My Fall Music Composition

This is the link to my music composition that I made at class.yciw.net. YCIW stands for Young Composers Improvising Workshop, and it’s SUPER fun!

I use a lot of homophony texture, because I think that sounds the best with my main melody. I love to show emotion, and that’s something that I have definitely included in my piece of music. I begun creating this composition at the start of school, in early September. Now, it’s November 3rd, and I’m still making it better and better.

I play the piano, so composing my own music was sort of my dream. I love to make music, and this was a great opportunity for me to do that–but in a completely different way!

My main instrument that is in center spotlight is violin, but my other two are clarinet and flute. The clarinet and the flute bring in more feeling, and that is special to me.

I posted on my blog about this for two reasons:

1: It was something we had to do in class

2: It was something that was interesting to me, and I wanted other people to know about it.

Making my composition this fall was extremely fun and it was a great activity–it gave me the chance to learn and have pride in myself for creating something I loved!

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October 27

My Atomic Model

This is my model of an atom. I was representing one large atom (the blueish-greenish pocket) with many smaller atoms inside of and around it (the yellow egg-like balls and the sickly-colored yellow on the outside). It closely resembles Dalton’s model, since it is of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. Dalton made his model around 1808, and I think that it’s really cool how his model represents various factors of one atom.

When I was younger, I never really thought about the truth, the truth being that everyone and everything is made of atoms. I was always really confused because I didn’t know how atoms could possibly be THERE, just THERE, without being able to see them. It annoyed me for a while, but now I think that it’s really cool.

Also, after studying atoms in science, I understand just how important they are. Everything is made of them, and without them, there would be NOTHING. I really think that it’s incredible how atoms are necessary to life of ANYTHING at all. It’s really crazy. There’s also some other, more important things about atoms. First off, here’s the parts of atoms: The nucleus. It’s the middle of an atom. Inside of a nucleus are protons, which are positively charged. Then there’s neutrons, which are neutrally charged, otherwise known as not charged at all!

Spinning at top speed around the nucleus are thousands of electrons, whizzing around the nucleus like race cars on a track! These spinning electrons are NOT in one orbit, and therefore are called an “electron cloud.”

Here’s some facts about elements. Adding more neutrons, protons, and electrons can all make different elements. However, you ALWAYS need a balanced element, so you always need the same number of electrons as protons. Atomic number is the little number that you see in the upper left hand corner of an element box. That’s also the number of protons. The longer, tinier number is helpful also. For example, the element beryllium has 4 protons and the small number is 9.0121. 9.0121-4= the number of neutrons, which is around five.

My atom is actually a very inaccurate representation of an atom! There is no visible “middle” (or nucleus) and you can’t tell what the yellow blobs are. It’s a SUPER confusing model! If I could make a model of an atom again, it would have a lumpy middle, with other protons and neutrons coming out of it. It would be similar to the chocolate-chip cookie model, but not exact.

I also think that my model can relate to J.J. Thomson’s model because there’s one main piece filled with many different pieces inside of it. But whoever’s model this looks like, atoms are incredible things. This is my atomic model.

Category: Bobrowski, Science | 1 Comment

October 6

My Zoetrope

This is an image of my zoetrope. It is a sun rising, then setting. After that, the moon rises and it sets, as well. It works well as a zoetrope because directly after the moon sets the sun rises again! I like making zoetropes because I love discovering new ways of animation. Everyone thinks about videos and iMovies being all the rage right now, but remember, back then, zoetropes were what people had to use if they wanted to see animation. To me, having a sun rise, then set and doing the same thing with the moon is a simple thing to draw, so for this project it would definitely be my best work. But I could draw things with more detail. However, I think that this is my best work because I tried hard and took my time, yet completing the task at hand efficiently. In my next project, I think that I will do most things the same, using the same techniques and methods of efficiency. That is the zoetrope that I made.

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September 13

“Masterpiece” summer book review

Masterpiece

By Elise Broach

Sophia Robertson

Masterpiece is an interesting and action-packed book by Elise Broach. The story is about a beetle named Marvin who befriends James Pompaday, a human, and they have great adventures. James lives with his mother, Mrs. Pompaday, and his stepfather, his mother’s second husband, Mr. Pompaday. Karl Terik, James’s father, is a memorable character though he plays a small role. Christina Balcony and Dennis, often known as Denny, are workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for the story is mainly set at the Met in New York City. Later in the story the reader finds that Denny is the main antagonist of the story, and he does some bad things. The story starts out with Marvin drawing with a pen-and-ink set and realizing he is an amazing artist. Although James knows that Marvin is the one who did it, everyone else thinks that the young boy drew the incredible picture. The main problem in Masterpiece is that three of the four Albrect Durer Virtues: Justice, Temperance, and Prudence, have been stolen ages ago. The only one left in the museum is the fourth; Fortitude. Christina Balcony plans for James (actually Marvin, the protagonist) to forge Fortitude, and the fake version will be stolen and they will be led to the other three Virtues. But the night the plan is put into action, Marvin realizes that the real Fortitude is the one getting stolen instead of the forged version, therefore placing the valuable drawing at a serious risk.

Soon, the real plot unfolds. Marvin goes on the journey with Fortitude to make sure that it stays safe. Being a beetle, he has not often ventured into the wide world, and this is a great trek for him. Then both the reader and Marvin find out that Denny is the thief of all of the Durer’s. Marvin helps lead James to the apartment where the sacred drawings are being kept, and soon they have retrieved the drawings and brought them back to Christina’s office and revealed the truth about Denny. An interesting quote from the book is Marvin’s thought, Keep going. You’re about to see the four Virtues together for the first time in decades. Centuries maybe. However, while Christina and Karl are in tears over the truth of their friend, the thief is making a getaway.

At the end of the book, it is a bit unsatisfying. Denny has not been captured by the police and is still on the run. Although the reader is left with a few questions, the story captures many people’s attention. I think that Masterpiece is a wonderful, story about a bond between a human and an insect that work together to achieve a goal. I think that the moral of the story is teamwork and to never stop believing in yourself and others. I loved the book because of the smart vocabulary, fun-filled journey, and the way everyone helped each other a lot. I believe that a reader who likes action-packed, out-of-the-ordinary fun, and art history would enjoy this book. I would give this book four-and-a-half stars.

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July 1

Welcome to your digital portfolio!

Welcome to your brand new digital portfolio/blog at blogs.lrei.org!

Your portfolio can be used for many things through out your middle and high school years, including:

Documenting and reflecting on your learning, passions, and interests, both in and out of school
Curating and highlight work for your Family Conferences
In some instances, your teachers will ask you to submit, reflect and comment on work in this portfolio

It is our hope that you also seek to make this a personally relevant learning space in which you curate work that is important and meaningful to you. As you build this learning space, we also hope that you will use it as a way to connect with other learners in the LREI community and beyond.

Your LREI account (Mail, Docs/Drive) credentials will automatically get you into your blog. Here are a few things you’ll want to take a look at:

1. Change the name of your blog. To do this, go back to the Dashboard and click on the “Home” symbol, then on “MS Digital Portfolio Template” under “This Blog.”

Blog

In the field for “Site Title,” add a new title. You can use your first name if you want (e.g., “Mark’s Digital Portfolio”), but don’t use your first and last name. You can also create a title that doesn’t have your name in it. Be as creative as you want, but keep in mind that the title should relate to the purpose of the portfolio.

title

After you’ve added a new title, click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.

2. Add a Post

For the most part, you’ll be adding items to your blog as posts. To add a new post, you can click on the +New button in the top bar of your blog, and then select “Post.”

You’ll want to give each post a title, and assign it to a Category. These categories are broken down by class and grade (e.g., fifth grade, core, etc.). This will allow you to organize and sort information so that you can control the look and feel of your blog. If you take a look at the menu bar under the blog title, you see the different groups of categories (e.g., class, grade, teacher, etc.).

When you’re done with your post you can click “Publish” on the side to make the post appear on your blog

For assistance, come see Clair in the Tech Lab, check out our comprehensive support site, or take a look at our Edublogs User Guide guide.

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.

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