Learning Habit Observation
The learning habit I choose was perseverance. One way I have used this in a positive way is during a French test I forgot a vocabulary word. I was going to move on but I kept on trying and eventually remembered. An intention I want to do to make this learning habit successful is to always remember other times I used it and why it helped. This way I will be inspired to keep on going.
Learning Habit- Initiative
I believe perseverance is one of the most important learning habits. It’s about pushing through when something is hard. It’s about not giving up and keep on trying. I think that I have had some moments where I have really succeeded in perseverance. For example, once on a French test, I didn’t know and couldn’t remember what some of the answers were. I pushed through and tried to remember and ended up getting a really good grade. This is a very important skill to have especially when you are stuck.
Art Eye Project
This year for art we did an eye project. We took a picture of our eye and had to draw it from the picture. we used graphite pencils and blenders. It was fun yet challenging. I am proud of how my eye project turned out. I think it came out well and I worked hard. I think that I got it done quickly yet carefully. Something I would change might be to add more texture and shading to the skin area and maybe to change the front a little bit. Even without the changes, overall, I am happy with the final product.
Poem
Alone (Opening line Free-Write)
The big house was still, almost empty
The vacant beds gathering dust
The lifeless shrubs
waiting for something to quench their thirst
The untouched bookshelves
waiting for someone to unlock their stories
The big house was still, almost empty
Almost empty, except for me
Shabanu to Rifdha Letter
Dear Rifdah,
My name is Shabanu Abassi. I am a nomad and I live in the Cholistan Desert, Pakistan. I am eleven years old and have an older sister, Phulan. I live with my mom, dad, sister, aunt, two cousins, and grandfather. We own many camels, of which many people say are the finest at the Sibi Fair.
I recently have seen the competition you have competed in. It inspired me that someone our age could memorize something that long. We are good muslims, but I couldn’t imagine reading something that long. And I can’t believe you got secong out of one hundred and ten people!
My parents made plans for my sister to marry our cousin, Hamir, but then he got killed. It was horrible. We didn’t know what to do. Who would she marry now? I was supposed to marry our other cousin Murad, but now Phulan will marry Murad because she is of marrying age. And now I have to marry a fifty five year old! Mama said that he thought I was pretty, but I can’t trust him. His brother was the one who killed Hamir. His brother also tried to kidnap Phulan, take her for money and give her back when he’s done with her. It is such a horrible thing to do. Sadly, some people actually agree to do it. If I hadn’t left Phulan near the water, none of this would have happened. I now feel like it’s my fault, even though I am so angry.
I feel bad for Phulan, she was so happy. We were so prepared for the wedding, we had sold some of our best camels, like Guluband. I was so sad when dadi sold him, but I know we needed to for the money. They bought him and some other camels for a very high price. One hundred and fifty thousand rupees! Or, about thirty six thousand Maldivian rufiyaa.
I can’t believe who I am going to marry, it’s so unfair. I never get any say in what I do. Now I wish I was like Fatima, she is my second cousin and good friend. She hasn’t gotten married yet and she is already sixteen. Her mother Sharma, mama’s cousin left her old husband. He was treating her horribly. Dadi would never do something like that, and when he is strict to us, I know it is for our own safety. Is your father strict?
I love to take care of and be with camels. When I am with them I calm down. I have learned to control my sadness about Guluband. I have learned to love them because as a child I would always go about playing with dadi and the camels. My sister was always different, she stayed more inside.
Even though where I live there is no easy way for me to get an education, you inspired me with your Koran reciting.
Map Animal Ideas
My plan is to make a paper mache cat and other animals and fill the eyes with cut out parts of the map that are places I like and film a short stop motion animation video of them moving. I will show my experience of New York City by gluing places out of the map onto places like the eyes and ears of the animals. They will be places I like, I have been to, my house, my school, places I’ve been, etc. I would like the project to be on an ipad or computer since it is going to be a stop motion animation video. I will put the computer/ipad will be on a table and I will have the actual paper mache animals on the table next to it. I hope people will learn places I have been. I hope to learn how to build paper mache structures better and make them look realistic.
Taking Care of Camels (Shabanu #1)
Recently, two of my camels, Tipu and Kalu, fought. This is very unusual because usually only the dominant male, Tipu, mates with the females, but when there is a challenger, they fight to the death. I was so scared, but it all turned out okay. It was a close match because kalu is larger and very strong, but Tipu is also very strong and more experienced because he is older. Luckily, we stopped the fight before anyone got very hurt. My advice is to get some kind of stick and make loud noises. You make loud noises near their head so they get distracted and annoyed, but my camels are fierce, and it rarely works on them. You should carry a stick to, if you need to, hit them with. Camels are strong and it will not majorly hurt them. And if that doesn’t work you can shove a stick in between one of the camel’s mouth so they can’t bite down and hurt the other one. The only thing about this is they might get angry and start chasing you instead. Hopefully they won’t get too angry and will only be frustrated for a minute. If they start to chase you for longer you can try to distract them by throwing something like a cloth in their face and run. Run for as long as you can, eventually the camel will be bored and go back. Meanwhile the other camel will have retreated from the fight a while ago, glad they have survived. I hope none of my camels get in another fight like that again!
Taking Care of Camels (Shabanu #2)
I just went to the Sibi fair. It was so exciting, I love going every year, even though it has a long walk. But, when we were there we sold Guluband. I can’t believe dadi could do this. My closest camel, gone forever. I don’t think I’ll ever find a camel as good as him. Dadi said he wouldn’t. I know we need more wealth, but I am so sad now. It’s like there is a hole in my heart where Guluband used to be and I don’t know if i’ll ever be as close to a camel. We recently pierced the noses of some of our camels, like Xhush Dil. My advice is to always make sure that no one is near the front of the camel because that is where the tend to thrash around the most. Tie the rear legs together softly, but tight enough so they gently fall to the ground. You should always do this with lots of people to make it easier. A trick I have to make them calm down is to feed them something sweet, so they don’t notice what you’re trying to do. I use lumps of sugar for my camels, they can’t resist sugar. After you are done with the piercing part, untie the rear legs. When they are calmer put mint water on the hole. By now it should hurt much less. I hope to have have more camels noses pierced by Phulan’s wedding.
Medieval Guild Night
The Medieval guild night was very fun. I was Martin Luther and I had my 95 theses. I was in the Monks, Nuns, and Imams Guild. I was nervous but still very excited. The highlight for me was showing people my 95 theses that I hand wrote. On the spot, I completely changed the monologue I had written and memorized to make it more interesting and explanatory. The top of my quill pen fell into an ink jar so I had to quickly think of an explanation and cut the part where people try to write. People asked many more questions than I expected so I had to think of really quick answers. It was hard not to get out of character when family members kept on calling me by my real name. It was also hard not to get out of character when visitors asked me about things in Martin Luther’s future. Overall It was a exciting and learning experience.
Science Body System
In science we are studying the Circulatory system. The Circulatory system pumps blood throughout your body to spread nutrients and oxygen to keep you alive. A fun fact that we found when we researched blood types is that Rh factor is named after the Rhesus monkey, because the Rh factor was first observed in the Rhesus monkey. The Rh factor is another antigen on the surface of your blood cell, not everyone has it. If you have the antigen you are Rh+, if you do not have the Rh factor you are Rh-. An interesting question that we have is; is the circulatory system the same for other mammals.
