Spectrum Shania

My first goal was to be able to write a realistic fiction story. What I would need to achieve that goal was to write in my writer’s notebook more often. What might stop me from achieving this goal was if I don’t have ideas to develop. I think I didn’t fully achieve this goal because I don’t write in my writer’s notebook very often. My second goal was to write better quality post-its while reading. I would have to think about the book more carefully that I’m reading. The thing that might stop me from achieving this goal was if I don’t write down post-its when I really need to. I think I achieved this goal because I write down post-its when I’m reading and they are good-quality post-its that got me thinking a lot. My third goal was to understand the life cycle of a plant. I had to research and ask questions to be able to achieve this goal. If I don’t research or ask questions, I won’t be able to achieve this goal. I achieved this goal because I researched about plants and I understand about the xylem and the phloem a lot better. Some of these goals were pretty hard but I thought I did a pretty good job!

Global Warming
Frightening
Scary
Illness
how to stop global warming?
With your help
This is my warning
About how I felt
Don’t drive your car
except really needed
Don’t cut down trees
because trees are wanted
These are some tips
They may seem easy
But they’re not
Let’s join hands
Global warming
must be stopped!

This is my revised version and I also have my first draft, just click the link if you would like to see.

Whee! I felt the wind in my face as I slid down the gigantic slider. My friends laughed out loud when we reached the end of the slider safe and sound. This is going to be the best new year ever! I love new years especially for the games that we can play. I daydreamed about the games and games and candies and candies and…

“Shania!” my best friend called that pulled me back to real life again. “Look!” She pointed at the stage at my uncle.

“Hey guys, want to go see?”

“Sure!” they answered eagerly.

So we went to the stage. Almost everybody were dancing happily to the rhythm of the song. We had fun until 11:50pm and we started receiving blue balloons. I helped people hand out the balloons but since I’m not very careful, 3 balloons slid out of my hands and flew gracefully into the night sky. Oops! That’s when I stopped handing out and started decorating mine instead. On the balloon, we were allowed to write our greatest wish on a piece of paper and tie it to the balloon so maybe at 2009, our wish would come true which it usually does to me. After we finished writing, we all went to our parents. My parents were on stage dancing so I went up there too. Then my daddy grabbed a microphone.

“It will be new year in 5 minutes everyone so please take a balloon. While we’re waiting, let’s listen to another song.” He looked at the ‘Pensuk’ band behind him. “Bring it on!” The crowd cheered. I waited patiently until the song ended. The singer announced,

“It will be new year in 15 seconds…10 seconds come on everyone, count with me!…10…9…8…7…” My heart pounded hard “…6…5…” It will be new year in 5 seconds! “…4…3…2…1!” New Year…at last!

Not one word was said during writing. Well of course, everyone was scared of Mrs. Palmer. That was obvious and something else that was also obvious was recess would be different.                                   Brriinng! The bell rang for recess.
“Hey guys, look at that weirdo slumping alone, who would ever want to hang out with that loser?” Everyone snickered.
Yeah yeah, like I care! thought     Winny. Then he walked to the library as lonely as can be with no friends or group like the horrible bully, Bert.
I’ll get you back one day, Bert. I’ll have revenge and you’ll get what you deserve. Then something interrupted his thoughts.

“Wait Winny, come here.” Bert shouted.
“What do you want?”
“Don’t be too…”
“Too what? Too scared of you? Well if you think I’m scared then let me tell you this. ” Winny was furious already and nothing could stop him and he blurted out everything. “I want to have a fight with you and I’m going to meet you after school. Let your ‘friends’ follow you but it’s only you and me. See you later but if you’re too scared, go home.” Winny could not believe he said that out loud and quickly covered his mouth. It was too late, Bert was red in the face. He wasn’t blushing, he was f-u-r-i-o-u-s. After a second or so, Bert blinked and grinned wickedly, then and jumped onto a chair.
“Winny the Pooh challenged me to a fight everyone.” He paused to look at Winny meanly while everyone laughed.
“If you want to watch, meet us at Volan Street and see me beat Winny not the other way around. Don’t forget to come. Thanks for listening!” Bert snickered and winked at Winny then he smiled sweetly and innocently to the crowd. In a blink of an eye, Bert jumped down, snickered and walked away. Not long after, the bell rang at 2:00 pm.

Everybody was laughing at Winny. Not Bert. Winny was embarrassed. Annoyed. Irritated. He had to prove them wrong and there was only one way to do it. He had to win. Bert stared into Winny in the eyes for the first time. Angriness. Weakness. Brave. Scared. All of these feelings were seen clearly. Winny stood still for a moment confused why Bert was scared but before he knew it, he felt a punch in the middle of his stomach. Ouch! He became furious so he clenched his fist and threw them right into Bert’s nose. Blood was coming out and he looked very dizzy. Bert tried to lift his arms but he almost fell down. Everybody knew that when Bert looked dizzy, he would always faint because even though he looked strong, he was actually the opposite. So that’s what he did. He fell to the ground with closed eyes. Winny was so shocked he almost fainted too. He stood still for about 5 minutes then laughed happily.
Guess what? Winny thought. I won. Me. Me. ME!

2 months later…

Winny looked back at the crowd of people following him through the corridor with other kids looking.
“I love the attention today,” he whispered to his best pal. “Don’t you think so Jake?”
“Whatever,” was Jake’s reply. Winny looked around then frowned.
“You stop peeking, I can see you, the locker’s not that big.” Winny shouted to Travis. Then Winny turned around.
“2 people do my homework, I forgot to do it. 5 of you open my locker, put my bag in. 3 of you come with me, I’m going to strings.” Winny stared at himself in his personal mirror and grinned widely. He was ready to go. Winny turned his attention back to Jake.
“What?” Jake asked.
Winny answered in a confident voice, “I’m ready, let’s go.”

The bell rang for recess.
As Winny passed a group of boys, he overheard their conversation.
“Doesn’t he know? How can he be so dumb? The people who he call ‘friends’ are just scaredy-cats. Winny doesn’t have true friends or even a true friend. Also, I think…” said one boy but another interrupted.
“Shh! Winny’s like right behind you. He has ears, you know!” Winny was so shocked. He just ran pass them with Jake, Henry, and John following behind.
“Wait up Winny!” Jake shouted. “I’m not that fast!” But Winny was too stunned and worried to care. He ran his fastest and suddenly met Bert. Bert looked scared and walked quickly away. Winny made up his mind.
“Bert, freeze! I mean, stop walking please. Guys,” he looked at his ‘friends’, “please give me a minute with Bert.” Bert looked scared and surprised at the same time. When they left, he looked at Bert seriously.
“I wanted…I just…well” Brriinngg! The bell rang.
“Bert, hold on. Meet me here tomorrow okay?” Winny did not wait for an answer instead he walked away.

The next day at recess, Winny practiced his lines over again and ran straight to Bert. It took a long time last night to think of the speech and ask himself was this the right thing to do. It was.
“Bert,” Winny signaled for him to come. Bert did as he was told as Winny jumped onto a chair. He saw the look on Bert’s face. He knew that the bully was afraid. By then, everyone was ready for the announcement as they crowded around Winny.
“Everyone, I know you all are just scared of me and not really my friends. I apologize because it’s my fault. Look here at our good friend Bert. He’s not as bad as you think so you don’t need to be scared anymore. I don’t want anymore fake friends, I need real ones.” Winny paused to catch his breath, the speech was slow and clear but he felt like he had ran a thousand miles. Then he looked around.
“Winny,” a familiar voice said. “You’ll always be my friend.” Thanks Jake. Winny thought. Thank you. He smiled back but no one else was.

Why was everyone so quiet? Then he heard a boy whisper to his friend. The 3 words melted his heart like an ice-cream in a hot sunny day.
Winny. Became. Weak. Then other people started chatting. Winny was so embarrassed but he couldn’t do anything but hope everything would be fine.
“QUIET!” Bert roared like a lion. Everyone froze and the field was silent except for the sound of the wind blowing.
“You can hate me or Winny but we don’t actually care. So laugh at us but we will not feel a thing.” I kind of would, thought Winny silently then everybody burst into hysteric laughter and walked away.

The next day, Winny went to school with Jake but his fake friends were gone. The two best friends walked into the gate to meet Bert. He was smiling.
“Winny, thanks for saying that yesterday. I really appreciated it.”
“I can do that anytime, it’s noth…” Winny started but Jake pinched him.
“I…I mean you’re welcome. I also wanted to say sorry for being so mean to you.”
“I’m also sorry when I called you a loser. Hey, let’s start over. Pretend this had never happen,” Bert grinned. Winny looked at Jake who gave him 2 thumbs up.
“Sure, why not?” Winny reached out his right palm and Bert shook it awkwardly.
“Friends?” Jake asked them. Winny and Bert looked at each other nicely for the first time then they turned to Jake.
“Friends,” Bert and Winny chorused happily and from then on, nothing could change Winny ever again.

Which A can you sit on and it flies up into the air taking you to another place?

Which B can be read?

Which C can be worn?

Which D can be cuddled and is usually a loving pet in homes?

Which E can help you go up to a higher floor quickly and quietly?

Which F is a one syllable number from one to 10 that has no V in it?

Which G is a very useful websites that you can search anything with it?

Which H is the name of a Disney channel series about a girl with a double life?

Which I did the olden days people use to write with instead of lead?

Which J do you need to have when you grow up to have money?

Which K is the place to cook?

Which L is what you do when a teacher gives instructions?

Which M word can finish this sentence? ‘I want ____’?

Which N is the habitat for birds?        

Which O has 8 legs?

Which P is the place for the king and queens?

Which Q do you take in a school and it’s similar to a test?

Which R do you do when you are trying to win in a sports competition?  

Which S do you do in order to make clothes, blankets, handkerchief…etc?

Which T is a type of flower?

Which U is the opposite of down?

Which V is a big car?

Which W is the biggest mammal in the world?

Which X do you do to see your broken ribs or bones underneath your skin?

Which Y do you answer opposite of ‘no’?

Which Z is the place to keep animals?

Tell me your answers in the comments please!

On Song-Kran, I went to Hong Kong with my best friend. The plane flight was very cool because we sat together and played games, only the 2 of us. We could talk about anything we like privately because the plane was very quiet. We talked most of the time and also played sudoku and of course, slept for an hour or so. But when we arrived, I got so excited I could hardly sit still!

On the first day we didn’t do anything much because it was nearly night time so we just unpacked and ate dinner at a very fancy restaurant. But the second day, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. Even though it was very very VERY hot there, we had a great time playing with everything. The queue was long so it took a long time just to play one thing. It was a very long ride to the hotel (Venetian, Macau) and we had to walk a very long distance, which felt like miles!

In the Venetian Hotel, there’s a show called Zaia and it’s really cool, the background, the actors and they were so talented. They hanged on to sticks and sat on swings that went high up in the air but they had no strings tied around them and that meant that there’s a big chance for the actors to fall and they might die so they had to be proffesional.

Also there’s a huge playground in the hotel called ‘Qube’. It has 3 different types of sliders but the tallest one was for 7 years or older. It was very straight and a scary sight to look at. It feels like you’re going to throw up just looking down and it really hurts in the stomach when you’re going down. Well, only the first time. I didn’t dare to go down, neither did my friend but her brother who was 4 years younger than me did, he actually went down first but then he screamed like a girl and that really frightened me. In the end, I finally went down because my mom got angry at me for not having enough courage. So eventually I did like it and went down a lot of times and I had a reward. Mom bought me a new watch and I really like it because

1. It was a reward.

2. I needed a new watch.

3. I was very proud.

Thanks for reading this and you can tell me about your Song-Kran holiday in the comment too.

Bye!

In Thailand, we have a lot of different traditions like Song Kran or Loy Krathong. Song Kran is the Thai New Year which is always in the summer and always very hot. So our tradition is to splash water at people. We usually go in huge trucks with our friends and family. In the truck, we have huge buckets of water and also the water guns. We aren’t allowed to throw ice at people but some still do and some people also get injured. For Loy Krathong, it’s a tradition very long ago. We use leaves and flowers to make krathongs and float them in the water on the 12th of November. Also when we do it, we have a special song that we play from the CD or we can sing it. In our Krathongs, we either put some coins in there or a piece of our hair which means that all the bad luck should go away.

Thai people say hello differently for boys and girls. Girls say ‘Sa Wat dii ka’ while boys say ‘Sa Wat dii krub’. We also wai which is how we respect the elders. We bow down with our palms touching each other and our thumb on our chest. But if we respect the monks or the royal family, we do that but with our thums on our nose.

My family tradition is that every Saturday, our best friends would come over to our house. Their parents are really close to my dad, they had been friends since 2nd grade and are still friends now and they hope this connection will still be the same until they get old. Even though their children who are my best friends are not the same age at me, we get along pretty well and we always go everywhere together, the 9 of us though I am closer to 4. We had never got into a fight ever before. This is the tradition that my family do.

I had a lot of fun this year. We did so much things in this class. I really like it when Ms H tells us to talk to the person next to you and discuss whatever we were doing. I like this because we get to be partners with different people everyday so when it’s time to choose a partner, we can know who’s a good partner or a bad one.

I learnt how to write a free-verse poem and knew that not all poems had to rhyme to be good. Sometimes, our homework is to find a good poem by a good author and look at the things that they had done well so we can use some of these ideas for our own too. Poems need to be original and creative to be good. Everybody can be a good author.

Something I did very well was basic facts. Basic facts have additon, subtraction, multiplication and division-25 of each. My highest score with my best time when the equations aren’t mixed up was 100% in 1 min 19 secs. But when the equations are mixed up, I usually get confused but my best score was 100% in 1 min and 13 secs. I hope I can beat the record but I came second in class.

I also like to Skype. Our class is in a project called 80 schools around the world and we need to connect with schools all over the world. Right now, we have connected with 11 schools. We had some data questions for them. My part was to say Bangkok’s full name, which is the longest name in the Guinness book of world record. Sometimes our time are very far apart so we had to come to school at night to Skype and it was always very fun!

You can listen to the recording in this website:

www.room202.edublogs.org

I had a very fun time in 5th grade and I am a bit scared to go to middle school but I am also a little excited. I met a lot of new friends who are all very nice to me. I will miss 5th grade!