Doodlers!

We did learning profiles in Humanities, again... I thought mine might change like my friend's has but it didn't, it still is J! I'm so happy because I love being J. I'm a HUGE doodler, all over my planner, my binder, some of my assignments. Sometimes when I have been doing something for a long time, I just start doodling and that calms me down and helps me concentrate more. Everyone thinks I'm a logic, but that is because they don't really pay attention to me! Just because I'm in advanced math does not mean I'm a logic person! I have always drawn things, random things. Things from school, like what we talked about in math, or what happened in humanities. When I found out I'm a kinesthetic learner all my friends didn't believe me. But what they don't know is I always tap my toes in my shoes, move my feet around, shake my leg or doodle.

There are some specific ways my profile types learn best. So, I learn best through movement and by focusing on the whole picture, context and emotional relevance to self. If I'm stressed out then I shut down. I would stare that the thing that stresses me out, stop communicating and get pretty clumsy. My biggest challenge as a learner may be to access information and put them into a logical manner, that I can communicate through. I know that is true because I have always focused on the big picture and not the details, that is why I'm not good at debating, they always use the small details I have over-looked against me!

I need to move around. If I stay still for too long then my mind just slows down and I get this weird feeling as if my mind was in slow motion and everything is super slow and weird. Then I get up and suddenly my head clears up and I don't feel like my mind is in slow motion anymore.

I would like my teachers to know that if I'm doodling when they are talking, I'm still listening to them! They always make me put my doodle sheet away and it always annoys me. When they have a visual presentation on then, yes they can get angry at me for doodling but when they are talking then if I doodle its like I'm taking notes, if they were talking about ex. Daedalus and Icarus. Then I would doodle some wings, the sun, the ocean, a hand trying to grab hold of the other. Just parts of the instructions, story etc... That I think are important or that intrigue me. That will be all over my planner so when I look at my planner to see what I have to do then I will see all my doodle about Icarus and Daedalus and when I doodle I get a deeper meaning of what we are talking about.

So there it is, more about me and my learning styles. I did this last year for the first time and now I know even more about about my learning styles. This just keeps gettin gmore and more interesting!

I Remember......

We had the honor of meeting the famous poet, Taylor Mali, in our Humanities class. He talked about his work. But then he talked about his memories. He talked about his early mother's memories, his brother's early memories and he made us all laugh with his funny faces. That inspired us to think about our early memories.

I remember making a makeshift hut with my bed, blanket and books, but it didn't work because the books fell on my head, when I was 5.

I remember helping my mom and my brother make red Thai curry except we had a little malfunction and it turned green

I remember on my 8th birthday a parrot asked for my rainbow ice-cream.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing my brother talk, I was still afraid of the dark then and I asked him if he could go and turn on the light so I could go to the bathroom. But I didn't realize he was sleep talking.

I remember my cousin picking me up from art class, when a pack of stray dogs started chasing us. They chased us all the way to my front door.

I remember playing on a make shift swing my father made for me. When I was high up, one of the ropes broke and I fell I had enough sense to duck before the swing came back and hit me.

I remember stealing mangoes from the kitchen, until my mother caught me and for my punishment I had to watch everyone eat mangoes while I had nothing.

I remember when I first came to KL, I had never worn short socks so I thought my parents had bought me baby socks.

I remember fighting with my cousin over a pink color pencil (our favorite color was pink!)

I remember crying when my mom told me we were going to move to Malaysia.

My Name

My name says a lot of things about me. My name is a mixture of the lightest of blues, purples and pinks, a very feminine name. My name is one of a kind. Some people say it is weird; some say it is beautiful. But I say it is me; everything about me is my name. In India my name was a beautiful name with the right pronunciation! But here it is a different thing altogether. It is distinguished into three different parts. In India or inside of my family it is one word, three syllables that come together as one to make my name. My name reminds me of silk. It slips out of my mouth. I’m almost used to correcting people with the pronunciation of my name. Very few people have got it right. Some of my friends just call me Nanda, my last name. But that is not me, I share it with my family; it is us, not me. My name is Pratiti.

I have been teased about my name. When I first came to Malaysia there was a big girl on my bus. I was in first grade and she was in fifth grade. She was a Korean and she made fun of my name, I could hear them laughing at the back of the bus, whispering and pointing at me. I still remember her long dark hair, pale skin and her tall frame. The funny thing was, I thought her name was weird! I had never been exposed to international schools so I thought her name was odd. But I had some manners and didn’t think it would be funny to make fun of her name. Other times when the teacher mispronounces my name, some people laugh at it. I laugh along with them, because I don’t take it as an insult, I find it funny.

My name means ‘belief’ -- it is a Sanskrit word. I think I’m very privileged to be named after such an important word. Isn’t it ‘believe’ that always comes before hope in inspirational speeches? “We have to believe there is hope!” Don’t people always say, “you have to believe in yourself” or “I believe in you!” My parents named me Pratiti for two reasons. My brother’s name is Pratik and they wanted my name to be something similar. The second is they believed I could do wonders. I’m going to prove them right! I will make them proud of me. I will make sure that I do wonders. My father wanted to name me Sabrina from a female protagonist in a book he was reading during the time I was born. He doesn’t remember what the book was called anymore since he read it about thirteen years ago! I have a nickname that only my family calls me: Munlee. My brother’s nickname is Leemun, so my nickname is his nickname backwards. But the ‘m’ and the ‘n’ change places and the ‘l’ goes before the two ‘e’s.

I love my name; I believe that it is unique. I mean how many people have you met whose name is Pratiti? I’m not saying that I’m the only one with the name but it stands out. I have always wanted to stand out and I think I do. My entire family is organized with everything. They have all graduated with good grades and they all love to do math, they are consistent in their grades! But me, my grades change from time to time, my room is always a mess and I enjoy reading about myths and history, I love setting my imagination wild and put what I’m thinking into words! It all adds up to humanities! It is true: My father is a marine engineer; it involves high level math! My brother is studying accounting and finance which also involves math. My mother is a housewife ,but cooking also involves math! But I want to study literature, I find it interesting, something that I can study without getting bored!

This is Me in 3!

Guess what I am doing right now? I am staring blankly at my computer screen trying to figure out the third thing that describes me! The first two came to me very easily -- all my books and my tennis racket. But I just can’t figure out what the third thing should be. A million things are going through my head right now but I have to find the perfect one, the one that will be the final piece for me that I will be sharing with you. Something that I love dearly and gives me love, joy, can bring back beautiful memories from the past and maybe even from the present! I know it, my big stuffed pink toy dog. I know it sounds silly but I love that dog and I have had him since I moved to Malaysia.

I love reading; everyone who knows me knows I love reading. When I really like a book I can feel everything in it. I feel as if I am in a new world, a new person! Sometimes I get so lost in a book that when my mom calls me, I can’t hear her (I get in trouble for that all the time!). I have only been in three countries: India, Malaysia and Singapore. However, in books I have been to England, Hogwarts, Elantya, Medieval times, Forks, dancing with the 12 dancing princesses, in the labyrinth with Annabeth and many more! As you can see I only like to read fantasy, fiction , romantic fiction (e.g., Twilight) and adventures. But all the non-fiction and biographies bore me. My parents try to make me read them but I don’t. I feel sleepy when I try to read non-fiction or biographies. When I walk into Kinokuniya, MPH or Times I feel like I am a five year old again and I get to pick out a new Barbie doll! Any place that is filled with books is like my own wonderland, a portal to many different worlds, like the library where they have plenty of books, it’s my favorite place in the school. I sometimes spend hours on the library catalog trying to find a good book to read!

My tennis racket is important to me because my brother is really good at tennis and I am taking lessons with his old coach. I hope to be as good as he is someday. I do lessons every Sunday. Sometimes when my brother coaches me I feel like he really cares about what I am doing and how good I am. He spends the whole hour we booked the tennis court for coaching me when he could be doing wall practice! I feel like he really cares about me. It’s like our special bonding time. I really suck at serving so my brother spent a half an hour trying to teach me how to do it properly! Thanks to him I am much better at service now. When I pick up my tennis racket, I tie up my shoe laces and make sure my water bottle is full then I turn myself onto alert mode. When I am running around hitting the ball on the court I feel alive, sporty and healthy. I feel strong when I really am not! The ball comes towards me and everything is slowing down: my pony tail bounces on my back, sweat trickles down my spine and head, my hands move in a circular motion and hit the ball with all the strength they can muster. That's what it feels like to play tennis, for me. I love it, it is a part of me and always will be!

My big pink stuffed dog’s name is Purple because she has a big purple nose . To me Purple is not a stuffed dog; to me she is a protector, a guardian or my very own archangel. Whenever I have a nightmare she is always lying there on my bed and I grab hold of her pull her close and fall asleep feeling safe! Do you ever get the feeling when you look at someone or something that you think will protect you for the rest of your life and always will be there for you? Well Purple is the dog who I wiped my tears on when I was upset about something. She was the dog I held onto when I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible nightmare still playing in my head! She is very battered right now but she has all these good memories! Like the first time I ever scared my brother, he was about to turn the corner and I threw Purple at him: he was so surprised that he jumped back and almost toppled over! That was one of the funniest memories ever! Purple is a big part of my life I will never throw her away or do anything to her that will take her away from me!

My Awesome Bio-Poem

Pratiti

Who is surprisingly nice, devastatingly disorganized, consistently loyal and sometimes unpredictable

Who admires her brother Pratik, Loves her mom and dad and values all her best friends

Who reads only fiction books, spends hours on the Internet and stares at landscapes

Who feels dead tired after swimming, goofy after drama and hyper after a boring day of sitting around

Who is scared of all kinds of slithery snakes, pitch black darkness closing around her and saying good bye to people she loves

Who is very proud of winning her first bronze medal ever in breaststroke

Wants to see Paris, feel the cool snow falling around her and hear a mockingbird sing in it’s beautiful voice

Lives in KL, Malaysia, Asia, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy

Nanda

The last project in Hum. with mr. Thomas is a trailer

This is my Greek mythology trailer! I can't really give you an outline cause thats the trailer's job. But I will tell you the names of the characters that will be in this trailer and the characters that didn't make it into my trailer. First of all there is the first Greek goddesses Nyx. She gives birth to Eros the god of love. Since Eros was born frim an egg the top part of the egg went adn formed the sky and Eros name the sky Uranus. The bottom part went and formed the Earth and Eros named Earth Gaia. He made Uranus and Gaia fall in love. They had many children (Titans), Kronos one of the Titans was afraid of his children's power and ate them while they were still babies. But his wife Rhea betrays him and saves one kid (Zeus). Then there is a huge battle between them you will have to see the movie (which is never coming out) to find out who wins the battle. Hint: read the Percy Jackson series and you will find out for sure! Enjoy my trailer!

Its gone by so FAST!

I have done a lot of work this year! But there is one thing that I'm really proud of and that is our second Tic-Tac-Toe! It was a collaborative project and my group members were Sheta, P.J and Ted. Our ancient civilization was ancient China. We did the geographical location powerpoint, the mobile and the diary. Our mobile had to be about the 12 contributions or achievments and we chose the Shang dynasty in ancient China. Our two diary entries were also based on a slave girl in the Shang dynsty. And our geographical powerpoint was on all of China! I'm really proud of my work on this project is my groups teamwork! We worked well together, we spilt our work equally, we all did our work properly and if we had disagreements we worked them out in class. We got all our work done before the deadline and for sometime we barely had any humanities homework! Then it is the quality of our work. We edited all our work like I wrote the diary entries and Sheta edited them. On the mobile we went through all the paragraphs before we printed them out. Ted and P.J edited all the slides before presenting it. I learned so much about writing while we were the diaries. I'm especailly happy with my improved writing ability! Before all my sentences were tiny and I didn't pay attention to my vocab, but now most of my sentences are compound and I write much better! Both my diaries the ancient Egyptian and ancient China diary entries have helped me alot with my writing!

My greatest challenge this year is making my writing my own. I know that sounds crazy but my teacher made me realize this. I still have trouble with making my writing my own! This means making my writing sound like I wrote it! Not a different person. Some people can write really formally and make it sound like their own work. But I don't really talk very formally! I seriously think formal is boring (no offense to people who write formally!) I always wondered why I kept getting only A's instead of A+'s. I always thought it was my writing but then in the student led conferences mr. Thomas told me that it wasn't my writing but it was the way I wrote. So I'm still trying to fix that!

I learned many things about myself as a learner. Best of all when we were doing our learning profiles. You can findour more about that if you read my learning profile post! But most of all I learned that I can do anythign I want as long as I concentrate and want to do my best. I always turn in my best work if I work hard and concentrate. I know that's what everyone says that if you focus and try hard you can do anything, and that is true. But sometimes if I don't focus and not try hard I can get a pretty good grade. But that is an A- or lower. I always want to go for A's and A+'s! That is my goal! So I learned that if I'm listening to a little bit of music and not multi-taking I can so awesome work!

For my behavior in class I would say satisfactory. Because I'm not perfect or a model student. I don't always do my homework or turn my work in before teh deadline. There have been a few times when I would completely forget about the deadline and I would finish my project last minute. Like our imaginative narrative. I completely forgot it was due on wednesday so I had to finish it in class cause mr. Thomas was angry with abunch of other kids cause they didn't do their work either!

I think I actively participate in class. I always listen when mr. Thomas is talking so I won't have to ask him to repeat the directions. I ask questions when I need to, and even if I can't participate in a certain conversation, because I have nothing to say I just listen quitely and if they say something funny I laugh along with everyone else.

I think I'm super organized because I never forget any of my supplies. I always bring my humanities binder (even if we never use it), I never forget my SSR book and if I do forget something then it is because I didn't know we were meant to bring it. But obviously I forget things sometimes but other than that I'm good. My locker is also neat. I can get all my stuff when I need them so I consider that neat!

I think my effort is satisfactory. I don't go above and beyond expectations all the time. I do that sometimes but not always. I know that I should but I don't. I do everything that is neccesary and that is the end. If I feel like it then I go abouve and beyond expectations. There are some people who go above and beyond expectations all the time and then there are people who don't even do satisfactory. But that just depends on how we want our work to turn out!

Now I'm going to tell you about two goals I want to set for 7th grade! My first goal is to go above and beyond expectations all the time. Now that I understand how it works in ampang better I can really work hard on that. My second goal is to participate in everything that I can. This year I just sat back and watched everything but now I'm going to participate in things like that middle school play. I didn't even audition but next year in 7th grade I 'll audition and try to get into it!

I would like the teachers know that I can do my work but if I seem really confused about something then that means that I don't get what to do or I don't get what I did wrong! Then there is my revising problems. I never really revise my work. I don't read over my essays to fix the vocab and grammatical errors or in math to fix the silly mistakes that I would make.

I don't remember what it was called but it was a challenge in which we had to make the ancient Egyptian social pyramid in 30 minutes using three paper plates, a few straws, paper clips, string, one strip of tape, note cards. ruler and anything else we had. I really liked it because it forced us to work fast and think creatively. We worked in groups I was with Ashka and Sheta. So it also depended on teamwork. We had to reason critically because we had to use ALL the supplies that mr. Thomas provided us! And it was a lot of fun, we also go to review our social pyramid because we had to explain what each social level was.


I think that we could have had more chances to be free with our writing. The only piece of free writing we did was the imaginative narrative and we rushed through that. I really think that we had a little bit more chance to be imaginative it woulf have been easier to write the diary entries because we would be able to imagine the life style and the setting better. It is also more fun to let your imagination run free so we would want to do the work. We would think of it as fun not as home work or a project we had to do to get a good grade!

I love it when teachers ask us to give advice. Okay make sure you listen to the teachers when they are giving you instructions! Trust me you don't want to have to do a project and you don't know what to do! That is the worst position to be in (I talk from experience)! Make sure you so your home work because it will be useful when you have to do quizzes or tests. Because most probably they are similar to the questions in your homework. And the teachers won't be happy if you never do your home work. You don't want to get on the bad side of teachers! If you do these then you shouldn't have any trouble when you are in 6th grade!

I had to leave because.....

Dear Asher, Hello Asher, I'm alive and I have Gabriel with me! I know that The Giver must have told everyone that I fell into the river and drowned, but that was a cover story. The truth is that I ran away. Don't bother asking people to look for me, because I'm already in elsewhere! You must be wondering why I would run away from the community, well there are many things that I learned while I was training with The Giver. I will tell you why I ran away! In our society everything is chosen for us! Our jobs, who we marry, our childrens names and many more things! There is no choice or freedom! You can't see colors, colors are wonderful and beautiful things but you can't see them! I have often wondered why you can't see colors. SoI asked The Giver and he said, "Our people made the choice, the choice to go into Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences." Since our ancestors chose to go into Sameness you can't see colors! I can, because I'm the reciever of memories! You don't have real feelings! Like love, "While Jonas watched, the people began one by one to untie the ribbons on the packages, to unwrap the bright papers, open the boxes and reveal toys and clothing and books. There were cries of delight. They hugged one another. The small child went and sat on the lap of the old woman, and she rocked him and rubbed her cheek against his." That is love! There is real pain, anger, happiness, sadness and many more! But you never get to feel them because you are in the Sameness. Do you remember when I didn't want to play the good guys and bad guys game! Well when I saw you playing it I realized that it was a game of war! I have seen a memory of war! "Jonas heard a voice next to him. 'Water,' the voice said parched, croaking whisper. He turned his head toward the voice and looked inot the half-closed eyes of a boy who seemed not much older than himself. Dirt streaked the boys face and his matted blond hair. He lay sprawled, his gray uniform glistening with wet, fresh blood." Later on in the memory that boy died! That is war, when I saw you playing that game I thought of the boy and begged you not to play it, "'Don't play it anymore,' Jonas pleaded." That is why I need to leave! I want to chose things! I want my freedom! Do you know what they do when they release people? They kill them! Soon when my mother and father are in the house of old they will be killed! Or when identical twins are born the lighter one will be killed and I'm not lying I have seen my father kill a baby! My father was about to release Gabe and I will not let that happen! Thats why I took him too! There is so much more to life than what you think! It is not enough knowing, I have to experience it too! Sincerely Jonas, P.S. Dont tell anyone about this letter!

Giving Memories

In The Giver there is no freedom, no choice! Everything is decided for you all you have to do is play along! But someone has to hold the memories that were taken away from them, thats why there had a reciever of memories or in other words The Giver. The Giver has to hold memories like colors and real emotions! The main charactor of the book, Jonas has been selected to be the next reciever of memories. Soon he realizes that there is so much more to the world than what everyone else and for a while he thought. After he got a few memories he accidentally transmits a memory of peace to a little baby that his father had brought home from work! The baby's, Gabriel's reaction was falling asleep. But that is against the rules! Soon Jonas gives Gabriel more and more memories, whats wrong with that? It makes the burden lighter! Then you wonder how this quote:" Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn. "Gabe?" The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him. "There could be love" Jonas whispered. The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away" relates to the themes of freedom and choice?





I think the relation between the quote and the themes is fairly simple. Its the freedom of choice! Jonas chose to give some of his memories to Gabriel, regardless of what the rules say. He made the choice to let Gabriel into information, he would not have believed if he was Jonas' age! But since Gabriel is only a baby Jonas can tell him things and share his memories with him, and Gabriel can't even say he is crazy because he had seen the memories and he is just a baby! Jonas has the freedom to lie to people! At first he thought that was ridiculos, but soon he realized that its actually very helpful! He can lie to The Giver about not sharing his memories! So this quote is all about the themes of freedom and choice!





Information and Images from:


http://www.isklmrthomas.blogspot.com/

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYfUXC-UgCWs2UF-43UZT_-AKHVHYahqUTGdXLzWJy1pk09nVzL8U9abwLZswgsGE3AGLqGGbFUo_pScBq5AWNVTCKudaDOg-Jj8iK9PETn9iuIsBpYDFogTd0PKVIcykHm2kNSnBNOCk/s400/the+giver.jpg

The Giver 3

For my Lit Circle 3 I had to comment on someone else from my group, so I commented on Sheta's! You can go to her blog and read my comments if you like, you can find a link to her blog on the blog called 'Our Malaysian Journey'.

The Reciever of Memories

Was there ever a time when you just coudn't chose between something! Like taking money you found on the floor or giving it to a trusted adult? Or when you really want to go to the movies but all your friends want to go to the mall? Well when I was reading The Giver and found out that Jonas was picked to be the reciever of memories. He had to go for training and then the giver said "Making choices would be frigtening for people." Why did he say that. I mean making choices is a part of life! It is something I have heard my whole life. I wouldn't want my choices taken away from me (like I said in the previous blog post!)

Well I think he said that because sometimes choices are really hard to make. Its difficult, like when you try to decide over finishing your homework or going to your best friend's birthday party! You have to do your homework but you want to be with your friend on her birthday! Choices are really hard! Sometimes I want a T-shirt and my dad likes something else and I don't want him to feel bad, but I really want the T-shirt but I can't choose! So choices are frightening!! But they make you who you are, so choices are good!

My second reason is that thats why the community is the way it is. You don't have to make choices it is all done for you. Their ancestors must have had a hard time with choices so they decided that they didn't want their children to make them. Because you don't get to make any choices in the Giver! Every single thing is done for you, from when you get your bike to which job you will get and when you will get it! They cant even see in color because then they will have to choose which color to wear. Or which colors to buy!



Images taken from:

http://www.randomhouse.ca/images/dyn/cover/?source=9780553571332&height=300&maxwidth=170
http://www.illustrationsof.com/royalty-free-choices-clipart-illustration-15428.jpg

The Giver, Lois Lowry!

In class we started Lit Cirlces again! Everyone complained but we had to do it because school isn't exactly democratic. I have to read a book called 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry. It is a very interesting book about a boy called Jonas. He lives in a community that is very much like an Utopian community. In an Utopian community it is safe, orderly and predictable. Just like Jonas' community. Everything is decided for you. Like which family unit you are going to be in. You are never gemetically related to your family. Your parents don't get to chose your name the committee does it for them. You get your job when you are only twelve years old, and you don't even get to chose your own job. There are stict rules that you have to follow or else you will be realesed form the community. That will bring disgrace to your family. But when you think about it a question comes to your head, 'Would you want your future to be decided by other? Why or why not?'
I woldn't want others to chose my future! That would be horrible! I want to do whatever I want to do with MY life. Because it is my life. Like when you nine years old your toy gets taken away from you. But sometimes you play with your toys when you are ten years old or maybe eleven years old. I would always want a choice. Because when something happens I want to tell myself that I made that choice. I would want to tell myself I can chose no one else can chose for me. Because when I do that I feel that I can do things, others don't have to do them for me! It makes me feel more mature!
And then there is the sense of freedom. Everyone wants to be free. It is a happy feeling to be free. You can do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. I hate it when people chose for me. Of course there are times when they have to chose for me, and there are times when I wish someone will make the choice for me. But you can't build charactor when people always chose for you. Sometimes you like math but you want to be nurturer. But the comittee tells you to a be mathmatician. Then you have to be a mathmatician for the rest of life. How horrible would that be! You want to be a nurturer but you have to do something comepletely different! You will spend the rest of your life in misery. That is why I want to make my own choices! It is not easy but sometimes the hard things are the best!








Images taken from:


http://www.wheelers.co.nz/resource/product/small/978000/9780007263516.jpg

Imovie Grading

Hi people who read my blog! On one of my previous post I put up a youtube video made by me and my partner on Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt who is really awesome (in a way!). Well like everything else on this blog it was for school and everyone else in my class did it too but on different Egyptian pharaohs! So everyone was asked to grade some of the imovies! So I did! Based on how everyone else grades me and how I grade everyone else's takes part in determining their and my grade on our imovies! So I tried to be as nice as I could be! We had to grade them in numbers if it was a 5 then that part of their imovie was awesome! If it was an 1 then that part their imovie wasn't too good! Anything in between was like thats a okay job or not too bad! So heres a link to my grading sheet for my classmates!

https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/Doc?docid=0AU7in1_toY_oZGdoMjNnY2dfNjcyaDVjc2pnNw&hl=en&authkey=CNCb09kH

City Connection Kolkata

I did my city connection presention on Kolkata, India. I think I got all my information right. I got some statistical information and I have found enough information for the history of Kolkata. I also found alot of information on the enviromental factors. Like the Hoogly river provides all of the fresh water supply in Kolkata. And Kolkata is huge! And the national animal of India the Royal Bengal Tiger is found in the Sunderbans Forest! Part of the Sunderbans Forest is in Kolkata. I also think that I spoke loudly and clearly for my presentation! And that it wasn't too long.

In my future presentations I would like to improve my script and layout of the presentation. In my script I just had a bunch of information. I could have been more creative and played around with words! But I didn't I just put down a bunch of information that I was going to say. But it probably wan't really as interesting as it could have been. If I had made more interesting words and sentences. And I could have found other interesting facts that is not how long the Hoogly river is or how much land the Sunderbans take!

I learned that it is easier to find out what kind of information you are going to find. Because then you won't be looking for random facts. You would be looking for something specific. So you won't have spend hours thinking about what you should be looking for. Like pretend you were looking up the history of Kolkata you could just type in Kolkata History and there you can look at a bunch of sites that will tell you about the history of Kolkata and you have your information on the history. Also you should find your information before you start making your presentation. Because then you could just but then information into sentences or paragraphs and put it on your presentation. You should do that because if you do your presentation and information at the same time then you will want to finish one whole part of your presentation then move on to the next. But then by the time its due you would have finish half of your presentation and the other half undone! Then you would be rushing to finish it and you won't get a good grade.

I think I did okay on my performance. My script could have been better. But I told them all the information that I wanted to tell them. So I was happy about that. I think my powerpoint looked pretty! I had enough pictures and I had rehearshed my script so I didn't stumble over words. My presentatioin went by smoothly! I didn't forget to add something! And I got a good grade on it too. Over all I am happy with my presentation.

Link to my Kolkata slide show: https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/present/edit?id=0AU7in1_toY_oZGdoMjNnY2dfNDN0dDNmcm5mNA&hl=en

Images Courtesy of:

http://www.indialine.com/travel/images/kolkata-city.jpg

http://www.fotosearch.com/bthumb/CSP/CSP337/k3376403.jpg

http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u15/Happiness_1.jpg

Hatshepsut

This is my imovie about Queen Hatshepsut who was once a pharaoh of Egypt. I worked with my partner Tatyana and she helped me alot! I hope you enjoy our imovie because we worked really hard on it!

Everything Teacher's Want to know about ME!!!!!

Learing about your learning profiles can be very important to a lot of people! Because it helps them do better in school. Because your learning profile gives you tips about things that you are having trouble with. Like organization. Also it is really interesting to look at your learning profiles. Its like when you look up your star sign so you can read what it says about people with your star sign. But just because you are a logical person doesn't mean you are forbidden to be creative. You don't have be what a piece of paper says you are. And you can't even use your learning profile as an excuse because, for example you turned an assignment in late. Just because it says you are forgetfull you still had your planner to remind you!

I learn best when I close my eyes and turn my left ear towards the sound when I am listening to new information. I also learn best through movement and by focusing on the whole picture, writing and emotional relevance to me! I also must hear the intention and feelings of the person or the information that I have to learn. That is what it says on my learning profile! I am profile J. Gestalt Dominant. Meaing I am right brained. But from what I know about myself... I completely agree with my learning profile! I tried a few things they suggested! Like close my eyes and turn my left ear towards the sound. I actually helped me remember what my humanities teacher was saying!

I need to read more non-fiction. Because all I ever read is fiction, fantasy, historical fiction and science fiction (sometimes). Reading non-fiction will help my less dominant side of brain! The logical side. I also need to make sure I don't get stressed out a lot! Because I will get clumsy and just won't be able to concentrate on my work I also won't be able to communicate properly when I am under stress. But most of all I need to be more LINEAR! If you don't know what that means, I am going to tell you. I means being straight forward. So I have trouble with linear aspects of life and learning. That means I am not straight forward with my life and education! And I know that is true! Because whenever I ask my brother to edit one of my drafts for a story. He says I take too long to say one thing! And complains about me being really boring. Because I am not staright forward. So I really need to be more straight forward.

Strategies that will help me in my learning. One thing that will help me with my learning is if I sit on the right side many rows back where I can hear easily, with my dominant ear. Which is the left ear. Also if I stay organized and make myself little notes or lists like my humanities teacher does. Those will help me remember things. Although I am not very forgetfull with my school assignments. I am very forgetfull with my things. I have already lost three water bottles, my jacket and I almost lost a library book. And when I don't practice piano or forget to do my kumon homework and my mom asks me why I forgot to do those things. I forget why I forgot to do those things. So if I make lists or notes, I could always write do kumon and practice piano. Also if I ask my teachers for help instead of my parents I think I will do much better.

I would like my teachers to know that when I am under stress I have problems with sight! That means that I will just focus on one thing and forget about everything else! I also hve problems talking. I will keep forgeting what I am about to say so I will repeat stuff and start to get really worried. Also I will be really clumsy when I am under stress. I will trip when there is nothing to trip over. So teachers if you ever see me doing any of those things that I wrote above! You will know I am under stress. I also like to figet with somethings, anything. I could be my shirt, my pencil etc. And when I am under stress I will see the picture or hear the information. But it will just be a bunch of words or colours. I won't really be able to process all the information into linear pieces. So I will very confused when you guys (the teachers) tell us to start working and I will be like "what just happened?"


Image Courtesy of:
http://kaizenimprovement.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/leftbrain_rightbrain2.jpg

http://www.clipartguide.com/_small/1386-0904-3008-1232.jpg

http://www.webtreksearch.com/images/nonfict.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_2VEaTPMR9yw/So9G2B6t2XI/AAAAAAAAAWs/0gsYJa3sbfk/funny_to_do_list_tshirt%5B2%5D.jpg

http://jennadaily.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/clumsy.jpg

Vacation and Resolutions

I have lots of new years resolutions! But there are the two most important ones! The first and most important one is, wait for it... Listening to my parents more. I know that sounds pretty boring. But if I listen to my mom and dad more there will be a lot less shouting for me, this year. This is really important for me because... I have to go to a tuition like class, called Kumon. I always leave my kumon homework for last minute. But then I don't concentrate properly and end up getting a lot of my questions wrong. My mom keeps telling me to do each booklet of homework everyday. But I don't listen. And when I do all of them last minute my mom says "I told you to do a booklet  everyday! Now you will get a lot of questions wrong! Why won't you listen to me?" When she shouted "Why won't you listen to me?" I thought of it later on when I was in bed and soon I realized my mom won't shout at me if I listen to her. And now that is my new years resolution. Another reason why listening to my parents is important is my dad keeps telling me to read non-fiction books. But I like to read fantasy books. One day he started asking me random questions like "Who invented electricity?" And I just sat there staring at him. And then he said that I am not a real reader because I don't read different kinds of books. That totally got me mad. And I decided that I wanted to listen to my parents more for my new years resolution!

My second new years resolution which is very important, drum roll please...  Get more fit! That was a really common one last year in the U.S but I want to be more fit than I am now. So I decided to make 'get more fit' my new years resolution. I will be much better in P.E and in swimming my after school activity and in tennis (tennis has nothing to do with school!) Here some reasons for why I want to be more fit! First of all my brother is super fit with huge muscles anf he has beat people up in his Kung-Fu class in London! So when he does like 100 sit ups and I only do like 30-40! I feel very ashamed and embarassed! SO I have decided to be more fit! The other reason is in piranahs I am the slowwest swimmer except for when I am swimming breastroke. But I don't want to be the slowest swimmer! So if I get more fit I will be faster! And then in New Year's time I was like "My New Year's resolutions are listening to Mom and Dad more and getting more fit!"

Okay I had awesome Christmas holiday! I went to a 'Botanical garden in Putrajaya and then I went to Penang for 3 days'! I did a lot of things in Penang but one of the most memorable was probably going up the Penang hill. There is a huge hill in Penang which is obviously called the Penang Hill. There is normally a train to up  the mountain but that was under construction so we had to go up the hill with a jeep. The window was open and I was sitting at a window seat so the cool air blew into my face and sent my hair flying. I could smell all the trees that grew on the mountain and the dirt and also some water. I moved closer to the seat with my eyes closed and let my face hang out the window like a dog. And I heard all the noises like the wind rustling the leaves the sound of the tires craking twigs. And when I opened my eyes I saw a few hikers and bikers going up the hill. I smiled and waved. But they were too busy cycling and hiking. That was the most peacefull part of my vacation.

My second favorite part of Penang was playing in the sea with my brother. My brother went into the sea pretty deep and he didn't know there was a big wave coming. I shouted "Look out hter is a huge wave coming!" I ran for it. But since my brother was too far in he couldn't get away. But he didn't want to be the only one who gets crushed by the wave! So he tried to grab me! Just barely. But I got away. After that we played agame called 'Stay Where You Are!' Everytime a wave hits us we have to stay where we are. If the wave pushes off our spot then the other person got a point. Since I was used to swimming and the water. I won the game it was 10 to 4. After that we played lots of splashing game. And we even got my mom wet! And the next day we say a starfish on the beach! It was orange. I gently kicked him back into the sea.






Pictures were taken from:
http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/ArtAndPhoto-Fronts/HEALTH/090330/HLG_Argue.jpg

http://www.thebiggestloser.info/img/the-biggest-loser.gif

http://www.daughteroflight.com/Random/FF8/rinoa_hair.jpg

http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/UNN/UNN322/children-playing-beach_~u18124073.jpg