Another history post, wow! So, let’s get you up to date. When we last left off, we had finished studying WWI. Now we’re studying a period called ‘the Interwar Years’. This is the period between World War One and World War Two, which would be 1919-1939.

We’re doing a large project on that, but today I’m writing about a smaller project we did, it only took a few days, called ‘The Namesake Assignment’. In groups of two or three, we had to pick a place in Vancouver. Then, we had to make a short 2-3 minute video about the history of it. This video had to include:

– The Location

– Images of said location

– Description of the location

– History of the namesake

– A few stories about the location (real or myth)

So my group, which included Hannah and Isobel, chose Stanley Park. For those of you who don’t know, Stanley Park is a large park in Vancouver, which is home to things such as The Vancouver Aquarium, Second Beach, and of course the wonderful view.

I didn’t realize how much history Stanley Park has. We had quite a lot of information, too much to fit into a two minute video. So, here are a few highlights that didn’t make it into the video:

– In 1888, an small island called Deadman’s Island off the shore of Stanley Park was chosen to be a quarantine spot for the small pox virus. They built a hospital and called it the ‘Pest House’. People to this day still think Deadman’s Island is haunted. I found some interesting stories, if you’d like to read them.

– Skipping to a few decades later, the Vancouver Gun Club gets permission to shoot crows in the park. The bounty was 5 cents per crow, and up to 5000 crows. For reference, that’s 250 dollars if you caught the maximum amount of crows.

– In 1905 they had to limit the traffic in the park from 2 pm to 5 pm, because the cars frightened the horses who ran the carriages.

There are other things, but those are all in our video.

We got a reference video, to see a style that we could use for our video. This video was about Granville Street, and you can watch it here. I really enjoyed the video, as it’s entertaining and informative. It helped get the ideas flowing for what our video should look like.

Then it came to making our video. We split up the tasks easily: Hannah was doing Audio, Isobel was making part of the visuals and music, and I made the other part of the visuals.

Our first draft had a few mistakes, such as “the late 18, 000’s”, but they were quickly fixed and we uploaded the final video again:

Personally, I really like projects like this. It’s really interesting to learn about the history of this place, and then make it an entertaining video for other people to watch. I’d really like to do more projects like this in the future. I guess that’s just me being a history nerd.

Anyways, I hope you learned something! I certainly did. Until next time

Read you later

Sincerely, Me

Another post! Wow! This one isn’t about science or math this time. This one is about… safety. Workplace safety, to be more specific. It’s something everyone needs, and should have.

I, as of writing this, do not have a job. But that doesn’t mean this doesn’t apply to me! When I do get a job, it’s good to know my rights, and how to be safe at whatever job I’m going to do.

We started this out by doing a quiz. The issue with this quiz is that the first question was “have you ever been in a job before?”

So I had to skip down to question nine, which left only two questions left to do

I feel like working at a theatre s a good first job because it involves a lot of customer service.  Also, free movies.

Anyways, then we watched a movie called ‘Lost Youth’, which spoke about teens getting hurt in the workplace.

Next Up was this playlist on YouTube, where he watched one video on how different places make sure their workers are safe.

Then onto Part Two. We did a small quiz on our rights as a worked and workplace safety:

And read articles on refusing unsafe work.

Then we had to create a visual about the whole unit:

I hope you all stay safe at work!

Read Ya Later

Sincerely, Me

Science! It makes the world go around. Quite literally, if you look at physics and space science. Unfortunately, this isn’t about space today, otherwise there would be a lot more Star Trek jokes.

Today we’re talking about genes. Genetics, DNA, call it what you will. It’s what makes someone who they are. It’s why I have curly hair but Willa doesn’t, or why my dad’s eyes are brown but Tom Hiddleston’s aren’t.

Since this is PLP, we had to do a project on it. And, judging by all of Grade 10’s projects so far, I’ll give you a hint as to what it was. A podcast. Okay, that was a bad hint.

We had to make a podcast on genetics. But it’s such a broad topic, we needed a driving question. I teamed up with Willa to answer the question: if two sets of identical twins get married, and each couple has a kid, would the two cousins be identical?

First, we started off with reasearch. We used this website to help us with worksheets, and activities to help us figure out DNA, genetics, mitosis, meiosis, and so on.

What did one cell say to it’s sister cell when she stepped on his foot? Mitosis

One of the things used to determine the likelyhold of a child getting a certain trait is called a Punnet Square.

As you can see, this shows the likelyhold of a bean being green or yellow, based off of traits from its plant-parents. The plant-father has two small green y’s, which would mean a green colouring is recessive, and the father-plant is homozygous when it comes to its genotype. The mother-plant has one large yellow Y and one small green Y, making her heterozygous. The large Y is going to be dominant, and show up more often. The child-plant has a 50% chance of being heterozygous and a 50% chance of being homozygous with a recessive trait. If someone has a heterozygous genotype, the dominant trait will win. In this case, the mother-plant is yellow because she has a dominant trait, and the father is green, as it has no dominant traits.

Back to the project:

We did the research, and wound up writing a solid script. The podcast had to explain genetics like the listener knew nothing about it, and that was even harder with no visuals involved. But we did it. The final draft wound up being this:

I hope you learned more about genetics today! I had a lot of fun doing this project, as the driving question was really interesting to research.

And, to summarize, here’s a mind map of everything I learned:

Read Ya Later

Sincerely, Me

Math isn’t a subject I do posts about very often, mainly because in the past years we’ve done it, we haven’t done anything that we need to post about in Math. I think the last time I did a post in math was this. This year is different, as we’re doing math projects! I mean, what did you expect out of project based learning? So, for grade ten, the first thing we’re studying is trigonometry.

Mainly, how to find the angles of right angle triangles. This involves using a trick called SOH CAH TOA. Each three letters stands for how you find the angle. For instance, SOH would be: sin (the angle) =opposite/adjacent (the opposite and adjacent sides of the triangle). It’s a way to find an angle if you want to be more precise than a protractor.

Our project to do with SOH CAH TOA, as we had to do a project on solar panels, and the angles that they’re at to get the most amount of sunlight. This means researching stuff such as time of day, where your solar panel is, the angles that the sun is hitting it at, and the angles of your supports for your solar panel. It also had to include a bit of personalization, and a write up to explain your project a bit better.

Along the way, to help clarify, we did a lab based off of the project. We got one sheet of wood and put a solar panel on it, facing the nearest light source. Then, we added supports underneath, to see what the best angle for getting light was. It depended on where you were in the classroom, as everywhere was in different proximity to the lights. I did this lab with the wonderful Willa, because who else do I ever do anything with?

Then it was on to creating the project, and bringing it to life. Cue Frankenstein reference.

I chose to base mine in North Vancouver, in around October. (totally not because it’s october and I live in Vancouver what. Also, if you’re still reading, happy Halloween! If it’s not Halloween for you, happy whatever-day-it-is). Because in October, at the solar noon, it’s not directly above the solar panel, but it’s just off, so if you put the panel at the right angle on a flat roof, than it should absorb the most amount of sunlight.

Then it was on to making the model. My first draft was a picture of a 3D model I had made at home, with all of the measurements and calculations on it. Though, it just wasn’t enough.

I went onto the revision and the second draft, which I think went a lot better, as I put more effort into it and planned my time out so I could get it done on time. I have a bad habit with procrastination. This second draft included the proper calculations, and my write up was more detailed.

I guess you could say this project made me pretty… bright. Get it? Because the sun is bright? And solar panels? I’ll go home.

Onto the next project, I guess!

Read you later!

Sincerely, Me

Your friendly neighbourhood blogger returns.

So, grade ten. Back at it again with Humanities (also known as socials and English, if you didn’t know that). This time, we studied The Great War, World War One, WWI. We went a bit into this a few posts ago with discussing how World War One started. But now, we look at the actual war. We started by reading a graphic novel called Shattered Ground, which is on the topic of World War One, and talks about what it’s like to be a soldier on the battleground.

Next, we learned about all of the battles that Canada fought in using this website right here.

The second battle of Ypres is the first battle that Canada showed their resilience, as they fought through chemical gasses, shrapnel, bombs, and gunfire, and stopped the Germans from getting to the English Channel. Soon after this, the Canadians earned a rep that they were fearless. The Germans would fear them, actually. Go Canada.

Fun WWI Fact: Harry Houdini actually took a year break from his magic to help sell war bonds and teach American soldiers how to escape German handcuffs

While Canadians were risking their lives over seas in the war, that left many women back home, as they weren’t aloud to fight. So, women took over the men’s jobs. Working in factories, and on farms. Eventually, they were even given the right to vote.

Then, we talked about the Halifax Explosion

This was a tragedy that happened in Halifax during World War One. A ship exploded and wiped out most of Halifax. Since we’re focussing on podcasts this year, we did a class podcast about it. We read this article on it, each person getting one paragraph. The final product of it was this:

But, as with all PLP units, we had an end project to do. Our job: find a solider off of this website and do a podcast on them. I chose a soldier called Walter Thomas Hooper

He was a Welsh Man, who moved to Canada, and fought in the war. He died at the battle of Vimy Ridge, fighting for Canada.

We had to link back to the driving question of this project: How Did WWI Shape Canada’s Identity?

The first draft of my podcast was too short, and needed improvement:

I got some feedback, about grammar and how to make it flow more smoothly. Most people in our class had one issue: We had bad hooks. So, we worked on the first thirty seconds of our podcast. This helps set the tone for the entire podcast. If someone doesn’t like the first thirty seconds, how are they expected to like the rest?

And then it was on to finish the podcast. I made the mandatory adjustments, and this is it:

Play on SoundCloud

This really helped me understand World War One better, and made us go into detail about some of the people who died, and how bad it really was. Knowledge is power, after all.

I suppose that’s all, until next time

Read you later

Sincerely, Me

Safety is important. I think that’s given at this point.

So we started off science this year with Unit 0, which sounds more ominous than it is. It’s not an official unit, but we sort of count it as one. It’s lab safety!

Being safe in the lab is important, otherwise you can and will possibly die. We had to make a video expressing how to be safe in the lab. It was fun, despite the fact that I was sick when my group started filming.

Our video:

Lets start by saying that Willa’s fall there was genuine. It was really fun to make and produce. We did have ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley in there, but we had to change it because of copyright.

Stay safe!

Read Ya Later

Sincerely, Me

It’s time for yet another blog post (distant gasping). It’s almost like it’s part of our work.

So, we went on a school trip the first week of school. You know, that’s normal, going on a trip after one day of school. But it was fun, we went to a place of magic and mystery. Called Camp Capilano.

We started off by packing the night before. I packed light, managing to fit all of my things into about 3/4 of my backpack. I even managed to use one of those inflatable pillows that are the size of my hand until you blow it up.

Really uncomfortable, I’m never using it again.

Then the day came. We had a class beforehand where Hughes showed us a bunch of reality Tv show intros. Then we had to pick one character from each and write a brief write up on them.

We then got on the bus, and drove for like 20 minutes, until we got to the Cleveland Dam. Where I took this wonderful photo:

Thats when we had to make our own reality TV show character. It had to have ten characters, each with distinguishable traits, background music, and it had to be under 45 seconds.

In my group was Adam, Aiden, Sofia and Isobel

We wound up making the intro for a show called ‘The Broseph Bunch’. Here it is:

It was really fun to make, I got to do all the editing while the others acted and filmed

Then we had to hike (ew). We walked through a trail until we got to the actual camp site (see first image). It was very nice, the kitchen and dining hall was the main room, the girls off to the left and boys to the right. Behind the kitchen there was a common room, with a bunch of nice couches and stuff.

In that common room, after eating lunch and choosing beds (I got a top bunk), we all sat down and watched everyone’s videos. Then Hughes and Willemes announced the next project: We had to do around the same thing,.. with no video. This meant introducing ten characters with only audio, and a blank screen, with the same group. This one had to be a minute long, and we rose to the challenge.

We made a show called ‘The Baker Bunch’ (why are we so obsessed with the letter B? Who knows. So B it). It was sort of like the Kardiashians. Anyways, here’s the podcast(?)

That was only the second project of the trip. The third one was… a bit longer.

We had to make a podcast that was 4 minutes long. Not 4:05, not 3:50. 4:00 Exactly. I worked with the ever wonderful Willa to make the best podcast. We had to make a four minute podcast based around the idea of ‘identity’. It had to be a personal story that helped identity in some way. We debated through a lot of ideas, until we found ‘The One’.

Our plan was to talk about my experience in musical theatre. If anyone knows me, they know I love musicals. From Hamilton, to Be More Chill. So we decided to talk about my first musical… and how it was so terrible it made me never want to do musical theatre ever again. It’s a great story, really.

First we had to write a script. This actually took the longest. Because writing something that looks like an essay is great. But then you read it out and it’s two minutes… not so great. We kept on having to add on things, until we got it perfectly to four minutes. The end result:

I’m quite proud of it, despite the fact that I dislike the sound of my voice on tape

Well, that’s all for this blog post

Read Ya Later

Sincerely, Me

Our latest unit in humanities has been all about World War One, the war to end all wars, even though World War Two happened. Besides that, before we can get into the history of the war, we need to talk about how it began.

Now, here’s my idea; the war started because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

On June 28th, 1914, a man from Serbia shot and killed Ferdinand in Sarajevo. He went there on a trip, and there were multiple armed terrorists around him, waiting to take a shot. Some people actually did shoot at he car, but missed him and hit some of his men. The car later stopped right in front of one of the terrorists. He shot the Archduke and his wife, killing them both.

Austria-Hungary obviously wasn’t pleased with this, so they declared war in Serbia when they heard about the assassination, seeing it as a threat on the country. Russia was allied with Serbia, so Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. Germany invaded France and Britain, and that’s how the war began.

We also had to create a visual showing this, so I decided to do a stop motion on the Domino Affect of how World War One started:

The video took me a while to make, because I had to draw each frame individually, then put it together and add text and music.

It also didn’t help that my first plan didn’t work out so I had to totally restart

Well Thats all for this post

Read Ya Later

Sincerely, Me

I’ll give you a hint: it’s not Shady. It’s me, your friendly neighbourhood blogger

So, we’re back into school. Which means more posts! This one in particular is about goal setting. No, not soccer. I don’t sport. This is about setting goals for your future. More specifically, SMART goals.

Now, a SMART goal is a goal that is a bit more specific than regular goals. SMART is actually an acronym, that stands for

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timely

Thats what makes up a SMART goal.

The next step in this was to make three SMART goals for myself. One that had to do with learning inside of school, one about character growth, and one about learning outside of school. Doing this involved writing it out, creating a visual for each, and then also recording our voice saying it.

Ive got the small issue of ‘I’m sick’ going on, so I can’t really speak right now. I will try and get the audio recordings up here as soon as possible. Until then, you’ll just have to do more reading. That’s fine, reading makes you smart.

In School Learning:

I would like to hand my work in on time for school, so that I don’t have late assignments. I can do this by setting aside time after school to do my homework, while also giving myself breaks so I don’t overwork myself too much. If the assignment is over a few days, I can set checkpoints of what I can do each day to make sure I get the work done on time.

Character Growth:

I’d like to be able to take leadership more and be confident in my work. I can do this by putting more effort into my work, and putting my own personal touch to it so I enjoy doing it and I feel more confident in the final product.

Out Of School Learning:

I’d like to expand my knowledge of cooking outside of school, so that I can help make dinner at home and generally know how to cook. I can use the recipes I get in my foods class, as well as look up recipes online, and help to make dinner once a week at home.

So that’s all for this post! I hope this helped you in some way, and maybe you can get on the path to make your own SMART goals.

Read Ya Later

Sincerely, Me

It’s the final blog post (bad kazoo of the final countdown)

This one is about the most important moment in Canadian history. We had to pick one topic and argue our point in any way possible about why it was the most important moment in our country’s history. I chose the building of the railway. And how did I chose to explain it?

A vlog. For those who don’t know what that is, that would be a video blog. Pretty much I filmed myself talking about why it’s important. And here you go:

Clickedy Click

Read Ya Later

Ruby