It's a Substitute AND Substrings! (Continued)

        Once again, Mr. Arkin wasn't in class today. We spend the period working on our assignments (again). The substring assignments, I have found out, are actually not that hard. Not THAT hard. I still have to rack my brain sometimes to come up with a solution to my problems when programming the codes.
        Tomorrow is the French test! STUDY STUDY STUDY! I also finished science textbook page 287 questions 1 to 8. For English, we continue working on our essays. For ICS, I am steadily, if not a bit slowly, progressing through the substring assignments.
        I do believe that tomorrow there will be an assembly on the school spirit or something similar to that. I am looking forward to it, for lately everyone has been feeling a bit gloomy. Perhaps its the weather...

It's a Substitute AND Substrings!

        Today we had a sub, since Mr. Arkin wasn't here. The entire period we spent working on our assignments, starting substrings, and starting our game programs! It seems quite a few people have already finished their awesome games. I'll need to pick up my pace.
        My French test is on Wednesday, and I need to review all my notes. The ICS test is drawing near, too. For English, we'll be spending the entire week in the lab working on our essays. For science, we need to finish the lab report on static electricity and the two sheets of questions on the leaf electroscope lab.

Haha, it's a mime!

        Today Studio 218's DJ was very much like most other DJ's: the genre of the music that was picked, of course, was MIME, which stands for Music: Instantly Mute for Eternity. I hope the next DJ will have other genres! Today we spent the period working on our assignments (again), but before that, Mr. Arkin showed us a little game that he programmed, where one player inputs a word and a hint, and the other player guesses it, having thrice the amount of tries as the letter of the word (does that make sense? Yes it does). My friend Andres showed us his program (repetition 12), but I don't think it went as well as he planned. 
        Today was my English presentation. I got perfect (of course) and was happy for the rest of the day. In French, we took up the review sheet and had a little listening quiz. In science, we continued to learn about static electricity, today focusing on charge seperation by induction. I didn't get the time to present today, so I think I'm going on Monday.
        For homework, I have to write a formal lab report on ALL the things we did and learned on static electricity for Tuesday (arrrrgggggg). I have to study for French, and also prepare to write the essay for English. For ICS, we have a test next week and I'll have to finish the arrays for 12 and touch up all the other assignments.  Well, now it's time for me to mime the doing of my homework.

HOW DO YOU DO IT???

        Today was an extremely frustrating day for me. After we took notes on how to be successful in ICS and three ways to do repetition assignment 8, we continued to work on our repetition assignment 12. However, I still can't correctly program it to use arrays. ARGGGG! It's frustrating, having to type and type and type to no avail. Oh well. At home, my dad, who is a professional programmer, can help me!
        Today in my science, me and my partner had the last two minutes to present the beginning of our project. My partner read out our topic, deforestation, and explained what it is. I then read out the poem I wrote about deforestation. I think my science teacher really liked it (well, I hope so)! Since one of my group members in English was at volleyball today, we didn't present. Instead, we are going tomorrow. I get an extra day to prepare, but also an extra day to fret. For French, we continue to work on the long piece of paper that is our review sheet. 
        Two tests are drawing near: the ICS test and the French test. Today, after a democratic vote, my class decided the test will be on Wednesday of the next weekend. It's time for me to start studying. UGGGG.

It's an Array!

        Today is Mr. Arkin's birthday! He taught us how to say 'Happy Birthday" in Hebrew! It was really cool, and he even gave us lollipops! Anyways, today in class we were introduced to arrays, and the new keywords "array" and "of". Arrays allow values to be stored as individuals under one variable, instead of only one value per variable. We learned about the array index and the array boundaries. We are now working on fixing repetition assignment 12 by using arrays.
        Next week is another test! We are to go over all our assignments and make sure we are familiar with everything. My science presentation and English presentation are tomorrow. I'm going over what I have to say. For French,  we also have a test next week. Our teacher handed out sheets for review, and also assigned pages in the workbook. It's a busy week.
        Oh, and one more thing. Today we got our midterm report cards. Although my marks are satisfactory (in the 80's), I will continue to work hard to pull up my marks!

Assignment Marks

        Today, before we entered the classroom, we saw our Printer Comparison marks posted by the doorway. The marks were separated into 4 sections: knowledge and understanding, application, communication, and thinking. I got 15 out of 16: 4, 4, 3, 4! I am now looking over Mr. Arkin's, model answer, which he created as an example of a good assignment. 
        We are working on the rest of our repetition assignments. we have to make assignment 12, a "receipt", look good and professional. For science, we have to complete pages 54, 55, and 56 for the Static Electricity Lab. For English, today is the last day to work on our "As You Like It" posters.

Repeat!

        Today we were given the period to work on our repetition assignments up to assignment 11. I have already finished repetition, so this period I spent looking at other people's Printer Comparisons and studying for science.
        I have an ecology test the next period, I think. I have to memorize the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the water cycle, and the phosphorus cycle. I also have to know the scientific equations for cellular respiration and photosynthesis.
        For French, I have to work on textbook and workbook pages. For English, we continue to work on the "All the World's a Stage" assignment, where we are assigned an age in life and have to make a poster for it.

More HTML!!!!

        Today we spent a lot of time working on the computers. YES!!! We were then introduced to code completion, when you press ctrl and enter and the program finishes the code for you! We also learned about the debugger menu, where you can step through your program manually or let the computer step through it to find bugs in your program.
        For homework, Mr. Arkin assigned us another HTML project where we have to compare two printers and recommend one, pointing out its benefits and such. For science, we have to finish our human impact projects and study for the ecology test on Monday. For English, we continue reading As You Like It, and have to draw out a poster for the famous speech, "All the world's a stage". I have no homework for French, because I finished in class. Tomorrow is P.D. day... :)

DESK CHECK!!!!

        Today we desk checked our repetition assignment 7:

% declaration section
var mark : real
var mean : real
var number_of_marks : int
var total_marks : real
var user_choice : char
% initialization section
number_of_marks := 0
total_marks := 0
% input, processing, and output section
loop
    put "Mark: " ..
    get mark
    number_of_marks := number_of_marks + 1
    total_marks := total_marks + mark
    put "You have input ", number_of_marks, " marks."
    put "Would you like to enter more marks? (y/n)" ..
    get user_choice
    exit when user_choice = "n"
end loop
mean := total_marks / number_of_marks
% extro section
put skip, "The mean of the mark(s) is ", mean, "."

Before that, though, we got back the assignments we handed in last class. We then took our desk-checked assignments and polished them up on Turing.

        For homework, I need to finish science, so I'm going to skip badminton club. I need to finish the As-tu compris for French, textbook page 70.

Feedback from the classes

        Today Mr. Arkin handed out sheets for us to fill with our thoughts and comments on the class, including what we like about it, what we don't, and what we we would like to start. We than handed them in to Mr. Arkin, then took out our most sophisticated repetition assignment and handed that in. For the rest of the class we worked on the rest of the assignments.
        For homework, I continue researching deforestation for science. For French, pages 192 and 193 in the workbook are needed for tomorrow. For ICS, Mr. Arkin told us to make good progress on the assignments.

It's Monday Again!

        Today is Monday again. The sky is grey and colourless, making me feel energy-deprived and moody. I found out my ICS mark today: 85. I don't know if I should be happy about it or not. in class, we took up the first repetition assignments, then began working on repetition 3 and 4. We also learned about the functions "abs", "whatrow". and "whatcol".
        I have lots of pages to do for French, including a reading exercise from the textbook. For English, we have started the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. We have to finish reading Act 1 for tomorrow. Hehe, I'm on Act 2!

Repetition

        Today Mr. Arkin introduced us to Repetition, where the program continues to execute the same value until it exits the loop. He then went on to show us the details of Repetition programs, including a warning about the importance of where the exit is put. He also showed us a funny cartoon strip that made fun of infinite loops, repeating programs that have no exit, where the program continues running forever (Unless there is a limit of some sort, where the program crashes).
        For homework, I am starting the first and second parts of the science Human Activity assignment. Today for my English presentation, I got full marks, and was praised as the Gold Standard! : )

Remember

        Today is Remembrance Day, so Lest We Forget, wear a poppy. We had a Remembrance assembly in the morning, and also held a few moments of silence. Today in class we went over the test questions, then got our tests back. I got 17.5 out of 24. Uhhhh.....I also have to get it signed. I got my English mark, too. It's an 88%. I', going to have to do better than that!
        For homework, there is page 65 in the workbook for French, which I finished in class. For English, I am currently preparing for the poster presentation tomorrow. For science, I have to start on the Human Impact assignment, and also to remember to bring my modified design lab for tomorrow.

Test

        Today we took 50 minutes to complete the programming test. Although there weren't a lot of questions, it took fairly long because the questions needed lots of writing and thinking.
        Today in period one, some grade 10's and 11's came into our class and talked about respect. We then did several fun activities, including a game where one or two people act as clay pigeons and the rest of the students mold them into shape.
        For homework, I have to do page 60 in the workbook for French.

Exam Tomorrow!

        Tomorrow is the big test on programming! Gulp, I'm gonna have to study extra hard today. In class Mr. Arkin took up questions regarding the test, then gave two new definitions. We also created a new program that takes three different marks and displays the mean three times.
        Tomorrow there is supposed to be an event of some sort. For English, we are wrapping up our poster for the poem. For French we are doing more textbook and workbook pages, this time on Unit 3 things, the theme being monsters and horror movies.
        It's getting colder and colder! That means winter is very close. I love winter, especially the pristine landscapes, the white, shiny ground, and most of all, the snow.

TEST!! UH-OH!!!

        Today in class we presented our posters, and everyone did a good job. We then took up each others' selection number 7, and went on the computer to create a refined copy of the assignment.
        Today I have a French presentation! I also have an English poetry test today. Great...

Wrap it Up

        Today I was the DJ for Studio 218! I brought in Ocean Eyes by Owl City. We then continued to work on our programming posters, and also copied them into our binders. 
        For science, I have to finish my ecological footprint assignment and hope that the given websites don't crash again. For English, I have a poetry test on Monday, so i have to study. For French, I have to rehearse my lines for the skit on Monday.

Noire

        Today in class, we took up Selection assignment 6, where Mr. Arkin gave us the code, but we had to desk check it by creating the Memory and the Run Window on paper. We were already in groups of 4, so after we created a big poster with the operators, keywords, etc.
        Today is the fall dance, Noire! It's from 6 till 10, so I don't know how I'm gonna memorize my 7 lines for French, study for the mock poetry test for English, do the desk checks on my 3 best assignment, and continue my ecological footprint project for science. Oh well. It's IB, and I'm gonna try to fit in my social life amongst the homework, projects, and tests :)

DBA

        Today was Take Your Kids to Work Day! I went to my dad's workplace, which is where the Database Administrators work for Telus! I spent the day watching my dad read through e-mails and maintain the databases. I then went with him to a team meeting, where his colleagues and him discussed issues and looked over assignments. 
        Although the profession of DBA is very interesting, I don't think it will be my future profession, because it is just too monotone for my taste. I will probably be working for the government or will be taking up a medical profession.

Birthday of Boole

        Today Mr. Arkin informed us that today is Dr. Boole's birthday! isn't that neat? In class, we were introduced to case, a more sophisticated way to program that can replace if-ladders.
        Tomorrow is Take Your Kids to Work Day! I'm going to Telus! It's gonna be a blast, going to my dad's workplace and meeting his boss and co-workers, and learn about the importance and all the cool stuff about what he does.

Selection Hybrids

        Today we got into groups to take up the Selection assignments, and each group member of all groups learned something new! I found out that we have to get our quizzes signed, and I also need to create a Programming Glossary and add it to my website.
        For homework, I have to create a design lab for tomorrow, and to work on the ecological footprints assignment and ecosystem project. For English, I have to do the poetry assignment, where I define two poetic terms and present the two in a chosen poem. For ICS, I have to update my website and preview Selection (II). For French, I have to study for the unit test tomorrow.