Highlights of the week:
This week, I started working on Brilliant! I also worked on the SIA (Send—In Assignment) for NVOL math, and I also did the science Learning Guide, which was basically a bunch of questions about biology! Other than that, I thought about reopening the book club, but instead of being a book club, it would be a chess club! And I also coded. I worked on a platformer project in Scratch. Also, I helped fix a 12-year-old iMac, which was fun.
I also had in-person violin lessons this week, which still feels new, and it’s much better than online because the teacher can give better feedback and help more. I had orchestra this week as well, which is fun, because I can meet friends there and play violin there. I didn’t have Taekwondo Leadership, and that’s because of Thanksgiving.
I had a SelfDesign Circle meeting this week, and this meeting was about sharing what we’ve been working on these days. I was the first one to share, and I was pretty nervous. But everyone at the class (about 20 people) was super nice, including the “teacher,” and I had basically no trouble at all sharing my Snake game (In JavaScript) and my Mario game (in Scratch). Everyone was impressed, and there were a few questions (how long did it take you to make these games, what are you planning on making next, etc, etc.) but all in all, it was a great experience!
For a few months now, I’ve been taking the photos and writing all this by myself, and afterwards, my dad checks it. This is much harder than just having my dad to do everything, but much better, because I can write my thoughts and stuff better. Also, taking all the photos is fun!
Anyway, here is what I did this week.
This was a hard but fun feature to add!
Some questions were about addition and subtraction, which I breezed through, and some questions were about factoring, which were harder, but I got most of those right. Most of These questions were pretty easy, so the SIA was fun, because I haven’t really been able to do these types of quizzes (where you print them out and send them in) before.
I wrote about Trojan asteroids and what they’re about. Basically, Trojan asteroids are asteroids that are ahead and behind of Jupiter by 60 degrees. This was fun to write, because I had to find all the facts and stuff online, and then add my own thoughts and what I know. Find out more, and find my writing here: https://howtodostuffwithethan.com/trojan-asteroids/
I guess if you try hard, you get to be a student of the month? Anyway, I’m extremely proud to be one of them 🙂
Actually, this keyboard was used to start up the old iMac, but I got to use it after we started up the computer.
Hi Shannon!
How are you doing this week?
Here are the answers to your questions.
It’s wonderful you’re finding that writing about your week yourself helps you improve how you write your thoughts. What do you find to be the easiest, and the hardest, things to write about?
Some of the easiest things to write about are what happened yesterday, or things that I remember, or things that I know a lot about. My space articles, for example. Some hard things are things that I have to research a lot or find out about, or things that I have no clue about.
I think the Snake game was a good choice for sharing; why did you choose to share about that one?
I chose the Snake game because it’s the most advanced JavaScript game that I’ve ever made! And it might be impressive.
It sounds like thinking of the Science NVOL assignment as a scavenger hunt made that one fun too. How well do you think you remembered the information after doing that activity?
I think it’s pretty easy to remember the information after the scavenger hunt activity because I remember what I had to “scavenge” from the website.
Are there more hands-on skills (computer or otherwise) you’d be interested to try?
I’ve recently wanted to build my own PC! So these days, I’ve been learning about what type of PC I want to build. I’m going to keep researching and finding out how to build one. I want to make a gaming/video editing PC because it’s really fast.
Yes, it’s fascinating why some people are hesitating or refusing to get the vaccine, and a major issue in society right now. Is that something you’d like to learn more about?
It’s fascinating, so yes, I would like to learn more about it!
I’m glad you were able to go for a walk or jog most days with your dad. That sounds like a great activity to do together. What do you like to notice while you’re outside on a walk or run?
I like to notice the humidity of the air, how warm it is, if you can see your breath, if it’s snowing, the usual. I also get refreshed every day when I do go 🙂
Hi Ethan,
It’s wonderful you’re finding that writing about your week yourself helps you improve how you write your thoughts. What do you find to be the easiest, and the hardest, things to write about?
I’m glad you’re enjoying your in-person violin and finding it valuable, and it’s great you’re able to meet friends at orchestra too. I’d love to hear about what you’re doing in orchestra and what kinds of playing-music-in-a-group skills you’re learning.
It was brave of you to go first in your SelfDesign Circle sharing, and I’m glad you felt it went well and you got some good engagement with your presentation. I think the Snake game was a good choice for sharing; why did you choose to share about that one?
I’m glad the Brilliant is working well for you as part of your math and science and that it felt pleasantly familiar.
I love the idea of a chess club (and am sorry no one wanted to do book club this year, because a book club is also a wonderful idea!), and think a sign-up survey like the one you made would be helpful.
It sounds like you’re learning some good assignment/quiz-type skills with your SIAs even though the material itself is easy for you. Learning how to write and check answers for something you’ll be handing in is a skill in itself really. It sounds like thinking of the Science NVOL assignment as a scavenger hunt made that one fun too. How well do you think you remembered the information after doing that activity?
I found reading what you wrote about Trojan asteroids fascinating. Thank you for sharing it! I hadn’t heard of them before, and am glad to now know.
What a neat experience to get to fix a computer! It sounds like you were pleased to get to try something hands-on like that, and that you were very careful and focused. Are there more hands-on skills (computer or otherwise) you’d be interested to try? I can tell you’re enjoying typing with your new keyboard! I find a new computer keyboard takes a week or two of regular use for my fingers to adjust to the slightly different spacing and other quirks.
It’s great you learned so much about corals too, and that you were pleased to learn some coral biology. They’re such an important part of marine ecosystems. The COVID article and questions sound like they were very informative too. Yes, it’s fascinating why some people are hesitating or refusing to get the vaccine, and a major issue in society right now. Is that something you’d like to learn more about?
Congratulations on being a West Vancouver Taekwondo student of the month!! It sounds like this is a special accomplishment for you, and you’re rightfully proud of your hard work. If feels good to be recognized!
I’m glad you were able to go for a walk or jog most days with your dad. That sounds like a great activity to do together. What do you like to notice while you’re outside on a walk or run?
Thank you for your Observing for Learning.
Best,
Shannon
There were two highlights from this past week we wanted to share with you.
The first was how Ethan was really good about going out for a walk or jog pretty much every day. I, Carl, went with him most of those days so that we could do something together and to encourage him to do it each day.
The second highlight was replacing the hard drive in our old iMac. The computer had been sitting unused for several years because of a faulty hard drive. We finally decided to work on it and I let Ethan do most of the work so he could feel more involved. What really impressed me was how patient and careful Ethan was with taking the computer apart and putting it back together.
Ethan wants to eventually build his own PC so I think this was a great experience for him. Luckily, the iMac actually worked, so he seemed quite proud of himself.
Recent Comments