The Julian Chapter / Wonder by R.J. Pacaliao- Mindmap

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Fantasy Reading Response - The Dreamwalker's Child

The Dreamwalker’s Child

In the book The Dreamwalker’s Child by Steve Voake, I think the themes of the story are; Love is always important, and you will always find it, and; Don’t always stay in your comfort zone. One of the things about love in the book, was Sam’s dad, Jack Palmer, grew up without love, but when he grew up he found love:

“Before he met Sally [Sam’s mom], Jack had never found it easy to say the things he felt. He had been brought up to believe that shows of affection were a sign of weakness… His mother and father had been big on teaching him the values of strength and independence, and they rarely cuddled him or held him close.”

I think that passage is important, because it shows that love can always be found. Another part of the book says that Odoursin used to be a good person, until his brother passed away. That shows how much Odoursin loved his brother. I also think that it was good that Sam went on his journey, and out of his comfort zone, because he had a great time with his new (and only) friend, Skipper, and he saved the world. In a passage of the book, Sam was complaining that he wanted to stay in the bug world, so I think that shows that he really had a great time.

One setting in this book is in Vermia, in the marshlands. The land of Vermia is in the unnamed bug world, where Sam was transported to. In my mind, I imagine Vermia as a dark, scary, and dirty place. Here is text from the book where Sam lands in the bug world:

“He could see that he was surrounded by flat marshlands which stretched all the way to the horizon. Pools of leaden water lay in grey pockets and green vapours rose like ghosts from the damp bogs around, curling up to meet the yellowish mist that hung in the heavy clouds above giant reeds.”

I chose Vermia, because it has a very descriptive setting, and it really matches the people who live in it; Odoursin and his men.

In my story, an archetypal character is Sam. Sam is the protagonist, because he is the one who stops Odoursin from killing human kind, and he is the main character. [And main characters usually are the protagonists]. Sam is a special character because he is the dreamwalker’s child, yet he still acts normal and looks normal. I also think Sam is really great because he never believed he could stop Odoursin, but at the end, he ended up stopping Odoursin.

A symbol in this story is Odoursin’s red eyes. Odoursin’s eyes represent a evil, because red is an evil color. I think Steve Voake purposely made Odoursin have red eyes to show how abnormal and terrible Odoursin is. Though eyes aren’t really known for symbols, sometimes the eye colors in books show personality. For example, if an author describes someone with baby blue eyes, they’re not usually mean, bad person.

My main character, Sam, faced many internal and external conflicts in the story, examples of these were:

External	Internal
Sam gets captured in a jail cell in Vermia.	He was scared, confused, and stressed.
Sam meets Skipper! Skipper is a young, smart girl that loves to fly [wasps, mosquitoes, etc.]!	He feels relieved, happy, and thankful for hope of escaping.
Sam and Skipper escape from captivity in Vermia. Sam and Skipper escape by flying a wasp.	He feels jubilant!
Goes back into his normal, human body.	Happy about being back and okay, but sad about having to leave Vahlzi and Skipper.
Sam and Skipper stop the mosquitoes from killing all the humans on earth.	He is amazed, and happy.

I chose those events because they were one of the most important parts of the book. Those events also show how many great, amazing things Sam did.

One element of fantasy in my book was personification. The bugs were talking, and acting just like humans. Another fantasy element was small people. Skipper was smaller an ant, and Sam was shrinked to the same size as Skipper! The last fantasy element was that there was a bug world, and bugs could go to earth and back to the bug world by the holes in the bug world that go to the earth.

Connections I made with The Dreamwalker’s Child were that in the book The Hobbit. The main character in The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, and Sam both ended up going on a journey out of their comfort zone, and they both didn’t expect it… at all! This book had a similar theme to The Dreamwalker’s Child, because one of my themes were; Don’t always stay in your comfort zone. I think that this theme works for both books, because after Blibo’s and Sam’s adventures, they ended up looking back at their adventure as a great experience. I think that the difference between The Hobbit and The Dreamwalker’s Child, is that The Hobbit’s main theme was hope.

Historical Fiction Reading Response - A Diamond in the Desert

A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

We read the book A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. The book was about how Tetsu, a 12 year old boy, and his family went to a Japanese internment camp in Gila River after Pearl Harbor was bombed. His family had to go the the internment camp because they are Japanese. The story shows what Tetsu went through, his everyday life, and what friends he made in the internment camp. Also, later on, the people in the internment camp made a baseball diamond (or baseball field), and it also shows Tetsu’s love for baseball.

I think the big ideas are hope and love. The theme for hope is: Never lose hope, because everyone still has a chance. I think this is the theme for hope, because Tetsu and the people in Gila River never lost hope for a better life, and at the end, Tetsu was freed with family. This is a passage where I think Tetsu and Kimi both had hope, “Please feed Lefty. From, Kimi.” I took it to the recreation barrack and asked around for an envelope.” I think this shows how Tetsu has hope that Mr. Bobkin, his neighbor, found his dog, Lefty, and it shows this because he asked everyone for an envelope. I think the theme for love is: You can take everything away from someone, but you can’t take away love. While moving to Gila River, Tetsu lost his home, his dog, his friends, and his belongings, but he didn’t lose his love. This is a part of the book where Kimi got hurt, and Tetsu was showing his love: “Mama and I sat across from each other for two days in the infirmary, waiting for Kimi to wake up.” This shows how he loved Kimi so much that he waited for her for a whole two days.

The non-fiction resources I used were Youtube, books, and Google. For Youtube, we found videos about the Japanese Internment camps. We used the book I Am an American by Jerry Stanley. This book put small stories about some things people went through, and it also helped us understand the situation. Google helped by giving a lot of facts about Japanese internment camps.

From the book I Am an American, I learned why the Japanese were treated really bad. I found out that they were sent to internment camps because Japanese warplanes bombed a US Navy Base in Pearl Harbor, and I didn’t know that before. Videos on Youtube helped me understand what people went through during the Japanese Internment. Sites on Google showed me timelines of the Jaanese Internment, and showed me what parts of the book were true. In the book A Diamond in the Desert it mentioned that Eleanor Roosevelt visited Gila River, but I was unsure, so I searched it up on Google, and found out that Eleanor Roosevelt really DID visit Gila River.

In the story A Diamond in the Desert, I think Tetsu had the power because he was the one who told the story, and also he got us to care about him and his story. Tetsu was also the only one who shared inner his thoughts: “I could not think about the little girl named Akiko anymore, and how she fell into the water.” I think this is a bit special because Tetsu didn’t say this to anyone, and only the reader knew what he was thinking. Overall, I think the Americans and soldiers had the power because they could control the Japanese, and make them do what they wanted the Japanese to do. The Americans made the Japanese go to internment camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed, and they also emotionally made Japanese feel like outcasts, “- even Marty Burns, the shortstop on my team that I’d known since first grade-their faces said: I can see you’re Japanese. And those pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor, maybe one of them is your brother or your uncle-how are we supposed to be sure? You’ve got no choice but to leave, because we’re not buying your papa’s crops or letting him head up our community. We’re not letting you play first anymore.” This is what Tetsu said how Americans acted.

Another person that had the power was Kimi. She had the power of love throughout the whole book. She cared for everyone. This is a passage of the story where Kimi got angry because Tetsu brought home a rattle from a rattlesnake, “When Kimi saw the rattle that evening, she sat up from her cot where she’d been resting with her cardboard box of lizards next to her. ‘Where’d you get this?’ she asked. ‘We had to kill it. I would’ve bit me.’

Tears came to her eyes.” This shows that Kimi care for everyone. Even rattlesnakes.

The only voice and opinion we heard was Tetsu’s side of the story. The story was written in Tetsu’s point of view, so the reader knew Tetsu’s thoughts, and what he was going through. The voices we didn’t hear were the Americans, the soldiers, and the other people in Gila River Internment camp. I think they should have put more point of views, so we know thoughts of different people.

A character relationship that changed were between Tetsu and George. At first when George first met Tetsu, George wasn’t very nice to him. They met at block 67, and George didn’t make a good first impression, “‘Where are you going?’ the oldest one [George] asked me. He smirked and showed me a broken front tooth. He looked like the fighting type. ‘Nowhere,’ I said. He squinted at me, spit in the dirt by my shoes, and the dust swirled up behind him like it was getting out of his way. ‘You’re coming with us to the canal,’ he said.” This is the part where George and Tetsu first met, and George was bossing Tetsu around. Later on in the story, George and Tetsu became really close friends. George was probably Tetsu’s closest friend. They did many things together, like how they both were looking for Horse together, “After dinner, George and I headed to block 67, but found nothing.” I also think that they have a similarity, they both care for their friends… In this case, they cared for Horse. Another time, Kimi’s fish died, so George and Horse showed their respect, “Horse came with George and me to the pet cemetery.” I think this shows how close Horse, George, and Tetsu are.

My big takeaway is all the history I learned from reading and researching this book. I learned about the Japanese Internment camps, the Pearl Harbor bombing, and how the Americans treated the Japanese. This book helped me realize and understand how the Japanese felt while they were in the internment camps. I think the themes my group and I learned were things that could apply in my life today. Hope and love are important. Also, like Kimi did, we should learn to love EVERYTHING.

Research Based Argument Essay

SLURP! I swallow the creamy, yummy liquid, knowing that the nine essential nutrients in the drink will soon enter my body. Chocolate milk is definitely one of my absolute favorite drinks. I not only love it because of the taste, but also because there isn’t a lot of sugar in it, and there are nine essential nutrients in chocolate milk. Another thing about chocolate milk is kids love it! Why would you take away chocolate milk if it’s good in so many ways?

My first point that chocolate milk should be sold in the cafeteria is there isn’t a lot of sugar in chocolate milk. A fact the National Dairy Council stated was, “Flavored milk contributes only 3% of added sugars in the diets of children 2-18 years.” This is necessary to know, because it shows that chocolate milk is not very sugary compared to many favored foods and drinks kids like. The SAS Food Services and Nutrition said one of their main goals were, "To ensure every student has access to safe, nutritious and tasty food". Chocolate milk is nutritious and tasty, so I don’t see why we should take chocolate out of our cafeteria. Studies show that only about 3 teaspoons of sugar is added in your average chocolate milk carton. In other words, chocolate milk isn’t as unhealthy as people say it is. If we wanted to take chocolate milk out of the cafeteria because of the added sugars it contains, churros and donuts should be taken out from the cafeteria!

Kids love chocolate milk. Research has shown that most kids drink more milk when it’s flavored, and most kids choose chocolate milk over white milk: “We serve six or seven cartons of chocolate [milk] for each one of white milk at lunch,” stated Mrs. Rally, a server in an elementary school. I think that chocolate milk is truly delicious. Mannie Tarenworth, the author who wrote “Nutrition in Disguise”, agrees with me. Mannie said, “You’ll have to admit that the creamy, smooth, chocolaty taste is truly delicious.” In my opinion, chocolate milk is one of my favorite drinks. Recently, I’ve started to love it more after finding out how healthy and good it is for the human body. A title of an essay in the Los Angeles Times was: "Removing chocolate milk from schools caused plain milk to be wasted"... And it’s true! In the essay ‘Got (Chocolate) Milk?’, Caron Gremont stated a similar fact: "-when you ban chocolate milk in school cafeterias, overall milk consumption falls and there is an increase in waste."

A reason some people are against chocolate milk is because it has more sugar than some sodas, but do sodas have nine essential nutrients? Studies have shown that in most chocolate milks, the essential nutrients in chocolate milk are; calcium, potassium, phosphorus, protein, vitamins A, vitamins D, vitamins B12, riboflavin, and niacin. Also, chocolate milk is good for you because there is no added fat or calories. Research shows that people who drink chocolate milk do not consume more fat, sugar, and calories, and are not heavier than non milk drinkers. In other words, you will not gain more weight, and you will NOT eat more sugar than people who DON’T drink milk at all. Melissa Dobbins, a nutritionist said; “The fact is, that chocolate and other flavored milks have the same nine essential nutrients as white milk, and a small amount of added sugar compared to other beverages. Best of all, because they love the taste, some kids drink more milk when it’s flavored.” This shows how healthy and good chocolate milk is, and it shows that kids drink more milk when it is flavored. Like me. I never drink white milk unless I have Oreos with it. In the other hand, I have chocolate milk almost everyday! Think about it. All parents would be really happy to know that their children are drinking more milk, and the great thing is, the chocolate flavoring in the chocolate milk doesn’t make the drink unhealthy!

For the reasons stated, I believe schools should keep chocolate milk. Chocolate milk is healthy, loved by children, and does not contain large quantities of added sugars. We love chocolate milk… Do you?

Bibliography

Adding Chocolate to Milk Doesn’t Take Away Its Nine Essential Nutrients - National Dairy Council

Works Cited

"Food Services and Nutrition." Singapore American School:. Web. 02 May 2014. <http://www.sas.edu.sg/page.cfm?p=388>.

Nutrition in Disguise - Mannie Tarenworth

Rosa Parks

Play Day Reflection

Today we had Play Day! There were 25 stations, and we wore swimsuits (under our PE outfits), because we all got REALLY WET! Play Day was really fun because we were free to do whatever we wanted, and we could do the stations in any order we wanted, and we could do each station more than once.

My favorite station was Treasure Hunt, because we got to run a lot, and if we got everything done in 40 seconds or faster, we could write our names on the Hall Of Fame. Jada and I finished it in 35 seconds. 

Mr. Brooks Entwistle

Today I learned about how you have to get ready for climbing mountains. I learned that you have to exercise and do special training to get ready to climb mountains.

What I found fascinating was the Sherpas, their religion, and their importance.

I wonder if Mr. Entwistle will try to climb hard mountains again after what happened.

Lingering questions I have:

• What other training do you have to do to get ready to climb high mountains?
• Why do people climb mountains? What is most most common reason?

Music Informance

Genre Pie Reflection

During semester two, our teacher, Ms. H, gave us a new challenge... Genre Pie! To complete this challenge, we had to read eight just right books in different genres:

1. Poetry: Technically It's Not My Fault
2. Realistic Fiction: The Debutante
3. Double Genre: Inkheart
4. Classic: A Wrinkle in Time
5. Non-Fiction: Project Seahorse
6. Humor: Tales of the Brothers' Grimm and the Sisters Weird
7. Free choice: Inkdeath
8. Award Winning: Sahara Special

The advice I applied from Genre Pizza was to email my conferences. I emailed most of my conferences in Genre Pie.

From Genre Pizza, I found out that I like Historical Fiction, and from Genre Pie, I found out I like Humor!

My advice for projects like this is to quickly finish the challenge, and not procrastinate.

Grade 5 Battle of the Books

Today we did the Battle of the Books. It was held in the IS Library, and we had 3 rounds. My team and I are pretty sure that we lost all three of them, but if we did win, we wouldn't have done it without Sophie. A thing I find weird about Battle of the Books is that they also had fairytales! I was surprised when they first mentioned 'Humpty Dumpty'.

I was with Sophie, Maddie R, and Jin Hyung.

(Jin Hyung and I were trying to shut Sophie's mouth, because we were scared that she'd tell the other team the answers.)

Social Studies Stations - World World 2

Created with Padlet

Push and Pull Assignment Reflection

We had to complete an assignment for Social Studies on the push/pull factors for Singapore and American history. We did this using resources in class, and Google Maps. Some new skills I learned were how to use Google Maps, and how to make my assignment pretty by changing the colors.
An interesting piece of information I learned was where the Chinese stayed in Singapore. I think this is interesting because I thought Chinatown is called Chinatown because they sold Chinese things, not because that's where the Chinese people lived!
A similarity I found between Singapore's and America's history was: A lot of reasons people left their home was because of the lack of safety.
If I had to do this again, I would remember to do my homework!

Push and Pull Factors Social Studies

Student Led Conference

Today my mom learned a lot about what we have been learning in class. She particularly enjoyed the Social Studies unit where we drew parallels between Singapore and the US History. She was impressed that we were learning different note taking strategies. I liked figuring out how to work backwards in the math unit, where I drew a picture to show what I was doing. My mom used a different method that I didn't know.

Old Supreme Court Timeline

My Journey to Singapore

Awesome Ape

Comparison of USA/Singapore Push and Pull Factors

Jon Cooper - Archaeologist

Today we watched Mr. Jon Cooper.
I learned a lot about Singapore's history, and many things that happened 70 years ago. I enjoyed learning about Singapore's history because before the session with Mr. Cooper, I didn't know anything about the POW places, and before, I didn't know about the Lost Shinto Shrine.
The most interesting thing I found out was about the [not really] Lost Shinto Shrine.
Something I can use to help me in my research is the different ways of getting information. Mr. Cooper taught us many different ways of finding what you want.

Questions I have for Mr. Cooper about World War 2 in Singapore:

1. If the POW snuck in ceiling fans, how did they get them going?
2. When did the physical fighting start in WW2?
3. Who started the war? 

Peter Brown Visiting Author

The most interest thing I learned today was how much editing and revising it takes to make one book, and how important word choice is.

Questions I would like to ask him are:

• How old were you when you decided that you wanted to be and author and illustrator?
• How long does it normally take you to write, and illustrate one book?
• How long does it normally take to publish a book?
• What book are you most proud of?
• Have you ever written or illustrated an adults book?
• Who's your biggest inspiration? 

Other books.

• What is your favorite place you traveled?
• What was the year of when you wrote your first book?

I learned that every single word makes a difference, and is crucial. I learned that in stories, your first draft is never your last. I also learned that you should really take your time to plan out your story.