 With cross-country sectionals coming up and a giant science project to collect and identify leaves, Gianna Zales needs to get her head in the game. Gianna has never had a struggle with running but with projects she has. With making a deal with her coach, Gianna needs to turn in her leaf project complete to be able to go to sectionals. Having Bianca, her enemy, as her alternate for running, Gianna is having a hard time. She has her grandma forgetting a lot of things, deadlines, and finish lines are all on her shoulders. Will she be able to do it?

Dear Diary, Today we had cross-country practice and we got assigned a science project where we have to collect and identify 25 leaves. My coach talked to me today and said he is worried about my grades and if I don’t turn in my leaf project on time and complete, I won’t be able to compete at sectionals. Gianna Z.

Dear Diary, Zig gave me my first two leaves today for my leaf project. I figured out that Bianca is my alternate for running.  I am going to go look for more leaves this Sunday with Zig to start my project. Gianna Z.

Dear Diary, Today was market day where my whole family, me, my mom, dad, brother, and grandma go to an Italian market and buy foods. Nonna got lost today because she forgot where she was. We finally found her but we all were very scared. I have been very worried about Nonna lately because she has been forgetting about a lot of things. Gianna Z.

For my exploration I researched about a leaf called the sugar maple. Zig and Gianna played a game called the tree game where they would say a person is a certain type of tree because of their personalities. Gianna is a sugar maple so I decided to research about a sugar maple.

This is a map of where the sugar maple trees are found in the U.S. The sugar maple is a decidious tree that can be 25 – 35 meters tall. The leaves are up to 20 cm long and wide. The fall colors range from bright yellow through orange to fluorescent red-orange. The leaf buds are brown colored and pointy. The sugar maple will start to begin flowering when it is about 10 to 15 years old. The flowers are yellow-green and without petals; flowering occurs in about early spring. The seeds normally fall from the tree in autumn. Wikipedia This is a picture of what a sugar maple tree looks like. Wikipedia