Posted on April 18, 2017
Destination Imagination 2017 Part 2 – Provincials
I went to Destination Imagination Provincials and it was pretty cool. Destination imagination is a program where you pick a group project to do and present it in front of appeasers with a story. There are many different types of projects such as engineering, technical and fine arts. I did the Improvisational project. The project was to make 3 skits all based on the same prompt with a different stock character and genre for each. If you would like to learn more about Destination Imagination and the projects you can read my past post on it Here or go on their Website.
In Destination Imagination you have to present your project at huge tournaments that hundreds of other people compete in. If you are in the top 2-3 of a tournament you get the opportunity to go to the next tournament and if you are very good you may get to go to globals. So this year for D.I. my group first went to regionals and it went pretty well. It took a lot of preparation to get there and we did a good performance. To prepare for the first tournament we did lots of practice with our improv skills and using props. I had a very good group with only 4 other people. We worked very well together. Our first skit at the first tournament didn’t go very well. The story wasn’t very developed and we ran out of time because we had a time limit of only 3 mins. The second skit was better and the third one was our best. We left the tournament knowing that if we were to go to regionals we would need to work on telling a full story and incorporating the genre we were given more. Luckily in that tournament we were the only group competing in our age group so we won by default.
Preparing for Provincials was very different than preparing for regionals. We had way less preparation for Provincials because we had already understood our challenge, made our box of props, and had practiced a ton. To prepare for provincials we had to improve our team choice elements, improve our props, and learn new characters. Once we were done all that we also had to practice more. Our team choice elements were based on music and science. Our music one was one of our team members, Robbie, learned how to play the flute and played a song in one of our skits. The science one was I had to make playdough and use at as a prop in one of our skits. To improve them for Provincials Robbie practiced the flute more and learnt more songs and I remade the playdough so it was less runny. To improve the box of props we went through all of the props and got rid of the useless ones. We also added a few new props. Learning the new characters was pretty easy. We each picked two or three new characters from the list and studied them. Once we were done all that we practiced a ton. We did fun improv games and practiced like we were actually at the tournament. We worked really hard at incorporating our genres more and building up a strong story line. Once we were done preparing we had to go to Provincials.
Provincials started off with the opening ceremony in the gym at around 8:30am. After that my group had an instant challenge at 9:15 so we headed straight to it. The instant challenge did not go very well for my group. Sadly I can’t tell you what the challenge was until after the global tournament later this spring. All I can say is my group did a good job at working as a team but the challenge was very hard. After that we had 4 hours until our main challenge. I still hadn’t had breakfast so my dad and I went to get lunch. We came back to the tournament at around 12:00 and watched some other groups present. When it was time to check in my group headed over to where we were presenting. The room where we were presenting was very different than last time. At regionals it was a very small, hot, cramped classroom. At provincials it was a medium sized theatre with tons of chairs. When it was time for my group to start I got very nervous.
We ended up doing a pretty good job. The prompt for our three skits was “the stock character is working in a car dealership and the lights keep flickering”. For the first skit our genre was parody and our stock character was a royal person. The royal person was one of my characters so I had to work at a car dealership in this skit. We parodied our skit off of Keeping up with the Kardashians so I was Kim Kardashian queen of the car dealership. That skit went pretty well. Our next genre was Spy and our stock character was a volunteer. The skit got a little lost towards the end and didn’t have a very strong story line. Our final genre was zombie and our stock character was a painter. That skit was probably my favourite one to perform. You can watch all three of our skits here.
After we were done performing we had to wait for the awards ceremony. Sadly I had to leave early for a Canucks event so I was not able to stay for it but I did get to meet some of the players on the Canucks so that was awesome. My group that did stay said it went will but we didn’t win anything. We got fourth out of the nine teams competing which is pretty good. In the end it was a fun day and a great learning experience. As hard as it is to do it the end result is always amazing.
Posted on April 2, 2017
A Table full of Inspiration
In class we were talking about what people need to become leaders. A very important thing they need is good role models. It is important to have good role models because they can help you become a better person. Your role models don’t have to be famous feminists or human right activists. Your role model could be your mom or maybe one of your teachers. As long as your role model is a good person then you have a good role model. If someone’s role models aren’t good leaders then they probably won’t be either. We were then assigned to pick 5 of our role models and write a paragraph about each of them. After that we had to make a diagram of all of our role models. Here are my Role Models.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé is such an inspirational women. She is a strong, powerful feminist and I admire her so much. One reason she inspires me is because she took control of her career. She started off in a girl band but left because she wanted to be the boss of her life. For the first few years in her solo career she had a manager and many people the tried to control her career. Eventually she decided that she would be her own manager and took over her career. She started to do work she liked and became a very strong independent women. Another reason she inspires me is because of her beliefs. She believes that everyone should be equal. She cares about everyone and wants the world to be a place where you can be whoever you want to be.
Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama is such an amazing person who has done so much to help people in the world. She is such a strong person who can do anything she puts her mind to. When she was in high school she wanted to go to Princeton but many teachers told her she was setting her sights too high but she applied anyways and got in. She graduated Princeton and went on to Harvard to get her doctor in J.D. Degree. She also really cares about people. During her early months as First Lady she visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She also hosted a White House Reception for women’s rights activist. She has done so much charity work and fundraising and has changed the lives of so many people. Even now that she is no longer First Lady she is still doing so much to help the world.
Emma Watson
Emma Watson is such an intelligent women. She was put in the spotlight when she was very young. Even though she was extremely busy with filming the Harry Potter series and many other movies she managed to graduate an Ivy League school with a degree in english literature. Since her fame from the Harry Potter series she has done tons of charity work. She has visited many poor countries and has helped teach kids while there. She has also raised tons of money for charities including a hospital and a homeless shelter. Emma Watson is also a feminist. She believes that everyone should be treated equally and has spoken at many events and raised tons of awareness on the subject. Even though she was raised being famous she still managed to stay humble and I admire her so much for that.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates has such a powerful mind that he can do anything he set his mind to. Bill Gates is one of the founders of Microsoft. When he gets an idea he does something about it and makes it happen. When he first got the idea for Microsoft before he even started working on it he immediately contacted a computer company to see if they were interested in their software. Although Gates work in Microsoft was a partnership he did most of the decision making. He was the main leader because he was strong and was good at business. After his work in Microsoft Bill Gates was a billionaire. Most people would think that he would just retire and live a relaxing life but they would be wrong. Bill has done so much charity work and environmental work to help people all over the world. He donates tons of money every year to charities and never stops working.
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was a strong athlete and activist. He started training to be a wrestler at only 12 years old. He was a very strong fighter and won a gold medal at the 1960 summer Olympics. He was an extremely successful wrestler but never stopped practicing. He worked hard everyday of his life. After he retired from his wrestling career he dedicated his life to religious and charity work. He dedicated his life to help those in need and to work towards gender, economic, and racial equality. He traveled around the world to inspire people and give his assurance where ever he could. All he ever wanted to do was help people and he defiantly did that.
Posted on March 31, 2017
Canada Eh!
Oh Canada! It is such an amazing place here. Canada is such a wonderful place and I’m sure it has different meanings for everyone. Canada for some people could be the place where they were born and raised like me. It can also be a place they went to for a vacation or a place they moved to for safety or freedom. It can even just be a place full of moose and maple syrup to some people. Recently I was asked a question that seems very simple. “What does Canada mean to you?”. Seems like an easy question right? Well it can be but not when you only have 30 seconds to explain your answer. You may be wondering why I only had 30 seconds so I should probably explain.
In class we were told to answer the question “What does Canada mean to you?”. The purpose of answering the question was for a project/contest. The contest is to create a 30 second or less video answering the question and showing your Canada. When I first heard the question I thought it was going to easy but when I heard I only had 30 seconds I got a little scared. I really wanted to tell a story with my video and I knew it was going to be hard to do but before I started worrying about the length I had to come up with a story. I really started thinking about what I love most about Canada. I also thought of Candadian things I like to do. My favourite thing to do in the world is go to Vancouver Canucks games. I love the atmosphere and the sportsmanship you see on the ice. I really wanted to incorporate this into my video so I tried to think of a story from one of the games I’ve been too. As soon as I started thinking about the Canucks I came up with the perfect story to tell.
I decided to tell the story of the game when Henrik Sedin scored his 1000th point. I chose this because of the happiness I felt watching this event and because of how I feel it showed part of what it means to be Canadian. The feeling I get whenever the Canucks score is pure joy and excitement and watching Henrik score his 1000th point was just magical. What really made me choose this story was what happened after he scored which you will have to watch my video to find out.
What Canada Means to me Video
When I first started creating my video I thought have how I wanted it to look. I wanted a bunch of cool hockey shots. I knew that I wasn’t aloud to use any copyrighted material so I would have too take my own photos. It’s very hard to get good closeup shots of the Canucks playing because front row seats are very expensive. Luckily I have sat front row at a few Canucks games before so I already had tons of photos. I also had photos from when I had sat in other sections in Rogers Arena. It took me quite a while to go through all of my photos but I eventually chose out all of the photos I wanted to use. I knew I wanted a few more long shots and I wanted to try to record the Canucks scoring a goal. Coincidentally I was going to a Canucks game before the first draft was due so I was able to get the long shots I needed but I didn’t record a goal. I then edited the pictures and videos and made a first draft video. It wasn’t very good because I didn’t have a ton of time to work on it and I didn’t have all of the shots I wanted.
First Draft of Canada Video
Before the second and final draft was due I was going to one more Canucks game. I really wanted to make sure I knew exactly what shots I needed before I went so I started to put my final draft together. I decided that I wanted to get a few more long shots so I could get the perfect one and I wanted to record a goal. I took the long shots at the beginning of the game and then I got really into the game and forgot to try and record a goal. There was about 10 mins left in the game and I remembered and pulled my phone out to try and record a goal. Only seconds after I had started recording the Canucks scored and I was very happy to have recorded it. I now had all of the shots I needed and could make the final draft of my video.
I put all of the pictures and videos together and I thought it look good but it need more. I used some different apps including Snapseed and Font Candy to make the pictures cooler. I even used my favourite app ever, Explain Everything , on one of the pictures to make a small video clip. I also needed to find non-copyrighted music to have in the background which took a long time to find. I eventually put everything together but I decided I didn’t like the way I told the story enough so I re-recorded that. Finally my video was done and I very much liked the final product. I used a ton of my different skills on the iPad and in different apps to make it a very cool video. This was a very fun project and I’m excited to find out who wins the contest. I highly recommend you enter the contest because there are some amazing prizes and it is a very fun thing to do. If you would like to enter go to Here’s My Canada to find out more details. There is still over 150 days left to answer so you have tons of time to make an amazing video. Please vote for my video so I can win prizes! VOTE HERE!
Posted on March 9, 2017
Math Monster
So as everyone may know math is a pretty scary subject. There are so many numbers and signs and formulas that can confuse even the smartest of people. When you have to make a monster using math it gets pretty terrifying. To make these monsters we had to design the monsters how ever we wanted to and then calculate the surface area and volume of each body part. We started off with learning the formulas. They looked really long and hard at first but once I figured out that you just have to plug in the numbers it got pretty easy. We then did quite a few practice equations where we had to calcite the surface area and volume of other monsters.
The day came to design our monster. I got a large piece of paper and started drawing it. I wanted to make my monster resemble a bull. After I drew my monster I had to get it approved. 
Once it was approved I had to decide what I wanted to make it out of. A lot of other people used things like cardboard or old cams to make their monster. I used clay to make my monster because it gave me more freedom with the shapes. I brought my clay to school and started to build. I built all of the shapes separately and connected them with tooth picks. It took quite a while to put my monster together and make it stay but once it was done it looked pretty cool.
After I was done building I had to measure all of the shapes and calculate their surface area and volume. It took a while to measure them. After measuring them I plugged in all of the numbers. It took a while to do the calculations but they weren’t too hard. After I had calculated all of the different body parts I added them all together and got the total volume and surface area. I named my monster Liman. He is half bull and half bear. This was a really fun way to do math and I enjoyed it so much.
Posted on March 2, 2017
SLC Winter 2017
Once again it’s is time for SLC’s. In case you don’t know SLC stands for student led conference. A student led conference is a meeting between a student in PLP, their parents, and the teachers of PLP. The student leads the meeting and talks about their learning so far in the year. This has been a great year so far and I’m excited to talk about my work. I will be talking about the work I’m most proud of, an example of my learning, and example of my growth mindset.
The work I’m most proud so far is my blue sky project. For my blue sky project I made a fifty House for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter world. If you would like to read more about the project check out my Post on it. This is also one of my favourite projects I have done. The question my project was based on was ‘What would be the Hogwarts House for Divergent Wizards?’. To answer the question I made a fifth house for Hogwarts. To create the house I researched the already exsisting houses. I realized that all the houses were based on the same criteria. For example each house was named after a famous wizard and the colours were based off that wizards clothing. I decided to base my house off of the same criteria as the other houses so I named it after a great Wizard, Dumbledore, and I made the colors purple because Dumbledore is wearing a purple robe on the back of the book cover. Making a house was a lot like creating a business because I had to think about what people would like and how I can make this house successful. I am proud of this project because I worked really hard on it and I was very happy with the outcome. I’m also proud because while presenting it I spent a lot more time talking than I normally do. I was able to use my creativity to make this house and I feel like it reflects part of the learning I’ve done this year on how everybody is different but everyone can fit together because everyone has at least one thing in common. 
An example of my learning would be Destination Imagination. If you don’t know what Destination Imagination is you can read about it on my Post or on the Website. I learned so much while doing Destination Imagination this year. It really helped me grow as a learner and I feel like it will help me with future work I may have. For destination imagination I was in the improv group and you can read more about what I had to do in my blog post on it. Before I started D.I. I was pretty good at working in groups I just wasn’t that good at trusting my other group members to put in the effort to do a good job. I’m used to a lot of people not doing the work so it took me a while to trust my group. Because we were doing improv I had to put all my trust into my group that we would all be able to work well together and do amazing performances. We practiced many times and sometimes we were good and sometimes things did not go well. In stead of worrying I tried to focus on the good practices and believe that on the day all would go well. Doing improv taught me that when you trust your group you can do amazing things. It also taught me that sometimes people don’t want to put in the effort so you have to learn to work with them and be patient even when it is hard. I also learned that I really like doing improv.
For an example of my growth mindset I will be talking about my field school in Florida. If you would like to read bout Florida check out my Post on it. Florida presented many new opportunities for me. Often when I am faced with the decision on weather or not I want to try something new I get really nervous and worried and miss out on amazing opportunities. For Florida I wanted to have an open mind about everything and do stuff even if it scared me. Even if I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do something I decided to look at it with a growth mindset and try it anyways. One example of this was surfing. I was terrified to go surfing. I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. I was also worried that I would fall off and hurt myself. I almost opted out on it. I knew that I would regret it later if I didn’t do it so I made myself at least try it for a little while. When I first got in the water I was very scared. Everyone was lined up to try and catch a wave and I decided I wanted to be one of the first people to go so I wouldn’t get scared watching everyone else do it. I went up to one of the instructors and waited for a wave to come. The instructor told me to get ready and then she pushed me out in front of the wave and told me to stand up. As soon as I stood up it felt amazing. I rode the wave all the way to the beach and felt so proud of myself. After I caught my first wave I was very eager to catch another. I caught I few more with the instructors help and then I was ready to catch one on my own. I waited for a big wave to come, I paddled hard and then stood up. It felt so good to be able to do it own my own knowing less than a hour ago I didn’t think I was going to be able to surf at all. It was great to do something I was so worried about successfully. I learned that I need to use my growth mindset more often because great things can happen when I do. 
For my SLC I had to come up with three goals for the remainder of the school year. My first goal is to get my work done early. Most of the time I leave my work till last minute and I don’t do as good as I could. My goal is to get it done early so if I have any time after I get it done I can edit it and make it better. My second goal is to improve my writing skills. I’m not a bad writer but I can definitely be better. I’m going to practice writing a lot more at home so when I do writing work at school I can be a lot better than it is now. My third goal is to read more. I don’t do a lot of reading so I’m worried my reading skills may not be as good as they could be. I’m going to try and read at least three books at home before the year is over. I’m very excited to finish the school year and see how I can improve my learning.
Posted on February 28, 2017
Destination Imagination 2017
As you may remember from last year, Destionation Imagination is my favourite thing in the world. Destination imagination or D.I. is a competition where you make a project and present in front of appraisers. If you would like to learn more about it check on the Destination Imagination website. So this year my project was the Improvational project. I picked improv because it was away for me to use my creativity without having to stress about remembering lines. I love acting and I was really excited to perform.
The improv challenge was very cool. The challenge was to do three improv skits. Each skit had the same Prompt and a different stock character and genre. We didn’t find out what the Prompt, stock character, and genre were until we started performing. We also had a box of props. The box had to be 13 by 13 inches and we could fill it with whatever we wanted. The hard part was that we had only 3 minutes to prepare and present each skit. Another part of the challenge was to have two team choice elements. A team choice element is something a team makes or does that uses the team’s skills and interests. For example one of my team’s choice elements was for one of the members to learn and play the flute in one of our skits. My group all really like music so that is why we picked this for our choice element.
We spent many months preparing for this. It was a lot harder to prepare for than last year because there wasn’t a lot we could do to prepare other than practice. We practiced a ton. We did lots of really fun improv games and practiced like we were actually performing for real. My group worked really well together.
When the day to perform came we were all very excited. We arrived at the school where it was being held and headed to the gym for the opening ceremony. After that we waited to perform. When it was finally time to perform I got kinda nervous. We headed to the presentation room and got ready to go. Our prompt was ‘the stock character bought an old pocket watch and the neighbors planted the trees upside down’. When I first heard it I almost started to panic. It was a pretty weird prompt but my group had practiced a lot and we were able to make 3 skits based on it. The first character and genre was a villain and fairytale. Sadly we spent too much time preparing so we didn’t get to finish the first skit. The second character and genre was doctor and horror. This skit was a lot better than the first one. We timed it pretty nicely and the story was a lot better. For the final skit the character was an auctioneer and the genre was parody. We did a parody of auction wars. The last skit was defiantly our best skit because we had a good story and very clearly used the genre and character given to us.
After performing we had to do our instant challenge. The instant challenge is kinda like a mini game. The challenge is either a task, a performance, or a combination of both. An example of a challenge we have done in the past was we had to make the tallest tower we could out of a certain amount a pieces of paper. The instant challenges are probably my favourite part of Destination Imagination. Sadly I can not tell you about the instant challenge I did this year until the end of globals.
Destination imagination was really fun this year and it was a great experience. As much as I dislike preparing for D.I. It feels so good to perform and be proud of what I have done. I recently got the results from D.I. and my team got first. We had a lot of hard competition so I’m really happy with the results. Just kidding. We were the only team competing in improv so we won by default and will be going to provincials. I’m excited to keep working so we can be even better at provincials. 
Posted on February 27, 2017
Fun in Florida
Early on in February my class went on trip to Florida. I had been waiting for this trip for months and I was extremely excited to go on it. The purpose of this trip was to do a project. The project was answering the question “What Draws us to Imaginary Worlds?” And to help answer this question we visited many different theme parks. We also went to a space centre to learn about space. This trip was the one big trip my class went on this year. I was so excited to learn with my friends in such a fun, exciting, warm place.
The first thing we did in Florida was go to Magic Kingdom. My ride that I was basing the project on was in magic kingdom so I had a lot of work to do that day. My ride was pirates of the Caribbean. The day was super fun and I learned so much about imaginary worlds and how they are created. It was really cool being able to experience the worlds and be apart of the stories they told.
The next day we went to Universal Studios which I was very excited for. We got to go to the Harry Potter parts hogsmeade and diagon alley. I love Harry Potter so going to those places was very cool. The other theme parks we went to were Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. They were all very fun. We did a couple of workshops at some of the parks. We did one on global citizenship and one on self branding. They were both very fun and I learned lots from both of them. 
In Florida we also went to the Kennedy Space Center. We went there two different days. The first day we did a astronaut training program. We got to reanact a real space mission and also got to do some of the trains that actual astronauts do. We got to climb a ladder that by using weights and rope simulates what it’s like to walk through space with almost no gravity. We also got to go in a spinning seat the simulates what it’s like to travel through space while spinning. It was a very cool experience and it was very fun. The next day we went to the visitors centre. We got to look at rocket ships and see the Atlantis space shuttle. We also got to have lunch with an astronaut. It was a very cool experience.
Some other very fun things we did on this trip were go to an Animal Refuge and see manatees. It was a very relaxing day. We got to drive through the refuge and look for alligators and other cool animals. After that we drove to the water to see the manatees. I love manatees and I was excited to see them but when we got down there you could only see the top of their backs and they just looked like floating rocks. After that we went on an airboat ride and saw many more alligators. Another fun thing we did was go surfing at Ron Jon Surf School. I was very really nervous to go surfing because I had never done it before and I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to do it. I was so scared I almost chickened out but I knew I regret it if I did. I was able to catch a wave pretty quickly and it was a lot easier than I excepted. It was my favourite thing on the whole trip.
This trip was one of my favourite trips I have ever been on. When you go on trips like this, with all of your friends, you learn a lot of new things about them. It helped get our class even closer than before. Florida was such an amazing experience and I learned so much. I can’t wait to see what trip we will be going on next year.
Posted on January 26, 2017
Compound Lab
A couple of days ago in science we did a lab in our science class. The lab was about creating a new element out of other elements. We had to make copper out of aluminum foil and CuCl2. To start the lab we filled a 400 millimetre beaker with some CuCl2 and dropped a small piece of aluminum foil in it.
We let the aluminum Sit in the liquid for about 3 mins and then we pulled out the big pieces. The pieces of aluminum turned into copper. 
We then had to remove the big piece of foil still left and clean out the little bits of copper. We cleaned them with water and another chemical. 
We then drained all of the water out of the bronze and had to light it on fire. Once we had a flame going on the burner we put the copper into it and the flame turned green. It looked really cool.
Posted on January 9, 2017
Wonderful Wonder
In PLP we just started a new unit on Fantasy. We will be exploring the meaning of fantasy, what makes something Fantasy, and why fantasy is important. I feel like this unit will be exciting and really interesting.
To start off the unit we did a lesson on wonder. First our teacher put a picture of a field in the summer from the view of a rabbit hole. He then told us we can write whatever we wanted. I decided to write a recipe. I wrote a recipe for a summers day. I love doing activities like this because they really let me be creative.
#1 Down the Rabbit Hole January 3, 2017
Recipe for a summers day
3 cups of fresh, green grass
1 cup of white daisies
1/2 cup of pink daisies
1 litre of pure, blue skies
1/4 cup of white, fluffy clouds
1 tall brown trunk
8 small branches
1 large, bright, yellow sun
1/4 cup of lucky clovers
1 heaping tablespoon of happiness
1 teaspoon of love
1/2 teaspoon of peacefulness
1/4 teaspoon of energy
1/2 cup of fun
After that we were put into groups of about 4 people and we were asked to make a list of words we think of when we think of Wonder. My group worked quite well together and we got a lot of words down.
Wonder
A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.
Hope
Magic
Curiosity
Possibilities
Delight
Mystery
Shocked
Believing
Purple
Bread
Surprise
Creativity
Imagination
What if?
Space
Inquiry
The future
Compensation for the unknown
Choices
Passion
Innocence vs Experience
Fascination
Devotion
Why?
Fantasization
Confusion/ lack of understanding
Outcomes
Dreamers
Santa clause/ myth
Adventure
Thoughts
Theory
Alternative
Once we were done our list we had to read an Article on wonder and answer some questions on it. For the last question we had to go really into detail and make the answer poetic. I found doing that a little challenging and I feel like I could have done a better job on it.
1. How was Prinz’s experience with the “Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus” different from his parents?
A) Prinz’s experience with the “Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus” is different from his parents because he had never seen anything like it before. It made him a world of mystery and wonder and he was amazed by it
2.What are the three bodily symptoms Prinz postulates as components of wonder?
A) The three bodily symptoms Prinz associates as components of wonder are rolling of the eyes, the second is suspension in your breathe, and the third is the swelling of your heart.
3.How does Francis Bacon consider wonder?
A) Wonder to Francis Bacon was a broken knowledge and a mystified incomprehension that science was able to cure
4.Describe one moment in your life you experienced wonder. Use imagery and figurative language.
A) One moment in my life I experienced wonder was the first time I remember flying on a plane. I was 6 years old and I was flying to Australia. When the plane was about to take off I didn’t think it would work but the plane started getting faster and I felt the wheels leave the ground and felt the plane start racing towards the sky. When we were in the air I could not believe it. I looked out the window and watched the everything on the ground get smaller and smaller. It felt like I was a million miles off the ground. I started to worry about the plane crashing and my heart was beating as fast as a race car. I watched as we got further away from the ground and started to head into the clouds. The sky was a beautiful blue with clouds like cotton candy and the light from the sun was shinning through the window. It felt magical and I almost couldn’t believe I was flying. When we stopped inclining I sat back in my chair in awe. I felt like I was floating in space. I looked to the window as we were flying over the ocean. The white caps on the water looked like mini mountains on the pure, blue water. I had never seen the ocean from this view before and it looked huge. It looked as though it would never end.
The beginning of this unit was really fun and I can’t wait to do the rest of it.
Posted on January 2, 2017
Mini Blue Sky Exhibition 2016
This years mini blue sky was amazing. It was my favourite blue sky project yet. If you don’t know what a blue sky project is and would like to check out my previous ones you can read my blog posts on them.
Second Exhibtion: Blue Sky
So this years mini blue sky theme was Harry Potter. I was so excited to do this project because I LOVE Harry Potter. Similar to the previous blue sky projects we started off with coming up with our inquiry questions. To help us come up with a question our teacher made us write down three different questions, put them into groups with other questions and sort them out. This gave us a really good idea of the options for our questions and helped us come up with really good questions. After that we had to submit three different questions and hopefully one of them would get approved. I didn’t really like any of the questions I submitted because I wasn’t really interested in any of them. I really wanted to do a question that involves the Hogwarts Houses so after talking with my teacher and classmates I was able to come up with a great question. My question was “What would be the Hogwarts house for divergent wizards?”. 
The four houses are Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin so I had to make a house that could fit people that belong into 2 or more of those 4 houses. I picked that question because I would ask people what Hogwarts House they were in and they would always answer with a combination of houses such as Gryffinpuff or Slytherclaw because they had traits of both houses
When I got home the day I got my question I went straight onto Pottermore the official Harry Potter website and took my house quiz. I found out I was in ravenclaw. After that I took 5 other quizzes and I got Ravenclaw 3 times and Slytherin 2 times, so I found out I could fit into both of those houses. I then did lots of research on all four of the houses so I could now how to make my new house. I found out that all 4 of the houses were named after famous wizards so I named my House Dumbledore after the head master of Hogwarts during the Harry Potter series. Dumbledore was a great head master and an amazing wizard. After I named it I had to decided the colours. I picked purple and silver because they complimented the colours of the other house and on the back of the first book Dumbledore is wearing a purple cloak. Lastly I had to pick a house animal. The other 4 houses all have animals that have the same traits as the houses. It was a little hard to pick a house animal because my new house doesn’t have any specific traits. I did a little research and I found the perfect animal. I picked the Arctic Hare. I picked it because in the summer it has a brown fur coat and in the winter it sheds its brown fur and grows white fur to match with the snow. I thought t matched with my new house because like the people in my house at has two different sides. I also made a quiz to tell people which of the 5 houses they were in. After a little more work on my house I was finally done.
After a lot of hard work the big day arrived. For the exhibition we were all put into groups and assigned a section of the library. We then had to turn our section into a part of Hogwarts. One group made there section into the Gryffindor Common Room and another group turned their’s into the Forbidden Forest. My group turned our section into The Great Hall. In my group there was Tatum, Kate, Spencer, Adam, and Quinn. Everyone in my group had really cool projects and you should check out their blog posts.
On the day of the exhibition a lot of group had forgotten their stuff for our section so Tatum and I had to walk up to Safeway at lunch to get what we needed. When we had everything we set it all up. We had fake candles hanging from the ceiling and a drawing of a window on the white board to try and make it look as much like the great hall as possible. 
The last thing we needed to set up was our food. We had a chocolate fountain, a fruit plate, Christmas cookies, and some butter beer(ginger Ale). We also wanted it to look like Christmas so we put up Christmas lights and a tree. Our section looked really cool. 
Once everything was set up it was time for the exhibition to start. For my projects set up I had 4 small cardboard panels each with the description of a different house. In the middle I had a bigger cardboard panel with my new house on it. In front of the panels I had my quiz and the answer sheet so you could see what house you were in. I think my project looked really cool and I was proud of how it turned out.
This was probably my favourite exhibition yet. Everyone’s projects were great and the library looked amazing. I think the Harry Potter theme looked really cool in the library and the exhibition was so much fun. I can honestly say that after this exhibition I am very excited for the next one.