My 6th Grade Zietgeist

Here is my Zeitgeist. Enjoy!

Collaberating Constructively

I told all of you people who are reading my blog posts that we got our new lit circle groups and books last week. Well after we read a chapter of the book we have to do a assesment on it. The assesment include 2 passages, 2 questions, 2 responses to the questions, 2 connections and 2 vocabulary words. We do one more of each thing as we move on to other books. Our humanities teacher came up with a brilliant idea. For the first time we had to do our lit circle work sheet with a partner! That means we only do 1 passage, 1 question, 1 response to the question, 1 connection and 1 vocabulary word! Our partner does the other ones.

I think working with partners turned out to be GOOD! We had a lot less stress since we did not have to do two of everything. And we could get a pre-assesment. Our partner could edit our work so that we don't have any errors in out writing. And they could help us explain our ideas better. That will help us get quality work. Also we could edit their work to make it better as well. And your partner could be good with questons (like my partner) and you could be good with passages (like me). Then your partner could help you with your questions and you could help them with their passages. All in all you could improve your questions and your partner could improve their passages! And you could help your partner stay on task. The lit circle assesment is something you have to do at home. So if your partner always waits till last minute then you could force them to start it early. Why should you do this? First of all you are helping your partner! Sencond of all you and your partner will get the same grade so if your partners work is not 'quality work' then you will get a bad grade too! If you always wait to last minute then your partner could help you stay on task. If both of you wait till last minute. You have to work harder! And you have to be more responsible!

My partner forgot to take his book home over the weekend! And our lit circles were due on tuesday. I was so angry with him! But I had to live with it! So I told him that I would help him with the passage, vocab and connections. Other than that he has to do it. I really wanted a good grade in my lit circle so I decided to be nice to him. And since I could not invite him over I had to help him with chat. Which is really hard because I cannot tell him a paragraph on chat. So helping him over chat did not work. SO we had to work on it monday! I let him borrow my book (apparently he had lost his)! I made sure he was not fooling around and told him that he had to finish his question today in class. He finished his questions. I helped him put it in more simple words. Then at home I went online onto our google doc page to make sure he was working. I read everything he wrote. I fixed grammatical errors. Then if there were some big mistakes I would comment on them tell him to FIX IT! In the end our lit circle was not so bad!

My partner and I had very different point of view of the novel we are both reading (Julie of the Wolves). So when I read his work it made me think more critically about the book. Because I am a student who has trouble with making good questions. When I read his work I was like "Oh I never thought of it like that"! I started wondering about things I normally don't think about. In his passage he told us about how traditionalist Julie or Miyax is (Julie and Miyax are the same people and she is the main charactor of the book). I never thought of it like like that. I just thought she was having a temper tantrum (in the book Miyax gets mad at her father because he called her Julie, her English name). I have learned a lot of new things about Julie of the Wolves because I worked with some who thinks very different from me!

Pictures taken from:
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/thinkingcapwhoa.gif
http://childrenschapel.org/biblestories/graphics/kids3.gif
http://partnership.education.manchester.ac.uk/images/clipart/report_with_words_and_pictures_clip_image002_0001.gif

My Discussion

We just got our new literature circle books and groups! This time we got to chose our own book from a selection of books. I chose Julie of The Wolves. Becasue of that my group contains the following people: Vicky, P.J., Alex, Julia and Me. Our group has a lot of fun in our group on our meeting days. We laugh and talk about the book. In our last lit circles the whole class did the same book Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry. And because of that on out meeting days we got distracted becasue we heard what other people were saying. And we might have disagreed with their opinion so we get involved in their group discussion. But now that we have different books we get less distracted! And that helps us concentrate more!

How did my discussion help me understand the book better? That is the exact same question I thought of when I heard we had to do lit circles again. I had thought that I got rid of those when I left elementary! But as we went through the trimester I began to understand why teachers make us do lit circle. It is so that we can have our own opinion be challenged by someone else's very different opinion about the book. We had to think in many different ways because when we don't discuss the book with other people our opinion might have been right but all we would have been doing is making a opinion and stopping at that. But when we discuss the book we have many different options which makes us think my critically when we are reading the book. And we hear something that some other person wrote in there lit circle that we didn't even notice when we were reading the book. This also helps us understand the book better because the part that we didn't notice might have been a important part!

In my group we kept making connections! Because we had so many experiences that were similar to the things that were in the book. When ever we gave comments on some else's work one of us always had a connection. Some connections were how I always wnated a ride my dog when I was little. But soon he figured it out so whenever I went near him he will sit down! He is too big and heavy to pick up. So it was like when Miyax could not catch Amaroq's eye I couldn't ride on my dog.

We had lots of predictions about what happens at the end of the book. This questions started a huge debate. Becasue half of us thought that Miyax will amke it the San Fransisco at the end adn the other s thought that she would not! Then we started discussing why Daniel was so evil becasue of one of my discussion questions. My prediction was that he was treating Miyax badly.

My lit circle group has helped me be more critical when I am reading. I almost always find myself wondering about things while reading that I didn't even care about before lit circles!

Pictures were taken from:
http://www.mdianeharrison.com/images/literature_circles.gif
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/386286.Julie_of_the_Wolves

Developing Malaysia

Malaysia is full of rainforsts, wildlife and is very eco friendly. It is developing day by day in many different ways. But how is Malaysia developing? Parts of New Guinea is not even developed yet! People in New Guinea are still hunters and gatherers. Why have the New Guinea people not developed like we did? It is because Papua New Guinea didn't have the same food supplies as all the other countries did. This was because of where Papua New Guinea located. In the place Papua New Guinea is located doesn't have things that other countries did. Thats why they didn't get as much cargo as Malaysia did. Thats why Papua New Guinea did not develop with the rest of the world. But now that we know why Papua New Guinea didn't develop is that the same reason Malaysia is developing?


Malaysia is developing because of its location. Malaysia also has a large rubber plantation! That makes Malaysia the greatest rubber producer! Malaysia has so many tropical fruits such as mangoes, apples, bananas, coconuts, rambutan and many more. Malaysia also has a good stock of seafood because of its numerous beaches. Malaysia is located on the equator! That makes this country tropical. That means there many animals and rainforests. There are many beautiful birds such as the Macaw and animals such as ther sun bear. And there are many beaches that can lure tourists.

The other reason why Malaysia developed is because of tourist publicity. There are so many beautiful animals that you can see here in Malaysia. You can see the silver backed monkey, Macaw, the sun bear and the tiger crab. There is also the rocky mountains. That have Genting and Cameron Highlands. And Cameron Highlands is popular for strawberries and crocodile park. There is the beautiful wildlife of course. All the fascinating flowers such as the hibiscus. And the gorgeous trees such as the teak trees. This is the role that Malaysias location and natural resources played in Malaysias development.

Picture were taken from: www.flickriver.com/photos/leonefabre/2438753104, blog.hotelclub.com/.../rambutan,  www.kued.org/?area=pressReleases&action=detai...

Eco- Action

We are doing harmful things to our planet (Earth). We are cutting down millions of trees and killing animals for our own advantage. Animals and trees deserve to live as much as we do! I mean we don't just kill a few animals we kill them until some of them are extinct! The Dodo bird is a really good example. And we are cutting down many rainforests. That is another reason why animals are dying because of us. Since we are cutting down so many trees their home or habitat grows smaller every year and soon they won't be able to find enough food. If they don't find enough food they will gradually die. There is probably a 50% chance that the place where your house is built was a rainforest once. But there are some people who want to help save the planet. These people call what they are doing Eco-Action. My 6C class did some Eco-Action when we went on a field trip to Kuala Selangor. We planted mangroves! Yes we crossed a very muddy and slippery swamp that was full of tiny crabs to plant mangrove saplings. And yes we all fell in to the wet mud and every one of us got stuck in the mud until someone helped us get out.

Mangroves are very important to us. Most people don't know that and they just cut all the mangroves to build factorys, apartments, malls and many other things. Did you know that mangroves can help prevent tsunamies. That is because mangroves are like a sponge to water. And they are the only plants that can survive in sea water and swamps. Mangroves have really long roots. And they have a lot of long roots that spread out really far. That slows down the current when a tsunami or flood comes by. Because the water has to get through the long tangly roots. And the wet mud, where the mangroves grow can soak some water the tsunami won't have as much of force as it should. If there were mangroves in a place and a tsunami comes the mangroves alone could save millions of lives. 

But since 6C planted mangrove saplings we have helped save the earth! I think that we did a wonderful thing. Mangroves are like endangered plants. For your information we will lose a bunch of our seafood if we keep cutting all the mangroves. This is because mangroves are in a food chain like everything else in nature. This is what happens: Tiny fish that you can't see without a microscope eat the leaves that fall of mangrove trees. Then bigger fish such as crabs and snakes eat the small fish that eat mangrove leaves. Then bigger fish eat the crabs that eat the really small fish. Then we eat the even bigger fish that eat the crabs! My 6C class helped save mangroves. You should try it too its fun getting dirty! And just by planting atleast 5 saplings you could help save mangroves!

picture was found in:www.wildeyeview.com/places/?p=128

SLUGGIE!!

"Come on lets play a game". Veronica shouted splashing me in the pool. "Lets play queen and you are the queen Veronica and Jane can be her driver Pratiti can be the secretary and I will be cleaner"! Mary suggested. "Hey thats not a bad idea, but Jane how about you bieng a racing slug"! I teased. "A racing slug"? Jane repeated doutfully. "Ya, you know in the neverending story movie". I replied. "NO"!! Jane shouted in my ear. "Ow that hurt". I complained. "Ya Jane how about we call you sluggie". Verinica said with a wicked glint in her eye. "What Sluggie, no way"! Jane shouted in Veronica's now. "Sluggie, Sluggie"! Mary chanted. Verronica climbed onto Janes back. "Giddy up Sluggie". Veronica shouted. "Fine, you owe me big time Pratiti"! Jane said giving in.

"Get out of the pool and hit the changing rooms guys". Mr. Corbett shouted. "Lets go Sluggie". Veronica said happily. "Oh great now it starts". Jane said smiling slightly. Veronica pretended to giggle. In the changing rooms Jane pretended to do a fashoin show where the big white table was but now it looks like a catwalk ramp. "VEronica don't you dare push me off". Jane warned. But knowing Veronica. "Oh yes I am". VEropnica ran for it. "AHHHHHHH". JAne shouted qas she slipped on the wet floor and fell thud on the floor. "Hey". Jane shouted getting up. "Oh I am so sorry I didn't mean for you to fall down"! Vero0nica said bursting into laughter. Soon all of were laughing Jane too. "Come on Sluggie lets go Pratiti hurry up Mary is done already". Veronica said. "Hey my name is Jane". Jane said. "Not anymore from now on we officially name you Sluggie". Veronica said in her fake proffsional voice. "Halle lu yah Halle lu ha". I sang. "Oh please Jane mumbles.

By lunch time Jane was completely avoiding us. "Hey Sluggie can I have a m and m". I shouted across the lunch table. "No and stop calling me Sluggie my name is Jane". Jane mumbled. "Fine Sluggie". Veronica says in a bright voice. Soon it was two different groups group number 1 Veronica, Mary and me group number 2 Jane. Pretty soon Jane showed us her more aggressive side of nature.

One day in the lunch line. "Hi Sluggie whats up haven't talked to you for a while". I said. "Just shut up". And she shoved  me. "Hey that hurts". I moaned. "You hurt"! Jane mumbled and walked away. Later at the lunch table Veronica sat next to Jane. "Hi Sluggie". Veronica said while tying up her hair in a stylish way. "Boy tying you hair with this thing is hard isn't Sluggie". Veronica said. "No and I don't care". And Jane pulled Veronica's hair so the rubber band fell out. "Hey Jane that hurt and do you know how long it took me to tie my hair up". Veronica said angrily. "No, you hurt". Jane said and walked away.

On a saturday some days later my mom got a phone call. "Hello". My mom said. "Oh you want to talk to Pratiti, okay she is right here". My mom replied. "Munlee it's Mary she wants to talk to you". Mom answered to my questioning look. "Okay". I said. "Hi Mary whats up". I said. "You know Pratiti I think we should stop doing the sluggie thing I noticed Jane has been really sad lately and I think she goes home everyday and cries". Mary informed me. "Ya I have been thinking the same thing too she has been depessed lately and I really miss her it's like she left the school we hardly ever talk to her". I said . "Okay I already called her and said sorry so do you want to"? She asked. " Ya I will call her now you just call Veronica about our plan okay". I said. "Okay". Mary replied and hung up. I quickly dialed Janes number and called. "Hello". I said. "Hello". Jane said in a uneasy voice. " Hi Jane I am so sorry about the Sluggie thing I don't know what I was thinking anyways I am really sorry". I said breathless from all the talking.

"It's okay Pratiti I am really sorry for hitting you and everything". Jane said in a surprised tone. "Hey I have a great idea do you want to come over and do a make up sleepover with Mary it will be fun". I said suddenly exited. " Ya that will be extremely fun". Jane said I coulld tell she was exited too. "I will call you back bye". I said. "Bye". Jane said and she hung up. I suddenly felt a huge burden bieng lifted off my chest and a new sense of release spreading through me until I couldn't sit still anymore. I had to do something I don't know what but I still had to. At that time all I knew was that I had sold my friend away but I have her back now and thats all that mattered.


A way I could have handeled the situation better is, I could have listned to Jane so the fight wouldn't go on and on. I also could have never called her a name we could have just called Jane Sluggie only in the game. And we should ahve been paying attention to her mood more so we could have seen that Jane didn'r think it was funny anymore. A few goals to help everyone in ISKL nice is if someone is mean then don't be mean back jist be nice to them no matter what and soon their soft side will come out. And never bully or call people names because thats not nice just try to set a goal not to bully.                 

 

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.blogcdn.com/www.urlesque.com/media/2009/03/sluggie.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.urlesque.com/2009/03/10/leno-sees-your-snuggie-and-raises-you-a-body-bag/&usg=__54cZIczsRg-6XIh_vQwKDvpjkz0=&h=148&w=200&sz=8&hl=en&start=6&zoom=1&tbnid=ZSYkw63xZaWIsM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsluggie%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1
                                                

 http://media.photobucket.com/image/anime%20best%20friends%20forever/alli98/Anime_Friends.jpg

My Courage

A time I showed courage was this year in P.E. It was rock climbing unit and I was terrified of hieghts.It was my turn to do the climbing. My hands suddenly felt sweaty and the wall looked taller than ever. I felt my left legs starting to shake. The soft wind ruffled my pony tail. I was struggling with the harness. "Oh come on harness, will you just tightnen"! Suddenly I realized that my voice was shaky. Ashka came over to help me. "Calm down Pratiti you won't fall down with the harness'. Ashka assured me.


Finally I had my harness on and my helmet securely on my head. My face was all wet with sweat and my hands felt as stiff as rock. "Pratiti it's your turn". Mrs. Palko called. I hesitated and took a step forward. It's okay there is a mat under you and a harness tied to you, there is no way you can .

fall, Pratiti. I kept reapeting that in my head. Mrs. Palko put the harness on me and said that I could go on and climb. I hesitantly started climbing. My heart accelerated and my breath came in quick gasps. Suddenly it felt easy, there were good grips and I was going up fast. Suddenly I saw a green grip and I put my right on it. My right leg moved to a yellow grip. All of a sudden I couldn't reach the red grip with my left hand. I tried moving my right foot but there were no grips in the right place for my right leg to go to. "Mrs. Plako I can't reach the grip and I don't know what to do". I screamed. But she didn't hear me. It felt like my heart stopped beating as I was so high up. " Pratiti strech yourself try come on you can do it'. Sheta shouted at me. Suddenly everyone who was watching me started encouraging me. "Pretend you are an astronaut Nanda". Julia shouted. "Shut up Julia", I screamed back. I felt queasy. Suddenly a new kind of energy came through me and I stretched my right leg to a bright red grip which was a bit too far away but it did get me upwards. I lunged at the red grip and moved my left leg to a blue grip. I slapped the paper that said A on it. I started walking down the wall. I didn't feel any thing at all. I reached the ground and Ashka gave me a high 5


I am not scared of hieghts anymore. My left leg doesn't shake anymore when I climb. I also got rid of my fear of getting hurt. I now boulder on walls where I refused to boulder before. I was not scared of the ball anymore in soccer. I run up to the ball and kick it away from the goal. I jump infront of the ball no matter where it will hit me when I am goalie. Now I can play sports much better thanks to rock climbing, my friends and the red grip. I was very surprised that I had made it to the top and some others hadn't. I had thought that I was the worst at climbing. Now I do sports without fear.

http://picsdigger.com/keyword/symbols%20of%20courage/
http://www.chateau-beaumont.co.uk/index.asp?id=34

                                     

                                                                                                                           

Artifacts and Hominids!

What do artifacts tell us about the lives of early humans? Many people wonder about that same question. But from what my history book says artifacts tell us everything about the earliest hominids like Lucy (Australopithecus Afarensis the first group of hominids). Infact artifacts are the only things that tell us about hominids because bones are artifacts they tell us lots of things about hte body of the certain hominid, even cave paintings are artifacts. Artifacts are still telling us new exiting things like new types of hominids such as Hobbits who are originated from Flores Java and the big giant Goliath. There have also been some clues (ashes) that tell us how hobbits (half the size of us) got to be extinct scientists belive that a volcanic eruption caused the extinction.

                                                                                                      Goliath

                                      Hobbit Skull
Some things artifacts tell us are how long before us wre there hominids living because when analyze the artifacts we figure out how old it is like Goliath's bones told us he lived 7,000 years ago. When we find weapons and bones together then we know that this kind of hominids used these weapon the defend themselves or hunt. An example is scientists found rocks that fit right into your hand around a Homo Erectus bones so scientists predict that Homo Erectus used these rocks for throwing. Cave paintings tell us how smart the hominids were because when archaeologists find the oldest cave painting ever found scientists will find out when it was drawn and what kind of hominids drew it so we could have found the inventors of paint and art.                                                 

Homo Erectus Weapons

Cave Painting

                                                    

Things other than bones can tell us more about how the hominids lived. Cave paintings tell us stories and give us an idea about what kind of tools the hominids used and about their religions. These also tell us how smart the hominids were compared to Lucy. Her kind did not make tools, so I don't think scientists have found any cave paintings from her time. But ,the Homo Habilis, the next group of hominids did make tools using animal bones and sharp stones. All the bones, cave paintings, masks, tools, hunting tools, war weapons, animal traps and bones are artifacts that tell us about the hominids or early humans.

www.moerfoundation.org/.../images/284lg.jpg
http://www.keirwilliams.com/johole/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/lascauxbulls.jpg
http://laborpartypraxis.org/stagestheory.html

I Would Be....

If I could choose between being an Archaeologist, Historian or Geographers I would choose Archaeologist. I would like to an Archaeologist because I love to learn about dinosaurs, I exspecially like to learn about the great T-rex! I like digging too but I have never used the proper equipment to dig like shovels. The only thing I ever used to dig with are my fingers and old popsicle sticks. The only thing I discoverd was a few pieces of hardened clay in my backyard in India. But bieng an Archaeologist means we get to travel and explore a lot of places, which I really like to do. In the fourth grade we went into the dark cave in Batu Caves it was  really creepy but after you get used to the darkness it fun. I felt like a real explorer. I probably be a good Archaeologist because I am comfortable with traveling. Second is I love getting dirty so digging won't be a problem. Third I hate giving up so it won't be like I will spend a few days and give up. Fouth I take my jobs seriously I have always taken studies seriously. Fifth I enjoy walking and don't mind the sun because I grew up in one of those places where the sun makes it really hot and people wait all year long for monsoon to come and relieve them from the sun. I love to discover things even when its a science project and someone already discovered it I still feel happy that  I found something by myself so I won't be a poor sport a whine when we find something that had already been found or even when we don't find anything. I want to someday change the way we look at our past like so many others before me have!!!

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295757,00.html
 www.palomar.edu/archaeology/horseburial.htm

The Amazing Introduction

Que Tal (whats up Spanish!!). My name is Pratiti. I am from India. I lived there for 6 years then I came to Malaysia. I have a cool brother who just graduated and my funny mother who cooks the most amazing food in the world and a awesome father who gives me awesome gifts and loves me. I always wanted a pet but the closest I got to a pet is 2 cute and cool turtles but they died. I really like to study history, math, science, art and Spanish plus I am a bookworm I have so many books that all them won't fit into my room, not that its really big!

The last three books that I have read is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling and The Crystal Doors series first book Island Realm! The last movie i saw was Because of Winn Dixie you should read the book first. My academic goal this year is to get awesome grades like A+ in all my subjects. My social goal this year is to use reuseable bottles and to recycle more. My favorite vacation memory is when my family and me went to Langkawi where we saw 2 baby cobras and the beach was my favorite part!! Five adjectives that discribe me best are:

• Tall
• Smart
• Athletic
• Friendly
• Active                                              

                                                                                    Langkawi