World War II: How Do We Remember? 💣

Posted on January 11, 2026 by elsaw

WWII: How is it Remembered?🎬

This project was something I had been looking forward to learn about for a very long time. I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed this project and learned lots. This is going to be a rather long post because we did a lot during this project and it was our theme for this years winter exhibition!

The main theme: 💣

The main theme for this project was (obviously) WWII. Our main idea was to look at (and make) some examples of media that remembers WWII. We watched two movies, looked at lots of propaganda, made our own propaganda, and compared recent history with some events of WWII. All of these things were to help us answer the driving question of our project which is “How do stories, media, and propaganda shape how we remember World War II?” We discussed a lot about perspective and how the side the media is taking can manipulate the audience into feeling a certain way.

Driving Question: “🏎️How do Stories, Media, and Propaganda Shape How we Remember World War II?🏎️”

Stories, media, and propaganda play a huge role in how we remember World War II because most people now didn’t experience it firsthand, and only have the opportunity to learn about it using the media that has been created. Stories help make the war feel personal. Memoirs, novels, and interviews focus on individual soldiers, families, or survivors, which makes the war easier to understand and emotionally connect to. However, these stories usually show only one perspective, so some experiences get more attention than others while some are left out.

How did Europe let it happen? 📝

This was an activity to start off our project. We were told to make an infographic of the main reasons why WWII happened. The four main factors were the Treaty of Versailles, apeasement, the Great Depression, and expansionism. When WWI ended, Germany was punished severely by the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty made Germany take full blame for WWI and made them pay for damages which amounted to roughly 44 billion Canadian dollars. When Hitler started to become more aggressive, they let him get what he wanted in hopes that appeasement would be enough to hold off another war. (Spoiler alert, it only made him bolder). The Great Depression hit Germany harder than most countries, which allowed Hitler to rise to power by promising the angry and humiliated German people that he was going to fix everything. Most of the other countries were to busy with their own problems to notice Hitler slowly rebuilding his army. Italy, Japan, and Germany were all interested in expansionism. They all wanted more land and power for their countries. This eventually led to the allies not being able to ignore Hitler and his aggressive actions anymore and led to the start of WWII.

Then and now remembrance activity:🏙️

Our next task was to see how the remembrance of historical events changes over time. We were tasked with finding an old article on a historical event of our choosing (my group with Brooklyn and Carmyn chose 911 as our event), and then compare the old article to a new article of the same topic and see how the remembrance changed. This helped us get into the habit of noticing how time can change the story or even how our thoughts and feelings can change about an event.

Take a look at our notes HERE

Create your own propaganda:🗣️🇸🇪

Propaganda was used during the war to influence how people thought and felt. Governments used posters, radio, and film to build support for the war, boost morale, and portray enemies in a negative way. Even after the war, some of these ideas stuck, shaping long term attitudes and memories about who was “good,” who was “bad,” and why the war was fought.

I wanted my propaganda to be original and well thought out, so I did some research on some actual propaganda that was featured in Sweden. My propaganda poster is something that the Swedish government would have been reminding Swedish citizens throughout the whole war. Sweden declared neutral for the entirety of WWII, so their main concern was preventing espionage at the hands of the public. When the war broke out in 1939, The Swedish Advertising Association offered its services to the information agency in connection with possible propaganda campaigns. At this point, neutrality was very vulnerable in Sweden so the government wanted as little chatter as possible.

The background symbolizes Swedens national colours and maintaining pride. “Håll Käften” means “keep your mouth shut”, which would have been a common term during those times. “En Svensk Tiger.” The word “svensk” means “Sweden” or “swede”, and “tiger” has a double meaning, “tiga” which means to “keep ones mouth shut”. So the meaning of the Swedish tiger is directly “a swede keeps their mouth shut”. I really liked this symbolism and it is still a popular saying in Sweden. The government was very serious about the public not relaying important or sensitive information that could potentially get back to the Axis powers or the Allies.

I go more into detail HERE

Movies:📽️

Media, especially films, documentaries, and newsreels, shape strong images of the war. Movies usually simplify events into clear heroes and villains, which can make history easier to follow but sometimes less accurate. For example, many films focus on battles involving certain countries, which can make it seem like those were the only important parts of the war.

Dunkirk:⚓️🪖

I really enjoyed this movie, it was intense, the soundtrack was incredible, the acting was really good, and the overall theme was captured really nicely. I liked the way that there were three separate stories that sort of molded together in the end. In the beginning, it was hard to follow along but it became clearer the more you watched. I think this movie did a good job in representing the stressful situation France and Britain was in, but not so much in giving background information, and insight into what the Germans were doing and even talking about France’s contributions (which is ridiculous because the whole thing happened in France). The movie definitely portrayed Britain as the “good guys” and had a bit of British propaganda in it. It highlighted the struggles but also the victories that British troops endured during that time.

(For a little overview of what the movie is about): The Dunkirk evacuation happened during World War II in 1940. Allied soldiers from Britain and France were surrounded by German forces in northern France. Hundreds of thousands of troops were rescued by military ships and civilian boats and taken across the English Channel to Britain. This evacuation helped save the soldiers so they could continue fighting later in the war.

Jojo Rabbit:🐇

This was the perfect movie to represent propaganda and control. Jojo Rabbit is a movie about a young boy living in Nazi Germany during World War II. He strongly believes in Nazi ideas at the start, mostly because that’s all he has been taught. Jojo is portrayed as the Nazis biggest supporter, he has lots of posters and propaganda pieces in his room and his imaginary friend is Hitler.The movie mixes humour with serious topics and focuses on themes like propaganda, growing up, and learning to see others differently. The story takes place near the end of the war, when Germany is starting to lose and the Nazi government is still controlling people through strict rules and fear. Children were trained in Nazi beliefs through school and the Hitler Youth, and Jewish people were being hunted, forced into hiding, or taken away. Fear was used to control and force society into obedience.

Winter Exhibition:🛩️

Our winter exhibition was a little bit different this year. Since Avatar: Fire and Ash came out very close to the exhibition date, the teachers wanted to make the theme Avatar. At first it was a bit difficult to relate WWII to Avatar but we actually found a few connections to make. My groups theme was Technology, Innovation, and Consequence of WWII and Avatar.

To make connections between the two, we chose the spitfire and the ikran (both flying technologies used by the “good guys”). The main connection is how both in WWII and Avatar, propaganda was used to manipulate how the audience feels about certain sides of the story.

Our group was very successful at improvising and making last minute changes. We had a group member be sick the day of, we had mishaps with lighting, and room decor changes. We managed to push past the bumps and preform really well. We got lots of compliments saying that we were all very engaging, interesting, respectful, polite, and most importantly, we knew what we were talking about and were all very knowledgeable on the subject and could answer people’s questions.

there are some more notes HERE

Comic Quest!

Posted on June 20, 2025 by elsaw

Comic Quest WWI

Hello and welcome to my blog. This is one of the last few posts of my grade 9 year. I Hope you enjoy. This is my favourite humanities project we’ve had before and definitely the proudest I’ve been of my work.

I really loved this project because I learnt a lot about WWI. Before this project I had never been interested in WWI, preferring to learn about WWII. But now that I’ve spent some time learning about it, I’ve started to take matters into my own hands, by watching movies/videos, and reading about WWI.

In this project we were tasked with making a factual, interesting, and original story. Then we had to draw it and make the story into a comic book. I think that because I was much more interested in the subject and topic of the learning I enjoyed it a lot more than our previous project. I really stretched myself with my drawings and am really proud of my comic. I am not a very artistic person, so my drawings are somewhere I really stretched myself. I was super engaged and loved all the videos and media we learnt from during class. I think its safe to say, I loved this project! I also pushed myself and presented an entire presentation by myself because my two group members were away.

The Story Board:

This was the first stage of the comic. I had already came up with a story idea and I was keen to stick to it. My story follows the life of a 19 year old boy, Tom Callaghan, a Toronto citizen in 1915 who enlists in the army, but gets rejected due to his poor eyesight. But he is given one last option: the decoding group. My story is kind of a mix of love, drama, and factual fiction.

The Comic:

This was by far the hardest part of the project but it was super rewarding to get done and I am really proud of my final product! I’m not an artist but I made my minimal skill work out. I’m not sure how to get my comic into my blog but if I find out how I will show you.

The silent battle

Don’t worry, BEE happy🐝

Posted on June 19, 2025June 19, 2025 by elsaw

Hello and welcome to my blog! In this post I will take you through the first ever science themed PLP exhibition! This exhibition was very different to the ones I was used to. There was a schedule for visitors and we didn’t get any breaks. I liked it a bit better than the original type of exhibition because it didn’t leave any room for mishaps with the schedule and stuff like that.

Pollination: The Theme

The theme for this exhibition is pollinators of B.C! My group was in charge of the bats! Bats in bc don’t actually pollinate, so that proved a slight challenge but we pushed through and did our best. We made lots of fun interactive elements and games. Our first task was to make a food web. Our food web surrounded bats, we had bats predators and food sources. It was put together with hand made drawings from all of my group members and really added the final touch.

This project was super important because it was the first ever science exhibition! It was all about pollinators in B.C. The exhibition was pretty fun and I think I did a really good job. I didn’t shy away from all the people coming to our booth and at the end of the night my voice was raw from talking! During the actual exhibition, I think I put in my best effort. I’m really proud of myself and think myself and my group did really well by educating the public about B.C bats!

I know this was a pretty short post, but thank you for reading!

(I WILL ADD SOME PHOTOS WHEN I HAVE ACCESS TO THEM)

In the Name of the Nation🇨🇦

Posted on May 18, 2025May 18, 2025 by elsaw

Hello and welcome back to my blog! For this post, you will learn all about the confederation of Canada. In humanities, we did a short project all about why the different Canadian provinces should/should not join the confederation. This was a pretty short project So this post might be a little shorter than usual.

Nationalism VS. Patriotism:

The launch activity was to take notes on nationalism and patriotism. Then we had to distinguish between the two. We watched some very interesting videos on the matter and also some of the most famous Canadian videos. Like for example, the Molson “I am Canadian” add. It really shows how you can both be proud of your country but also respectful. Thats the difference between nationalism and patriotism; nationalism is when you think that your country is the best and any country that has different values, laws, or beliefs is wrong. But patriotism is when you think your country is the best and you love your country but don’t go around saying that other countries are wrong if they don’t agree with yours. I made some very interesting notes on the consequences of nationalism. Take a look!

Here is the link to my NOTES:

The Confederation of Canada: Nova Scotia

My group consisted of Carmyn and Ian. We did a draw in class and our group got Nova Scotia! Over the next few days, we took vigorous notes on what Nova Scotia was like BEFORE the confederation. We learnt about their population, government, industries, etc… Once we finished our notes we brainstormed ideas for our final product: The Confederation Video! In our video we had to talk about why Nova Scotia should or should or should not join the confederation. After a lot of debating we decided our video should be like a professional debate. In the video two men, Charles Tupper (Carmyn) and Joseph Howe (Me) would be debating back and forth weather the province of Nova Scotia would join the confederation. The moderator (Ian) would be making points and the final decision.

Here are our notes on Nova Scotia:

Driving Question: 🏎️

“How has Nationalism’s influence shaped the global structure? Moreover, how has Nationalism impacted the establishment of Canada as a nation?”

Nationalism has shaped the global structure by encouraging people with shared culture, language, or history to form their own nations, instead of complaining that other countries weren’t right. This led to the fall of empires and the rise of many independent countries, changing the world map. While it united some groups, it also caused conflicts when different groups competed for land or power. In Canada’s case, nationalism helped bring the colonies together. People began to feel proud of their shared identity, different from Britain and the U.S., which led to Confederation in 1867. French-Canadian nationalism also played a role by pushing for the protection of language and culture. So, nationalism helped Canada become a united and independent nation in its own unique way.

Filming:

Since our video was set like a debate, we needed a plain background and a judges stand/podium. Once we roamed the school for a bit, we found the perfect filming location… the library! Unfortunately for us, the library was also being used by multiple other groups. This proved some problems and got quite frustrating at times, because we needed to film but we couldn’t because other groups were either using the space or props we needed. But in the end we got there! Take a look at our final product:

Thanks for reading (and watching)! I hope you enjoyed learning all about this project.

Destination Imagination: 💭

Posted on April 22, 2025April 22, 2025 by elsaw

Stacking Blocks and Life Lessons: What I Learned Destination Imagination

Hello and welcome to my blog. This post is about my latest experience with Destination Imagination (DI).

This year, I had the absolute chaos-filled joy of competing in Destination Imagination (again) with my team, The Block Busters (yes, we had the best name). (I also barely managed to escape with my life and quite a few battle scars).

Our challenge was a technical one: build up a structure using technical methods, and then use completely different methods to tear it down. It was like the ultimate engineering-meets-destruction test. And if that doesn’t sound cool to you, then I don’t know what does.

We spent months planning, building, testing, re-building, and occasionally watching everything collapse way before it was supposed to. It was frustrating. It was messy. It was also kind of amazing.

Regional Tournament: The Plot Twist

For our regional tournament, we showed up so prepared. We had rehearsed like mad scientists. Our stack was solid, our teardown method worked (well, most of the time), and our skit tied everything together in a way we thought was super clever. We were pumped. Then we got our results. Let’s just say… we didn’t place where we thought we would. And yeah, it stung a little. Okay, it stung a lot. We had worked so hard! What did we miss? But instead of giving up or sulking too long, we took it as a sign: we could do better. So we leveled up.

Provincial Tournament: Déjà Vu with Duct Tape

For the provincial tournament, we brought our A-game—and then some. We made our structure stronger, made our teardown flashier, improved our skit, and worked even more tightly as a team. We pushed ourselves creatively and technically. We were in it to win it. And then… we got the same placement.

At first? Super frustrating. Like “scream-into-a-pillow” frustrating. It felt like all our effort didn’t show up in the scores. But then something clicked for me.

What I Actually Learned

Sure, I had wanted a trophy. But what I got instead was something better (okay, maybe not shinier, but definitely more valuable):

Persistence matters. We kept going when it would’ve been easy to stop. We didn’t just accept our first result—we worked harder to improve.
Teamwork is everything. The Block Busters became more than just a team name—we were a unit. We learned how to support each other under pressure, how to solve problems together, and how to laugh through the disasters (looking at you, duct tape mishap #47).
You can’t control the outcome—but you can control the effort. The rankings didn’t reflect how much we grew, but we know how far we came. And that’s something no score can measure.
Creativity doesn’t always fit inside a scoring rubric. We took risks. We tried big ideas. And even if those didn’t pay off on paper, they meant something to us.

In the end, I’m walking away from this experience with skills I never expected to build—from quick thinking and engineering to collaboration and self-confidence. And honestly? I’m proud of the work we did. We built something awesome. And yeah, we smashed it too (literally and metaphorically).

We were The Block Busters. And next year I’ll be part of a brand new team (hopefully battle scar free)

(And glitter. I’m still voting for glitter.)

Unboxing The Story Of Me📦

Posted on April 4, 2025 by elsaw

Hello and welcome to my blog. In this post I will unbox me. This maker project is all about setting goals, making good habits, and unboxing yourself. Unboxing Me (the project name) started with a book called What Do You Really Want by Beverly K. Batchel.

Driving Question: How might I tell a story about who I am and where I’m going?

My story is about growth, goals, and figuring out where I’m headed. I’ve always been someone who likes structure—not just to stay organized, but because it helps me focus on what really matters. I use my iPad to keep me on track. The Things app helps me break big goals into smaller steps, and my calendar keeps me accountable. Whether it’s planning projects, managing daily tasks, or just making sure I have time for what’s important, these tools help me turn ideas into action. With the right mindset and tools, I can successfully plan a future and also tell a story.

What Do You Really Want?

“During adolescence, a person is faced for the first time with the need to plan his or her own life, set long-term goals and take responsibility for their fulfillment. That’s a big challenge even for adults, isn’t it? Think back to your teenage self: did anyone teach you to set goals, understand yourself and follow your dreams? I don’t think so. More likely, you were nurtured, given the information you needed and tried to guide you. But the most important thing an adult can give a teenager is to help form not knowledge, but so-called meta-skills: the ability to communicate, to hear yourself, to understand others, to be persistent, to set goals and achieve them. They will help a child find their way and succeed in their chosen endeavor. This book is written for teenagers who are thinking about the future, but do not yet know exactly what they want. It will help to define their aspirations and outline a plan to achieve their goals, teach them how to motivate themselves and inspire them to achieve their goals.”

There are many activities in the book that help boost your goal setting habits. My first activity was a think it and ink it. The book instructed me to make a goal tracker, so I hopped onto notability and wrote down some of my current goals. Then I added more to it by talking about how I would achieve the goals and what I would do to get there. Our second task was a twenty by twenty sheet. “If you could do any twenty things by the time you turn twenty, what would they be?” My sheet consists of many different things such as school, sports, travel, work, friends, and housing. I like to think of my self as pretty ambitious so I hope to reach most, if not all, of my goals by the time I am twenty. The next activity and my favourite, is the dream board! I love making dream boards because you can use your creativity to express yourself and your goals. Mine was fun to make because I used Canva and made mine pop with colour and images. Our second last task was writing a letter to ourselves. I struggled a bit with this because I’m not much of a goal person so actually writing to myself about goals was a bit tough. The letter spoke about what you will do once you reach a goal. And last but not least, we made a celebration plan! Our task was to write about what we would do to celebrate once we had met one (or more) of our goals.

Goal Tracker:

Twenty By Twenty:

Dream Board:

Letter To Myself:

“Sup me,

I wanted to take a moment to remind myself of the things I love about who I am. Its easy to get caught up in the grind and forget to appreciate what makes me, well, me. I love how kind I am. I always try to be there for the people in my life, whether its offering a helping hand or just

listening when someone needs to talk. That kind of empathy is something Im really proud of. I also love my resilience, Ive been through some tough times, but I always manage to bounce back and keep going. It reminds me that I’m stronger than I think. Another thing I love about myself is my curiosity. Im always looking for new things to learn, whether its reading or just diving into something that piques my interest. It keeps life exciting. And lets not forget my creativity. I find new ways to solve problems or just express myself, and it feels good to know I can come up with something original when needed. I also really appreciate my sense of humour. I know how to laugh at myself and keep things light, even when life

tries to get too serious. It makes everything a little easier to handle. And Im grateful for my selfawareness. Im not perfect, but I know who I am, and Im always trying to grow and be better. My determination is something I admire too. When I set a goal, I dont back down, I keep pushing until I get there. I

also really value how I stay true to myself. I dont try to be anyone else, and Im learning to be more confident in just being me. I try to keep a sense of gratitude in my life, appreciating all the little moments and things I have. It helps me stay grounded and focused on what really matters. And lastly, Im learning to love myself more. I show love to the people I care about, but Im working on giving myself the same kindness and care. I guess, at the end of the day, Im proud of who I am. Ive got my flaws, but Ive got a lot of good stuff too. Im constantly growing, and Im excited to see where that takes me.

With love,

Me.”

Celebration Plan:

“Hockey: I did it! I set out to get better at hockey, and all the hard work has paid off. I wanted this because I love the game and knew I had more in me. Even when it got tough-early mornings, tough losses, and frustrating practices—| stuck with it. I stayed consistent, pushed myself, and kept improving little by little. Now I’m faster, stronger, and more confident on the ice. Time to celebrate! Whether that means treating myself, taking a well-earned rest, or just enjoying the game even more, l’m going to soak it in. I earned it.

On to the next challenge!

Fiji:

Goal achieved! I set a goal to be fitter and feel more comfortable for Fiji, and all the effort has paid off. I wanted this because I knew l’d enjoy the trip so much more if I felt strong, confident, and full of energy. Even when it was tough-workouts I didn’t feel like doing, cravings, and days where progress felt slow-| kept going. I stayed consistent, made healthier choices, and kept pushing myself. Now I feel better, move easier, and have way more confidence. Time to celebrate! Whether that means fully enjoying every moment in Fiji, or just appreciating how far l’ve come, l’m going enjoy it. I earned this.”

Managing Me Video:

Our first benchmark was our managing me videos. We had to make a short 1 ish minute video about how we stay organized and manage ourselves. I talked about time blocking my calendar and using Things. Time blocking is a very useful way to keep track of your day and also your goals. I time block my school days to know what classes I have and what time I have in each class. I also like to time block my activities outside of school so I can keep track of sports like my hockey and boxing but also other things like walking my dog or hanging out with friends. Since we didn’t post these videos to YouTube, I used a background song that would be subject to copyright. So unfortunately I cant show the video on here because of some technical difficulties.

Unboxing Me Video:

For our last and final part of thee project we made an Unboxing video about ourselves and our goals. Our videos had to feature enough information to tell a story. The video had a time limit of 2-3 minutes. For my first draft I made a script: “Do you have big goals for life? Hi, my name is Elsa, and I have some big goals. Before I get into some of my bigger goals, I’m going to go over who I am and my values. I love sports and physical activities. I am I huge fan of hockey and I’ve been playing it since I was three years old. I love getting exercise and going on hikes. Another sport I do is boxing. The most important thing I value is nature, especially the ocean. Every summer I go on a boat trip with my family and I have the best time. I love being in and on the water. That’s why one of my biggest long term goals in life is to become a boat pilot. I was never interested in this type of job until I went to the B.C boat show. I was wandering the halls when I saw a stand that talked about becoming a boat pilot. I was immediately intrigued when the two people who were working at the stand mentioned the good pay and long vacation times. You get to travel the world and get paid for it?! This sounds like the job for me! I will need to work hard to become a boat pilot and I know that the journey wont always be easy, but I will have to stick with my goals and chip them away one at a time! In order to stick with my goals I will have to stay organized. I will keep track of all my tasks and be able track my goals as well. I’m going to set small goals that will lead up to bigger things like getting into university or applying for a job. I want to become successful and be happy with my life and how I got there.”

Personally, i didnt really stick to my script but thats the gist of my story. I did a lot of filming and re-filming but I got there in the end! My video is posted on YouTube for you all to enjoy. I’ll drop a link below.

Thank You!

MPOL Mayhem

Posted on March 10, 2025March 10, 2025 by elsaw

MPOL Time!

Hello and welcome to my blog! It’s POL time! Today’s post is all about my first Presentation of Learning (POL)! Specifically, I’ll be doing an MPOL— a Mid-Year Presentation of Learning. This is a student-led conference where I get to share my learning journey with my teacher, my parent(s), and any other invited guests. It’s a great opportunity for them to understand where I am as a learner and how I’ve grown.

The MPOL is a 12-minute conference, with 7 minutes dedicated to my learning story and 5 minutes for questions from my teacher and parent(s). Let’s get started!

Opening Statement:

“ Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

My Vision, Mission, and Values:

My vision is just the things that I want to accomplish either by the end of the school year or by graduation. My mission is how I’m going to accomplish my vision and the work I will have to do to get there.

Vision:

On my graduation day I will find myself being a happy and healthy person, having reached my goals and being ready to move on into adult life. I want to have no regrets about my grades in school and my actions. I want to be able to leave school prepared to be an active citizen in society. I will be able to further my education in the form of going to a college or university that fits my preference.

Mission:

To reach my vision I will have to work hard in my grade nine year to prepare myself for the years after. I want to have a good mindset about my learning and also have the thirst to further it. I will have to be able to successfully balance my school and home life by being responsible with my time and homework, so that i don’t get discouraged or too stressed. I want to stay active both physically and mentally, so that I am more engaged at school.

Humanities:

Peak Potential:

This project was all about getting over basically everything. Some of us had to get over physical and mental challenges with the hikes, and some of us had to get over anxiety challenges with asking complete strangers to get an interview (literally me). Before we left B.C, we were told we had to get with groups and then stick with them for the whole trip to conduct interviews. After the trip we put together all of the interviews and made one video on how to become the best version of ourselves.

This project helped push me out of my comfort zone when it came to talking with strangers. At the beginning of the trip I kept trying to procrastinate so that I wouldn’t have to talk to people but eventually I did and it wasn’t so bad. I had to use my communication and collaboration skills a lot in Alberta. This really helped me advance my agency and engagement success behaviours, by taking responsibility and taking action when we needed to conduct more interviews. At the end of the trip I no longer needed 3 friends with me to ask people questions, I could just do it myself. I also used my organizational skills a lot in Alberta when it came to keeping interviews saved in the proper folder, doing my daily checks on my note sheet, and keeping track of the interview questions and answers.

PGP:

TYKTWD:

This project was for the grade 9 take your kid to work day activity. For my “Take Your Kid to Work Day” blog post, I shared my experience volunteering at the Seymour Fish Hatchery since neither of my parents could take me to their workplaces. Along with my sister Emilia and my friend Brooklyn, I got to participate in activities like feeding baby salmon and doing a carcass recovery. The carcass recovery involved wading through the creek to count dead salmon and record important details like gender, size, origin, and whether they had spawned. This helped gather data on the salmon population. To add more depth to my post, I also conducted an interview with Megan Sampson, a volunteer at the hatchery. Talking to her gave me insight into the roles and responsibilities involved in wildlife conservation.

This project helped me advance my skills such as:

• Reflective Writing: I was able to clearly communicate my experiences and observations, making sure readers could understand what my day at the hatchery was like.

• Interviewing: I prepared thoughtful questions for Megan and learned how to gather valuable information from a professional in the field.

Analytical Thinking: Participating in the carcass recovery and recording data required me to observe details carefully and understand their significance.

• Environmental Awareness: This experience gave me a deeper appreciation for conservation efforts and how people work to protect wildlife.

Overall, this day was both educational and rewarding. Not only did I get hands-on experience with conservation work, but I also developed important skills that I can apply in the future.

How have I shown growth as a learner this year?

Throughout the year I have been working very hard to keep on track with my homework and school time. This year has been pretty stressful because of outside activities but I’ve been able to keep atop of all my work! I am good with time management but sometimes I need to be more in charge and do my work earlier so that I don’t have to stress about it the morning of. I’m a morning bird so that makes me very productive in the morning. If I need to do some extra work, I will take responsibility and do it in the morning. I am good at putting my thoughts into words, especially if I’m writing. I am working to having a more open mind when it comes to school work because if I like the subject I will pay more attention and contribute more. I enjoy reading and history so I like it when the subject revolves around that sort of thing.

– Homework

– Self regulation

– Time management

– Having an open mind

Thanks for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed the story upon my learning! Until next time!

Rise of Change🧸

Posted on March 7, 2025March 7, 2025 by elsaw

The Frankenstuffies!!

Hi and welcome back! This is my blog where you can read about everything that I learn. This post will feature my latest humanities project called…. Fankenstuffies: The Rise of Change! This project was all about the Industrial Revolution and the changes it brought to society. The Industrial Revolution was a period of major changes in the way products are made. It took place more than 200 years ago and greatly affected the way people lived as well as the way they worked. In earlier days, people made products by hand. They worked mostly in their own homes or in small workshops. During the Industrial Revolution, many factories were built. Labourers began making large numbers of things using machines powered by engines such as steam, or coal powered.

Driving question: 🏎️ How can we, as writers, weave historical details into our creative storytelling to convey a clear and impactful message?

We kicked off the project with the urbanization game, which was a fun and interactive way to get a feel for what life was like during the Industrial Revolution. Urbanization happens when people move from rural areas to cities, usually because of job opportunities in growing industries like factory work. As we explored this shift from farming to factory life, we started to understand how drastically things changed during that time. Cities became overcrowded, living conditions were often poor, and factory work was exhausting and even dangerous. It was interesting to put ourselves in the shoes of people who experienced such a massive transition. We imagined what it must have been like to leave behind a familiar way of life, move to a busy city, and try to keep up with all the changes happening around them. Here’s a picture of the city my group created: 👇

Making the frankenstuffies:

The Hero’s Journey

For this part of the project we had to create our very own frankenstuffies! It was a super fun (but slightly sad) activity that took around 3 classes to finish. We had to bring in around 3-4 stuffies that were no longer loved (my heart💔) and cut them up and use their body parts to create a whole new stuffie. I learnt a lot of things during this part of the project but the thing I learnt most was hand sewing. (Strange thing to be learning in a history class). Anyways, here’s a short video on how my beloved stuffie came to be!

Film Pitch

My Storyboard

For the last bit of preparation we had to do, we made a story board to map out our films. A storyboard is very helpful when you want to be organized before you create a story. Mapping out your ideas will help you create a more precise and easy to follow story. I used drawings to create my story board.

The Final Draft

It’s finally time to introduce my beloved Stefan!! Isn’t he gorgeous?! Anyways, for the final draft I worked really hard to find pictures and sounds that were copyright free to use in my movie. We used iMovie to create a short story that featured our characters in the Industrial Revolution! Here’s mine:

Thanks for reading all about this project!

Watt the Heck?!

Posted on February 12, 2025 by elsaw

Watt the Heck!?

How does electricity shape our society, and how can we generate it more sustainably?

During this project, we learnt many different types of energy and how to generate energy. But our main focus was how to generate clean and sustainable energy.

Electricity is a huge part of everyday life, it powers our homes, keeps hospitals running, and lets us stay connected with each other. But a lot of it still comes from fossil fuels, which pollute the environment. To make it more sustainable, we need to focus on renewable energy like solar, wind, and hydropower. Using energy more efficiently and improving battery storage can also help cut down our reliance on nonrenewable sources. If we keep pushing for cleaner energy, we can build a more sustainable future.

Hydro Electricity Infographic:

This was our first assignment in this project. We had to make in infographic on our choice of sustainable electricity. I chose hydro electricity because I love water and I find it fascinating that water can power electricity. Hydroelectricity is a way of generating power using moving water. Dams or turbines are placed in rivers or reservoirs to harness the energy from flowing water, which spins turbines to produce electricity. It’s a renewable energy source because water cycles naturally through rainfall and rivers. Hydropower is one of the most reliable and widely used renewable energy sources, but it can impact ecosystems by changing water flow and affecting fish populations. Despite this, it remains a clean and efficient way to produce electricity without burning fossil fuels.

Operation Electricity! ⚡️

This was the final benchmark in our project. We had to create a replica of the game ‘Operation’. Using our newfound skills with electricity, we made a fully functional (most of the time) board game!! We made it with a shoe box, tin foil, wires, metal tweezers and a whole lot of electrical tape! It’s crazy what you can do with just those materials.

I really liked doing the practice one because I was really proud of myself when it worked. It was a bit challenging to get my actual game to work 100% of the time because every once in a while I would have to re adjust the foil to get it to work. But I did it in the end! The tin foil we used was the conductor of electricity. We created a closed circuit for the electricity to flow through and to turn on the light.

thanks for reading this short little post on electricity and all the ways to harness, and use it (sustainably of course.)

Revolutions In Action🚦

Posted on January 10, 2025 by elsaw

Hello and welcome back to my blog. In this blog, I will talk about my PLP 9 experience during the winter exhibition! This blog is a 2-parter so you can read about BOTH the exhibition and the project called “Vive Les Machines À Métaphores”. I’ll start with the humanities project that led up to the exhibition.

Vive Les Machines À Métaphores⚙️

This project was all about What Factors Precipitate ‘Revolution’ and How Have They Shaped the Modern World? Revolutions happen when economic struggles, political oppression, and social inequality push people to demand change. Big ideas, new technology, and outside pressures often fuel the fire, like in the French Revolution. They’ve shaped the world by ending monarchies, spreading democracy, advancing rights, and driving progress. Revolutions show that the fight for freedom and fairness never stops.

Animal Farm:

Our project started off with us doing a novel study on the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. Animal Farm is a book about animals who rebel against their farmer to create a society where they are all equal. However, as the pigs take control, they become as oppressive as the humans they replaced. The story highlights how power can corrupt and how revolutions can betray their ideals. After we finished reading, we made an infographic on the four stages of revolutions and how each stage represented an action in Animal Farm.

Crane Britons Theory:

The first stage of a revolution is the incubation stage, people are unhappy because of issues like inequality, bad leadership, or economic struggles. Tensions build up, but nothing major happens yet—it’s all bubbling under the surface. Next is the moderate stage. Protests, strikes, and calls for change begin. Moderates try to fix things with reforms, but they usually don’t go far enough. The situation becomes more unstable, and people start to lose patience. In the most violent stage, radicals take over, the old system collapses, and things get chaotic. You might see violence, extreme measures, and big changes as the revolution reaches its peak. And finally in the moderate stage, things start to settle down. A new government forms, often less extreme than the radicals wanted. Society gets back to normal, though some parts of the old system might come back, just under new leadership.

Revolutions in action:

Our next step was to learn more about revolutions. There were 5 different revolutions we could choose to learn more about. The Russian, American, Meiji, Haitian, and French revolutions. I chose the French Revolution because I already knew a little about it, so I took the chance to learn more. After we became familiar with our different revolutions, we were instructed to make an infographic on them. We used Canva to make our infographics both aesthetically pleasing, and packed with information. Here’s mine:

Exhibition Ending:

Now it was time to put all of our learning into action. The grade 9 section of the winter exhibition was based off all of the revolutions. Each revolution group had about 5-6 people in it. My group consisted of Samuel, Eloise, Evelyn, Carmyn, and Liann. (I will link their blogs down below). Each group was to make a Rube Goldberg machine that was a metaphor for a revolution. A Rube Goldberg machine is a device that preforms multiple actions in order to complete one simple task (for example, turning on a light). Since they needed to be metaphors for a revolution, each action had to directly relate to an important event during the revolution.

Spiral	The economy spiraling.
Dominoes	The government pushing aside the poors needs.
Bouncing off the National Assembly	The third estate getting rejected from the National Assembly.
The tennis court	The poor protesting in the Tennis Court Oath.
The rights of man board	The government finally signing the rights for all men.
The knife and figures	The execution of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The end of the monarchy.
The car and flames	The Reign of Terror and chaos.
The car knocking over a board	The execution of Maximilian Robespierre. Also the end of the Reign of Terror.
The ball hitting the French flag.	Napoleon finally taking down the French government.
The crown	The end of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic Era
The ball going back to the top	The symbol of how revolutions never truly end and how once a revolution does end, a new one is ready to begin.

From the Top:

These are just a few video clips that highlight the progress we made while building. (My YouTube wasn’t working otherwise I would have posted this video)

IMG_2049

Presentation:

For the actual exhibition, all of the grade 9’s were put in a room with their Metaphor Machines. Once the people started to flow, it was time to present our machines. Each person in the group was explaining one stage of the machine. I was in charge of presenting the 6th action. Although I had to leave an hour early for a hockey game, I enjoyed seeing some of the other grades, and presenting our metaphor machine. On the whole, I think our group was the most successful. We had great organization and every single member contributed. It was hard work to build a Rube Goldberg machine, and even harder to get it to work properly. But in the end our group did really well and I enjoyed myself at the exhibition.

The End

That’s it for this blog post! Hope you enjoyed reading about the winter exhibition. Oh and also… Happy New Year!!

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