Quarter Three

The Outsiders was a book that we read that talked about two distinctive social groups, the Greasers, who are the poor kids that are not as privileged as the Socs. The Socs are the rich and spoiled kids who for fun like to gang up on Greasers and assault them. The whole story was to show us the difference between social classes and what they can do and how they can change someone even though they are from the same town. After we read the book, we were tested on it according to the main events, cause and effect, and writing paragraphs with topics that we to describe.

The purpose of the Outsiders test was to make sure that we understood the book and that we were able to answer all questions about the book, such as main events, characteristics of the people from both sides, why we recommend the book, and how the chain of events happened. We also had to compare how these events were related to our life, have we seen someone like that, seen or met people from different classes etc. The book also showed us how to compare with now and then, how people wore clothes, how they acted, etc.

I learned how to properly summarize a book and talk about in quick points that would not ruin the plot or spoil any main events in the book. The Outsiders test also helped refresh my comprehension and writing skills because it asked for certain events that needed to be described in the book and the multiple questions tested me on main events in the book. Choosing between two really close answers during any test was hard for me, so the multiple questions helped improve my elimination skills.

I could have gotten a better grade if I looked through the book more carefully, possibly even reread the book, to understand the main events in the book and when it came to write them they would be in good detail. Sometimes just answering some questions also helps a person absorb what they are going to be tested which is something I should have done that could have gotten me a better grade.

This relates to my goal of organization because if I had prepared more for the test I would have gotten higher than an 86%. Its also important if I organized my sticky notes in my book better, so that I do have to look everywhere for a certain sticky note on a chapter for a question or a paragraph that I had to talk about.

Quarter Two

The activity Remember Patience Whipple is a book that we read that explains how colonists would go to the Americas for religious freedom, money and so on. A famous traveler on the ship, William Bradford, helped show the colonists in the beginning of the book that they are all equal and alike and that they are but little specks in the ocean and that they are Gods children and they have to work together to survive in the new world. When they land from the journey across the Atlantic, some people did not know how to farm, take care of animals, and build proper houses which caused people to die from sickness and famine. The diary is written by a little girl named Remember.

The purpose of reading this book was to show us how colonists struggled in the beginning to create a successful colony. It also shows us how people lived on the Mayflower with bad conditions on the ship and when they landed in the Americas. Some people had no experience in farming, making houses, or cleaning, which made most of the colonists die from many things, a lot of people also died from disease.

While reading Remember Patience Whipple, we learned how the people who were persecuted in England were also treated the same way on the ship. How they also had very unhealthy living conditions on the Mayflower. For example people had to wear the same clothing all the time and they had to sleep very close to each other on one floor. When the colonists landed, a lot of people became sick later on. So the colonists developed a sick shed for the people, and since the nurses there did not have the proper equipment to stay sick free; also became sicker than the people in the sick shed, which in turn caused them all to die.

I could have learned differently if I listened more carefully to the reader as they read and understood more. Also sometimes in the diary Remember used old English which caused some confused for everyone and even the teacher did not know what some of the words meant.

This relates to my goal of organization because it helped me to understand the main events of the book because we hat to write our own journal just like Remember’s Diary.