I learned about dystopian fiction by writing academic paragraphs and discussing topics related to the book: The Giver.
What did I learn?
Building Vocabulary
Using transition words
Writing academic paragraphs
Collaborative discussions
What worked?
I think, for me, the discussions went really well. Me and my group mates were focused on the task and we all related to each others’ ideas and our discussion was fluent. We were able to follow up with each other and all of our notes and comments were all on topic.
What did not work?
I think I can improve on writing academic paragraphs. By remembering to add evidence and reasoning and a introduction statement and conclusion to make the paragraph well-written.
Personal Relevance
I think this can help me improve my communication writing skills because in discussions, I can practice relating to other people and I can also practice more writing academic paragraphs with evidence reasoning and claims.
We started by completing an investigation to determine the relationship between potential energy and height. We also did our lab report based on our investigation, we built a model of a roller coaster, recorded the data of the success rates at each starting point and finally we wrote a conclusion using the CER (claim, evidence, and reasoning) strategy.
We started by understanding the difference between observations, inferences, and wonderings. Then we did some research on a fossil called Ötzi and wrote a CER (claim, evidence, reasoning) paragraph about what we think if he was murdered or not. Finally, we learned the difference between open and closed questions and how to ask and answer them.
What did I learn?
We have learned that there are many different periods of the past and that people have slowly evolved from being nomads and hunter-gatherers to settling down in one place and starting to breed animals and grow agriculture. We have also learned from fossils that there are many types of species of humans that evolved into one species over time. I also learned that in the days when people had already started settling down, people had to fight over agriculture and animals for food.
What worked well?
In the Ötzi mock trial, I was a member of the prosecution team where I had to prove that Ötzi was murdered by another prehistoric man. I am proud of the effort that I put into preparing for this mock trial and how I tried my best to think of important questions that would help bring the case to my side. During the mock trial, I paid attention and did well in asking my questions clearly. The prosecution team won the case!
What did not work?
Most of my work went well and I got good grades, and I tried my best. One thing that I want to improve is my CER paragraph because I want to make my reasoning clearer and explain myself more clearly and also to elaborate on what I am saying or what I mean in the paragraph. I want to do this to challenge myself a bit further and to push myself to think a bit more about the topic.
Personal Relevance
I think the collaboration and communication skills that I practiced on this unit can help me in my future because I can be more confident to speak in front of a larger crowd. I also practiced working together with my team and helping each other when we needed it to work together towards a goal. These skills can make me more successful in the future and allow me to collaborate and communicate well with partners and other people.
In this unit, I prepared for a bake sale using our knowledge of rates and ratios. For the bake sale, we decided to make brownies. To prepare, we first got the ingredients we needed, calculated the costs for one batch, then for one serving and finally determined our markup price to get our sale prices.
What did we learn?
I learned how to calculate rates and ratios using double number lines, tables, other graphs, scale factors and percent proportion. I was able to clearly show our work in all of these ways.
What worked?
We successfully calculated all of our costs for our batches and servings and calculated a reasonable sale price. We were also able to turn in every assignment on time. The brownies we baked were very delicious and we sold out all of them, making a lot of profit.
What did not work?
I think the overall calculations were done very well by my team. What I think we could do better is making a bit more batches so that there would be a bit more brownies to give to the students who came later we can also make more profit.
Personal Relevance
This can help me prepare for my future because I already have some experience of how marketing works and about how we calculate the costs, determine the markup price and get our final sale price. This way, I can make profit and earn money.
I made a egg car with my partner, Miranda. There were criteria about the length and width of the car and we had to use the Newton’s Three Laws of Motion to find different ways or strategies in order to protect the egg from cracking when sliding down the ramp and finally hitting the concrete stone at the end of the ramp.
What did I learn?
In this challenge, I saw the Newton’s Three Laws of Motion in action. For example, we demonstrated the first law, the Law of Inertia, in the challenge by using seatbelts to show the unbalanced force which prevents the egg from flying forward. Also, the third law, the Law of Action-Reaction, was demonstrated when we added a crumple zone to our car so that most of the force from the crash went into that crumple cone instead of getting to the egg and causing the egg to crack.
What worked?
Our car crashed onto the concrete wall and the egg inside did not crack. My car had a well built crumple zone, protecting the egg inside from the action of hitting the wall. The seat belt was also successful in keeping the egg inside the car.
What did not work?
Although our egg survived the crash, our car was way too long and it did not meet the criteria for the limited length of the car. So our car was disqualified from the competition.
Personal Relevance
Now I know that every car or truck or any vehicle must have different safety systems to protect the passenger inside. Some types of safety systems are having crumple zones and seatbelts. All of these systems keep all passengers safe in case an accident happens.
I made a small, balloon-powered car with my partner Emilie. The materials we used were styrofoam, straws and a balloon. We did this challenge to learn about Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. Which are the law of inertia, the law of acceleration and the law of action-reaction. Through this balloon car challenge, we were able to see these laws in action in real life.
What did I learn?
In this balloon car challenge, we learned about all of Newton’s Three Laws of Motion in action. The first law states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. The second law states that the greater the mass of an object, the more force it takes to accelerate it, or Force equals Mass times Acceleration, F=MA. The third law states that every action has an equal, opposite reaction. In this balloon car challenge we worked on, it shows Newton’s first law by showing how the balloon cart does not move unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, the unbalanced force being the air that is pushed out of the balloon. The challenge also shows Newton’s second law because the more force there is in the balloon, the more acceleration there will be in the balloon car and the farther the balloon car travels. Finally, the third law is shown in this challenge as well because while the force from the balloon is pushing the balloon car forwards, there will always be another force pushing back, such as the friction between the car and the ground. We learned a lot about Newton’s Three Laws of Motion in this balloon car challenge.
What worked?
I think the collaboration between me and Emilie throughout the challenge was great since we were able to work together well and we also stayed on task, being able to finish building the balloon car and filling out the worksheet on time without missing anything. We had to collaborate well together because this challenge is a group work where we work with a partner and stick with that partner throughout the challenge. We both love science and science is both of our favorite subjects so we both try to always do our best during class. I was able to answer and fill in all of the spaces and blanks on the worksheet correctly and accurately and completed the whole challenge on time and did all what I needed to do to my best ability.
What did not work?
Although our balloon car did travel for a pretty long distance, it did not travel that fast. To solve this problem, we tried adding more air into the balloon in order to try to make more force come out of the balloon so that that force from the air that is released out of the balloon car can instantly push the balloon forward, making the car go faster and farther. This solution helped solve our problem and made our balloon car design travel fast and far.
Personal Relevance
The Balloon Car was like real cars in real life except that they are powered by gasoline and electricity rather than balloons. There will always be a force pushing the car forward, but at the same time, there will also be another force pushing in the opposite direction, back at us, for example, it could be the force of friction. This is following Newton’s Third Law of Motion which states that every action has an equal, opposite reaction. This law of motion can also be seen in the real world on actual cars where the cars are using applied force to move forward, but there will always be another force, which might be friction, pushing the car back in the opposite direction. The same law applies to both the balloon car and the cars in the real world. It is important to know these laws because it helps all of us understand our world a bit more, and also, these laws can basically define anything, it can help us figure out and answer almost any question related to motion. Even in space, where there are zero-gravity, Newton’s Three Laws of Motion still applies.
We are preparing for our first concert, which is the Winter Concert. So all the songs we are practicing is for the Winter Concert on November 25.
What are we learning?
In our first unit, we focused on learning about new playing techniques and musical elements and we also learned about STARS (Signatures, Tempo, Articulations, Rhythm, Signs). We also practiced some scales that might be useful in our songs. Most of the songs that we practiced is what we are going to perform on November 25 in the winter concert.
What’s working?
I love to be in the orchestra and be able to work together with my friends and my classmates to play many different types of songs. We are all improving pretty quickly as a group and I think that we will make the concert perfect. I am auditioning for being the section leader for the cellos for one of the songs that we are playing and I got a place! I am the cello’s section leader for the song “Thundersnow”! 😉
Areas for Growth
I feel like our orchestra is doing pretty well so far, for example, we can play all of the winter concert pieces very well. There are just some small details that we might need to focus on, such as the rhythms of some of the pieces and try to keep up with each other as a whole orchestra without getting lost in the piece.
Personal Relevance
I really enjoy playing the cello and so I think being in the orchestra can both help me improve my cello skills and help me work on collaboration skills because with both of these, we are able to make a great orchestra. I think this can help me in the future to continue my journey as a cellist.
I wrote a fictional story based on a theme that matters to me, which is perseverance.
What are we learning?
Theme – my purpose for writing this story, my message to readers
Character Development – creating believable characters with positive & negative traits
Plot – the sequence of events in my story; Western and Eastern approaches to storytelling
Setting – the world that I create for my story
What’s working?
I enjoyed writing the descriptions of my settings and characters.
I am proud of how I specifically described my settings and characters and their actions.
I got the ideas because I love fantasy stories and I also learn Kungfu or Martial Arts at home and I also have a little sister as well, who learns Martial Arts together with me, so I put what I do in real life into a story.
“But I couldn’t stop, not if I wanted to survive this chaos.” I like this sentence because it gives the reader some sense of suspense and makes the reader want to keep on reading my whole story.
Areas for Growth
I feel like the most challenging part when writing my story is to elaborate enough and to describe my story enough while also having to control my time well in order to get every little detail of my story in before my time was up.
I was able to overcome this challenge by really focusing on my story, trying to not let anything else distract me so that I can write something down write when it comes to my mind and later go back and edit a little if I need to.
My least favorite part of the story is when Guan Ting gets badly hurt for protecting her sister from getting killed, this is because I don’t really like any violence although there is a lot in my story. But it is very brave for Guan Ting to do that action, sacrificing herself for other’s protection.
Personal Relevance
I think creative writing can help me by opening my imagination and creativity. I enjoy creative writing because I love using my imagination to come up with stories about many different themes and topics that I am really interested in or that I really care about. I also enjoy creative writing because I get to write all of my story’s interesting plots where there are rising actions and climaxes and there might even be a plot twist. I feel like writing creative stories is a great and very exciting experience.
I made a Chinese traditional throwing game called 投壶. I made this project using cardboard, using different techniques, such as scoring to help me bend the cardboard and make the bucket’s shape. I wanted to use the cardboard material because I feel like it suits my project the best and I feel like it is the best for making something big and sturdy. This is a small game in Chinese culture and I made this for my family to play at home during our free time.
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?
I thought crucially when I problem solved to make the Indi robot car to go around the track successfully and when I tried to build out a Gravitrax track that is both complex and fun to watch.
What did not work?
I struggled to start of the Gravitrax because I didn’t really know about it and what each block is for. I also struggled when I was trying to figure out what the problem was in our track to make the Indi robot car to follow it.
Personal Relevance
Today’s learning is like learning about how we should use our critical thinking skills to solve problems that we might experience in life, for example, when we are trying to make a project a success, we have to learn from our mistakes and finally make it work. Today’s learning will help me in my future because it develops my brain and my critical thinking skills.
