Thursday, November 18, 2010

Literature Circles - Working Together

This week, we got to do our lit. circles with a partner. My partner was Raissa and I found that we worked quite well together. Working in pairs made it easier to get information because we can talk about it and help each other. When we help each other, we move through the lit. circle quicker. The chapters we did were chapters 10-14 and I found that it was harder to do these chapters because not much happened in them. Working with Raissa really helped me succeed in the lit. circles because she helped me find a good passage and a good question. My weakest point in all lit. circles are the question. I think Raissa really helped me achieve my goal of actually succeeding in making a question. Working with a partner also helped us understand the book more. As I said before, we can talk to each other about the book when working together. At some parts, I didn't understand what was going on. Raissa helped me understand and that probably will boost up our grade for the lit. circle. I look forward to doing other lit. circles with Raissa because it makes the experience fun too!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Lit Circle Reflection

In humanities, we are doing lit circles. Lit circles is where we read a book and then we have to write a mini report about the chapters that we are assigned. We must find 2 important passages, make two questions that can't easily answered, we have to make two connections or reactions about the book and we must find two vocabulary words that we either don't know the definition to or is and interesting word. Here is some more about

During our group's lit circle discussions, we tend to get very excited about the book, True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Our discussions have much to do with figuring out what happens in the next chapter and we tend to predict a lot. Early in the book, we already knew who was the bad guy and who was good. We added up many tiny tiny clues and we figured out what the bad guy, Captain Jaggery is going to do to Charlotte and to the crew of the ship. Some of the important parts of the book we discussed about to get to the predictions we have were when the ship cook, Zachariah, gave Charlotte a dirk, when Charlotte is scared with a head in the top cargo and when Charlotte finds a pistol in one of the crew member's chest. These were important because the dirk is going to help Charlotte defend herself later in the book, the head was a mystery to Charlotte and the pistol is one of the most important parts of the story because now, Captain Jaggery is starting to show himself in front of Charlotte unlike before, when he was acting like he was a well mannered man. This pistol starts chaos. Captain Jaggery calls all the crew members and tortures them but only two of them. He punches one in the chest and he dies and then he whips the other until he dies. At least that's what we think. He might not be dead yet. Here are some of the connections and reactions we talked about.

As I said before, we talked about predictions and what's going to happen next. Those were what most of our reactions were about. Some of the connections we made were about how Charlotte related to other characters in other novels. We also had connections about life experiences like how we might have needed courage like Charlotte did when she found the head. One of my connections was about when Charlotte had to say good  bye to her chaperon in the very beginning of the book. I remember the time I said good bye to my best friend's mom and I felt the same type of pain.

One prediction we made was that Captain Jaggery is going to take Charlotte's knife that Zachariah give to her and then Captain Jaggery will kill someone. It will look like Charlotte did it because it was, after all, her knife. We also predicted that Cranick was the stowaway and that prediction was correct. We had another prediction that the crew will launch an attack to captain Jaggery. That one was also true. When we first started reading the book, we thought that Mr. Grummage, the person who lead her to the boat, was Captain Jaggery. This prediction wasn't true.

I enjoy this book very much and look forward to reading more.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Symmetry On My Street!

This is a photo of a pot that was on my street. There is one line of symmetry in this photo. The line of symmetry is right down the middle vertically through the small light.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

MUD!!!

My favorite part of the Kuala Selangor field trip was all the MUD!!! When we went to plant mangrove trees, we got SUPER muddy! Walking to the muddiness was fine. It was walking IN the mud that was hard!

As I walked into the squishiness, I was thinking, How disgustingly awesome!!!! I love it here!! On the outside, I was just smiling hugely. At first, we were walking on a log. Then, there was no more log to walk on! I took one step into the mud, WOOO!!! The feeling of my feet sinking down into brown goo made me wince. I tried to make my way over to where everyone was already planting. I realized that if I fell now, I would have no one to grab onto! The next moment, I noticed that I couldn't move my legs! I was officially stuck! I felt myself losing balance. Since I was already so far underground, all I had to do was use my legs to pull myself up. The only problem was, How was I supposed to move FORWARD? I started to panic. I saw three little crabs crawling near me. I fell again! This time, I wasn't fast enough to catch myself. PLOP! Right into the mud. I quickly got up so that the crabs wouldn't crawl onto my hand. I looked down onto my shorts. MUD!!! I pulled my right leg as hard as possible. I didn't budge. Since I had gloves on, I didn't care if my hands got dirty or not. I plunged my hands into the mud and started to dig my foot out. PLOP! Into the mud... AGAIN! This time, I pulled my leg out first and then got up. I still had to figure out how to get my other leg up. My friends passed me a stick to support me. It didn't help very much knowing that it broke! I wiggled my foot as much as I could. Then my boot started to come off! I pulled it back on and then I noticed that I just got my legs muddy! Well muddier anyway.

I finally was close enough to a log that I could walk on. The only problem was, I WAS STUCK AGAIN! This time, my leg was so far in, I could barely see my boot! I pulled with all my might. Nothing moved. I tried again. NOTHING! I pulled the hardest that I possibly could and my foot came out of my boot! I quickly slid it back into my boot and this time, I tried pulling on my boot with my hands again. My boot only moved a TINY bit. Since I was already so stuck, I might as well help all my other friends who were stuck. They were fortunate enough to get out. One of my friends tried to help me out of the mud but sadly, he failed. I was so stuck, that the guy who was helping us plant the mangroves had to pull my foot out!

I finally got out of the mud and onto the log. I looked around to see if anyone needed my help to get out. I saw that someone needed my help so I TRIED to help. Instead, I just got him all muddy. It didn't help very much. I was balancing on the log. Since no one else needed my help, I asked the guy for a mangrove to plant. It turned out that there were none left! I had struggled all the way over for nothing! Well at least I had fun. I got ready to struggle my way out of the swamp and go home.

As I walked out of the mud, I waited for a few of my friends. Not a good idea. I got stuck AGAIN! This time not so far in, so it was easier to get out. Once I got out of the swamp, I took my gloves off and wiped my hands on my shirt. Another bad idea. My hands got muddy! Never mind. I walked over to my shoes and took my boots off. My socks were already half off my feet. I slipped my feet into my slippers. I tried to figure out how to hold all of my belongings. My water bottle, socks, boots and gloves! I decided to slip my gloves and socks into the boots. I gave my water bottle to someone else.

I dragged myself about 5 meters onto the path. I dropped my boots and nearly fell down. The muddy boots were so heavy! I couldn't figure out how to hold them without dropping them every 5 meters until a 1/4 of the way home. I decided to put my arms into the boots and put my hands where my feet normally go. I didn't really mind if my hands got muddy because it's not like I could never ever wash them or anything. So I continued sluggishly walking towards the hostel. Even though I thought I found a better way to carry my boots, my friend kept stopping because she didn't know how to carry her boots without getting SUPER tired, so I got tired really easily. This was not exactly part of my favorite part of the field trip. It was after this part that I absolutely LOVED!

Since we were so muddy, it wouldn't make sense to just clog up the showers with mud. So first we got hosed down. Since I kept stopping on the way back, I was one of the last people to get hosed down. Everyone else came out nice and clean. I was SO tempted to go give them a hug.

When I was hosed down, I still had some mud left on my shirt. I went to take a shower and I felt too clean. I wanted to go back into the mud. Basically, MUD ROCKS!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A TIME I HAD COURAGE - THE TOWER OF TERROR!!!!

Over the summer, when we went to Disney Land in Japan with some of my friends, we went on the 'Tower of Terror!'

While we were waiting in line, the adrenalin running through my veins made me shiver. As we got closer and closer to the beginning of the line, two other people who were also going on the ride started talking to us. They asked us to read the English on their sweater. At least there was something to take our mind off the terrifying ride. Once we were at the front of the line, we almost started to scream!

Before we get into the elevator, the show a video of the story about what happened in the 'hotel.' Luckily, everything was in Japanese, so it made the 5 minute movie less scary. My friend translated for me: 'Long, long ago, there was a man who went into the elevator to go up to his room. He suddenly stopped. He had realized that it wasn't the floor of his room. The elevator door opened, and someone on that floor gave him a green electric shock.' While I was watching the video, even without understanding, the visuals were enough to make me want to chicken out. Although I was so scared that I needed to go to the bathroom, I sucked up all my courage and walked into the next room. There was a grid on the floor the was designed according to the elevator itself. The staff lined us up so we knew where to sit when we get on the ride.

As we all poured into the elevator, my stomach started flipping and my friend started to frantically talk. We both said: "We might not make it! What if the ride breaks down? What will happen then? AAAHHHH!!" The guide walked away and the elevator doors closed. Once I couldn't see the guide anymore, I almost lost all my confidence.

The elevator was pitch black. It started moving backwards. The two girls who asked us to read their sweaters started screaming like crazy! As soon as the elevator went up, my friend and I started freaking out! We got to the top, and the doors opened. As we looked out at the whole of Disney Land, the next thing we knew we were already dropping! The elevator stopped again. We got to see the view for as second time. The next time we dropped, the door opened to a floor with a man who looked very frightened. Then another man electrocuted him  with green electricity. The two girls started laughing like crazy and I didn't realize that it was them! I had thought it was part of the ride! Just as the door was half way closed, the elevator dropped so fast that we could barely scream! The last thing that happened, the elevator went all the way up and let us see the beautiful sight of people who weren't afraid. All of a sudden, we felt this rush feeling in our chest. I realized that we were dropping! The reassuring thing was that we weren't the most scared in the elevator. The two girls that was talking to us earlier were screaming the whole way even when we stopped on the different floors!

When the ride ended, the two girls were still screaming. As we walked out of the elevator, we could still hear the girls screaming! Once we saw our mothers, we ran as fast as we could to go hug them. We were so excited to tell them about what happened in the ride. After we got home, we were still frantically talking about the TOWER OF TERROR!!! I have now decided that the TOWER OR TERROR, is definitely my favorite ride in all of Disney Land!



Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Investigating The Past

Have you ever wondered why early humans painted on caves? Well here are some of the reasons that we learned in class!

One of the cave paintings we studied was a painting of animals. It was a painting of a bison with some horses and other animals. It was painted in a hollow part of the cave wall. There was also some type of weapon in the painting. We made some guesses based on what was in the painting to see why people painted them. We guessed that they painted it as a memory of a hunting trip or something that they hoped would happen. Social scientists thought they were used in rituals or ceremonies.

There are obviously many reasons why early humans painted cave paintings. Most of the time they drew them for religious reasons. Other times, when they carved things on spear throwers, they thought they would be good luck so they used them as good luck charms while they were hunting. Other times, people made art to identify what clan they were in.

So to conclude all of this, early humans had many ways to express themselves through art. Most of the time they used art for religious reasons but sometimes they used it to identify themselves. Other times they used their art as good luck charms.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Historian!

If I could choose between archeologists, historians and geographers, i would choose historian. It was a close draw between archeologists and historians but I decided that I would enjoy studying old artifacts and from previous experiences, I enjoy recording things down. I think it would be interesting to find out why things happened the way they did. I would definitely enjoy finding out about the past, I can imagine that it would be a wonderful adventure to be a historian!



Image Sources: http://www.google.com.my/imgres?imgurl=http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/classics/Photos%2520of%2520Artifacts/Artifacts-.jpg&imgrefurl=http://stevenvlajic.wordpress.com/artifacts/&usg=__5EeAseatHP-h9fX4Kfb5o4ZmVNc=&h=350&w=352&sz=52&hl=en&start=50&tbnid=c4vnV9rrGytUHM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dartifact%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D550%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C922&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=361&vpy=219&dur=336&hovh=224&hovw=225&tx=112&ty=168&ei=qVplTPitFYyqvQOQg5DyDA&oei=clplTOGoJYOGvAPrtLHcDA&esq=9&page=3&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:50&biw=1366&bih=550

http://www.google.com.my/imgres?imgurl=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/diaries/pics/diary_open_520.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/diaries/women.aspx&usg=__bko0ZOzSugwQZ9JsPYrrIxL3rgE=&h=309&w=520&sz=61&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=CIe6vXJsKkPrFM:&tbnh=115&tbnw=184&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddiary%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D550%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=741&vpy=114&dur=2168&hovh=173&hovw=291&tx=221&ty=65&ei=DVtlTJy4F4iavAPs5MXZDA&oei=DVtlTJy4F4iavAPs5MXZDA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0

Sunday, August 8, 2010

ALL ABOUT CHEYENNE!!!

My full name is Cheyenne Ka-En Tang. (My middle name is Chinese) I live in Kuala Lumpur near KLCC. I originally come from Boston, Massachusetts. I have 3 different types of pets. I have one very old dog, 2 hamsters and I just got 31 fish (guppies) but 5 of them died yesterday. My favorite time of year is when school starts because I can't wait to see all my friends! I enjoy middle school very much because we get lockers!!! My favorite part of middle school is opening my locker! The problem is that sometimes I forget my locker combinations because we get 3 lockers! One is a main locker, one is for Physical Education and the last one is for Band!


The book I am currently reading is called "Love In The Corner Pocket" by Marlene Perez. I haven't read much of the book yet but I already enjoy it very much. My hobbies are basically reading (sometimes), riding my bicycle (it broke), and I enjoy doing math... if I am in the mood. My favorite color is blue. I don't really do anything in my free time but play with my dog! After school I do Kumon which is extra math. Normally people go there because they need help with their math. I go there because as I said before, I enjoy doing math. The problem is that we have to do Kumon everyday no matter what. Even during vacation! Oh well. At least I enjoy it!


Three adjectives that describe me are funny, because a lot of my friends laugh at a lot of the things I say. Another word that describes me is enthusiastic because every time there is good news or something exciting happens, I get really excited! The last word I think describes me is crazy. I am really crazy when I am with my friends because I am an only child so I enjoy having company from people my age!


I think this year I would like to succeed in some of my goals. One of my academic goals is to improve my writing skills. My social goal is to make as many friends as possible. I hope I can achieve both of these goals by the end of the year.


I will post many other things on this blog but for now, this is it. Hope you enjoy reading my blog!


Cheyenne Tang