Gabriela’s Blog

Heathcote Elementary Student Blog

Capstone #3

Learning about boxed cakes and cakes made from scratch was hard at many points in time. While I did struggle, I also had many points in time when I knew this was the perfect image or the best line I could write. These periods in time were what made my TedTalk good. Why I did a TedTalk, the process of researching, and many other things are important to talk about, so I will talk about it.

Some of the biggest struggles I faced when creating my capstone project was researching and memorizing. All the sources I got had one or two tiny bits of info that I could use. I had to look over my sources countless times to find one new sentence that helped me a lot or just a little. Memorizing was another big struggle, as mentioned previously. I had one or two weeks to memorize five full pages of my script and the sixth page which was not full. I spent lots of time just reading my script over and over again to memorize my script.

There are two reasons I did a TedTalk for my capstone presentation. The biggest reason of the two was because Ignites were too hard and hearing my movie is terrible (for me). While this may make it seem like I don’t like making TedTalks, I do. My second reason I chose to do a TedTalk is because I like public speaking. I don’t get stage fright, therefore making the presenting part easy for me. Sometimes I got nervous, but most times I was fine, and after presenting I ended up being happy with what I had done.

Overall, while making this project I learn so many things. I memorized, wrote scripts and essays, and all of these things made my capstone be as good as it could be. I learned how to do these things, and also all about my topic, boxed cakes and cakes made from scratch.

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Capstone #1

Capstone is a super fun project that lets you expand upon your interests while doing a school project. You can choose your own topic that you are interested in. First, make a main inquiry question and then come up with five sub questions.

I chose the topic baking because I recently developed an interest in baking cakes and other sweet treats for my family and myself. I came up with this topic by narrowing down some of my most favorite activities.  

I came up with my main inquiry question, compare and contrast the attributes of boxed cakes to home made cakes to determine which makes the best cake, after a long process. First, I had to come up with multiple  ideas for possible questions that I could expand upon. I tried things in multiple categories, but settled on the question previously mentioned. Sometimes, there were no questions for that topic so it was tricky to come up with questions. Aside from that, coming up with questions was easy.

I came up with my sub questions by thinking of many different aspects of baking and thinking of different ways to turn them into interesting questions that I could do research on. A few challenges that I came across were coming up with the perfect balance of narrow and wide questions. I did include some sub questions based on appearance, such as how do you decorate a cake and are there any things to consider when decorating cakes? Or something like What is the difference in ingredients between boxed cakes and homemade cakes?

In conclusion, capstone is a project that builds on your interests but also acts as a school project.

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Capstone #2

Our capstone interviews served one main purpose, research. I felt like I would be able to get lots of information because the person I was interviewing was a professional in my topic, baking, as she is a baker. I also felt like it would be easy talking to her because she is my mom’s friend, so she quickly agreed to do the interview. This made me feel like I would be able to get lots of information because she accepted quickly, making me think she knew what she was talking about.

Figuring out who to interview was easy because I knew that my parents knew a baker that would be happy to help me with my project. As soon as capstone started, I asked my mom if she could get an interview with the baker. On the other hand, writing problems was hard. I had to figure out a way to balance out my questions so they would answer my questions but also be able to be answered by the person I was interviewing. I also had to come up with questions that were not too broad or too narrow. This along with the other requirements made me feel unsure about some of the questions I wrote. But in the end, my questions were good.

Conducting the interview was hard because sometimes the answers were really long, and that was unexpected. But other than these long answers, the interview went as planned. From the interview, I learned about different utensils, some that I had never heard about and some that I did know about. I also learned about different baking pans, the shapes and sizes, and even about some measurements.

In conclusion, my capstone interview went smoothly and I learned lots about baking.

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Immigration Blog Post #2

During the process of making my immigration project, I had to do many things to prepare my video. From interviewing an immigrant, to transcribing Portuguese to English, and then making a video, this process was lengthy but fun.

The process of making the video was really fun. Learning about Tania (the person I interviewed) was really cool, because she spends a lot of time with me and my brother. Creating the script was challenging because we had to write it from scratch, with no help, no guidelines, and we were sent to figure it out. To find images, I had to scroll down and down for  a really long time to find one good image. The voice over always sounded weird, leading me to record and re-record multiple times. The most enjoyable part was when I got to interview the person, because I learned so much about Tania. What was challenging was when I had to translate a nine minute video from Portuguese to English.

I learned that interviewing someone is not just asking questions, it’s making up the questions, asking them, and recording the response. It’s also about editing the video in a good way, and making it look good.

In conclusion, my immigration project helped me learn a lot about Tania, helped me learn how to translate languages, and how to interview a person.

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Rube Goldberg #2

The experience I had when creating, designing, and filming for my Rube Goldberg project was crazy. Some flaws and design flukes were bad enough to have to change my whole machine! My concept was a complete mess up, so I had to create a whole different contraption.

Designing my machine was hard. I had to have 4 simple machines included and also had to have 8 steps to complete the task. This was challenging as I did not know if the ball going down the track was a step. I decided against that. When I started building, I realized my pulley would and could not work. When I had to start filming, I had to rush to come up with a new design. My old would not work. I decided that it would start on a shelf, and go down with inclined planes. This would then end at the door. I barely kept any of my original design features. This showed me that the building will not always be built exactly.

During this experience I learned how to build ramps and supports and things like how to attach wood to a can. Though this was fun, filming was not as fun. My marble kept on falling down into a crack where no one could reach, and I got my first success too early. This caused me to barely get any footage.

In conclusion, this project was time consuming and overall very difficult. This process took two months to complete. Between designing and filming, this project was challenging and made me think a lot.

My video:

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Rube Goldberg #1

Planning and building The Door Stopper was a challenge. When I was testing it, the machine did not work the first time. It took many tries and changes to perfect it. The door stopper is a Rube Goldberg machine that will push a door stop into the door. There were many steps to building this, so how did I do it?

Some frustrating things that happened were not being able to find string, the walls I built would fall down, and other little things like that. But those aren’t the things that made me the most frustrated. . The revisions I made were when I realized that having the coca cola knock down dominoes would get rid of its force. One of my big insights was when I realized that my pulley would not work. Because of the marble being stopped while the pulley moved, the marble would not move. Another insight I had was when I realized that my wheel and axle could not reach the bottom of the track I had it on. Thus, it could not reach the marble. For this to work, the track’s floor would have to be raised higher.

Some of the resources I used were string, cardboard, marbles, boxes, cans, and the door stop. These materials helped build all of the parts of my Rube Goldberg machine. As I built the machine, I tested individual parts of it to know if it would work at least once. When I went to build the machine I could have a little more information about what parts might fail, or what parts are likely to ruin that run. Then, if different parts failed due to lack of force, I could know what to change.

In conclusion, my plan for The Door Stopper was not perfect and had many flaws. While building it, there were parts I identified that would not work/ did not have enough effort to move to the next step. 

My sketch:

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Constitution Project- Ruby Bridges

During making my Constitution project, about Ruby Bridges, I chose to research the question, what led Ruby Bridges to become a civil rights activist? I chose this question because it was easy (for the most part) to find reasons to support it. Researching was hard at times, everywhere I looked there would be the same information. Even though sometime the information was hard to find, it was fun to scout it out. My motivation was wanting to make a good, completed, project. For my overall project, I think I did well. I’m happy with what I did, and I did answer my question. I shared my learning through the pictures I chose, and the actual talking.

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Writing A Narrative

Hello! I’m going to share my experience writing a narrative. When I was in the early stages of drafting my narrative I had ideas for more then one story. How did I figure it out? I wrote drafts of both and the on I liked more I wrote. The narrative I ended picking was New Place. Writing the draft was really nostalgic. I remembered some really nice moments of the time the story happened. This motivated me to work hard to share all the detail of the day/days it happened. I really tried to make it seem like you were in the airport with me. I did this by saying small details like “bright light of my small window.”. Here I showed that the light from the window was really bright to make it seem like you were there.

I think that I could of put in more detail or conversations. Maybe a little more inter thinking. I do not think this story will be the best I will ever write and I know that I can improve by applying these things. I think that when the characters did speak it was to little. I did put detail but I need more. Next time I write I will apply these corrections.

   New Place:The Story                                                                          

                                                                           New Place

By Gabriela

                                        

 

The sound sounds like a broken old piano. I cover my ears to this horrible thing. I squeeze my eyes shut, I just wished that would help. The grey walls and small windows are bland and I’m tired. I have not gotten good sleep. Soon it seems like a soundproof bubble absorbs me in its little sanctuary of no sound. I drift off to sleep.

I dream about a plane, the one I’m on. I dream about fluffy blue clouds. I dream about playing dress up with my friends. I dream about-.

And it cuts. I’m awoken by the bright light of my small window. Turning swiftly, I see my mom beaming. My Dad, not so much. His face like a rock. He just gives a small, fake smile. I don’t care to notice.

“My love, it’s time to go.” my Mom calls, her soothing voice like silk. I look into the hallway, now crowded. We get up and the snake slithers slowly. We are now a part of this snake,this line.

“Will I make friends, Mamae? (mom)” 

“Yes you will” Mom says warmly, she chuckles at the thought. I grin and step out of the door. They said winter was harsh. They did not lie… Winter hit us like a rock,a punch. My purple jacket’s zipper slides up.

“Mamae, I’m cold.” I shiver. She scoops me up in her jacket. I hear rolling as we walk, like a barn full of horses. In reality, it’s just my Dad and the other passengers going to bagging. A tan hallway with smooth walls and a red carpet, unlike winter, says hello with more warmth. I slide out of my mom’s Jacket. We wander into a tall room. Conveyors and bags.

The walls seemed like they went on to as high as the plane did. The room was plain. “When will we get to the new house?” I ask my Mom.

“Very soon.” My mom whispers. We look over to my Dad trying to get our bags desperately. It hits me. A place I don’t know anything about,my new home? I don’t want to leave! Why do we have to? Back at home I was happy! Back home we had our family! Why? I snap back into reality.

“I got a bag!” Dad cheers. I smile and look up at my mom. I look back at the moving bags. 

They are so amazing! “ I think. This brightens my mood. I go to the bag Dad got. I try to climb up onto it,but fall. I try once again to plop myself on, but I’m too small. Everything seemed giant. Even my mom! Even the bags! 

“I got the blue bag!” My Dad shouts. I run up and hug him. I go back to hug my mom. The blue bag’s handle slides up. “One more suitcase to go!” Dad thinks. I look up and see only the white roof. There were only the lights on it. No fancy holes or cool colors. “I got the black bag!” The little tag jingles when the bag is picked up.

I grin and dash to my Dad. My Mom follows behind. We slump to the next room. My little head has little sparks going through it. Little lightning bolts of ideas to do. “Maybe a blanket and pillow fort! Or one of the sleep overs the people have been talking about!” I think. I get a little smile. Like a little vine spreading.

 

“Mamae, when do we get home?” I ask like a pestering bird. 

“I told you just a couple minutes ago!” Mom teases. “We will get there when we get in the car.” She puts a fake mustache on her long, deep brown hair, on her face. I giggle. Then I wonder…

What are my friends doing? Will I dance again? Will I see my family again? Will I make friends? When will we get home? All the thoughts spiral in my head. Only I know of my crazy thoughts. Before I was the one pestering my mom, now these thoughts are brewing a disaster potion! But I keep calm. My little 5 year old head keeps calm. Talk about pressing the big red button of calm!

Dad pushes the cart into the line, like the one we were in those hours ago. I realize the time passes fast in the airport. In the plane it’s a different story. “Mamae, why was the plane ride so long?” I ask. 

“In the plane there is not lots of fun stuff to do. When there is no fun stuff there is nothing to do.” Mom replies.

“Ooooh, ok!” I say cheerfully. In that time we had been walking. The room was big and my little legs wanted to become noodles. Even if we were still in the room with the high ceiling. The bags, the plain walls. I wanted to go rest. “Me and Mamae talk fast!” I think. I look up at the building which is my Dad. He is a tower and I am a mushroom.

These two people are the only people that I have from Brazil. That was my home! I hope we can visit soon. I heard from Mamae and Dad that we will visit Brazil soon… “I hope I can explore lots in this new place! “ I think

We wander into a room with people of all shapes,sizes,and colors. I marvel at the red ribbons separating us from then. “This is coool!”I think. The door lets a little stream of people out into this room. Once again, the walls are bland and plain. I still have a tiny little smirk appearing on my face. 

My Dad towers over me,casting a shadow over me. I peer straight ahead, A vending machine, a door. A DOOR! I run ahead and I feel the sting of cold once again. We have made it.

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The Courage Of Cat Campbell Book Review

The book The Courage Of Cat Campbell , by Natasha Lowe, is a good book so far. In this book there is a kid that wants to be a witch. Cat, the main character, lives in a magic village where some people are magic. Cat’s mom, Poppy hates magic. Why she hates it, you will have to find out.

This book’s lesson might mean you have to be careful what you wish for. Cat wished for the truth of why her mom hated magic, she found out, and she was not all sunshine and rainbows. Poppy wanted to know if her daughter was magic, she found out. And she was bouncing off the walls, and not in a good way.

My favorite part is when Cat sends an eclair flying at a person she dislikes. I also liked all her other failed magic attempts. One other part I like is when cat goes into her grandma’s attic to find a cap. But Cat finds something else… If you want to know what the strange thing is, or what it contains you will have to read the book.

I really recommend this book to people who love magic, and funny parts. I am currently loving this book and only put it down for school work. I hope you will enjoy this book.

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Welcome to 5th Grade!

Hello, this is my blog and i’m going to be saying things about my year. With all the weird hybrid stuff, I honestly cant remember that much about 4th grade. Over the last 18 months it was strange and weird and it was just pure chaos. It depended on the day if you went to school, and that was just, no words. This year i’m not looking forward to anything because this year is a mystery. I don’t know anything we will do and i’m exited about that. The only thing i know about, is that this year will be at least great.

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