For our Biochemistry benchmark, we had to pick a partner. Once we were split into partners, we were told that we were going to have to choose a specific scientists from the 1700's. We had to research information about this scientist and make a slideshow about him or her. the slideshow had to be shorter than 3 mins. We also had to create a SLAward sheet. This is a paper/application to try to convince people in why your pecific scientist should win this award.

For our first benchmark in History, we had to form in groups. Our groups had to be of people of different ethnic backgrounds. Once we formed our groups, we were told that we were going to be organizing a 3 day festival in Ancient Egypt. We had to organize this festival as if we were in Ancient Egypt and King Tut was going to be there. There were many steps to this project such as organizing a seating chart, dinner menus, color schemes, advertisements etc. Once we figured all that out, we were told we had to make a slide showing how we were planning to design this festival. We had to present this as if we were trying to be hired to design this 3 day summer solstice festival.

For our first benchmark in Geometry, we had to create groups of 3. We were then given an topic. With that topic, we had to create a lesson to teach the class. This could include a slideshow, mini quiz, activities etc. The lesson had to be no longer than 8 minutes. 

My group was Henry, Randell and myself. Our topic was sports and how they relate to Geometry. The sports we were given to write about were basketball, volleyball and pool. Since there were three of us and three different sports, we decided for each of us to talk about one. I decided I would talk about volleyball. For my mini lesson, I made a slideshow displaying the different angles and measurements in volleyball. I explained how Geometry related to volleyball in many different ways.

For our first official benchmark in English, we each had to write a 5 paragraph essay about The Odyssey. Our first paragraph had to include a thesis statement dealing with The Odyssey, relating it to "real life" and we had to tie it together. In our 3 body paragraphs we had to include a quote in each one and use examples in the story to prove our thesis statement.

For our first benchmark for spanish 1, we had to research a specific spanish speaking country. We had to make a slideshow describing our country such as the weather, common foods, tourist attractions etc. Mr. Bey wanted us to present the slide to the class so they could be informed about the specific countries.

When I found out that Barack Obama had won the election, I was astonished. I was glad to see that he is now the President of the United States. I felt overwhelmed to have actually witnessed this great event that will go down in history for many years to come. Listening to Obama's speech was very moving. I felt as if he is willing to make a change for the better of our nation. 

After watching Obama's speech, I realized that our nation is in good hands. Obama plans on making good changes for our country, for everyone. He is willing to stand up for what he believes in, if it will help our country to strive and be the best our country can be. Obama is a great president for The United States of America, we are lucky to have him.