First Brickfilms

Themes and Memoirs

We've just recently started the unit of Memoirs in RLA. To lead us with the process of learning about this genre, we read Everything Will Be Okay. This story/memoir talks about when James Howe found a kitten in the forests, this kitten wasn't in the best condition, it had pus coming out of it's nose and eyes. James, brought it home, hoping he would be able to finally be able to call something his own. When his mom found out, she immediately told him to give it to her so he could put his clothes in the wash, never knowing what type of diseases it could carry, waiting for Paul, James' brother to come back. Paul worked at Dr. Milk's, the vet that was located in their town, James hoping that he could someday follow in the footsteps of him and work there too. Soon, James finds out who he really wants to be and discovers that it's okay to be different. I think that one idea from this mentor text that has stuck with me constantly, is that it's okay to be different and that you don't always have to follow in the footsteps of people. This mentor text taught me this because, well, James was taught from Paul and his father that hunting was right. James had a thought and a dream that he wanted to go hunting with his dad to make him proud. After, finding the kitten, and seeing Paul putting it to sleep, it made James wonder, was this really what he wanted to do? Thinking about the deer that once hung from the tree, haunted James but still helped him learned that he didn't have to be like his brother. "I will never work for Dr. Milk. I will not go hunting with my father. I will decide for myself what type of boy I am, what kind of man I will become." This lesson today, we were talking about "themes," I was asked why my teacher decided to give us "characters" to think about it? Well, a theme is a lesson that the reader learns from the story, the story is about the characters, a story without a character is like a story without a plot. We learn the lessons from what the characters go through, what the author wants the reader to leave the story with. If we were looking at Everything Will Be Okay, the different characters taught and showed different themes. Therefore, I think that's why even though we are looking at themes we were also looking at the characters.

Power to Move Continents?

What do you think gives the power to move continents? I think that since that there are layers under the Earth's crust that attract to a magnetic force, such as iron in the outer and inner core. The world is round, the magnetic force would go around the world, instead of one area. So, what really does give the continents to move? Well, continents are able to move because of the iron and the magnetic force that is around them, making them move with whatever is attracting the iron.

IT Animation

Building Quadrilaterals

Quadrilateral Rule  

If you add the 3 smallest sides of a quadrilateral, the sum must be BIGGER than the longest side. 

Basket Ball Reflection

The videos above show us doing well on our accompanying and evading, by showing our dribbling skills and the motive to catch the ball whether you were a defender or attacker. I think something our group needs to work on is going/finding an open space so it's easier to catch the ball. I think another thing that we, as a team need to work on is that we travel too much. We could also work on faking the ball. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job.

Google Science Fair Vlog

Mathematical Reflection 1

Recently, in math we've been developing our understanding of polygons and angles. Now we've finished that unit, so I'm here to reflect on my learning through the lessons and questions. One major thing we talked about was the answer to this question, (1) "what are the common properties of all polygons." We were reminded several times, and constantly came up with the answer of, "all polygons must have closed sides, there may not be any intersecting lines, there also may not be any curved lines, meaning all sides are straight."
(2) "What are the measure in degrees tell you about an angle?" The measure in degrees tell us how big or how small the angle is supposed to be. It can also tell you whether the angle is obtuse, acute, or right. "What are some common benchmark angles?" Some of the more commonly used benchmark angles are, 45°, 90°(a right angle),180°, 270°, and 360°.
(3) "What strategies can be used to estimate angle measures?" One strategy someone could use to estimate angle measures, is to use benchmark fractions, you could use them by asking yourself, "is this angle greater than or less than 90°?"
"What strategies can be used to deduce angle measures from given information?" If you are trying to find the total angle sum, you just have to multiply the size of the angles with the number of sides the shape has. Just remember that the greater the angles in the shape is, means that there are more sides. But if you wanted to find the size of the angle without actually using a protractor to measure it, then you can divide the total angle sum with the number of sides. Continuing on with that, if you wanted to find out the number of sides of a shape, you could divide the sum of the angles with the size of the angle.
The last question is, "what strategies can be used to find accurate measurements with tools." Well, the tools you can use to find accurate measurements is either a protractor or a angle ruler. Usually, a protractor has two sets of numbers on them, so pay attention to your measurements, keep on thinking, "is this angle greater than or less than 90°."

This picture of a protractor, was taken from Creative Commons.

These are a few of the types of angles, also taken from Creative Commons. 

What Hope is There For Me?

When I think of who I am, I constantly think about how hope, can help me change. This identity unit, helped me realise what strengths I had, and what I still had to work on to be the person I want to be. One strength I think I have, is that I'm hard working. I work hard to earn good grades, I work hard to make my work the quality, I expect it to be and what the teacher expects it to be. Another strength I have is that I'm thoughtful, not only am I thoughtful with my school work, but I'm also very thoughtful with my friends. Being hard working, can bring me an advantage, and it could help me a lot in the future. Using my hard work could bring me success, with good grades, leading to good colleges, which could lead to good jobs and a bright future. I can use thoughtfulness as an advantage, because the more thought you put into making time to make friends, and to keep them happy and cheerful, will make you happy knowing that they know you care and that you take time to think about how they feel all the time.

How do I want to change? That's a pretty tough question, but I think one thing that I want to change about myself is my confidence. Don't think I carry a lot of confidence, cause you're wrong, I'm a pretty shy person and my confidence level is quite low. So definitely something I would change about myself is to be more confident. Sometimes, I'm not sure how I could actually help me become more confident, but there are a lot of things that could help me, that I would like to use in the future. One of those things, is to maybe try something new, maybe trying a new sport or an activity could help my confidence level. Another thing I could do, is I could practice until I get the hang of what I'm doing so my confidence about that thing is higher, kind of like doing a presentation. The last thing I could think of the help me change would be to think about how confident people find their source of confidence, and maybe those tips would help me improve.

What this whole post, really is about, is what hope there is for me as a person, with my identity. Thinking of hope, it makes me wonder what hope there truly is for me. I always wonder if the hope I have will turn out right, or wrong. But one hope I have for the future that would hopefully improve my identity is to be the person I want to be, not the person that other people want me to be. I hope that I can become the confident person, the one who isn't scared of doing things, the person who is nice to everyone no matter who you are. I hope that my personality improves, but doesn't change. As, said before, there's could be a lot of hope out there for me.

TCK

Family Rituals