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.

Relating With a Book Character

A big writing project this quarter after reading the book "Bringing the Boy Home" was to write a two voice poem.  Throughout this project I have realized that I am a strong writer in terms of voice, ideas, organization, and word choice.  I still need to work on sentence fluency, conventions and presentation.  I think that I did good job at comparing my life with the character's.  I was able to show not tell, as did I use figurative language.  Revising helped me recognize spelling errors, add figurative language, take away un-needed information and add in information.  I think maybe I could take away extra information.    

Blog Post Artifact

In humanities, we were assigned to do a blog post about our Literature Circle book "Bringing the Boy Home."   I think that my blog post was clear, easy to read and did not have frequent errors in terms of grammar.  I think my response to the claim was were clear and supported my claim with evidence and then explained why I chose that evidence.  My blog post was completed one time, as did I use the rubric.  One thing I could do to improve my blog post is use more textual evidence and also write in more for my explanation.

Where am I Going to Use This?

1. What is the perimeter of the bed?
2. What is the area of the bed?
3. Why is the pillow that says I❤U backwards? (In the photo, not in real life)
4. If the pillows take up 1/5 of the bed, then what percent is covered by pillows?
5. If blankets are 2/3 of the weight of the bed, then what percent in of the weight is taken up by blankets?
6. In the dresser in the background, what is one array for the knobs? 

First Quarter Reflection-Math

Statement: Mathematical thinking is not the same as doing math.
I disagree because math involves multiple types of thinking-- pushing yourself to think in another way, that you would not normally do to solve one thing.  I also think that math is a different way of thinking because it involves thinking critically.  Math makes you stretch your mind to solve a question but you also have to think creatively so that you can break down a problem or put a problem into context.   Math is not just solving a problem on a piece of paper, but also putting "problems" into a realistic context and incorporating it into the world around you.

Characteristics of a Good Mathematician

• Critical Thinkers
• Asking themselves "Why"
• Visualizing
• Putting Questions into Contexts 
• Recognizing Patterns
• Learning from Mistakes
• Re-reading instructions
• Highlight key words
• Being responsible 
• Balanced
• Curious
• Reflective

I think that one of my strengths as a mathematician is that I am an innovative learner so, when I have trouble with math, I draw pictures or put the question into context.  I've noticed that for me personally I need to always look over my thinking because I've realized that some of my mistakes are not very hard to find.  I have found myself improving in math because the more strategies and self corrections I make, the more I can prepare for units in the future.  I think that I have to try and be more of a risk taker in terms of trying different methods that I am not used to.  I also need to work on being reflective because sometimes when I do not go over my thinking I find myself making obvious mistakes.  For the future, I hope to grow more confident in myself, especially when taking tests.