L is me!!!

MY PROFILE IS L!!!

On the 30th of November, we had a look on ourselves. We learned which side was our dominant side and what our Learner's Profile was.  There are 2 sides of the brain. The Gestalt (right) and The Logic (left).There are all types of Learner's profiles, but mine is L, and my dominant side is my right. My brain is right, my eye is right, my ear is right, my hand is right and my leg is right, I'm basically the right side all the way. My profile is L.

I learn best when I'm not sitting down for a long time. Like if I'm doing my homework I won't sit at a desk for a long time, I'll sit there for about 30 minutes then lie on the sofa to do my homework. And I can't really concentrate sometimes in classes because of the whiteboard and the sunlight which causes a reflection on the whiteboard. Like in my old school the whiteboard was right next to a window, so I would always be asking the person beside me or the person in front of me about what was on the whiteboard. And if the teacher saw me talking she would start yelling at me.

  

I need to listen better in class like when a teacher is talking I will listen and remember almost everything the teacher said for the first half-hour or so but then I'm clueless. And I also need to keep focus like sometimes when I'm doing my homework I get distracted like I'll start chatting or I would go on youtube to listen to music and then do my homework. Sometimes I don't a 100% in everything but I do try hard. 

The strategies that would help me in my learning should be things to do with my listening and focusing in class. I think a strategy that would help me is putting notes on the computer or little reminders in my house telling me not to get distracted. I think that now since I'm sitting very near to the front that I am listening better and trying to remember more by sometimes jotting down notes about what happened during my classes.

 I would like my teachers to know this about me I am very very easily distracted. While working on homework assignments I do a majority of things at the same time.  I work better in groups than I do solo like on the collaborative lit. circle my grades really improved. And I work even better with people that I get along with though sometimes it wouldn't be the best idea to put me in a group with very close friends for I will tend to chit-chat instead of getting the work done.

Callaborate Literature Circles

           During Humanities class, we did a collaborative Lit. Circle. The partner I had chosen was Zarafsha. The book we are reading is called "Julie of the Wolves". I personally think we have done quite a good job with it. 

     The benefits of working with a classmate is that first, we can all relax and focus less on it because we don't have as much work to do on it. The reason that we don't have to do much work on it is because the other person will be working on some of the lit. circle so you can have more free time. The second thing that's good about this Lit. Circle is that we can get the other partner to check your work so if they think you can improve on it then you can and it will also help by getting a better and improved grade than what you could have gotten.

    The challenges/obstacles I have overcame is first, the questions and responses. I thought that the questions and responses were quite hard because not only do you have to find a good question and a good response to answer it and worse we had to do 2 questions and responses. But ever since we started the collaborative lit. circles I have more time to think up a fantastic question and response. Those are the obstacles I have overcame this time.

     This time, the new things I have understood about this novel is that when Julie makes the decision to leave Daniel and go to San Francisco to Amy. Amy has told her so much about San Francisco , and asked her when she would come to live with her. Julie would stay in the pink bedroom. "Mom says you can have the pink bedroom that looks over the garden and down on the bay and Golden Gate Bridge." (page 70) Julie takes a few survival items from Pearl, a friend in the Barrow. She took food, a sleeping bag, needles, and other stuff. "Pearl  glanced at the shelves above the stove and pushed a box under them; she took down bread, cheese, dried fruits, meats, and a bag of oats and sugar. 'That's fine,' Julie said. 'I only need enough for a week or so. But I need to borrow a sleeping skin and ground cloth. I'll mail them back when I get where I'm going. Pearl slipped out to the shed and came back with the sleeping skin and hide." (page 103 - 104) Julie from now is Miyax. Julie has gone, as Miyax said. For Miyax this is the ride to freedom. She was going away from her terrifying husband, Daniel. He had abused her against her will, that night she ran away. "He pulled her to her feet and pressed his lips against her mouth. She pulled away." (page 102) This is important to Miyax because she will soon find the wolves, they will become a family she never had. That is the passage I wrote for my lit. circle and that is what I have understood about this novel.

          After reading a book it is always good to write out the important passages of the book. So our class are working on literature circles and I really wanted to read the book "Julie of the Wolves" because it sounded very interesting and it sounded like a book that is filled with adventure, normally I don't usually like adventure books but it was different in this case. I felt very happy when I was placed in the group that was doing "Julie of the Wolves" The group discussion of our literature circle helped me understand the novel better because I was able to hear lots of different opinions of the important passages that my other group members had thought, most of our passages were similar though, and it gave me a better understanding of the novel. It was good to know some of the connections that my group members had made, and the important passages from my other group members gave me an idea of why they chose that passage. Also listening to some of the questions that my group had added was interesting because most questions were different from each other and all of them were very good questions that I did not think of and was glad that they brought up some of them.

          There were lots of connections I made while the discussion was going on. One of the connections I made was that my grandmother has a dog called "Bing", and yes I know that is a weird name. He seems to always ignore me when I walk into my grandmothers house but the moment my father walks in he starts barking and jumping up and and down excitedly. So one day my grandmother moved house because she wanted to do renovations on her current house. "Bing" was very upset because he would be moving away from all his friends and to get to the new house you have to drive there and dogs aren't very good in cars. So my grandmother made it clear that it was my responsibility to bring "Bing" there safely. And I did manage to through much difficulty. And then finally "Bing" actually started to pay attention to me and ever since then every time I go to my grandmother's house I would give "Bing" a pat on the head and play with him for a while.

          I was wondering what would happen for the next part of, "Julie of the wolves," and I thought that maybe at the next part the wolves might be friends with and start to understand Miyax who is also known as Julie. The reason to why I thought this way was because of the title of the book and also because the wolves brought her food and maybe then realised that Miyax was a good-hearted girl and not a bad person or a hunter. I also think Miyax found a way to communicate with the wolves by watching the other wolves and their actions towards the leader of the pack, Amaroq, because she knew if Amaroq expected her the rest of the pack will. In the beginning part of the story Miyax wanted the wolves to look at her. I actually thought that talking to them was kind of a silly idea so I think that the strategy that she used which was observing their actions was very smart. The other thing that I thought that it might happen next was Miyax going to take an adventure to survive by not getting a lot of help from the wolves. She might try to be a little more brave. I think that thinking of her dad and how he managed to survive by somehow communicating with the wolves gave her hope but one day the wolves will have to go away and I think that that is yet to come . These are my predictions of what I think it's going to happen next.

This is the book "Julie of the Wolves".

Why is Australia and New Zealand wealthier than Papua New Guinea?

          Even though Papua New Guinea is located in the same region as Australia and New Zealand, why is it that Australia and New Zealand became technologically advanced and wealthier? Well, I believe that is because they had more people coming from Europe to sell with them. And at that time Europe was actually technologically advanced, and they brought their things with them. I also believe that Australia and New Zealand were also located nearer the sea and therefore it was easier for them to trade things when ships came by. Another reason I think technologically advanced and wealthier than Papua New Guinea is because Papua New Guinea was located in jungle and not as open as Australia and New Zealand. And the people that lived in Papua New Guinea actually hunted for food and gathered plants and didn't really have much time to learn about technology. Whilst the people in Australia and New Zealand started to grow plants and harvest crops.


          Why is it that Australia and New Zealand had settlers and traders coming from Europe and not Papua New Guinea? One of the reasons is because the British had been occupying many other countries and decided to make Australia a"Prison Island"where all the criminals were to be sent to. Another reason is because the first settlers that came to New Zealand were the Dutch in the year 1642. And the first settlers that came to Australia were also the Dutch but they had failed in settling so the British came and took over in the year 1688.


          One of my last reasons is because Papua New Guinea only had hunters and gatherers and they lived in a jungle and they were always busy most of the time making sure they had food so they never had time to discover new technology like the people in Australia and New Zealand who started planting plants and harvesting crops. In Papua New Guinea it is only jungle, so there are no cows or goats that can survive in the jungle and that means that they didn't have animals that could give more then just one thing because cows and goats can give milk and meat but in the jungle there are bores instead which can only give out meat. When the people in Australia and New Zealand started farming then they started living a healthier live since they could domesticate animals and get milk and so on


         Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand are three very very different countries. New Zealand and Australia have more tourists sites and attractions for foreigners and on the other hand Papua New Guinea is more of a jungle,tribal type of place. And if you like bird watching or an adventure then I think you will enjoy Papua New Guinea. Even though Australia and New Zealand are technologically advanced doesn't mean people should treat the people in Papua New Guinea any differently than you should treat the people in Australia or New Zealand.

My point of view as a Mud Skipper

          It was a nice hot and a very sunny day, I was skipping around enjoying some family time. Now you see I have a very big family, I have a wife and 4 children and children tend to get hungry very quickly and on a hot and sunny day like that they were really very hungry.So being the father It is my responsibility to find them some food. My family and I live deep inside the humongous mangrove forest of Kuala Selangor. So the really delicious are far away by the mangrove planting areas. Those are the the very dangerous areas where big giants stomp their feet around and help save the environment by planting mangrove plants. So we always have to be careful and make sure none of them stomp on us! But the giants do not come often. But when they do come it is very funny because they always get stuck in mud or fall down. Sometimes their boots even get stuck in the mud and when they pull out their legs only some thing with 5 other little things come sticking out of it. But sometimes those things that come out from their boot like to squish us so we have to be very careful. So basically I did what I do each day that is to go out and get some food for my family and I to eat. The skip from my house to the mangrove planting area is a very long skip. Which means I have to work very very hard. 

          As I was on my way to the mangrove planting area when I stopped for a rest and started hearing strange voices. Then I realized that is was not my language it was the giants language. I heard some shrieks and screams. As I got closer to the area there were more and more giants coming. they wouldn't stop. I was very close now and I really wanted to know a little more about these giants. Then a few of my friends wanted to join me because they have never ever seen giants before I told them that you have to be very careful when you see these giants because they will use that thing that comes out from their boot and squish you. One of my friends was very very curios, in fact he was actually curios enough the go skip along till he was in front of one giant. Now this giant wasn't as big as the other giants in fact it was the smallest giant there. That giant saw my friend and started to talk to it, I thought that that giant was actually very friendly. Maybe giants aren't that bad.

          After some time, I decided to take a risk and cross to the other side I was almost there, when a big black boot stepped right in front of me. And I heard a scream come from the boot. The giant wearing the boot was pointing at me. I turned around and started skipping very quickly to the right. Then another boot stopped me. I panicked and started running in circles. My ears were bursting. Screams were coming from everywhere. Finally I had the guts to stop and look up, and there I saw was a bunch of king faces of giants. But these giants were actually friendly like the other small giant I saw earlier they didn't try to squish or destroy me. I just looked up at them speechless. There were about 43 of them! These giants were all covered in mud and they smelled really bad but then again didn't I. But they weren't that small, except for maybe three or four of them. I was thinking what I should do next but then my thinking got interrupted by my friend telling me that these giants were a class from a school named ISKL which were planting young mangrove plants to help the environment. Now I was beginning to understand everything clearly. While the giants were staring and pointing at me, I peacefully and carefully skipped out of the area and on the way got some food and went home. When I reached home I told my family about my big exiting adventure today and about the big group of giants, and they were all speechless. After a while, my children started cheering for me and I felt extremely proud.

This is what a mud-skipper looks like

That is me!!!!!

     During Humanities class, we were told to type out a blog post about a time we observed or did any bullying. On Monday, we had a bullying workshop. We watched a movie about some Middle Schoolers who were being bullied. We also talked about the different types of bullying. This is my experience on observing or bullying.
     One day while I was still attending my old school I saw a girl which looked about 2 years older than I was. At the time I was 7 years old. The girl that I saw was bullying another girl who looked about my age. Her name was Natalie Gan. It turns out that she was in another class, but she was in the same grade that I was in which was 1st grade. The older girl that I saw was named Jessica, she was in 5th grade. 

Two girls fighting

     When I saw Jessica bullying Natalie I was really shocked. It was in the cafeteria and Jessica was strangling Natalie. Natalie was crying, but there were no teachers around. At first I was thinking of helping Natalie, but when I saw the size of Jessica there was no absolute way I was going to stand up for Natalie. Later on that day, the teachers were asking around the school to see if anybody had witnessed the scene. But only Jessica's friend Natalie was pushing Jessica around so Jessica strangled Natalie. When a teacher asked me I said that I wasn't there when the scene occurred. That day I could not sleep at all. The next morning, I saw that Natalie was not in school. Apparently she couldn't breathe for a while and had been admitted in a hospital. She was in the hospital for 1 week. I was very glad when she came back, I went straight up to her gave her a hug and apologized. I thought that Natalie would be really mad, but apparently she was really cool about it. She told that it didn't matter and that there was nothing I could have done anyway and what's done is done.
     Ever since that day every time I see somebody getting bullied I go over and tell the person that is getting bullied to just walk away. If I could ever change the past and change that scene I would. I would have stood up for Natalie and told Jessica to leave Natalie alone and pick on someone who is her own size because we certainly weren't. 
      The two main goals that I have for the year are to stop the bullying between people at my school and to make a good friend. But when I wanna stop people from bullying others I would say it with respect and politely. And if I see someone being bullied in the future I will take action and tell the bully to stop.

STOP BULLYING

A time when I showed Courage

     A time I showed courage was when I was 8 years old. I was still at my old school. There was a girl named Kate. She was about 7 inches taller than I was. She was 10 years old. She loved to bully kids who were younger than she was. During recess she would go looking for younger kids to bully. I was one of the younger kids that she always liked to bully first. She would do mean things like steal food or money from me. Sometimes she even made you do her homework and if you got it wrong she would give you a punch on the arm. None of the kids dared to complain about her because the first time somebody complained she ended up with a fractured finger.

      One day, Kate started to bully one of my best friends, Chloe. Kate pushed Chloe to the floor because Chloe refused to give her money to Kate. Then Chloe started to cry, so Kate called her a crybaby in front of everybody. She stepped on Chloe's hand. There were no teachers around, so I went over to Kate and Chloe. First, I helped Chloe up and I wanted to take her to the school nurse but Kate started to call us rude names. I tried to ignore her but then she tripped Chloe when she was walking. That was when I got really angry, I helped Chloe up again and told Kate to pick on someone her own size. Then I told her to stop making feel so bad just to make herself feel good. I took Chloe to the school nurse. 

     Some people think courage means facing your fears, but other people think courage is sticking up for yourself or other people. Sometimes courage doesn't always mean facing your fears like heights or lions, sometimes it just means doing something nice and brave. Each person has their own opinion on what courage means. But this is what I think courage is.

What do the artifacts tell us about the lives of early humans?

      The artifact that my group had was an interesting sculpture of two bison. The Sculpture was built in France, inside a deep cave, in a low room. Those sculptures were made from gold colored clay. Some scientists believe that these sculptures of the two bison could have been used from ceremonies that involved children turning into young adults. Certain scientists predict that these sculptures might have been built 10 - 14 thousand years ago. Scientists also believe that these bison sculptures showed that the cave belonged to a certain clan. What me and my group found interesting is that there were small footprints around the two bison sculptures.

     Another reason I think that artifacts tell us about the early humans is because if you look at some of the famous artifacts, they tell you a lot about what mind they where set in and what kind of lifestyles they had in the early humans time. They also tell us what type of tools they used to hunt and murder animals, some other artifacts also show what the women used to cook. I think that artifacts can show a lot of information of the early humans and that is why I like artifacts because you can get so much interesting and cool information out of just one artifact. 

     Sometimes I wonder what the people in the futures reaction will be like when they see the type of thing we are using right now. They will be thinking exactly what we are thinking. They would most probably want to ask a lot of questions like we want to right now. I think that artifacts are a great source to cite the past.

Picture of the Bison Sculpture

goddessalive.co.uk

Social Scientist

   I have chosen Archeology because Archaeologists find loads of cool stuff. I also would like to study how people in the past lived, died, what food they ate, their rituals and so much more that would give us a better understanding of our culture and rituals today.

   Another reason I like Archeology is because I love to travel around the world, meet all sorts of new people and experience different food around the world. It's almost like visiting many huge outdoor global museums.

   I prefer Archeology because I enjoy digging around in the dirt. I'm a type of girl who would rather be outdoors than sit and stare at my desk all day. I would love to be able to go and dig around somewhere and find skeleton bones which belonged to ancient humans or find precious jewelry that belonged to a famous queen like Cleopatra. As I love music I would really like to discover an old instrument used to make beautiful music. If I did find an old instrument I would be able to imagine how joyful the people were when they listened to the glorious music that was made.

   Being an Archaeologist would give me a chance to share all this knowledge with others so that they too will understand the great meaning of learning ancient cultures.

   I really like movies that glamorise archeology e.g. Indiana Jones, The Mummy and National Treasure. They wear some cool outfits, use great gadgets and they go on loads of adventures in the most fascinating and remote locations in countries like Egypt, Italy, France, Nepal, China, India and many more.

Graphic Sources
-ancienthistory.pppst.com
-learnnc.org

Introduction

  Hi, my name is Claire. I'm from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am 11 years old now. I go to Middle School at ISKL.

  The last three books I have read are Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyers, Get Rich Quick by Pat Flynn, and Bliss by Karen McCombie. I thought that they were all very interesting books.

  The last movie I watched was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Some of my favourite things about it are the romance, the history about Merlin and the ring. I thought the some of the characters were quite scary.

  My academic goal for this year is to develop better grades. My social goal is to make more friends, and to not get lost in this new school.

 My favourite vacation memory is last year when I went to Whistler, Canada to ski with my cousin, Neil who is from America. I had a lot of fun there, the weather there was really cold, and the food there was terrific.

 5 adjectives to describe myself would be silly, careless, shy, friendly, and funny.