The last and final step in Capstone was up. We were going to present our final project which mine was a Ted Talk. The day was finally up to present I was so nervous that I was going to mess up or forget something. We were presenting Capstone two days Monday which we would show the kids and Tuesday we were going to present it to family’s. When I first written all my flash cards I thought to myself there is no way that I could memorize all the cards but soon after that when I practiced a lot I got the hang of it. I memorized most of my cards but I wanted to hold them in case I forgot what to say. I was going to present my Capstone in Mrs. Coopers room. I was glad about that because I wanted to present in Mrs. Edwards room but Mrs. Coopers room was about the same, so I was glad about that. I wanted to present a class in the wing so I was glad about that. I was going to present last, which was fine because I don’t like going first in things. It was finally time to present our Capstone. I was getting more nervous as I was getting closer up. It was my turn I was presenting in front of Mrs.Citron’s second grade class. I was happy because she was my teacher when I was in second grade. When I was presenting after I got sedled in I felt more relaxed and started talking slower. I thought I was doing really well! It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I remembered my information and looked up. I was finished and I felt really proud of myself. The only thing that was bothering me was I would have to present in front of a bunch of family’s. The next day I was so scared I practiced over and over again because I didn’t want to mess up. After the ceromony of the moving up It was time for Capstone sharing. I was SUPER nervous. It was my turn. When I started I talked really fast and stumbled with my words a little but otherwise I felt like I did great and remembered my information. Overall I learned a lot about Crayola and had a great Capstone expirence!!!!

When we found out that making our final project was the next step in Capstone I had no idea what I was going to do. The choices were iMovie, Ignite, and a Ted Talk. I already knew I wasn’t going to do an Ignite because I wouldn’t get that much information out. But I wanted to do an iMovie but what would bring it together. By that I mean like an interview, travling back in time e.t.c. and that didn’t really make sense with my topic. I knew you can’t just list random facts. Mrs. Edwards gave me the idea to do a time line and focus up on the really important parts but It sounded a little boring. The last thing that was left was the Ted Talk. I thought it would be good because I would be able to tell a lot of information but I just didn’t want present it. I would have to deal with it thought. I decided to do a Ted Talk. The next step was deciding what slides I would want to have and how many slides I would have. It was hard coming up with the slide because I was going in the direction of doing each slide as a different important time. I didn’t like that idea so I did the things that would be most important. My interview answers helped me with that. When I was done making my slides this is what I came up with. The introduction, How Crayola came to be, Crayola from the beggining, The Crayola crayons thought the years, Crayola now, Hit products, Improvments and the ending. I thought these were the right amount of slides and I would be able to tell a lot of information about these slides but it would take some work doing it. I decided to write a script becasue I’m not the type of person who can just go up and present all the information that I know that relate to the topic. I would take a while thinking of it and making sure it would make sense. I would also repete a lot of things. I started writing the script one slide by each slide. I started writing on the index cards and I relized it’s hard to get the really important parts because there is so  much information included in each topic. Now I finally finished my index cards on what I’m going to say during my Ted Talk. All I have to do is practice and fix some little things. Overall I can’t wait to present my Ted Talk!

Here is a link to my slideshow. 

The next step in Capstone was answering my main inquiry question. In case you don’t know what it is, it’s:

How has Crayola evolved and what have been the key elements to the company’s success?

I thought it would be really hard; I was right. But the sub questions would REALLY help me answer it. I had a lot of different facts and examples in my head, but putting them into an essay in an organized fashion would be harder. The first thing I decided to do is break-up my main inquiry question. So I decided to make an introduction, a paragraph about how Crayola evolved, a paragraph on how Crayola is successful, and a closing paragraph. First, I wanted to do the draft in my social studies notebook so I could have people edit it and so forth. I started by writing my introduction, including my thesis, which is, “Crayola has evolved many different ways to make the company successful.” Then, for my first body paragraph it would be about how Crayola evolved. For example, 1) They changed their products over the years and 2) How they promote there products. Then, for my second body paragraph it would be about what products made Crayola so successful. For example, the 64 crayon box or washable markers. Then, last, the conclusion. I just restated my thesis, which was Crayola has evolved a lot of ways that had made the company successful.

I was checking it with Mrs. Edwards and she suggested that when I say how Crayola evolved and what products that had made it successful she said that I should name two products and really get into the details of it and I sort of agreed with her because I read my first answer over and it didn’t really sound that organized. I would have to write a full other answer but I felt like it would be the right choice. Even if I felt like I would give less information on this new one because I would just be talking about two products and really be getting into the detail with them. I choose the two products. The Crayola crayon and the marker. I thought these were the best products and the most popular ones too. I wanted to change my introduction so I played around a little and had some help and it turned out to be. “There are many elements that have influenced Crayola’s success, some more than others. After reading books, going online, and visiting Crayola Experience for my site visit and interview, I have identified one major event that has contributed the most to the company’s success: inventing the crayon in 1903.” I thought this was a really good introduction and thesis. I started writing the crayon paragraph first. I wrote it so that it was very detailed. It took a lot of hard work and I finished it. Now I would have to start my marker paragraph. I looked it up, but I realized that there aren’t many websites or information on the marker. Carrel is named after the crayon.  So I decided to fix my crayon paragraph a little. Mrs. Edwards said that I should write how that is the main thing that Crayola has sold and is selling. It turned out to be this. “You probably think that there are so many more things that make Crayola so successful. But after all of my research, site visit and interview, I learned that the crayon is the main reason Crayola is so successful..” After all this hard work it finally paid off and this is how it turned out to be:

There are many elements that have influenced Crayola’s success, some more than others. After reading books, going online, and visiting Crayola Experience for my site visit and interview, I have identified one major event that has contributed the most to the company’s success: inventing the crayon in 1903.

The Crayola crayon comes from the french words “craie” (which means chalk) and “oleaginous” (which means oily). Alison Binney created this new word and the company Binney & Smith became “Crayola” in 1903. The first box of eight crayons included the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and brown. Crayola didn’t invent the crayon because Europe was the birthplace of the crayon. Even though Europe made the crayon it was expensive and toxic. So, Crayola decided to make their crayons non-toxic. The mixture that Crayola used back then contained waxes, talc and pigments and were mixed in small batches and the mixture was poured into molds so it could harden. Then, the workers attached labels to the crayons by hand. Today, they make crayons by melting the wax in a pot. They take the liquid wax and pour it into molds that hold 100 or so crayons each. Then, after the crayons harden, they put them into a wrapping machine. (Even though there are more than 400 colors, there are only 13 different color wrappers.) After the crayons are wrapped, they go into a packaging machine. From there, the crayons are separated into boxes and are put into big shipping boxes and are shipped to stores etc.

After the eight-color crayon box came out in 1903, later in 1949, the 48-color crayon box was introduced. Then, in 1958, one of the most famous box of crayons arrived: the 64-color box of crayons with a BUILT-IN SHARPENER!!!  That was the first time the crayons were arranged in tiers. Tiers are different assorted sections. Then, a few years later, Crayola made the 96-color crayon box and introduced 16 new colors. They held a contest, so the people could name the crayons. One name included macaroni and cheese. Crayola makes 8,500 crayons a minute, 13.5 million crayons a day, and almost 3 billion crayons a year! That is enough to go around the world SIX times!

Lately, Crayola is getting greener! One billion of the three billion crayons Crayola makes a year is manufactured by solar power. One study showed that if you blindfold a person and you put out a box of crayons for them to smell, they will recognize it. By the age of ten an average kid will wear down about 720 crayons. Crayons come in over 400 different colors! They also come in many different-sized boxes. Even Crayola is named after the crayon. You probably think that there are so many more things that make Crayola so successful. But after all of my research, site visit and interview, I learned that the crayon is the main reason Crayola is so successful.

I was SO happy on how it turned out.