Informed Argument Podcast

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1. What did you learn about writing informed arguments?

I have learned many techniques, like adding Language, Organization, Voice and Emotional Appeal (LOVE) to my argument. I have learned about voice the most, and how to choose powerful words that convince the listener and reader about my view of the topic.

2. What did you find challenging about writing this genre? How did you overcome the challenge?

What I found most challenging was writing a thoughtful introduction which could set up and introduce the following two claims from each side of the topic. I had to make sure I caught the reader's attention with something they could think about and reflect throughout the whole podcast. I overcame this challenge by setting a question, allowing the reader to think and relate.

3. What did you find challenging about recording the podcast?

Many things were slightly challenging for me. The first challenge was maintaining an engaging voice throughout the podcast, the second challenge was trying not to laugh in the podcast, and trying to seem serious and professional in what I was saying. The final challenge was then uploading the podcast to my blog.

4. What are you most proud of about your podcast?

I am most proud of the way I conveyed my voice in the podcast. I thought I was pretty convincing, and used a lot of evidence to support my claim of less homework.

5. What are you hoping your listeners will feel/do as a result of listening to your podcast?

I am hoping teachers and parents will be a bit more gentle on homework for kids, and realize that extra homework isn't going to help them very much.

End of Year Reflection

PE / Health End of Year Reflection - 6th Grade

Copy these questions to your blog and complete them in class. This will be the last formative assessment of the year so do your best work. Label your blog post “pe”

Write  your favourite sports quote and tell who said it and what it means to you. This quote was by Babe Ruth, and it means a lot to me. It tells me that if you never give up, it will be hard for the people around you to beat you. This is something I usually keep in mind if I am lagging behind, and I want to give up.

What does wellness mean to you? To me, being well means eating right, sleeping on time, and exercising daily. When we do all these things everyday, that is called being well.

What do you do on a daily basis to be well and healthy? Everyday, exercise and do yoga to build my flexibility. Sometimes I also go out to swim for an hour, and other times I go to the gym and run, cycle, and stretch my hamstrings for an hour.

BRAIN BREAK: 20 Jumping Jacks

Rate your enjoyment of  PE? 1-5 (1=poor 5=awesome) What are your favorite things about PE? I would rate PE a 4. My favorite things were doing the fitness test and kilometer run, because I could see where I am at, and what I need to do to improve. Then when I set my personal record, I feel proud of myself. I also liked the following units: Tennis, Badminton, Basketball, Floor Hockey, Volleyball and Rugby.

Rate your enjoyment of  Health? 1-5 (1=poor 5=awesome) What are your favorite things about Health? I would rate it a 3. I liked the units we had, they were very informative and gave me good background knowledge of important topics. I gave it a 3 though, because I felt that there wasn't much physical activity involved, and there was a lot of sitting.

What would you change about the Health or PE program? This is already going to change, but in health, maybe some more interactive, physical activities.

BRAIN BREAK: 1 minute of push-ups (or as many as you can do in 1 minute)

How physically active have you been this year on a weekly basis? Share as many of the sports, select teams, intramural sports or activities that you participated in this year in 6th grade. Include activities you do both in and out of school. When I went to India, I hiked on a mountain for about 7 hours coming and going. I don't participate in any intramural activities, but I think I will next year. I do Movement (dance) every PE day.

Finish this sentence. I am a good teammate because… I am a good teammate because I help other people if they have questions, and allow other people to join my group if I can.

How have you shown leadership this year in PE? What qualities make you a good leader? (If you have not taken the opportunity to lead this year what you could do to improve on this next year?) I have not really been a leader, but I will next year. I have noticed the leaders step up even if they aren't asked to, and let everybody say their opinion. This makes me think that I should take every opportunity to be leader, teaching others and learning myself.

What is your strongest area of physical fitness? (strength, flexibility, cardio respiratory endurance) Which area do you need to work on? I think my strongest area of physical fitness would be flexibility. I know that because my physical fitness in sit and reach was 39, and I was very proud of that. I need to work on cardio respiratory endurance.

Why do you think being physically active is important? Being physically active throughout your life is important because if we remain active, it reduces risk of problems later on. It also keeps your mind peaceful and allows you to concentrate.

BRAIN BREAK: One minute of sit-ups

Describe your strengths and weaknesses eating ‘MyPlate’ 3 meals a day. I always drink three glasses of milk and two cups of yogurt a day now, and I only used to drink one or two glasses a day before. This gives me a lot of calcium a day. I also have green vegetables everyday too. A thing to work on would be to eat more nuts to provide protein and energy. I probably only eat nuts twice every month.

What is your food goal? (Review your MyPlate blog post) Did you achieve your “food goal” or do you need to continue to work on it? I have achieved my goal of three glasses of milk a day. I regularly drink lots of milk, and I have a reminder note that reminds me to take calcium.

How stressed have you been this semester? I have been quite stressed sometimes. I have been stressed in a good way though, for example when it is the day of the Kilometer Run, I stress myself to do well and make a personal record. This stress helps me and motivates me to do well in the thing I am doing.

What two strategies work best for you to reduce stress? Sometimes I just go outside I run around in the fresh air, and sometimes I talk to my mom about the issue.

BRAIN BREAK: Hold the hamstring stretch for 30 seconds x2

If you finish early and are proud of your work, you may watch the following videos with your ear buds in. PEOPLE ARE AWESOME 2015 (UNBELIEVABLE) PEOPLE ARE AWESOME SPORT EDITION Epic Trick Shot Battle | Dude Perfect Danny Macaskill: The Ridge

BRAIN BREAK: Run one lap of the track

Find your favourite videos which promote lifetime sports or activity or health living and add the link to the following Google Doc. Favourite Sports Videos from 6th Grade 2015

Criminal Investigation- Suspect in Science

Who do you think is responsible for the crime?

I suspect Mrs. Koltutsky and her family did the crime of vandalism, and certain evidences have provoked my decision. For example, a poster says "catch us if you can", which means there is more than one criminal. Secondly, it was painted using acrylic paint, and the only source for art supplies and paint is in Mr. Koltutsky's room since he is an art teacher. Also there were pictures and paintings of ancient Egypt and Egyptian Pharaohs. Ms. Koltutsky is a social studies teacher, and sometime ago she said she had been to Egypt before. On the gerbil cage, Ms. Koltutsky had written a poem, and she is an RLA teacher as well. Also, in that poem, she had mentioned her kids, and truly enough, she does have two sons! The greatest evidence though, was another poem which stated her passions like music, hiking and biking. All these evidences clearly show who the jealous culprit is- Ms. Koltutsky.

Science Fishing Derby Reflection

This is a picture of the Electromagnet Fishing Pole attracting some paper clips

For our project, we experimented with a lot of different ways to bring a strong magnetic fishing pole. This blog post is all about the process, how we experimented, failed, experimented, and succeeded!

We first tried putting all our required materials assembled on the stick. Our task was to be able to make a circuit, where the screw could attract paper clips, and then efficiently be able to disconnect, so that we could drop the paperclips in our basket. The first experiment we did, was coiling the wire around the screw. We had to see whether coiling tightly and neatly around would be more effective, or coiling loose, and crossed. Coiling tightly was more effective. Once the coiling was done, we placed the battery holder and battery on the stick, and used a rubber band to help keep the battery in place, but also to be able to adjust the placing of the battery whenever we wanted. We had made mistakes in between like using too much tape on the wires, losing some of the magnetic effect. We also connected our wires around a metal slide, which prevented the circuit to form, where the magnetism would reach the screw. By doing that mistake, the magnetism was just bouncing of the slide, and going back to the battery. it wasn't reaching the screw. We finally just used the slide as a surface for placing the wires, but made sure the wires weren't affected. Once everything seemed in place, we tested our fishing pole. The magnetism was there, but not strong enough to pick up any clips. I concluded that the magnetism was weak and maybe there was a problem in the batteries. It turned out the batteries were worn out, and new batteries were then replaced. Finally the fishing pole worked, and in the Derby Challenge, my partner and I were able to get 8 paper clips!

What I took away from this challenge, was that to make a good fishing pole, the coiling should be tight and neat to make the magnetism stronger, and the batteries and battery holder should be tested before assembling. Also, being careful with making a circuit is very important, to make sure nothing is taking the magnetism away. The circuit was made by connecting one end of the wire with one end of the battery wire. The other wire was not connected because that was going to be the navigator for the switch. For the switch we used a clip. we touched the two wires and placed a clip to secure the connection. then when we wanted to detach the connection so that the paper clip caught could fall, we simply took the clip out and separated the two wires.

Poetry Slam!

1. What do you know about poetry that you didn't know before? How do your poems demonstrate your knowledge of poetry? 

I definitely feel I have grown as a writer. I now use various poetic devices that were new to me before. Devices like onomatopoeia, alliteration, consonance, assonance, hyperbole, and couplets were what I learned. My poems demonstrate knowledge of poetry because my poem has almost everything I learned and took away from the Poetry unit. I feel I am confident and flexible in using multiple devices to enhance my poem.

2. For your "best" poem, explain the following
How did you come up with the idea for this poem? What was your planning process?

The way I came up with the whole idea of this was through artwork. Our class got a chance to glance at some artwork by advanced students for the Art Show. That tour was great in reviving our imagination, and pouring out feelings and thoughts. I got inspired by one painting of buildings locked in a circle, surrounded by light blue clouds. Immediately the clouds made me think of freedom, dreams, and imagination. I then got reminded of being taken to a different place, which the buildings in the middle of a circle represented in my mind.  My poem played with colors and actions, and crazy objects entering my mid, like it actually did when I first saw the artwork.

What moves did you make as a poet? Explain your revision process.

I first sketched how the painting looked like, and then added some observations. Next,  I started with a few simple lines describing what I thought when I saw the painting. Later on, I added poetic devices like imagery, line breaks, stanzas, and rhyme. The end was for small revisions to make my poem come to life, and adding an "I" feel so that readers could relate to my message conveyed.

What feelings or ideas do you hope to instill in your reader?

By adding a personal yet common feel to the poem, I think many readers will be able to relate to what I said. The message of my poem is we are all capable of imagining, and we shouldn't stop imagination from being wild.

Comparison of the Typical Time Spent on Homework

       

C side B Block has an interquartile range of 37.5. This box plot is similar with the other box plot because both the box plots have an outlier of 120. Some differences were the entry information was different for example the mean, median, mode, and interquartile range. For this set of data the outliers were: 180, 135, 135, 120. This class spends shorter because the outliers skew the data, and without counting the outliers, the range is 60, which is less than the other box plot.

                        

B side B block has an interquartile range of 45. This box plot is similar with the other box plot because, again, the outlier is the same, 120. It is different because everything is different from the other box plot. The outliers were:120, 120. This class spends longer time because not counting the outliers, the range is 65, which is greater than the other box plot.

Math Blog Post Reflection

What is the height of a typical 6th grader?

The height of a typical 6th grader is 60.9 inches. When I look at the spreadsheet, I can see a lot of entries between 60-62, so it makes sense to think about 60.9 inches. The height of 6th graders have a lot of variability because the range of the data is 20, concluding that the difference of the tallest person to the shortest person is a total of 20 inches (one foot and eight inches). My height is 62.5 inches, which is 1.6 inches above the average. The interquartile range of the data set is 4. Outliers were there, which affect the range, and the range was 20 inches. 20 inches is quite big, showing that there was a lot of variability, including the outliers.