Sunday, April 5, 2009
When I read I found out that nothing bad happened to Billie, but Sahoki did break her arm. Billie had not returned the flash cards yet, but I think that he will because he's had them for about a month. If I were Billie, I would have returned them by now because a month is a long time to keep something that doesn't belong to you. I had trouble with the word wretchedly. I asked my Mom and she said that it meant miserably.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
When I did my reading this week, I found out that Jeff didn't come back soon. Instead, this chapter was about Billie's relationships with his family. He tried to borrow two library books to read with Charlie, but he was only supposed to check out one so he got in trouble. Mrs. Kelly gave Billie flash cards because the books he tried to check out were above Charlie's reading level. When Billie got home, he went over the flash cards with Charlie. A word I needed clarified was "intently". Mom says it means "firmly" or "seriously".
Sunday, March 22, 2009
When I read, I found out that Jeff did come over to Billie's camp and that Sahoki was mad but not for long. When I was reading I had trouble with the word warily. I asked my mom and she said that it meant cautiously.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
When I read, I found out that Mush Jim put up a sign at the camp that made tourists want to stay away. The sign said "Cholera. Quarantine. Department of Public Health." Billie asked Mr. Bernard what the sign meant. Mr. Bernard said it meant that there is a dangerous disease in the camp and no one was allowed in until the sign is taken down. Billie liked Mr. Bernard but he didn't like Mrs. Kelly. I wouldn't like Mrs. Kelly either. She was mad that he had missed weeks of school but did not care about what had happened to him and his family. Mr. Bernard seems to care about Billie. A word that I needed clarified was cholera. I read further and discovered that it is a dangerous disease. My mom says it give you really bad diarrhea.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
When I read, I found out that Billie did go home. I also discovered that Jeff was not happy that Billie left. When Billie got to Mush Jim's shack, everyone was arguing about where to build the camp. The grandparents wanted to go back to the island. Mush Jim and Tiger wanted to stay near Mush Jim's shack. They decided to build their camp near Mush Jim's shack. Many people volunteered to help build the camp. Billie and Charlie helped with every step so they would know how to do it. Then tourists came while the family was bathing in the water and tried to take their pictures. If I had been Billie's family I would have been embarrassed and upset, just like they were. If I were a tourist, I would be more respectful of people's privacy. When I was reading I had trouble with the word squatter. After I read I asked my mom what it meant and she said it means a person who lives on land that they don't own or rent.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
I am reading To Walk the Sky Path by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. In my last reading, the dog was acting strange and Tiger went out in the air boat to see what was happening. He saw sawgrass pollen hanging in the air. Before I read, I predicted that there would be a hurricane. I thought that there might be a bad storm when Tiger saw the saw grass pollen because Indians believe that when sawgrass pollen stays in the air there will be a bad storm. I wondered how the family would survive the storm. Would the hurricane tear their camp up? Where would they go to be safe because they live in a marshy area?
When I read, I found out that they stayed at Billie's school during the storm. I also found out that Billie's family's camp had been destroyed by the hurricane. All the chickees had been washed away and most of their livestock had died in the storm. While I was reading, I had trouble with the word endured. I think it means "go through". I asked my mom, and she said that I was right, or that I could say "tolerated".
At the end of my reading, I discovered that Billie went to Jeff's house for a few days. He thought it was a lot different than the Seminole chickees because they had windows and doors that stayed closed. They had different rooms in one building while the chickees didn't. They were just one big hut, with different huts for different activities.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Before reading, I predicted that Billie will be tired when he goes to school the next day. The reason I predict that is because he stayed up late playing Chinese checkers with Charlie. Questions that I had before reading the rest of the chapter were what Billie's school was like. I wondered this because they haven't said very much about Billie's school yet. I also wondered why Billie's family didn't want Jeffrey Miller to come home with him. I think it is because they don't want strangers in their camp. I wonder if they will say more about this in the rest of the chapter.
When I read the rest of the chapter, all they said about Jeffrey Miller coming home with Billie was that he didn't say anything about it again. I did find out something about Billie's school. They have a big blackboard that Billie had to clean on Thursdays. They are studying Florida history just like we are. Billie had a big talk with his teacher about the report he was writing on the Seminole war. Mrs. Kelly wondered why he didn't go to the library to research. Billie said that he did research in the library but that he didn't think it was told the Seminole way, so he told it the way Abraham told him. While I was reading, I had a question about what the word defying meant. I asked my mom, and she said it meant standing up against or rebelling against. The Seminoles were defying the white man to take them away.