I learnt about backhand serve, forehand serve, and backhand and forehand hold for the racket. I also learnt how to hit with the racket properly, instead of randomly. I also learnt myself to serve like a spike in volleyball.
What I improved on? I improved on everything. I’ve never played badminton before, and this was my first time. I really enjoyed it!
What I am good at? I am good at a lot of things (I’m not trying to brag), like serves, hits, and holds. I am good 👍🏻😎.
Why badminton is useful? I think badminton is useful because when I go to University, just in case some friends call me, at least I can play a little bit. Also, badminton is super fun, so it may be my future sport.
During this unit, I learned about dystopian fiction. In dystopian fiction, I learned about totalitarianism, social control, conformity versus diversity, constant surveillance, dehumanization, control of nature, and the illusion of utopia. I realized that these things don’t usually happen in real life, or perhaps they do, but we rarely notice them or tend to “blame” them on others.
How does dystopian fiction encourage me to think about real life?
Dystopian fiction shows me the other side of the world, a side I had barely noticed before. I understand that some things depicted in dystopian fiction do happen in the real world, but I hadn’t paid much attention to them until now. I found the themes in The Giver quite disturbing, and now I am starting to learn and understand what actually happens in the real world.
I enjoyed The Giver…
I enjoyed The Giver quite a lot; it is a decent book with a very interesting plot. I love how the author used dystopian fiction in the story, making it fun, engaging, and dark all at the same time. Even though there were some disturbing parts, it was still a great read. I am very grateful for the opportunity to read such a good book. (Thanks to my teacher for letting the whole class read it together; it helped a lot!)
How has my ability to write academic paragraphs improved?
My ability to write academic paragraphs has improved a lot over this unit. I can now successfully write a good paragraph (even if it’s not perfect). I understand the rules and restrictions involved in writing one, whereas before everything was unclear. The teacher taught us well, and the lessons were very helpful. Now, if I have to write an academic paragraph aiming for a high score of 10, I think I could probably score around an 8, since I know the basics well enough. Now I just need to focus on adding the small details.
How have I become better at literature discussion?
I have become better at literature discussion because of several factors. During my first discussion, I was quite nervous and didn’t know many techniques. After my teacher taught us techniques like paraphrasing and others, I felt much more confident. Since then, I’ve participated in a few more discussions. I no longer feel nervous about sharing my ideas.
For our PE unit, we learned volleyball. We learned many things including a underhand serve, bump, and set. Even though I already knew all of these, it was good for me to practice again.
Something I improved on: I improved on underhand serve during this unit, it was good for me to redo them and practice them.
Somethings I’m good at: I’m good at bump, set, and serve. I can do them pretty well, even though I do mess up sometimes.
Something I can improve on: Something I can improve on is getting all of the hits accurate, since it can go flying away sometimes.
Volleyball was really fun, we did many drills, and the teacher was really patient. We also played really fun games that helped us cooperate.
What did I do? For our Unit 3 in math, we did a fun baking project. Before we started baking the treats, we had to figure out how much everything would cost and how much we should sell them for. We looked at different things like the price of ingredients, the price per serving, and the markup percentage, which is how much extra we add to get our selling price. It was interesting to see how all these numbers work together to help us decide the right price for our treats.
What did I learn? Over these few weeks, I learned a lot about math. One of the most useful things was how to change rates into unit rates, so I could compare prices easily. I also learned about markup prices and percentages, which helped us understand how to make a profit. Additionally, I learned how to figure out the price for just one treat instead of the whole batch, which made selling and pricing much clearer. These lessons are useful because they help me understand how businesses work and how to do math in real life.
What worked? Our baking and selling went really well! We managed to sell all of our cakes, and we earned a lot of money. Many people liked our treats and gave us tips or extra bonuses. We also used a fun way to attract attention by shouting “美女” and “帅哥,” which means “beautiful girl” and “handsome guy” in Chinese. That really caught people’s eyes and made our stand stand out. Everything from selling to talking to customers was a great experience that helped us learn about teamwork and customer service.
What did not work well? One thing that didn’t go as planned was that I couldn’t join Hannah and Karington for the baking part. Because I wasn’t there, I missed out on seeing how they made the treats and helping out in the kitchen. It would have been nice to work with them and learn some baking tips, but I still enjoyed being part of the project overall.
How is this relevant for me? This project was really fun and important for me. I got to work with my friends, which made everything more enjoyable. Selling the treats and earning money taught me about responsibility and teamwork. Plus, I learned some useful math skills that I can use in real life, like figuring out prices and percentages. Overall, it was a great experience that showed me how math and fun activities can go together.
During this unit, I learned how to play soccer properly. I learnt how to dribble, how to pass, and how to control the ball, not letting the ball control me. Probably the most important thing I learnt was working together, instead of doing it all by myself.
What helped? Lots of things helped, my teacher for teaching me, my classmates for encouraging me. For basics, the instructions where clear, and the exercises helped a lot. The games were fun to learn somethings as well.
What is something you are proud of?
Something I’m proud of is my dribbling. I can dribble quite well, but of course I could improve on it. Another thing I’m proud of in soccer was team working. I was good at encouraging other people, and helping.
What is something you can work on? Something I can work on in soccer is getting the ball. I sometimes have to take time to see which position I should do, and I waste time. I want to be a faster thinker.
What did I do? For science class, my partner and I made an egg car.
What did I learn?
We learned how Sir Issac Newton’s three laws apply to the egg car. For Newton’s first law, the car would stay at rest unless force is acted upon it. For Newton’s third law, it applied onto the egg car by bumping into the concrete blocks, and then reflecting back.
What worked? The egg successfully stayed in the car, and it did not break. This is because we made a little pouch for the egg, so it stayed in the same position without moving.
What did not work?
Our car was not really sustainable. We think it may be one time use only.
Personal Relevance:
I now know that there are a lot of part to keeping a passenger in a car/truck safe. Such examples include the seatbelt, the bumper, and many more things.
In science, we built balloon cars using balloons, straw, tray, and wheels, and tape. We used it to learn about net force, Newton’s Laws (all three of them). We applied free-body diagrams onto the balloon car to show the force applied into the car, the friction it makes with the surface, the gravity, and the normal force.
What did I learn? Newton’s first law, law of inertia, states an object at rest stays at rest, an object in motion stays in motion, this won’t change unless acted upon by a net external force. We saw this law in action with the balloon car when we didn’t add any air ( the force) into the balloon car, so it wouldn’t move. Newton’s 2nd law states force = mass x acceleration, which also states the more heavier the object, the more force it takes to make it move. We saw this law in action when we added a lot of weights onto the balloon car, which made it move less and slower. Newton’s third law states for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. We saw this law in action when the balloon car hit the chair and it motion backwards.
What worked?
In our balloon car experiments, our teamwork worked well. I did great with my partner (@Doyoon/Leo). Another thing that worked well was the balloon car, even though it didn’t go that great with the many weights on it, it still went well without the weights. One more thing that worked well was that the balloon car could apply easily to newton’s three laws, making it easy to experiment and adding on Newton’s three laws.
What did not work?
Our balloon car always went diagonally, since we didn’t cut the straw enough. Also, our balloon didn’t work out for the first few lessons, we had to change the straw many times because it wasn’t able to get air inside it. One last thing that didn’t work out was I was sick for the first lesson, missing out on the main thing about the balloon car design and building, which made it quite hard for me and @Leo.
Personal Relevance: Using the balloon car in real life might be possible, instead of using fuel, we could maybe use air to power the cars and make them work. Also, the balloon car was great practice for me to use the three laws. And lastly, it showed me how important Newton’s three laws are in real life.
Writing a fictional story based on a theme that matters to me.
What are we learning:
Theme (my purpose for writing this story, my message to readers)
Character Development (creating believable characters with positive & negative traits)
Plot (the sequence of events in my story; Western and Eastern approaches to storytelling)
Setting (the world that I create for my story)
What’s working:
I enjoyed writing my plot, theme, character development, and setting. The elements I am most proud of are the theme, plot, and setting. I got my story idea from a video game I played. The story in the game was about a girl who became ill and went to the hospital, where a nurse took care of her. There was also a frightening monster that took hold of the main character. My favorite line from my story is: “Her life was a performance, and it was starting to eat her alive.”
Area of growth:
Writing Beth’s internal struggles with her identity and fears was challenging. To handle these difficulties, I focused on showing her emotions through her actions and thoughts, which helped make her feelings more relatable. I also balanced the darker scenes with moments of hope and support, like Julie’s kindness, to create an emotional journey. Keeping a consistent tone between the scary and uplifting parts helped the story feel more authentic, showing Beth’s growth as she learns to be true to herself.
Personal relevance:
I honestly enjoy creative writing a lot. It allows me to be free and use the writing style that suits me best. I can use my imagination to create original stories instead of copying others. Additionally, creative writing might be important in my life because I can use it to get jobs or get into a good university.
