Capstone Reflection

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Have you ever done a project where you pick a topic do a lot of research,write an essay, make slides, and memorize? Well I have and it was not easy. I think the research was the hardest because it took the longest then the essay then the script and the easiest was the slideshow.

The first step was the research. This was one of the hardest to do.The part that was most challenging was getting the websites because most were restricted or had words that I didn’t understand or didn’t have what I wanted. The part that was easiest or went well was getting the information from the website once I found the right one. Once I found the right website it most likely had an answer to two or more of my sub-questions. The most interesting thing I learned from pollution is probably how it affects animals because I would never think animals can be harmed by that many things in our air.

My main inquiry question was How Does Air Pollution Effect People And Animals And How Can We Reduce It? Air pollution can harm many things but there are many ways to reduce it. It can do many harmful things for people and animals and can be caused by many things. To see the essay click here. The most enjoyable part about completing the essay was that I didn’t have to do any more research and I could start my script. The most challenging part was timing it and trimming it. We had to time it because the limit was 6 minutes. Mine was ten minutes so I had to cut it down a lot and it took a while. I didn’t know what to cut down and what to keep but once I did it was easier.

First we had to pick between movie or ted talk. It was hard to choose because for the movie we had to find more pictures and once we recorded if the recording had noise or you could hear well we had to re-record. For a ted talk In conclusion, I’m happy Capstone work is over! I had to do a lot of hard work and I’m happy its over. It was also very fun in my opinion but some people might not agree.we would have to memorize which I knew would take a while knowing I would have to memorize six minutes. For the ted talk we also had to make a slideshow which I knew would be easier. I asked Ms. Furgatch and she said she would rather hear a ted talk so I decided I was going to do a ted talk. To see the script template click here. For the script template which you can see here we had to copy and paste parts of our essay into the orginizer. After that we had to time the parts but that was just for us to see because we switch the slides and we don’t time it. Once we did that I had to choose what images I wanted and what I wanted the audience to read. After that we had to memorize and it was easier then I expected but it was really boring. The challenging parts were figuring out the images because for example if I was talking about sicknesses I didn’t know what to pick. The most enjoyable part was probably when I finished because I finished before the due date so I had extra time if I had to fix things and find images.

The final product was really good. Once I memorized I practiced with friends to make sure I was able to do the whole this without messing up. The most enjoyable part was that I didn’t have to memorize anymore and I could keep practicig so I was ready on the real day. The most challenging part was doing the whole thing and talking slow enough. I kept messing up at least once but when I did it I still had to keep practicing so I could do it again. When I talked fast its because I was still scared it would go overtime and I just wanted to get it over with. Once it was the week of presenting we had to do it in the lab and record to post it on youtube.

In conclusion, I’m happy Capstone work is over! I had to do a lot of hard work and I’m happy its over. It was also very fun in my opinion but some people might not agree. The final product is here

Creating My Immigrant Video

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Have you ever made an immigration documentary? Well I just did, and it was fun and hard. We had to interview someone and then with all the information we wrote a narrative and a script and found pictures and put it all in WeVideo. I am going to say the process of the project and what I learned.

The process for the immigration project was hard. We did many things. First, we wrote a narrative and had to make it into a script. We copied and pasted small parts of text into an organizer to make the script then decided on what we wanted the pictures and text to be. I think this was one of the harder parts because we had to come up with the right pictures and make sure the timing was good. Next we had to do the times which was reading the section and making sure it was six seconds or less. Once we did that we looked for pictures. I think finding pictures was the hardest because it was hard to find pictures from when my dad, the person I interviewed was younger. When I finished finding the pictures I needed even if I had extras I started the we video. I was choosing photos and at first I got photos from the internet but then I needed more from my mom and dad’s phone and it got hard. It was even harder because they didn’t have many from when my dad was younger. When I was choosing the photos it was so hard to decide because there were so many good ones. In we video I started with adding the photos I was 100% using. Some photos I didn’t have yet so I went to the audio. I narrated I bunch and once I finally got all the photos and decided which I was gonna use I added them all. I then added text and did all the editing and finishing touches. The most enjoyable part was probably adding all the pictures once I knew which ones I was using. The hardest part was probably timing it and it being higher than six seconds. This was hard because at first nobody said there was a limit so mine were all higher then six seconds. Overall, this project was fun and hard at the same time.

I learned many things from this interview. I learned about the immigrant, conducting and interview and creating the video. I learned about the immigrant in many ways. I learned why he came here, how he met my mom and more from when he was younger. I learned about conducting an interview in many different ways. I learned that it was harder and easier in different ways. It was harder because at first the questions weren’t answered in the way I was hoping. Also it was a bit hard to record what he was saying because he was talking a bit fast. When he was answering I was typing as he was talking so he had to slow down. It was easier because I thought it would be harder to actually conduct it. What I mean is I thought there would be more challenges as I was asking my dad the questions. I learned that when I’m doing the interview I should just record because as I said it was hard to put all the information. I would also make the questions more specific so I could get the answer I was looking for. I think when I’m creating the video I should be more organized. I was getting photos then recording then getting photos to the point I didn’t know what photos I had and didn’t. I learned many things from the immigration project about my immigrant, conducting an interview and creating a video.

In conclusion, the project was hard and easy in different ways. I also learned lots from this and the process was long but fun. There was many enjoyable things and challenging things. Have you ever conducted an interview or learned about an immigrant? If so was it fun, boring, challenging or easy?

Immigration Interview Reflection

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Have you ever interviewed someone on immigration? Maybe, but I just did. I interviewed my dad by making questions related to immigration and then I interviewed him. I will be telling you about the process of preparing and my experience.

The process of the interview was hard and fun. We did many things to prepare. First we came up with the person we wanted to interview. The person had to be an adult or someone over 18 and someone who immigrated. You had to have some sort of relationship with them. I chose my dad. After we came up with the person we started to think about questions we might ask. When we were making questions we had to think about if it was a one worded question. It had to be related to there immigration experience and you couldn’t do questions like how old are you, whats your name, where are you from if you knew the answers. After you came up with 10 – 15 questions you could do your interview. Before we did it Mrs. Cooper checked our questions. When I had a lot of questions I found it hard to do more because they all would have the same answer. When I did my interview I was typing while listening but another way I could’ve done it was recording but I thought it would be to much work. Now that I finished my interview we have to do 2 blog posts, the actual video and the script. That’s the process of preparing for the interview

Next I’m gonna talk about how conducting my interview went. When I was interviewing my dad I just typed while he was talking but another way I could’ve done it was record. Once I asked all the question it had taken around 15 minutes. It was really fun but at times when I asked a question he didn’t really answer what I needed. Some questions had a short answer and some had a long answer. I had the interview in person and it was but at the same time wasn’t what I expected. I thought my dad’s answers would be a bit different but I knew how it would go. I think I should have recorded the interview because I couldn’t write everything he said so it took longer. I learned that conducting an interview is easier then I thought. I thought it would be harder but all I did was pull up the questions on the chrome book and he answered them. I learned my dad came here for a masters program in business and many other things like how his journey was and what it was like. The most interesting thing I learned was probably that he came for a masters program in business administration.

Now that I’ve told you how the process of preparing for the interview and how it was conducting the interview I think it was really fun.

Courageous Curlers

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Imagine your on a bus going on a field trip. You’re going curling and it’s your first time and you don’t know if it will be hard or easy. When you get there you’re scared because you might mess up or do something embarrassing. After getting on the ice you realize it’s not as bad as you thought it would be. When you do it you realize it was so fun and you were so good at it wanting to go again. My class just went on a field trip to the Ardsley Curling Club and did all kinds of things. We swept, delivered and played a mini game. In this blog post I will tell you what was easy in the gym and curling club. I will also say what was hard in the gym and curling club.

It was easier in the gym and curling club in different ways. For instance, we weren’t on ice so it was easier to balance. When I was delivering the stone I didn’t keep falling over and sliding. Instead I had a lot of balance. It was also easier in the gym because the stones were lighter. They were almost like “fake” stones. That means they weren’t as heavy but still felt the same. They also glided more because they were lighter and easier to push. It was easy in the curling club because when I delivered the stone even though it was hard to balance I glided way more. By that I mean when I pushed off I could glide with the stone more so the stone would go farther. I remember saying to my friends “It’s not even slippery”. When I was in the gym I couldn’t glide because it wasn’t “slippery”. Another reason why it was easy in the curling club is because the sweeping made the stone go faster. In the gym we couldn’t sweep and there was no need because it was smaller. But in the rink it was bigger and sweeping made the stone go farther on the ice. This made it easier to get it to the house and score a point. That’s why I think it was easy in both the gym and curling club.

It was hard in the gym and curling club. For instance, it was hard in school because we didn’t glide as well. What I mean is when we were gliding to deliver the stone in the gym we didn’t glide on the floor that well. After a while we got rug things that helped us but it was still hard because they kept falling. On ice we could actually glide to deliver the stone even though I fell a lot. Another reason why it was hard in the gym is because the stone didn’t go in the house. What I mean is the stone didn’t glide as well even though it was on wheels. When I delivered the stone it kept going to the side right before the house which I thought was really weird. The gym also had lines going across so that could have something to do with the stone going sideways. Also whenever I delivered the stone usually it was normal but sometimes it flipped over. This happened because it was really light so when it was delivered if I did weirdly or something it would flip over. It was hard in the curling club because we had so much more equipment. In the gym we only had the stone but in the club we had way more. For example we had the balancer which is like an arched kind of thing that you use to balance when you deliver the stone, a foot piece that we used to glide a bit better when delivering, we used a foot thing to push off of when we delivered so we glided better and the stone which was like five times heavier than the ones in school. If we weren’t delivering we were sweeping which we barely practiced and we were on ice. The stone went much faster and when we practiced at school it was slow but we almost had to run when we were sweeping. It was a bit hard to sweep because you weren’t allowed to run because it’s dangerous so we had to jog. Another reason it was hard at the curling club was because it was hard to balance. When I delivered the stone I would tip a bit because I put a bunch of weight on the arm holding the stone and not that much on the thing that helped you balance. At one point I remember randomly falling on my face and thinking to myself “ what… how did that happen.” The last reason it was hard was the rink was so big. In the gym it was smaller and that’s what we practiced. It was really hard to get in the house because of how big it was that almost nobody got it in.  

In conclusion, Curling was hard in the gym and curling club and was easy in the gym and curling club In different ways. At first I thought it wouldn’t be that fun but when we actually went and did it. It turned out to be more fun than I expected. If you ever want to try something new maybe you should try curling. You may think it’s too hard or too easy like i did at first, it’s actually harder or easier than you thought. You might actually have fun if you give it a try. Would you ever go curling? If you have, did you like it and would you go again?

Feature Article Reflection

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Imagine your writing a whole article like the scholastic ones, you may think it’s easy and everything well it’s not. I just did and I got to add pictures and other fun stuff. I’m going to talk about how I came up with the topic, what aspects were most enjoyable, what techniques I used, what I’m most proud of and how it compares with a narrative.

I really liked writing the feature article but the most enjoyable parts were the conclusion, intro, and the formatting. The conclusion and intro was fun because I felt really good about them and I got to be creative to come up with them. I liked the formatting because it was easy but also really fun. I got to experience with changing the format and adding pictures. That is what I really enjoyed about the feature article.

When we were writing before we started we needed a topic. One way I came up with my topic is we had an orginizer to put different topics in, put the message, and the sections. This helped because I saw which one I could talk more about and which message I felt was better. Another way is I picked something I loved which was camp. I love a bunch of things but Camp is something I know a lot about and went there so I could have more specific things in it. That’s how I figured out what my topic should be.

There were a lot of techniques but I used a few most effectively in this piece. I used examples and interesting conclusion and introduction. For example the intro and conclusion I used an anecdote which is something like a scenario that you put in the article. I also used examples which were helpful when I listed things. I needed to list things for the activities and the food. Those are the main topics that I used.

I am proud of a lot of things but I was most proud of the formatting and the section called “Field Trips and Visiting Day”. I am proud of the formatting because it took a long time to do and was really hard but looks really good. Also there were a few rules on the formatting. When I was formatting I had to change almost all the formatting because all the blocks of writing had to be the same width. I’m proud of the field trips and visiting day section because I have a lot of text and it was really hard to correct the whole thing. I was also able to make it a really good size because I could fit in with a picture and fun fact. That is what I am mainly proud of.     

The feature article compares to writing a narrative in many different ways. For instance, there was a lot more information. Instead of writing around paragraphs (including intro and conclusion) I wrote 6. We also had to do a lot of formatting. When we do the narratives we just copy and paste everything below the orginizer but with the feature article we copied and pasted everything into shapes and formatted it. I also had to write about a subject for the article but with narratives I write about my own experience. That’s how I think they compare.

Now that I’ve told you all about my experience with the feature article overall I think it was really fun. At first it was hard getting the topic and message but once I was getting the hang of it was easier. Have you ever written a feature article? If you have was it hard, was it fun?

A Spooky Story

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You wake up and you hear, Boo! It’s finally Halloween and you can’t wait to go trick or treating. I had a great Halloween and I got a lot of candy. I’ll be talking about how I celebrated in school and how I celebrated at home.

First I am going to talk about how I celebrated in school. I had a Halloween party and Halloween parade. The Halloween party was fun because there was a dj. The DJ played a lot of good music and we learned dances. There was also a lot of light and they gave things like glow sticks and a bunch of light up stuff. Another example is there were a lot of things to do. You could either be hanging out in the gym where there was air hockey, gaga, estimation jar and basket ball or at the dj area. When I was at the DJ area it was really fun because they played a lot of Taylor Swift and there were a lot of prizes and people screaming,if you didn’t like the screaming you could go to the gym. The last reason why I liked the party was there were a lot of cool costumes. Andrew had a big blow up chicken which was funny and a few clowns. There were also a lot of people being Taylor Swift albums and football players. Another way I celebrated is the Halloween parade. One example that I liked it was I got to see other grades’ costumes and there were a lot of different and similar costumes to me. Another example is I got to see my mom and she got to see a lot of peoples different costumes. The last example is I didn’t have to do school work. I did the opposite by talking to my friends.

Now that I’ve talked about how I celebrated at school I’m going to talk about how I did at home. Before trick or treating I got to give candy to a few trick or treaters and they were so cute. Another thing was I met Sydney and walked to all the houses to trick or treat at. When I was trick or treating it was fun because I got to go with Sydney and we bumped into a lot of people and we went to my friends houses to trick or treat. We also got a lot of candy so much that my friend’s bag was overflowing and mine was a huge bag but it was almost overflowing. After trick or treating I walked with Sydney back to my house and we drove her home. I also went through all my candy and had over 200 pieces of candy.

This Halloween experience was the best because it was the first time I went by myself with no parents. Now that you understand what I did to celebrate at home and at school did you go trick or treating? How much candy did you get?

Running on the Ropes

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The bus arrives and it’s time to go. We are going to Bedford Ropes Course and I’m so excited! I went to Bedford Ropes Course and I’m gonna talk about my three favorite things and what I learned about myself, a classmate and teamwork.

The three things I enjoyed the most were the rope bridge challenge, Indiana Jones and the wire walk. I liked the Rope bridge challenge was fun because you had to think of a plan so you didn’t touch each other. The rope bridge challenge was basically a rope structure and we couldn’t touch people or we would be out. Anyway, another example is it was easy but hard at the same time. It was hard not to touch people but easy to balance because you got to hold on to things. The last example is even though my hands hurt we got to swing on the outside of the ropes and climb a bit. The funny thing was I was thinking in my head This is gonna be so hard so I’m going in the back of the line but it ended up not being that hard. The next thing that I enjoyed is the Indiana Jones. The Indiana Jones was beams, ropes and swings. You had to balance on the beam and when you got to the tree it was a checkpoint, The ropes you had to balance on and you had to step from swing to swing. One example is there were three different obstacles there was a beam part, A wire and a wood swing. I remember saying to Suhana at the beginning “ This is going to be impossible, how am I going to do this?”. Another example is you had to have focus and you had to balance because some of the beams were really skinny or they had a big slant, for the ropes it was hard not to swing of because they were so small and I didn’t get to the swing part but I could see it was hard to reach from swing to swing. The last course that was fun was the Wire walk. It was when you had to come up with a strategy to get your whole team across without falling. What made it easier was you had checkpoints at every tree and there was a square to stand on that you could help people on. One example is you had to balance and I think that I have good balance so it wasn’t too hard but when I was on my butt, I did end up doing like three back flips on the wire. When I was back flipping I heard someone say “Woah look she keeps spinning”. Another example is you had to come up with a strategy and there were things to help like a square where you could stand and help people. I remember people were relieved when they found out about the square. These are the challenges that I enjoyed.

Now that you know what I enjoyed I’m going to talk about who encouraged me and what I learned. I realized Jordyn is really encouraging because she kept cheering for me and other people that she wasn’t even friends with. She also didn’t care if they were cheering her on she did it anyway. What I learned about myself is that I was scared to do some stuff because I didn’t want to let my team down. For example when we did the rope swing challenge and only had one touch left. Everyone would have to come back and I didn’t want to be the person who made everyone go back. Also for the bridge I didn’t let my team down because the things that you had to have balance at I was good at. I learned that I also have good balance and can do more than what I think I can do. Now I’m going to talk about what I learned about teamwork. I learned about teamwork as we had to work together for a lot of these as a team. For some it was helping people and maybe sacrificing yourself so they could go. These are the important things I learned about teamwork, myself, and my classmates 

This is why I enjoyed the Indiana Jones, Rope Bridge Challenge and Wire Walk and what I learned about others. I think this helped our classroom community because we had to work together as a team for most of the courses. Now that you’ve learned a bit about the Bedford ropes course would you ever go? Or have you ever been?

Home of the Brave Reflection

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There are a lot of windows that I have with Kek In the book Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. A window is something new for you or not the same as you. You can learn a lot about the life of other people that you have never experienced before. The book was about Kek and he had to move away from his home because he lost his family in war and also lost his mom because she went missing. He had to get used to life in America and live with his aunt and cousin Ganwar.

One way Kek’s life is a window for me is that he has to get used to all the new technology that there is in America. For example, he didn’t know what a light switch was because he used the sunlight for a light in Sudan. Another example is he didn’t know that a washing machine was only for clothes and he put dishes in it and they all broke because he thought you could wash anything. The last example is that he didn’t know what the air conditioning was so he was freezing because in Sudan they didn’t have air conditioning. This makes me realize that other places like Sudan don’t have what we have because Kek doesn’t know what lots of things are.

Another window is understanding wealth and privileges in America can be hard. One example he thought he had to pay for school. When he got to school he was like a desk to myself! Also he thought he had to pay for it. When it was lunch he got school lunch and thought it was a feast. He also tried french fries for the first time and he loved them which is so different then me because I don’t like school lunch and he thought it was a feast. This makes me realize that we have more things than other places like Sudan.

In the book Home Of The Brave I learned that there are many windows and some peoples life is very different then others. This was probably really hard for Kek because his dad and brother died in war and the mom is missing. This shows me how hard peoples life could be. Have you read home of the brave? If you have do you have any windows with it?

Identity Map Reflection

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Have you ever made an identity map? If not, I can tell you all about them. An identity map is basically a map or web with aspects about yourself, such as hobbies, favorite foods or favorite colors. I will share parts of my identity map and some of the parts of my classmates identity maps.

There are so many aspects on my identity map, if I had to choose the three things that are most important to me on my identity map they are my camp Pocono Springs, Skiing and Shopping. For instance, I really like Pocono Springs because I made new friendships and had a lot of fun. I also got to try new things and do all the new activities that I’ve never done before. It was my first year at camp and everyone was so welcoming. Additionally, I get a break from my brother because he doesn’t go to camp. Another thing that is important to me is skiing because I’ve gotten really good at it. Also I’ve been skiing since I was five. Another reason is I go every year to Vermont mostly and I have a lot of fun. To add on, it’s really fun learning new techniques and going on new slopes especially in new places that I don’t always go to like Colorado where there’s a lot of snow.I really like shopping because I like getting new clothes and things like that. Also I like going to the mall and stores because I like looking around for random things to buy. Another reason is I get to do something that involves me getting stuff and there’s so many things I want so I get it and I don’t want to be with my brother and he hates the stores I shop at.

 Now that you know what’s important to me I’ll tell you what connections I have with my tablemates.My tablemates are Zoe, Nico, Andrew and Juan and I learned a lot of things about them I also learned that we have a lot of connections. I learned that Zoe likes reading. She likes Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Olympians, Heroes of Olympus and Keepers of the Lost Cities. She likes many other books and likes to read chapter books. A connection that we have is that we both have a brother. Also we are both girls. I learned that Nico has a family of four. He has his brother, his mom, his dad and himself. I also learned he’s Brazilian and loves pizza. A connection is that we both have a family of four and both have a brother. I learned that Andrew likes the FC Barcelona soccer team. He likes it because his brother would watch it a lot and he likes how they play. To add on, he likes to see how he can improve and play soccer. A connection that we have is we both have brothers. I learned that Juan plays hockey. He started when he was four and still plays it. I also learned that he likes sports cars. A connection that we have is that we both have younger siblings.

In conclusion, I think working on this project helped us learn some things that motivate each other and brought us closer together as a community. I also learned that I have a lot in common with my classmates. Now that you know all about identity maps, maybe you can make one yourself!

First Week Of School

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Beep beep the alarm goes off It’s the first day of school! I’m so scared to meet my teacher and see who’s in my class. I had such a good time in the first week and my teacher was really nice and had a lot of friends in my class. In the first week I did fun things like we did the Index Card Challenge for social studies and we also made Identity Maps which were so colorful.We also did We Make a Difference and that’s when we pick a quote and draw a portrait to go with it! I’m excited for the Halloween Party, Bedford Ropes Course and Hot dog field day!

I enjoyed many different things in the first week of school such as the Index Card Challenge, We Make a Difference and Identity Maps.For instance, I enjoyed the Index Card Challenge, for example, it was fun to think of strategies and see what worked and what didn’t. It helped with teamwork and helped for patience because your tower kept falling down and it was hard to just keep trying. I also enjoyed We Make a Difference because it was really fun to find a quote and it was something that wasn’t too hard. I also enjoyed it because I really like to draw and we got to draw a portrait and it was calming and something easy to do at the end of the day. I also liked the Identity Map because it was really fun to color it because I love to draw. Also I get to express myself so people can get to know me if we aren’t really friends and I get to learn about other people. Those are the things I have most enjoyed in the first week of school!

I’m looking forward to many different things including the Halloween Party, Bedford Ropes Course and Hot Dog Field Day. For instance I’m looking forward to the Halloween Party because I get to dress up in a costume and have fun. Also it is one of my favorite holidays because we get to dress up and get candy. I’m also looking forward to the Hot Dog Field Day because we get hot dogs which I love. Another example is we get teams and we get to play a lot of games with our friends which is gonna be really fun. I’m also excited for the Bedford Ropes Trip because I like to climb and do ropes courses. Also I’m really good and climbing and I get to be with my friends. Those are the things I’m most excited for so far!

In my opinion I really enjoyed the Identity map, The We make a difference and the Index card challenge and it was all really fun. As you can also see in my opinion I’m really excited for the Bedford ropes course, Volleyball game and the Halloween party. Do you remember what you did in 5th grade? Did you do the same things?