Paper Airplanes

By Jeremiah the 6th grader

Paper airplanes are really fun once you get the hang of making them. Here are some simple instructions for 2 simple planes:

1. Beginner's Plane
   

Step 1. Take a blank piece of paper

and fold it in half like so

Step 2. Unfold

(Make sure you can still see the first fold line)

Step 3.

Step 4. 

Step 5. Refold center fold

Step 6. Fold left wing

(make sure folded wings are level with bottom of fuselage)

Step 7. Fold right wing

Step 8. Flatten out wings

All are optional: add tape across center fold, and, or cut wind flaps on back of wings for tricks.

      2. Speedy Plane

Repeat steps 1-4

Step 1. Fold the left corner again like so

Step 2. Fold the right corner again like so

Repeat steps 5-8

P.S. I will put more planes later

Book Review on "To Kill a Mockingbird"

By Josh

At the beginning of the book, it was a bit dry for me. As I got farther through, I got more into it. I started reading bigger and bigger chunks of the book and before I knew it, the book was over! The book is about two kids that live in a small town during the Great Depression. Jean, the main character, is the younger of the two. A boy named Jem is her older brother. The are both children to Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer. During the summer, a boy named Dill comes and spends the summer with them before going away again. Their summers are mainly spent harassing Boo Radley, who spends all of his time indoors. It's a great book and worth reading all the way through even if it is dry reading for you. I can see why this book is known as a classic.

My History of Volunteering at the Food Pantry and Food Bank

By Josh

I started working at the food pantry when I was 8. Everybody there was at least 10 years older then I was. We were in Virginia at the time and I started volunteering at the food pantry at the Water's Edge Church. At the age of 9, I was put on the news because I was working at the food pantry at my age.

The volunteers at the food pantry

 Not much long after, we moved to Washington State. I started working at the food bank there. Unfortunately, I stopped after 2-3 weeks of volunteering at the food bank in Washington. The reason why was because I couldn't go on my own at that age, so my brothers would have to come too and they were too young. But now, at the age of 13, I have started volunteering again. This time, Mom, Jeremiah, Nathaniel and I are all volunteering by driving around and picking up donations for the food bank on Thursdays. Most of the stops are at Starbucks. The only place that we visit that is not Starbucks is an Auntie Anne's that usually gives us 25 pounds worth of food. All 25 pounds of it goes into a red backpack.

Us after two of the stops

You'll notice that I am the one carrying the red backpack. We are still volunteering every Thursday.

LEGO Ideas

By Josh
This is an official LEGO website. What you basically do, is you build something, take a few pictures, and submit it. If it reaches 10,000 supporters, then it goes into LEGO review, where it will be reviewed by the people at LEGO to see if it will work as an official LEGO set. If it becomes a LEGO set, you will get 10 complimentary copies of the set and 1% of the net sales from the set (which is a lot, given how many people buy LEGO sets). You need to be 13 or older to join LEGO Ideas, but there is no fee to join. I think that this is a very cool website. Here is a picture of one I've submitted:

You can add almost anything! What I mean is if say, you want to do one for a new movie, they will need to make sure that they are licensed to use it. The link is here.

How to Collect Stamps

By Josh

Before you get to collecting, you will need a few things.
You will need:

• A place to keep the stamps
• Tweezers 
• A large bowl
• Hot water
• A small towel

There are three ways to collect stamps:

• The Water Bowl
• The Collecting Store
• The Post Office

Let's go through the three ways

1. The Water Bowl

This is if you get a letter in the mail and you want the stamp from it.

1. Fill the large bowl with hot water
2. Put the letter with the stamp in the water
3. Wait a minute
4. Grab the letter and put it on the towel
5. VERY CAREFULLY use the tweezers to remove the stamp without tearing it
6. Throw the letter in the garbage and let the stamp dry
7. Once the stamp is dry add it to your collection

2. The Collecting Store

This is if you want to buy an/some old stamp/s

1. Search for a collecting store in your area (we have found some at hooby lobby as well)
2. If you can find one go to it
3. In there you can most likely find stamps
4. Buy the stamps you want to buy

If you can't find one or you don't feel like leaving home then you can always buy the stamps online.

3. The Post Office

This one needs no explanation. You literally go to the post office, find some stamps you want and buy them.

I hope this blog post helps and happy stamp collecting!

Josh's B-Day

By Jeremiah the 6th grader

Josh is 13 this year and I decided to do a blog post about what we did on his b-day from my perspective. Around 7:30. I wake up and go downstairs, and start making a card for him.
Around 8:00. I finish my card and we take Josh his breakfast. I go downstairs again, get some breakfast, and come up again to eat with Josh.

Around 8:30. We finish breakfast and find out The Snohomish Aquatic Center's first free swim doesn't start until 2:00!

Around 8:45. We had some extra Reese's rolls so we took some to the Church.
Around 9:00. After we did that we headed to the local antique store for a bit. Mom got a really pretty pearl necklace and another lavender pouch.
Around 10:00. We head home.
Around 10:15. We get home.
Around 11:15.(I'm guessing) We have Paninis for lunch
Around 1:15.(I'm guessing) We head to The Snohomish Aquatic Center.
Around 1:30.(I'm guessing) We go to the nearby Co-op to pick up some bedding.
Around 1:35.(I'm guessing) We get to The Snohomish Aquatic Center.
Around 4:00. We head home.
Around 6:25.(I'm guessing) We eat dinner.
Around 7:15.(I'm guessing) We go to Blu Berry
Around 8:00. We Sleep. 

Worst Chess Openings

By Josh

I have already talked about the best openings for chess, now it's time to talk about the openings that will really mess you up. The side worse off will be white in these pictures.

First I will talk about the WORST OPENING OF ALL TIME.

This opening needs no explanation. This is the fastest way to mate. Use this opening if you want to lose fast.

I put this as the second worst because of it's uselessness

The reason why I think this is useless is that in the beginning you're trying to control the most squares, and the amount of squares controlled by you is increased by 2 and letting your opponent take all of the other squares. I played a game by myself using the analysis off to the right control my moves, the end result after that opening was this:

(Note: I didn't even try to finish because white was so hopeless)
Use this opening if you want your opponent to control the entire board.

I put this as the third worst because this opening literally depends on the opponent making a bad move

As this is a great opening for when you are playing games with a short timer, but playing casually this is a very bad idea. I played another game like in the previous one and this was the end result:

(Note: Yet again, I didn't try even try to finish because white was so hopeless)
This just goes to show how bad you can lose with this opening.

I hope you enjoyed my blog post on the worst chess openings!