Time had passed and it's time that we reflect on what we did... There was a time, just before vacation, we were to read a book and make a book report for Language Arts.
I chose a book called “NEW MOON” by Stephanie Meyer.
After I had finished the book, I did some reflections...

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HIS is all about the 5 student outcomes:

• Effective Communicator
• Active Learner
• Critical Thinker & Problem Solver
• Community Contributor
• Person of High Character

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Effective communicator Sometimes, I have problems with my homework and I just don't know what to do ~ STUCK!
It was then my heroes: the teachers, friends, and my other classmates, had saved me from the miserable thoughts.
I made it and summarized the story into a presentation to give to the class.

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I read the book in 2 days and I took notes on it, while reading.

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I worked out the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution. I thought about the story that didn't make sense and some ways to make it better.

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There was times, when I helped my classmates on giving them advice for their project.

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I contributed my ideas and thoughts on what I think is the best part and what part of the story needs improvements (based on my opinions). That’s called sharing!!!

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Content & Skills & Big Ideas

A: Yeah ~ I have the content of the story (summary), I’d used skills to make the power point easy to understand, and I have my ideas on the last few pages.

Q: Did I learn from what I did?
A: Of course, I learned some vocabularies that I didn't know. I learned some ways that may help my own creative writing interesting.

THESE VOCABULARIES MAY HELP ME IN FUTURE USAGES!!

Our school is all about having us, students, to fully achieve the goal of completing what's considered in the 5 student outcomes. Those outcomes are:

• Effective Communicator
• Person of High Character
• Critical Thinker
• Community Contributor
• Active Learner

Of these student outcomes, I plan to improve to be a active learner. Why? Everyday, I slept late. When I come to school, I'm like:

First: At home...
Asleep...

Second: At school...
Sleepy...

Third: After school...

Floating...

Fourth: Back home...
Actually, like during the middle section of school, I'm awake.

Sleepy Bird Source 1, 2, and 3, and 4.

I don't really sleep in class though, because then I would not know what to do for homework...

(Picture from "THIS" website)

~Monday, 12 January, 2008~

The sight was terrible... Bombs ripped across Baghdad, Iraqi; leaving the dry ground covered with little patches of red pond. Some were dead, some were injured, and the rest are still alive...

All of this happened during the morning ~ a rush hour.

This disaster stole away the precious life of soldiers, a policeman, and civilians. Three soldiers died when their military convoy had exploded. At least eight have been killed and above a dozen were injured. In the west of the city, three Iraqi soldiers died when a roadside bomb hit their military convoy. Two civilians were exploded near a police checkpoint.

Those explosions are mainly heading toward Iraqi's security forces.

Who were the attackers? Did they have a special reason for doing this? Did all of them escaped away? How did the people in Baghdad not now that they were in danger? Where were the attackers hiding at the first place?

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7823906.stm

(Picture from "THIS" website)

There have been shark attacks along beaches. Experts said that like only 60 people had died due to shark attacks over the past 50 years.
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There's one attack where a 13 year old girl went surfing at the island of Tasmania. Suddenly, she was dragged into the water twice, by a 5 meter long pointer shark. Luckily, her cousin jumped into the water, punch the shark, and rescued her.
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The latest shark attack was on Monday. It was about this man who had punched a bull shark to free himself. That time, he was snorkeling at the south of Sydney coast.
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Another man, got attacked by a 40 cm shark off the northeast coast...
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But, still lots swimmers in Sydney, Australia are happy about staying in shallow water.
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My Opinion:
1. That was brave of the 13 year old girl's cousin to rescue her by punching the shark!!

My Questions:
1. Is Australia the place of frequent shark attacks? Why? The weather??
2. How did the girl turned out to be dragged twice underwater? Did she fight back to the surface the first time? Did she even tried to punch the shark or was she shocked at that time?
3. Does sharks always deep underwater when they are in search for food?

Folks!! Just remember, watch out and find a safe place to swim, play with water, and surf!!

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7820000/newsid_7824600/7824637.stm

Can you believe it??!!?? In our world today, there are still about 17 million people under slavery!!! Soon, it'll be more than just that, although slavery is illegal everywhere. The blacks are forced to do domestic & agricultural slavery in Mauritania and Sudan. About 45,000 women and children are smuggled to the USA each year with false promises of decent jobs and when they found out that their passports are stolen. Also, some slaves sell their daughters in order to get some money for their freedom. And probably about 20 million people that are treated like slaves, are in debt bondage.

Because of modern-day slavery, we should all tell others that people should not be slaves!! All of us need to learn the rights the people who were treated as slaves, have. All of should realized every one has their own freedom rights.

Link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E5DD1139F93AA3575AC0A9669C8B63

At the time in the video, the Jews were slaves. They were killed, buried, and forced to construct cities, pyramids, and other buildings. All of the Jews were tied to ropes in order to make giant obelisks stand. The Egyptians used whips to punish them like animals, when they are tired, disobey the orders, and when they did something wrong. Those Jews were just tired!! They worked all day under the extreme heat and they've been covered in mud, all stinky and dirty. How could they maintain their power when there's nothing for them to eat, just a little bit for them to drink?? They had no rights but work and work as "slaves". Plus, they've got their babies killed that time just because the pharaoh heard that the new successor would be a Jewish. Mothers also got killed protecting their babies. Times went by, and many were tortured 'cause they wanting freedom. The assume that the Jews are lower than them, the Egyptians, just because they are a different race.


Women and girls had their heads covered in cloth, just like people in India does. While males sometimes wore vests that are long. The Jewish cloth had their own kind of pattern. They worship their own God and of course, NOT the Egyptian Gods.


On the other hand, the Egyptian Pharaohs, and those who lived in the "palace", had wealthy lives. They wore jewelries and had fine clothing. Those jewelries include, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, foot bracelets, accessories on the heads, and rings. They also put on make-ups and even males! They Egyptian Pharaohs were the ones that are to control the whole of Egypt. Those Egyptian worship their Gods (Sun, Water, Soil, etc...) The place of the new Pharoahs are replaced through generations and generations of royal blood. Their food include wheat. They have pyramids, large constructions of towers and cities.

My Break: At the Lalu (Family Gathering)

One thing I did during my break was going to the Lalu with my mom, aunt, uncle from America, cousin Cherine, brother, and grandparents. It was a beautiful hotel and comfortable too. We, my uncle, my brother, Cherine and I, played Monopoly with credit cards! At first, it was great! But, then... It turned out to be extremely boring, playing it almost 3 times a day.... We also stayed up late playing that game. Although it was a "boring" game, we laughed and laughed because all of us made stupid mistakes.

Another thing I did during my days at the Lalu was that we rode bicycles. And because it had rained, there was no place that was dry enough. So we ended up circling the parking lot... It was very weird, with all those people parking there seeing the 5 of us going round and round. That was quite embarrassing. Later on, all of the adults went to spa nearby to relax and enjoy. While the 3 of us, my brother, Cherine, and I, went to the dorm to and messed around. We ate the snacks in both the plates. The place where we slep was put together, forming two rooms. My mom, my aunty, Cherine, and I slept in one of the 2-connected-rooms, while the rest of the family slept ing the other. We only had one key so the 3 of us went to me and Cherine's room. There we played with our hair, ate, drank sodas, played, watched TV, and used the laptop to record some videos. Those videos include funny ones, with us making funny faces, dancing ones, and singing ones.

The third thing I did druing the holidays was going to a place to soak in hot springs. It's in Gu Guan. There, we played Monopoly again! But we stopped a little bit just after the game. At night, we went to a nearby place to see if there's anything interesting. When we came home, we brought snacks to our room. Before we went outside we put water in the tub to cool down a bit. So, we rolled up our pants and put our feet in the water. Then, we pressed a button on the wall. Bling! The TV was on. We watched "Spider Man" while we soaked our feet. Almost every night during the holidays, we slept late.Ooooh~ So tired.

My 2009 Goals
There are 2 goals I'm setting for 2oo9 that I'm going to share...

1. My first school goal is to ask when ever I need help or if I don't understand some assignments.

2. My second school goal is to express myself to others in a more understanding way.