Monthly Archives: January 2022

mPOL

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Hello and welcome back to my blog! This is my mPOL post. It is about my learning so far this year.

I want to share with you my story of my blog posts and how much they’ve improved. At the start there were blog posts such as this one, but now, I have ones such as this. My very first blog post didn’t have many links or photos, but now, they have tons!

For Scimatics, I improved a lot from our first project, to our last project. Our first project was to create a numbers spreadsheet on how much screen time we’ve spent on our iPads. Our last project was to make a laser display using the Pythagorean theorem and lasers. 

I don’t want to get distracted as much doing homework, so that is one of my goals this year in Scimatics.

Did all the work you completed this year in Scimatics meet your standards? No, it didn’t. I do want to aim for rainbows, but in every assignment get at least a sun.

Next, I want to discuss Maker. The projects that we did in Maker were becoming a PLP learner, in which we did our Big Life Journal. Next, we did Constructing Creative Communication, then we are doing our geek out blog challenge. I have different goals in different parts of Maker. What I learned from Constructing Creative Communication as a project, is that you need to read the WHOLE of the instructions. You can’t skim over it, you must read it all. 

This is the photo that I am most proud of that I took: 

In Humanities, our first project was medium is the message, then we did the Outsiders, then we just finished working with words last night! In medium is the message, we made an ad for a company. Our company was the Deep Cove Heritage society. In the Outsiders, we learned about worldview and the Outsiders novel by S.E. Hinton. Working with words was a poetry project, in which we had to preform a poem that we wrote.

What is the most interesting thing that you learned in Humanities? The most interesting thing that I have learned in Humanities this year is how to make ads. It can be helpful later on in life, and also you can use the skills that you use to make ads in many different things.

My Poetry Book

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Here is a book that I made.

We made a book on poetry. First, we wrote our poems. Then, we figured out how to work book creator. Book creator is an app that lets you create books. It is a very important part of making this book. It has tools to let you record, draw, and write.

My favourite part of this project was my haiku. It went like this.

Nature is calming

You hear birdcall above

You see a cougar

The cougar pounces

Just in time, you roll away

No more birdcall now

You can trust nature

Birds sing when there is danger

Where is the cougar?

This was just a short post, but be ready for one on DI soon!

Laser Laws

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Hey guys, welcome back or to my blog. In this project we made a laser display using the Pythagorean Theorem. The display had to include a triangle that was measured, how we proved the law of reflection, and how we proved the Pythagorean Theorem. We also did extra path that showed how accurate the measure app is. In my group I had Brooke, Jasper, and Andrew. 

At the start of this project we did a project start mind map. We listed questions we had about lasers and the Pythagorean Theorem. We put in thoughts, and we put in examples. As you can see, I didn’t know a lot about lasers, but I know a lot more after this project.

So there was the project start mind map, but there is also a project end mind map. What I do, is I go through and answer all of the questions that I had. This is what my mind map looked like after the project.

Milestones:

Milestone 1: Project start mind map, which is the first photo in this blog post.

Milestone 2: Law of reflection lab. In this milestone, we proved the law of reflection using a ray box. Here is my lab report. Lab Write-Up: Law of Reflection Experiment Purpose: Test the law of reflection to confirm it is true.
Question: How can we test the law of reflection to confirm that it is true, using a ray box, plane mirror, protractor, pencil and paper?
Hypothesis: Yes, I think that we can confirm the law of reflection using these materials.
Procedure:
• Plug in ray box
• Slide in the slitted square so that there is one slit showing
• Attach clips to plane mirror
• Set mirror up vertically on a table
• Place ray box on table, point at the mirror
• Put piece of paper under the mirror
• Trace the line of light with pencil
• Measure the angle with the protractor
• Record the measurements
• Repeat two more times using different angles by changing the angle of the light
Analyze Data:
1. Experiment #1: Angle of incidence = 50 Angle of reflection = 50
2. Experiment #1: Angle of incidence = 70 Angle of reflection = 70
3. Experiment #1: Angle of incidence = 10 Angle of reflection = 10
Conclusion: In this lab, we tested the law of reflection to see if it was true. First, we had to come up with a purpose, then turn that purpose into a question, then come up with a procedure, analyze data and finally, write this conclusion. We hit the ray box off of a mirror, and measured the angles, and it turned out that they were the same! So I concluded that the law of reflection is true. For an extra experiment I hit the light off of a concave mirror, and when the light came off of the mirror, it curved! From that I can prove that light sort of curves.

Milestone 4: No one did Milestone 3, so I’m gonna skip ahead to Milestone 4! We proved the law of reflection with a website. Here is my write up:

Milestone 4- Laser Triangle Lab

Question:

How can I test the Pythagorean theorem and the law of reflection?

Hypothesis:

I think that if I get the angles correct, I can make a right angle triangle.

Procedure:

  • Go to the website
  • Set up a single ray of light
  • Put a mirror in so that the light reflects off it
  • Put another mirror so that it looks like a right angle triangle
  • Adjust while measuring with a protractor so that it is a right angle triangle
  • Put rulers to measure
  • Take a screenshot
  • Use markup to measure the lengths
  • Finish this lab report and add the screenshot to this document
  • Hand in to Showbie  

Data/Results/Analysis:

I realized that it is extremely difficult to create a perfect right triangle. This is the closest that I got. My hypothesis was technically correct, but I couldn’t get the angles correct no matter how hard I tried. My two legs are 9.2cm squared, and 3.8cm squared. My Hypotenuse is 9.9cm squared. I do think that the law of reflection is true, but you need robot reflexes or have an actual robot to do the triangle correctly. To prove the law of reflection, I said that the angle of incidence = the law of reflection. This second photo really shows that. If you measure it with a protractor, the angle is the same, 40 degrees. We also proved the law of reflection in another lab that we did. Photos of that lab are on the last page.

Conclusion:

I can conclude that my hypothesis is correct, but it is very hard to get it exact. How can I test the Pythagorean theorem and the law of reflection? My answer to this question is you can with this app. This was a really cool experiment and I can’t wait for the final milestone.

Milestone 5: Milestone 5 was just a picture of our laser display. Here it is!

Last but not least, milestone six is this blog post!

Reflection on core competency:

Questioning and predicting: Looking back on all of the Milestones that we did in questioning and predicting, I think that I did well. We did the project start mind map, and I had tons of questions. I felt that I was interested about the chosen topic and the I was questioning a lot.

Communicating and representing: I think that I communicated very well. When I was sick, I FaceTimed my group to help work on our project!

Applying and innovating: I helped build a lot of our project. I came up with ideas and I think that our whole group should get extending on this last one. Everyone helped with this.

Thanks for reading! – Charlie

 

5 Best Things in Music!

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Left to right: My sister, Me, my other sister.

Hey guys, and welcome back to my blog! We are on post number 4 of a five post series. In this post I’m going to focus on telling you the best things about music! Please check out my first, second, and third blog posts before reading this one.

I think that one of the best things in music is all of the complicated songs that you can eventually play. They make everyone happy around you, and they can make you happy, too! Another thing about music is that two different people that speak different languages can enjoy the same music, because music is a universal language. Music is also very cultural. The First Nations people of Canada enjoy their music too! I also love their music. Music can get you either pumped up or calmed down. If you’re going to a soccer game or something that requires a lot of energy, you could listen to more upbeat music. If you are going to bed or just reading a book or something, you could listen to chill music. Another thing is that you can play it when you are quite young. I have this video from a while ago of when I was playing piano. IMG_1509

Also, people can make AMAZING things with music. This is a video that my mom took of a self-playing piano. You hire a concert pianist to play from their home, and it shows up onto your piano! IMG_1511

Most people love music😍! Do you remember at 7:00 when people used to make some noise in honour of the front-line workers? On our street a bagpiper played, as well as my neighbour and I. My neighbour played ukulele, and I played trumpet. We played O Canada. Playing at 7:00 is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. That brings us to the end of my blog post. Thanks for reading!

Music posts part 3!

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Hey guys, welcome back to another blog post! Today I’ll be taking a photo of something around me that represents music, which is my topic. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my other blogs in this project here and here. Remember on the last post to vote!

What I chose to represent music is my work-space. Here it is.

In this photo you see where I play my main instrument, the piano. The two certificates are my piano awards, I have a timer to time my practices, and on the right is where I store all of my many, many books.

7 facts about music!

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This is my second post in a five post series about music. My first post you can see here. In this post I will be talking about seven amazing musical facts. They will be about instruments, my music, and some songs. 

I’ll start off with something that a lot of people probably already know. Did you know the Mozart wrote his first symphony when he was nine?!?!? My second fact is that the most common instrument that people start off with is the keyboard/piano, which I was somewhat surprised about. I thought that it would be vocals. So fact number three is about one of Beethoven’s best songs that most people don’t know the name of, Fur Elise. Beethoven wrote it when he was half deaf!

My fourth isn’t really a fact. I have a poll! Click here to vote on your favourite type of music! Numero fivo. Most music comes from Russia, which I found really surprising. Second last fact! 85% of kids either play or have played an instrument in their lifetime. And my last fact is actually helpful. Music can help some people concentrate! Use chill music without words for writing, like I’m listening to as I’m writing this post (I made this playlist!), and you can use more upbeat music with words for math and science. Thank you for reading this post, and be sure to tune in for the next one!

P.S. be sure to check out all the links!

Music: A Way Of Life

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Music is a great way to either calm down, or get excited! At bedtime, you could listen to more chill songs, and when you’re about to start a sport or something, you can listen to exciting music to get you hyped up. No matter how you use or play music, it is a great way to connect with people around you, and is an easy way to do something that you love. Maybe you love listening to music, maybe you love playing it. No matter what, I think that music is a great thing. 

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing 5 blog posts about music. They will be short, and all about music. I play the piano, so I’ll mostly be talking about my experience with it, but I will also talk about other instruments. 

Outsiders – a book of worldview

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to another blog post in my blog! In this project we did two tableaus. They were about a book called the Outsiders. The Outsiders is a novel by S.E. Hinton, which she wrote in the 1960s. This is a traditional grade 8 book, so old that my parents read it in grade eight! For this project, my group members were Chris, Sydney, Seth, Keenan, and Cameron.

First, we learned about the novel. It was based around two gangs, the Greasers, and the Socs. The Greasers are the gang that the main character, Ponyboy is in, while the Socs are the upper, richer, class. My favourite part of this book was Johnny’s quote, “Star gold Ponyboy, stay gold.” 

Second, we learned about worldview. Worldview has seven different aspects. There is geography, time, beliefs, society, values, economy, and knowledge. When we presented this, we had a script explaining how our chosen aspects of worldview relate to our scene that we presented. “We chose this scene to represent two aspects of worldview, geography and economy. If Darry wasn’t stressed about his financial situation he might not have slapped Ponyboy. We also chose geography because they live in a really rough neighbourhood causing them to turn into greasers.” We then transposed this scene into 2021, “we have kept the same aspects for this scene as the first, which can be seen here as geography and economy. Geography is represented by where they live, and economy is represented by the older phone models.” 

Last but not least, we learned about Tableaus (I think that’s how you spell it). A Tableau is a still image. A Tableau must include these elements. Different levels (high, medium, low), different body shapes (open or closed), effective use of physical space (balance + visibility), strong poses that communicate a story,  strong facial expressions that convey emotion, focus is appropriate and in character.

We presented all of our elements of learning by choosing a scene, representing that scene as a Tableau, and choose two worldview elements to go with our scene. The scene that we
got was in the Curtis’s living room, when Darry slapped Ponyboy. Everyone had different roles in this Tableau. Sydney was a bush, Cameron was Darry, Christian and Keenan were walls of a house, Seth was Sodapop, and I was Ponyboy. Here is us setting up:

“What can the Outsiders teach us about worldview” was the driving question for this post. I think that the Outsiders can teach us a lot about worldview. They live in a rough neighbourhood as the lower class, the Greasers. This novel could happen in our world today, but not here. Maybe in some of the bigger cities where there are more gangs. But I don’t think that it could happen here (also because guns are banned in Canada). Also, I think that the cigarettes would be replaced with vapes. 

Thank you for reading, and there will be more posts soon. Also, be sure to check out my YouTube channel. I have three videos so far: 1, 2, 3.