Seventh grade has given me many fun memories, but here are three. My first one is Night at the Museum. Night at the Museum was a project I did in my core class where I got to learn about a specific area of the Middle Ages. I specifically learned about life in medieval villages. This project will always have a special place in my heart. I worked really hard on my trifold and speech and had a great time while doing it. I enjoyed getting to learn lots about a specific area in the Middle Ages. I also enjoyed getting to design my own trifold. The evening event was super fun getting to present what I learned to others and it will definitely be a memory I will keep for a long time. Another memory I made this year was hanging out with my friends at break and lunch. I always have so much fun when I hang out with my friends. Even when I’m in a bad mood, I know they will put a smile on my face. Throughout this year I’ve made so many fun memories with my friends that I will treasure forever. The third memory is when I got student of the month from Ms. Cordero and Highlander of the day from Ms. Moffat. This meant so much to me because I love being in Ms. Cordero and Ms. Moffat’s classes. I’m not someone who understands things right away after I learn it and I’ve worked really hard this year to try and understand things so when I got recognized I was super surprised. I never think I’m good enough so getting recognized gave me self confidence. Seventh grade has been one of my favorite years yet and I’m sad it’s almost over! I will miss all my amazing teachers but can’t wait for eight grade!
This week was amazing and I was able to reach all my goals. Some accomplishments I had this week included finishing my trifold and presentation speech. I was able to complete everything in the time I was given. Although this week was overall really good, I did experience some struggles while working on my trifold and presentation speech. While working on my trifold, I kept messing up on my title. An adjustment I made to fix it, was making the letters thicker and since I was using brush pens, it was an easy fix to make. Writing my presentation for this project was also a struggle for me since I didn’t have much to write. I answered all of the required questions and my speech was only a little over one minute when it is required to be two. I also had a hard time thinking about what I learned about myself through this project. Since this is the end of the project, I will not be blogging anymore about this project. Thanks for reading about my ASL experience!
Even though I had to make a few adjustments to my plan, this week was a great week and I didn’t have any struggles. Thanks to Ms. Moffat, she gave me a tip on how to memorize the signs better. She told me to think about why they created a sign the way they did because it usually relates to the word somehow. I found an example of this as the colors. Some colors are the first letter of the color with a movement. This really helped me memorize. I did make a few adjustments to my plan this week. I thought the trifold would be ready but unfortunately they weren’t. I adjusted my plan to instead just review everything I learned because I tried to put sentences together, but I found it very hard. I accomplished finally memorizing some of the signs I couldn’t before, like colors. Next week, I plan on starting to work on my trifold. Thanks for reading, see you next week!
The children in this image have very different reactions. I agree with this caption and think it is very true. I interpret it as nobody but you can control your own happiness and satisfaction no matter who you are or what you have. The boy on the left is ungrateful and is crying because he wants more than he already has. As you can see in the image, he has lots of toys and stuff that the boy on the right doesn’t have. He also is living in a house with a TV. The boy on the right is happy and grateful for what he does have, even though it is just one small toy car that he made out of wood. His home is not nearly as nice as the boy on the left but he is happy and satisfied for what he has. How do you interpret this caption and image?
This month, I read All Our Broken Pieces by L. D. Crichton. This book is about a girl named Lennon and a boy named Kyler. Lennon is a girl struggling with OCD and is trying to hide it from her peers. Kyler is a boy who everyone thinks is a monster because of the scar on his face from getting burned in a house fire as a kid. When Lennon’s mom dies, she is forced to move to LA where she starts at a new school. There, she meets Kyler and they fall in love with each other. When a terrible incident happens at school, Kyler is accused. Kyler and Lennon are torn apart by their parents. But if two people are meant to be together, nothing will keep them apart. Will they find a way to be with each other again?
I really enjoyed this book and even think it’s my new favorite book! One of the main characters, Lennon, has OCD (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder). This causes her to have terrible thoughts and even perform repetitive rituals. Reading this book will give you insight on what it’s like to have OCD. When Lennon and Kyler are torn apart, they both go through lots of emotions and their actions reflect it. I loved how the book was told from first person perspective and each chapter was told from either Lennon or Kylers point of view. As the story goes on, you get to see how Lennon and Kyler overcome their struggles and become stronger people. I love how the ending turns out and the book overall was just amazing, I never wanted to put it down.
My favorite character is Kyler Benton. Kyler is my favorite because even though he has been through a lot himself, he is always there for those he loves. Throughout the story, he is always comforting Lennon and making her feel better. Also with Mae, his younger sister. When she is sad or down, he is always there to support her or make her feel better. He takes the job of being her big brother very seriously. A couple of Kyler’s character traits is caring and comforting. A quote that proves this character trait is, “But the stabbing pain in my chest, courtesy of a knife forged from sympathy for my little sister, hurts more, so I insert myself between them and do what any good brother would. I wrap my arms around Macy and pull her to me” (182). This quote proves Kyler is caring and comforting because in this situation when Mae is really sad that she didn’t get the part she wanted, Kyler was there to support her and you can tell he really cares for her and feels sympathy towards her.
My favorite quote from the book is on page 186, “Macy slings her own bag over her shoulder. ‘Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.’” This is a quote stated by George Addair that Macy, Kyler’s younger sister says to him. Overcoming fear is never easy, but everything you want will come once you overcome it. I like this quote because it shows in order to succeed or achieve what you want, you have to first overcome your fears. This could be really hard sometimes but sometimes achieving greatness or getting what you want takes bravery.
My favorite room in my home is my bedroom. My bedroom is my favorite room for many reasons. One reason is that it is where I feel most comfortable. I love sleeping and my room is where my bed is. My bed is very comfortable because it’s where all my pillows, blankets, and squish mallows are. Whenever I had a long day or just want a place to relax, I can always go to my bed for comfort. Another reason is because it’s a place where it’s quiet and I can have the space to myself without someone always bothering me. In my living room or kitchen, my brother or sister is always bothering me and the noise level is always pretty loud. My bedroom is a place where I can get away from all the noise and busyness. Noise makes it hard for me to focus especially when I’m trying to do homework or something else. I also love my bedroom because I can have things set up or organized the way I want. I’m in control of how my bedroom looks and that makes me happy and satisfied. Thanks for reading!
This week was a great week and I was able to reach my goal. I reviewed the colors I learned last week and learned the emotions/feelings in sign language also. Last week I learned many colors, including red, green, blue, black, white, purple, and more! Some feelings/emotions I learned were happy, excited, frustrated, sad, angry, bored, busy, bad, confused, embarrassed and many more. I’m hoping learning the emotions will help me achieve my goal for next week. Like every other week, memorizing isn’t my strong suit, so I struggled to memorize signs again. I hope with more practice and repetition, I will be able to memorize the signs. I had no adjustments to make other than adding to reveiw what I learned last week to my plan. I’d also like to thank Ms. Moffat for helping me when I was confused. Thank you Ms. Moffat! Next week, I plan on using the words I learned and putting them into sentences. Thank you for reading, see you next week!
While working on my 20% project this week, I learned the colors and a couple foods in sign language. I wasn’t able to accomplish my goal this week as I wanted to learn a lot more food than I did. I struggled to stay focused on what I needed to learn for the day and kept wondering off to learn other concepts in sign language. I also am still struggling to memorize signs. I hope this gets better as I continue to learn. An adjustment I made this week was adding to my plan by also learning the colors. My original goal this week was just to learn food but when I started off learning fruits and vegetables, I realized I should learn the colors first. For example when signing berries, you need to know some of the colors. An adjustment I will make to stay on track is to continue learning food as well as try to accomplish my goal for the week #4. Next week I plan on continuing to learn food. Thanks for reading!
This week working on my 20% project didn’t quite go as planned, but there are some positives I experienced. Some successes I experienced this week were successfully learning some animals and other simple phrases to use in conversation. I was able to learn animals like cat, bear, bat, bird, alligator, elephant, and more! A struggle I had was reaching my full goal for this week. This week I was only able to learn half the animals I wanted and just like last week, struggled to memorize the signs. An adjustment I made to my plan in order to stay on a successful track was instead of just learning phrases to use in conversation, I also ended up learning animals. To help me memorize, I practiced more over the weekend. I’m hoping this will help me reach my end goal. Next week, I plan on learning food in sign language. Thanks for reading, see you next week!
In March, I read Three Keys, by Kelly Yang. This book is about a girl named Mia Tang, an immigrant who lives in Anaheim, California. Mia is going into sixth grade and loves to write, but her teacher doesn’t think her writing is great at all. Mia and her family live and work at the Calivista motel. Mia and her best friend Lupe get to work at the front desk everyday. The hotel is starting to struggle with many worried investors. Then, a new immigration law comes up. Mia’s family is undocumented but is still working on getting the papers they need. If the law passes, her family faces the fear of being deported. Read to find out if Mia will be able to overcome these challenges.
I loved this book because it is so realistic as it is based on the author, Kelly Yang’s own experience of being an immigrant. As you can see in this book, many people struggle with being an immigrant and reading this book gives you a feel for what that is like. This book also shows more of what it’s like for Hank, having to face many racist people. Hank is one of the weekly residents at the Calivista motel. I love how Kelly writes all the emotions Mia has with all the conflicts and struggles popping up in her life and how she conquers them with her determination. Reading about Mia’s friendship with Lupe and how they become closer and closer friends is so heartwarming, this is a story I would recommend reading.
My favorite character in this story is Mia’s mom. She is my favorite character because she works so hard to try and provide for Mia. Her mom works so hard every day at the Calivista motel cleaning and running the motel. She also helps Lupe with math tutoring. She gave up her dream and job to move to California hoping for Mia to have a better life. She always supports Mia and tries to help her as much as she can. One of Mia’s moms character traits is resourceful. When conflicts come up, she stays calm and finds a way to solve them. A quote to prove this character trait is, “I thought of all the little things my mom did to get what she wanted- the fake shopping bags, the free sample perfumes, the beet juice she dabbed on her lips when she couldn’t afford lipstick. My mom always found a way” (267). This quote shows how even though Mia’s family couldn’t always afford everything they wanted, her mom still found a way to make it work.
My favorite quote is, “But you can’t give up on people. It’s one of the three keys of friendship. You gotta listen, you gotta care, and most importantly, you gotta keep trying.” This is my favorite quote because it shows what you have to do to have a good friendship. A friendship needs lots of things to be a good one but the three things listed in this quote is very important. Listening, caring and trying are key components of a friendship and in this book Mia’s friendship with Lupe resembles that.
