Kaia’s Learning Portfolio

Have you ever fallen off a chair? What about off of a chair that’s on top of a table? Well I have, but thankfully I had a team of people who I trusted to catch me!

About a week ago, almost all of the PLP grade 9’s went on a trip to Loon Lake to build leadership and teamwork skills and answer the question “how do the choices we make set our future path?” 

We arrived on Monday afternoon and started by meeting Jono and some of his Pinnacle Pursuits team and doing some ice-breaker activities, which helped me already learn more about my peers. After dinner, we were put into our rooms in the Student Centre. Either than having no lock on our door, the creepy red glow from the exit sign in the dark and about 15 girls sharing a washroom with 3 mirrors and 2 see-through showers, it was a very cozy and warm and comfortable place to stay. As well as becoming closer with people I didn’t know as well before the trip, I definitely also became closer to my friends who I shared a room with!

Anyways, the next 3 days went by really quickly because of all the fun and engaging actitvies we did, but it also feels like way longer a few days because I learned so much. This consisted of both outside and inside team building and leadership activities and sessions.

Some of the outdoor activities we did were rock-climbing, orienteering, shelter building, low and high ropes course. During rock-climbing, I think everyone was really supportive and encouraging of each other. A specific example of this is when I was climbing up the easy side, however I couldn’t figure out how to get past the big bulge near the top. Syd, Alva and Maddie had also done the same side as me so they helped me a lot by telling me where to put my feet and hands next, and I managed to get to the top! During the crate stacking challenge on the high ropes course, my entire group collaborated to beat the record of how many crates stacked and we got to 18! At first I wasn’t super confident of whether I wanted to go up or not, but I got the answer to the trivia question (the capital of Yukon) right because nobody else knew, so I decided to go up because being really light and having smallish feet would be helpful for stacking the crates. At first while it was still low to the ground, others added to the stack or passed them to me. Unfortunately, once got higher we had two problems, which we worked together to solve. First of all, nobody could reach the top or reach my hand and I didn’t think that I would be able to catch them. However, Nate was able to throw them really high and in the perfect place and side so that I could catch them by their handle. Our other issue was that the two stacks started to lean apart, so people at the bottom basically hugged the stack to keep it together. We continued using this strategy to continue until 18 (we didn’t have time to keep going any further). During this activity we also improved on our communication, because we had to communicate strategies, tips on how to catch the crates, asking people to hold the crates together, switching if people got tired and yelling “heads” if a crate was falling.

Inside, we did many sessions with Jono, where we learned about 5 main categories: Internal Talk, Clear Communication, Social Awareness, Emotional Intelligence and Leadership. We also filled out a workbook during these sessions and did some activities. One of the main types of activities that we did was trust falls and not just the normal type. One way that we did trust falls was called Willow in the wind. About 8 people make a tight circle around you and then you fall and they push or pass you around or across the circle. At first I was kind of nervous and uncomfortable, but after other people had turns and the more times I did it I became more comfortable and trusting of everyone. The biggest trust fall that we did, which I mentioned at the start, was falling off of a chair which was on top of a table into 7 people (and more people to hold the chair. This trust fall required a lot of teamwork and communication, to make sure that everything stayed in place and was aligned and that everyone was ready so that the person falling didn’t get hurt. I was one of the last people to go, so I had seen everyone get caught (mostly) and everyone said that it wasn’t painful at all. As well, this was pretty much at the end of the week, so I trusted everyone to catch me, however I was still really scared to fall. The first time that everyone said they were ready I didn’t fall, but after everyone encouraged me and also told me to close my eyes I fell and it was completely fine. I think that the trust falls helped me to trust everyone more.

One of the things we filled out in our booklets was a little questionnaire to determine what type of leader you are (Challenger, Inspirer, Enabler, Modeler or Encourager). On the first page I answered 30 questions on a scale from 1-5 and then added up my score and my highest score meant that I am an Enabler. I found this activity really helpful, because I’m an overachiever and I like to do a lot of work myself, but now I know how to be a better leader for my specific leadership type. Enablers are good at respecting all group members and promote cooperation , which I think I have always done, but Enablers also involve others in discussions and responsibilities which I can improve on. I decided to make this my goal for what I am going to remember and implement when I return to Seycove. My goal is to use my strengths as an Enabler to be a better leader and involve and support others in the work.

On the final (half) day of Loon Lake, during the morning we worked on preparing a mini exhibition for our parents (which we presented after lunch before going home). My group focused on how pairing your passions with your strengths creates a zone where you are really motivated and a great leader. We created a poster to show this and a short script to speak about our poster and what we learned in this section. 

In conclusion I have learned a lot about teamwork and leadership, gotten to know and trust my classmates a lot more and grown as a person. And I had a lot of fun on this trip (we even had a dance and karaoke party on the last night) too! I’m so grateful to have had such an amazing experience! That’s all for this post!

Kaia out!

Bonjour!

Welcome back to another blog post, this time it’s about the amazing experience I had last week, for take your kid to work day. Since neither of my parents have jobs that I can come along with, I went with my friend Alva and her mom to a horse farm in Langley, which is part of The Urban Horse Project, the non-profit organization that her mom works for. The goal of the organization is to support people of all ages to interact with horses and the surrounding nature, while also learning and building their confidence, leadership and teamwork. As well, horses are very emotional and therapeutic animals, especially the calm and gentle and sweet horses chosen specifically for this program.

Anyways throughout the day we got to spend a lot of time with the 6 horses at the farm, (and we also met a super friendly and adorable puppy and two goats and we also saw some birds and the chickens), as well as doing lots of chores. One of the first things I learned, was how to prepare a brush kit. I learned the names and the types of brushes and what they’re for/how to use them and me and Alva brushed one of the horses. I also learned the four blind spots of a horse (behind them, on top of them, under them, and their forehead). After that, we scooped their manure out of their enclosure. We also fed them their lunch/dinner and refilled their hay nets. To end the day (either then a quick stop at IKEA for a snack :P), we walked to see the rest of the horses pasture, where we had a lovely conversation and interviewed Nancy, which you can watch in the video below.

This is a video that I made, reflecting on my experience at the Urban Horse Project, as well as a bit about what we did and our interview with Nancy. I am very grateful to have been able to come along for this opportunity and I had the best time with the sweet horsies! Thank you again to Alva and her mom and Nancy and the Urban Horse Project! That’s all for this post!

Kaia out

Bonjour!

Over the past two weeks in Maker, we did another video project, this timing recreating a short horror film called “Run”. My group for this project was Sunny, Aidan and Ryan and I think that we worked well together to create our own very similar version to the original film and then improve even more for our second attempt. 

Before starting the actual filming process, we planned everything out. We decided who would be what character and their costumes and props. I made a list of shots that included the action shown, the angle and the amount of time, and Sunny drew a storyboard. Here is the storyboard:

While filming, we had a few challenges. One problem was that one of our group members forgot a tuque, however he found one in the lost and found. We also had to work around other people on the trails. This helped me learn how to work around obstacles that weren’t planned. After filming all of our clips, I edited the video together and Sunny did the audio. While editing, I had a lot of problems with the clips being too short, so I had to slow them down, which made it look kind of weird. This is our final video, Run 1:

This is some of the critique I gave myself for our final video:

As well, we also gave critique in this format for the other groups. This helped me remember and also learn more about how to give helpful and constructive feedback, especially because sometimes I find it hard to tell people what I think needs to be improved.

After the critiquing process, we got to try again to remake the original video, now with more experience and things to improve on. To prepare, I went over the video list and made sure the lengths were all right and made a list of what everyone needed to bring. While filming, I checked the videos right away to ensure that they were the right angle and length. While editing, I added the original video into CapCut and split it into each clip and then added our videos as overlays, which I think was a good way make sure the timing was perfect. I think that the learning and reflecting processes of this project were really important to creating our actual final video, Run 2:

In conclusion, this was both a fun and educational project, I learned more video making techniques, as well as sound making. That’s all for this post!

Kaia out

“My entire personality hurts.”

– Charlie B, September 18 2023 – 3:45 pm, Sulphur Mountain

Bonjour et beinvenue to another Humanities blog post, about our trip to Alberta (that involved a lot of hiking) and our first project of grade 9 that we completed on the trip. Our driving question for this project is ‘how has the geography of the West shaped who we are?’ To answer this question we created a comic representing the 5 themes of geography and a book reflecting on the locations we went to on the trip. 

One of the main things I learned during this section was the 5 themes of geography: Location, Place, Human-Environment Interaction, Movement and Regions. These themes affect me because they shape my understanding and my view of places. Human-Environment Interaction is the ways I interact with the environment and Movement often relies on these interactions. When I travel, the Location, Place and Regions change my perspectives, comparisons and connections between my present and past locations. To show my understanding of these 5 themes, I created a little comic with pictures to represent each theme and a few words to help explain the picture and theme. For an explanation of the themes and my comic life, read my Alberta book (the next part of this post). Here is my Comic Life:

The other part of this project to show evidence for the driving question was the Alberta Book Creator. In this book I reflected on my geography comic (as well as my Maker videos, which you can read more about in my Maker post). I also reflected on the geography, the political, social and economic significance and my personal connections of many of the places we visited on our Alberta trip. Before this trip, I never really thought about the impact different places have on geography and history and even me. I also realized how every place is important in shaping the world and has a story and even if I visit places that I don’t find super interesting, I still probably have a connection to them in some way. This is my Alberta Book:

As well, for one of my Maker videos, I created a thesis to help answer the Humanities driving question too, and then interviewed people I met on the trip to determine whether I was correct. My thesis was ‘People come to these unique natural places to experience the beautiful scenery and connect with nature.’ I chose to focus on the natural aspects of the West, because I know that personally nature has and continues to shape who I am and how I see the world. I think that I was right, though some people might not go to the specific places I interviewed them, in general people come to the West to experience the natural areas. Having a value and connection with nature shapes the care and appreciation for it, which is especially important with climate change being a current issue. Click here for my Maker Blog Post.

In conclusion, I learned a lot in this project and on the trip. I learned about the CPR, geography, nature and so much more. I had lots of fun on the trip too, making memories with my friends. Thanks for reading, that’s all for now!

Kaia out!

Bonjour!

This blog post is my first Maker project of grade 9, which we partially completed while we were the PLP Alberta trip last week. For this project, I made 4 different styles of videos to help answer the driving question, ‘how might I use the moving image to tell a story?’ 

The first video was a silent video, made in groups and I worked with Aiya, Sunny and Esther! I think that this is the video that I learned the most from. Because silent videos have no speech and no sound (either than music) we had to be able to still tell the story without that. To help make our story, we wrote a story spine, which is 9 sentences starters that create a story. This was our story spine.

After writing the story spine, we researched filming locations in the Three Valley Gap Ghost Town, where we filmed our movies. I also learned how props and costumes help tell the story and add details to the character, so I brought a dress because it is a well known stereotype to show that I was the woman and help give contrast to the rest of my group who had male characters. They used mascara to draw moustaches or beards. As well, I learned that since you don’t have words, you have to compensate with your actions, by having over-exaggerated expressions and movements. Using digital enchantments like filters or music also helps tell a story. Making this video was also a review of how to take a good shot, like angles, background and foreground and positioning the subject. Anyways, I learned a lot making this video and that audio isn’t required to tell a story with the moving image. This is my silent video, called The Love Square:

The second video style that I made was TikTok styled videos, basically short little videos that tell a story, similar to reels on TikTok. Before this project, I never realized how TikTok or Instagram reels tell a short story and I learned how to tell a story through a video like this. I decided to tell the story of our trip, specifically all the of lakes we visited. I chose to do a transition video and instead of using a popular trend, I decided to make my own transition. Making this video helped me learn and improve how to angle the camera so that it was level and so the lake was in the background. I also learned how music can help tell a story if the song matches the vibe and mood of the video and I used the used the song ‘the lakes’ by Taylor Swift because she is my favourite singer and Folklore is my favourite album and it goes perfectly with the theme of the video. This is my transition video:

I also helped make 2 other videos. I think that making videos with other people improved my collaboration and communication skills because we had to communicate about how and where we were filming the video, and get the timing in sync. This is another video that I made with Alva and Aiya.

This is the other video I helped create, with Alva, Aiya and Esther.

Another video style I made was the Investigative video. This video was made to answer not just our Maker driving question, but the Humanities driving question too, how has the geography of the West shaped who we are? To answer this question through the video, everyone created their own personal thesis. I chose to focus on the natural aspects of the West and my thesis was ‘People come to these unique natural places to experience the beautiful scenery and connect with nature.’ To gather evidence of whether our thesis’s were right or not, on the trip everyone did individual interviews and asked people questions related to their thesis. I did 3 different interviews, at natural locations (Athabasca Glacier, Larch Valley and Lake Louise). I found that their answers mostly supported my thesis. For more about my thesis and Humanites, read my Humanities Blog Post. As well, my goal for this trip was to get better at talking to strangers and people I don’t know very well, which I think I definitely improved on. My first interview was about 55 seconds and my last interview was 1 minute and 40 seconds. Anyways, this is my Investigative video and thank you again so much to my interviewees and to Aiya for filming!

The last video that I made was back at home, about what inspires me. Before this, I wasn’t completely sure what inspires me, but by making this video I learned how my passions and skill, goals, interests and daydreams give me inspiration. Though I have made a few storyboards in the past, during this video I learned how to decide which scenes were the most important to draw on my storyboard. This is part of my storyboard (draft).

I also improved on choosing music to match the vibe of this video too. In this video I think that I told the story of my past (for example, when I used to homelearn), the present (my current passions, my family and friends) and the future (like my daydreams). Here is my What Inspires Me video:

In conclusion, I really enjoyed making these videos, and learned a lot about how to tell a story through the moving image, through different lengths and formats of videos and using audio and music, effects or text to help enhance the story. 

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.

First my learning plan. I set extending as my proficiency for all of my PLP classes, which I have been maintaining so far. At the start of the year, I also chose competencies for communication, thinking and personal and social.

Over the course of this year, and even just this semester, I have really improved on my communication with both teachers and classmates. Now that I know everyone better, I am a lot more comfortable and confident talking to them. Examples of this include asking for clarification on an assignment, getting and giving critique, sharing my ideas or opinions and being a bit more of a leader in my groups. I think that I have mostly achieved a profile 5, however I can still improve on communication with those I am not quite as familiar with.

I have also improved on collaboration. Especially towards the start of the year, I didn’t really like group work. Though I am still a perfectionist and like to have everything done my way, I have gotten better at making compromises. I have definitely gotten closer to a profile 4, but I often just focus on getting all the work done, and in my way of doing it, and not always including everyone or sharing the work evenly.

An example of these two competencies the Spring Exhibition. I was in a group of 7 (my advertisement group). Since we weren’t always all together in class, it required a lot of communication, both in our one shared class and over messages to figure out what needed to be done still.  Everyone had different ideas for our booth, so we had to think of ways to satisfy everyone, which relates to collaboration. We also only had a few days to prepare, so we had to really work together to finish everything in time. As well, because of my spare, I was able to go to either block 6 or 8 and work with different halves of my group.

I have always been a creative thinker, but over this year I have become even more so. One example of my creative thinking was the GIFs we made in Science about one of the few theories we had learned. A lot of people did the same theory and therefore had similar GIFs, so I changed Continental Drift to Swift, to make mine more unique and also relate to me and lots of other swifties. I think I have achieved a profile 5, because not only do I have a creative idea, I continue developing it further.

For critical thinking, I have really improved and have mostly achieved a profile 5. An example of my critical thinking was the Consequences of Colonization video script. Using my images and all the learning from this unit, I had to choose the most important and relevant parts, make connections and conclusions and combine it into a script that answered our driving question.

Next personal and social. In school and outside of school too, I am always aware of the consequences my actions may have and try to only be around people who have a positive impact on me.

Another aspect of personal and social is time management, which I have really improved on since last semester. For the most part I had a good balance between homework and the rest of my life. Towards the end of the year I was a bit busier and struggled more to get everything done in time. I made systems at the start of the year and also a made schedule recently, but I didn’t end up using either of these. An example of where I used good time management was the Renaissance project. For the first Keystone, we had to create a schedule and add the due dates and work times into things and calendar. Because of this, I was able to pace my work so that everything was done in time. For next year, I would like to do this again for all my projects.

Now that I’ve reflected on the competencies, I am going to talk about some projects that I haven’t mentioned yet, that are good examples to show my learning.

The project I was the least happy with was in Maker, called Making Interesting Images, which was learning and practicing photography skills for a week in November. Although I did complete all the skills, I felt I didn’t really have the time to take nice photos. I think it would have better if I had focused on taking one quality image for each skill. This relates back to time management, maybe if I had figured out how much time I had for each image, or was at least able to have time to work on it at home.

On the other hand, one of the projects I am most proud of was Keystone 2 of the Power Play project in Humanities. After learning about the Middle Ages, we created a presentation about the feudal system and Middle Ages. I was really happy with how it turned out, I think that it had a good balance of text and visuals, including the little drawings I did too and all the animations. This project required both creative and critical thinking. I used creative thinking for the layout and design, and critical thinking for collecting and putting information into words, that answered the topic on each slide and the driving question.

In Science, we have done a lot of interesting projects and I have learned a lot and become a lot more interested in science. I loved everything we did, but of my favourite projects, called Small but mighty, in Keystone 2 everyone created little character cards for the cells in the immune system. In this project, I used creative thinking again. The cells in the drawings all have something related to their role and have an alliteration for a name, but the most creative part was the email, which specified if they were part of the innate or adaptive immune system and most of all the addresses. For example, Watson the White Blood Cell’s street number is 911, because he alerts others. Macrophages “eat” pathogens to destroy them, and 812 sounds like “ate one too”.

Finally I am going to reflect on the Medium is the Message project and our trip to Oregon. To make my ad, I used creative thinking for the designing part. Though everyone created their own advertisement, we were in groups with those who had the same company. Because of this I also showed communication and collaboration skills, like sharing ideas, preparing for the interview and like said above, the spring exhibition. This is the project we did while on our Oregon trip. Along with more academic knowledge, Oregon made me learn some life skills. I had to be more independent and organized, which kind of fits under the responsibility part of Personal and social, as well as money management. I also improved on communication by interviewing my company. 

In conclusion, I think that all of this shows that I am ready to advance to the next grade level and the ups and downs and memories that await.

Bonjour!

This blog post is about my first spring exhibition! My grade presented our advertisement project, which’s driving question was how does advertising persuade, sell and influence society? 

My group’s company was Hatfield Marine Science Center, but we were supposed to focus mainly on the Visitor Center there. We did some simple research about our companies before going to Oregon, where we got to interview the Marine Education and Outreach Coordinator. When we got back, we started creating our ads and learned about advertising techniques and appeals, design techniques and pathos, ethos and logos. We made several drafts and got critique until our ad was approved. Everyone also filled out two LAUNCH journals, one which we had along with our ads at the exhibition. Here is my ad and LAUNCH presentation.

For the exhibition we had to have costumes, decorations and food to match our company’s theme. My group decided to wear all blue (since nobody except me had orange, which is the main colour) with octopus hats and our food was goldfish crackers and sea-animal gummies. For decor, we decorated the ad-displays with blue paper with waves and sea-animals, paper seaweed and green streamers along the front of our table with some blue and orange on top. We also had Ms. Kadi’s octopus stuffie. Considering the amount of time we had to prepare, it was pretty good, but I think that it would have been better if we had more orange.

I was right beside Annie and Alva, so a lot of people who came to our station would talk to all three of us at once. Since I find public speaking and talking to people I don’t know stressful, it was nice to not have to do it all alone, but in the future I think it would be better if I talked more, because I let them do most of it.

In conclusion, I learned a lot more about advertising and design, and had an overall great exhibition!

Kaia out ♥︎

Here are the links to my group members’ blogs:

Alva

Annie

Danica

Signe

Max

Caelum

Bonjour!

This blog post is about my first PLP field study! I was on trip 1 and we went to Warrenton and Newport in Oregon and Tenino in Washington over the course of a week. This blog post is mostly about what I learned, but there are details about the specific things we did in the book at the bottom.

On the first day, we went to where two explorers, Lewis and Clark set up camp. Since the weather was damp and cold when they came here, the place was named Dismal Nitch. 

We also went to the Astoria column and climbed the 164 steps to the top. The column is covered in friezes, which I learned is a type of artwork in a long horizontal form. 

At Fort Stevens State Park Historic Area. We got a tour of the fort and learned about a lot of how things worked and what each room was. One technique they used was, from the view of attackers make it so they couldn’t see the guns, but have a weight so that when the weight went down, the gun went up, then the power of the shot would make it go back down again. There was also re-inactors there, who knew a lot about the war and had items from the war too. I thought the medics were really interesting, because they told us about their roles and equipment (since I also wrote about this in my book, I won’t get too detailed here too). We also learned from the office workers from the war. They also showed us some of the equipment that the soldiers had, like a container that could be a dish or a pan and had cutlery that could be attached on to be stored easily and more compact. They had breakfast and other meal kits, which included different foods that were usually heated up and eaten. The soldiers were also given chewing gum, to give them a bit of happiness.

Our first stop on day three was the Columbia River Maritime Museum, where we looked at several exhibits. I learned about crossing the bar, Yosegaki Hinomaru (Japanese flags covered in names and messages from their loved ones). The most interesting things for me was about the Chinook peoples and their value of Western Red cedar and a display about Titanic, including images of some of the rooms and a newspaper written about Titanic. 

At Yaquina Head, I learned a lot from Ms. Kadi about the sea animals in the tide pools. One of my favourite animals was the Gumboot Chiton, also known as the Wandering Meatloaf. There were also seals with their babies or giving birth. At the center, I learned about the history of the lighthouse built in 1871 and first light in 1873. Eventually the light’s power source changed from oil to electricity.

We went to Hatfield Marine Science Center twice. First we looked at the visitor center and then did an experiment with racing crabs. My group did an experiment to see if male or female crabs are faster (more about this in the book). I learned about how to create an experiment and the steps involved. The next day we went back to Hatfield Marine Science Center, where we did two more activities. First, we used a pump to collect shrimp out of the sand. Then we measured their carapace, identified their gender, if they were pregnant and if they had a parasite. For the second activity, we built a R.O.V. I’m not really into engineering, but it was a fun activity and I learned the parts needed and how to design an R.O.V.

Finally, (my second favourite place) Wolf Haven. I learned how to be able to guess the animal based off of it’s skull, like size, eye sockets and teeth. By looking at teeth, it’s possible to tell if they are a carnivore, omnivore or herbivore. Sharp teeth and big canines means they are a carnivore and the opposite for herbivores.

I also learned important skills like being more independent, because I didn’t have family to help or remind me of things. I had to be organized and keep track of all my stuff. By interviewing my company I worked on getting better at speaking to people I’m not familiar with, especially adults. I also improved on this when I was buying stuff, which also relates to money management, making sure it was a reasonable and good purchase and thinking ahead so that my money lasted for the whole trip.

My favourite part of the trip was Highlife Adventures, where we went zip lining. We went on 8 courses through the forest, some over a lake. At first I thought that it would be out of my comfort zone a bit, but the lines gradually got longer or higher and the lines were build in a secure way with a good braking system, so I was easily able to trust it. I ended up having a lot of fun and only was scared once, when a Sasquatch came out of the bush and stood behind me.

We stayed at Camp Kiwanilong in cabins for 2 nights. I was in the large cabin with Sunny, which was by the edge of the forest and the only ones there, so it had a really creepy vibe. Then we stayed in yurts at South Beach State Park, where it wasn’t as creepy. On the last night we went to Fairfield Hotel and got to go swimming.

Overall, it was an amazing trip! We did a lot of fun activities and I learned a lot. It was good to become closer with my friends and also get to know others better too. I also managed to survive the long drives by listening to my Taylor Swift playlist (well, and taking my motion-sickness medication) and more Taylor Swift in the van with Ms.Kadi too. I got some cute souvenirs, like little gemstone mushrooms and my favourite, the mini-cheesegrater and I have a lot of memories too!

Here is the book that we filled out during our trip:

Kaia out ♥︎

Bonjour!

Welcome to another humanities post. Our past unit was about colonization and the driving question was what did European settlement mean for all involved? This sector had 3 keystones which consisted of an art-chart, a re-interpreted image (along with another art-chart) and then the script for our AR video, the final project.

For Keystone one, our guiding question was What changed about European powers’ worldview? We learned about the Europeans and the Indigenous’ views on each other and how the Europeans looked down on other cultures outside of Canada or even beyond North America, the fur trade, and making inferences from images, which led to our first Keystone. We picked an artwork (by C.W. Jefferys) from a list, and then filled out two charts about it. The first chart was more explicit observations, through the 5W’s. The second one was implicit, including the focus, symbolic qualities and messages. I found the second one slightly harder, because I had to look at characteristics like size or colour to determine what the artist was trying to convey. Here is my art-chart for the artwork “Arrival of the Brides at Québec”.

Keystone two’s essential question was What were the consequences of the European powers’ change in worldview at the time and we learned and examined the motivations and results of European settlement. Then, using the same artwork as earlier, we reinterpreted it, changing the focus or perspective and incorporating the cause and consequence. Though I knew I wanted to make it from the perspective of the women, les Filles du Roi, it was hard to think of ways to show what I was trying to represent. Next, we had to fill out a chart that explains our images and the changes. In the end, I am pretty happy with how my re-interpreted image turned out. This is my re-interpreted image and the art-chart for it.

In Keystone three, the essential question was What are the consequences of colonization today? We learned about treaties, wars and changes of land possession. For the video script for the final product, we had to use our images, and all the learning to answer the driving question. At first I found it a bit hard to get started, but once I got all the information and notes I needed, it was easier to turn it into a word for word script. I think that it answers the driving question and includes everything necessary and I am overall pretty happy with it. Click below for my video script.

Video Script Link

Finally, we created the actual video. First I recorded the speaking part of my video, using the script. I did one paragraph at a time, so that I wouldn’t have to re-do as much if I messed up. Then, I used AR Makr to place my images on a real life surface and filmed the images, with my recordings playing in the background so that I could get the timing right. Next, I combined the audio and the video into iMovie, and adjusted the volume and time of it. To make the title, I used Keynote, then exported it as a movie and added it to my project, along with part of a music track on iMovie. This is my final product.

Video Link

In conclusion, though it is answered more thoroughly in my video, the main groups involved were the Indigenous peoples and the Europeans, mainly affected by greed, ethnocentrism and religion. In Europe there was inflation, which meant that the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. In North America, Europeans experienced increased demand for raw materials and had strict rules from the Mother Country of what they could do with them. Most women were sent by the king of France and had more freedom, but a hard life. The First Peoples suffered from loss of land, culture and rights and both the Europeans and the Christians tried to convert them to their ways. Nowadays, consequences from these factors and events still exist, like Canada’s economy, the mistreatment of First Peoples and racism and Christianity rooted in our society. Overall I learned a lot from this unit and that’s all for now!

Kaia out ♥︎

Bonjour!

In this unit of science, we learned about matter to answer the driving question: how does the behaviour of atoms influence the properties of solids, liquids, and gasses? It consisted of 3 keystones, an object description, a self-designed experiment and a video game pitch, for our final project, making a science video game to show at least one of the concepts we learned.

For the first keystone, we chose an object in the classroom. Then we determined its mass, volume, density and physical and chemical properties, as well as say if each characteristic was qualitative or quantitative. Then we put all the information together, without saying what the object was. I was happy with how it went, and I think that my measurements were mostly accurate, though it was hard to figure out the volume because it was so small. Here is mine, the answer to what the object post will be at the end of the post.

The second keystone, in small groups, we designed our own experiments, using gummy bears. We decided to put a whole gummy bear in one beaker of boiling water and a cut-up gummy bear in another beaker, also filled with boiling water, to figure out which would melt faster. I think that we had a well-developed experiment, that answered our guiding question and I also really like the Canva slideshow I made! Here is a presentation with the entire process, including our results. And thank you to my amazing group members: Esther and Meghan (names linked to their blogs)!

Presentation Link

The last keystone was to make a short pitch for our science video games. Though my idea wasn’t super fun, it was simple and showed one of our key concepts, how temperature affects the state of matter. This is my pitch.

For our final project, we actually created the video games, using Scratch. I used the drawing feature to create little green dots, and I tried to add smiley faces, however they ended up upside down or sideways later. I figured out how to make the dots disappear when tapped, however I couldn’t get them to move around how I wanted, so I found a game where the particles moved around, by a former PLP learner, Teva (thank you)! I used her code for a reference and managed to get them to move around. Overall, Scratch was mostly simple, easy and quick to use and I am mostly happy with my game. In the future, I would make it so that it doesn’t seem like particles disappearing make the heat rise and the state change. This is my game, the instructions are on the side.

Temperature Tap Game Link

In conclusion, I really liked this project and learned a lot. Also, my secret object from Keystone 1 was a bottle cap! That’s all for this post.

Kaia out ♥︎