Core values are principles that individuals or groups of people subscribe to for specific personal or organizational relevance. American values are ethical and legal ideals that define the expected American code of conduct. American values were developed with careful consideration of history, various cultural beliefs, and their significance. The purpose of American values is to enable individuals, to assimilate into a comprehensive American identity. The American values examples are the key values of the US culture instilled into us from very young ages. These American values include individualism, equality, diversity, unity, liberty, and self-government (which can also be referred to as democracy). Diversity teaches people to respect and embrace one another despite their differences. Individualism implores people to be committed to achieving self-sufficiency, independence, personal economic growth, and private initiative. Liberty is the value that encourages people to think, speak, and express themselves freely, provided they do not infringe the rights and freedom of others. Unity maintains the indivisibility of a particular group of people. The United States is one unified nation with very strong ties binding its citizens together. Self-government - Democracy, ensures that the citizens can choose who governs them and how they are governed.

In today's lesson, Bella learned about proteins, including their structure, function and role in the human body and life. We also went over the topic of heterotrophs. Additionally, we analyzed our agar plates to see the progress of our bacteria growth experiment.

During today's class, we started practicing speaking Spanish.

Today, Bella and I continued studying The Epic of Gilgamesh for our Hero's Journey unit. We reviewed how the first set of plot points demonstrate the stages of the Hero's Journey. We continued reading a summary of the epic poem, taking notes on the key plot points. As we read, we discussed character traits/flaws of Gilgamesh (the protagonist/hero) and some archetypal tropes we encountered (the mentor, the serpent villain, the Great Flood story).

One of the guiding principles of the U.S. Government is federalism. Federalism is the division of power between the federal (national) government and the state governments. Reserved powers are those that were kept for state governments. Laws that reflect reserved powers can vary from state to state and often reflect the unique needs and wants of that state's citizens. An example of a reserved power for the states is the power to issue marriage licenses. There are also powers that have been delegated to the federal government. These are powers that relate to the wants and needs of the nation as a whole and provide a sense of uniformity and security for the nation. There are also instances where the federal and state governments can share powers. These "concurrent" powers can be seen with things like enforcing laws or providing for the welfare of citizens.

In today's class, Bella began an experiment where we are growing bacteria on petri dishes. Bella first started with a warm up activity to prepare for the lab, and then we went around the school and swabbed areas we thought would grow lots of bacteria and some we thought would grow minimal (including our control). The dishes were then subsequently swabbed and placed in a dark area in order to grow over the weekend.

Today we reviewed Bella's work on an extensive assignment about the federal government and its terms. She also answered questions about FL state government. Bella almost completed the assignment and she did excellent work! We will complete and review tomorrow in class.

Today, Bella and I continued our study of the Hero's Journey with The Epic of Gilgamesh. We reviewed what the hero's journey is, what the story The Epic of Gilgamesh is and its significance to literature. We read and took notes on part of a plot summary of The Epic of Gilgamesh. In the last few minutes of class, we began discussing how the plot follows the stages of the Hero's Journey.

In today's lesson, Bella learned about lipids, including their structure, function and role in the human body and everyday life. Bella was given notes to fill in and complete. As per usual, we completed review questions at the end on which Bella did well.

Bella was absent for class today. I took the period to lesson plan.