#4 Capstone: Presenting

Today’s the day I present to a lot of parents and my friends. I am excited and nervous but I have my favorite shirt on and I’m ready to go.

I was assigned to group one. Group one presents in the computer lad WHICH HAS AIR CONDITIONING so yay. The people in my group are Luca, Chris, Cayden, Natalia, Chloe G, Zach, Kate, Shane, Lior, and me. I’m presenting second last.

I was also chosen along with Jaba who is in group 2 to do an intro to the parents. Which I had to practice and memorize. The intro welcomes everyone to CapCon2022 and gives a short overview of the capstone process

Oh no it looks like I have to go I am presenting in 2 hours.

-Devon Green

#3 Capstone: Answering My Main Inquiry Question and Creating My Presentation

I got my answer I figured out the answer to my main inquiry question. You may think I’m done there but no. I made my entire presentation too.

Answering my main inquiry question was challenging I had to look over all my information and my sub-questions to decide how to properly answer my main question. But I did it. The top 3 factors that have affected Italian cooking are Wealth and Poverty, Availability of Resources, and Cultural Expansion.

First I had to figure out what type of presentation I wanted. The options were Ignite TedTalk and WeVideo I chose TedTalk because personally I really enjoy public speaking.  Also on a TedTalk, you can advance your slides and your own speed. Most of the class chose TedTalks.

Next, I had to make my presentation in a TedTalk you have to make a slideshow using google slides. First, you have to find large, high-quality images that also match what you are saying. Then using the google slides center tool you place the image in the perfect place on the slide. I choose to add borders to my images so I did that too. Since my topic is Italian cooking in my slideshow I chose to add a short video of me making pizza. My Mom filmed while I made it then I edited it later. It really added a lot of value.

I also had to memorize my presentation. I’m typically good at memorizing but this was hard. I had to memorize 24 slides worth of information and remembered to speak properly.

Overall I think I am ready to present. I have gotten feedback from all my friends and the entire class. And I’m so excited to present this Wednesday.

Capstone Essay

 

Pizza, Pasta, Meat, and Cheeses. We all love Italian food. I do. You do. We all do!  Have you ever wondered what has changed and evolved with Italian cooking and cuisine? Well, I have. I made my Capstone topic about Italian cooking and cuisine. And my main Inquiry question was How has Italian cooking evolved and what are the top leading factors that have led to its evolution. I found through all my research that many things have affected Italian Cooking and Cuisine but some top leading factors include, Availability of resources, cultural expansion, and wealth and poverty.

Availability of resources is one of the first factors that impacted the evolution of Italian cooking and cuisine. Many people consider tomatoes a staple in Italian cuisine. Some dishes with tomatoes include Pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, and bruschetta. But according to Life in Italy Magazine tomatoes did not exist in Italy until recently. Only when British colonists sailed to America one of the things they discovered was tomatoes, which was a popular food among the local North Americans. When the colonists did trade with Italy that was one of the things they gave them. now you can find tomatoes growing all over Italy and in almost every Italian dish. Garlic is another ingredient that can be found in Italian dishes. Mainly pasta. But garlic wasn’t grown in Italy until very recently as well. Garlic was first discovered in West Asia 4,000 years ago. Using the Silk Road trading route which spanned from Asia to Italy, Italians were able to get garlic. But due to the warm conditions in Italy and the fact that garlic needs lots of moisture and rain to grow, It could never fully grow in Italy as Italy’s average rainfall is 25-30 inches and the average in the world is 39 inches. To this day, Italian people still buy it in mass quantities from China – 30 Million pounds each year and it has become very important in Italian food today. Unlike garlic, fruit is plentiful in Italy. Italy has a lot of fruits grown there. Name a fruit and it’s likely to be grown in Italy. One of the main ways Italians use fruit is in desserts, specifically gelato, the Italian word for ice cream. Gelato focuses on more fruity flavors and being colorful. Gelato is typically refreshing in places such as Rome which can be quite warm and the gelato would be more refreshing. This is an example of a popular Italian dish coming from a resource that was plentiful in Italy. Italian food in today’s world is much less seasonal. If an ingredient like tomatoes were out of season, pasta would use different sauces such as alfredo. Nowadays, since the world is more developed and advanced, there are more and more ways to get ingredients. Almost every dish can be made all-year round This shows that availability and discovery of resources is a top factor that has affected Italian Cooking and Cuisine.

Cultural expansion is another top factor that has affected Italian cooking and cuisine. When the Roman Empire fell, Italy opened its gates to the rest of the world. According to the websites, Cuncina Italiana, Mediterranean Culture, South African Culture and Roman Culture have affected Italian food the most. Many Italian dishes are influenced by Mediterranean cuisine which features lots of pasta, cold cuts, and vegetables, which can be found in Italian dishes such as Spaghetti Bolognese, Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce, and Chicken Parm and Prosciutto. Mediterranean cuisine focused on accessible ingredients. This focus influenced Italians to, similarly, use more accessible ingredients which made their food more affordable. Mediterranean food has also given Italian food many new products such as wheat, the use of eggs, butter, and dairy products. Old pasta did not contain wheat, eggs, or butter. Therefore making pasta used to be a tedious process that took hours much easier. South Africa also contributed to Italian food by Introducing new spices such as fennel, cumin, coriander, garam masala, Madras curry powder, turmeric, allspice, and ginger. They also used Nuts in their cooking which affected Italian food and created dishes such as Biscotti and Creamy Walnut sauce which can be commonly found on pasta.. “Original Italian food came from the Roman term Pane e Formaggio or bread and cheese.” -Gaia Masiero. Bread and cheese were common foods in ancient Roman times and they served as the base for Italian cuisine. Cheesy garlic bread is a common Italian dish involving cheese, bread, and garlic which was a common ingredient available at the time. Pizza is also an Italian dish that features cheese, bread, and sauce. Ancient Romans drank a lot of wine and they paired it with their cheese and bread picking the perfect wine for your Italian meal is a part of the meal and iconic to Italian food. Other cultures have affected Italian food but Italian food has also traveled to other places. Italian food is popular all over the world, especially in Asia. Italian food sales in Asia average around 78 billion dollars. In the U.S only 76 billion. Especially in Japan spaghetti is popular as it is similar to traditional Asian noodles. Italian food is also popular in Asia because it is healthy and Asia is generally one of the healthiest countries in the world. Italian food in Europe (Outside of Italy) is also popular in France. French-Italian cuisine features fish and braised meats. Braised meats are meats cooked and marinated in liquids like soup, broth or a thin sauce. All of these cultures have helped create some of the most iconic Italian dishes and prove that Cultural Expansion has affected Italian cooking and cuisine. 

Wealth and Poverty is a final factor that has affected Italian cuisine a lot. The focus of Italian food  was the quality of ingredients. Early Italian food was only enjoyed by wealthier Italian families as the high-quality ingredients were rare and hard to find. Modern Italian food is less focused on ingredients and quality. Now you can get $1 pizza in New York and $3 pasta from various street food vendors. Now with cookbooks not only can professional, fancy, chefs cook Italian food but also normal people like you and me. Soup has also affected food in Italy. For those who can’t afford normal Italian food a cheaper option is soup. With some soup costing as little as 10 cents it’s a great option. Some Italian soups include: Minestra d’orzo (barley soup) Minestrone (vegetables) Zuppa di verze e patate (cabbage and potatoes) Ribollita (bread and vegetables) Fagioli e cotiche (beans and pork rind). Another thing that has affected Italian cooking and Cuisine is Cucina Povera. Cuncina Povera is a style of cooking best represented, in the past, by the lower class of a society. Peasant cooking aims to utilize whatever is found in the kitchen, household or farm to prepare meals. “The concept of Cucina Povera literally meaning poor kitchen can be found in every society and is about making great food with simple but yet high quality, and available ingredients including every part of the animal such as cow intestine, pig ears, goat head, etc.” -Life in Italy’s Francesca Bezzone. This shows how Wealth and Poverty is a main influence on Italian Cooking.

In Conclusion, many things have affected Italian Cooking and Cuisine, but the main things that have affected it are the availability of resources, cultural expansion, and wealth and poverty. These have changed Italian food from a basic cuisine in one country to the most popular type of food in the WORLD! Do you want a slice of pizza after reading this? I know I do.

 

#2 Capstone: My Interview and Research Process

I’m back and I’m all in on Capstone as you know my topic is Italian cooking because it’s awesome. But I have something important to tell you.

I DID MY INTERVIEW I finished one of the most important parts of the capstone research project. I interviewed the owner of the restaurant chain Serifina I went to the restaurant and I learned a lot. I also drank 3 glasses of water there I got nervous. He answered all my questions and more what helped was staying calm and not being nervous I just had a conversation with the person.

Now I’m concluding my research and starting my essay to answer my main Inquiry question. It’s like a normal essay but my question and my answer is my thesis. Finding resources  was a challenge in my research if you google Italian cooking you are just going to get recipes. But I found stuff as of now I have 11 pages of reaserch.

Overall this project so far has been really fun and enjoyable I’m so excited to continue uptadting you on it. -Devon

 

Regions Project Blog Post

3 months ago my teacher Mrs. Edwards assigned the U.S regions project. My group was Jaba, Jaden Luca, and me. We chose The Southwest region. It has Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, California, and Nevada. We divided the work up into one state per person and we all do California. Jaba did the second state in New Mexico. I did Arizona, Luca did Colorado, Jaba did Utah and New Mexico and Jaden did Nevada. 

We began the project was research. Everything you could possibly know about our states we knew. Terrain, Sports, Culture, Weather, Animals, Tourist Attractions, Politics, and even random weird things that we just found.  Arizona was fun to make it’s not the most popular state but not the least popular either some thing were completely new to me other I already knew it was fun.

We had about 5000 words of research we were ready. We began creating a slideshow. Carefully format the slides and place our information in organized slides adding images. We made a title slide and added a map where if you press on the state it takes you to the slide. Last but not least we added credits and we were finished. It was perfect we created a big gimkit (A quiz game) for people to play and we were done. We presented a week ago from when this was posted and it went very well. 

That’s the region’s project it was really fun and we got to work with our friends. Remember to check out Luca, Jaba, and Jaden’s blog posts to see their take on this.

#1 Capstone: Getting Started With Capstone

Hi, My name is Devon Green I think you know that because this probably isn’t the first time reading my blog. It’s Capstone time! Capstone is my last project for elementary school and it is really important. You can pick any topic to research and present it. My topic is Italian cooking because Italian Cooking is awesome and I love cooking.

There were a bunch of topics I wanted to do. But they had to be Unique, Interesting and something I really like. Italian cooking checked all the boxes and my whole family loves it. I love it and I can find a good person to interview. I also knew that no one would do anything like it.

Making my main inquiry question was hard because Italian cooking is such a broad topic narrowing it down was quite difficult but with some help from Mrs. Edwards, I got it. I love history so I focused on the evolution and history of Italian cooking.

My sub-questions were easier because under my big topic there were a lot of smaller things under the evolution of Italian cooking such as the effect of other cultures.

Overall I have just begun on Capstone and I can’t wait to tell you more stay tuned.

-Devon Green

Immigration Blog Post #2

I have completed my interview and I began the next steps of this project the video. The video is explaining the immigration story of the person.

I enjoyed making the video because it was like a puzzle fitting the pictures I had into my voiceover. It was hard to decide what to add and what to leave out. The voiceover was annoying because I kept messing up and having to redo it.

I learned a lot about Suzanne. I always knew I had some German in me but now I understand further why I am German. And the challenges Immigrants really face. I feel successful because I really got all the juicy details about her story. 

Overall I really enjoyed this project and it was a good experience.

Immigration Blog Post

3 weeks ago, my teacher, Ms. Edwards assigned the Immigrant Interview. We had to interview someone who Immigrated to America.

I began, by making my list of questions. after Editing, Revising, with some help from friends I narrowed it down to 15 open-ended questions. An Open-ended question is a question that does not get a one or two-word answer. Some resources I used include Brain Pop and Friends.

The Interview was great my Dad drove me to Brooklyn. I brought My Notebook, Pencils, My phone, A tripod, A charger, and some Snacks. The interview went very well but was different than expected I did not get to ask all my questions because she answered them in my other ones. The most interesting thing I learned was how many steps it took to get to America she went from Germany to Belgium to Sweeden to France to the U.S

In conclusion, I am really enjoying this project and am excited to show you the final Video.

 

Rube Goldberg Reflection #2

Wow, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Now I have a first sketch and a final sketch. I found some great resources. I built my machine, tested my machine, and got a take that worked. On top of that, I have a final video about all of this. I can’t wait to tell you about it!

I used resources from Ms. Edwards shared such as Lily R’s Rube Goldberg in that video. I took the idea of an acting skit at the start. From the video featuring “Spice” on America’s Got Talent, I got ideas on how to use dominos and a sea-saw. And from Dani and Kate’s Rube Goldberg I got ideas on how to incorporate my pet dog Pebbles. Finally from Alexander and Jetts, I got the idea of using a fan. My Mom suggested using toilet paper as a pulley (The best idea in the project) and My dad suggested opening a door.

The video was super fun to make. At the start, I introduced my project with a skit. Then I explained the assignment and showed images and videos of me working. Then I showed failures. I wanted to make it funny so I added beep sounds after each failure. For the success, I put suspenseful text and changed the music as soon as it worked I cut right to the credits to be funny again. For music, I used more than one besides the success music was supposed to be relaxing background music, not to front and center.

Overall the Rube Goldberg was a great project and my favorite in 5th grade so far. Can’t wait to write again soon. Link to my video below.

My Video

Argument and Advocacy Debate Reflection

A little while ago Ms. Edwards introduced the Argument and Advocacy unit. Argument and Advocacy is debating and protecting a claim or idea. We did it with our book club. Are assigned the topic cellphones. My topic was should cellphones be allowed in school? The people in my book club are Devon, Anastasia, Christian, and Trevor. Ms. Edwards split up my book club into two teams. Me and Trevor cellphones should not be allowed. VS Christian and Anastasia cellphones should be allowed in school.

 

We had our debate yesterday as of writing this and it went well. I was able to memorize my script just In time. My team found some images to support our writing and Trevor did great. I really think I rocked it. Are evidence consisted of a lot of quotes and statistics and to be honest we won. I think we did have the easier topic to support but the other side did have some tough competition. It was a great experience.

 

Our opponent was great too they provided a challenge. They had the harder topic but still did super well. I think their counter was quite strong and her real-life situations were amazing. I liked their quotes and statistic as well. Overall Christian and Anastasia were great opponents and I can tell they worked really hard I want to face them again in the future.

 

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this first part of the debate/Argument and Advocacy unit. I think both my team and the opponent did a great job. And this has inspired me to do more debating in the future.