Language+Arts

The Odessy

The last book we read this year is the Adventures of Ulysses (The Odessy). I think that I have improved a lot this year, and this was my best unit. I read carefully and at a good pace for me. I also made very good comments on the blog and had made good contributions to our group conversations. Overall, I think this was my best unit. == Tuck Everlasting

= = The seventh unit we did in Language Arts was read the book Tuck Everlasting. I think that throughout the book, I did a good job reading in a good place for me and at a pretty good speed. I did a great job on the in-class questions, and got 100% on most of them. On the blog I think I wrote good posts and showed what I knew about the characters. In class, I participated in discussions and had good things to say. I did a really good job on my character project. I picked the character Miles and worked with my partner Hannah really well. We wrote a letter to Miles' daughter, Anna for our written project, and made a poster for our visual. We had our assignment in on time, and got a check plus. I did a pretty good job on my favorite passage recording, but I think I could have done a little better on picking my passage. Overall, I think I did a really good job on this unit, and have improved since the beginning of the year. =media type="file" key="Screen Recording 12.mov" width="390" height="390" media type="file" key="Hannah and Livie recording.mov" width="390" height="390"= = = =__//**Rainbow People**//__= The sixth unit we did in Language Arts was __Rainbow People__. I think that I did pretty well on my summaries, introductions, and my essay on a new group of stories for Shirley. Out of all the writing, I think my best was the essay. It had good examples and it made sense. I think that I might need to work on my summaries though. On the blog I facilitated a disscussion. I think I did a good job on that and I did pretty good commenting on the blog for other disscussions. I think I did the best on the blog. At school we particpated in group discussions and used twiducate also. I did pretty well on that. I also led a small group disscussion, and that I did a good job on. At home I read at a pretty good pace for me and understood what I read. Overall, I think I did a really good job on this unit. = = == =__//**In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson**//__=

Our 5th unit was **__In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson__**. I think I did pretty well on the quizzes. I think the easier types of questions were ones you could look back in the book for but the "thinking" questions weren't very hard either. I think what I wrote on the back of my quizzes were pretty accurate. I also think that I participated in discussions about the book plenty and I had pretty good things to say. Overall, I think I did really well on this unit. == =//**__Speeches__**//= =The fourth unit we did in language arts was to write "This I Believe" speeches. We listned to a lot of speeches. Sometimes we would listen and read the speech. I think it was easier for me when we did that. We wrote speeches for character in books. I picked Philip from __The Cay__. It was my best project this year I think. At the end of the unit we wrote our own speeches. I think I did well on that, but it wasn't as good as my book character speech.=

=__**//Maniac Magee//**__=

The third book I red in school was "Maniac Magee " by Jerry Spinnelli. I think read at a good place and in a good place for me. I thought about all the ideas and participated in discussions taking place. I might need to work on listening to others though. I made progress on my on inferences and my blogs.I think that this was my best unit on a book yet. I think my blog post was best overall. I could have added more detail though. I don't think I had a least successful assignment. Next time I will listen to others more carefully and think more about what I've read.

__**Maniac Magee Essay_**_ Home means a lot of things. There is no right answer to home. Even so, I think that everyone agrees that good home is where you can find family and love. You know that you're home when you had a long day or you just got back from vacation and you can just sit down and let all of your stresses melt away. You know you aren't in just in a house. Home is a lot different than just a house. A house is a place to live. A home is much more than that. It's got so much more love than a house. Lots of people have big, fancy houses. But they are just houses. Even people with the smallest, merest house can be very nice. Houses can make you lose sight of things. Homes only make you see clearer. In "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli home is a very important idea.

An example of how much Maniac wants a home, but does not know what it is, is his stay with the Beales. Maniac always was a good houseguest. He was nice to everyone, did chores without being asked, and did what he was told. But that is not being part of the home I don't think he was comfortable enough to actually be called "part of the home".The most important part of what he needed to realize though is that even when family get mad at each other or one of them does something wrong, they are still part of the home. When Maniac untied Cobble's Knot everyone was celebrating. In all the commotion, someone ripped up Amanda's "A" encyclopedia. This upset Amanda so much, that Maniac thought it was his fault. Maniac decided to leave because of this accident. When Maniac told Amanda his plan this upset Amanda more and got her very mad. She did not want him to leave, but that is what he thought. I think from this example we can understand that even sometimes when you think people don't want to be part of the home, they always do. In a real home you are always welcome. I think that Jerry Spinelli believes and agrees in these concepts about home

Another example of Maniac's blurred ideas about home is when he stayed at the McNabbs. Even in the horrible conditions of dirt everywhere, dead animals and holes in the celing, Maniac stayed polite. He even tried to clean up the house. They liked him a lot and let him stay awhile. The one time they got in a fight was the time he decided to leave. Russel and Piper wanted to hurt African Americans. The Beales were African American and Maniac still loved them, even though he left them.He stomped on their fake guns because he was so mad. This infuriated Russel and Piper, so they told Maniac to get out of their house. Maniac took this literally and left. Russel and Piper didn't understand that Maniac was having trouble with understanding what a home is, so they were confused about why he actually leftWhat I learned from this paragraph was that even kids from an awful home understand that home is a place that family can bond and be together in good and bad times. I think that Spinelli was trying to tell us that a home is such a big deal, and that even people who don't have good homes still know what they are.

I think that in the end (where Maniac ends up staying at the Beales.), Maniac finally finds out what home really is. I think he will become more comfortable with his home, won't leave, and the McNabbs - other than Russel and Piper- will hardly notice he's gone. In conclusion, Jerry Spinelli and I see eye to eye on home. We both believe that home is a place where you are always welcome and always loved.

=_**The Cay**_=

The second book I read in fith grade is __The Cay__ by Theadore Taylor. I think my letter was the best. It sounded like Philip, but I could of made him sound angrier. Our group worked well together and our group packet was good I think that my least successful project was my essay. It could have had more detail supporting the main ideas. The best way to improve my essay would be to add more detail. In the future I will read even more carefully and when I tell a story from a different person's point of view, I will try to sound like them. At home I will make sure I have enough time to do my work well. I hope that I will get even better at this later in the year.



__//**Island of the Blue Dolphins**//__

The first book we read in 5th grade was Island of the Blue Dolphins. I think I read at an okay speed and in a pretty good place for me. I participated in discussions too. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job on this unit, even though I might need to improve some things, like answering questions in a better place for me and paying attention to more details of the book.