Working with a partner on Literature Circle Reflection!

1.The benefits of working with a classmate.



Some of the benefits of working with a partner are: it is easier to accomplish an assignment because the work is divided among the group members/ your partner. A second reason is, if a group member did not complete his or her reading assignment the other group member can fill him or her in on what they missed. The final reason that it is good to have a partnership is more creative problem solving. What I mean by that is, because no two people see the same problem the same way, approaching a problem with a partner can lead to a broader a-ray of possible solutions or answers.



2. Challenges / obstacles which you overcame (tried to overcome).



Some challenges and obstacles I had to overcome during literature circles are: trying to finish all of my homework before I do my lit circles then make sure if I have time to rest and relax, making sure that I have read the amount of chapters given to us and make sure I had read  the chapters that they gave us and i'm going to school with the assignment completed and ready to turn in. Obviously, if a group member did not do their part in the project, and the other group member did but was not around to see his partner, then that group member is in big trouble. Becasue he didn't do his work so then he will let his partner's grade go down because they get grade as partnership so the other person might have done a good job but if the other person didn't do their part of the work
the people grading would just gradde the group with a low grade because someone in you group didn't do their work and now you will also get blamed for it,



3. New understandings that you gained about the novel.

Finally, some new understandings that I have gained about the novel. One new understanding is that the flow of the book is not linear, in other words the story shifts between the present and past, but topics can change fluidly, even on the same page. Another new understanding that has changed my perspective on the book is that the main character is a normal teenage boy named Brian who was forced to forage in the woods of Canada in order to survive after a plane crash. This book is adventurous and also kind of sad because Brian's parents were divorced because his mother, two
months earlier, cheated on Brian's Dad. I personally find this novel very interesting because a good/bad problem leads to a very good story.

Literature Circle Reflection

1. How your groups discussion helped you better understand the novel. Write about of some of the key ideas from the novel that your group discussed and how these were important to the plot of the story.

Yes, becuase during the first two literature circle discussions for the novel ' Hatchet ' by: Gary Paulsen, my group explored many topics. We used these topics to start discussions. Such as a passage and then a question and then a response to the question and then a connection then last the vocabulary.

2. Describe some of the connections that you made during your discussion.

I did not make very much connections, because the story did not relate that much to my life or other stuff I did in my life. Only a few. Because my passage was based on the part in the book when Brian threw-up and on Thursday 4/11/10 I throw-up. When I threw-up it made me light headed and I then turned pail and then I threw-up for a long time.

3. What predictions do you have for the rest of the novel.

While I read the story thoughts flew through my mind! Some predictions that I had while I was reading the  for what will happen in the rest of the novel, and also questions for what will happen next. For example, one prediction is that Brian will be rescued by his parents and his parents will forget the whole divorce because they went together to go and rescue Brian from the forest. Another is that when Brian is on his journey to go to his father that he will have trouble. Maybe he will find someone to help him out of the forest, and maybe he will get lost in the prosses.

To conclude, Literature circle discussions have helped me grow as a reader in many different ways. They have helped me to read the book much slowly so I can understand the book much clearly, become more aware of the characters and the setting and just understanding the story with greater depth.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Symmetry In KL

I took a picture of the twin towers because it has exactly one line of symmetry from top to bottom. ( look closely at the middle of the bridge at the black line imagan cutting that in half and you have exactly the same thing on each side.)

Kuala Selangor Trip

A few days ago we went on a camping trip to Kuala Selagor and we spent the night at a hostel and I stayed with my freinds Pasha, Alvin, Samuel, Ejia. The very same day we went to make our own grasshopers out of bamboo leaves.  It was hard but in the end I finally made a few. After lunch we all played ultimate frisbee and some people played tag and then we got ready to leave to go see the fireflies at a nearby river and it was fun although I was scared some of the time.

The next day, we planted mangrooves in the mud it was fun up to the part Rose pushed everyone in a blamed it on other people.  I had fun because I didn't get pushed in the mud nor did I fall in by myself.  When I got stuck in the mud, I would pull my leg out by grabing onto a thick stick and stabbing it into the ground and trying to yank my leg out, but when I tried to pull my leg out like most people, I didn't fall in because I didn't use all of my strength to pull myself out.

When we all got back, Mr. Sheflin hosed some mud off us, then we had to take a shower to wash off other splats of mud on our bodies. Then we packed all of our stuff and then we played a scavenger game.  Next we ate lunch and then we left to return to school.  Once we returned to school  some students were tired and ready to go home and some stayed at school to do their activities. I was part of the tired group that came home before activites.  Overall I had a great trip. 

Courage

There are times in our lives when we show courage.   We can use these events to grow and learn.  I showed courage this past summer when I went fishing in Michigan.

I went deep sea fishing with my Dad, Amir my brother, Dad's brother-in-law and my cousin in Lake Michigan.  We went during a big rain storm that lasted 6 hours.  I was so scared because not only did the storm last six hours, but the storm was rocking the boat, and we were not wearing life-jackets because they said they didn't have five life jackets, they only had one and the water was 700 feet deep.  I don't know if they said that to scare us, but I was scared.  I had to focus on catching fish so I would not think about it.

I was focused and brave.  I caught the biggest fish of the day!  I also learned that there were life vests for the whole group and they had been joking with us in the beginning.  I became braver this day.  I knew I was a good swimmer and not having the vests in the beginning of the trip really didn't scare me that much.  Even though the water was rough and the storm lasted the whole trip, I still made it a successful trip by continuing fishing and catching dinner that day.

Early Human Artifacts

Archaeologists study artifacts from early humans to find out more about their lives.  We can also see what their lives were like by looking at some of these artifacts.

A clay sculpture was one of the artifacts discovered.  This cracked clay sculpture was in he shape of buffalo and was most likely made in a cave.  We learn that the buffalo was most likely used as a status symbol.  We also learned that the cave was used for ceremonies of that group, maybe in a ceremony to show that a child became an adult.

The second artifact was a cave painting of animals.  The animals look like horses, some black and some brown.  There are eleven horses at different levels on the ground and a bull in the center.  We learn that the painting was used to honor spirits.  Some groups try to capture the magical power of certain animals.

The third artifact we looked at was cave art tools.  The rocks have the same sharp ends.  Brown circles look like food or mud balls, two big rocks one white the other black. We learned that grinding the brown circles make paint and that they mixed powder with animal fat or vegetable oil to make various colors.  The early humans painted with the top of their finger tips.  The mud balls may have been used to the color the space around their hand shapes.  From these artifacts, we can see that communication was important to early humans and they communicated through their cave art using these tools.

Artifacts can tell us many things about the lives of early humans.  We can see how these people lived.  We can look into their day to day lives and see what and how they hunted, communicated, what they did in their ceremonies, and what they did for fun.

Archaeologists

I want to be an Archaeologist because digging in the dirt reminds me of Indiana Jones series # 1, as in the  Indiana Jones movies, Indy digs in the dirt for a special pot. I think that sounds interesting because digging in the dirt and finding out about what  has been there under your feet for century's, and then putting it in a museum  with fossils from a long long time ago is exciting. The museum will then display the artifact so that everyone who visits the museum will see it and then the archaeologist would be proud.

The second reason why I would like to become an archaeologist is because they get to go into cave and find what cave man drew and what might lead to what have been how they communicate in the past.

Adam's blog

Hi, my name is Adam and I come from Washington D.C which is located in the U.S.

My favorite hobby is fishing.  Over the summer I caught a King Salmon in Lake Michigan and trout in West Virginia.

I'm athletic, friendly and sensitive.  I'm athletic because I play many sports well.  I'm friendly because I make alot of new friends and I am sensitive because I really don't like it when people pick on me.

My favorite colors are red, white and blue, just like the American flag.

My favorite fruit is banana.  I also like fruit salad.

I enjoy reading adventure books like the Indiana Jones series.   I am looking forward to going to Angor Wat this fall to have my own adventure.

My academic goal this year is to finish my homework on time.  This is hard for me since all of us use one computer at home. 

My social goal this year is to make at least one new friend.  That goal is achieved, because I have already made a friend.  His name is PJ.