Category Archives: Social Studies

Capstone Journey

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My fifth grade research based capstone project has had its ups and downs. In this blog post I will be talking about my capstone experience for doing my research, writing my essay, choosing between a TED Talk or WeVideo, and completing my TED Talk. So keep on reading to find out more!

Many things went well for capstone, one reason it went well is because of the topic I picked to write about and another because of the timing of doing my research. One example of what went well for the topic I picked for capstone is, it was very easy to find some of the articles that had the research I wanted to get. That is because when I was trying to search up for the articles I was trying to find, there weren’t any random sites with random facts I didn’t want. That is because there are only 3 million modern architects in the world currently, compared to the other jobs that have tens or hundreds of million people working in that job. So whenever I wanted to find what I was looking for, there wouldn’t be a lot of random things about my one topic. One example of what went well for the timing of doing my research for capstone is, I didn’t feel stressed for how much time I had to do my research. That is because we had a really long time to finish everything, so I felt less pressure on my shoulders to be doing research for my capstone every second of the day. In summary, many things went well for capstone, from the topic I picked to write about and to the timing of doing my research.

When writing my essay it was pretty challenging, from creating my layout, to converting my research into an essay, and editing everything myself. The reason why it was hard for me to do my layout was because it was hard from my perspective, to figure out what should be in what place. The reason why converting my research into an essay  was hard for me, was because I had never really done something quite like that. So I didn’t really know what to put in my writing, and what to keep out of my writing. The reason why editing everything for myself was challenging was because it was hard for me to change a lot of my own writing. I say that because I had worked really hard for my writing, and it felt weird to me to have to change a lot of it. My main inquiry question was “what are the top ways modern architecture affects society?” To answer that question, I researched how modern architecture affects the work environment, sports stadiums, people with disabilities, and the environment. Capstone Essay Link. In summary, doing my layout, converting my research to my essay, and editing my essay was pretty challenging throughout writing my capstone essay.

I chose a TED Talk for a few reasons, one reason was because I wanted to experience talking to parents about the topic I was interested about, another reason was because I thought about how I had done a WeVideo many times though I have never done a TED Talk before. The reason why I wanted to talk about the topic I was interested in to the parents is, I would be able to share what I think about a topic to people that might not have thought that way about the topic. It would also be something new that I had never done before, especially doing it infront of parents. The reason why I had thought about how I had done a WeVideo many times though I have never done a TED Talk before is because, throughout 3-5 grade I have done at least 4 WeVideos. While for TED Talks, from 3-5 grade I haven’t done 1 before until I was going to do capstone. I also just wanted to try and do something new for a project, instead of doing something I have already done. When completing my script for the TED Talk, it was pretty easy to me, because all I really had to do was just copy the words from the narrative. Then I just had to figure out the timing, and what picture I was going to use for each slide. The most enjoyable part of my script template was seeing how much I was getting done so fast. That is because it showed me I was getting closer and closer to being able to complete my capstone assignment. One of the challenges I faced was making sure that each slide was under 15 seconds. The reason why it was challenging was because I had to make sure I didn’t cut any sentence in half, while worrying about the timing. Ted Talk Script Template. In summary I chose to do a TED Talk because I wanted to experience talking to parents about the topic I was interested in. Another reason was because I thought about how I had done a WeVideo many times though I have never done a TED Talk before. And there was a process to how I created my template, what I enjoyed about it, and the challenges I faced.

The process of completing my TED Talk had its ups and downs. The thing I enjoyed most about completing my TED Talk was memorizing the script, that is because I felt so accomplished for being able to memorize something that was 5 minutes of speech, that I had to learn from off the top of my head. It also made me realize if I could do that then I could do many other things that seemed impossible, though in reality weren’t. The thing that was challenging was having to memorize my TED Talk script, even though I enjoyed it I also found it most challenging. That is because even though it wasn’t the most challenging to memorize each slide, it was really hard to remember the order, when to switch the slide, and what slide goes with what. It took me a lot of hours of hard work to be able to get closer and closer to memorizing the full thing. And it was far more challenging than picking out the pictures that match what I was talking about, while not being blurry. In summary, the process of completing my TED Talk had its ups and downs for a number of reasons.

In conclusion, capstone has been a really fun project with its ups and downs for multiple reasons. Now that I have finished this project, try and think how your capstone experience went for you.

Immigrant Documentary

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Have you ever made a documentary about someone? Well I just have, in this blog post I will be talking about the process of making my video, and what I have learned as a result of this project. So keep on reading to find out more!

My experience making the video wasn’t as good as I had thought it would be. That is because, when I started doing my script I thought I was in a really good position, and felt like I was a step ahead of everybody else. That was until I realized I had to change my whole script to sound just like a story, not a narrative. That step back felt really bad, because I had spent a lot of time on my script just to know I had to change the whole thing. After I had finally finished my script, I had to get photos, and not only photos from my dad who was my interviewee. But I also had to get photos that fully matched my script, and that were also from wevideo. So that wasn’t very good either. After I had finished getting all my pictures and putting them all into place, which also wasn’t the best. I had to do a voice over. To me it was like a breath of fresh air, because it was really easy compared to the other things I had to do. That is because for the voice over all you had to do was just read your script, and try to match up with your pictures. In all, my experience making the video wasn’t the greatest.

I had learned many things as a result from the immigration project. I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know before about my dad that I know now. Like how he taught at both Brandeis and Harvard, I only knew that he just taught, and I didn’t even know where. Another thing I learned as a result of the project was conducting an interview. Like I learned how to pace myself and wait for the interviewee to stop and think about the question, and don’t stop them when they are talking, and also nod to show them I am understanding what they are saying. One more thing that I learned as a result of the project was how to create a proper video. I had made many videos before, but for this one it was the longest and I had to put most work into it. I have also only done one other video this year, and because it wasn’t just last week I remembered and learned new things. Like how to customize the photos, or edit and change the music. In all, I learned many things as a result from the immigration project.

In conclusion, in this blog post I talked about the process of making my video, and what I had learned as a result of this project. So now that I have finished my immigration project, have you ever done an immigration project?

Immigration Interview

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Do you know anyone who has immigrated somewhere? Have you ever done an interview? Because I have just finished one, in this blog post you will be hearing about my experience preparing for the interview, and my experience conducting the interview. So keep on reading to find out more!

My experience preparing for the interview wasn’t that  hard to me, because once my teacher gave me the instructions for the interview questions, I got straight to work. On the first day I had already gotten 20 questions, and we only needed 10 – 15 questions. The reason why the questions were easy to make is because I was interviewing my dad, and I know him really well. I had to consider if the questions that I had created were open-ended questions, which was kind of hard, because sometimes it’s pretty hard to tell if the question was open-ended or not. After I was sure that I had finished, I checked with my teacher to add the finishing touches, to make sure each question was good and open ended. By the end, my teacher had helped me make 15 good questions. After all of that, my teacher helped me print my questions onto paper so I can bring it home and interview my dad. The resources that I had received to help me with my interview questions didn’t really help, since I had used any of the questions that they had suggested. In all, preparing for the interview was pretty easy for me.

My experience conducting the interview was good. The only bad thing about it was, it took awhile to even start my interview with my dad, because we would plan it one day, then sometimes our schedule could change and we wouldn’t be able to do it. My interview was conducted inside my house, in the living room. It was in person, not on the phone. Though I did record the interview. It went completely as I expected, because it was long, but not too long. Also, I had heard how my friends’ interviews had gone, so I had known what to expect. I learned how to act and say. For example, I had to wait and make sure that the person I was interviewing had fully finished what they had to say before I continued to ask more questions. Another example is, I had to add follow up questions when I thought I should have. I learned many more small but interesting stories I hadn’t known about my dad before. Like when his plane that was taking him to America was struck by lightning. Or where he had worked as a professor. In all, I had a good experience while conducting my interview.

In conclusion, in this blog post I talked about my experience preparing for the interview, and my experience conducting the interview. It was pretty fun to make, because I had never done an interview before. Now that I have thought about it, I would like to know, have you ever done an interview?

Halloween Fun

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Oh no! There’s candy being thrown at you left and right, spooky music is playing. Then you hear your alarm clock and realize it was all a dream, but what was not a dream is today was Halloween! In my blog post I am going to talk about my favorite school Halloween activities, and trick or treating. So keep reading to find out what’s next.

There were two very fun Halloween school activities that personally I found favorite. The first thing is the Heathcote Halloween Party, it was on a Friday after school. I really like how fun the vibe was, since everybody was jumping around and singing it felt really fun. My friend Noah had a really cool zombie costume that I liked, it had pretty cool detail with a fake brain coming through the helmet. If there were another party like that I would one one hundred percent go. The second activity that I really liked was the Heathcote parade. It was really fun, it was also cool to see my mom in the middle of school. My friend Andrew had a really cool costume, it was an eight foot inflatable chicken costume. It was really funny how all the younger kids we like, ‘’Wow! Look, there’s a chicken.” All the Heathcote Halloween activities were sooo fun.

There are three things about Halloween trick or treating that makes it so fun, like being with friends, getting free candy, even giving out candy to trick or treaters. For trick or treating we went to Carthage road, this is because on this street all the houses are really close together. Which makes it way easier to walk around and trick or treat. I had a lot of friends that I trick or treated with. Like Noah, Oscar, Jason, Nolan, Reznor, Andrew, Dowlat. We all had different costumes, and it was really fun to all be together. Usually my house never has any trick or treaters, so when we get one we always get really excited. This year we only got two trick or treaters, which made me pretty annoyed. So when the two trick or treaters came, me and my mom were super excited and gave them extra candy. I didn’t get that much candy from trick or treating, since I didn’t trick or treat for so long. I still got really good candies though, like twix, kit kats, crunch bars, and more. Halloween trick or treating is always so fun every year.

In all, Halloween this year was so fun. With the trick or treating, or all the Halloween parades it really was a great highlight of my 2023 year. I still don’t know something though, what did you like most about this year’s Halloween?

Bedford Ropes Obstacle Course

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Have you ever done obstacle courses? Have you ever pushed your body to the limits? In this blog post I am going to talk about my favorite courses, and the things I learned. So keep on reading to find out what happens.

There were many fun courses that I did on the Bedford Ropes Trip, but these were my top three favorite things that I did. The first fun thing I did was the Rope Swing, it was so fun and hard, it also used a lot of teamwork. This is because you have to jump on a rope without touching the ground, and your teammates have to help push you to the platform. The goal was to get everyone on the platform. Though we didn’t beat it, in the end it was so fun, and I think a lot more people other than me also really liked it. The second thing I really enjoyed is the Balance Beam course. Even though it didn’t take any teamwork, it still used a lot of balance and strength to complete. On the course we had to go across balance beam to balance beam, then we had to balance on very thin ropes to the end. The third thing is the Indiana Jones Walk. This used more teamwork than personal strength. This is because we had to stand on wooden logs to get to the next two platforms. People had to stand on the back of the logs, then somebody jumped to the next platform. The goal again is to get everyone to the last platform. In conclusion, the three courses were all so fun, and it was such a great experience.

Not only did I enjoy Bedford Ropes Trip, but I learned about myself, my classmates, and teamwork. I learned a few things about myself. The first thing I learned about myself is how much easier it is to do things with teamwork. I figured this out, because in the Rope Swing course I needed my classmates to help me get momentum to swing, and get on the platform. I never really realized how hard it could have been without teamwork. I learned something important about my classmate Niko. The thing I learned about him is how helpful he can be. This is because he was always motivating me and my classmates, by helping and guiding them on what to do on the courses. The thing I learned about teamwork is that everyone can do it. I realized this when we were doing the Indiana Jones Walk. Everybody was working together to help and get the next person to the platform, which used a lot more teamwork than I thought. In all, on this trip I learned about myself, my classmates, and teamwork.

This grade trip to Bedford Ropes really made me realize how much you can improve teamwork from obstacle courses. What course would you like the most of the three Bedford Ropes Trip courses I stated?