Specials

1. Chinese

I have learned a lot of new phrases in Mandarin and new words. I have also learned about Chinese holidays and we have sang Chinese songs. I have learned how to write and read more characters than last year. I have learned how to describe objects more powerfully than I did last year.

2. Art

I have learned more about colors and how you can make new ones with different textures, shades and tones. It has been a challenge for me to make shapes for the outlines of my drawings because I do not have very much artistic ability. I keep trying to make better drawings though. I think I have gotten better at art this year.

3. Music

I have enjoyed reading and writing notes this year in music class. It has helped me get better at playing the xylophone for I can read the notes faster and more accurately. I like listening to different types of melodies and beats to understand more about different varieties of music. We have listened to many different types of bands so I know how creative you can be with music.

4. P.E.

I have successfully learned different sports and new athletic activities. Cartwheels in gymnastics were a challenge for me. Everything else was fun and easy. I have enjoyed helping teammates in the team sports we have played. It has been fun learning new techniques in sports like volleyball.

5. Counseling

I have learned new ways to deal with social problems and bullying. We have gone through many fun techniques. We have learned about what to do in these situations like tell adults. These techniques can help us in real life situations.

January 8th, 2010

1. What is one piece of important learning in reading or writing you have gained this week?

I have learned to notice the important words that signal nouns. These are actually pretty important in a sentence.

2. Explain how this has helped you in your reading or writing.

It helps me know if a word is a noun or not.

3. Explain what the difference is between a common noun and a proper noun.

A common noun is a noun that is not specific- it is explaining something general. A proper noun is specific and capitalized. Example: fish is a common noun but Marlin is a proper noun.

Unit 4 Math Reflection

I think that it is important to be able to divide numbers because you need to do it a lot in daily life situations. Especially using money, like seeing how much of something you can buy with all of your money.

My problem with this unit was getting the hang of the long division method that my teacher taught our class. I usually use the partial quotients method, but the new method was helpful too.

Religion Reflection

The parable of the sower and the seed is about a farmer that went out to sow his seed and he scattered his seed along the path. The crows came and ate them up like the evil one(Satan). Some seeds fell on rocky places where there was shallow soil so the seed quickly sprang up like the man who heard the word of god and understood. But then the sun came out and withered the plant away. The third seed fell among the thorns like the man who lived among bad people. The thorns grew up and choked the plants. Other seeds fell among good soil and made a good crop like the man who heard the word of God and lived with god his whole life. This parable is about listening to God.

Writing reflection

Sometimes I may notice that I tend to use the word I too many times. I also notice that in my writing, I am okay with starting sentences in different ways. But there may be times when I think that I really like one way of starting a sentence and I get carried away with it.
So far I have changed by using longer and more descriptive words. I usually get them from my vocabulary words. I also include more details from time to time. That makes me have to get deeper into my writing and really try to remember that one time.
In writing, I think I am good at using more descriptive words. With the help of the vocabulary words, I can use better words and it feels good to. I also think I am good at brainstorming ideas. As I go along and am publishing piece of writing, I can come up with a better idea and usually will change it.
As a writer, I would like to work on leads and endings. Sometimes my endings just make the story end like that but I want it to have more meaning to it. My leads don't really seem to hook the reader into the story. I think I will try to add more action into my beginnings.
My favorite piece I have written is Citi Field. I just recently finished it and I love all the descriptive words in it. I also love the details and Citi Field is one of my favorite places. I was at a professional baseball game at the time and it was really fun. I find it fun to read it.

Math

I liked playing factor captor because there are so many things that are hidden and you really have to think to get them right. I also like you are allowed to take your time to think about what to do. It gets really fun if it is a close game and also harder.Making an array can help because you can make all the different arrays for a number and wallah you get the factors.

I liked math page 7 because it was about fact families and we got to make our own. I also liked doing the addition and subtraction. I found it interesting seeing how much you can do with 3 numbers. It is fun creating my own fact family instead of doing the one that they gave us.

My math

In math we have learned about prime numbers, prime factorizations and arrays. They are good math subjects to learn about and can help you a lot in math. They have been interesting to me so it is easy for me to focus on my work. They have games to go along with them so it makes them fun. I do not do well with explaining. I learn better with somebody showing me and telling me. That is how I get the idea of it. Otherwise, I might not really get it. If I'm doing a hard problem solving question and it is not quiet, then sometimes I might forget all the information in the question. It needs to be easier to focus in math for me than any other subject.