple ethnic groups peacefully in there countries
• Korea and Japan have only one ethnic group

Religion examples- 

• five major religions are; Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity
• The Jews are considered the sons of Abraham 
• Shiites, Sunnis 
• Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their holy land
• they are constantly fighting over the land 

Spacial Divisions  how we divide the livable space found on the earth by establishing social economic and political control 

examples- 

• countries 
• economic alliances ; European union, organization of petroleum exporting countries, north america free trade agreement, association of southeast Asian nations 
• political alliances; north Atlantic treaty organization  common wealth of nations, organization of american states, league of Arab states, African union 

Reasons for spacial divisions- 

• difference in culture, language, or religion 
• keeping of historical boundaries 
• imperial consequences and control 
• economic similarities and differences 
• cultural differences (Canada, Ireland, Sudan) 

Nationalism- 

the belief that your nation is the best

Economic differences - 

• fertile land
• access to fresh water
• natural recourses 
• access to the coast 
• fishing rights 

More Notes

Today in human geography we took more notes on reasons for dividing places in the world. We also had  two shadows. We talked about spacial divisions and reasons for them. Like religion, ethnic heritage, and language. Also unions and alliances are reasons for spacial divisions. We also talked about nationalism which is when you think your country is the best. Also if two groups of people do not believe in the same thing, they will fight until death to prove themselves right. 

Seperation in the World

Today we started off class by looking at a diagram of the USA. It was divided by every county in the United States. It showed what each country called soda. Some counties call it pop, fizzes, coke, and like us soda. Most of the south called it pop and the east coast and California calls it soda. The reason Mr. Schick showed us this is to show the diversity in the countries and the world. Then we talked about things that are either unifying or unifying. Those things are languages, religion, and ethnic heritage. I learned that the united states does not have an official language and Canada has two, English and French. 

No Teacher

Today we got into class and there wasn't a teacher in our room for a long time. We figured Mr. Schick had a sub for us but the sub forgot to come. We waited a long time but finally Jazz and Carly went to get Mr. Ireton. Mr. Ireton sent Mr. Miller to come sub. We took an AP test to see what we knew. I thought it was really hard and i didn't know most of the answers. 

Quiz and Kiva

Today in class we took a quiz on population pyramid,s crude birth rate, crude death rate, net migration rate, immigration and emigration. I think i did really good on this quiz. I feel confident and i'm hoping i got a good grade because i need to bring my grade back up because of the last test we took. When everyone was done the quiz we started talking more about kiva. Kiva is a website where you loan money to people around the world who need it and they eventually pay you back. What i thought was cool was that you can choose who you give the money too. I really want our class to bring in the most money so we can win pizza. I think it will be a great experience for us! 

Test Tomorrow

Today in class we had another shadow, Allie. We also found out that we have another test tomorrow. For the whole class we just reviewed for the test and Mr. Schick told us what would be on it. 
Crude birth rate - number of births per year by thousands 
crude death rate - number of deaths per year by thousands 
rate of natural increase- subtract death rate from birth rate, then divide by 10 
net migration rate- the difference between the number of persons entering and leaving a country during a year
immigration- coming into a country 
emigration- leaving a country 
push forces- war
pull forces- religious freedom, health care, more jobs 
total fertility rate- average number of children born per woman 
replacement rate- 2.1 

Population pyramid- a graphical illustration showing information about population broken down by age and sex 
Christmas tree - developing nation, slow growth rate, high birth rate, short life expectancy (Namibia)
the box- developed nation(slow growth), low infant mortality, slow population growth, long life expectancy (Sweden) 
the cup- developed nation (negative growth), low birth rate, shrinking population, long life expectancy (Italy, Germany) 

Quiz's back and population pyramids

Today in class we got our Lost Boys quiz back. Our class had the lowest average grade. The other classes got a B as their average, and our class got a D as our average. I got an 80%. We went over the answers and then we reviewed population pyramids. We went over what we learned yesterday then we looked at different pyramids for different cities and observed what we saw. We looked at cities in New York, South Dakota, etc. 

Quiz and population pyramid

Today we had a quiz on the lost boys documentary. We were aloud to use our blog which was very helpful. The quiz wasn't too hard. After we were all finished the quiz, we learned about population pyramids. Population pyramids show you the number of people in a certain age group. There can be a Christmas tree, box, or cup shape pyramid. Mr. Schick let me and Carly's shadow walk around the school and we ended up losing them. Luckily Mr. Maynard found them and brought them to our next class. Mr. Huber thought it was funny that we lost the shadows. 

Documentary

Today we finished the Lost Boys documentary. They organized another meeting for all the lost boys to meet again. They are all struggling to stay in the US because they have to pay for everything on their own now. We also saw that where they are from they don't celebrate Christmas the way we do. They don't believe in giving presents, Santa, reindeer, etc. Instead they spend time together, sing and dance. Panther got married to his girlfriend from Sudan and he plans to bring her to the US. John got reunited with his mother, they were so happy to see each other. Daniel still goes to a community college and hasn't heard from his family.  

More of the documentary

Today we watched more of the documentary of the Lost Boys from Sudan. They all found jobs in a bank, McDonald's, a restaurant, etc. They've been in America for a year now but they still face some struggles. Now they aren't aloud to travel in packs because some people are feeling threatened by them. They feel lonely so they start a support group and meet up with the other Lost Boys that traveled to America. They met in Michigan and they were all so happy to see each other. Daniel, John, and Panther all enrolled in college. One of them had to move out of his house because it was required that you live in a college dorm. They are also trying to work really hard so they can send some of the money they make to Sudan.

The Lost Boys

Today in class we watched more of the lost boys documentary. They finally got to the US and got there houses. They didn't know what anything was so there was a person in their houses telling them what to do and what everything was. They had never seen a shower, or even a light before. It was interesting because when they were on the plane they showed one of the guys looking straight into the light on the plane. It was funny watching them try to prepare food. One guy put crackers in a cup and mashed them up with a hammer and then poured milk in it. I don't think that would taste very good. They also only have 90 days to find a job and they are expected to pay back all of their expenses. This documentary is very interesting and i cant wait to watch more

Civil War Video

Today in class we started to watch a new documentary about the "Lost Boys" in Kenya. It was about two sections of the country, the North and the South having a civil war. Some of the boys got driven out of their country and so they hiked to a refugee camp. More then half of the lost boys died on the way to the camp. The ones who made it, were starving, dehydrated and about to die. Conditions weren't good at the camp either but it was better then before. They took care of each other and lived together for ten years. Then finally some were aloud to come to the US. Some are going to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York. It's going to be a cultural difference because they have never had electricity before.