Have you ever wondered about something so intensely that it just wont leave your head? Well in class we are looking at fantasy is wonder. Wondering what’s real, Wondering how we got there, Wondering what we are doing. So to show what I mean here is some school work to express what I mean.
This is a mind map of what you relate to wonder
This is a story I wrote about seeing the garden in a different perspective
Based of Rhoal Dhals writing in the BFG we created our own language
We learnt about how other people think of wonder
We also created a comic about fantasy in another class to tie in with wonder
So as we keep learning more about fantasy and wonder there will be more blog posts to come.
As always this year just before we had winter break we had blue sky and this year the grade nine theme was…. Harry Potter!
So for my project I chose to research birds because they are very smart and have interested me for a long time, so to be able to tie that in with Harry Potter was great. And that question that I came up with was if it weren’t an owl that was the bird messenger what would be the next best bird? Through my research I then found that there were multiple birds that would be great but found that there was one that would be amazing… The raven since it is both intelligent and the perfect size, for example they can use tools if need be and recognize peoples faces.
But not only is blue sky my own presentation but showing it in an interesting way. So with my group who included Mimi, Angela, Kyle, Ryan, James, and Sam. And as we were basing our projects on Harry Potter we set are area up as the forbidden forest. That meant putting on the first movie on a big projector, spooky Harry Potter music and decorating the library with plants and everything green. We also strung lights across the ceiling as we had all the lights off and people need to see our projects and not trip over things. But things dont end there we also had food and drinks that we made and those were dragons blood(sprite and green food colouring) and tree rice crispies.
Overall I really did love learning about the birds and finding out how to work as a group to create a forbidden forest. And so thats all, bye for now!
In science we have been looking at the periodic table and how elements fit in together. And so as always with PLP we have a corresponding project, where we are making superheroes based on a single element in our group (In my group is Makyla, Ryan and James) So far we have worked fairly well, there have been a few times where we have had to refocus but really it has all worked out well and we have learnt to work together. Though we do not simply choose an element and say hey there’s a superhero there is a full process. Like what do we want it to do? What are its characteristics? So as we narrowed it came down to eventually basing our superhero off of mercury. Along with finding out our actual element we also had to make a poster of the periodic table.
Poster
As well as a team sign
Really overall we have all learnt lots so far and willl eventually get to the point where we visually can show our superhero but until then
As you know if you have been looking at my previous blog posts we have been creating Rube Goldberg machine incorporating the American Revolution, steampunk, Crane Brintons Theory and metaphors. As we are pulling up to a close, the machine is starting to be pulled together, the video is done and now all my group ( in my group is Spencer, Ryan, and Kyle) has to do is present it to our class.
This project was very interesting and actually taught me a lot about the American Revolution because we had to know everything about it as we were forming that into metaphors and the actual machine. And as always there is always a final push we just barely were able to finish the protect. Because though we had a good idea in the beginning and worked pretty hard to get everything done. We had a final push at the end because we were no where close to getting it done and working.
A picture of me at my dads work when I was younger
On Wednesday it was take your kid to work day for all grade 9’s. And I was really looking forward to it as my dad owns a mechanical company called Bendtin. He was going to take me to a couple of his worksites such as a tower he is doing downtown as well as go to a supplier named Ecco. I was looking forward to all of this and we were almost at the job site when suddenly something happened. I had gotten a terrible migraine and started to get sick all over my dads truck. I also couldn’t see and had a horrible headache so we decided to head home and I headed to my dark room and slept for a whopping 4 and a half hours. So overall I am sad to say that I did not really get to participate in it though maybe I could go with my dad to work another day, just to get the experience!
From the beginning of the year we have been looking at steampunk and the revolution as well as crane Brenton’s theory. So we have been making a project based around all of that. And now you may be thinking how would you even do that? That is exactly what I am going to be talking about as we are getting to about halfway through the project.
We first started making a timeline and learning about the revolution we were going to be working with and my group was or is the American revolution. Within my group is Spencer, Ryan and Kyle. So once we were done that we were told that we were gpoing to have to make a machine showing the revolution, steampunk and have metaphors within it. So we started to design that and have a pretty good idea of what that is going to be.
Here is a picture of our base that we have been working on.
There have been a couple of challenges from the start of the project. Whether that was actually figuring out the dates in the revolution timeline or finding a design that we think will work for the machine. Also putting all of this into a metaphorical way that isn’t to far fetched that no own will understand but also isn’t to obvious is hard to do.
So here are some videos of us creating the machine.
Overall I think that in the end we will be able to pull this together and it will actually be very good, because we have all put a lot of work into it!
If you could create a house with everything you ever wanted what would you put in there? Well that’s what we got do since we have been looking at blue prints and how to design houses, kitchens and find the square footage for each of these. It started off with us learning how to find the space and prices that go with the house. Then we had to design a kitchen and use all of the rules of where to put things and what to use in with it. And finally we got to make the house, I did this project with 3 other people and it turned out great I think. Overall I found this was a really fun and interesting way to learn all about blue prints and houses. Plus we were able to add our own personality in it and really make it our own.
So here are the pictures of our house which we made use it an app called Room Planner:
I think that this project taught me a lot and I really enjoyed working with other people to see how not only I would design a house but how everyone else would.
In class we have been looking at the Industrial Revolution along with the railway. So we looked into it and then we were to created an Explain Everything and that is what I am going to be showing you.
Going through and finding out the industrial revolution railway showed me how people acted in that time and how the railways were such a new technology that was amazing. But for the Explain Everything as always we had more work to do rather then the first draft, because you can always improve. So for my first draft it really wasn’t that good and I am actually really happy that i got to improve it. And without further to do here it is.
After that I improved it quite a bit I think. and with help from my fellow friend and classmate who gave me advise on how to improve it I did and I think it is much better!
Overall I found out so much about the Industrial Revolution Railway people would see things back then. Thanks for both reading and watching this blog post and Thats all For Now!
Along with looking at crane brintons theory we have been looking at the steampunk genre. And oddly enough we are going to be making a project containing both of these subjects and building a machine, but that will come later. Anyway we have to answer a question that we made up, but this time instead of Brintons Theory it is steampunk. You may not even know what that is, I know I didn’t before we researched it. But basically it started in the 1900’s when writers like Jules Verne and K.W Jetter were writing stories where women wore coarsests while men wore top hats and suits, and there were machines that were powered by steam, thus getting the name Steampunk. Though it didn’t launch and become popular until later, and now there are huge festivals just based around steampunk. And that is what my question goes into.
What something could look like if it were steampunked Based on the book Leviathen
What was the influence for the steampunk genre when jules vern and other writers were writing about it?
Well through my research of looking at books and people i found out that it was a way of thinking what the future could be like. And since they lived in the 1900’s you would think it would be similar but different. So to show this I made up a diagram comparing it to how other writers think of the future today
So as you can see it really was just there frame of mind when they were writing about steampunk or as they would say “the future”. And really as you look throughout time it has always been that if you are in one place and thinking about what it could be like in the future you are imagining that place the same just modern but with some aspects different. Overall i found that this was actually really interesting to learn about. Down below are the places i got my info from.
In class we have been looking at Crane Brintons Theory on revolutions and how he showed that each Revolution basically followed 4 stages. But you will hear about that in the video below, because for an assignment we had to think of a question, research it and then showing my answer in a creative way. So for my questions I asked, Did Brinton’s theory ever affect a revolution in the making? That is why below I will be telling you what I found out about, enjoy!
