Vocabulary Person

Stargirl

By: Jerry Spinelli

Complicated Words:

1.    Page 62

Squirming: show or feel embarrassment or shame.

2.    Page 62

Flustered: make (someone) agitated or confused.

3.    Page 63

Breezily: In a pleasant manner.

4.    Page 63

Jury: a body of people (typically twelve in number) sworn to give a verdict in a legal case on the basis of evidence submitted to them in court. OR. Judge.

5.    Page 64

Briskly: In an active and energetic manner.

6.    Page 64

Cluck: A foolish person.

7.    Page 65

Snarled: (of a person) say something in an angry, bad-tempered voice.

By: Tara Jevrosimovic

My job - summarizer

My job - Summarizer

In these first few chapters of the new book "Stargirl" we started, I was very happy because the book was so interesting and I could not put it down. It starts with a boy named Leo with his best friend Kevin. They are surprised by Stargirl the new girl and how she acts. The whole school can't wait to go to school just so they can see what she will do next. Stargirl is always dressing differently, like a long white dress, or not matching clothes, and etc. She knows when all of the students have birthdays and sings the Happy birthday song to them while playing her ukulele. The girl always carries a rat in her bag. She sets a vase with flowers on her desk at the beginning of each class and packs it back at the end of the class. Stargirl recently joined the chearleading squad on which Hillary invited her to. In conclusion, she is a very mysterious girl and no one knows anything about her but she knows a lot about everyone else.

By: Tara Jevrosimovic

Week #4 Bloomability

My job this week was to be the discussion director
Book: Bloomability
By: Sharon Creech
Blog post by : Marija
#of pg. read: 188/273

Questions:

1. Do you think that Domenica wants to go home?

Anna: "No. She says she wants to but if she were given the opportunity to go home, she would not take it." 
Katarina: "Yes"
Tijana: "Maybe"
Marija: I think that she misses her family but i also think that she like the fact that she is not moving all the time. I also think that she likes being able to develop really good friends in her school instead of just friends that she has only for a few months and then has to leave again. I also think that being able to get post cards from her family helped a lot as well. 

2. Why do you think that Domenica is being a really good friend to Lila if she is that mean?

Anna: "Because she just really wants a friend and she is not picky about who." 
Katarina: "She thinks that she can get the best out of her."
Tijana: "Because she does not have any friends and she just wants a friend." 
Marija: I think that Domenica might see something in Lila that other people don't. I think that even though Lila is her true friend Domenica still feels sorry for her because she had to live in Switzerland alone without her family. They are kind of in the same situation excepted for Domenica had her aunt and uncle. I also think that because of both of them not having there family around that Domenica understands Lila.    

3. Where do you think Lila was when all the kids were already at Mount Saint Moritz?

Anna: "I think she was just late."
Katarina: "I think that she was just late or was not sure if she wants to go."
Tijana: "I think she was late."
Marija: I think that she was being suborn as always or finding something that she can complain about. Or she might have gotten lost. (it does not really say in the rest of the chapters)

4. Why do you think that the kids at school think that Guthrie and Lila are together?

Anna: "Because they spend a lot of time together and they are really good friends and he does not dislike her as much as everyone else."
Katarina: "I think that the kids think that they are together because Guthrie is by her side and always helping her, unlike any of the other boys."
Tijana: "I think that the kids at school think that because Guthrie and Lila spend so much time together and she seems to like her way more than the other guys."
Marija: I think that it is because he is the only guy that hangs out with Lila and spends time with her even when he does not need to. The kids also might think since Lila and Guthrie are such good friends that it seems like they are in love because they care about each other. 

5. Why do you think that Lila changed when she finally came to Mount Saint Moritz? 

Anna: "I think that for such a long time she goes home and says how bad things are and complains but then she realized that things are not that bad after all."
Katarina: "I think that Lila changed when she came to see her parents and thought that everything would be perfect but then she realized that things were better at school"
Tijana: "Maybe she realized that there is no reason to be mean because then nobody would like her so, and then she realized that she wanted more friends"

Mount Saint Moritz 

Marija: I think that she wanted to build up a new reputation for herself and to now be know for other things like, liking to talk or being really interesting. I also think that she was sick of complaining all the time and so she just wanted a change where she could get more friends which she did. Everyone was talking to her and it seemed like she like the new Lila too and so did Domenica and Guthrie.  

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

Book: Bloomability by Sharon Creech
Pages read: 90
Job: Summarizer

This week's reading begins with the introduction of a new character, a Japanese boy named Keisuke. Keisuke is described as "slim and quiet" and as the complete opposite of Guthrie. He mispronounces words and incorrectly phrases sentences. He is also Belen's crush. Just before break, Lila tells Dinnie that she wants to leave the school but Dinnie wants her to stay and tries to get Guthrie to convince her, to no avail. Dinnie spends winter break in Switzerland with her aunt and uncle. On Christmas Day she goes to church and receives skiing paraphernalia from her aunt and uncle in preparation for the school's upcoming ski trip. On the skiing trip Dinnie learns to ski and Lila returns with a whole new attitude. The month after the trip is Global Awareness Month and everyone begins to think about how people in the world struggle. Thinking is also the new English homework which leads to many discussions about the new book they are reading, Romeo and Juliet. This week's reading ends with a day skiing trip where when everyone meets up in the cafe on the mountain, Guthrie is nowhere to be found.

I think that at this point in the book Dinnie is beginning to form a circle of friends, beginning to enjoy her time at the school, and slowly growing away from her family. She is willing to have new experiences and doesn't miss her family as much.

Key Points of this Week's Reading:

• Keisuke is introduced
• Lila wants to leave the school
• Winter break
• School ski trip
• Global Awareness Month
• Thinking as English homework
• Day skiing trip
• Guthrie not in the cafe

Stargirl rotation 4

My job this week was to be a connector. When you are a connector, you have to connect something that has happened in your book to you, or another person in real life.
Stargirl s a very interesting book and it can relate to only a specific type of lifestyle, unfortunately I do not have that type of lifestyle so I could only find one connection. Everyone wants to make an impression on their first day of school, whether the impression is small and humble or the impression is large and attention drawing. Stargirl's  first day, started out with her not knowing anyone at her new school. She was very shy at first but as soon as lunch came she started singing and dancing and it left everyone speechless. This relates to my life because my first day started out just like hers, shy and quiet, but a lunch I showed all of my soccer talents and turned out to be the second best one.

Rotation #4 Stargirl

Rotation #4
 Celine Monestel
 My job: Illustrator

I drew a picture of Stargirl cheering on the football field during a game. In the background, there is a bunch of cheerleaders in the back trying to call her off the field. I drew this because this is when people start to hate her because she cheers for the opposite team instead of hers. Also, Stargirl likes to cheer and jump around a lot.

 Bloomability Written

 by: Sharon Creech

Tijana Boricic

Vocabulary Enricher- Literature Circles

Bloomability

Pages read: 93/ 273

       This week my job was to be a Vocabulary enricher and I really enjoyed in having this job. Since the vocabulary words were all very basic, and pretty easy I choose some words that might be interesting and somehow connect to the story. Next week my job will be a travel tracer. Down below, you can find all of the words that were most challenging in the book so far, and their definitions.

Page and paragraph	Word	Definitions
Pg. 32 p: 1	Burglars	A person who does something illegal or commits a crime.
Pg. 39 p: 4	Gradually	A slow, but evident movement, could be by degrees.
Pg. 42 p: 1	Bubbling	Rising bubbles of gas or air.
pg. 42 p: 4	Confess	Admit or acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed.
pg. 43 p: 4	Centipedes	A predatory myriad invertebrate with a flattened elongated body composed of many segments.
pg.49 p:3	Intimidated	Frighten or overawe (someone), especially, in order to make them do what one wants.
pg. 80 p: 3	Satisfactory	Fulfilling expectations or needs; acceptable, though not outstanding or perfect.
pg.80 p: 3	Observant	Quick to notice things.
pg.81 p: 1	Jumbled	Mixed up in a confused or untidy way.
pg.90 p: 2	Grapevines	A vine native to both Eurasia and North America, especially one bearing grapes used for wine-making or eating.
pg.91 p: 1	Perched	Alight or rest on something.
pg.91 p: 2	Submerged	Descend below the surface of an area of water.
pg.93 p: 3	Bleached	Cause to become white or much lighter by a chemical process or by exposure to sunlight.

 Bloomability 

 Katarina Markovic 

Summarizer

Bloomability

            This week my job was to be a summarizer. When you are a summarizer you have to retell the things that happened in a certain amount of pages that you read. 

            The main character of the book Bloomability is Domenica Santolina Doone, known as Dinnie. She has an older sister Stella, an older brother Crick and a mother and father. They move a lot since her father doesn't have a full time job. Every time they move they have less and less things since their mother always asks them do they really need that. Most of the time Dinnie, Stella, and Crick stay alone with their mother, while their father travels around to different cities looking for a new job. Each town they move into Dinnie’s brother Crick gets in trouble and ends up in jail. None of them had a connection to their mother’s side, they didn't talk to their grandparents nor to their aunt and uncle. One day their grandmother came, she argued with their mother but Dinnie tried to ignore them. One day her uncle and aunt came. Dinnie’s mother had decided that she can get a better education with them in Switzerland. Dinnie described how she felt about that by saying that she was kidnapped, she didn't know them that well and she didn't trust them. They bought her new clothes and everything; her uncle will work in the same school Dinnie will go to. Once they arrived to Switzerland and went to the metro station to travel to Lugano, Dinnie thought about running away since it was a terribly crowded and people were pushing. She thought that it was the perfect opportunity but she didn’t, she went on the train with her uncle and aunt. Once they arrived after hours of travelling her uncle and aunt were very excited and thought that everything was great. For Dinnie it wasn’t like that the view and the school she didn’t like now, but she knew that she would appreciate it later, but one thing was missing. Her family. Once she got settled into her room she put up a sign “Kidnapped! Held against my will!”. Since they were in the part of Switzerland where people spoke Italian, her aunt said that they won’t understand it and that if she wants she needs to put up a sign in Italian.  A couple of nights after they have arrived, Dinnie received two letters from her fathers sisters, Grace and Tillie. Dinnie was very disappointed to see that her parents didn't send her a letter and felt forgotten. Many things in Switzerland kept on reminding her of home, and it made her be even more homesick. One day while Dinnie was walking she met a girl named Lila. They have talked and walked a lot, and soon enough became friends. Dinnie liked hanging out with her since she was really funny and pleasant to be around. Since they had roommates, Lila, Dinnie’s new friend had ended up with a girl called Belen which doesn’t know any English. Lila immediately wanted to change roommates but the Head master (Dinnie’s uncle) didn’t listen to her. He believed that they would end up being best friends, even though Dinnie tried to explain to him that they wouldn’t. 

Bloomability blog post by: Marija

Marija Medenica

Travel tracer

Bloomability

Sharon Crech

pgs read 93/273

This week i was the travel tracer...

Where the action began: The action begins when Domenica is talking about her life and ho she always is always moving to new places because her dad always finds new and better jobs. He always seems to find a new job in a new state. They have lived in almost every state in America She has an older brother named Crick and an older sister named Stella. Stella is awaiting a child. Her brother was in jail and her dad was going to find a new job when Stella was giving birth. 

 

Where the key events happened: Domenica's parents told her that she will be moving with her aunt and uncle to Switzerland and that she will be going to a boarding school. Though she will not have to live in a dorm with a roommate because she will be living with them. She feels homesick on the way and pretends that she has a bubble around her.  Then when she got to the house in the mountains she pretended to like it. Later she gets many letters from her aunts but none from her family so she was wondering if they had forgotten about her. Then she told a story about how they forgot her at a gas station.

Where the event ended: Domenica thinks that her family forgot about her since they didn't send post cards. Later she gets two new friends at her new school Lila and Guthrie. Lila is the trouble maker and she is always complaining about the school and she makes everything complicated. First she complains about her roommate, the food, than how children from different countries can go to an American school. A few days later Domenica goes on a trip and when she gets back her invisible bubble is popped. 

Bloomability by Sharon Creech: Discussion Director

Anna Nunan
Discussion Director
Bloomability by Sharon Creech
90 pages read
Note: I understand that this post is early but I will be absent on Thursday and Friday and today is the last day I will have internet access for the rest of the week. I would also like to make these questions available to my group for discussion.

1. Why do you think Dinnie refers to her moving as being kidnapped?
I think that Dinnie refers to her moving as kidnapping because she feels that she is being taken away from her family and home and everything she knows against her will.
2. What do you think Guthrie's story about the two prisoners means?
I think Guthrie's story about the two prisoners means that no matter what situation you are in, you can choose whether to look on the bright side or on the dark side of things.
3. Why do you think Lila is suddenly so mean?
I think that Lila being nice in the beginning was just an act and now her true colours are shining through. I also think that Lila might get this from her father as Dinnie described Lila's father's laugh as cold and mocking.
4. What do you think is the meaning of the bubble metaphor Dinnie repeatedly describes?
I think the meaning of the bubble metaphor is that the bubble is a representation of Dinnie's world. At first it is small and closed, confined only to herself and her family and her country and language and nothing else can enter. But then small pores start to open and let the rest of the world in (this initially occurs on the plane). Then the bubble begins to expand and so does her world and her perception and knowledge of it.
5. Do you think that Dinnie's school is similar to our school?
Yes, I think Dinnie's school is very similar to our school. Dinnie says that at this school "it was cool to study and to try out for the play or the soccer team or swim team. It was cool to take art or photography" She also says that "In some of my other schools it was cool to drink and smoke and take tests without studying". I think that the first quote sounds exactly like our school and I haven't heard of any international school where it is cool to drink and smoke and take tests without studying.

Rotation #3 Stargirl

This week it is rotation #3, this week I am the ilustrator.

This is Star-girl, her first day, at lunch, she took her ukulele and started playing for everybody. She made big first impression.

Rotation #3

Rotation #3

Stargirl

Jerry Spinelli

Summarizer

Leo's school was an ordinary school, until Stargirl came. Srargirl, a blonde haired freckled girl changed the whole school. Unlike other girls in this school, she didn't care what people thought of her. She would sing "Happy Birthday" to people on her Ukulele in the cafeteria, she would jump around on the football field while there was a game, and she even carried around her rat. At first, other kids thought she was crazy but soon enough, she started to rub off on them. The pet store at the mall ran out of rats because kids bought them all. People started singing in the cafeteria, and actually came to football games to see Stargirl and her crazy ideas. But this fame didn't last. The kids started to see the weird side of Stargirl. She appeared at a girls grandfathers funeral, even though Stargirl had no idea who that guy was. She made fun of the pledge of allegiance which made kids offended. People are starting to hate her, all except one person. And that person is Leo.

Key points:

1. Stargirl is special
2. Would do weird things
3. Leo and Stargirl have feelings for eachother.

Stargirl

Stargirl

               This week we have finished the book "Stargirl" written by Jerry Spinelli. 

We have read all 186/186 pages in the book. My job was to be a discussion director. I really enjoyed  this job and loved leading the discussion. We talked a lot, and mostly had similar opinions. My group mates liked all of my questions and answered them with no problems. Here are my questions;

Question # 1: How did you understand when Archie said to Leo: "She is us more than we are us."? and did that lead you to thinking?

Question # 2:  How do you feel about Stargirl and why do you think she left?

Question # 3:  Is it worth to change your personality because of others, just like Stargirl did? Would you ever do that?

Question # 4: Do you think Stargirl was doing the right thing, making sure she did good deeds, helped everyone and would you do that if you were on her place? What is so different about her?

Question # 5: How did you like the ending of the book and did you expect it to finish out differently? Also, if you had a chance to change the ending, how would you change it? 

I also recorded the answers of my group mates Marija, Anna and Katarina. (It is copy pasted from my Word Document, where I originally recorded what they said.)

1^st Question.

1.       Marija: She understands them more than they understand themselves.

2.       Anna: She is what everyone should be like.

3.       Katarina: She is the ideal person that everyone should look up to.

2^nd Question.

1.       Marija: I think she left because she wasn't accepted for who she was, and because she had to change herself in order to stay.

2.       Anna: Nobody appreciated her and had no respect for anything good she did.

3.       Katarina: She left because she wasn't accepted and didn't want Leo to feel uncomfortable

3^rd Question.

1.       Marija: Maybe, because if you really loved someone, you would do anything for them.

2.       Anna: Maybe, because it depends on if you would change for the better or the worse. Depends on the situation.

3.       Katarina: I would change depending on if it is for the good cause.

4^th question.

1.       Marija: I would do the same thing as she did. She is different because she is always good to everyone no matter how they react to her and doesn't want to harm anyone.

2.       Anna: She is different because she is selfless. I find that as a good quality. I wouldn't feel that it is necessary to go around and take care of strangers and people that don’t know me.

3.       Katarina: I find it like a good personality, and would do the same, but would have some limits. She is too kind and cares about people too much.

5^th question.

1.       Marija: I didn't expect Stargirl to leave, and I thought Leo would try to find her. No, I didn't like the ending. I would change the ending were Leo would go and try to find her.

2.       Anna: I kind of knew Stargirl wouldn't stay and kind of expected the ending like that. The book was okay, not too interesting.  I would change the ending by having Leo met her after fifteen years.

3.       Katarina: No, I expected that at the end she would be accepted by the group and stayed. That is also how I would change the book. No, I didn't like the ending because I expected the ending to be a happy end. 

Next week, I will be a Vocabulary En-richer for the book that we are starting to read, called Bloomability. 

We have decided to read up to chapter 15, which is about 97 pages.

Star Girl 

Katarina Markovic    

Job: Connector

Pages read: 186/186                                                                                                                     5/7/2014

           My job this week was to be the connector. When you get the job of being the connector, it means that you have to find one thing in the book that you can relate to. 

           While reading the book i was able to make only one connection. That connection was to Stargirl and the fact that she doesn't care about what people think of her. While reading the book in one chapter Leo talked to her about how most of the people in their school dislike her and ignore her, and that she needs to change some things about herself. Since Leo and Stargirl were a couple, the fact that people ignored stargirl effected him too and he wasn't happy about that. He had never knew how much he needed the attention of others, as well as that everybody needs to loves him . Since he had cared so much about what people thought about him he was surprised to find out that what people think about Stargirl doesn't affect her at all. Once Leo had explained to Stargirl why people think of her and why she didn't care. Those things don't affect her, and thats where i could connect to her because those things don't affect me either. I know that i have people that love me and that care about me and will always be there for me so, therefor i don't need to please every person. One thing that i would never do is change for somebody. 

          I have connected to this book with a good trait that I and Stargirl have, and that is that we don't care about what people think of us. I really don't care because some people dislike me or think something bad about me, i know that i have friends which will love me and care about me for who I am and I dont have to change to please them. 

Star Girl

Blog post by: Marija
Book: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
We finished the book read 186/186
My Job this week was....to summarize what we read
The key points were...
1. Stargirl becomes normal:
 Leo (her boyfriend) told her that people don't like her because she is different. "She is the friendliest person in the whole school but she doesn't have friends." Leo didn't specifically tel her to change but she did. The next day she came to school and she wasn't Stargirl anymore she was Susan Caraway. She changed she didn't have a rat , no ukulele, no flower backpack and no more happy birthday songs. Leo was very happy that she changed.

2,3,4 She competed in a speech competition:
Days later she had a competition that she knew she would win. She wrote a really great speech the day before and rehearsed it in front of Leo. When she got in the bus she told Leo to hold the trophy when they got back to the school because she thought that the whole school will be waiting for her. Well she was wrong but she did win. When she got back there was nobody waiting for her. The next day she came back to school as Stargirl.

5. There is a prom incident and Stargirl leaves Mica High:
Stargirl came to Prom really pretty. She made everyone dance. Everyone was having a really good time except for her because Leo was not there. It was because her and Leo had grown apart. After prom nobody saw her again. She left with no warning. Leo was very sad but soon he learned to appreciate that he had a girl like her.

  

My job: Connector

My connection for these few chapters are at the point when she wrote on her door she is kidnapped, it happened to me too but a little less similar. I had a dream that I was kidnapped and I left notes in front of the door which wrote ‘kidnapped’. I wrote it in serbian and for some reason I didn’t even get to the part when they found me so I woke up before that part. I related to this because the whole story (up to the part I read) is very complicated and this is maybe one of the only things I can relate to.

By: Tara Jevrosimovic