Nico's Year Reflection :D

My Fifth Grade Year

      This is a paper where I will tell you about my experiences in different subjects, and which ones I improved the most in. I will also, answer all of your three questions about my year. I will also Answer your questions about my year. This year I had a lot of fun, and I'm ready to share my experiences with you.

Answer to questions

How has your math process changed this year?

Answer: My math skills has changed a lot this year, this is because I have changed teachers and I have gone to a higher level class ( Math Olympiad ) that teaches me new strategies and helps me with the main Eureka level math. Md. Kasal has helped me improve in math because her teaching strategies were fun but, also educational. An example of my math improvement is: At the beginning of the Division and Multiplication unit, I didn't know anything about long division. But now, I use long division when ever I can.

What do you actually do during break?

Answer: I do a number of things during break. At the beginning of the year, I mostly played Soccer with my friends in one goal. In the middle of the year, I mostly played Four square with my sister's friends and my friends. Right now, I either play Wall Ball with my class friends or soccer with my friends in 5G and 5O. During third break, I usually stay in my class and either play cars with my friends, or work on stuff I haven't finished during class.

How do you pick new books to read

Answer: I usually base my book choices on my reading level and skill. For example, when I figured out I was level Z, and that the books I were reading were too easy for me, I started reading higher level books. Another way I pick books to read is: I read the blurb on the back ( or on the first page ) and see if the book looks interesting and challenging enough for me. I also base my book choices on the genres I like, for example: Fantasy, Sci-Fi , etc.

Evidence:
Fountas and Pinnel score improvement: Beginning of the year score: V. End of the year score: Z.
MAP score improvement: Beginning of the year score: 224. End of year score: 232.

My Experiences:

Reading

     In reading this year, I have accomplished and grown a lot. For example, at the beginning of the year, I was level V. And now, I'm level Z and the highest level reader in the class. This shows, that a lot can happen in a year, especially fifth grade. One of my favorite units in reading this year was Book club. It was great to discuss and predict ideas about books with a group, especially when we did it in front of everyone. I also liked Book club in the academic aspect as well, for example, I went up two levels in just that unit. That shows that I learned a lot from Book club books and discussions.

Writing

     In writing this year, I had a lot of fun, while learning and while writing. For example, at the beginning of the year I didn't know anything about writing Argumentative Essays. But now, I know how to right : Claims, counter claims, and supporting paragraphs. My favorite unit in writing was: Fantasy. This was my favorite unit because, I felt like I could really write what I wanted to the way I wanted to. For example, in my book I put my sarcastic funny comments in my writing, and I put language I use in my writing. For me, the Fantasy unit was a chance for me to be free of Information.

Math

    In math this year, are class was both a loud one and a focused one. Even when we had something important going on, we were loud about it. but when we had something as simple as a problem set, we were quiet about it. Anyway, My favorite unit in math this year was: Division and Multiplication (Module 2). I really liked this unit because, it was the one I learned the most in. For example, at the beginning of the year I didn't know a thing about long division, now it's the only thing I like to use. I also liked the unit because it made me struggle the most. It was one of the units where I went to my mom almost every night for help. But I didn't take this struggle as a bad thing, I took it like a learning opportunity.

Science

     Science this year, was by far the best science class I've ever had. I loved this years science class because it was the first year we actually had a science lab and the first year we did experiments. My favorite unit in science was the erosion unit. It was great to be put in a group that you have to do countless fun experiments and projects with.  I also loved this unit because we got to build our own terrain and landforms to experiment on.

Social Studies

     Social Studies was my favorite subject in 5th grade because we got to learn about different events and people in ancient history. It was especially great when we got to do our Colombian Exchange unit, because we got to do our presentations on the unit. Making the presentation helped me learn a lot about the Colombian Exchange and Cortes (My role) taking over the Aztec tribe. Another reason SS was my favorite was, I felt like I could feel that everyone was enjoying themselves, including Ms.Kasal.

Citizenship

     My citizenship this year was a lot better than last year's. I feel like this was because my attitude towards the people around me has changed. Last year I was Mr. Negative an I was always complaining about something, but now I'm more positive and I don't get in trouble every day for talking back to the teacher. I also think that my attitude has changed because I'm not under as much stress and confusion as I was before.

Most Challenging

      I think the most challenging thing we've had to do this year was the Informational writing. It was really hard to do research on topics and then write a page on each one, and make a text feature for each one. And that would've been hard enough, but we also had to turn our research into a book and present that book to all of fifth grade and my parents. Although my book on air pollution was hard to right, It was fun making it. A challenging unit is also a fun one, because you learn more than you would in an easy unit.

Most Enjoyable

    The most enjoyable thing we did in 5K was when we got to make our own News Room. It was super fun to be able to bring in our own decorations and materials into class, and be able to hang stuff up on bulletin boards. Not to mention, that we got to make write our own newspapers with our friends and fellow students/co workers.  Even though we had the people who weren't aloud to work there, I think everyone else liked this experience too, in the academic aspect and the enjoyment aspect.

Most Proud of

     I'm most proud of being level Z in reading and being the highest level reader in 5K. For me, reaching level Z has been my goal for a long time, since I have always been a good reader I knew it was possible for me to reach my goal. Even though I've been the highest level reader in the class fro along time, it was really cool to reach level Z because I knew I had reached the limit of reading in Elementary school, just as I had reached the end of fifth grade.

Most Growth

     I think I've improved the most in Reading, because I've gone up four levels since the beginning of the year, and my MAP scores has gone up by eight points since the beginning of fifth grade. I think this happened because I focused on improving in this subject by reading more, and doing more meaningful jots. Ms. Kasal really helped me succeed in this subject, by always pushing me forward, instead of pulling me back. My sister Caitlin has helped me accomplish level Z by being someone to look up to.

Thesis Statement: Transportation

Thesis

Because of the rising population, the hours in our car have increased throughout the globe, and it has caused us to waste 2.9 billion hours in the car in just 2014, for just America. We can fix this by making our busy roads and vehicles more efficient and less time wasting. We could do that by making every car a self driving one.

Research topics

1. Will self driving cars solve our traffic problems?

2. Why is there more traffic in Middle Eastern countries?

3. Will Electric Cars fix Global warming?

4. Could Gyro cars replace Firetrucks and Police cars?

Four Corner Activity Reflection

1.Science has only brought positive benefits to everyone.
 I think Science has brought negative, and positive things to our world. For example, Science has let us understand our world and learn how it works, while Science has created dangerous weapons and bombs to our world.
2.Technology is everywhere in the world
 I think technology is everywhere and, that it controls our world and has made us lazy and dependent on it. In fact, I'm writing this on the computer, so that proves my point.
3. Boys are better at Science than girls.
This  question is hard to answer, for example: I could be better than Shirin at science, but Shirin could be better than Ian at science. So, this question isn't referring to gender. It's referring to the person's learning ability.

My opinions changed an this activity. For example, I thought that animal testing was a bad thing. But, I learned to consider that animal testing was necessary to save the animal or discover diseases inside the animal.

I was surprised by some of the question because,  a lot of them I never considered some of them. For example: "The Internet has made the world smaller" And, "Should all cars be electric."                         I mean, I knew that electric cars ran on bataries, but I wondered: If all cars were electric, no car pollution would be added into the air. Secondly, I always thought that the more advanced our world gets the more populated and more crowded it is. But, the more I thought about it the internet actually lets us communicate more than  without it.

Final Reflections

EQ: Why does the world look the way it does?

Answer: The World looks the way it does because of Erosion. Though, Natural disasters do have a say in this, the four types of erosion ( Water Erosion, Wind Erosion, Chemical Erosion and Glacier Erosion ) make a big difference.

     The first and biggest type of erosion, water erosion makes a difference, by digging ditches and canyons in the land. the water soaks into to sand and pushes the sand out into a big pile earth and sand at the bottom of the current. One example of this process is, the Wadi Degla, the Grand Canyon, and other valleys and canyons. In our experiments, we tested both: the water slowly falling on to the sand, and when the water quickly pours on to the sand. And when we used the bucket with the small hole it eroded the sand slowly and made a mini canyon. But, when we used the bucket with the big hole the water poured out quickly and went straight over the sand, without make a single sign in the smooth sand. This shows that water erosion happens depending on the force of water pushing on the eroding land. Finally, when we tried to control the and stop the water from flowing down into the bucket by building a damn, neither of our damns held. though, it may be possible control water flow, our makeshift weaker damns weren't able to hold four ounces of water.

     The second type of erosion we tried was wind erosion. This type of Erosion makes a big difference in how the world looks. The process of wind erosion makes rocks look the way they do, this is because ( Especially in the dessert ) the wind drives and picks up the sand and dirt in the air and rams it into rocks, causing the rocks to chip off a small piece of stone. Eventually, the rocks are a lot smaller than they used to be and most probably have a different shape than before. But, the wind can only carry the sand so high, so the bottom of the rocks are often thinner than the top of the rocks. these rocks are called, mushroom rocks. In our experiments, we tested blowing on a land form with a straw, and blowing on it with a wind gun. When we blew on it with a straw and the wind gun, the dry sand blew up in our face, along with the fake trees. But, when we blew on the wet sand near the pond, it hardly moved at all. This shows, that when wind blows on wet sand it has a weaker effect then when blown on dry sand.

Wind Erosion: Experiment Two- Wind Gun

Wind Erosion: Experiment One-Straw

Wadi Degla Field Trip

When we went to the Wadi Degla, it took a second to believe that the canyon had once been a river, and before that an ocean.Dr.Bill had told us that there had been ancient Megalodons and basilosaurus.
That means that most of the desert in Egypt was all ocean, a sea of crazy monsters who were three times as big as a school!

   Another thing we learned at the Wadi, is that the world looks the way it does because of water erosion. The water slowly pushes land and dirt away making a ditch or canyon in the surface. this is why there is shells, fossil and bones in the Wadi! In the MIDDLE OF THE DESERT!!

   One thing I found really interesting, since I did a Informational book on Air Pollution, that global warming wasn't only caused by us. Dr.Bill told us that through out the years, there has been Climate Change. This caused all the ancient waters and oceans to dry out, which caused the extinction of the Basilosaurus and the Megalodon, and other cool sea creatures and whales.

   All the rocks in the Wadi, are Limestone and Calcite. When we put acid on the floor and rocks, the acid bubbled and sizzled. This shows, that when calcite and limestone mix with acid, it causes the acid to bubble up.

   The fossils in the Wadi were pretty cool, me and my friends spent a half hour scanning the ground for ancient bones and shells of extinct species! I wonder why these shells and bones were stuck in rocks? I mean, if the limestone was brought there by water after the previous ocean was there ( which is what, then why are all the shells and bones in rocks?

   In all, the trip to the Wadi was a great success, since I got to learn about landforms, go on a hike with my friends, and find loads of cool fossils!

   Me and Vladimir talking.

   
   









                                                                                                                                Dr. Bill teaching us





                                                                             
Us Partying in the bus