Guide to GOOD GRADES (yeahhss)

“Positivity always wins… always.” – Gary Vaynerchuk

Remember that your grades do not define you and that what matters is what you make of yourself and how you rise up against the hardships in life and give back to those around you and the planet at the end of the day.

whew.

Okay, now let’s do this. 🙂 You got it. Here’s a video I made on GETTING THOSE GOOD GRADES. I hope it really helps you and you enjoy!!

Important tips to doing good at school:

Your MINDSET is your magic power. I am a strong believer that what you put your mind to and what you honestly and genuinely believe you can do, YOU CAN DO. What you can do right now to just bring yourself a step closer to your goal is to fully BELIEVE that you got this, that you’re capable, and that YOU’RE AWESOME. 

Going off of mindset, you also need to surround yourself with like-minded people who aim to reach success along with keeping a positive and kind attitude. You tend to imitate the actions and thoughts of the people you spend most of your time with. It was studied by social psychologists which showed that the people you most associate with had a very high percentage in the influence of your life. 

You want that A? You want to do well in school? Here’s one of the secrets: you have to make SCHOOL and those GRADES top PRIORITY.

You need to defeat the enemy: procrastination

You have your calendar, your MOTIVATION, and some other tips by your side. YOU GOT THIS. As soon as you get home, grab your homework or project out and finish it. Give yourself an hour of full concentration and DO IT. If you realize that there’s a couple of homework stashed in the deep end of your backpack right now, pause from reading this awesomeness (here’s a free permission slip), and complete that. DON’T LET THE ENEMY WIN. 

Another helpful way to know which direction to take when studying is to find out your learning style. If you know it already, feel free to skip forward to the next tip! Everyone learns differently and that’s completely fine. The good news about understanding this is we can find out what is the best way to learn to optimize our study time. You can click here to take the learning style assessment! What I love about the assessment is that at the end of the test, it will tell you a list of the best ways and ideas you can do to study your best. Take the test! 🙂 

The next thing on the agenda is raising your hand. RAISE. YOUR. HAND. First off, it’s good for arm exercise. Second off, if you need help to understand whatever the teacher is talking about in class raise your hand and ask them to explain it. I know all the eyes in the classroom might seem kind of intimidating at first but raising your hand to understand better is really worth it and helpful in passing in class.

I’ll end you with this: Find your WHY. It is highly important to find your why because it will work as your motivation. When things get tough, your why will help you. YOU GOT THIS. I really hope this helps you keep a positive mindset while proving to yourself that you’re 100% capable of doing this. 

❤

Love,

L.O.A.S.H

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© Elizabeth Anne Villoria

 

 

US History: The Enlightenment (interesting stuff for sure)

Quote of AWESOMENESS: “History teaches us the mistakes we are going to make.” – Jean Bodin

Heeeyyyy!

So I guess we’re on a roll with these US History episodes huh.

Awesome, am I right? Heh.

Let us proceed.

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Vocabulary & Terminology

Enlighten – to shed light on the truth, free from ignorance

Truth – how things are

Intellect – power of the mind to understand through the use of reason

Reason – to explore the cause & effect of things

Revolution – a dramatic change of practices or beliefs

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The Enlightenment: It was from the 1700’s to the early 1800’s in Europe & America that intellectual revolution occurred which was known as the Enlightenment. It was also known to stem from the Scientific Revolution from the 16th & 17th century. 

Age of Reason: The Enlightenment was known as an intellectual movement because it challenged traditional authority, encouraged individualism & ability to think for oneself, proved man’s ability to reason & discover the truth, and they had realized that people’s liberties to be protected by law. (Yo, shout out to all the nonconformists for a good cause back then!)

Founding Fathers: The Enlightenment influences the Founding Fathers and applies ideas to both the revolution and constitution. Who are the Founding Fathers exactly? They led the American Revolution against the United Kingdom. Of all the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin is the most known for his scientific discoveries & inventions: he proved lightning was electricity, and he was a member of the Declaration of Independence Committee. Other notable Founding Fathers:

• John Adams, member of the DOI committee and first VP
• Thomas Jefferson, author of DOI, 3rd President
• George Washington, First President of the United States
• James Madison, the main author of the Constitution and the 4th President of the United States
• Thomas Paine, who wrote the “Common Sense”

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___Important Peeps Profiles___

John Locke:

– “What worries you, masters you.”

• English philosopher
• Expressed the idea that people are born with “natural rights” which includes the right to life, liberty, and property
• Lock believes that people have the right to change or overthrow a government that does not protect these natural rights

Baron de Montesquieu:

– “To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.”

• French writer and philosopher 
• Argued for separation of powers within the government 
• He believed that each branch should serve as a check on the other branches power 
• This was to ensure that one person or branch doesn’t have all the power

Jean Rousseau:

– “What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?“

• French philosopher
• Believed that people must give up some liberty in exchange for the protection of others by the government (a.k.a social contract)
• In exchange for this, he expected the government to give something in return and must govern according to the people (consent of the governed)
• This is a democracy btw

Cesare Beccaria:

– “It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.”

• Italian philosopher
• Promoted new ideas about the justice system
• Argues that people accused of crimes had certain rights, and he advocated abolishing torture

Voltaire:

– “I might disagree with your opinion, but I am willing to give my life for your right to express it.”

• French philosopher
• Published more than 70 books! (that’s a lot….. I KNOW)
• Believed in the freedom of speech & expression

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Enlightenment in the USA: The constitution is based around the idea of democracy & the idea that the power to makes laws should be in the hands of the people. The idea of separation of powers was used by the United States when drafting the new constitution (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches). It is guaranteed in the U.S. Bill of Rights 1st Amendment that people have the right to freedom of speech & press. Another thing the Bill of Rights includes is that torture was outlawed by the 8th amendment. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence drawing on the philosophy of natural rights and states that all men have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Stay awesome & positive peeps! ✌️ 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria 

PROject Python: Making Functions Pt. 2

Quote of AWESOMENESS: “Good software, like wine, takes time.” ~ Joel Spotsky

Helloooo!

Back again with another Python Project! Isn’t it just great?

yes. yes, it is.

Anyways! Let’s jump right into it.

The function we will be making today is one that is (extremely) awesome. We will be making out very own function that makes circles by itself! Once created, all a person has to do when using your function would be putting in the argument area the size, color, locations and other specifics that one would usually want to specify.

# remember that when we put a hashtag we are making a comment

# first thing to do is import the turtle library that comes with python
from turtle import *

# next, is the setup
setup()

# here, we are putting a title to the program we will be creating
title("Olympic Function")

turtle = Turtle()

# you can change the color if you'd like it's just for the background screen color
bgcolor("white")

# now, here is where the magic begins! 
# when making a function we must use the keyword def
# you can change the name of the function (it's the draw_ring one that you can change the name to whatever you would like)
# inside the () beside the function we just defined, we put in our arguments

def draw_ring(x,y,turtlecolor,size,turtle):

    # once the function gets called, the turtle.up() would put the pen we will be using for drawing up
    turtle.up()

    # this tells the turtle where to go, it's location
    turtle.goto(x,y)
  
    # then, the pen goes down and it ready to start drawing on the screen with turtle.down()
    turtle.down()

    # here's a cool thing we add to our function to add some color and life to our circle
    turtle.color(turtlecolor)

    # this would, as you may see in the args (a.k.a argument), chooses the size of the circle
    turtle.circle(size)

    # finally, once the circle is created successfully and the function is done, the turtle hides
    turtle.hideturtle()

###############################
######  TESTING SECTION  ###### 

# here's where we test our creation!
# try it out! call your function then put in the specifics of your circle

draw_ring(-250,0,"red",75,turtle)
draw_ring(-80,0,"pink",75,turtle)
draw_ring(90,0,"red",75,turtle)
draw_ring(-165,-75,"pink",75,turtle)
draw_ring(90,0,"red",75,turtle)
draw_ring(7,-75,"pink",75,turtle)

done()

 

Here’s the result of the function above!

AWESOMENESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! TRY IT OUT AND HAVE FUN!

 

Hope you’re having an amazing day 🙂

Yours truly, 

L.O.A.S.H

 

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria 

Python Basics!!!

Quote of awesomeness: “It’s harder to read code than to write it.” ~ Joel Spolsky

Let’s learn some basics!

Here are some simple datatypes:

• Integers (whole number)
  • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6….

 

• Floats (decimals)
  • 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5…..

 

• String (anything in “quotation marks”)
  • “hello”, “my”, “awesome”, “readers!”

 

• Boolean (I know, sounds kinda funny right)
  • these datatypes are values at two constant objects
  • a boolean is either True or False (yes, with a capital T and a capital F)

 

Want to do something cool? Yeah, me too. Okay, once you open up your terminal, type in and press enter. The next that should have happened is that your terminal should have showed this:

>>>

Did you know??!!: #when a hashtag is put in python, this is known as a comment and it doesn’t affect the code

Did you know that we can keep datatypes stored into variables? It works like this. When you write a variable a word or letter, for example, then followed by this is a equal sign you can assign a variable. Let’s try it out on your terminal! Try doing something similar to the following:

>>> x = “helllloooooo thereeee!!!”

When you pressed enter, you must have not seen anything happen but just another >>>. But, it’s okay, here’s the thing. The string I just put with the variable is now stored. So when I put my variable alone this is what happens:

>>> x

Press enter and theeeeen!!

>>> helllloooooo thereeee!!!

TADA! WASN’T THAT SUPER COOL?!?! And, that’s just the very basics of what can be reached with python. 

You can even do some math with python. The arithmetics might be slightly different but I’m sure you will get the hang of it soon!:

• Multiply (it’s the asterisks sign)
  • * 
• Division (it’s the slash)
  • / 
• Addition (it’s the plus sign)
  • +
• Subtraction (it’s the minus sign)
  • –
• Exponentiation (it’s two asterisks)
  • **
• Modulus (it’s the percentage sign) 
  • %
  • this divides a number with another number and inputs the remainder

Here’s an example of each of these signs and their outputs. You can also test this out on the python which we opened up earlier on the terminal.

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multiplication, *

>>> 2 * 9

When we put the equation above, our output would be

>>> 18

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division, /

>>> 256 / 2

The output would be:

>>> 128

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addition, +

>>> 1000 + 1000

The output would be

>>> 2000

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subtraction, –

>>> 500 – 200

The output would be:

>>> 300

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exponentiation, **

>>> 4 ** 2

The output would be:

>>> 16

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modulus, %

>>> 2 % 5

Would get the output of:

>>> 1

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Go on. Try experimenting at your terminal!

!important! : Unlike other programming types, python is very picky with whitespace. Meaning the indentations! Sometimes an error on expected or unexpected indentations may rise here and there but it’s nothing a few backspaces or the tab button can’t handle.

We’ve gotten down with some of the very basics that can be done with programming. With what you’ve learned here so far try exploring and trying this out! 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

LAWNS = NO, GARDENS = YES!!!!

Hi, guys! Welcome back to my blog! And, advanced MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you awesome humans!! Here’s a blog on lawns and how we shouldn’t

Yes, those huge green spaces, usually found in front of a house, which normally has sprinklers (around 1-3, really depending on how big the lawn is), grass, grass- oh! Did I forget to mention there’s grass? And, if you’re really lucky, you would find one or two dandelions around. Some people even consider putting a sign or two saying “KEEP OFF OF GRASS” or “WALK ON PATHWAY ONLY”.

The thing is, lawns have been existent as far as the 16th century. In the beginning, lawns just had the purpose (waaaaaay before) to help the people see if an animal or some person were coming from a direction which seemed to be endangering others. Then soon enough years passed then bowling came the next “cool and popular thing” that went around until it was banished for the “commoners” in England by several kings, which is just unfair. Let’s fast forward again, the Northern Europeans migrate and travel to North America, they share their ideas with the lawns and what they need to start their own. Only the rich and wealthy were able to afford these new “cool” grass trends, at the start. Then looking at today, you can find lawns nearly anywhere. There are too many gallons of water that endlessly get wasted to just these lawns.

I just found out that according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, that more than 30-60 percent of water from the total percentage which a household uses goes to your outdoors. If we look at both what would be worth using up water on, lawns or gardens? Another thing the US EPA mentioned was this:

If the average sized lawn here in the US gets 20 minutes of watering every day seven days a week 

=

running the shower constantly for 4 days 

=

taking more than 800 showers 

=

this is the amount of water needed for the average family to take 1 year’s worth of shower

I was blown away by such an extraordinary amount that is being used just by ONE average lawn, just one. Can you imagine the hundreds of thousands of lawns using this much water? That’s way too much. But it’s not too late to change this numbers and change our currently occupied spaces by lawns into something better. It’s never too late.

The benefits of having a garden:

Plants and trees absorb sounds. Yeah, you read that right. They absorb sound and these are actually one of their not – so – known traits that they have. Meaning this benefits us when it comes to noise pollution.

Secondly, plants and trees also aid with our pollution. They take in the carbon dioxide that we humans exhale and create, as they give out and produce oxygen. And, this oxygen is a very important component for us to live and survive.

If you have edible plants you could even save a bit of money by reducing the times you visit the market and grow them yourself and produce more in your backyard! And since you’ve grown these plants yourself, you’ll also be aware that there won’t be any preservative or other stuff that barely anyone could spell being injected or placed into your food.

Gardens also help other types of wildlife which insects and other animals like to hang out and even eat a bit of fruit from the trees and take shelter. It’s awesome knowing that we’re helping these creatures while we help ourselves, too. It’s awesome that we’re able to help in these little ways to our one and only home, earth, especially since plants help remove chemicals and bacteria from water in the ground.  

Here is an awesome (oh you know, they’re just so awesome) solutions:

• Home Gardens for everyone!

Here, imagine this, trees that bear awesome tasting and healthy fruits at your front door. You look up and even find a bird perched on one of your tree branches singing a lovely tune. A breeze swifts past you momentarily spreading an aromatic smell filling your living room with a fragrance of ripe oranges, basil, rosemary and you even take a hint of sage which seemed to be lingering from your next door neighbor’s newly planted herb. Wouldn’t this be such a wonderful sight (or should I say smell) to wake up to? Everyone can try to convert their lawns to a garden which would not only be such an amazing sight to see but very useful to this earth, the animals that live in it and even ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a humungous garden with trees and herbs everywhere you could barely walk back to your house. There are plenty of ways you could design your garden to your liking! Small or big, it all helps. Students and everyone who would want to could even volunteer to help water or take care of the plants.

Spread the word, guys! You could also probably be the one to influence others wherever you live to do the same! Just keep being awesome and create your own ideas! 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibajay Journey: Third day, A Wedding

The third day in this beautiful place

Our third day begins with some Longganisa and eggs. Excited, we left to the mangrove eco – park. One of the men, Denise, who works at the park called us. We went to him and he pointed to a bucket and told us he caught two mud – lobsters. Ate Aga picked it up, but we only saw one mud – lobster. We told him there was only one, then he said that the other men ate it. I was shocked, but after, he said it might have just been a crab. So, which really ate it? I guess we had to accept it. It affect us that much.

A wedding

Denise showed us another passage to enter the starting of the park because there will be a wedding. The wedding was starting in the afternoon but we have to be prepared. We can’t just walk through a wedding all muddy and stinky.

Shovel Time

Unfortunately, when we checked our traps nothing popped up. We left the traps behind and went to our first station. The first two mounds we dug with our hands and when we used the shovel, it kinda went terribly wrong because the mounds got clogged. The third one was going alright and deep but high tide was coming. A few minutes after, we started to pack up. Luckily, we hung our bags on a branch. The water was already on our knees. You could see some worms and other weird bugs floating around already.

Another Passage

We trudged under the bridge and through the mud where we could hear the music from the wedding. And, today we learned many different things from the local people who work in the park. They told us how they cut down the nipa and sell them for about 300 PHP per sack. It’s exciting learning about their culture here and because they stay here every day they know a lot of things about mangroves and mud lobster and other wildlife.

It’s beautiful how they take care of the land so much. They know how to find the right food. But, we need to make more people aware. And, not just aware but also care about these mangroves. Are you in?

~ Juvenile L.O.A.S.H

About Khancademy

 

How did Khan help me?

Whether it was studying for a test or learning something a new subject, Khan has helped me so much! Khan explains every subject that I’ve studied so well. And, with all the subjects with tests and learning videos, everything is free! Khan Academy is seriously the best and you really enjoy the lectures and videos at the same time.

How did Khan Start?

Khan Academy started when Sal Khan began tutoring his cousins. But, since his cousins were kind of far away, he posted his tutoring videos on youtube. Soon enough, it wasn’t just his cousins checking his tutoring videos and he started receiving comments from other people saying that his tutorials have helped them to pass tests and stuff. After this, he posted more and more videos which then led him to Khan Academy. 

What can you do on Khan?

For math on Khan, you have:

For Science and Engineering, Khan has:

For Arts and Humanities, they have:

For Economics and Finance, they have:

For Computing, Khan has:

Then, last but not least, they have their Test Prep:

So, Yes…

Codecademy is something you need to try out! All you have to do is make your own account, and you can do all the subjects and even the tests for practice for free! 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H