Religions 

Today in class we presented our religion slides. I was in a group with Jasmine and Sara and we did a power point on the Islamic religion. Islam is a very interesting religion. Every male adult must go on a pilgrimage at least once in there life time. They pray 5 times a day in a very intricate way. They bow down and pray to there "all perfect god" Allah. We  also took notes on other slides such as Christianity and Buddhism.  

Christianity

• Population
• There are 2.8 billion Christians in the world
• Belief
• Jesus is the son of God

Buddhism

• A religion to the Indians with many different traditions, beliefs, and practices
• Believe in Buda 
• Top 5 countries
• China
• Japan
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Myanmar 

Shadow Day 

Today I had a shadow. Her name was Marisa DiFanso and she goes to St. Sevens middle school. I know Marisa because when I was in seventh grade I played on a soccer team with her called ODP, which means Olympic Development Program. We went to a regional camp together at Rhode Island University where he sister Olivia now attends collage. 

We didn't do much in class today. We went over the test we just took. I didn't do very well but I thought I had the stuff down. After that we fixed up our power points about the Islamic religion.    

Government 

Today in class we had another student teacher day. Jasmine was the teacher and went over our notes about cultural geography. After we went over our notes we talked about the government shut down and how it was all about Obama Care.  

Cultural Geography 

examples

• language
• religion
• ethnic heritage

Language

•  arabic unites the arab world
• spanish unites the hispanic world
• brazil is the only south american nation that speaks portuguese instead of spanish
• canada is bilingual (french & english offical language)
• switzerland has multiple languages
• english is considered the worlds language
• used for most business transactions around the world (lingua franca)

Ethnic heritage

• in yogoslavia, many ethnic groups were made into one country ( serbs, croats, bosniaos, albanians)
• when strong leadership died out, the different group fought a very bloody civil war & now they all have seperate countries
• the united states & switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries
• korea & japan have primarily one ethnic group

Religion

• can be both unifying and disunifying force
• 5 major religions in the world today
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Judaism
• Islam
• Christianity 
• shiites and sunnis

• religion has over millions of followers all believing the same thing
• can also be a dividing force around the world

Test Reveiw

Today in class we got our populations quiz back. I got an A on it and only missed one question which was about who has the largest net migration rate. I wrote it was the USA but it's actually Canada. Then we talked about what the government shut down was about. But, it was just the start so we will finish up talking about it tomorrow.  

Test Review 

Today in class we reviewed what is going to be on the test. Crude birth rate- how many babies are born per thousand a year. Crude death rate is how many people die per thousand a year. There is a difference between and immigrant and an emigrant. An immigrant is someone who moves to a different country. An emigrant is someone you leaves a country. Net migration rate is the number of people per thousand a year, immigrants - emigrants. A push force is when a person is "pushed" out of there county because of stuff like war, or low job rates. A pull force is when somebody is "pulled" into another country because of job opportunities or medical assistance. Total fertility rate is the number of children per thousand a year, not including immigrants. If the rate is 2.1 then the population stays the same. Rate of natural increase is birth - death. A population pyramid analyzes growths or declines of fertility, mortality, and migration. A population pyramid is shaped as a cup like Italy, a box like the USA, and a Christmas tree like Africa.  

Test Review

Today in class we reviewed our lost boys quiz. Our class averaged a 73%. We didn't do well including me. I didn't write down the important things, just the things that seemed interesting to me. The rest of the class we looked at population pyramid charts. 

Population Pyramids

Today in class we learned about population pyramids. We use population pyramids to analyze growth or decline of fertility, mortality, and migration in cites. There are three basic shapes to populations pyramids. There is the Christmas tree the shows that growth rates are slow, there are high birth rates and short life expediencies. There is also the box which shows low infant mortality, slow population growth, and long life expectancy. Lastly there's the cup that consists of low birth rates, shrinking population, and long life expediencies.  

Lost Boys Part 3

The boys have now been in America for three years and all have jobs. John finally found his family and is sending money he makes from his factory job to support them and his fellow lost boys. John was a big topic on today's lost boys movie. He organized a big group of all the lost boys who came and lived in America. He was worried about the young ones though. They were losing there back round and accustoming to America in all the wrong ways. 

Lost Boys Part 2  

Today in the movie of the lost boys we saw them get settled into there new homes in America. When they flew on the plane there were very scared and confused. They weren't accustomed to American food and products so when they were served a meal they ate the sticks of butter and soap packets for hand washing. When they got to there apartments they had to learn how to use regular house hold appliances. Such as, lamps, a refrigerator, light switches, toilets, toilet paper, trash cans, and sinks. They also went to the grocery store and learned how to buy food and what kind of food they would like to eat. Never once during there long help filled journey did they forget about Sudan. They always thought and prayed about there fellow lost boys and the hopes that Sudan may get better in time.  

The Lost Boys 

Today in class we watched a video on the lost boys of Sudan. They walked about a thousand miles from Sudan all the way to Kenya and stayed at a refugee camp. They lived there for about 10 years doing school work, and entertaining themselves with a thing they call the "white house". Later on in there life after about 10 years the USA gave a few of the lost boys a chance to live there life in America.