I learned about Dystopian Fiction by writing academic paragraphs related to the text.
What did I learn?
Building Vocabulary
Writing academic paragraphs
Using transition words
Academic collaborative discussions
Take a look at one of my CommonLit assignments:
What worked?
I’m proud that I was able to complete all my CommonLit assignments on time, I even got the chance to improve them by learning to add transition words in the paragraphs. I also built my vocabulary by learning about some words from the book The Giver, we wrote a short story using the words that we learned, this helped me expand my vocabulary.
What did not work?
My second discussion wasn’t as good as the first. We talked for a very long time, but the information could be improved and more deep. We got a little off topic, and there were repetitions, next time we can make the conversations more concise but still detailed with information.
Personal relevance
This unit helped me understand how to read text and write academic paragraphs about it, this skill helps me analyze texts which is helpful for me when I’m reading in the future. Learning vocabulary also helps, knowing more words helps me write better paragraphs or stories, knowing more words is helpful in my life in general. All the skills that I learned in this unit can help me in the future.
We started by completing an investigation to determine the the relationship between potential energy and height. We also made a lab report by experimenting with the rollercoaster we made in the classroom with foam tubes. Then we used this data to write a CER paragraph as a conclusion. This is my movie…
This is a project for the unit Rates and Percents. We decided to make Zesty Lemon Cookies. First, we calculated the measurements and determined what ingredients we need to make the cookies. Then we found out the cost for the ingredients so that we can determine the markup and see how much profit we could make. After doing all the math, we baked the cookies together and sold them to other people. After, we calculated how much profit we made, since we gave so many discounts, we didn’t make as much as expected. But the project didn’t just teach us about rates and percents, I had lots of fun with my group members too!
What did we learn?
There were 7 parts for the math before the baking. On day one, we did parts 1 ,2, and 3. In part 1 & 2, we found a recipe we wanted to make, and decided on the Boston Girl Bakes’ Lemon Cookies. In part 3, we converted the measurements. Because the website showed the amounts with the US system, we converted it to the metric system. We learned to convert the US system to the metric system by finding the scale factor. In part 4, we learned how to calculate the unit price for each ingredient. The unit price is the price of the ingredient divided by how many grams there are in each pack. Then, in part 5 we learned how to calculate the batch price. This is done by dividing the amount of the ingredient needed for one batch by the unit price of the ingredient that was calculated in part 4. In part 6, we learned how to calculate the batch cost and serving cost. Our batch cost was 108.68 RMB, we found this by adding up all the costs of each ingredient needed to make 1 batch. Next, the serving cost, our recipe can make 24 cookies, and each cookie costs 4.24 RMB to make. We found this by dividing the total batch cost by the 24 servings. Finally, in part 7, we determined the sell price. In this step, we learned about markups. A markup is how much the price will be raised from it’s cost when it’s sold to the customers, our markup percent was 200%, which is 8.48 RMB. The sell price is the markup plus the cost which makes it 12.72 RMB. The had to be rounded to the nearest RMB, which made it 13 RMB (our final sale price). We also learned to find the markup after the sale price has changed, the new markup price is 8.76 RMB, we found this by 13¥-12.72¥+8.48¥=8.76¥. We learned to find the new markup percent by finding the scale factor of the original cost and the new markup, we rounded it to 2.07. So the markup percent is 100% times 2.07, which makes the new markup 207%. We also learned to find the profit which was the final markup. This project helped me understand rates and percents better, and how to use it.
What worked?
I calculated all the math in the 7 parts correctly and got a meeting for every part. We also used the math to bake the cookies which turned out great, we tried one and couldn’t help but want another one! But of course we had to save them for the bake sale. We made 3 batches of cookies that were a big success during the bake sale. At first, there weren’t that many customers, but later on when more people came in, more people starting buying our cookies. People started realizing how good the cookies are, but maybe its also because of our sale price. We gave a really big discount and a lot of people came to buy it because it was one of the cheapest items out of all the other food. This project was really fun and our cookies were a big success, lots of people came for seconds.
What didn’t work?
Though all the math for the sale price worked out fine, we gave too many discounts because nobody was buying them. But since one person got it for 5 RMB, others would want that too. So, in the end we gave out more than half of our cookies with a 50% discount of the already 3 RMB discounted price. Our original price was 13 RMB, but we sold the cookies for 5 RMB! In the end, we could’ve made way more money if we didn’t give the discount, however we still made close to 100 RMB. During the baking process, one of us brought whole wheat flour, and the batch that was made with whole wheat flour turned out kind of weird. And softer than usual, so lots of cookies broke. This was quite wasteful because the whole wheat flour tasted not as good as the all purpose flour, but people still said it was good because the icing on the cookies were the best part of it. If we added up all the prices including the wasted cookies, we didn’t make as much as we expected. But it’s fake money anyways, the most important part is that the math was correct, and we had a lot of fun.
Personal relevance
Knowing how to do the math for a bake sale is an important life skill. Not only is learning about rates and percents an important part of math, knowing how to calculate things like the cost, profit, markup, etc. Is very helpful in doing business. In the future, if I have a business of selling things, I will know how to set prices and not lose money in the end like we did this time. Having the ability to calculate and use rates and percents is a very important skill for my future journey. It can help me in school, college, or for my job. This unit was both fun and taught me lots of valuable knowledge.
I worked on 3 main things in this unit. First, I learned a method on how to look at images. Writing down fact-based observations of the image noticed or experienced through the five senses. Then make inferences from thoughts or decisions about the things observed from the image. And finally asking questions about the image to help prove the inferences made. Second, I learned about Ötzi and wrote a CER paragraph about Ötzi. We wrote the CER paragraphs on whether Ötzi the iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummy, was murdered or not. I wrote the CER paragraph on how Ötzi the Iceman was murdered by another prehistoric man. Finally, we learned how to answer and ask open and closed questions. We did this by doing a mock trial on whether Ötzi the Iceman was murdered. As the expert witness, I learned about open and closed questions, then I answered the questions I thought lawyers might ask. In court, I was able to answer the questions provided by the lawyers and won the trial.
This is my CER paragraph:
What did I learn?
In this unit, I learned about why we should care about the past. We should care about the past because the people who lived back then are our ancestors and without them there would be no present. The past is also our past, by learning about the past, we understand how we came, what our ancestors went through. Lots of great, valuable things were made long, long ago. And having the knowledge of how these things were made helps us make more inventions and use the past in the present.
What worked well?
There are 2 things that went well for me in this unit. First, my CER paragraph about Ötzi the Iceman. I was able to research and meet all the criteria of this assignment. Writing this paragraph didn’t just get me a good grade, it helped me learn more about Ötzi the Iceman, learn more about the past, which helped me in the mock trial. The second thing that went well was the mock trial, I was the expert witness and with all the research I had done in the unit, I could create good answers by using the resources I had. From this activity, I learned about open and closed questions and how to answer them. This helped me do well in the mock trial, I was able to answer the questions and help the defense team win the trial.
What did not work?
I can still improve by submitting better work. I didn’t ask enough questions in the Open and Closed Question Organizer. I could’ve added more questions about things like specific data/numbers and specific questions about Ötzi’s belongings. After getting feedback from my teacher, I tried my best to improve and add more answers. In the end, I created good responses to the questions asked by the lawyers, but next time I will try to submit high quality work without having to resubmit.
Personal Relevance
One skill I learned that will be helpful to me in the future is asking questions and making inferences. Being able to ask good questions is the key to getting good answers, so with this skill it will be easier for me in my future job, college, etc. Because asking questions and making guesses gets me closer to the correct answer. Another skill is collaboration and effective communication. In the mock trial, I got to work with lots of people. During preparation I worked with my partner and got feedback and gave feedback to my small group. This was a great opportunity to share and get ideas. Communication is key to making friends and succeeding in group work. In the mock trial, I also learned to be confident and answer the questions asked by lawyers. Confidence is important and this activity helped me with it. And who knows, maybe I’ll become a lawyer someday. Therefore, this unit was very helpful to me.
We got three pieces of A4 paper, one straw, 4 wheels with an axle for each pair, and 1 meter of tape to build a cart for an egg. The criteria was to build a cart to keep the egg safe from cracking. Some constraints were that we only had around 2 hours to build the cart and the egg had to be seen and not taped to the cart.
What did I learn?
The purpose of this challenge was to help us understand Newton’s laws and see them in actions. Newton’s 1st law was seen where some eggs flew out because the force of the concrete and speed of the cart acted as the unbalanced force against the egg’s inertia. However, building a seatbelt can help reduce this force and keep the egg inside the cart. Newton’s 3rd law was seen when the cart hits the concrete and the concrete hits back which makes the egg break without protection, therefore we built a crumple zone to reduce the force acting on the egg, keeping it safe from cracking. We learned these laws although we couldn’t prevent some of them from happening…
What worked?
We made a successful seatbelt for the egg. During the experiment, when the cart went down the track, the egg stayed inside the cart and did not fly out. We made the seatbelt out of the straw so it was stable enough to keep the egg inside and reduce it’s inertia to fly out.
What didn’t work?
Our crumple zone didn’t prevent the egg from cracking when it hit the concrete. Our crumple zone was a paper box filled with 2 springs, it seemed like it was going to prevent the egg from cracking. However, the placement was not good. We put it too low so the crumple zone was under the egg instead of in front, which didn’t protect the egg because when the concrete hit the cart, the egg was unprotected and hit right onto the concrete without the crumple zone in front of it.
Personal relevance
Learning Newton’s laws are very helpful. Now I understand how having a car with a good crumple zone can protect me from serious injuries, I know how to look for a safe car in the future. These laws apply to anything so it helps me understand a lot of concepts like why I can’t push someone 2 times my weight, because Newton’s 2nd law shows how as mass increases, the amount of force needed does too. Learning these laws are very useful in general because it can help me in my future education, and career because Newton’s 3 laws are very important ones to know.
We wrote a character analysis paragraph about one trait that best represents one character from a book we read. I wrote one for June from “A Duet For Home” at the start of the year, and one for Amy Anne from “Ban This Book” near the end of the unit, I think I improved in terms of necessary detail and organization, also some other parts…
Before
After
After I learned the techniques to write a character analysis paragraph, I’m able to write a better structured and detailed paragraph, while before, my paragraph wasn’t as organized like the burger structure.
What Are We Learning?
I learned how to determine character traits in stories. I learned how to effectively use evidence to find the traits of the character, we used the T.O.A.D method to find text evidence showing the character’s traits, it helped me prove the traits of my character with text from the book/story. I learned to find main character traits by making a chart and finding text evidence for each trait, the main one is the trait with the most text evidence found, it shows how the book is trying to show this trait by using things like dialogue, actions, etc.
What’s Working?
I was able to show more detail in my second draft after I learned techniques on how to find and show the character traits in the book. I also learned to use text evidence to prove the character traits by showing proof from the text. The T.O.A.D method was very useful in this unit.
What’s Not Working?
The paragraph was a bit long. I think the explaining wasn’t necessary, because I am trying to find character traits, but I don’t have to explain WHY the character has these traits. Next time, I won’t give a summary of the story, because I can how character traits with simply text evidence and not several sentences of explaining after every piece of evidence. I can just say something like: “This shows that_____(character) is ________(trait) because_____________.” There is no need to say things like: “The reason _______(character) is ________ is because__________.” The paragraph doesn’t need to be that long, I think a shorter paragraph would be good.
Personal Relevance
The main trait of the character I chose, Amy Anne, is restrained. I can actually relate to this because when I was younger, in 2nd grade maybe, I used to be a really quiet person. And later on, I became less shy and more social with people, now I try to engage in class as much as possible. As I read on, Amy Anne changed too, she was more confident and presented her ideas to fight back. The book taught me to be brave and not be afraid to stand up. Learning character analysis doesn’t just help me with ELA, it helps me with people. If I’m able to tell what people feel by their words or expressions, this can make socializing and making friends much easier because I can tell other people’s traits. This skill is very helpful for me both now, and in the future.
We are writing a creative fictional story with a theme that matters to me. We are focusing on developing things like characters or the theme through out the story. In my story, the theme is to have hope in yourself and persevere through challenges. The main conflict isn’t really with my main character, Angelina, and her bully, Chelsea. The deeper conflict is really between the character and herself, she has anxiety and gets bullied, so she hates herself. However through out the story, she teleports to another world, a dark forest. All the challenges she faces in the forest shows one of her weaknesses, for example the forest of embarrassments which has things that Angelina is ashamed of. But even though she fears these things, they helped her grow, after every challenge she gains more courage. She got back up even after the biggest hits like her emotional support dog dying. She still persists and manages to escape, from then, she stopped backing down and stood up for herself in front of bullies. That was a brief summary of my story, “A New World”.
What Are We Learning?
In this creative writing unit, we’re learning how to show the purpose of the story and what message we’re trying to tell the reader. We’re learning about character development, creating the protagonist, antagonist, and supporting character’s negative and positive traits. We also learned about developing the plot and using the setting of the story.
What’s Working?
I made a good plan beforehand, which made writing the story easier because I know what to write. I really like the message of my story, because I think it can help people who need it. I wanted to convey the message of not letting anxiety take over, and tell people that they are great just the way they are and shouldn’t have to change for others. Even though I never experienced bullying, I feel really bad for those who have and want to help. One of my favorite lines from the story is when Angelina finally stood up for herself and said to her bully: “You asked for it. I’m ugly? Well, I don’t agree, LEAVE ME ALONE.”
Areas For Growth
If I had more time, I could’ve made it more detailed. But what I really wanted to improve was my introduction, I couldn’t think of a good introduction, but I was running out of time to finish my story, so I wasn’t able to write a catchy introduction. I hope that next time, I can plan my introduction better so the reader will want to keep reading.
Personal Relevance
Creative writing didn’t just teach me how to write, it gave me an opportunity to be a creative learner. I learned how to develop a creative story, learning how to find the theme/message, character development in a story is very helpful, because I learn to identify hidden meanings in books. And learning this skill will help in my future education, in high school, college, etc. Creativity is generally important because lots of things need me to be creative, school, jobs, so these skills last for a lifetime, this unit was very helpful.
Me and my partner Jasmin built a cart with a piece of styrofoam, some wheels, and 4 wheels connected to 2 axles. The cart is powered by a balloon, we blow up the balloon taped to the cart, put it on the starting line and use the air in the balloon as the force to move the balloon cart. We used this to learn about Newton’s 3 laws.
What did I learn?
Newton’s 1st law is the law of inertia, it states: An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon an unbalanced force. The balloon cart stays at rest when there is no air in the balloon to act as a force, however, when the balloon is filled with air, the air acts as an unbalanced force which moves the balloon cart. Once it starts moving it doesn’t stop right after the balloon runs out of air, it keeps moving until the friction force the floor stops it.
Newton’s 2nd law is the law of acceleration, it states: The higher the mass of an object, the more force is required to accelerate the object. We did an experiment to prove this law, by adding washers/weights to the car and putting the same amount of air in it to see the difference of the distance the cart can move. This shows Newton’s 2nd law because as more weight is added, the cart travelled a shorter distance. Because as the weight increases, the amount of force needed for the car to move the same distance increases too, therefore the same amount of force isn’t enough to create the same reaction, this is why the distance the cart can go decreased as the weight increased.
Finally, Newton’s 3rd law of action reaction, it states: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The balloon cart shows how the air in the balloon acts as the force that moves the balloon cart, but it eventually stops because frictional force is pushing back at the same time, so as the amount of air increases, the cart goes further because it’s stronger than the frictional force.
What worked?
Me and my partner worked really well together, we collaborated nicely and put ideas on the table and shared them with each other. We were able to build a balloon cart that can move, we made a lot of adjustments to the cart, it turned out great in the end, our mistakes and others success helped us learn. We showed all Newtons laws with the balloon cart experiments, the experiments helped us understand Newton’s laws better and see them in action.
What did not work?
At first, we made the mistake of tying the small straw to the balloon instead of the bigger straw. Later on, we found out that because the straw was smaller, the air in the balloon comes out slower than if the larger straw is used. We found this out during the small contest, we decided to fix it by changing the small straw to the big one. When we tested it again, it worked so much better and was faster too because of the different straw.
Personal Relevance
I see Newton’s laws in real life too, and knowing them is very helpful. For example, when I’m riding a bike, it’s easier to ride by myself, but when someone is sitting in the back, it is harder to cycle because the mass increased. Learning these laws help me in my future education, and career because Newton’s 3 laws are very important ones that can help me for a life time.
We had to make a project entirely in French about a country that speaks French as one of their main languages, the country I chose to do my project on was Canada. We had to explain things like where the country is in the world, some things the country is known for, and some more information about Canada. We could only write in French, so the descriptions had to be things we learned how to say.
I chose Canada because I have a Canadian passport so I know more about Canada than other countries. So knowing the country makes describing the country easier, I just have to do it in French. But I do like Canada a lot, so doing a project on one of my favorite country was really fun, I also learned a lot from this project.\
I sorted my PPT into a few sections. First, the citizens of Canada, I explained things like what Canadians are called in French (Canadien/Canadienne), and what language they speak. The second section was about where Canada’s land, where it is on earth, and the capital of Canada. The third section is about Canada itself, like Canada’s flag and national day. Finally, last but not least some things Canada is known for, like maple syrup, ice hockey, etc.
Ms. Inna said my project was very good! I’m also proud that I used French to describe Canada and its traits, I think that the presentation looked quite nice quite. Next time I hope I don’t need any translation, I hope I’m able to know the words myself, I had to search up things like how to say “that” in French. I want to be able to know the words and not have to translate words I don’t remember, I want to expand my French vocabulary which i hope I can accomplish in the next unit. Here’s my project, have a look…
Something that was a bit challenging was pronouncing some of the complex words. For example the difference between: animes, animaux, and animal. There are also other words that took me a while to learn to pronounce, like “surtout”.
The other words were easier to pronounce because I have learned them in French class already. The first paragraph was mostly easy because I’ve already learned most words in French class, they were also easier to understand because they are not too different from English.
My pronunciation has improved a lot since the start of the school year. I have learned a lot in class, and the second unit helped a lot because we were taught how to pronounce different sounds, and trying to figure out how to pronounce some words that I don’t know is much easier, because of the rules for pronunciation we learned. French class has helped me so much with pronunciation and learning new French words, it was very helpful.
I used my critical thinking skills to complete challenges with Indi robot cars and build rollercoasters with Gravitrax.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
I learned about how I would be graded for Critical Thinking. Critical Thinking is my ability to solve problems and make the right decisions.
WHAT WORKED?
Indi Robot Cars: We were able to figure out what each color card did to the Indi Robot Car. For example: Green is Go, Red is Stop, etc. We were also able to create some paths for the Indi Robot Car to follow, me and my partners worked really hard together to create a hard map, we kept testing and testing until it finally worked!
Gravitrax: We were able to build a successful rollercoaster for the marble, even though it failed several times, we still got it to go through the track.
WHAT DID NOT WORK?
For both Indi Robot Cars and Gravitrax, it failed SO MANY TIMES!! The car over-spun, or the color cards weren’t perfectly placed and it went the wrong way. The marble fell off the track, our track even broke down in the last few seconds, we were so mad, it was almost perfect! However, even with those things happening, we didn’t rage and breakdown everything, me and my group still tried our hardest to fix it, even if it didn’t turn out perfect, we tried our best to do it.
PERSONAL RELEVANCE:
In this unit I didn’t just learn about science, I learned to persevere and I used my critical thinking skills to solve problems. The critical thinking skills I learned is very helpful, no matter where I am, what I’m doing. With this skill, I will make better decisions and solve problems easier.
This is me and my partners working on a the track for the Indi Robot Car
