Category Archives: 5th Grade

Blog Post #3 Daniel Topr Capstone

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   Overall Capstone was a very interesting project. When I was in 4th grade I saw all the fifth graders doing their capstones and that got me very excited because I was going to do it next year. My expectations for Capstone were better than expected. First of all, I stressed so much about getting an interview, but it was straightforward in the end. Especially because Andrew Rader responded so quickly and accepted the interview. Another thing that took me by surprise was the project I was going to do. My brain was like a roller coaster in the process of choosing what way to present my topic. At first, I thought I was going to do an ignite because my dad could’ve helped me with it the most. Then I realized I was the only one so I switched to a movie days later I switched back to an ignite because I thought it was going to be the easiest and most fittable with my topic. I was wrong, I had to memorize my Ignite which was why I didn’t choose a TedTalk. 

   Then I moved back to a movie. That was very hard because I had to transfer my whole ignite script into a movie script. After I finished with that I got approval from my teacher to start the movie. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. But the timing was very challenging and finding research was also challenging. One exciting part of the research process was the interview. The interview was where a lot of my research came from. And not just any average Wikipedia facts, my research was straight from a worker at Space X with experience and inside information Wikapidea can’t inform you of. In the process of researching, I learned a lot about rocketry and its history how the engines work, and other cool facts I didn’t even know about as I started to research more and more, the more interested and fascinated I became so I took it to a whole new level and piled up with information.

   I choose rocketry because I wanted to try something new instead of basketball and it worked. My dad gave me the advice to do my topic about rocketry but I barely knew anything about rocketry. After taking time to decide what my project will be on I took consideration from my dad and decided to do it on rocketry. I immediately loved it and I took rocketry by surprise. Thinking that it will be hard starting from scratch and not knowing anything about it but my thoughts changed. 

   Some challenges was not knowing anything about it so I didn’t know where to start. Another hard part was deciding what my main inquiry question should be. I wanted it to relate with good sub-questions. I wanted this because I had a few main inquiry questions I wanted to do but I couldn’t decide between them. So I chose the main inquiry question that I could break down into the sub-questions that I wanted as my main inquiry question. I wanted my main inquiry question to be how they work or the math and physics and science behind them or the history of them. So I made my main inquiry question: What types of rockets are there and how are they designed based on their particular use? This question works perfectly because it matches good sub-questions like the ones I mentioned before.

   In conclusion, Capstone was a very fun and interesting project and I am very excited to present it on Wednesday, June 15th, 2022 to my friends and family. 

 

Capstone blog post #1 Daniel Topr

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Capstone is a project where a student chooses a topic they are interested in and research that topic. Then they make a main inquiry question and sub-questions. Then they interview an expert about that topic and once they have all their research, they make a movie, ignite, or ted talk to present. I like capstone because it lets me be creative and express my knowledge in different ways. I was really excited when my teacher told me that we were going to start capstone.

Coming up with my topic was definitely a challenge because I was interested in doing so many things. My first thoughts were about doing Basketball but I thought that I should change it up. So my second idea was war world ll but that didn’t seem right. So I asked my dad for some advice and he told me to do it about rocketry. So I did some research and I become really fascinated with rocketry. 

The process of coming up with my main inquiry question was difficult because there were so many options to choose from but I finally narrowed it down to what types of rockets are there and how are they designed based on their particular use? Rocketry is such a broad topic so there are so many topics to research. I also thought about which main inquiry question would involve the best sub-questions. 

The process wasn’t too difficult because coming up with those sub-questions let my mind roam freely and I had many ideas for sub-questions. One hard part about making the sub-questions was having to shorten all of my sub-questions to only 5 of them.  

All in all, I think this will be a great project and it will be very fun, and creative!

 

Rube Goldberg Daniel.T no.2

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My overall experience designing a Rube Goldberg machine was great. Before this project, I have seen different Rube Goldbergs in movies, cartoons, shows, and videos. I knew how they worked and I enjoyed watching them but I never really knew where and when to find them. Until now when I had to do this project for school. One thing I realized is that things look easy on TV but not in real life making a Rube Goldberg project is really hard. It all starts with the planning, then you have to write your sketch detailed and with labels, only then can you start building your project, but you’re not done there you still have to make your movie and two blog posts. But I love a good challenge. My favorite simple machine that I used was the inclined plane because I used it 3 times. I took inspiration from the YouTuber, Joesph’s Machines. Here’s a link for my youtube video https://youtu.be/q0A6smj16Bo  My resources that I used were youtube and the website Joesph’s machines. Credits Recording- Mom and me Building- me Moviemaking-

My sketch

 

Shark debate experience Daniel Topr

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My experience preparing for the video was very fun. The process of preparing, research, note taking, and working with my partner Gabriella to make reasons and good evidence was a challenge but in the end it worked out and I loved this project.When I got on the debate stage I was very nervous and I started a bit but in the end I did well. One thing I enjoyed the most was looking through all the articles that supported sharks should be protected and sharks shouldn’t be protected. Another thing that I enjoyed a lot was rehearsing our lines with our group. One thing I didn’t like was the debating going on between the two sides. But the most annoying part out of it all was side B I wanted to be side A and I wanted to be the group to protect sharks but my group had to be against sharks and I loved sharks so that upset me. Working on side B was a challenge because I had to encounter the other group. It was hard because many people love sharks and want them to be protected so I couldn’t find a lot of reasons and evidence that go against sharks so I thought outside the box And it really helped because I had a long and strong conclusion and a long and strong reason. One thing I really enjoyed about this project was from the day one we were all excited and we started taking notes even though later on in the project we realized that they were going to not be in the same groups. Even though there were seperate sides we is still gave each other compliments even though we were in different groups and we gave each other tips on how to make it better.

Rube Goldberg Daniel.T blog no 1.

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The process of starting the Rube Goldberg project was fun very fun. Some resources I used were dominos, hot wheel tracks, and other useful objects like cups and paper toilet rolls. Another resource I used was the videos attached to the google document, I count them as resources because those videos gave me ideas. Something frustrating is that on some of the tries it was very close to working out, but then it would malfunction and that got me frustrated. One thing that was challenging was getting the sketch to look like the actual machine. Another thing that was very tricky was when the machine would break down in the middle of an attempt. One revision I had to make was because my car didn’t have enough power to go down the track and activate the spring machine to launch hot wheels so instead I used a hot wheel power pusher, that revision helped me a lot. I have three simple machines my first one is a lever my second one is a wheel n axle and my third one is an inclined plane. One moment I had was when I realized that my pulley wasn’t going to work for this machine.

 

Constitution project John Lewis blog post Daniel Topr

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After finishing this project I learned many things about not just John Lewis but about the whole civil rights movement. I had a very fun experience researching and recording this project. This was a hard project because I needed each google slide to be 15 seconds and I needed lots of information. I even got an answer on one website different from the answer on a different website. I chose this topic because I was interested in John Lewis’s accomplishments throughout his life. As well as how he affected the civil rights movement which was my question topic. Overall I think I successfully answered that question topic. My motivation was that John Lewis worked tirelessly to end segregation and he was a big part of the civil rights movement. He was the one to lead the march on Selma, he was one of the 13 freedom riders, he helped pass the voting rights act and so many other things discluding that he was the chairman of the student nonviolent coordinating committee. https://youtu.be/ATJXNDDKynU

Sleepy Hollow narrative writing Daniel Topr

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AF2MDc0qe25H3orib43dW_RtHHJ0EvECk3DcMLr7TZ0/edit

I had a lot of fun writing my narrative. I experienced some difficulties there and there but overall I had a very fun time writing my narrative. As a writer I need to improve in descriptive wording and making my writing nice and clear. I think I did  good job with diolouge and show not tell. Another thing I enjoyed is as I was writing I made something up in the end. I really enjoyed writing this narrative because as I wrote I remembered me actually being their. It was a creepy experience being there. One thing I am going to improve in is making my narratives long and strong.

 

 

 

The Crossover by Kwane Alexander book review

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The book The Crossover by Kwane Alexander is a book about a boy named Josh. His twin brother is J.B. They both love basketball and their father is Charlie Bell, a former professional basketball player that played for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors. They both play on the same basketball team called the Wildcats. My favorite part in the book is when Josh makes the game winning shot in game 7 of the finals and the crowd goes wild. I think the character Josh is similar to me because I LOVE basketball and I always try to be the best out of everyone and in everything in basketball. A sad part in the book is when their dad dies from multiple heart attacks leaving his championship ring to Josh. The life lesson of The Crossover is family is an important part in Josh’s family, the Bells, and his relationship to them, that forms the relationship of family. In the book, Josh refers to his father as the backboard – the backbone – of the family, and of his own life. I highly recommend this book to all boys and girls, you don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy this book, for ages 8+. So if you like suspense books, sad books, and basketball books this is positively, definitely, 100%, absolutely, no doubt about it, the right book for you!!!!!