Photo By Me

Since I last saw my tree, it has grown many leaves and has gotten a little bit bigger. Some of the branches have no leaves, while others have lots of leaves. My class is reading the wishtree and in the book it talks about how the animal and the tree got their names. My name is Claire and I got my name because it translated well into English and French. I wasn’t named after anyone specifically, but I was named after my great grandmother in my middle name. My name means clear and bright. I’m naming my tree Terra because it means earth and my tree grew from the earth. I’m naming my squirrel Gary. In Wishtree, Red and Bongo talk about optimists and pessimists. An optimist is a person who always looks on the bright side of things and is happy and excited for what’s coming next. A pessimist is a person who is always looking on the downside and is negative about things. I believe I am an optimist because even while things are hard I always look on the bright side. I try to overcome every challenge. For example, I always think of a glass half full and never a glass half empty. That’s all for now, until the next update.

We started by adopting a tree, I adopted a small dogwood. The next day, we went down to the art room with Ms. Gignoux. We started off by painting some sheets of paper blue with brayers. Next, we made designs of nature with gelli plates. Then, we took some mat boards and made the cover of our books. To do that, we painted words on a silk screen, which made words on the mat board. After that, we glued the blue paper we painted onto the cover and the back. Later, we took some scrap paper and decorated the blue paper and made trees, birds, clouds, and the ground. Earlier in the month, we made a ‘Branches Reaching Towards The Sky’ and a ‘Salute To My Roots’ poem. We put some envelopes on the tree book and put those poems inside of them and a photo of ourselves. 

Ms. Gignoux helped us make these books. She’s a fantastic teacher and artist. Be sure to visit her website. https://gignouxart.com

This book was a lot of fun to create. On the first day, I was confused on how we were going to put this book together because all we had done was paint a paper blue. As the days went on, things started to come together. I had soon realized that all the poems we made and the crafts were all a part of this book. Seeing everyone’s book coming together really brought me joy to see all the beautiful and amazing things we had accomplished in this year. When the tree book was finally done, I took some photos of it and brought it home. My family was so proud. I had an amazing time creating this book. Thank you Ms. Williams and Ms. Gignoux for this amazing experience.

Here is my ‘Salute To My Roots’ writing:

My uncle has had a really big impact on my life recently. He has stepped in as a father figure. He helps me a lot and is really so entertaining. Not only does he support my mom and my family, but he also makes everything fun. He can be serious sometimes, but he is always able to put a smile on my face. He’s a great uncle and a great father to my cousins. He is a great influence and will always be special to me.

My mom is a very hard-working, fun, loving, and caring person. She works very hard as a teacher and a parent while remaining fun and loving. She’s a great influence and teaches me a lot about life. She is kind and respectful to everyone. My mom does a lot for my sister and me, and she has impacted my life for the better.

My sister and I fight but she always comes through. She’s always there to support me and she is great at  encouraging me to try new things. When she is too scared to try a new type of food, she always makes me try it first. I must admit she has truly impacted my life with her joy and positivity in a big way.

My cousin is also a great influence. She is in 11th grade, and even though she is older, we are still very close. When I first got my braces, I was at her house and she helped me brush my teeth and get used to them. Whenever I need help with my homework, I call her for an hour and she helps me work through it. She’s a lot of fun to be around and always comes up with fun activities

Here is my ‘Branches’ writing:

My life list:

1. Go to college

-It’s important to get a good education. 

-It helps you get a good job.

1. Get good grades 

-It helps you get into a good college. 

-It makes my family proud.

1. Become a cancer doctor 

-It’ll save peoples lives hopefully. 

-It is helpful to people.

1. Have a family 

-I will be happier. 

-Having kids is good.

1. Travel the world 

-New experiences. 

-Super fun.

1. Graduate college and med school

-It is a huge accomplishment.

-I can help the world.

1. Give to charities

-I would like to help a cause such as kids with cancer, or an animal hospital

-Being generous is a great way to live your life.

1. Get really good at tennis 

-It keeps me fit. 

-Its fun.

1. Learn 4 languages

-It would be so cool.

-I could go to a lot of places and learn other languages.

1. Overcome my fears

-I will be less stressed.

-They won’t hold me back. 

My hopes and dreams for the WORLD: I hope that the world becomes better and safer. I hope that everyone gets treated equally and that everyone’s happy. I hope that there are no more pandemics. I hope there’s peace and happiness between everyone. 

Photo by Wikipedia

              Storytelling began with pictures and gestures possibly before the evolution of language. Hieroglyphics are a language, and are combined to make words or sounds. Hieroglyphics are carved. Hieroglyphics are one of the first written languages discovered on Earth. Hieroglyphics are a Greek word meaning ancient carving. The ancient Maya has an ancient writing system. Most of the Maya writings have sadly disappeared. The Maya writings are like modern Japanese writings. They existed in the 3rd century BCE. The Rosetta Stone was discovered by a French guy in 1799. The Stone was the first Ancient Egyptian bilingual text discovered making it possible to decipher hieroglyphics script for the first time! The Illiad was made on a tablet of stone. They were not mass distributed, because it took forever to write one story. The Gutenberg Printing Press was invented in 1440. There are many different ways to tell stories, for example, some story genres are: Folktale, folklore, fable, etc. Storytelling has been around forever. 

       The two stories, The Lion Makers, and the Boatman have very similar morals. In the Lion makers, the three “wise” men show that smarts are nothing without common knowledge/common sense. The three men summon a lion back from the death while the fourth “dumb” man climbs into a tree avoiding being killed. The three men die and the “dumb” man is the only one that survives. In the Boatman, there are a boatman and a scholar on a ship, and the scholar brags about his smarts. The ship starts to sink and the scholar can’t swim but the boatman can. The boatman is the only one to survive. The moral of both stories is academic knowledge is nothing without common sense.

       One of the stories I think applies to the modern day world is The Wise Master. In the Wise Master the master asks his students to go and steal something. All the students in the class do it, except for one of them. The teacher walks up to the student and says “What are you doing? Why aren’t you stealing?” the child says he won’t do that and wants to follow his own judgement. The teacher told the kid he’d passed. I think this ties in with the modern world because a lot of kids have a tendency to go along with their friends and do whatever their friend is doing, even if it’s commiting a crime sometimes. I think the moral is important because it shows even if your friend, or family is doing something wrong, don’t join them. Do what’s right and be smart about things. Follow your own judgement.