Exploring Mars

For home in science we had to explore Mars using this website. It was really cool to see what it was kind of like. It didn't really look like there was much stuff on Mars. It just looked like a bunch of rocks, and it looked like there was sand. Also the color of it was a sandy-clayish color. It would be really cool if they found clay material on Mars because that would indicate that there was water. It also seems like it is really dry. If there was water before then there is definitely no water now. After looking at the Mars website, I'm glad that I live on Earth and have all of the great resources that it provides.

End of the Year Reflection

I have had a very successful RLA year. I have learned a lot of valuable skills in reading and writing. One of the valuable skills that I have learned this year is how to analyze characters thoughts, actions, and dialogue in a bigger way. For an example, "She blinked her eyes rapidly and against the rhythm until the redness before them cleared and she could see.” (A Wrinkle in Time, Page 227). From this sentence I can analyze, also from past events in the book, that as Meg was blinking against the rhythm it was almost like she was blinking the parts of herself that she didn't like. Also for reading this year I was very proud of my literary essay. I thought that it was very focused and had very strong ideas. It was very fun to write and I think it was a great piece to end the year with. I think that my next step as a reader next year should be to explore more genres like non fiction and historical fiction. I typically enjoy reading realistic and dystopian or utopian books. I really enjoyed reading The Giver and trilogies, The Hunger Games, and Mockingbird from those genres. I haven't had much of a chance to read much of non fiction and historical fiction but hopefully I will like those as well.

This year I have also really enjoyed writing. One of the big skills that have takeaway was "word smithing" or taking a few words and turning them into one more powerful word. For an example, "The house was really really scary" to "The house was haunting". This skill has helped me a lot with my writing this year and helped keep my writing exciting. This year I was especially proud of my realistic fiction piece. I wrote about this girl, Kate, who has a younger sister, Beth, who is autistic. In my piece Beth has to write a story for homework which Kate knows will be a disaster, while all of that is happening Kate struggles with problems with her absent parents. I am really proud of this piece because it is very personal to me. I have two autistic cousins and I think that there isn't enough stories out about being around autistic people. I am also very proud of this piece because it was very challenging. It is much harder to write about autistic 9 year old then writing about a average 8 year old. Every little movement that a autistic person does is crucial to the story to it was a fun challenge trying to capture every one of those moments. I think a good goal for writing next year should be to make sure that I have a good balance between inner thoughts, dialogue, and description. I always tend to focus on dialogue and description, and forget about inner thoughts. I have really enjoyed all of the RLA projects this year and I can't wait to see what projects we get next year!

Literary Essay - The Truth that Lies Beneath the Character

The Truth that Lies Beneath the Character

When put through tough and boundary crossing situations, true characters can strive. Madeleine L'Engle frequently shows this through character traits and conflicts. In the book A Wrinkle in Time, Meg has to save her father who has ended up in a whole other world despite her fears and awkwardness. She goes on a big quest to find him and has to defeat the powerful IT. In Meet the Austins, Vicky has to accept the unsetting change in her family, a 10 year old orphaned girl named Maggy. Maggy shakes up the perfect Austin family and Vicky doesn’t want her to be in it. Madeleine L’Engle believes that putting troubled characters in tough situations can show their true ability.

Madeleine L’engle shows her character’s true inner strengths when they are faced with fear. In A Wrinkle in TIme Meg had to get IT out of Charles Wallace, and she was petrified. IT is a brain that can control minds. It takes minds and tricks it or hypnotises it to think something else or to do something that it wants it to do. IT got control of Charles Wallace’s mind and was attacking him. Meg had to fight against Charles to get to IT out of his mind, but she ended up fighting the battle differently than she expected. “But she, in all her weakness and foolishness and baseness and nothingness, was incapable of loving IT. Perhaps it was not too much to ask of her, but she could not do it. But she could love Charles Wallace. She could stand there and she could love Charles Wallace.” (Page 229) This was the battle that she feared the most, but she knew that she loved her brother more than anything. Even though Meg was terrified and not thinking clearly, she knew that she had to just love Charles Wallace and IT would go away. She showed herself that she can be strong and powerful and not just the awkward and babyish Meg. Sometimes being scared can show people who they really are and what they can do.

Sometimes, Madeleine L’Engle sets up scary situations so that her characters can strive. In Meet the Austins, Vicky has to take charge when Rob goes missing on their summer vacation. She normally was very shy and lets John, her older brother, take charge. Vicky also can become flustered very easy and it can be hard for her to think straight, but when Rob went missing, she knew just how to handle the situation and the untrustworthy Maggy. “John suddenly looked terribly old and grownup. “We’ll have to go to Grandfather,” he said. Then I had an idea. “Maggy, did you play the trick on Rob? Did you go off and leave him for a joke?” Maggy nodded. All the pink went out of Maggy’s cheeks and she went very white and the darks of her eyes seemed to get very big.” (Page 206)This was the moment where Vicky took charge and was able to finally get Maggy to tell the truth. Maggy lies so that she won’t get in trouble, and Vicky just knew that Maggy must know about where he was. This was a true moment of character change because Vicky went from being young and babish Vicky to being the grown up and Vicky is a quiet and sensitive, so having to take charge was a challenge but she showed herself that she is capable of showing who she really is.

After Madeleine L’Engle’s characters conquer these situations, they come out stronger and better people. After Meg conquered IT, in A Wrinkle in Time, she felt like she finally did something that was worth it or something that mattered. When she was using all of her energy to defeat IT, it was like she was defeating her fears, as if she was letting a part of herself go. “She blinked her eyes rapidly and against the rhythm until the redness before them cleared and she could see.” (Page 227) As she blinked against IT she was blinking away the parts of herself that held her back from being who she really is. Also with each blink she was becoming more and more clear of who she really is and what she can accomplish. She showed herself that she really is worth something and is ready to be something better.  

Madeleine L’Engle believes that putting troubled characters in tough situations can show their true ability. Madeleine L’engle shows her character’s true inner bravery and power when they are faced with terror. Also, she sets up frightening situations so that her characters have work to show who they really are. After Madeleine L’Engle’s characters conquer these situations, they come out of the problem to be better and stronger people they really are. Sometimes, the most unexpected, helpless characters can turn out to be the most amazing heroes.

2012-2013 Science Favorites

This year in science we have covered many units. They have been from Earth layers, to flower biology, to primates. I have had so many favorite things that I learned and did. But my favorite unit was the flower biology and germination. When we learned about flowers, we learned how they become pollinated and form new seeds. I thought that this was very interesting because some flowers can self pollinate. I also liked this unit because we got to open up flowers and learn all of the parts. I liked learning about what each part of the plant does and how it works together.

Another unit I enjoyed this year was the primates. Each person learned about one kind of primate and did a project on it. I did my project on the Chimpanzee. I have loved Chimpanzee every since I was 5, so I was very happy when I was able to get that one. I also loved Jane Goodall. I think she is very interesting and made many useful observations. I liked how everyone only learned about their own primate because everyone's projects were different and it wasn't like we were just hearing the same information. Also with the Chimpanzees, I liked learning about what makes them special and makes them different from all of the other primates.

One project that I enjoyed, was the rock cycle project. I liked how the project couldn't just be a poster or a power point. This way all of the projects were more creative and individual. It was more fun making the project and watching the projects. Also it brought out different types of creativity from different people. I made a video of me pretending to teach a class about the rock cycle and I drew a diagram. Other people made books, pretended they were scientists, etc... I wish that there were more projects like that.

My favorite field trip we went on was the zoo. I liked it because we got to be with people that had also studied the same primate and it was fun to compare data. Also, we got to be with another group studying a different primate. I thought it was fun seeing the different primate and learning about it. It was also real[y nice to be at the zoo and get to see animals other than my primate. Even though there wasn't much time to see them, we could see them as we were walking to the primates. And lastly, I liked seeing the baboons. There were so many! It was crazy. There must have been 30+ baboons. There was also this one baboon that kept rocks in its cheek pouches and it looked pretty cool. I have really enjoyed this year's science class and I can't wait until next years!