My Capstone Reflection

Have you ever done a project with multiple phases? If you have, you probably know what it’s like. The multiple phases are essay, script, and final product. I think the script is the hardest because you have to cut down your essay a lot, and you have to time everything. If it’s too long you have to cut it down again. The video is also hard because you have to find creative commons pictures that match what you’re talking about and sometimes that can be pretty hard if you’re doing a deeper topic.

 The first part of the process was the research phase. Sometimes it was hard but there were some parts for me that were pretty easy. For example, I found a site that has a lot of information and almost all of it was what I needed. There were some sub questions that were hard to find information on. Also I had to change one of my sub questions because I couldn’t find anything on it. I learned that the reason people get addicted is because of dopamine in the brain.

The pros of social media are you can connect with people and you can be popular. The cons of social media are you can get addicted and it can affect your health. The motivation behind people using it is dopamine gets released in the brain and makes you want to go back for more. Finding pictures and making my script was challenging. Adding final touches were enjoyable. You can take a look at my Capstone Essay.

I chose a movie because when we did the immigration movies I was behind and it wasn’t that good so I wanted to push myself to make my capstone movie better. Also it’s really hard for me to memorize a kind of long script. The process of completing my script was cutting down my essay a lot. Then changing the wording a little so it sounded like something I would say and not just all information. Then I took little parts of my script at a time, adding it into my script and adding the timing. You can look at my Script Template.

The process for completing my final product was putting in the pictures that match in the right spots, making my final recording without any background noise, and lastly I added the music that matched my Capstone. I thought that cutting down my essay and also making my essay was the easiest. Putting in all of the timing, finding the pictures and adding pictures were the most challenging for me.

In conclusion I mostly enjoyed making my Capstone even though some parts were hard.  I also made a poster so if you want to print it click here but if you want to view it digitally click here. I’m happy with my final product. If you want to see my video click here

Confidently Curling

Have you ever been curling before? Well I have and I think it’s really fun. I went curling at Ardsley Curling Club for a field trip. Our class went to Ardsley curling club. We learned a little about curling in school and practiced in the gym. It was so much fun to try something new. It was on ice but I didn’t fall at all. There were some things that were different from practicing in school and actually going to the curling club.

There were some things that were different at the curling club than practicing at school. For example, practicing curling on the gym floor was way different than actually curling on the ice because it is harder to sweep and deliver the stone on the ice than it is on the floor. Another thing that was different than at school is the stones were a lot heavier and that made it so much harder to deliver the stone, and they looked a lot different. Something else that was different at the curling club than at school was it was a lot harder to get the stones to the house because the gym is a lot shorter than the curling rank and no one in my group got it to the house. But it was still longer than the gym and I remember when I delivered the stone one time it was going fast and I thought it would make it to the house but it stopped and it was SO close, I was saying “dang it, it was so close.” The curling rank is like two times the length of the gym. The last thing that was different at the rank than at school was it was slippery when you had to put something under your foot when you deliver the stone and I fell over because it was too slippery and I lost my balance.

The expectations I had about curling were different than what I expected at the rank. For example, I thought delivering the stone was going to be easy but I was definitely wrong. It was really hard and the stone was really heavy and sometimes I had to move it a tiny bit because it wouldn’t move. Once when I was delivering the stone I fell over and I was thinking to myself “why is this so slippery? I feel like I’m going to fall over.” Then the next thing I know I’m on my side hurrying to get up because I just fell over in front of everyone and I was laughing to myself just so it wouldn’t be so embarrassing. When it was my next turn I was thinking “Please don’t fall over again, that was so embarrassing.” And next thing I know “Hello ice, long time no see.” I also thought that sweeping would be easy but it was really hard because you have to sweep fast and with pressure not just barely touching the ice. It is kind of tiring too and you have to know when to sweep and can’t just sweep at a random time. Another thing was the stones were heavier than I thought they were, about 35 lbs and it was hard to make the stone go far and sometimes it wouldn’t even make it half way. When I saw how heavy they were I was like How am I supposed to even move that? The last thing that was different than what I expected was the rank was shorter than it looks on the tv and I thought it would be easier to get the stone to the end but it wasn’t. The rank was still pretty long though.

I loved the curling trip, it was so much fun. Even though some things were hard to do I still really liked it. I learned to not fall and to deliver the stone better. When I was sweeping I was thinking to myself “this is really hard my arms are getting so tired” but I kept going and it was so close to the house but it stopped right before. Have you ever curled, and if not would you want to?

Feature Article Reflection

It took a lot of effort to write my feature article and I wanted to share it with you. My feature article is about dogs and I put a lot of effort in it, and sometimes it was frustrating, but all of my effort was definitely worth it because my feature article turned out great and I 

 When I was thinking of my topic, I thought about dogs because they are my favorite animal and I own two! They have always been a part of my life and I love them so much. When I was thinking about my message I thought about how the amount of care for dogs is very underrated and that is causing a lot of dogs to be homeless in a shelter. Or just even trying their best to survive on the streets.  I also chose dogs because they mean a lot to me and I finally had the chance to write a whole  article about them.

It took a lot of effort to write my feature article and I wanted to share it with you. My feature article is about dogs and I put a lot of effort in it, and sometimes it was frustrating, but all of my effort was worth it because it turned out great and I love it.

Some parts of writing my article were a little challenging. For example, formating was a little challenging for me because making everything fit and figuring out where to put my pictures was hard. I had to get rid of some because they took up too much room and they wouldn’t fit. Making all of my writing fit and making sure the spacing was right. I had to make sure there weren’t any paragraphs close to each other. Making sure the title, subtitle, and name of each section was all the right size. Another part of writing my article that was challenging was really just thinking of what to write. Also I was out of school for two days and I had to catch up but I didn’t want to rush because then it wouldn’t turn out nice. The most enjoyable parts of making my feature article were finding all of the cute pictures of dogs. I loved picking the pictures because it wasn’t that hard to find ones that fit with the space I had. I also enjoyed adding color to my. I loved adding color because my writing looked so much better. Also because we got to pick our own color and I love my color. I’m very happy and proud of my writing. For example I’m proud of how well it turned out because I think it looks really good. I’m also proud of my writing because I thought I was going to finish late. I was writing my feature article knowing I’m behind and that put a little bit of pressure on me. 

I used some different techniques in my feature article. For example, for my introduction I stated a fact about dogs. “Every year, 6.5 million dogs are abandoned or lost and enter shelters. But of all these animals, only 3.2 million are adopted and many see shelters again after less than a year of finding a new home.” Another technique I used for my feature article was putting all of my writing in and I put boxes instead of the actual picture, and then I wrote all of the vocabulary words, I put all of the pictures in. I also got checklists from my teacher a lot and that helped me improve my article. We also switched our writing with our partners so we could comment on each other and we would get feedback from others.

Writing my feature article was very different from my personal narrative. I had to have multiple slides, I added pictures. A personal narrative is like a little piece of writing but our feature articles were very different. For our feature articles we were teaching the reader about our topic, but for a personal narrative you write about something about yourself.

Halloween reflection

It was Halloween, and I was out trick or treating, with my friends, we got so much candy! Earlier that day when I was at school, we had a Halloweeen parade, and at the end of the day we got to do fun Halloween activities. I wanted to tell you about my Halloween day, and i’ll talk more about those things in my writing.

On Halloween I did lots of things and I wanted to share with you what I did at school to celebrate. Three fun Halloween activities I did at school were, I wore my Halloween costume for the parade, I went to the Halloween party, and at the end of the day I did fun Halloween themed activities. I liked wearing my costume at school because I got to see my friends’ costumes and they all got to see mine. Another reason I liked wearing my costume to school is because all the teachers also got to see me and my friends’ costumes. I liked the Halloween party because we all were listening to the songs that were playing. Another reason liked the Halloween party is because we all got sun glasses, glow sticks and more. I liked the Halloween activities at the end of the day because we got to make our own “scary” stories. I also liked the end of the day activities because we got to do a word puzzle. Those were some things I wanted to share with you that I did at school on Halloween.

I did many Halloween activities at home and I wanted to share with you three of my favorite ones. For example, I gave candy out to trick or treaters, I dressed up in my costume, and I went trick or treating with my friends. I liked giving out candy to the trick or treaters because I got to see all of their costumes. Another reason I liked giving candy to trick or treaters was because they were so happy to get more candy. I liked dressing up in my Halloween costume because I got to carry my pom poms. Another reason I liked dressing up in my
Halloween costume is because I liked how I looked in it. I liked trick or treating with my friends because we got so much candy. Another reason I liked trick or treating with my friends is because they were older than me so our parents didn’t have to come.

I had a lot of fun trick or treating on Halloween and showing my friends my costume, and got lots of candy. Did you do something similar to me on Halloween or something different? Did you get a lot of candy?

Talent and Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. I wanted to share with you about a field trip I went on with my class. We went to Bedford ropes course, and it was really fun. I’m going to share about The Rope Bridge,”Indiana Jones” challenge (Beams, wire, and swings), and Rope swing challenge. I’ll also be writing about people and things that I learned about, and all of the fun things I did

 

 

Three of my favorite things that I wanted to share were The Rope Bridge, “Indiana Jones” challenge, and the Rope Swing challenge. I really enjoyed the Rope Bridge because it wasn’t too hard even though I almost fell one time. We couldn’t touch the people passing so that is what made it a little challenging and at one point I said noo I really don’t want to fall. The second activity I thought was fun was the Indiana Jones challenge. I liked it because at first it was easy and I said I thought this was going to be more challenging. but then it started to get challenging and no one got past one of the wires. The last activity I wanted to share with you was the Rope Swing challenge. This one was really challenging. Only three people got to the end including me. It was hard to find a good strategy but we did it. When someone made it to the end we all said yay. These were the challenges I really enjoyed.

Something I learned about myself was I’m able to do more things than I thought I could do because when I was waiting my turn to do something I was thinking to myself How am I supposed to do this? It looks really challenging. But then while I was doing it, it was easier than I expected. Another reason I feel I was able to do more things than I thought is because, I was about to fall, I was so close to being done, I was losing my balance and about to fall. I was thinking no I can’t fall, I’m so close to being done, I’ve tried it many times but I kept my balance and made it to the end . Something I learned about my classmates was that they weren’t trying to rush, they were helping instead of putting people under pressure if they fell. Because once I was about to fall but then someone said ”” It helped me not fall. Also on most of the challenges no one was yelling or trying to go first and no one was fighting over who goes first. Something I learned about teamwork is that sometimes it can be very helpful sometimes. Those were some of the important things I learned.

I really liked the “Indiana Jones” challenge, the rope swing, and the rope bridge. I think that Bedford ropes course was really fun, but sometimes challenging, and teamwork was definitely needed. Would you try it, or would like the same or different activities.

First week of School

I’m in 5th grade, and I love it so far. The year hasn’t really started yet because it’s 

only the second week of school. But so far there were some things I really enjoyed and some that i’m looking forward to this year.

This week I really enjoyed a lot of things like, making my identity map, The index card challenge and the fifth grade seating choice for lunch I really enjoyed making

  my identity map because it was a lot of fun coloring it and making it pink.I also really enjoyed making my identity map because It was fun thinking of things to write for each space.I also enjoyed the index card challenge because it help with teamwork and cooperating with others and trying not to get frustrating. I also liked it because my table won and because I really liked figuring out different strategies. I’m really happy about the 5th grade seating choice.I liked it because I have some friends in the other class and I really like to sit with them. I also liked the 5th grade choice because we don’t have to look for our classroom table, we can just sit wherever we want.Those are the three things I enjoyed so far.

This year I’m REALLY excited for the Bedford Ropes Trip,the fifth grade halloween party and the poetry unit. I’m excited for the Bedford ropes course because I LOVE ropes courses and I think it will be a lot of fun. I’m also really excited because it’s going to be so much fun doing it with all of my friends and seeing if they’re scared of what I’m scared of. I’m also really excited for the 5th grade halloween party because i love halloween because i get so much candy so we’ll get tons of candy. I’m also  really excited because Halloween is really fun because I love dressing up and having so much fun. I’m also excited for the poetry unit. I’m excited for poetry because I love poetry and in my opinion it’s more fun. I’m also excited because I like learning about poetry and how to make it better. Those are the three things I’m looking forward to this year.

Would you be excited for what I’m excited about? Would you enjoy the things I enjoyed or would you like some different things than I would? Lastly, would you like the fifth grade I’ll have?