Anna's Portfolio

Shanghai American School

Dystopian Fiction/The Giver Reflection

December 16, 2025 /

What did I do?

We were reading the whole book in class on CommonLit. In class, teachers would read it out loud and we would have class discussion in some places and we would add phrases to our Dystopian Characteristics. At home, we would do the assignments on CommonLit and answer the questions after reading 1 or 2 chapters, and always for the last question, it would be an open question and we would need to write an academic paragraph. Additionally, we would have vocabulary quizzes, which the words we chose were from The Giver, and we practice the words using Magic School. We did discussions throughout the book and to prepare, we wrote discussion notes about different topics every time.

What did I learn?

I learned about Dystopian Fiction by reading The Giver and writing academic paragraphs responding to questions about the text. I also learnt about the acronym ‘RACE’ to help me answer those open questions. ‘R’ represents ‘Restate your question’, ‘A’ represents ‘Answer the question’, ‘C’ represents ‘Cite the evidence’ and ‘E’ represents ‘Explain your answer’. I learnt more about transition words for writing the paragraph to make it smoother. I learnt about how I can start a discussion about a book, and I prepared discussion notes every time for a new discussion.

What worked?

I am proud of my skill of note taking on the Dystopian Characteristics, I would write down a phrase and note down which page number it was at. It thoroughly helped me to write the discussion notes about a specific topic and for my assignments on CommonLit when writing the academic paragraphs.

What did not work?

I think I can improve on how I practice my vocabulary, because although I know how to use the words in the test, but, in real life, I won’t use those words often. To improve I can use more Magic School Chatbot, since it can give me more real life examples to use.

Personal Relevance

It can support my future job, because now that I have learnt enough information about Dystopian Characteristics, I can use it on my future job, perhaps writing stories. Also, I can use advanced words when I am writing my story, since I have learnt those vocabulary in the book The Giver.

Harm of Electronics

December 16, 2025 /

What safety behaviours do you think are most important for you?

I think the knowledge of your privacy is the most important, because if you don’t have the knowledge, it is really easy for hackers or bad guys to have all your information. And the consequence would be terrifying, even people around you can be affected.

Who are your five trusted people you can go to if you feel something isn’t right either online or in person?

I feel safe to tell my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother and my best friend that I feel something isn’t right, whether online or in person. Because they are my closest family and I really trust them to be my back. But, if it isn’t a person, I would first call the police, because they always know how to help me, since they have handled many of them.

How does Social Media and Technology impact teens the most in your opinion?

I think the most impact of Social Media and Technology to teens is how much damage blue light can harm teens. Because nowadays, many teenagers are swiping on their phone all day and all night, and it can really harm their eyesight and their sleep.

What strategies can you use to help protect yourself in everyday life – online and in real life – list 3-5 strategies.

In real life, I can remember to buckle my seatbelt and wear my helmet when cycling a bicycle, these can help me prevent from serious physical harm when I am on the road. Online, I can remember to be careful of strangers adding me and not to share my face or my personal information.

What would be the biggest takeaway (learning) you have?

My biggest takeaway is that I learnt that Social Media and Technology can really harm teenagers. And it made me become more aware of what I post on the internet, because now I know what it can cause.

Roller Coaster L4 Lab and Model

December 15, 2025 /

Roller Coaster L4 Movie.mp4

What we did

We started by completing an investigation to determine the relationship between potential energy and height. We also built a model and took the data of its success rate to help us understand more about the relationship. At the end, we wrote a conclusion with CER and was able to end this unit with a lot of useful knowledge.

Tasty Profits Project Reflection

December 2, 2025 /

What did we do?

We first chose the baked goods as Dorayaki, then we found the recipe and needed to convert the measurements. After converting the measurements, the unit price was then being calculated. Later on, we calculated the batch price and decided the sell price by also deciding the markup price. Next we started to bake our Dorayakis at home, following the recipe. In the Bake Sale, the customers had to first ask us one question and then buy our goods. So we prepared to answer them by printing the posters out to explain more easily and we also took our work sheets to the Bake Sale.

What did we learn?

We learnt about how to convert measurements by using table and learned to calculate the unit price by dividing the price by the amount per package. Then we learned to calculate the batch price. Also we learned to measure the exact amount from the recipe. We have learnt to solve for the serving cost by diving the batch cost over the amount of servings it can make. By knowing the serving cost we decided to markup the product by 200%.

What worked?

I am proud of how we made the posters, because we went online to find pictures of Dorayakis and red beans to decorate our posters, and we also summarised the 7 parts we did in an interesting way. In the Bake Sale, my partner solicited costumers to buy our product and so we had all of our product sold out.

What did not work?

I think one thing I should improve on is to write down customers names more efficiently. Because when many costumers started to come, a bunch of people were in front of our table to buy. So I had to write down quickly, or otherwise we would remember who bought our products.

Personal Relevance

This project is going to help me in real life by helping me know the procedure of selling things or food. For example, it can help me know how to markup prices and know how to calculate the profits.

Chamber Music Reflection #1,2,3 and 4

December 1, 2025 /

Grouping

In my opinion, there wasn’t many challenges about forming my group, because we were already sitting close together and all of us were comfortable to be grouped together.

Choosing music

One thing that was challenging about choosing our music was to find music sheets that had only violins and viola. Because in some musics, the violin and the cello were the main part of the song ‘Havana’, so we needed to change the cello part into a viola part, or to find other musics that has violin and viola as the main part. The music we chose is called ‘Havana’, because we all know the main melody of this song and there were a variety of music sheets online for us to find.

Anticipated challenges

One anticipated challenges for this music is how we can print out music sheets freely, so we first went googled up want music piece and part we want. Then it turns out to have to charge to see the whole piece. As a solution, we went to rednote and found the full piece and part of ‘Havana’.

Looking forward

I am looking forward to train my intonation and how I can play the melody to let people who listens know straight away that this is the song ‘Havana’.

Accomplishment

I practiced the piece ‘Havana’, but we then found out that my partner, who plays viola, doesn’t have the piece for ‘Havana’. So we now changed the song to ‘Elegant Penguin’, because we found the piece that has both violins and viola.

Challenges

Something that was challenging about playing and rehearsing together was we tried to match each others tempo difficultly at our first try. But as we go through a few more times, it became smoother and the melody of the notes became easier to recognise and memorize.

Improvement

Next time, I would improve on how we cooperate with each other, because we have changed into another song, so we would need to try and play together when rehearsing. To improve, I can imagine how others would sound like first when playing by myself.

How was your performance in the previous class?

Me and my groupmates performed well, although there is still improvements, but we achieved most of our goal, which is intonation and playing together, based on our audiences’ feedbacks.

What feedback did you acquire?

We acquired our audiences’ feedback, which was to play the music in a same volume, one should not play too loud and one should not too quiet. Also, an improvement is to start and end together, we can use a metronome to help.

What was the goal you prioritized from your feedback?

Our goal we prioritised from our audiences’ feedbacks was too play in the same volume together (sound unity), which we discussed to have an appropriate volume. And to play along together, which we also came up with a solution, that is to have one of our teammates, Scarlett, to be the leader and to signal us when having rests.

What did you do in rehearsal today?

In today’s rehearsal, we discussed about the plan of how we are going to achieve our goal based on the feedbacks we had received. And so we set the volume of how we are going to play through the whole piece, since there is no dynamics arranged in the music. We set the leader of our group, who is Scarlett, to give us a signal when there is a rest before we play, to unify how we sound like, which can avoid ending in different time.

Are you ready for your performance on Monday?

Yes, but we could still use some time to practice at home and practice together, maybe using video calls to practice together, although it would be better in real life. Yet, I am excited to perform on Monday with all of my teamates, since I know that we all have put a lot of effort on this performance.

How did your performance go today? Were you prepared?

My performance went as expected, not good nor bad, I think I was prepared, but maybe I could have prepared more. But our group’s sound was unified, which met our goal, and we started and ended together in the piece.

If you were not prepared, what would’ve helped you become prepared? 

To have become more prepared, the metronome would have helped the whole group to stay in a steady paste together. Additionally, our group could have also have more conversation and opinions on how loud we should play, for sound unity. Our group could have also practiced more, whether online or face to face.

Do you feel the feedback from peers was helpful? Why or why not? 

I think the feedback from our peers were helpful, because it helped us to be clear of our goal. It also helped us improve on this area, which we didn’t really notice our problems were on sound unity, since we were all once thinking that our flaw should be on the intonation.

How did you grow and how do you know? 

I think I grew by knowing that I wasn’t that nervous of performing in front of my peers. Since at the start when I knew I was going to perform in front of my classmates, I freaked out and was sure that I would mess up. But it turns out not as bad as I thought I would play and it also kind of helped my self esteem and confidence.

Rose, Bud, Thorn Concert Reflection

November 27, 2025 /

Rose

Something that went well on the concert was how we transition from piece to piece when the program notes were read, our dynamics were played very well and we played well together, even though we had just rehearsed together a few times. Our transition was well because when the program notes were read, we transitioned quietly and quickly, with only practising the transition for a few times. We played the dynamics well because we conveyed the feeling of the music out, by playing sometimes quiet and sometimes loud, depending on the music. We played well together because when we played every pieces, we know in which part we should stop, where to continue and when to look at the conductor for signs.

Thorn

The difficult part of the concert was practicing at home, because without the conductor and others to play with, it feels more difficult to count how many beats you need to play or rest in your music sheet.

Bud

An area for opportunity is to have more space when playing the piece ‘Winter with You, because everybody was too squished up, which caused us to play not quite nice, since as a Violin 3, we have many long notes to play. One more point to improve is that Grade 6 could move more forward, because some 6 Graders can’t even see the conductor, which made every one of us not really playing together.

Unit II – Ötzi Unit Reflection 

November 27, 2025 /

What did I work on? 

I first did practices about how to observe, infer and wonder things that are happening in a specific picture, and I wrote them down on my notebook. Then, I started to learn about Ötzi the iceman and started to write a CER paragraph, Claim, Evidence and Reasoning, about whether Ötzi was murdered or not. By typing and submitting the paragraph on Word, I also learnt how to format in a specific way. Next, to prepare for my mock trial, I started answering and asking ‘open and closed questions’ on my notebook.                        

What did I learn? 

By learning about the past, I know how people have lived in the past, based on the clothing, personal belongings and their body. I also know what they have invented and made, so based on their ideas of things they invented or made, we can improve their ideas and benefit ourselves. I can learn from them, how the language becomes spoken, how they wore clothes and how they built things, which continues to form the history. 

What worked well? 

One thing that I did that made me proud was how I researched evidence about Ötzi being murdered or not and writing them down on an organizer to use in my CER paragraph. I am proud of it because my evidence was precise and used correctly in my paragraph. Another thing was how I took notes when watching a video and when listening to a podcast about Ötzi the iceman. I am proud of it because my notes were summarized in a short, understanding way. 

What did not work well? 

One thing that I can improve on is how I speak in the mock trial, I could have been a bit louder and clearer for others to hear. To do this, I can practice in front of a mirror a few days before the mock trial, see if my body language shows that I am nervous or not, see if my sound is loud and clear enough for others to hear. Another thing I can improve is to research more things about Ötzi, so that I won’t be stuck and can’t answer the lawyer’s question in the mock trial. To do this, I can read and memorize more about Ötzi’s facts in articles and websites. 

Personal Relevance 

My collaboration and communication skills that have clearly improved in this unit can help me in the future if I am being on court, whether being a lawyer, a witness or a juror. It can help me with how I list out evidence to prove something as a lawyer, or to take notes of witnesses’ answer as a juror, or to answer precisely as a witness. Lastly, it can help me practice my oral speaking skills, to speak clearly and think shortly to answer the lawyer’s questions. 

Egg Car

November 15, 2025 /

What did I do?

The Egg Car was built with an egg, three sheets of A4 paper, a meter of tape, four wheels and two axles. We were assessed on whether or not the egg cracked when it hit the concrete block from the slide.

What did I learn?

Newton’s 1st law says “an object at rest tends to stay at rest, an object in motion tends to stay at motion, unless acted upon an unbalanced force”. As stated by Newton’s 1st Law, to prevent from the egg to fly out of the car (because of its inertia) , I added two secured seatbelts on the car to secure the egg. Newton’s 3rd law says “all actions has an equal and opposite reaction”. When the Egg Car hits the concrete block, the concrete block also gives force to the car. So to prevent the force to hit the egg and make it crack, I added a crumple zone to decrease the force acted upon the egg.

IMG_0316.mov

What worked?

The Egg Car worked well because my egg didn’t crack and my car didn’t flip over when going down the slide. I also learnt about the logic of how a car is built to keep passengers safe. My design of the seatbelt and the crumple zone worked well on experiment, since they have protected the egg, making it without any cracks.

What did not work?

I think my Egg car could’ve been more thicker on the its outer layer, since when I hold it, it always felt like it would suddenly fall apart. But fortunately, it didn’t and protected the egg safely.

Personal Relevance

Now I know why that vehicles have added seatbelts and crumple zones, first they add seatbelts because of Newton’s 1st Law, which is “an object at rest tends to stay at rest, an object in motion tends to stay at motion, unless acted upon an unbalanced force”. They need to prevent the passengers to don’t go forward from their seats when stopping immediately, so we will need to adda seatbelt. Secondly, because Newton’s 2nd Law, which is “all actions has an equal and opposite reaction”. They need to prevent passengers having the opposite reaction when crashing into other hard things, so they added a crumple zone in front of every vehicle to decrease the reaction acted upon the passengers.

Design Technology Reflection

November 7, 2025 /

Inkscape：Graphic Design

Lam Tin – Grade 6 Graphic Design Assignment – 4387320Download

In the first unit of Design Technology, I learnt about how to use Inkscape to do Graphic Designs. I have the choice to design a coaster, a keychain, a fridge magnet and a pair of earrings, with a theme of Xmas for the Xmas fair. First, I asked my client what she wants, how she wants it to be used for, and I take her answers as a base of my design. Then I start writing down the features of my design, and start designing my keychain in Inkscape. Finally, it was printed out and I put it together, so I took a photo of it decorating the bag of my client.

TinkerCAD: 3D Modelling

Anna.Tin.6E1.3D modeling.V1 (1)Download

As a second unit of Design Technology, I learnt about how to use TinkerCAD to do 3D Modelling. I teamed up with my classmates and I did the rook piece, since the theme of our group was ‘Dessert’, my rook became a pudding. Next, I designed my rook in TinkerCAD and printed it out. After that, I checked to see if it was good enough to use, and if I needed to reprint it. Luckily, mine was not broken and did not need to be reprinted.

Balloon Car

November 4, 2025 /

What did I do?

The Balloon Car was built using a balloon, to put force, two straws, one to release air from the balloon and one to put in wheels, a cardboard, to put dish washers, four wheels, to move the car, and tape (or hot glue), to secure the balloon and the straws. We used it to learn about Newton’s three laws of motion, which are Law of Inertia (1st Law), Law of acceleration (2nd Law) and Law of action-reaction (3rd Law).

What did I learn?

Newton’s 1st law says “an object at rest tends to stay at rest, an object in motion tends to stay at motion, unless acted upon an unbalanced force”. We see this law in action with the Balloon Car when the balloon’s air is being released, the car started moving because the unbalanced force, forcing the car to change its inertia. Newton’s 2nd law says “the greater the mass of an object, the more force it will take to accelerate the object”. We see this law in action with the Balloon Car when we added the dish washers, the balloon car became slower and slower because it has the same applied force, but different weight. Newton’s 3rd law says “all actions has an equal and opposite reaction”. We see this law in action with the Balloon Car when the balloon car moves because of the balloon being released.

What Worked?

The balloon car worked well because we were able to successfully complete our balloon car and learn the logic of how things around us move. We had to experiment different things with the balloon car to show what the three laws of Newton looks like when acted upon the balloon car.

What did not work?

It was a struggle when my partner and I had accidentally popped the balloon, so when everybody had already finished the experiment with the dish washer, me and Michelle were still working on our experiment. To solve this problem, we finished the experiment collaboratively, by each being responsible for different roles, and fortunately, we recorded all of the data that we needed.

Personal Relevances

The balloon car was like a car in the real world, since the logic of how it moves is the same, we found out about it when we were experimenting after we had finished crafting it. I see Newton’s 2nd Law physically when we were experimenting the dish washer experiment. We had to add more dish washers in every turn, and we found out that when the weight of the object is different, but the same force pushing the object is still the same, the distance of the object would decrease. It is important to know these Laws because it helps everyone to understand the logic of everything moving. It can also help people to invent or improve things to make them more convenient for human or animal.

« Older posts

© 2026 Anna's Portfolio

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑