Types of Switches

Never Give Up

When lighting up the wicks on this candle, I decided to take a picture of it. Not only does it smell good and brighten up somebodys day, but to me, it has a meaning behind it. This picture of the candle represents never giving up. You just have to keep on burning, even when times are rough. Sometimes the flame is strong, and sometimes it's weak, but we always seem to keep on burning. When giving up, it seems like the flame is getting weaker and weaker, but when you keep on fighting for what you're doing the flame gets stronger and stronger, just like us. It shows that we have to work and persevere to get the outcome we want, and if we want the flame to keep on burning we can't let the struggles or the people blow them out.  

Never giving up - We give up from time to time, but we always seem to grow that confidence, and perseverance to push ourselves to work harder and to not give up no matter what struggles bring you. We all have to watch out for the flame, because sometimes it just won't stop burning. 

Literary Essay - Something to Hold

In life, we always have to face changes, it may be hard, but we all have to go through them. Whether is moving to a new country, moving to a new school, meeting new people, changes in family and friends, forgetting about the past. These are some of the changes the characters in Something to Hold by Katherine Schlick Noe. The author wrote Something to Hold by having characters facing many social issues, but continued on showing change for the better in each character after a turning point.

One character, Jewel, was before known to everybody as a bully; no matter who you were she bullied them. Jewel never opened up to anybody about her past, not even about the troubles she had with her alcoholic and abusive stepfather. With the story starting off with Kitty and her brothers being new to a place full of Indians, Jewel was always the one teasing them about their race. She hung out with the wrong crowd, and didn’t have true friends. Until one day, “Jewel rises up from her desk. Mr. Nute swivels his head and narrows his eyes at her. "What about the courage," "she says, looking around the room,” of the people who were already here?" "I am stunned that Jewel is standing up for me." (pg. 65) This shows the change of Jewel because she stood up to Kitty, the main character who was treated differently than everybody else. As a result of this, Jewel treated Kitty and everybody differently and even started to open up about her past, and stopped hanging out with the other bullies.

Another character that showed change is the main character, Kitty. This middle school girl, who constantly moves due to her dad’s job, just recently moved to the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. Her family is one out of a couple of other white families to live in this area. This makes Kitty have a tough time fitting in, having confidence, and not sticking up to the bullies. With being a different race than everybody else, Jewel, Raymond and other kids tease her. When one of Kitty’s brother’s friend, Howie was being made fun of by Raymond, Kitty sticks up for Howie by saying, “Why do you do things like that?” I yell at Raymond before I can stop myself.”Howie never hurt anybody.” I can feel my throat close up. Oh, God what am I doing?” (pg. 72) It is because of what she has seen bullies do, she decided to stick up for Howie after she realizes that nobody, including him deserved being bullied. She showed change by sticking up for not only herself but for other people. She grew confidence and wasn’t afraid to speak out.

Finally, Katherine Schlick Noe introduces the readers to Raymond, Jewel’s brother. Raymond does the same things as Jewel, bullying and teasing people, and treating Kitty and her brothers differently. One thing that affects Raymond the most is his abusive and alcoholic stepfather (Walter,) Raymond can never forget his past, and finds a way to get rid of his stepfather. One day when Raymond, Jewel, Kathla, and Kitty were walking on the streets, they soon were in a situation they never wanted to be in with Raymond and Jewel’s stepfather. This was the turning point that showed somewhat of a different side of Raymond. “A sudden movement catches my eye, and I’m startled by an explosion of shattering glass. The car. I spin around to see Raymond swing the bat high over his shoulder and blast out the second headlight.”(pg. 205.) And after Mr.Walters was caught by the tribal police, “Mr. Wewa studies Raymond, his face serious. “That was a dangerous thing to do,” he says. Then his eyes soften. “But it was also very brave.” (pg. 206.) After this turning point, Raymond has a different perspective on Kitty. And showed change in Raymond by letting him let go of his past, and not being afraid of his stepfather and the things that he has done to him. He also stood up to one of his biggest fears, that he had tried and tried to get rid of in the past, but finally had the boost of confidence to get rid of it forever.

To sum it all up, through her characters, Katherine Schlick Noe tells the readers how change can help you overcome your biggest social issues. It is important because if we don’t, without a turning point in our lives, without change, our lives would be very different. So lets let these turning points leave an impact on our lives, and make it a wake up call that this change is for the better, for not only you, but also for the world around you.

The Adventures of Mrs.Clayton's 5th Graders!

It's the end of the year so it's time to do some reflecting on some of the things the 5th graders in Mrs.Clayton's class. Sadly, I won't be able to reflect on every single thing we have done in 5th grade, so I will just be reflecting on some.

One of the biggest things about our class, is Rock Star of the Week. Almost every week there is a Rock Star of the Week, depending on how long the week is. Each student chooses a date in the beginning of the year. This is a great way to get to know your classmates. On Monday the Rock Star shares their goodies, they will share/show 3 special items and 8 meaningful pictures. Not only do they share their goodies, they also choose a quote and shares it. Each day they share something different, they have their parent write a letter about the student. The Rock Star will also get a wordle, it is when all the other students fill out a form and give three adjectives that fit that person. The Rock Star of the Week usually has the choice of everything, like the picture prompts, the Switch-Ons, and other things. Not too long ago I was Rock Star of the Week, and I was the second last. If you may know me I'm kind of a shy girl in class. I don't really like talking infront of the class, and when I do talk infront of the class I always have to remind myself to talk louder so everyone can hear me. I wasn't the best at talking infront of the class and participating. So being the Rock Star of the Week kind of changed that. When I had to share my goodies I was really nervous, I could feel myself shaking. It wasn't the first time I had to speak/share infront of the class but I was really, really nervous. After I shared, I wasn't that nervous anymore. For the rest of the week when I was sharing, I wasn't as nervous as Monday.

One thing I really enjoyed doing in 5th grade are the blog posts we got to do on the blog you are reading this post on right now. I really enjoyed writing these posts, because we are able to share our ideas, creativity, and personality through our writing and our blog. I really liked posting some of the work I have done and reflecting on it. I also really liked writing the picture prompts we have almost everyday. It's also really cool how we can control something, and getting to post anything we want, so long it is appropriate. Some of the things we have done on our blogs are, reflections, sharing our videos, and sharing our work.

I think that I improved a lot in math this year. At first I thought that I wasn't the greatest at math. I mean sometimes there are some concepts I'm not that great on, but I have improved on most of the concepts I didn't get when I was in 4th grade. I also learned a lot of new things in 5th grade, like how to find quick and easy fractions with common denominators. After taking the End of the Year Assessment I realized that I wasn't that bad at math. When you compare the Beginning of the Year Assessment to the End of the Year Assessment you could tell I learned a lot. I learned that in math, if you don't understand the concept of the problem you should always ask for help. Always!  Some of the things I have learnt how to do in math is multiplying fractions, probability using fractions, and the list goes on and on.

The field trips we went on really helped the growth of my friendships. I remember the first field trip of fifth grade, was to the water park! At the beginning of the year I only had a few friends in Mrs.Clayton's class. Some of my friends were put in different classes, and some moved away. I thought that it was kind of good that we were put in different classes. I thought that it was a good thing because it was a great opportunity to meet new friends, but I wasn't that good at that due to my shyness.   But at least I had two of my friends from 4th grade with me in the same class. And that was Shreya and Radhe. I also had another friends who was in my 3rd grade class, and that was An Yu. I also knew Apsara from Shreya. Back on topic, the field trip to the water park in the beginning of the year helped me with my friendships, because it led me to meeting new friends, and getting to play with my other friends from other classes. It helped me meet new friends in my class because my friends and I got to get to know the other girls. Overall, now I have made a lot of new friends.

Working in a group for different subjects, like Social Studies, reading, and other subjects was kind of difficult for me. I think that it was difficult, because in some of the groups I have been in, we didn't work that well together. I think that we were struggling with working together because everyone would be talking at once. And sometimes one person wouldn't listen to other people's suggestions. So it would really chaotic at times. But luckily in the end we would always work together and get the work done.

Above I reflected on my time in 5th grade. I talked about some of my struggles, my friendship growth, my improvements, and my goals. Sadly, this is probably going to be the last post I will post while I'm in 5th grade. But this wouldn't be the last blog post forever. Overall I had a great time in 5th grade. And for those who are in lower grades, I bet you are going to enjoy 5th grade a lot!

My May Currently

I can't believe it's almost the end of fifth grade, that means this Currently is going to be the last one! You may be wondering why I said "I think." after I said "Music producer," for the last one. It's because I'm not quite sure what I truly want to be when I grow up. I really liked doing these Currently's, I sure am going to miss writing these. I hope you liked these Currently's too. And as usual the last one is different from the other ones.  

Fablehaven Book Trailer

This is my new book trailer on Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. This time we had to pick one of our favorite books we read during book clubs, either Fantasy or Historical Fiction. We also had the choice of either working with a person who was in your book club or alone. And of course I decided to work with someone, and that someone is... Milika! Fablehaven is a Fantasy book. I think one thing Milika and I did good on was we put short phrases on the slides instead of long long sentences. Another thing we did good on was we worked together, and we made sure all the important details were in place. One thing I think we should've done was maybe put a little more pictures. I think this book trailer was way better than my first one. Below is the video, hope you want to read the book after watching it!

The Wonderful Playground!

A normal playground would always have a boring theme, with boring slides, swings, and other not so fun things. Well, first of all my playground wouldn't be just a plain, old, boring playground. It would be huge, fun, and the kids playing on the playground would never want to leave. The theme for my playground would be music. Yes, you read that right the theme of the playground would be musical. There would be 4 slides. Those slides are shaped as different instruments, one of the slides would be shaped as a piano and when you slide down you would hear the sound of the scale. The other slide would be the shape of a flute and like the piano when you slide down it would also make the sound of the instrument. The third slide would be the shape of a microphone even though it would be a little short. This time when you slide down the slide puts on your favorite song. If you're wondering how they would know what your favorite song is, there is a little iPad on the side of the slide. And before you go down the slide you would get to pick the song you would like to  listen to. You even get to listen to one of your favorite songs while you go down the slide. The last slide would be shaped as a drum, it would turn out as a swirly slide. Not only does the playground have slides, it would also have a floor that is a piano, and whenever you press a key it would play a song that matches that pitch. 

 For the other equipment, there would be a swing set. But it's no ordinary swing set, the seat of the swing set is a tambourine, when you swing high you are able to do flips and tricks and you won't be able to fall out. That is because usually when you go high you would scream, and the high pitch scream would activate the safety belt. This may seem kind of weird but the playground would also have a swimming pool the shape of a guitar. Not only would the playground have a swimming pool it would also have a sandbox the shape of a violin. The colors of the equipment would be bright and colorful, unlike some playgrounds that have dull colored equipment. If I got to design my very own playground that is the way I would design it!

Unseen!

I can't believe I was able to draft, edit, revise, and publish my Fantasy story in that amount of time. These past weeks I have been writing a Fantasy story for the writing freebie we had. We had the choices of writing a poem, a Fantasy, Non Fiction, a Persuasive, and last but not least a narrative. For the Fantasy writers in my class had less time to draft and publish than the time we got during the actual unit. I decided to name my Fantasy Unseen! You may be wondering why I named my book Unseen! well it's because this book is about these two orphaned girls named Molly and Millie. They go to a science lab as a field trip, and at the science lab they turn invisible. But that's all I'm going to tell you, if you want to read how they turned invisible and know more than read this book to find out!

Botanical Gardens Reflection

I can't believe how nerve racking my Botanical Gardens Social Studies presentation was! And as you can tell from the title of the post I'm going to reflect on my presentation. One thing I think I did good on was I stood sort of still, but I still moved around a little. Another thing I did good on is that I put a lot of pictures and I didn't put full sentences on my blog. And before I forget, if you want to check my Botanical Gardens Blog here is the link. I think something I should work on is not saying "Umm" and "So Yeah" that often. And maybe practice a little more so I won't be as nervous as I was. Another thing I really need to work on is speaking a little louder. As you can see (well, I should say hear) that I wasn't talking that loud, so I think I could've talked a little louder. The last thing I think I should've worked on is actually about my blog and not me. I think I should've organized the blog a little better, so it would be easier to access the links to my other post. But as you can see in the video I had to pause in my presentation to find the post I was trying to share. After finishing my presentation, I thought that Blogger wasn't the best choice for a presentations for a couple of reasons. One of those reasons are. As you could see it is really hard to organize. And maybe you could see, but my timeline was a little wonky, but the first time I published it, it was not that wonky. I think that maybe Google Presentations is a good way to do presentations because the people who did Google Presentations they didn't have to scroll up and down, unlike Blogger. Well, since you have seen the video, I hope you know a little more about the history of the beautiful Botanical Gardens.  

My Best Friend, Tori!

Have you ever wanted a fictional best friend? Well, if I had to pick a fictional character to be my best friend I would pick Tori Vega. Some of you may know her from the T.V. show on Nickelodeon called "Victorious!" The first reason why I would want her to be my best friend is because she goes to a school called Hollywood Arts, and it would be awesome to be able to go to school there with my new best friend. If you didn't know Hollywood Arts is a school full of talented people (at least most of them are really talented.)  Another reason why I would pick Tori Vega as my fictional best friend, it's because the reason why she goes to Hollywood  Arts is because she is spectacular singer and dancer. And if she was my best friend she would be able to help me improve on my singing and dancing, and soon I would be able to sing just like her and even get to perform with her! The last reasons why I would be best friends with Tori Vega is because she has awesome, talented, and humorous friends. Some of her friends include Cat, Andre, and many more. Those are some of the reasons why I would pick Tori Vega to be my fictional best friend. It was a tough choice picking my fictional best friend, because there are just TOO MANY! But finally I came up with Tori Vega as my fictional best friend. Below is a picture of Tori. 

My April Currently

It's time for another Currently, this time as you can see is the Currently for the month of April! April came by really quickly! The only thing that is different from this Currently and the Currently's from the past is the last one. It was really hard to pick what super power I wanted, but I ended up picking the power to stop time. I hope we do another Currently before the end of the school year!

Finding the Volume of a Cylinder!

This is a video that I made teaching you guys how to find the volume of a cylinder. I think I did a better job on this movie than the other movie I made a while ago. Something I think I didn't really do well on was pronouncing my words properly. One thing I improved on was I talked louder than usual. I apologize that my video is a bit blurry. Any ways I hope you learned how to find the volume!

The Worst day of a Starburst's Life!

It all started on October 30th, all I knew about this date was that the next day was going to be the worst day for every piece of candy, October 31. In case you were wondering I am a Cherry Starburst. For the past years my Starburst family and friends have been running for survival, we have broke out of packages in super markets, but we always get caught. In the past I have lost a lot of my friends and relatives, I can't even count how many are gone! Starbursts like me have no idea what or who took them. But we have heard that a vicious, huge, and scary creature, I think is called a human has taken my kind. Well, we have tried to stay away but tomorrow, October 31 (Halloween) , there was no way out. 

This can not be happening!  Okay, so I just woke up in a package with some of my Starburst family and friends and all of a sudden someone snatched the package so fast I felt sick! It must have been the day, the nightmare of every single candies' life... Halloween! I looked back while I was in the package and I didn't see any other Starburst packs on the shelf, in the super market. Soon the package I was in fell into a big shopping cart. After that I couldn't remember anything else, until the creature took my Starburst package out of the shopping bag. The creature ripped my package opened and poured all of us in a huge Halloween decorated bowl (I think.)  Not long till we, Starbursts were mixed with all types of different candies, such as Skittles, Kit-Kat's, and M&Ms. Not long till I heard something that sounded like an alarm, but soon I knew it was not an alarm it was a door bell. 

"TRICK OR TREAT!" I could hear the humans yell. After a few minutes a door bell would ring, and one by one a piece of candy was  no longer in the bowl. I knew soon it was gonna be the end of me... forever. Soon there was only 2 piece of candy left in the bowl it was me and a pack of Skittles, who was going to be the first to go? "Good luck pal, it was nice meeting you," said the Skittles pack. I was not ready for this, but I had no choice. A huge hand reached down and grabbed me and the Skittles pack. The hand handed me to a human dressed as a candy bar and the human handed the Skittles pack to a human dressed as what seemed like human with a cape and sharp teeth. Why would a candy bar eat other pieces of candy? I thought to myself. It wasn't long till it was the end of the road for me. The candy tore the wrapper off of me, I knew this wasn't going to be a fun experience. I knew if I was eaten and chewed up I would no longer be a normal piece of candy anymore. But not long till I heard a scream, then I heard someone yell "What are you doing? Is that my last Starburst, why on Earth are you eating my candy?" Soon I was knocked out of the human's hand and landed on the floor. "See what you've done? Now I can't eat it, I guess I have to throw it away," yelled the same human. I was happy to know that my life wasn't going to be over just quiet yet, but I wasn't really happy I was going to get thrown away. I was soon thrown away into a trash can full of candy wrappers. It was a terrifying day, I hope I don't get eaten next year! Well, I guess that's every candies' wish.

My Art Work!

Hi bloggers, this is the art piece I picked for the art show at school. It was really hard to pick one because I had a lot of art pieces I really really liked. This art piece was inspired by Eric Waugh. I chose this because I really like all the colors I used and I really liked how the instruments turned out. I used water pastels, water, a permanent marker, a paint brush, and of course a piece of paper. This took me around 2-3 art classes. I had a lot of fun drawing, painting, and creating this wonderful piece of art! I hope you like it!