Category Archives: Social Studies

Capstone Reflections

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You’re presenting the final project of elementary school in a presentation called CapCon! and your hands are sweating, your knees are weak at the thought of the audience. And then you wonder, how did I even get here? When I was presenting at CapCon! ‘24 I was like that, except a little less nervous. While this project took weeks of research, and weeks of writing essays, and weeks of memorizing a script was hard, the end result was even better. I ended up with a project on black holes that I will remember forever. By the end of Capstone I had an essay, pages of research, a full slideshow, a pamphlet, and most importantly a memory that will last forever.
Have you ever had to research a topic? Capstone started with coming up with an idea, after that you would start research. During research I was scared I would not have enough. The biggest challenge was probably the repetitiveness of facts from website to website. But in the end I had a lot of research. The best part of research was probably how much I learned. I love science and space and I know a lot about it. But, this research taught me so much more. For example, I learned that black holes spread materials like gold and platinum, or more importantly oxygen and carbon which are key for life. Isn’t that cool? The part that went well the most was probably how I wrote my research already in essay form. It set me up for my essay and my script, which is what I said in the actual presentation. All in all research was very enjoyable even though it was hard to do at times.
Black holes are wonders of the universe that are also quite dangerous. Even though these phenomenons may be dangerous they are also super important. They are laboratories for all of our theories and are also possible links to other worlds. All in all, I know black holes don’t deserve the killer description as they do more than just swallow things whole. I also learned that black holes are the key to understanding the universe because they can connect most things like GR all the way to quantum mechanics. That’s how black holes are the key to understanding our universe. (link to essay)
When I had to choose to do a TED Talk or a WeVideo movie I chose TED Talk because I wanted to feel the pressure of actually presenting in front of an audience. I also chose TED Talk because when my brother presented he chose TED Talk so I wanted to do TED Talk. The script was really fun because it was simple and you had the sort of feeling that you were almost done with all of it. The biggest challenge was probably cutting down my script even though it was still pretty easy. (link to my script)
Completing the final steps (slideshow and memorization) were fairly simple. For the slideshow I was able to complete a rough draft fairly quickly, but the one flaw in the slide show was that I did not have enough slides. After I added more slides my teachers said it looked fine. The final touches were some animation for the slides and a qr code that leads to my blog. Memorization was super simple. While you might think it took me a while to memorize, I was able to memorize all of my Capstone in just one run through. I think it was because of how many times I had read my script. I enjoyed making my slideshow the most because I thought it was fun to make what the audience will see. The hardest part was probably getting the slideshow to be perfect.
While it’s sad that the project is over, I’m happy our school and teachers gave us the chance to explore a topic we have barely learned about. Since I have been at this school K-5 I have always dreamed of Capstone, and now that I finished it I wish I would’ve thought even earlier about Capstone. If you would like to take the extra, extra step to learn more about black holes, I have made a printable brochure with more info. Here it is. If you would like to view it digitally here it is. I have also made a citations list, if you would like to see it here it is. If you would like to view my actual capstone here it is

Immigrant Interview Video

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As you’re working on an assignment completely by yourself you feel the pressure of the due date next week. You’re struggling as this assignment is huge. You feel the weight of impressing your interviewee along with handing in the assignment on time with a good grade. That is how I have felt the past few weeks. This assignment was hard because the timing had to be good. The hardest part about that was filling in your video in accordance with your script. While this project was annoying at times this project was so fun in the end as I’m proud of what I have written.
At the beginning of making the video, it was fun as it was all new and exciting. It was also cool how I was able to make my documentary more real as I was able to use videos. Making the script wasn’t hard but it was also not fun as it was just copying and pasting. The most annoying part of the script was making the timestamps. In the end I decided to not put them on as it would not help me. The ‘selection’ process for photos was very enjoyable. Wevideo, the tool for the video portion of the project, was super easy to work with as you would just search up what you needed and it would give you a selection of copyright free videos and photos. So WeVideo was definitely a huge help.
During this project I have learned a lot. I have learned that the hardest projects turn out the best. This project was a bunch of ups and downs. In the beginning, I had very long videos. These videos were almost double the actual length of the allotted time for videos. I did not know this until my tech teacher told me that they were too long. This was very annoying as now I had to go back and cut the videos to an even shorter length. That was very bad for me as my script was around 3:30 which was good but now my video was at 2:00 minutes! That was also bad because now I had to cut down my script while adding to my video. In the end, I was able to get my video to 3 minutes which isn’t bad as I started at 2 but still annoying as I had to cut around 30 seconds of script! I also learned that when you are going to interview anyone, you have to seem and be interested. Otherwise, the interviewee is not going to be in such a good mood as you are being rude while they tell you their story. I was super intrigued about my interview because my interviewee was my dad. It was very nice as I already had some background knowledge about his immigration process so I was able to put in some of the stuff I already knew about him. This included stuff about his home country (Venezuela) and some other things. This part of the video was really fun as it was just the finishing touches
Overall this project was super fun but I couldn’t imagine how hard this would have been if it weren’t for me being able to interview someone I lived with. This project was super fun and taught me how to do big projects on my own.

Immigrant Interview Reflection

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As you’re working on a project that allows you to actually interview someone, you get intrigued. You’re just thinking of all of those wonderful questions that you may ask. And then the time comes. You’re so focused on how your interviewee talks about his journey. And by the end, you learned so much about that person. That was how my experience of interviewing an immigrant went. It was so much fun with many things you had to prepare. But in the end, it was all worth it.
When I first started this interview process, I knew I would do my Dad, or my Mom. In the end, my sister did my mom, so I did my dad. I knew that my dad would have a lot to tell. I knew this because he has been in the U.S. for longer. I thought about the questions I wanted to ask. It was hard to come up with them though because I knew some parts of his story were Very violent. But in the end I was able to get 14 questions. Since I had learned about push and pull factors, I knew I would need questions that talked about push and pull factors.
When it came to the actual interview, I had the prosperity to do it in person. I really enjoyed listening to my dad talk about his experience coming to America. I really learned a lot just through this simple interview. I felt that it didn’t go as expected because I thought I already knew a lot about Venezuela and my dad’s journey here. But actually, I learned so much talking to my dad. I feel it was very interesting that my dad had to go through a whole process just to leave my moms house and enter his house. It just goes to show how dangerous Venezuela is. I also learned that in order to have a better interview, you should try to act more engaged then you really are.
And then the interview ends. You realize how much you learned just by talking to someone for 5-10 minutes or so. It just goes to show how much you can learn if only you just listen!

Wailing woods

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We need to get one person across to get to the checkpoint, I was thinking come on let me stretch as far as possible to do it. As I stretch I feel a pain in my quads. Oh no, I can’t go further! It is intense and I feel responsible for getting the person across. Then I slipped… I was rushing to get my balance back just hold on to the tree I thought I saw the girl who was trying to cross, her jaw dropped, and intern I was a lot more nervous… I finally caught my balance. I hear the girl say “you did the hard part, NOW GET ME ACROSS!” I was even more nervous. That was part of my experience at the Bedford Ropes Course. If you want to hear even more of the exhilarating things I did at the course continue reading.

One challenge I really enjoyed was the rope swing. It was a challenge in which you needed to cross this gap and get to the other side without touching the gap. Firstly, it  was super fun to just swing on the rope and hopefully make it. The only problem was that when we tried a different strategy then the one we already had I tried. Sadly it was not well thought out. and then I started dangling in the air, after that I shortly then hit my head. Our first idea was to get the rope by jumping on to it (I made that one) and by jumping we would get enough momentum to get the rope. Our second plan, which was the one I hit my head with, was to put our feet into this sort of knot that was on the rope and then to swing. That would’ve probably not work (as we found out shortly after) but I decided to be a team player and execute the plan. My moment had come, I put my foot in the knot, took my steps back and…I was off! I was going so fast, at least it felt fast that when I made it to the other side I did not have enough time to get my foot out. This is where this amazing story of mine of me being the helper in the team, and getting to the other side would come to a brief and quick end. As soon as I missed the platform I knew it was game over, I got back to the other side and… my foot came out! But when it came out my hands gave out and there I was, gracefully falling on a path to doom! As I was maybe half a second into my fall I knew I had no time to land on my hands at least and then well the fall ended and there I was on the ground. But the biggest surprise of all was that I was laughing? Yup that was a cool story, but after that idea we kept on getting people to the other side, including me and then we almost finished. We missed two people or so but we still got the record! Another thing I liked was the Lava Island. I liked it because we were able to work together. Our first Idea was to hold the board up with our hands but, since we needed to get across three platforms without touching the ground we were definitely not able to hold up people with just our hands. Our second Idea was to put the beam on the ground, make people stand on it and then getting one person across at a time. That worked very well and since one person is not heavier then three it was very easy to get across. Even though we did the challenge we thought it was pretty easy, so we decided to give ourselves a little bit more of a challenge. So I had to say “let’s do it without jumping!” This was met with a bunch of groans, but after a bit we were all up for the challenge! You might be thinking there is no other way to cross but since I thought it was not too big of a gap we all went for it. In the end we all got across except for two people, but it was a super fun little challenge that I will remember when I think about the Bedford ropes trip. I didn’t really enjoy the cable walk challenge but it was not too bad. Firstly, when we did the challenge a person in my group was saying how he needed to cross a tightrope in the first challenge and how he crawled on his belly to get to the end. While that worked there, long story short it went wrong, horribly wrong. Of course I still had to be the team person and I went to try the idea. Okay I thought to myself, I can do this. As soon as I was on the tightrope it went south, I was holding on upside down even my group thought my try was over. I even hear somebody say “Andrew get to the back of the line!” I was thinking that okay, this will go wrong, time to not hurt myself. As soon as I thought that the first pain I felt. It was a small pain on my belly from the entire tightrope scratching on it. It was bad, but if you know me you know that I never give up. At this moment though that did not happen. I was twisting and turning and then… I fell. It was not too bad since I was low on the ground but I hit my head once again.

One thing I learned about myself is that I like to say ideas and execute them. Sadly, I learned this the hard way. One thing that really proved that was the rope swing. Firstly, when we did the ropes I was thinking okay let me just speak up I have a good idea on how to do this, but when I said my idea out loud I thought that oh I should also do my idea. Well I wanted to but I was never able to. The reason I couldn’t is because one of my teammates thought he was “better than everyone” and thought he was the key to winning everything. That leads me to what I learned about my classmates. What I earned was that a lot of my classmates like to take charge, sort of like me. But the only difference is that for them they feel it is a necessity they did it. That is one thing I thought was nice of them but it got annoying. For example, when we were doing the Lava Island challenge my teammate was so fond of him being the person to execute the plane he even got annoying. He was saying stuff like, “oh I should go last because I am the best jumper in this group.” Even though there was a girl who was a lot better than him. That was the stuff I learned about me and my classmates.

The Bedford Ropes Course was a fun way to include teamwork, exercise, solutions quickly in any circumstance in one huge bundle! During my time there I thought if I was a teacher I would want to take my students here to work towards cooperation. But what I want to ask you is would you also take people here? Would you do anything different (safety, groups, activities)?       

Lava Island                                                                            Cable walk                                                         Indiana Jones Challenge

Identity Map Reflection

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Making my Identity map was fun. It was fun because I was able to share some important features about me. Another fun part was the fact that I was able to see other people’s maps, and I could see what we had in common or a difference that we had. I was able to share some important aspects like my religion or maybe my favorite sports team. If any of that sounds interesting to you then this blog post is for you!

 Making my identity map was fun because I was able to express important features about myself. Barca is important to me because of so many factors, but before I talk about Barca here’s is some information about the soccer team. They play in the spanish soccer league, they are known for their style of play called “Tiki Taka”, and they play a possession based game that was taught to them from academy level to professional level. Okay now we can start! Firstly, my brother also really likes them so he would put on games; From there I grew my love for their style of play. Another thing I like about Barca is since I love soccer it’s very fun to watch the pros play. Additionally, I am able to learn from that, so I am able to watch a good game while learning. For example, Barca is very good at passing, and when I watch one of their games I like to see how I can improve in passing. Also, they are very good so it is just fun to watch them play. That’s why I love Barca. Being Catholic is important to me because it is my religion. I love being Catholic because it is something I have practiced my entire life. In addition,

 It is very nice because mas is always something I love to go to with my father, so whenever I don’t have soccer games I love to go. Second, one of my favorite continents to visit is Europe, and a big part of the culture in Europe is Catholicism. I love that because I am able to go anywhere in Europe and feel comfortable that I am able to visit a church and pray. That is why I love being Catholic. Being Venezuelan is important to me because it’s who I am. I am originally from Venezuela, which is a country in northern South America. I am from the capital of Caracas, which is in the north of the country. We have a mountain behind the city, and we are near the beach which is nice. My dad used to go to an island named “Margarita” which is north west of Caracas. He went around 3 times when he lived in venezuela but here is what he told me about Margarita. He told me it is a beautiful island in the Caribbean which is poor, but he said it was cool to see the street vendors. It is sad to me that I have never been able to visit; The reason I can’t is because if I get the passport I become “un niño de la patria.” That means if I get the passport I become a member of the Venezuelan party, and we hate the party because they ruined Venezuela which was rich and had a lot of money. In short terms we had so much money that the government didn’t know what to do with it, and we had so much oil that gas was free (my dad must have really liked that)! That is when my dad came to the US, he also came for studies. My Dad left in 1999 and my Mom in 2000. I hope later in the future the party will be overturned so I can visit my family and the country itself. That is why being Venezuelan is important to me

I loved sharing identity maps because I was able to find similarities with my table mates. I learned a lot from Juan’s identity map. First, I learned that he is in a family of five like me. Furthermore, he  has a sister and a brother exactly like me. I also saw that he speaks Spanish like me, and I saw that he likes street hockey. While I don’t play for a team I like to play the sport, and he plays soccer which is my favorite sport. That is what I have in common with Juan. I learned a lot from Zoe’s map as well. First off she is a twin and has a brother. That is identical to me because I have a twin who is also a girl and I also have an older brother. Another thing we have in common is that she loves books, especially fantasy books. Her favorite fantasy book is Harry Potter, that is my favorite fantasy book too. The only difference is that she likes the books more, while I prefer the movies. I learned a lot from Nico’s identity map. First I learned that he loves family, which I do as well. He has four family members while I have five and he also has a brother, and I learned he plays soccer. I think it is cool because we are on the same team. He plays defender and midfielder while I play striker. While I do like playing striker, if I did have to choose another position it would most likely be defender . It would be defender because my dad, my brother, and my sister all play defender, so that’s a cool connection between us.

This classroom project was very fun to make and do. First off, I was able to see other people’s maps, and see if we shared something in common or if we had something that made us unique. I think learning about other people and seeing what we have in common, or a difference we have is key to making friendships and having a cooperating class. If you were a teacher would you do this project? If you would do this project, what would you do differently?

If you do want to see my full identity map here it is below.

Home of the Brave Reflection

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Often in literature authors work on trying to create the best character that connects to you which is called a mirror, and characters that are different which is called a window. A book that has a good mix of mostly windows, but some mirrors is Home of The Brave by Kathrine Applegate. Her character Kek does that well. Kek is a kid from Sudan but due to war in his village, he is a refugee seeking safety in America. But he is alone. His mom is missing, and the rest of this family is killed. One window for me is that he has lived in a refugee camp.

Living in a refugee camp is very difficult because of certain struggles. One of the many struggles is not being able to have family to at least somewhat comfort him during those rough, and hectic days. That is a window for me because I have never lived a single day without family, and I have also never even been close to a warzone. Also, that is important because just to get to the refugee camp he had to make a treacherous journey, where they were constantly being chased by soldiers. This must have been really hard for Kek as having no family, in a horrible place, while being chased by soldiers almost all the time is obviously awful.

Learning a new language is hard for people as it is not something they are used to. One thing Kek had to do was learn English with almost no teachers constantly teaching. That is a window because even though English is also my second language, I had teachers and constant help to learn the language, and I was a lot younger (three to four years old). Also, just learning a new language by itself is hard, but not being able to constantly learn is even worse. This must have been super hard for Kek because trying a new language without being able to communicate with anyone except two people is hard, but only having two people who are also not experts on the language, and only being able to talk to them is extra hard. 

The most important thing I learned from Kek’s story is that you should never judge a book by their cover. Literally. Just because this book has a little boy in a corner and a cow in the other doesn’t mean it is a bad book. If anything this was one of the best books I have ever read, and one of the best character wise. I also realized just how hard being a refugee, or relocating to a new country is super hard. I just want you to know that if you see a bad book cover, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad book. Take that for books and real life. If you do want to read the book I highly recommend it and I think you will enjoy it!