Meet King Richard

The kitty in the picture above is Richard! He is one of the many adorable cats available for adoption here at Best Friends. However, he has been diagnosed with feline leukemia, and is often passed over for a forever home because he can infect any other healthy cats he would be living with. But as you can see, he is incredibly playful and a complete cuddle bug... and would make a great companion for anyone considering adopting their first cat! (Hint hint...)

On our second to last day at the sanctuary, we started off cleaning out the pig pens. We also returned our sleepover pig, Cherry, who was a very good girl... except for her waking Kelsey and Ali up at 5:00. After working with the potbellies all morning (who are actually really clean and friendly animals), we went back to the rabbit cages in the afternoon for some poop-scooping. We are looking forward to our last volunteering day, and everyone would like to thank Mrs. Hutchinson for the treats in Kelsey's care package (including Richard!)

See you all on Saturday!

RUaDgtalNativ?

Today the group went into Boston for the day. We started the day in the Digital Lounge at Tech Superpowers on Newbury Street, we stayed there for the morning and wrote four articles about social media, which are posted on this blog under today's date.

We then headed out into the pouring rain to Fire and Ice for lunch. At lunch, Mike had just finished his meal which had the spiciest sauce offered and then he was dared by Sean to eat a spoon full of hot sauce. Everyone thought that was funny but Mike didn't think so, he said that it was like eating a fire. We also enjoyed the ice cream bar.

After that we went to the Boston Public Library, were we lost David, we found him 15 mins. later with a bloody nose in the bathroom. Don't worry he was fine. We continued to work on the LAWinterim blog and began to choose photos for the final slide show.

We headed back out into the rain and wet day to the Prudential Center.  We got to go to the top of the Prudential building, the Skywalk Observatory.  We were able to be on our own for dinner and shopping and then headed to Sheer Madness where we met up with other LA students. 

It was a wet and long day in Boston, but we got work done away from the classroom.

Pizza Love!

I went to the Groton Congregational church during lunch time last week, where the group was starting to eat the pizzas they had made that morning for lunch. They seemed to be enjoying their pizzas, and were ready to continue baking after lunch. I came back later in the week during the morning to watch the group start from scratch with their baking. That particular day, the group was baking muffins. There was a box of butter that had over twenty pound blocks of butter. the process to making muffins seems pretty easy to me, but the directions have to be followed precisely. 

Other things they have baked over the Winterim were cookies, puffed patries, biscuits, cakes and sweet pies. I wonder if they will "show off" what they have learned at assembly by bringing us baked goods!

Great Trip Eh?

Yesterday Sports Journalism Winterim went on their first trip of the week after arriving back at school from New York City and the Big East Tourney. The group got in a bus and drove 2 hours over to Springfield to see the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.


When the group arrived though, they found out the hall of fame was unfortunately closed. The group got back on the bus and drove the 2 hours back capping off an unexpected journey. Check out their blog.

On The Edge.

The students of Mask Making are nervous and worried about the performance which is coming on Friday, the18th. They practiced a lot and got to know their characters. They all have created awesome characters with unique individuality and rare facial features. The performance tomorrow will be a real trial - defend their acting talent and entertain guests. We wish them good luck and patience. Check the latest photos in the video below or on the LAWinterim YouTube Channel.

Everyone has a Strength!

ARC is still at it with open arms. The students are still continuing to go to ARC in Fitchburg.When we went and observed what they were doing we found out many things. One is that there are many nice people there and they are very welcoming. Another thing is that we got to meet people. Catherine was doing a puzzle with someone and she was much better at it than Catherine was. All the people in the place have their own skills and they say you just need to find them. One student in our Winterim, David, found ARC motivating and continued to ask to go back. When asked why David said that he liked how they could do things and continued on with a good life even with setbacks. The ARC is a very nice place that many people should look at and help out.

The System

Photos by Sean on his eighth grade field trip.

This week, "The System" went to Washington D.C. They went for a mini walk around D.C. On Tuesday, they met with a bunch of Legislators, visited Congress, went to the Supreme Court, the FBI, and the departments of State and Defense. This tour sounded very interesting. I hope to have the chance to take it myself one day.

A Tropical Paddling Home

Today, students of "Kayaking in the Caribbean" slept over at the Billy Hawk Cay Guest lodge.

(Photo from a travel website )

Today is the last day that students stay on the island. As we speak, the students of this group are most likely involved in the following activities: fishing, snorkeling around coral reefs, kayaking, sailing, and preparing local food for the group. In the evening, the students and faculty will sing, dance, and eat. The whole crew will leave the island tomorrow and return to the mainland of Belize tomorrow morning after breakfast.

Costa Rica: The Last Splash

This week "Byways and Waterways of Costa Rica" raft out of Pacuare River and travel by bus to stay for the evening in La Fortuna. Tuesday and Wednesday, they are river safari paddling with a local naturalist, visiting a working family farm and hiking to a local rope swing as well as a hot spring. They will also hike in a lava field at the base of Aernal Volcano before they leave for home!

Picture

Dominican Service: All Work and Some Play

Picture Link

The Dominican Service Winterim has been working incredibly hard on their project for the past two weeks. Over the weekend, the group took a fishing tour in Boca de Yasica and celebrated the Mirabel sisters' 50th death anniversary in Salcedo with an activity. Today is their last day of working on the school in Cabarete, so they're practically finished. Tomorrow, before they leave on Saturday, the Dominican Service group plans to visit the Damajagua waterfalls.

The Damajagua waterfalls consist of twenty-seven cascades located in the Rio Bajabonico. They flow by rural mountain scenery, and fall into a series of large, clear pools at the base of the cascades. It seems that the Dominican Service group is going to take a hike in the tunnels and caves of these spectacular waterfalls. This hike is supposed to be increasingly difficult, and consists of going through not only tunnels, but the jungle and rock formations, too. In addition, there might be some swimming and jumping involved. One would have to be very athletic to make this immense climb. There are several trails along the waterfalls, all of them challenging and very long. The longest one takes about three hours to complete.

The Damajagua hike will be the last activity on the Dominican Service Project's itinerary. The Dominican Service group, after all of their amazing and worthwhile experiences, will be traveling home on Friday.

YouTube - Best Self-Expression.

Picture Link

Youtube is a completely free video-sharing website where users can upload, share, and favorite videos. Three former PayPal employees founded it in 2005, and since then its popularity has become immense, streaming over 100 million videos per day. The website streams all kinds of videos, from music to news to television. YouTube is considered to be a very effective promotion tool on the Internet. Big companies, such as Vevo or BBC, can spread their music or news in order to increase their popularity.

With its simple interface, YouTube made it possible for anyone with an account to post a video to a worldwide audience. The wide range of topics covered by YouTube has turned video sharing into one of the most important parts of Internet culture. People upload their videos on one computer, almost instantly; other people can watch the same video on their own computers. This makes Youtube social media, because it is used for people to express themselves through video and share it with the world.

As we already mentioned - Youtube is the best way to promote video. Therefore, Youtube is very useful because it was the first website who created the idea of free posting of videos on the Internet. Also, Youtube is a great source of Information - news companies upload their videos as well. Students can use Youtube for educational purposes. There is such a wide variety of topics on this website that people can virtually find multiple videos on anything. In classrooms, teachers might show students videos of science demonstrations or how to do a certain math problem. Some websites, such as BrainPop, that are directed towards education will make Youtube channels so they can get more hits. While there is media for students to watch on Youtube, students can also post videos of their own experiments and activities from the classroom to further educate other people.

Youtube is directed towards all ages, so anyone can use it. It's been very helpful during this blogging Winterim. It's a more interesting and effective piece of media than pictures. Youtube is a great source of entertainment, and most people deem it to be a big part of social culture.

(Posted by Sabina and Mike)

Twitter Gone Wild

Twitter is an internet social networking site that keeps people updated on everything that is going on in the news or peoples' lives. Twitter can be used to see what friends are doing, see how your favorite sport teams are doing, and check on the latest news developments. Since Twitter's creation in 2006, the company has seen an influx in membership. There are currently over 190 million users of Twitter in the world. What makes Twitter so great is that it's nice and simple, it's not identical to Facebook, which contains profiles with walls, pictures, and a lot of personal stuff. All Twitter is, is just a quick 140 character maximum status update. To get updates on someone or something you're interested in, all you do is follow the person.

With the recent earthquake in Japan, Twitter can come in handy giving people and news networks the ability to update on what's going without having to write a long article on CNN or Fox or the like. With Twitter growing and becoming more and more socially acceptable, it has found its way into schools, colleges, and universities. High Schools, like our own school and many other prep schools, along with colleges and universities use Twitter to give updates on team scores, Heads' Holidays, news on students and faculty, and news to keep everyone updated. As of late Twitter has also found its self being used in the classroom. At Purdue University, a professor is now using Twitter during his lectures, the article can be found here. The students are using Twitter to ask questions, vote for what questions they would like to be asked, answer questions, and reply to answers. Even though Twitter is useful and I have gotten into it, I feel as though using it in the classroom might be bad, you're on the internet and it's really easy to get distracted and I feel as though that would be happening a lot. Twitter is fine when it comes to the news, but bringing it into the classroom seems like a bad idea. (Posted by Sean and Paul)

Uses and Benefits of Blogging!

A blog is a website containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often has images and links to other websites. Using a blog is very easy and simple.

Photo from Blogger

First, you click "new post" located on the home screen. Then a text box should pop up on your screen. After that happens, you can just write in the text box whatever you'd like to share with the world, or what you think the people should know. You click "save now" to have other people edit your post, or just "publish post" if you're ready for the world to read it.

Photo from WordPress

A blog is a kind of social media. Social media allows you to share anything about yourself with world through the web. When you blog, you share your thoughts and ideas with the world. There are many different blogs for such as other private school like New Hampton as well as communities or ones that people make up for fun.

Photo from Iblog

A blog is useful in an educational setting because it can serve as a learning resource. Blogs can be used for one sole topic, or a bunch of different topics. It is useful for educational purposes for many reasons. For example, instead of sending out 16 emails you can post one blog and have people check it. Also it can be used to discuss what happens for a day in class or if teachers from different schools want to talk about what they are teaching and give people ideas. A blog is the best way to communicate with many people on one site about a specific idea.

The Book

Picture

Facebook is a social networking site that has been extremely popular since 2006. Each member of the site can create a personal profile page, add other users as friends, exchange messages, and receive automatic notifications when they update their profile or others comments on their profile. Members of Facebook can customize their own profile page with personal photos, interests, contact info and other information. They can join groups for common persona interests with others, such as work, school, or just activities they enjoy.Facebook allows students to interact through Facebook chat (a one on one instant messaging feature), by posting on other people's pages which others are able to see and comment on, or by sending a private message (like an email). They can also post status updates, which are like blog posts that again anyone can comment on. So if someone didn’t know the math homework they could post on their own personal page “what is the math homework?” in hopes that any classmate that saw the post could help them. Instead of sending and waiting on one message, students have their whole school at their fingertips to contact just by posting something once. Lawrence Academy has their own Facebook page for the school as well as the Winterim page.In just 3 years Facebook has become one of the most popular websites in the world. People log onto Facebook from all over the globe. In places like China the government blocks the American-based site, but still people are able to downloaded illegal programs that allows them to use Facebook. Every day, people are checking Facebook to see what's going on.
*Posted by Sarah and Cheng