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
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.
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. 
