Category Archives: 5th Grade

Capstone Blog Post #1

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For my Capstone project, I am learning about how Java works with Minecraft. One reason why I chose this topic is that I am curious to understand why Java is better or more used than other programming languages and how it became popular. Also, it is really amazing when I play Minecraft and I am in a world, and how Java can change what I can see and can do. An interesting fact I learned when I was looking at a couple of coding websites, they almost always use Java for Minecraft training. Also, I never thought about how coding can create games like Clash Royale, Xbox games, and more. I always used to just play video games, without thinking about how they were made, and this project helps me realize how most games are made. With Minecraft, I can see how coding can change the game and that is why I am so interested in this project. Something that blows my mind is how lines of code can create a world where a hundred thousand people can play on at once. Also, I am excited to interview two experts, one of them being my brother’s Java teacher Brian, and my uncle’s friend, Dan. Finally, I chose this topic because I am interested in Minecraft, and also interested in how Minecraft was made using lines of code from Java. I didn’t have a problem coming up with the main inquiry question. I had trouble with the sub-questions because I was not sure what would support the main inquiry question and how I would approach the research.

A Long Walk to Water

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The part of A Long Walk to Water that had the biggest impact on me was when Salva saw his dad. He visited his dad a medical center in Sudan. Salva then got an idea, to build a well. After talking to schools to get money, he eventually build a well in Nya’s village, and this connected the two stories. A possible theme in the story is to persist to complete a task. He had to persist, and despite his roughness in English, he spoke in front of a lot of different schools. Lastly, there was symbolism. This was shown when he was crossing the river, and this little boy jumped on him and choked him. This symbolizes the struggle for life.

Rocketry Blog Post #4

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During our launch, something that stood out was the hight and the fact that nothing got damaged. During the other launches, I realized that the thick body was a bad idea, which shortened the hight of the rocket. My team’s first launch went a little shorter because the hight of the nose cone was very short. The clinometer reading was actually not as hard as I thought, and I got almost the same as everyone else. 

Our rocket went about one hundred fifty feet. For rocket design #3 we are going to change the fins. I feel like the cardboard wasn’t a good idea, or maybe the fin shape wasn’t a good idea. 

We collaborated well, with everyone only air pumping once, and all having a chance to have another job that wasn’t an air pumper. We all got the same data on graphing the rocket hight.

Rocketry Blog Post #3

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     We decided to change the height of the nose cone because we thought the higher the rocket is, the more aerodynamic it is. 

     We took a vote of who wants what, and the majority wins. Two of our group members voted to change the hight of the nose cone, so that is what we changed. 

    We spread out everyone with different jobs for building the rocket. I built the nose cone, two of them built the body, and one traced the fins and spread it out. I think our group was spread out when we each had one job. I liked how we built the rocket.

    We worked well together, we all eventually agreed on the design, and what we were going to change. 

Rocketry Blog Post #2

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     During the launch, our group was second to last, The first group’s rocket was a thick rocket, but disappeared into thin air and came back down out of nowhere. I expected my rocket to go the same height but was cut short by like 20 feet. I was the count down and retriever for my group, the four rocketeers. Our rocket went high, about 150 feet. When the rocket landed, the nose cone crashed. Our rocket was a thin rocket, wrapped fully with electric tape. I think that added too much weight. Our fins were great, and so was our nose cone, even though it was basically crushed. 

     I think I saw the air pumper at 49, but I do not think it mattered that much. Next time, I suggest that we shouldn’t wrap it in tape fully and not to use as much tape. Next time, we should stick with the thin body design and the same hight. I am sure the tape is the only flaw we had on the rocket.

Rocketry Blog Post #1

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      We designed our rocket based on information we found online. We chose our fin design because it was a stable fin design and our group thinks it is the most aerodynamic. We have a smaller body because our group thinks that if we have a lighter body, the rocket will fly much further. We have our nose cone design because we think it is the most aerodynamic. 

      We built our rocket using an oak tag around a PVC pipe and wrapping it with electric tape. To make our nose cone, we cut a circle and made a middle point and cut the circle to the middle. Then we curled the circle as thin as we could make it. everyone in our group each made one. The tightest nose cone in our group was picked. We hot glued the nose cone onto our rocket body. Then we drew a fin template for our rocket. We decided we were going to use three fins because there is less drag (weight) on the rocket. We traced the rocket onto cardboard three times and cut them out. We hot glued one fin, then taped it, glued, then taped it and so on. That is how we built our rocket. It was very fun, the research, designing, and building.