10 memories for Taylor Mali

Talyor Mali, a poet, came to visit us at school to tell us about poetry. He shared a few of his poems that he did and it was really different from other poems. He told us that " a poem is a lie that tells the truth." It was little bit confusing to me but when he explained what he ment I could understand. Then he told us that we needed to write 10 memories that we could remember since we were 2 years old.

I remember when I was 2 years old I was in a hotel room with my uncle and my cousin who was a few months younger. My uncle was asleep in the bed, I tried to wake him up because I was hungry but he wouldn't wake up. I decided to wait for a while so I sat next to my cousin who was watching T.V. I couldn't wait any longer so I bit my cousin. I was so hungry I didn't know what to do and until now he still has the bite mark.

I remember when I was 8 years old I went to a temple in Thailand with my family and in the temple there was a little monkey. I wondered why they kept a baby monkey in the temple, but I came to the baby monkey and gave him a peanut. Then my cousins came and scared the monkey and it clung on to me and bit me on my knee. It didn't hurt because his teeth were still little and it didn't go deep into my skin. I was really surprise but I was not hurt and that was all.

I remember when I was 10 years old I did horse back riding near where I live and I have done this for 1 year and a half. On the last day of my lesson I was riding a horse named Mal. This was a stubborn horse. I had to do a jump while in cantering mode. I did my jump and then slipped of the horse. I landed on my bottom and was lucky to land inside the arena and not to be stood on by the horse. My instructor come out to calm the horse down and to see if I was alright. I was able to stand but I couldn't sit down.

I remember when I was 3 years old my aunt would feed me oranges. Each time she feeds me I would make a sour face as if she was feeding me lemons instead. It would always make her laugh.


I remember when I was 8 years old I was in Holland with my friend. We were eating french fries. I bit the french fries and my molar broke in half. It didn't fall out yet so we went to the dentist and he pulled it out.

I remember when I was 3 years old I owned my first dog. It was like a shepard mix. His name was Nino, I loved him so much. I came up to him to pat him but since I was 3 I didn't know how to approach him, so I patted his head and he bit me. I was crying because he bit me so hard on the side of my hand.

I remember when I was 6 years old it was the first time I rode a camel. I was still to young to go on by my self so my mom sat with me. It was fun but it was also uncomfortable, because we had to sit between the humps of the camel.

MY NAME MICHELLE

My name is Michelle Van Campenhout, Michelle means “ Who is like god ” and Van Campenhout in dutch means “from wooden camp”. My name, Michelle is from the French origin. Well I got my name not from my parents but from aunt, funny huh, well I thought it was, especially on how she chose that name. My parents were looking through baby books and a fortune book to choose the right name for a certain baby or something like that, a fortune book is a book where you can find names that is good for luck and stuff like that, well my mother did have some ideas like Tanya, Sofia and Shanita, but it didn’t really fit me. My aunt suggested why not Michelle, my parents were a little confused and asked why, she answered back saying I look like Michelle Pfeiffer. When I heard about this story I was laughing my head off. Now my parents agreed to this, so that was my name till now, still my mother wants me to have Tanya as my Thai name or middle name since I don’t have one. Well that’s how I got my name. Reason why my mom wanted Tanya was because in collage she had always admired her statistic teacher whom was name Tanya.

When I researched my name I was surprised of what it meant, Who is like god... what those that mean, well I do rule a lot of people’s mind moohahahaha, no just joking. I think it means power, pride and good moral, like a god. This name really suites me if that is the meaning, because I do have that attitude I like to be proud of my work and team, and power, I sometimes like to take control but I don’t like to show of my skill in any rude way like bragging.

I have a nickname that suites my real name and it’s Mimi. I got this name because my parents use to have something in their hands that I like and they would say who wants it, so I would say me me me, so that’s how I got my nickname. They called me Mimi because it works good for my attitude, because I want it but that was when I was smaller. I have been teased with this name a few times in the school in Korea, the teacher always asked for help to give out a few sheets and so on, so students would raise their hands to help and I would be one of them. Then the teacher would be like “ me me me” in an Oprah tone, I wouldn’t call it teasing because I found it funny as well, I would actually blush. My real name Michelle, has been teased but only by my cousins. They would call me something horrible in Thai which is inappropriate if I was to translate it to
English. Other than that, I have never been teased by my classmates and friends.

When I was around 4 or 5 years old I have wanted to change my name into Raven or Jade. I chose these because I thought that my name Michelle wasn’t that tuff, the reason why said all this was because I use to play tag by chase boys with my friends, I was fastest runner in the group of girls. Other than these names I still kept Michelle as my favorite.

I like my name a lot! Because I know a lot of people who are famous that has the same name, and even a SONG! Here are some famous people who has the same name as me like Michelle Pfeiffer, Michelle Obama, Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Wie and Michelle Kwan. It makes me feel special because I feel a connection with my names and theirs. Also the Beatles made a song called “Michelle”.

Me in 3

ME IN THREE

In 7th grade a lot of people know me for a lot of things but I have 3 main objects that really represent me. When I was given this assignment I thought this would be easy to find my 3 object, but then I think again... there’s a lot of things in my room that represent me. So I thought and thought, then I said why don’t I find something that might show my ability like art, music and sports. So first for my music I knew I should choose my flute. For art it took awhile but I though, I stick my artwork on the wall of my room so why not say I chose the wall. Now for my third item it’s my football shoes.

First object as I said is my flute. I have played many instruments in the past few years like piano, saxophone, ocarina and now the flute. The reason why I chose flute out of all the other instruments is because it was the first instrument I have played in a band. I have played the flute for 3 years now and I have enjoyed playing it. When I had to choose my instrument for band I know the flute was the perfect instrument.

My second is the wall in my room. The reason why I chose this is because I can hang up all my art work and ideas. I like to express myself in my art work and then when I see it, I feel proud of my work. I call my wall Picasso, because he is one of my favourite painters. Sometimes I would think some people might not appreciate art, but I love all kind of art, so pretty much my room is like my art gallery.

My last object are my football shoes. I chose these because I like sports and football is my favourite sport on the field. I have played football for 7 years now, and I still enjoy it. Now I play on the u-13 football team in school, and I was also on the team trip to Phuket. I liked other sports, too, but I chose football because I have done it for so many years. I hope in the future I will be able to still play football.

These are the items I think suit me best. I just hope these objects will stay with me for life and i shall take care of them carefully.

BIO POEM

Michelle's Bio Poem



Michelle Ma Belle......:P
I'm Enthusiastic, fun and humorous XD
I'm the WILD child of Jan and Yani
I love art, music and animals, but most of all my family
Happiness, laughter and sadness
SPIDERS...... It's always been spiders, even spider man
I've played in a big piano concert with my friend
I would like to experience a lot of stuff, but would like to see the FUTURE
Rainy KL
Van Campenhout


Some fun pics related to the Poem......

Norse creation Mythology

I HAVE SEEN THE END ...... of 6th grade only.....:P

This is only the beginning of the end of........ sixth grade. DUN DUN DUNNNN. Yes I see all the memories flashing back through my tiny little brain all the fun memories and all the other fun memories too. Okay a little too much I think, well ... I will miss the life and trance I have left behind in sixth grade but the memories will stay forever. Like Malaysia Week, Fire Flies(oohh that was a good trip), planetarium, and more exciting adventures. To me it is sad to be leaving my old classroom and teachers but I must move on to the second level the Ampang school building and make my own path to success in life(I think). All of this happens so fast that it makes me cry because it does feel like it is the end of the world, but I must go because soon I'll have to take care of my own and be successful. So I will write about my life in sixth grade before I move to seventh grade.


Well I'll never forget the time I arrived in sixth grade, I had a lot of feelings going through my mind. I was happy to be here because of all my friends, but then I was nervous and scared of a lot of things like our locker's lock, homework, teachers and more. I bet you a lot of students felt like this, but it turned out it wasn't so bad for me. When we were given a sheet of paper that had our schedule and locker combination plus instructions, I knew this was a piece of cake. I went over to my locker and bam on my first try with my locker combination I got it opened, booyah. I was pretty surprised about this, but then, since I have band and pe I had memorize two more combination. I was a little freaked out but I was able to handle it. A lot of people had the same problem as me but they were also able to handle it. This wasn't the only think I was proud of, I was also proud about how I have accomplished most of the schoolwork and homework. Most of the problems I didn't know a bout but I always had this "can do" attitude for most of the class, and I always try to give my best in all subject.


My biggest challenge was getting in my assignment in at the due date. At the beginning the teachers are nice because it is the first week of sixth grade but after a few weeks they expect you to hand it in on time because we're not new to this anymore. I had trouble with that like sometimes I would forget my homework at home or I would forget we had homework or only part would be finished. But one of my worst assignment was lit circle it was my worst class/home work "I" could ever get. I didn't enjoy it as much. The only time I would have enjoyed it was when we got to work with partners then I was less nervous, because we can share the work 50 50. These aren't the only challenges I had during sixth grade, but those were the main ones.


My growth as a sixth grade student is really good in both socially and academically. I have the SLR's in my work habits and tried to achieve mt best through all class assignment. These evaluations will show how well I think I work in class.

Green text

a) Behavior

Could be improved
Satisfactory
Perfect - the model student

Explanation: I do work best in most classes but I think I do get of topic during work

b) Participation

None
Satisfactory
Actively participate in class

Explanation: I do try my best to participate in all classes but sometimes I am down or not in the mood I do lack on my participation.

c) Organization

Needs serious help
Satisfactory
I'm super organized

d) Effort

Needs serious help
Satisfactory
I always go above and beyond what is required.


GOALS

In Grade 7, I plan to get more organize and get my assignment done by the due date or before. As I said before I am not as organize, so that is why I have trouble with bringing in the homework at the time it is due. So I hope I am able to achieve that during the year in seventh grade. These are two goals but they are related to each other because if I don't get organize I would forget about my assignment.

I don't have a lot to say about me but there is one main thing. I know in many classes there will be a lot of work like writing and essays, but I really do enjoy hands-on assignment like art, because I like art and it makes the assignment more fun like we were to learn enthusiastically.

Here are a few tips and things about sixth grade. Ok so if you do band you would get three lockers: band, P.E and main. If you are good at memorizing then you wouldn't have any trouble knowing your locker combination, but the best thing is to write it down on a piece of paper or your planner. There will be a day I think it's called the Open-house day where the school will sell the uniforms and you can buy them. The school will give the info out later. Since our school is shared with high school there are many high-schooler walking about in the middle school areas. If you are worried about that there is actually no need, just ignore them and don't get into their way.

That is all I have to say oh and here I come seventh grade

Dear Mom and Dad

Dear Mom and Dad, First of all what i really want to tell you is that I really miss. I know you might have been worried that Henry and I left without tell but it was for our own good. My first reason why I left is because i don't want to be capped and second reason is I don't think it's what we are meant to do, so during the journey to the White Mountains I have found a new friend named Zhanpole and had discovered and learnt new things about the Tripods and our life. So anyways back to the reason being. I didn't want to be capped because I though of freedom and my future. I had to my own decisions for my life. I didn't want to be capped because when Jack got capped he didn't look happy, actually he didn't have any feelings on him at all after the ceremony. That was because that Tripods take that away while the capped him, they washed away all his memory of his family, his dreams, his imagination and even his feelings. I didn't want to end up like that. So I decided to wait for the right moment to escape, but I had some trouble because of Henry. I knew his mother died, I still cared but to tell you the truth I never did like him, he was always beating me up and ruining my life, so I wanted to run away from him and the tripods. Well I waited for the right moment which was at full moon and sneaked out of the house, but Henry was following me and forced me to take him with me because if I didn't then he would have came to tell you guys. Well, we did get along after awhile, but we still hate each other. I know you might be wondering why I might be giving you all the details is because now you know how I felt before this trip, during the trip and after the trip. That is only one reason why I left but here is the other reason. My last reason why I left is because I wanted to find out more about the Tripods and why we had to do all this capping ceremony. It turned out that before the Tripods came we were already happy, they didn't come here to make us happy they made us feel even more worst inside. They tricked us into making us feel happy. They used us as to like find more information about us, trying to find people who hasn't been capped. They also take people away from us, our loved ones, because when I arrived in Paris I met a beautiful girl named Eloise and she lived in a huge castle. I liked here a lot and she liked me back, and actually she tried to protect me from the Tripods, but she had to be capped to if she was to become a Queen, but once a Queen she has to serve the Tripods instead of staying in the country. It was heart breaking to leave her and go on with my own way. i had to do it it was only choice to get away from the Tripods and live free. I just wish all of these things would go away so we can live happily, but you have to achieve it then everything will be better, well to yourself. But during the tripod Henry and I received help and a new friend. His name is Zhanpole and he's from France too, but Henry calles him Beanpole which is kindof rude but it was easier to say. He helped us a lot during the journey because he had a lot of talent. he can speak French, English too also he likes to invent stuff and plus he knew the way to the White Mountains. He was a hero well we all were heros in our heart because we made to the White Mountains but to reach there we had to face a lot of trouble. But we made it in one peice. Now that we live in one of the moutains we actually met other men who has ran away from the Tripods and made to the White Mountains. They plan to defeat the Tripods one day and free all the people. I think it's a good plan because it's for all of our goods. Well this all I have to say to you but do really miss you so does Henry. I hope to see you again soon but for now we will stay here and see what we can do to stop the Tripods and help the capped people. Hope you the best and please do try and reply. I will also try to write more letters to you too. Love, Will and Henry See you soon

FREEDOM :P

For White Mountains readers, In Chapter 6, The Castle with the Red Tower, the idea of freedom is explored.

"The bitter thing was all the spirit, all the gallantry, was wasted. For even more than inferiors, they accepted and looked forward to being Capped. It was a part of becoming a knight, or of turning from a girl to lady. Thinking of this, I saw how good things could be meaningless in isolation. What value did courage have, without a free and challenging mind to direct it?" (p. 111) In two well structured paragraphs explain how the above quote and the rest of the chapter relates to the theme, freedom.

My first reason why this is related to freedom is because Will starts to think about how it's like to be capped and comparing it with freedom. Will stayed with Eloise because he liked her and she liked him, but then later when Eloise is announced queen she has to be capped and serve the Tripods forever. This gave Will two choices he can stay and be capped or he can run away and be a refugee, but free. He made a dicesion that he wanted to be free because when Eloise said that she was so happy to become queen, to Will he felt betrayed. I think it was a good idea for him to flee the castle and Tripods because he decided to at the beggining and he wants to have his feelings and mind, really he wants to live a free will. If I was Will I would do the same thing.

My second reason is, Will is old enough to figure out new things and how things work around him. I think since he has never seen a granade and technology and stuff, with his journey to the White Mountain he was able to figure out new things and learn more about being capped and the Tripods. This I think will help Will during his journey because he will be able to stop the Tripods and warn the people. This means they can all live a free life and live a new generation. I liked how Will think during the trip, he had recieved a lot of help froom the people around him, he has stumbled upon Zhanpole(Beanpole) which knows the way to the White Mountains, speaks two different language french and english, also likes to invent stuff. With the information from them he was able to get out of trouble easily from the Tripods and the french people. This is a good choice that Will did not only for his life but for a lot of other people's life ven though he doesn't really know that.

Understanding and Emotions in the Novel

As Will, Henry and Beanpole continue their journey to the White Mountains, the boys gain new understandings and are exposed to variety of emotions. Here are a few questions to answer able chapter six in the novel.

1. How were the Tripods able to control the people?

how the Tripods were able to cap the human without any frustration, is that they confused them by saying that it was a ritual from childhood to adulthood but is actually a ghastly thing. Kids who have not been capped have started to question, but don't leave because they were afraid of the situation leaving home and going away. But only three boys felt that the tripods are terrible things, and that brings no imagination or thought in a person so they decided to go to the White Mountains and they sacrificed everything they had like food, their family and other s just to get away from being capped.

"Why should the Tripods take people way and Cap them? What rights have they?" This shows that Will refused to get capped but Eloise wants Will to be capped so they can live together. This gives two choices to Will: he can stay and be capped and live together with Eloise or run away to the White Mountains and live a free life.

2. Find evidence (quotations from the novel) to show that even though Will is comfortable living at the castle, he is frustrated that the Comte, Comtesse, and Eloise have been capped.

Page 108

"Nothing, as far as I can see." He nodded at Beanpole. "He knows more than I do."

Beanpole said, "They are not like the villagers, or townsmen. The villagers, finding us, might have called the Tripods, but these not. They think it good for boys to leave their homes. Their own sons go far away."

I suppose I was a little confused still. i said, "Then they might help us!" Beanpole shook his head, sunlight flashing from his lenses in front of his eyes.

"No. After all, they are capped. They have different customs, but they obey the Tripods. They are still slaves. They treat us kindly, but they must not know our plans."

****

i had been thinking hard. I said, "Then you'd better make a break for it, while you can."

"No. It will be weeks before you are fit to travel."

"But you two can get away. I'll follow when I am able. I remember the map well enough."

Page 109

"What do you suggest, then?" asked Henry. I could see he was not persuaded. "If we stay they'll cap us eventually."

"That is why staying is better for now." Beanpole said. "I have been talking with some boys. In a few weeks there is the tournament."

"The tournament?" I asked

"It is held twice a year," Beanpole said "in spring and summer. They have feasts, games, contests, and jousting between knights. It last five days, and at the end is their capping day."

3.Find evidence(quotes) to show how Will feels about being capped.

Page 119

She asked about my health--- Itold her I was very well--- and if I were happy at the castle. I assured her that I was. Then she said

"I am glad of that. Perhaps if you are happy, you will not want to leave us."

It had been taken for granted that three of us would be presented at the Capping Day following the tournament.

I think Will is a little scared and nervous in his head but in his heart he's saying it's for his own good.

How is Beanpole helpful during the trip???

Beanpole is a new member of the group and actually he is really helpful in so many ways. It was a good thing Will and Henry stumbled upon him because without him they would be lost and would never even reached the White Mountain. Here are some reasons why Beanpole is useful.

Beanpole is able to speak two languages, French and English. Since now they are all in Paris, Beanpole is able to translate a lot of things to Will and Henry. This is useful because the group now understands what is going around them and also receive help. Here is something from the book. Page 97 WE ate the last of food in a place where the trees were dense in front of us, without any buildings. The reason lays in the slabs of stone, some upright but more leaning or fallen, which stretched away into the darkness of the wood. The words carved on the nearest one were:

CI-GIT

MARIANNE LOUISE VAUDRICOURT

13 ANS

DECEDEE FEVRIER 15 1966

The fist two words, Beanpole explained, meant" Here Lies," "ans" was years and "decedee" was died.

So with the help of beanpole they were able to know a lot of things.

Beanpole also helped because he knew the way to the white mountains better than Will and Henry. So with this they will be able to get there easily because Will actually let Beanpole join the group since he trusted that Beanpole knew the way better. Also he helped them escape the people who captured them. So I think Beanpole has earned trust from Will.

I think they will get to the white mountains because if not the book won't really makes sense but also because with the help they get with Beanpole around it would be easier to reach the place and not really get caught. One last thing is that Beanpole likes to invent things so maybe with his inventions they would be able to get out of trouble.

How is Will just like me?? :P

Well in humanities my new lit circle book is "The White Mountain" by John Christopher. This is about Will the main character, learning new features about the tripod and is trying to escape it when it is time for him to get capped. A tripod is a big machine that has three legs and three tentacles. In the two chapters I read I found out that Will's cousin Jack had been capped and isn't able to communicate with Will. But later on in the second chapter Will meets a homeless man who is wearing a fake cap, which is what the tripods would use to control people. The homeless man is called Ozymandias, and with the help of him Will can escape to the white mountains with his friends.



Well back to the question. Will is similar to me because we are both have a change in life and our communities are also changing. Like for example I use to have friends that always follow each other around, but then later on years has pass and we have grown older so we have our own decisions to make our own path to take. But there are more reasons why we are similar



Another thing is that our surroundings change, like when I was small like about 4 or 5 I never knew about many things that surrounds me but now I know almost every thing. I'm just going to go a little of topic for now. For example if you were born in let say 1996 the technologys then weren't as complicated as now a days. Okay lets say first we started with a phone then we started to have cameras on it then later on we had touch screens and then internets all on one phone.



My last reason why we might be similar So not only our surroundings change but also our body. Like ok I'm growing taller more hair and People would go through puberty. That is also a big change to our life. But any ways yea that is one thing that is similar.



The second thing is that

My project on king Tut

Well in class we were learning about pharoahs and we were to study about their life. We were each given a pharoah. I got king Tutunkamun the youngest pharoah. I was excited since I knew a lot about him. Here are a few things about pharoahs.

I think that Egyptian pharoahs built monument because the monuments they built is to show the Egyptians how powerful and great he/she was and maybe what he has done to help. Most pharoahs would have a lot of monuments but king Tut only had one monument and that was his tomb, He only had his tomb because he died at ayoung age that he couldn't start his monument.

In thailand they have all the monuments of the kings in Thailand. Like for example King Rama 5. The reason why they built monuments of all their king is because they are royal and the are brave, strong, helpful, kind and they make the right decision for the country.

Using google doc to help was good because I could communicate with my partner and we can see what notes are already down, so we don't have to rewrite it and also check each others work. I do think google doc is a good scource to use when working with a partner.

I learnt knew things about my pharoah that I never knew before and I got to know if my partner knewabout our pharoah. It is pretty interensting when you learn somthing new.

What I thought was challenging was getting the work together and making to imovie together with my partner because we did have some difficulty with the interent and uploading it to youtube. That was the most challenging thing for us.

This my imovie of my pharoah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkFTx5Ykync

My presentation

I think I did well on giving enough information of my city Antwerp, Belgium. Because I didn't get of topic, like some people was talking more of their country instead of the environmental factors and historical factors.I also think I gave the main thing of the project like when my only environmental factor was the Schelde river and said how with the river Antwerp was able to built a port and then started trading with the world. Another thing that I think I did well was how I presented my work. Because I didn't have to much text and not to much graphics, and I think it didn't bore my classmate.



I think what I should improve on is to speak a little more louder and also not fiddle around to much with my clothes. Because then the people could hear me more clearly and also not to distract others why presenting. But other than that I think I did a pretty good job on presenting. Also I felt more confident, since I knew that I was prepared but also I was brave enough to go first.



I learned a lot of other new things from other people's presentation. Like in Germany they had a beer festival where you can get drunk by tasting all the different type of beer, and in South Korea the United State was to help them. It was really interesting because then we get to learn new things about other countries and what it used to be.



The next time I get another project like this I think I will do better than what I did this time because I now know what I have to improve on and I will be more confident than now like I will speak clearly and loudly, and I will stop moving around and fiddling with my clothes.

New Year Resolution

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Well what do you want to change this year. I know what my resolutions would be. I want to try out new skills, and also to be more organize in my life. These resolutions would be a great way to start a new year for me.

The reason why I want to try out new skills is to see and feel how it is like when you actually try it. Such as on my winter holiday in Thailand, I went snorkeling in Similan island, Phuket. Since it was my first time I did snorkeling the guide told me to breath in and out deeply so I have enough air while swimming. It was a wonderful experience, it look like a movie something on T.V, breathe taking. This really what I like about learning new skills because it's breathe taking.

I can't really organize myself well and keep it clean for a long time. I can get really lazy sometimes, like in school I would get tired of having my locker messy so clean it up then after I while I get lazy and leave it at it is, messy. I think it's easy to stay tidy but I just can't help it. So that is one thing I would like to change this year. Because also sometimes I can't my stuff through all the mess and I loose my paper work, which isn't nice to loose your homework. So that's another resolution I would like to do this year, be organize.

Well I hope that this year I will be able to complete these goals and I hope that I can carry on staying that way: trying new skills and being organize. But I'm not done with this blog post I still have to tell you an amazing event that happened over the winter break.

I traveled to Pang-Nga, Thailand. It's a beautiful place to be on a holiday. One event that i like the best was when I went to the tsunami memorial on the 6th anniversary and I read a book that was about the tsunami and how 6 elephants help save most of the people's life. The elephants knew that a tsunami was coming because of the vibration the earthquake was making. When the tsunami was coming up and building up making it bigger the elephant grabbed all the people at the beach and placed them on their backs and brought them to safety. It was a really touching story to me and so that's why I respect elephants. Well after a while it became darker so my mom had to drive back to the hotel. Then she spotted a small booth that sold lanterns for the memorial and to wish the people who passed away good luck and our self. It was fun to light up the lantern and watch it float up to the night sky. It was a beautiful night, the dark night was filled with lanterns coming from different directions. When I go back I would like to do that again.