Literature circle partner Reflection

On our last literature circle, our class made Partners to work with on the literature circle.

 

The benefits of working with a classmate in the literature circles were that we could collaborate with each other, and discuss the questions and passages. Also, you could get feedback from your partner if you needed to improve anything. Another benefit is that you only had to do one half of the literature circle instead of the whole.


Some challenges we had to face were that I came up with a similar connection as Ashika's passage, so I changed it and it turned out to be a much better connection/reaction than first.

Some new understandings I gained about the book are that I understand Jacob more now, for example his character and the way he acts. Also, first I didn't know what poachers were, but now I understand how cruel they are to animals and in this case: Elephants.

In short, I gained more confidence in my literature circles that I can do better in them. I also understand the novel more and I really enjoy reading Thunder Cave. I also think that teamwork can be easier, but I rather do the literature circles alone!


URL PIC 1: http://www.tradedebtorfinance.com.au/data/images/Partnership%20Factoring.jpg
URL PIC 2: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTESVGz8Gsn8EXIK10a041mAYPGcHN2uNEZxkz7J0AbGGwcs5Y0

Literature Circle Reflection

Recently in Humanities class we started with the literature circles for different books. My book is named 'Thundercave' written by Roland Smith. We just did the second literature circle that was assigned for today, Tuesday, 9th November.

My group's discussion helped me understand the novel/story better when we discussed about the characters such as Jacob and Sam. Jacob is the main character of the story and he is quite interesting. As he makes a plan to escape to Kenya, to find his father. Sam is Jacobs step father and akts in different ways. Sometimes he can be mad and stroppy, and sometimes he looks like he is a very nice man. We also discussed if it was a good idea for Jacob to go to Kenya, and also what we would do if we were him.

I did not make very much connections, because the story did not relate that much to my life. Only one, on the second. Because there my passage was based on the part in the book when Jacob takes of the necklase he got from his grandfather. It said he felt uncomfortable. I have the same feeling when I take of the necklase my sister gave me. When I have it on it makes me feel safer and it feels like my sister is so close by!

While I read the story, lots of different thoughts came up in my head. Some predictions for what will happen in the rest of the novel, and also questions for what will happen next. For example, one prediction is that Jacob will find his father in Kenya. Another is that when Jacob is on his journey to find his father that he will have trouble. Maybe he will find someone to help him, and maybe he will lose his bike again (it got stolen and then he found it again). While I read the story thoughts flew through my mind!

Thank You for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed reading it and will follow me along as I post!

Megan

Line of Symmetry

Line of Symmetry

I took this picture of these sunglasses. The sunglasses have got one line of symmetry, that goes from top to bottom, in the middle of the sunglasses.

Firefly Fieldtrip ~ 6B

Hi! Today I'm going to talk about the 6B field trip to Kuala Selangor. For the assignment I had to choose one topic, and I chose: "Write about a favorite part of the field trip. Describe the event so the reader can visualize it." What we did in the field trip is go on a firefly tour in the evening, and the next day plant mangroves. And my favorite activity was the firefly tour...

It started of when we were ready for the tour and we were waiting for the bus to arrive. When the bus finally came we stepped in and we had a lot of fun. Me and some friends were actually telling people scary stories, because it was dark in the bus, only lit by a few lights. When we arrived to the lake, we stepped out and heard that we should not make a sound when we were on the boat. When it was my group's turn we got a life jacket, and we stepped on the boat.
Then we went of, into the dark... Until, I saw a bush with flashing small lights. It were the fireflies. At first I didn't know that those were the fireflies, but when we came closer, I could actually see that there behind was flashing! We came past several bushes full with fireflies, and I even caught one and it sat in my hand. It felt funny when it sat on my hand because it felt like it was softly tickling me.

I really liked the whole trip, but the firefly place was the most fun! I'm happy I went on the trip! (although there was an ANT INVASION in the bathrooms.....)

This is a slide of photo's!! Watch and Enjoy!!

THE TIME WHEN I SHOWED COURAGE.

Hi!! Here's another blog, and this time it's about when I showed courage. "When did I show courage?" It's hard to answer, at first I couldn't really think of something. But then, I thought back on when I was still in Holland. Then I had to tell my old class that I was leaving.
I didn't go to a International school when I was in Holland, but to a normal school. Very different from the ISKL!! We were all in one classroom, with about 30 kids. In that school there were groups, so I was in group 7, witch is grade 5. And I'm missing group 8 with my old class, which is grade 6. Group 8 at that school was the fun year. You went on camp far away in Holland (to one of the small islands above, I would of gone to Texel.) and you got to do a musical with your class. And in group 8 there wasn't as much working as in group 7, group 8 (grade 6) was more of a fun year to spend with you class. But anyway, the courage part still has to come:

The time when I  showed courage, is when I had to tell my old class I was leaving. (see first paragraph, "but then I thought back on when I was still in Holland.....") I wanted to tell them, so at first I told my teacher, and we set up a date to tell the class. When the day came, I was nervous. I don't really know why. But at the end of the day, the teacher said:
"Om de dag af te sluiten, wil Megan nog wat aan jullie vertellen..." translated: "To end the day, Megan wants to tell you something..." And then it came. My moment, but it didn't go as I wanted it to go. In fact, I bursted in to tears, and said:
"Ik ga naar de andere kant van de wereld!" translated: "I'm going to the other side of the world!" My teacher, took it over for me. She explained the situation that I was in, and then I also found out, that she used to live there!
That was such a surprise to me, I never expected this, but in a good way! She told all these interesting things about Malaysia, how nice it is, and she said it's much warmer there then in Holland!! She made me feel much better about going. I thought it was going to be terrible and I would miss my friends so much that I would feel miserable (but I did like the fact that I would go to the ISKL because the site made a huge impression on me!). I do miss my friends in Holland, and sometimes I do get miserable and I just want to lie down, but I have got a million friends here now and I can't imagine going back to Holland in two years!

After I told my old class, they were all really nice to me! Even the boys were really nice to me. (Even though there were only seven.) Big groups would go to the beach with me, (in Holland we just could go alone, it's really safe in Holland and everyone new the way) and we would have a lot of fun. Especially in the summer, when it was nearly time to go, then nearly the whole class was going to the beach in a big group with me, and we had the most fun ever!

But the saddest was when I had to leave my sister behind. That's also a time when I needed the most courage, to not cry and never forget here. But next summer vacation, I'm going back to Holland for a month. Then I can visit my sister, who lives in Amsterdam, and also my friends.

One of the most fun things is that my mother had arranged with my old principal that I can sit in the class with my old class!! Because when I have summer vacation, they still have to go to school for a little longer. And I'm also invited to go to there musical. I'm so happy that I can do that, and I'm really looking forward to see them again!

Of course, I'm very exited to see my sister again! Your probably thinking: "Why didn't she come to Malaysia?" Well, because she is in University in Amsterdam. She also now lives in Amsterdam in a small apartment with two other girls. She could of come if she wanted to, but she chose not to. She had started already and she had fun in what she was doing. She also didn't want to leave here friends.  But the good thing is that she is going to visit us at Christmas! So that won't take to long until I see her again!

This was my blog, a long one! It's not all about the courage part, there is also a lot of information, and what happened after, but anyway: That was how it went when I wasn't here yet!
Here's something I want to say to my sister:

Love you Kirsten! <3

I hope you liked my blog and the way I wrote it, and that you will respect the way I still feel about being here, and not in my home country,

Megan


I edited the picture, but the original I found on Google images:

Original pic of speech:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&gbv=2&nfpr=1&tbs=isch:1&&sa=X&ei=1VSMTNL5Gs6cceXWlZQE&ved=0CCMQBSgA&q=speech+in+class&spell=1&biw=1366&bih=568

Artifacts: studying the past

Archaeologists study the Artifacts of the early humans to discover about the past, and find out how the early humans lived the way they lived.


Cave painting of shapes and handprints. The painting was found in a cave in Argentina, South America. This painting has animals that look like gazelles, witch are panicking about some dangerous animal. There are also yellow type of bugs, and it seems like the gazelles are running them over. There are also bigger and smaller handprints, and different kind of shapes such as: zigzag lines, and circles. We have learned from this artifact that the early humans probably had special rituals, witch involve this type of drawing on the cave walls. And also, scientists think that these places in the cave were used for special gatherings, because where the painting is, the voice is the loudest. The handprints were very small, so the prehistoric people were probably much smaller then we are now. And some scientists think that the artists signed there painting by putting a handprint there.

Here is a picture of the cave painting of hanprints and shapes: 







Clay Sculptures. These clay sculptures were found in a low room deep inside a cave in France. These two clay sculptures are of bison, one of them looks injured, because it is lying down, and the other looks like it's just leaning on some rocks. It looks like there is water behind the bison, and it looks like the injured bison is reaching to it. Some scientists think that this meant that the cave belonged to a certain clan, or that these were used in special ceremonies, to show a child has grown up. So we learned that there were probably special ceremonies for reasons such as the children have grown up (because there were small footprints found close by the sculptures.)

Here is a picture of the clay sculptures: 









Cave painting of animals. This painting is painted on a leveled wall, and it looks like some horses are running over a ledge. There is also a unfinished animal on the wall, and it looks like a other animal is running away, while jumping over the herd. Some animals look older then others, because it seems like the paint is peeling of. This painting shows that probably this is something that happened, or these paintings were also used for ceremonies. It also could of been that the artists believed in spirits, and they made this art to honor them.


With all this information about the prehistoric people, we can learn a lot about the past! I hope we find lots more interesting artifacts that the early humans made.
Megan

first picture:
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:-hTt5moBAON8EM:http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb124/skimac/altamira.jpg&t=1
second picture:
http://puffin.creighton.edu/bucko/courses/syllabi/images/buffalo.gif

Social scientists..

 Historian

 

Hi everyone!


For Humanities we got an assignment about what social scientist I wanted to be. And I chose a Historian.
I chose Historian because I think it's interesting to find out about the past by myself, and putting that in a row.
I also like reading, and I think it's interesting to read old letters or documents that people wrote a long time ago.
I think I would be good at it :)

 
 But he isn't really....

:)

Megan

Me, Myself and I

Hi!

I'm Megan, and I come from Holland. I have got a big family, part of it is English, some are South African, and me and my brother and my father are dutch. My sister is South African, my mother is English, and all my cousins are English; and my grandmothers and grandfathers are English too, and so on. But now I'm in Malaysia, I can't see them so often as before.

I used to live in South Holland, near The Hague, You can see it on the map:

I like eating out with family, going on holiday, going to the beach; and daily I like to read, spend time with my friends, email my friends in Holland, chat with those friends, and I love gymnastics! I haven't really got a favorite color, but I like blue, pink, green, red, purple, orange, but I don't like yellow! My favorite food is sushi! I also like chocolate, and ice cream, and I'm addicted to brownies, what isn't really proper food. I'm interested in learning about the culture of other countries.

I think I'm social, cause I like to make more and more friends, help other people, and be open to other people. I'm quite creative with stuff, I like drawing creatively, I don't really think about what I'm going to draw. And I'm energetic, sometimes to energetic, then I'm more hyper then energetic, but I like PE, gymnastics, and most times I have got allot of energy!

I want to do well in school, and eventually be successful, even though I'm going back to Holland in two years, this school will be very good for my education. And my social goal is that I want to make lots of friends in this school year, and I hope to keep my Dutch the way it is, and be better in English because I still thinks that's quite difficult.


So that's it for now,

Megan