Gone With The Wind?

In chapter 12 of Walk Two Moons, Salamanca (Sal), Gram and Gramps are on the road headed to South Dakota and make a stop in Pipestone, Minnesota.  In Minnesota, they go to see an exhibition about Indian (Native American) peace pipes.  When they are at the exhibition, they spot a Native American smoking a peace pipe, and Gramps asks if they can each have a turn smoking it.  When it is Sal's turn to smoke the pipe, she blows two puffs and keeps the smoke in her mouth.  When she opens up her mouth a little bit, the puff of smoke drifts out and her mind says "There goes your mother."  

My question is: when Sal lets go of the bit of smoke, why does she feel like she is letting go of her mother?  Is she saying that her mother is like smoke, drifting away?
Source

Atchim! Esquete 3

Na aula de português, estamos trabalhando em roteiros para nossa unidade de doeças. Meu parceiro e eu trabalhamos juntos para pensar em palavras importes para quando estamos doentes e como melhorar. Falamos sobre as coisas que você diria quando você está marcando uma consulta e que as pessoas possam dizer durante uma consulta médica. Então, pensamos em algo que você precisa ir ao médico para. Fizemos o nosso escrita, recolhidos os nossos adereços e ensaiada, organizamos os apetrechos que precisá para fazer a dramatização, ensaiamos e depois filmamos.

A Hole in Her Heart?

In ''Walk Two Moons," Ben puts Salamanca on the spot about her mom who went missing.  Sal does not seem to care much about her mother's absence because she has Gram, Gramps, her father and Phoebe.  But when Ben starts to talk about her mother she gets very fidgety and refuses to talk about her.

Why is Sal so hesitant to talk about her mother's absence?  Does it matter more to her than she lets on? 

Literature Circle Discussion Questions

"I keep thinking about Sara.  I tap my father on the arm.  
"I have to go," I say."
Question:  How can Tirio just give up what he has been dreaming for for the past 7 years just like that?

I think that Tirio is able to walk away from his dreams because he is loyal towards Sara.  Sara has cared for him and was supportive of him for the past 7 years, whereas the first 6 years of his life were spent being neglected and unable to do things.   Evidence that supports my claim are on page 18 where it says ''Since Sara adopted me seven years ago, I've been coming to Sport and Health Physical Therapy to straighten and stretch my bad foot.  Sara has been more caring than his Amazonian family.  She looked past the fact that he had a bad foot.  What Sara saw was a great kid, and although he had a bad foot, he had so much potential in other ways.  What Maroma (his mother) and the Amazonian tribe saw was a kid with a bad foot that would never have the potential to be a strong warrior.

On page 21, it says: "Pushing past Sara, I run down the stairs, away from that voice- but I trip and crash onto the lawn.  Sara rushes out and helps me.  Tirio, what's wrong?"  This shows that Sara is able to look past Tirio's hardships and that she is able to care for him and help him when needed. His Amazonian family would not be able to look out for him in this sense, they only believe in the survival of the fittest.  They do not really care for those who have physical handicaps, like Tirio.   
 

General Reflections

I have shown the most success in being innovative.  I think that since I am more of a visual thinker, being innovative is something that is easier for me. One artifact that our Lab Safety Video for science.  We were innovative because in our video, we named the tools and then we had an act out of how and why you would use certain tools, but we added humor so it would be fun to watch and easy to understand.
I think that I have become more of a critical thinker because I have had more opportunities to show my thinking in subjects like science, math and humanities.  I think that this core value will continue being a core value I succeed in.  I think so because, for example, in humanities in book clubs, when we ask/answer a question, we need to use textual evidence and pull out the important parts. I think that the literature circle homework forms best showed my growth as a critical thinker.  I think so because it shows that I was able to find deep questions and support them.
I think that being a risk-taker is challenging because sometimes I have trouble communicating my ideas so that I take it to the next level and make my assignment exceed expectations. I think that my apostila from Sao Luiz do Paraitinga best shows that.  I think so because it shows that I covered what was easy for me, but what was hard was just on the surface. My goals are to try and exceed what the expectations were, so that I can find out my strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to projects.

Science: Quarter Reflection

I think that my lab safety video reflected on my learning in science because it showed that we our group were reflective learners because we were constantly looking back on our previous work. It also demonstrated the core value innovative because we went into deep thinking and then made an original and creative video. We did not just show random elements when we were putting our video together, but we showed step by step the tools and explained their uses.
A success this quarter was our lab safety video.  It was a success because we were able to demonstrate the core values innovative, reflective and inclusive.  Our group worked together to make the timing work and make the audio stay at one tone.  Our video was good quality and not choppy.
In second quarter I would like to improve on being a risk taker.  I want to because I sometimes do not want to take many chances because I am scared to be wrong. I also want to improve on being a critical thinker because sometimes I leave out important details because I am not very strong in this core value.  I will work on being a risk taker by thinking outside the box. I will also work on being a risk taker by raising my hand more often and also using evidence to support my thinking.  

Portugues

Core Value: Innovative, Inclusive
In portuguese class, we were paired up to create a short skit that had to do with our unit about health.  My partner and I created a script about someone going to the pharmacist.  We were innovative when we created our script and tried to make in different from any other script.  I think that we also demonstrated being communicators because we were able to write the important parts, not waste time on small details, but in order to do that my partner and I communicated regularly.  I also think that we were able to improve in terms of being inclusive because we each tried to have equal amounts of lines.  Next time quarter, I would like to be more of a risk taker in order to be able to more more easily take on different roles and ideas.  I would also like to be more balanced so I can also incorporate things that I learn from other topics into one subject.  Overall, this has been a good experience in portuguese, because now I can improve and learn in different activities in class and also I have more vocabulary.