In our LA class we had to create a 3d book on our Ideal world. I really liked this assignment because it helped us use our imagination. We first had to trace leaves and then paint the traced part. Then we had to write what our planet would be like. I really liked how I could explore all the things we could think of . It gave me a big chill up my spine. I had a feeling of excitation. I feel just like a world changer.

Then we had to create a cardboard 3d book. Then we had to insert all the painted things we traced out. As we were doing this, me and my friends were talking all about our projects. Thier was a lot of positivity in the air.

Then the last part was to print your essay and glue it on your notebook. Once all of that was done it my book was complete.

The book/essay is about a travilar who is looking for a habital planet because earth has to much population and he finally finds it. My essay is below.

I have been traveling thousands of miles through space, searching for a planet that we can live on because earth has too much population. And I think I have it, I have landed on a planet called Izunami. And it is a definite utopia. There are even humans here. People’s skin color here is like earths but everyone is accepted for who they are . The planet also has perfect oxygen. After my tedious 7 year journey I was as happy as a child who got their most favorite toy. And almost all the population are kind, honest and hardworking. I have lived here for 10 months and I have seen a lot of things.

My world has 5 seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter, and cosmic. You all know the first four and cosmic is where the clouds and atmosphere is transparent. It’s as transparent as the air around you. The environment is also pretty cool. 5% of the planet is snowy and Icy, 23% is desert-like, six percent  is lava-like.  48% is forest and 9% is rock like, and the rest 15% is other. This is just on land, 50% is ocean. The things that I am describing are identical to earths. But the difference between earth and Izunami’s environment is that the Izunami preserves 91% of its habitat. So there are a million places to go if you want beautiful scenery. The animals in this world are like earth’s, also there are a lot of white tigers and, white rhinos/ elephants etc. Also gravity levels are 6.2845 meters per second squared. So you can jump really high and have more fun. FYI the temperature range throughout the whole planet is -10f to 100f

There are 126+ countries in my world. And they each have 10 to 87 cities. And they have 5-50 provinces. There are 4 oceans and 5 continents. There are 9 seas and 35,783 lakes. 4 of them are made out of lava. And there is one river where if you touch it you get to see all the dead people for 2 hours. People go there to see their loved lost ones. The river is as purple as a plumb. The economic status of every country is the same and  the currency is goly. 3.5 dollars is one goly. The bills are. 1, 6, 14, 25, 60, 80, 400, 2000, 10,000. The bills are colored blue, as blue as the ocean. The coins are as golden as a piece of jewelry. The only coins are the 1 Izunamian cent, 5 cent, 40 cent. 80 cent=1 goly. All countries have democracy. And every nation has to be below the size of 0.78% of all Izunamian and higher than 0.76% so there are no wars for land.  The architecture is the same as in the USA but better because there is almost no pollution throughout all the streets. The reason for that is because every country has 50 acidizers and they are basically a 20 ft bowl filled with a type of acid that destroys all the trash. This acid also produces 0 harmful substances. The coolest buildings are ones that literally levitate. They feel like you were just sucked into a movie when you see them.

This planet is 8 times bigger than earth. 8.28954458 to be exact. There are 3 moons orbiting our planet. One of those moons is as pink as a unicorn horn. There are 34 planets in this solar system and my planet is the eleventh biggest planet. The largest planet in this solar system is swissaso. The star in this solar system is as blue as Ice and is 28,647 times bigger than the Izunami. This solar system is named Aleiny. It is located 347 light years away from earth.

The population on the planet is 38,000,000,000. There are 19,000,000,000 girls and the rest are boys. The average height is 6ft 4in. The language spoken here is Jenzini, there is only one language to prevent wars. Hello in Jenzini is “elaca”. The food here is really nice. Socamt is my favorite dish. It tastes a lot like pizza but it is as red as a tomato. There are 5 different religions. Goo, lota, notita, ulpuli and vezu. Even though there are different religions, people are as inclusive as a herd of zebras.

The way of transportation is spaceships and all the earth vehicles but the vehicles hover above the ground. They also are always stuck to the ground unless you turn it off. It reminds me of Mario kart.

Speaking of Mario Kart, the video games here are a lot better than earths. There is a rule in the gaming industry that a game cannot be rated lower than 9.97/10 stars. And the VR’s are as realistic as if they were in real life but perfect. But people tend to be outside most of the time.

That is basically all the information about this planet. I would recommend starting to start sending the space ships here, I feel like in 5 years everyone will be here. The year 2147 shall be the migration year. I have talked with 30 Izunamian nations and they said they would be happy to invite us. They weren’t as happy as a koala but they seemed pretty excited and chill. This world has had 0 wars throughout its history so don’t expect them to be hostile. In fact they might even like you earthians. They are excited as well to see some life.When you come here try learning some Jenzini. Izanamians  are also learning English. For the ones who don’t speak English that is okay but I would recommend trying to learn some. The only condition is that you are not allowed to come if you have done more than 1 crime. Other than that you are good to come. I look forward to seeing you guys here.

Have you ever looked outside at a night sky, or seen a constellation? We all think it looks really beautiful and mysterious. That is also one of the reason we want to travel to space. And one of the ways to learn about space is by going to a planetarium. I have only been to planetarium once and that was 3 weeks ago, but I really enjoyed the experience, especially since all my friends came, (it was a school field trip). I’m pretty sure I will always remember the first time going to a planetarium.

It all started at my school, all of us were waiting for the bus to come. I was excited but at the same time skeptic. You see the planetarium was in the UNC campus and I personally was a Duke fan. For those of you who don’t know, Duke and UNC are rivals. When the buses finally arrived all of us 6th graders ran to our bus seats. The teachers had t0 put in a lot of effort to keep us in control.

On the bus I sat with my friend Eshaan. On the ride there, we did all our usual bus activities. Yelling songs, playing chopsticks, shadow boxing etc. Our bus was pretty loud, but I’m not going to lie, I was probably one of the loudest there. I’m pretty sure we were all excited to go.

When we arrived, we first got a tour of the UNC campus. The campus was actually very green and open. Even though I am a Duke fan, I have to admit, the campus looked really awesome.

Then we all went to sit on a gathering of parked benches. I was sitting with all my friends. We talked and laughed a lot. It was really beautiful that day. I’ll make sure to never to take those types of joy for granted.

Then our teachers divided all of us sixth grader into 2 groups. Luckily I got a lot of my friends in my group. The first thing we got to see was this place with a bunch of cool space learning device/ games/ VR. There was this one thing where you sat somewhere and there was this screen so close to your eyes that you could actually feel like you were in space. But my favorite one was where you’d look outside a semi globe and people on the other side would think you are in a rocket because the other side looked like a rocket.

Then after that we went to this place that was like a theater but you would look up and at the top it was a giant semicircle screen. Then all of a sudden, the lights went out. It gave a chill up your spine. And then when it started it was like you were literally feeling all the movement. It gave you the feeling of thrill and dazzling. The show was about the problems people might encounter when going to mars. But honestly, I was much more distracted by how awesome the screen looked and felt. It was like there were 2 versions of me. One focusing on the show and one being dazzled by the show. The experience was so much better than 3D. It made me wonder why don’t people have mini versions of this thing at home. It was truly a magical experience.

Then once the show was done, we all clapped very loudly. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one dazzled by the experience. Then we went outside to go to our last activity. As soon as I stepped outside, the sunlight baffled me. I recovered in a few seconds but there were some people who had trouble adjusting to the sunlight. I heard a lot of “aaaaaaaah the sun”.

Then we went to this scientist who told us a lot about Physics. We all knew most of the concepts but it was really nice to see the experiments in motion. I think my favorite was where he spilled Pure Nitrogen on the floor, for those of you who don’t know, pure nitrogen, is -190 degrees celsius. It looked really cool. That last sentence is one of the many science jokes. Since it was really cold,  it was gas form making it look misty/ mysterious.

By me

Then we all went back to our school. As we were headed back, I thought why have I never been to a planetarium before. And then I had a bigger thought. How many things like this have I not experienced yet. So from that day forth I made it a goal to try everything no matter what, after all life is short, so we should make the most of it.

We all want the future to be a better place. And in some aspects we are succeeding, but in others we need improvement. One of those aspects is not cutting down too many trees. But we are slowly getting better in that too! So today I want to talk about a school field trip where we had to plant trees. It was a unique experience that had made me realize how important trees are.

We started from my school at around 8:30am and boarded our buses. As I was riding the bus, I had a really excited feeling because I had never really planted a tree. As we were going, we talked a lot about what we were going to do there. I think it was a new experience for my friends also because they seemed a bit extra hyper.

When we arrived, we could either plant 1 tree solo or 2 trees with a parter. Everyone including me chose a partner. My partner was my friend Noah. I feel like you should always do these type of things with a partner because you get a much more satisfying feeling once the work is done. And it makes the process more enj0yable.

Our first tree took 5 times longer than our second tree. You might think I am exaggerating but I’m not. Our first tree took SOOO long! We first started digging for 20 minutes but we encountered too many hard roots. So we had to relocate! It felt really annoying when we moved because it felt like 20 minutes of hard work was wasted entirely. Then for the next. 35 min we did some vigorous work. We still encountered a lot of hard roots but they were more spread out. In the middle I felt like our digging was fruitless and that we should just give up. Then finally with strong determination, we finished. We were told to plant a second one but after our first tree we were in no mood. But we persevered and planted our second one. The second one was MUCH easier. We moved to an entirely different landscape. In that landscape, we encountered zero hard roots and soft soil so within 10 min we finished.

It felt really awesome because I got this indescribable feeling of satisfaction. On the bus ride back I was starting to realize that I should do this more often. I would also like to give a big thank you to the organization that made this experience possible, the name of this organization is Keep Durham Beautiful. They are an organization dedicated to keeping Durham beautiful, hence the name. There is a lot of destruction of environments, but it is these experiences that give me hope that the environment can be recovered. And if many of us do these tiny things then we can make the world a better place.

Here are a photo of my experience

By me

All people have something they are scared of. But bravery is not never having fear but to summon the courage to fight it. And one of the most common fear is stage fright. So today I’m going to talk about a presentation I did in front of my whole school.

I had prepared for a whole week and on the day of the presentation I was ready to present. I waited for about 10 minutes for some other announcements. The first 9 minutes were fine. I felt confident, ready, brave. But it is always that last minute that gets to you. I surprisingly didn’t feel too nervous but I still had some fear inside of me. And then my name was called out to present. Walking to the stage is the hardest part. You can feel everyone looking at you. It was harder to walk to the stage alone than with a partner. Because when you walk with 1 or more people you have a feeling that you are not alone and that the attention is split between the 2 of you. But once you get to the stage everything is fine. The fear subsides a lot. And then I presented.

I presented about my maternal uncle’s Indian wedding. It was a brand new topic for most of the people in the audience so there was a lot of interest. I think that is what made my presentation unique.

Then when I finished the speech everyone clapped loudly. This was my first time presenting to an audience so it felt really awesome. When I walked back to my seat I learned 4 things.

1. It is normal to feel scared on your first time presenting to a large audience.

2. Looking at the audience makes y0u more focused and less scared.

3. The most important of all. When you are on stage there is only one thing you can’t do and that is show fear. No matter how hard it is you have to look strong.

4. Preparation makes all the difference!

Here is a photo of me presenting.

By me

Many middle schoolers in USA have reads hundreds of books But out of those Hundreds of books how many people get to see the author of their book. Well I personally have met very few authors, so when they come to my school to present on their books I listen very carefully. So today I want to talk about the author Adam Gimwits and my experience when he visited my school.

For those of you who don’t know who he is, he is the author of “Max and the house of spies” and the “Grim series”.  While we were waiting for the author to present, I wondered what the author would tell us about his books/career. I had listened to 3 authors in my life and each one was very different from each other.

When he came on stage, I was excited because all the authors that I have heard from before have given some really exciting and interesting stories. And when he started talking I realized that this author is also going to give us some new stories.

The author Adam Gidwits was a really nice guy. He told us about his career and all the ups and downs. He also gave us a summary of some of his books. He did a really awesome job of enticing the audience because while he was talking, half way though his speech, I knew that when it was done I would want to run to the library ASAP. He also told us that when a book is purchased the author gets a really low amount of the money. For example if a book is worth $18, the author would only get approximately  $1. The rest would go to the library, editors etc.

When he was done I made sure to give him a big round of applause because he taught me a lot of new things in 1 hour. He made the experience of becoming an author so exciting that he added author to my career list. When I was walking back toward  my classes the biggest learning for me was that it is not about what something is, it is about what it can be, (how you portray something), that is what matters.

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There are a lot of festivals in the world. All of them have something unique about them. Festivals are more than just celebrating, they are about experiencing culture. So today I want to talk about an Indian festival I celebrate called Holi.

Holi is an Indian festival where you play with colors and water. The purpose of this festival is to show that spring is here and winter is over. Spring brings a lot of colors and that is what Holi is symbolic of. Holi was originally a holiday for married women to spread goodwill and prosperity, but in has evolved a lot since then.

One thing I like about Holi is that you can play with a lot of colors. It is very vibrant so it gives a very positive feeling inside of you. It also brings a lot of joyful memories for me. In fact I still remember my Holi from 5 years ago because it was the only time I celebrated Holi in India. It is played at a very large scale, everyone in the neighborhood gathers together to play.

Holi is more than having fun, it is about valuing the people around you. Festivals are celebrated for many different reasons.  But at the end of the day they are meant to strengthen bonds with your loved ones. And as long as you are doing that, no matter how you celebrate, you did the festival correct.

Here are some photos of my Holi celebration this year.

by me

Who  doesen’t like firecrackers. I know for a fact that I like them. I also love sweets and hanging out with friends. And I love presents. Now I know what you’re thinking. I obviously like these things but why are am bringing this up. Well the reason for that is every year  I celebrate an Indian festival with all those things I mentioned above, it is called Diwali.

Diwali is a really old festival that dates back 10,000+ years. The purpose of this festival is to remind us that good will always triumph evil.

Now I know you’re thinking that you want to celebrate this festival too, and let me tell you it is AWESOME. The firecrackers are a big spectacle. In fact they are so bright that you feel like you could keep lighting them through out the whole night. You also get a lot of presents from your parents and get to have fun with friends. It’s one of the best holidays for me.

Another highlight it that you get to eat a lot of delicacies. We eat a lot of Indian sweets and my favorite is kaju burfi (a sweet made of cashews. We also get to enjoy a lot of other home cooked meals.

But the thing that I like the most about Diwali is that is unites families and friends together. And it really strengthens our family’s bonds. When we are all together we all feel joyful. And we are always reminded that no matter what happens in life our family will always be there.

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I think it is true that books are a window into the world. I have always been inspired to read different books. But one book I felt like stood out to me was the book Grenade.

The  book Grenade is by Alan Gratz. It’s a story about a boy named Hiediki in Okinawa, Japan during WW2. He is a normal citizen and his goal is to survive the American bombings and to find his sister. Do you want to know how it ends? Well I’m not going to give any spoilers. If you want to know more,  please read the book.

I really liked the book because I have only seen the Allies point of view. But this book made me see a whole new point of view.It also made me realize that just because one person from a region is evil doesn’t mean that that whole region is evil.After reading this book I thought about a lot of things. And after hearing Hiediki’s point of view, it made me think about all the people who are mean to me.  It made me realize that they are probably not a bad person but just influenced by something bad. To quote Mr Miyagi from Karate kid:

-“There is no such thing as bad student, only bad teacher”.

After I read Grenade, I decided to try to not be rude to anyone, because I don’t know how things are going for them. This book has helped me have a better outlook on life and become a better person. And as a result, helped me help other people around me. It’s interesting how one book can make your environment a better place. I guess that’s why people say you should read a lot.

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One assignment it I did in Language Arts was make a comic. We were reading a book called wisdom tales and we had to choose a story to do a comic on.

I made the comic using C0mic Life. The comic is based off of the story, The Wooden Bowl.

The story was about a Gramps who lives with his son and his son’s wife. And the wife is cranky, so as the old man gets old he has bad hand coordination. So he starts dropping his daughter-in-law’s plates. So his daughter gives him a wooden bowl that is made for chickens to him. But then the old mans grandson tells his son that he is making a wooden bowl for him to eat out of when he is old. The old man’s son realized that he was setting a bad example for his son.

Here is a picture of my comic

By me