Why Do Looks Really Matter?

Wonder Work (145-161)

I like Summer, she's a nice kid. 

1. What was Summer's initial reaction to August's face? Why did they become friends?
   I believe she thought he was "weird looking" at first, I don't think she was too bothered by it. She became friends with him at first because she felt sorry for him, but then genuinely wanted to be his friend after getting to know him.
2. Summer isn't in the popular group at school, why is she invited to Savanna's party?
   She used to be apart of that "popular" group, she is viewed by them as pretty and cool. This on top of the fact Julian apparently has a crush on her.
3. How does Summer foster a relationship with Auggie, in what ways is it beneficial for them both?
   She fosters a relationship with him by sitting with him and opening up to him while also getting him to open up to her a bit. How is it beneficial? Well, August has a friend that isn't bothered by how he looks and Summer has someone who is more fun to be around.

Can Do Task

Vocab:

Morphed - "change smoothly from one image to another by small gradual steps using computer animation techniques."

Artefact - "an object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest."

Biracial - "concerning or containing members of two racial groups."

Sympathetic - "feeling, showing, or expressing sympathy."

Illuminate - "To light up" 

Phony - "not genuine; fraudulent."

Technically - "according to the facts or exact meaning of something; strictly."

Create:
I was tasked to create a Venn diagram that outlines the differences and similarities between Summer and Jack

There Is Always Room To Improve! The Sequel

What are my strengths in writing? In writing, my strengths are varied. I am able to create ideas in my head, but I struggle to get them down on paper.
What are my next steps in writing? Proof. Reading. I need to proofread! For example, in my most recent essay, I accidentally wrote "spit" instead of "spat" and "will" and instead of "with."
Where would I like to be in writing by the end of year nine and what will that look like? I would like to be at a high excellence, I am currently at a low excellence. What will this look like, however? I believe it will be longer paragraphs with fewer corrections, a few more quotes etc.
How am I going to enable myself to reach this goal? I will write more outside of class, look at other people's writing to improve my own and learn from others people's feedback.


What am I learning?
I am learning how to critic my own work and know my next steps in my writing.

How does this work show my learning?
It shows that I know what I need to work on, what I believe my strengths are and that I know what I need to do to improve my writing

What am I wondering?
What do other people think of my writing? Am I too harsh on myself? Are there other ways I could improve my writing that I'm not thinking about?

Through The Eyes Of The Older Sibling

Wonder Work Pg 81-117

I'm finally up to part two! This part is through the eyes of Via, Auggie's older sister, let's see how this plays out.

1. Explain how the point of view in part 2 is different from that in part 1? Do they match up? Part one was in the POV of August, meanwhile, part two is in the POV of Via, who doesn't see Auggie like he sees himself. They don't exactly match up but are similar in many ways. 
2. In at least a paragraph, describe the challenges do you think Via might face being Auggie’s sister?
   There are too many to go into detail about, honestly. Let's start with her home life. Via is the older sibling, right? Now, older siblings, on occasion, get pushed to the side anyway, even when they don't have a brother with special needs. But Via's experience takes this to a whole other level. In the story, she describes how everything is about August, his needs, his moods etc. Which means she's neglected more. Her parents wouldn't be able to come to her soccer games, or recitals, or science fairs, most of the time. If she was playing too loud while Auggie was trying to sleep, she understood she needed to do something else. She would have to do every project and homework task by herself, if she was falling behind in a class she would study it on her own. She had to learn how to put toys together, how to organise her life so she didn't miss a party, how to stay on top of her school work so she didn't fall behind in any class, all by herself. Now put that on top of the fact most of her classmates in elementary and middle school knew her as the sister of August. Not only that but how the public sees August. Via is usually the one to call strangers out for staring or for making faces, she's protective of him.
3. Via says “August is the Sun.” Explain what she means and why she feels this way?
   The sun is what the rest of the solar system revolves around. She and her parents were the planets in orbit and Auggie was the sun. Everything she, and her parents, did had to work with what Auggie did. Everything was about August.
4. Do you agree with Via that she and her parents have made a mistake by always trying to make August feel like he is normal? Is this a problem? Explain.
   Personally, yes, I agree with her. Auggie doesn't need to know he is normal, he needs to know that being different is okay. If he spends his life thinking he is completely normal, he won't understand why people treat him differently and therefore will be harmed more in the long run.
5. Why does Via go by Olivia at high school? How is Via finding high school?
   Via goes by Olivia at school so she can get away from being "Via: The older sister of a deformed boy." How is she finding it, on the other hand? I believe she finds high school decently okay. After she finds new friends and a new routine that is.
6. What are the odds of Via having a child that looks like August? Do you think these are good odds? Explain.
   For Via, there is a one in two chance she'll pass it on to her kids, if she marries someone with the same gene that Via has, the mutated TCOF1 gene, the kids will have a one in two chance of carrying the gene and looking completely normal, a one in four chance of the kids not carrying the gene at all and a one in four chance that the kids will look like Auggie. It's some pretty high odds, honestly,  so I don't personally think they're very good odds.
7. Explore the character Miranda. Why did she call August at the end of Part 2? Explain
   I believe she called August with the hope of talking to Via. Like she was using August as an excuse to talk to Via at least once. She misses her as a friend but doesn't have the courage to talk to her without it being awkward.
8. Describe Via as a character? Do you empathise with her?
   Via doesn't really fit into one category of a person. She's not a nerd, but she's smart. She comes off as quite understanding, because of August, but she just knows there is no point in complaining. I personally do empathise with her, she has a rough life. She has to deal with everything a normal teenager has to deal with, alone. Not only alone but as well as wanting to deal with August's problems on top of them.
9. What do you think will happen to August when he returns to school?
   I think Jack will act like nothing happened but August will act suspicious and drift away from Jack or randomly snapping at him.

Can do tasks:

The first task I chose to do was the character web. Now I wanted to be extra so I decided that I wanted to use every. single. character. in the story. After finishing it (Which took me like 4 hours) I realised how messy and confusing it looked. So what I did was I made a copy and restored a previous version and got rid of the lower characters


Here's the messy version with all the characters if you wanted to see it ->










Part two
Art:
 Draw a picture of Auggie as he is described by Via. Discuss why you have included different features, styles or colours in your creation 

I drew this: (Haven't finished)

Vocabulary:

Fashionista - "a designer of haute couture" or "a devoted follower of fashion."
Celestial - "positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy."
Flabbergasted - "surprise (someone) greatly; astonish."
Sarcastic - "marked by or given to using irony in order to mock or convey contempt."
Meticulously - "in a way that shows great attention to detail; very thoroughly."
Illuminating - "when something lights up."
Transition - "the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another."

Reflection - Vegetarian

What were my original thoughts before making the dishes?
With the nachos, I didn't think that it would be as good as normal, meat nachos. With the frittatas, I thought it was like quiche and I don't really like quiche so...

Did my thoughts change after sampling the dishes
Definitely. I liked both dishes more than I thought I would

Why is it good to have one vegetarian dish per week? (Answers are taken from https://www.hellomagazine.com/cuisine/2017061339754/health-benefits-vegetarian-once-a-week/)
It could help prevent heart disease, you'll be getting more nutrients, minerals and fibre in your diet, and it will help you to cut out potentially dangerous processed meats.

Meat supplies us with protein and iron. Give an example of a vegetarian that offers this as well.
Peas, spinach, kale, broccoli etc. 

Te Matatini

Te Matatini is a Kapa Haka festival that Kapa Haka groups from all over Aotearoa participate in. It is held every two years in many different regions of New Zealand. Authority is given to different tribes to host the festival, each year it's held. Anyone and everyone is invited to come and watch the performances!

Want to watch a couple of performances? Go here! They have all the performances from the 2017 festival!
https://www.maoritelevision.com/haka/te-matatini

Dictator Charaterisics

What is the country that is called Burma also known as and who is the leader of the country now?
Myanmar, Win Myint

Who was the most infamous dictator of the 20th Century and what country did they rule?
Adolf Hitler, Germany

History has set the precedent for the stereotypical dictator to be a narcissistic, war hungry, manipulative, sociopathic, intelligent, megalomaniac, pathological liar. To be honest, what sane person, who doesn't have any of these traits, would fight or persuade their way to the top then abuse their power over their country. Though, in theory, dictators won't always do bad and abuse their power but name one infamous dictator that hasn't shown at least one of these traits so far. For example, Hilter made his way into power after Germany's president, Paul von Hindenburg, died as he took himself from being chancellor to being Fü­hrer (a mixed between the chancellor and the president.) From there, he made sure he couldn't be removed from power through many actions, which, is pretty manipulative if you ask me... I'm not exactly saying all dictators will always have all of these traits. Only most of them.

Talking About Latin: The History Of The Dead Language

Latin.
The former language of Latium, the Roman Empire, and initially, Italy.

The (Short) History of Latin

Old Latin:

Old Latin is the oldest known form of the language. It was spoken from the Roman Kingdom to the later part of the Roman Republic period. It has been confirmed to be written in inscriptions and even some of the earliest surviving Latin literature. The comedies of Plautus and Terence are examples. Initially, it was used in a right to left format before changing to a left to right format.

Classical Latin

Classical Latin rose during the late republic and the first years of the empire. It was a conscious creation of public speakers (Orators),  poets, historians etc. who wrote classical literature, which was taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. (Rhetoric study is the study of "effective speaking and writing")

Vulgar Latin

During the same time period as Classical Latin was Vulgar Latin. This form of Latin was a lot less formal, meaning it was rare to find it in written form. This meant philologists (people who studied language from oral and written historical sources) were only left with individual words and phrases found as graffiti.

Vulgar Latin then began to diverge into multiple distinct languages by the 9th century. This was when the earliest  Romance began to emerge. They were then restricted down to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing.

Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin was the written Latin language used postclassical. The spoken version developed into various Romance languages. This Latin began to spread into places that didn't already speak Latin. 

Renaissance Latin

The Renaissance made Latin a spoken language for a while, by its adoption by the Renaissance Humanists. They tried to preserve many surviving manuscripts. By the 15th century, Medieval Latin had been replaced this form of Latin which had been supported by students of universities, who tried to find out what the classical language had been.

New Latin

During the 'Early Modern Age,' Latin was one of the most important languages in the culture of Europe. Because of this, a lot of books and most of the diplomatic documents were written in Latin until the end of the 17th century. After this, most of those were written in French or other native languages.

Influence on present-day languages

Long story short, Latin has had quite an influence on most modern languages, from English to German to Dutch. To be fair, English does this weird thing where it steals words from other languages just to change them a bit. For example, the word "Library" comes from the Latin word for book.