31st Post (History Fair Reflection)

This is my third post that I posted today bloggers! I'm busy as a bee! So as you may know already, our school had the History Fair last friday. We have to do a 4,3,2,1 reflection about the History Fair. It's been a while since I did a 4,3,2,1 on my blog. Click here for the assignment information! Here it is, I hope you enjoy it!

4 Most interesting things you learned about your topic.
One interesting thing that I learned about my topic was that the Aboriginals invented gum, and what they would do was that they would take sticky sap off a spruce tree and they would just chew it, and that was called Spruce Gum until the the 1800's when sugar was added and was just called gum. I thought that was really cool, and lots of people still use gum today, they even chew it at school, hoping they won't get caught.
     Another interesting thing I learned about my topic was that to make syringes, they would use the bladder from a small animal, usually a squirrel as well as a hollow bird bone to get medicine inside a human being. I thought it was disgusting, but at the same time, I thought it was fascinating how the Aboriginals would use almost anything to help them survive on their own land.
     The third interesting thing I learned about my topic was that they would use different kinds of snowshoes for different types of snow. For example, snowshoes that have pointed tips were the best selection for walking over snowy land with lots of vegetation. I didn't think that the Aboriginals made that many types of snowshoes, I thought there was only one designed pair of snowshoes for every kind of snow. To me, that seemed very cool.
     The last interesting thing that I learned about my topic was that the Aboriginals grew many different varieties of corn, and it's true. We eat corn in many ways, there's plain corn in a bowl, creamed corn. corn on the cob, popcorn, etc. I love corn, you can eat in different ways, and to have learned that the Aboriginals grew it first makes my love for corn even better. I'm so happy to have done this topic, and I learned so much from it, and I hope everyone else learned something about it as well.

3 Things you felt proud of on the day during the fair.
One thing I felt proud of on the day during the fair was my ability to answer questions. I was worried that I was going to flop on that, because I'm kind of a quiet person, but I felt like I answered the questions fine, and I'm proud of myself for that instead of being upset and stressed about it.
     Another thing I felt proud of on the day during the fair was the many times I presented my speech to students as well as teachers and judges. I felt like people understood what I was talking about and that I provoked emotion in my speech, and I think that the speech definitely enhanced my presentation a lot, and I'm proud of that.
     The last thing I felt proud of on the day during the fair was that I made it to the Regional Fair at the Ottawa War Museum. Out of one hundered and sixteen projects, twenty four from our school move on to Regionals, and I was one of them. I didn't expect it at all that I'm going to Regionals, and I feel extremely proud of myself for all the hard work and time and effort that was put into this presentation, and making it to the Regionals definately makes me feel proud, and I'm happy to have accomplished it after being stressed out about it.

2 Specific researching or presentation techniques that were helpful to make your project so wonderful.
One specific researching or presentation technique that was helpful to make my project so wonderful was that I found two books at an Ottawa Pulbic Library that really helped me a lot, and I got a ton of information from those two books. One book was named, A Native American Thought of It: Amazing Inventions and Innovations By: Rocky Landon and David MacDonald. The other book was named, Native North American Wisdom and Gifts By: Bobbie Kalman. I'm happy to have gotten those books. I also found this website, Click Here! and that helped me a lot too. I'm happy to have found that website, I got a lot of information from there too.
     The other specific researching or presentation techniques that were helpful to make my presentation so wonderful was that I imangine myself winning the lottery, and what that does is that I get nervous to super excited to present my project. I used this trick every time I have a music performance as well, and it works, so I'm happy I did that before I started presenting.

1 Suggestion to make the History Fair even better in the future.
One suggestion that I have to make the History Fair even better in the future is that we should look at other people's projects, because didn't get a chance to look at what other people did, because either they haven't been judged enough to look around or they didn't have permission to look around, and looking around is a nice break from standing there talking about your project in one place for two straight periods, so that would be my suggestion.

There you have it, my History Fair 4,3,2,1 is complete! Please feel free to check out the video of my History Fair presentation on my blog which is two posts down, and make sure to check out the video of me singing which is one post down. Please feel free to comment. Thank you, and have a good night. Three more school days left until March Break!  

29th Post (History Fair Presentation Video)

Ello again bloggers. Last Friday, my school had the History Fair, and all the grade sevens and eights were competing. In the History Fair, you had to pick a topic involving History, and make a three- sided poster board, speech and a three-dimensional item about your topic, and you had to present it to the class. My project was on Native Inventions that we still use today, and for my speech I was a Native girl talking about the different inventions and how we helped the Europeans survive on their land, but in return, they took our land. My project got selected to go to the Regional History Fair at the Ottawa War Museum on April 20th. Wish me luck! Here's my presentation, I hope you enjoy it and learn something from it! Thank you for watching it, and have a good day! We're getting close to March Break! 

11th Blog (Museum of Civilization Reflection)

I'm back bloggers! My class had an excellent time at our field trip to the Museum of Civilization. Here's a reflection that I have to do now using the 3,2,1 method by my teacher, Miss Pollock. I hope you guys enjoy it! 

11/05/10 Museum of Civilization Reflection Melissa R8A

3 Specific things you enjoyed.

The first thing that I enjoyed was that we were allowed to bring our cameras and take pictures there, because we could capture the cool things shown at the exhibitions in the museum as well as the awesome shots with our classmates and friends. I'm happy I brought my camera, this is definitely something that will be memorable at out last year at Fielding. I would've put my pictures on my blog to show you guys, but I can't put my pictures on my computer, because when you get the software that lets you put your pictures on your computer, you need a CD, and my CD ROM machine is broken, so I can't put them on, I'm sorry.

     Another specific thing that I enjoyed was the walk-in play, because I felt that they did a really good job acting out historical Canadians. Also, I've never really experienced a play where we had to walk for part of it to head to the next scene, I found that fascinating. Thirdly, it was great that we could talk to them and ask them questions and comments about History or the play. 

     The last specific thing that I enjoyed was tied between getting time to explore the museum and eating at the cafeteria. It was great to explore the museum, because it was a great time to have a break from the workshops as well as getting more historic information and getting more pictures. Also, the food at the cafeteria was very good. There was so many choices to pick, but I decided to have pepperoni pizza with apple juice and a little bit of fries that Miss Pollock gave me, thank you Miss Pollock.

2 Important things you learned.

One important thing that I learned was that Ottawa was a word meaning "trade" which I never knew that, so maybe Ottawa was probably a good place in Canada for trading according to the First Peoples that first came to the area.

     The other important thing I learned was that the people that the walk-in play portrayed back then would sing French tunes, because it would motivate them to canoe harder, they felt that it was fun and made them happy and it kept them together, and it's true, singing does keep people together. 

1 Thing you would've changed.

The one thing I would've changed was when Miss Pollock said that we were 90% great. We should've made that 100%, but I guess we didn't. Well hopefully next time we're on a field trip, Miss Pollock will know that we'll be 100% great. 

       The End

There you have it, my 3,2,1 is complete! I hope you liked it. Please feel free to comment. Enjoy your relaxing and peaceful weekend!

10th Blog (Mystery History Maker)

Welcome back bloggers! On Friday, my class will be going on a field trip to the local Museum of Civilization in Quebec. (You're probably thinking, what? You live in Ottawa, Ontario, don't you? The truth is that it's only 20 minutes away from my school) Click here to check out the website. My assignment that I had to do was to go to the website, and play this game called "Mystery History Maker" where we had to take a little quiz, and then, the computer matches us with a History Maker or someone historically significant to Canada that's mostly like us. Isn't that awesome? Click here to play the game. Then we had to do a little reflection about this. Click here for information.

Using the clues provided, I identified my Mystery Maker. His name was Thayendanegea, Joseph Brant. He was a War Chief from the Mohawk Tribe as well as a politician. I don't really have that much in common with this person. All I have in common with this person is that we both have or had only one sister, speak or spoke English (That wasn't his first language though, but he still spoke English) and stand or stood up for our rights. This person is historically significant in Canada, because he was a crucial link between the Iroquoian Tribe and the British, which ruled North America during his time. 

There you have it, my History assignment is complete. Thanks again for visiting my blog. Please feel free to comment. I hope you had a great Halloween on Sunday. I don't know if you had this weather as well, but it snowed in Ottawa. It was my first Halloween with snow. The snow's all melted now, I'm happy that it didn't last, because I'm not ready for winter. Anyways, Have a great night!