Month: May 2016

Fatal Flaw

jschneider23

In class today we had a discussion lead by our amazing intern Ryan about the fatal flaws of characters in the book The Thief of Always. We learned what a fatal flaw is and other examples of fatal flaws in other books we might have read. She gave us an assignment to write a blog post on what we think is our fatal flaw and how it gets us into trouble and how we might be able to fix it. I have way too many fatal flaws, but I decided that in this blog post I would write about how I am constantly talking. It gets me into trouble at school because I interrupt the teacher sometimes and occasionally talk when we are supposed to be quiet. I get into trouble at home through my fatal flaw because when my mom or dad is on the phone I interrupt them, or when they are having a private conversation I start talking to them in the middle of their conversation. I even get in trouble with my friends through of my constant chatter because I can get super annoying, and they don’t always like that.

I can resolve my fatal flaw by never talking again… JUST KIDDING! I could never last, and that would be even more annoying because I would be ignoring everyone. One (real) way I could try to fix this fatal flaw is, by sometimes actually LISTENING rather than TALKING. Another idea is, I could spend one day trying to monitor my chatter. I could not speak unless spoken to, which would be crazy hard for me considering, well, I am me, so I think I should cross that one off. I don’t think there will ever be a way to conquer this fatal flaw, because again, I am me. But, there is one thing that works… If you yell at me to shut my mouth. : )

The Circuit Has Closed

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The Heathcote Arcade has come to an end. We (as a class) have worked so hard and and have built it up from nothing.  Making final touches to present it at the HExpo (Heathcote’s Maker Fair) has been stressful, but incredible to see it all come together. Our class basically separated into 3 parts towards the deadline when everything needed to function properly, be finished and ready to be used. The 4 parts were: Technology – Where people worked on The Heathcote Arcade Website (check it out at http://heathcotearcade.weebly.com!), Scratch, and Tinkercad. Art – Making signs to advertise the arcade and the games, also making finishing touches to the games. Building – making sure all of the games work properly, adding on to the games to make them a huge success (which they were!), and of course bossing the people in “the art department” around by telling them exactly what they want them to do, and telling them, “DON’T MESS UP!” There was also a group that was in both the building and art group, they were the ones who made prizes. I think I was in all the groups because I made prizes, I helped build games, I made signs for games, and I used Tinkercad too!

Now the hard part comes, what do we do with the arcade?  Today we had a discussion about it, and we thought that we could leave it for the incoming 5th graders next year, or maybe we could teach kids what we learned from this. Also, we could make an arcade club where we teach other kids how to make one and you would be able to make your own arcade games! Another idea was, “why don’t we just do it one more time?” This idea was a little ambitious but I’m sure we could make it happen. As all these ideas piled up, it just got more unclear on what to do next.

This experience opened up so many new doors for me, and I feel so proud about what we have done. The collaboration and creativity put into this, according to teachers was very sophisticated. Even though our classroom was extremely messy over this period of time, I am 100% sure it was worth it!

Capstone Blog Post #2 – Creating a Main Inquiry Question and Sub Questions

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Since I love my topic so much it wasn’t difficult for me to create my main inquiry question (MIQ) and 5 sub questions. My main inquiry question is: How has Yogibo’s new, fun and colorful bean bag technology affected the way people relax? For this question I tried to think of different adjectives that described Yogibo, and tried to use sophisticated language. I also thought of what part of the company interested me most, and if it was too big or too small of a question for this project. For my 5 sub questions, I thought about different areas of the company that interested me. These question have to be related to my main inquiry question though, so I can use them to help me answer my MIQ.
Sub questions:
1. What is so different about a Yogibo than an ordinary bean bag?
2. What kind of technology is used to create a Yogibo?
3. How has Yogibo made relaxing fun for children and adults?
4. How do Yogibo’s bean bags help to aid people living with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorder?
5. To what degree does Yogibo’s care for the environment influence customers’ opinion of their brand?

For my first sub question, I thought of a question that people might have about what makes Yogibo so special and the whole reason why I chose this as my topic instead of an ordinary bean bag company
For my second sub question, I thought of a way to give a further explanation for my MIQ.
For my third sub question, I thought to myself the whole point of Yogibo is to have fun and be together, so I decided to write a question about that.
For my fourth sub question, I started to think of something outside of Yogibo that I was interested in and tried to find a connection between that and the company. Something I am interested in is the medical field. After a little research I found that Yogibo plays a huge role in helping to aid people living with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorder. The tactile feel of Yogibo products and its body support design helps to comfort and relax children on the spectrum.
For my fifth (and last) sub question, I thought of something within Yogibo, but not really related to my MIQ that I thought was cool and was interested in.
I am so excited to learn all about Yogibo through my questions! And I think it is the coolest, most fun, and upbeat company that I have ever known!

Capstone Blog Post #1 – Choosing a Topic

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Capstone: A big inquiry based project that every fifth grade student participates in.

These last couple of weeks have been stressful for me for a few reasons, one of which is I couldn’t choose a topic! When we needed to pick our topics, I was totally ready. I had my main research question and all of my sub questions due ahead of time, but then when it came to having resources, I knew that I had to change topics. The topic I had chosen was on the brain, which is very ambitious, considering I am in fifth grade, but what can I say is I want to be a neurosurgeon. I knew that I had to change topics because all possible resources for my topic were above a collegiate level and I am in fifth grade so there is no possible way I could comprehend what information they were delivering. Then the hard part came, picking a new topic. The worst part of this process was the pressure I was feeling. What if I can’t find a topic that I think is interesting? What if I can’t finish in time? I kept thinking these things to myself, and wasn’t thinking that every night when I fell asleep worrying about my topic it was right in front of me. One of the only things that really interested me and was a fun topic to study. And that is when I made my final decision, Yogibo. Yogibo LLC is a very original company that takes bean bags to a whole new level. I have one in my room and it is the most comfortable thing ever! Unlike a normal bean bag a Yogibo conforms to your body and supports your lumbar spine. It is designed to be extremely light weight and space efficient. Another thing I find interesting about Yogibo is that it is very international. Every part that is used to make the finished product is made in a different country, and then assembled in the US. The coolest thing about Yogibo is that it supports and designs their products to aid people living with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorder. Also, Yogibo isn’t just a bean bag company, they offer a variety of colorful pillows, frisbees, ottomans and more. I think that Yogibo is a very interesting and cool company, when I thought of this topic I knew it was perfect for me, and didn’t doubt myself once.

Stay Cool at CoolMess!

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Have you ever made ice cream? Well I did! CoolMess in New York City is a very upbeat environment with colorful signage that you just have to take  a picture with, and the best part about it is… you make your own ice cream! You can create your own “MESSipe” (that consists of 3 toppings) or choose from one of their MESSipes. I chose to make the S’mores MESSipe, but with a twist. S’mores MESSipe: Chocolate base flavor, mini marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs, and chocolate chips. My twist on the S’mores MESSipe: Vanilla base flavor, mini marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs, and Oreo cookie crumbs. I did a twist on this flavor because I am not a huge fan of chocolate ice cream, or chocolate chips in  my ice cream, and don’t get me wrong I love chocolate, just not always when it comes to ice cream. It was astonishing to watch the creme turn into ice cream, and then eat MY OWN ice cream! At CoolMess I learned many things, one of which was you can never have too much ice cream, and the other you can never be too ambitious.

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