"Think, Then Think Again…"

This is a reading survey that I took to see how well I read.  Check it out and tell me what you think about my answers.

Reading Survey

Wide Reading

1. What genres do you read? Mostly fiction and fantasy.

2. How many books or things do you read over the period of a month? 23

3. What times do you read? On the bus, during class and at home.

4. Why do you read? For pleasure and knowledge.

Self Assessing Skills

1. I know the skills of a critical reader.  I know a few like summarization, making predictions based on what I have read, setting SMART goals and being able to read out loud with expression and fluency.  

2. I set SMART goals for improving my Critical Reading Skills. No, but I’m going to start after this conference.

3. I have a plan to improve my reading skills. Yes, that’s why I would be starting to set SMART goals.

4. I have shared my goals with my parents and/or teacher. No, but I will be doing that in this conference.

Reading With Expression and Fluency

1. I use punctuation to add expression to my oral reading. Yes

2. I change the tone of my voice to put expression in my oral reading. Yes

3. I vary the speed of my voice to add expression to my reading. Yes

4. I am able to identify and emphasize important phrase when reading aloud. Yes

Speed of Reading

1. I read about this many words in 1 minute?  377

(125 is what a grade 5 should be at)

Decoding

1. When I read a text I use strategies to work out the words? Sometimes I just skip them and keep reading, since  judging from my experience as a reader one word can’t change the whole meaning of the story.

2. I can self correct when I make a mistake reading out loud. Normally

3. I am usually able to read most texts that the teacher gives me? Yes

Predicting

1. My predictions use information from previously read material? Yes

2. I link my predictions to something in the story and they relate to the main character? Yes

Summarizing

1. My summaries are focused on the main plot of a story? Always

2. My summaries are concise? Yes

3. My summaries make sense and people understand them? Yes

 Literal Comprehension

1. I can locate information from a text? Always

2. I understand what the words in a text are meaning? Always

3. My vocabulary is pretty good for a fifth grader.

Interpretation:

1. I can take information given to me as a reader and draw conclusions? Always

2. I can figure things out that aren’t explicitly said within the text? Always

Reflection:

1. I am able to state an opinion about the theme and author’s purpose of what I have read and I justify why I feel this way? Always

Thinking about their reading

1. I am able to explain how I use my critical reading skills and I can explain the strategies that I use? Although I have yet to start setting SMART goals for critical reading, overall I think  that I’m a critical reader.

Below is a reflection that I made for the invention convention.  I invented The Doggy Poop Toilet. 

Q: What did you do well?

A: I think that I did real well on attracting people’s attention.  The video that I made the night before to market my invention attracted lots and lots of people (by the end of the day I was REALLY sick of hearing the video).

Q: What did you learn?

A: In this project I learned a lot of new lessons but one of the most important one that I learned is NEVER wait till the last minute to finish any project.  I picked this because, usually on most of my projects I don’t get anything done right away.  I wait till the last week or so.  But on this project I started thinking about ideas early and also started building early.  I realized that this strategy really served me well on this project. 

Q: What  could you improve on?

A: I could have improved a great deal on my invention itself.  If only I took more time looking for materials for my invention, I think that it could have made my invention a whole lot better.  For example, the shoe box.  If I spent time looking for a plastic box with a lid like a shoebox, it might have saved me some time rather than taping the hinge of my invention every five seconds.  

Q: How did you feel when doing this project?

A: I felt really relieved and proud after the project.  I was very proud of myself that I had succeeded with the invention.  A lot of people came to my stand, nothing broke and everything went as planned.  I was also relieved, first of all because the invention convention was done but more importantly because in the end, ALL MY HARD WORK PAID OFF.

  I have always lived with my mom and dad and based on my experience, I see that people who are street smart are more practical and people who are book smart are more cautious about their actions.  I would definitely say that my dad is book smart and my mom is street smart.  That is how I have come up with those observations.  Book smart alone will get you through school but might not get you through life, but street smart may not get you through school but still will earn you enough money to live. 

  As I said on top, at home, I have a mixture of both elements.  I say that my mom is street smart because she had a difficult childhood.  She grew up in a big family with very little income.  The early lessons in life taught her a lot about being practical.  That hard childhood is what has made my mom the hard-working person she is today. My mom tells me that some of her childhood friends didn’t end up really well, because they lacked the skill to compete. 

  My dad on the other hand is a book smart person.  He went to one of the best colleges in the Philippines.  He tells me that not all of the smartest students in their class ended up being the most successful, but it did help them get good jobs in the beginning.  By excelling in school, big companies will want to hire you, but you still have to work hard to be successful.  As my grandfather always told my dad, “Knowledge is the best gift you can give to your child, because no one can take it away.”  Some of the world’s billionaires are high school drop outs, but some also graduated from excellent business schools.  There is no one formula to success, but if you can maintain a balance of both you will have a better chance in life.  

  Based on the above and the situation at home I choose to be equally book smart and street smart. 

Get your own Poll!

Please ask the following questions:

• What did you think of the invention?

• How could this invention improve your life?

• Do you have any suggestions to make it better?

March 15, 2009

Today is the last day I will be making my invention.  What I did was get a jumprope and cut it short then.  I put the handel through a hole in the shoe box and my invention was DONE!!!

March 14, 2009

Today, while I was completing all my tests, I noticed that the piece of cardboard under the flap kept on falling out.  So I got a 24cm. x 4cm.(9.5in. x 1.75in.) cardboard, waterprooofed it, then taped it on the frontside of that piece of cardboard to keep it from falling off. 

The second thing I did was tape paperclips onto the piece of cardboard with the hole.  I did that so when I put the plastic bag in it would not slip off.  I noticed that the bag ripped when I clipped it on so I designed my very own plastic bag.   

I designed my bag in such a way that it has flaps (10cm. x 11cm.) on both sides that I could clip onto the paper clips. Then I got a 17.8cm. x 20.3cm. ziploc bag and slip it onto the clipped plastic bag. In this way, I just always have to change the slip-on bag after every use.  At last, my problem was solved!

The fourth and last major thing I did today was make a holder for my spray bottle.  I used a rubberband and loop it twice around the 150 ml. spray bottle.  After that I tied a piece of nylon string around the rubberband, punched a hole on one side of my invention and tied the other end of nylon string to it.

Finally it was the end of a VERY, VERY tiring day.

March 10, 2009

Today I got an empty 150 ml spray bottle and made a mixture of 5 ml of one kind of perfume and 5 ml of another kind then filled the spray bottle with water to the very brim.  Tomorrow I’m planning to put a holder for the bottle, a place for the thongs and a handle to make it easy to carry.

Below I try to simulate how my invention will help dogs have a better place to poop on.  Please comment if you have any ideas to make the invention better.

March 7, 2009

NEWSFLASH!!!  Today I switched my invention from the Pooper Scooper to the Doggy Poop Toilet.

I started out by taking a black funnel I bought from IKEA and traced it onto the center of a 24 cm. x 24cm. (9.5 in. x 9.5 in.) piece of cardboard.  Then I used a knife and slowly cut out the circle I just drew (Warning:  Parent supervision needed).  After that I took the piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle and wrapped it with waterproof sticky paper.  Next I took a NIKE Kids shoebox and cut out the exact same circle from the first piece of cardboard onto the lid of the shoebox.  After that I cut a line on the hinge part of the shoebox that was exactly 24 cm. (9.5 in.)  That line was for the first piece of cardboard to slip through.  Next came the most fun part of all… decorating it.  After decorating the Doggy Poop Toilet I wrapped the whole shoebox with waterproof sticky paper.  Finally I was done for the day.

Today the 5th graders had a chance to meet and talk to the world famous author who wrote 96 books, Ralph Fletcher.  I learned many interesting and useful strategies about writing and being an author.  Here are just some of those valuable lessons.

Cherish every moment of your life.  That is the most important lesson I learned today.  Whether it’s the day you graduate from college or the day you picked up a penny on the road, every moment in your life is an idea for a new book.  So from now on I’m keeping a writer’s notebook.:)

I also learned that even professional writers sometimes give up working on an idea.  When Mr. Fletcher said that I felt really good, because from time to time I also stop working on a piece of writing I started thinking that it’s not such a good idea.

These are just two of some valuable lessons I learned on this remarkable day.

I have thought long and hard for the Invention Convention. One day while brainstorming ideas with my family I thought of a problem that really interested me. I realized that when people walk their dogs to  poop, picking up dog poop is a hassle and poses a great deal of inconvenience for the dog owner. At that instant I knew this would be the perfect invention for me.

Materials:

Cardboard

Thongs

Measuring cup

Stick

Glue Gun

Paint (optional)

Plastic or Paper bag

Backpack

Possible Names:

Pooper Scooper

Vanishing Poop

No More Poop

Scoop the Poop

Poop Destructor

Poop-minator

Conceptual Model:

Summary

  The story starts out atop a high mountain in the Alps.  Three trail guides Francois, Peter and Andre are gathered around a camp fire on a sunny day while another man is surrounded by an odd collection of bottles.  The man’s name is Louis Pasteur.  Francois asks Louis Pasteur about his plans.  Louis tells Francois that he would like to head up the mountain but first tells him a story about a man named Anton Van Leeunwenhoek, the man who invented the microscope. 

  Anton just had an amazing discovery so he calls over two girls, Greta and Marta to share his discovery with.  Anton told them that when he scraped his teeth and looked at the scraping over a microscope he saw little worm-like things crawling around.  But after he drank hot coffee and looked at it again over the microscope the worm-like things were gone.   The two girls thought Anton was a very eccentric man and went away. 

  Soon enough the little party Louis, Francois, Andre and Peter hike up the mountain.  When the party gets to the top of glacier Louis tells the trail guides that he can take his samples here.  Louis takes out a bottle and seals it with a hot lamp then tells the trail guides that his work is done.  As the trail guides watch Louis and his strange ritual they discuss how weird he is. 

My Thoughts

Over the past week or so my group has been working on another reader’s theatre play.  I think that this time when we did the reader’s theatre play it was more fun and challenging.  It was more fun because the play was longer than the last one and challenging in the sense that I got more speaking parts.  On the presentation day I think that I did great.

My Group and Their Parts

Ava- Anton Van Leeuwenhoek and Narrator 1 

Anika- Narrator 2

Bailey- Francois

Kelvin- Andre

Sydney- Louis Pasteur and Greta

Me- Peter and Marta