Blob tree- Where am I?

http://www.pipwilson.com/p/blob-tree.html

        Today's blog task is to pick a blob on the blob tree that matches most to me. I think I am one of those blobs on the bottom helping other blob to climb up. So far, we've only finished making our team shield, choosing a topic, and selecting key concepts, questions, unit of inquiry and central idea. While we were doing, we have supported each other and listened each other carefully.

          Even though we are off for a great start, we are not complete or even close to a half. In order to climb up the blob tree; top of blob tree means successful Exhibition,  I strongly believe that we need to encourage and help each other while doing endless research, our action and making our powerful presentation.

We FINALLY completed our UOI (Units of Inquiry)

      Thinking back over the day what I valued most was our new units of inquiry that we created. We have decided on these three key concepts and three lines of inquiry matching to those:

• Form- What child labor is like
• Connection- The different issues connected to child labor
• Responsibility- Our reponsibilities to stop child labor

  
  

https://drive.google.com/a/branksome.asia/file/d/0B-ZM76IQOM58dzVEZTRDRncyS0E/view

Also, something I would like to find more about in the future is why child labor happens and why it is hard to stop.  When we are researching, I would like to find answers to these questions.

Set up everything for mentor meeting and choose topic!

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The most important event that happened for Hyeon-ah and me today was organizing our first mentor meeting with Ms.Cairns. We are supposed to meet her in between 10:45am to 11:05am on Tuesday and Thursday. One of the things that surprised me was we used almost 99% of the Exhibition hours speaking in English and improved on being an inquirer by inventing lots of questions with key concepts of 'Child labor'. Our brains were exploding with ideas while we discussed together about the topic and worked on the team shield. I believe that our first meeting with our mentor is going to be exciting, and I can't wait for tomorrow.

Most exciting day ever!

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        Today was the best day ever! Phew, there are LOTS of things to talk about! To summarize it, I think this page will be one and a half mile long! Well, not really. But you get the picture. Anyway, let's start!
        First of all, the most exciting thing is my group members for PYP Exhibition. I thought my group would have more than 2 people but actually, Hyeon-ah and I were in pairs. I think I am so lucky to be together with a person who know the meaning of responsibility, keep her words, is smart and calm. I think that Hyeon-ah and I will work well together to complete our Exhibition sucessfully.

Our first mission was making our essential agreements. Our essential agreements are:

• Only communicate in Korean when necessary
• Participate and be enthusiastic
• Respect each other (no arguing)
• Show integrity by not copying word for word from somebody without any permission/citation

After we completed the essential agreements, we signed the Individual Declaration of Academic Honesty. and made our team shields. The Individual Declaration of Academic Honesty is a form you have to sign and say, 'I will not copy somebody else's work without permission/citation. A team shield is a shield that our Exhibition group gets to decorate and draw anything that might represent their group. My group didn't get to finish so we are deciding to work on it tomorrow morning.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AUJMzIJpfjRBWaTAh14XlX_SLvFaIsw8E-xSGr5Suvs/edit#slide=id.p

        I like how we were sorted into well-matching groups and have a kind mentore as Hyeon-ah says, Ms.Cairns. I hope I have an enriching Exhibition journey with Hyeon-ah and my new mentor.

Language Usage Checklist for Exhibition

http://brown.dpsk12.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/PYP-exhibition.jpg

                This language checklist is for Exhibition that our G5 teacher sent us. I put a 'X' mark to show that is my answer.

What will discussion sound like in Grade 5?

• We will use English in our groups UNLESS we need to translate the meaning of a word or phrase that needs clarification or elaboration.
• Then we will remember to switch back to English once we have clarified or elaborated our ideas.
• In partners, we will use English.
• When we are thinking solo we can use either English or Korean.
• In teams, we will use English for all conversation unless we are clarifying the meaning of something.

Weekly self-assessment for language usage

This week I was able to use English and Korean as per the class expectations.

• Yes ____________ X
• Mostly ____________
• Not always _________

The part that was most difficult for me to do was:

• Class discussion ______
• Teams in English ______
• Pairs in English _______ X
• Solo in English ________
• Switch back after using Korean _____________

Strategies I used this week:

• I used Korean/Chinese when I:
• Asked a question ________
• Expressed an idea _______
• Clarified a word _________
• Clarified a phrase _______
• Elaborated my ideas _____
• Took notes ___________
• Worked in a team _______
• Worked in a pair _______
• Worked alone _________
• Joked around _________ X
• Had social conversation ______ X
• I used English when I:
• Asked a question ________ X
• Expressed an idea _______ X
• Clarified a word _________ X
• Clarified a phrase _______ X
• Elaborated my ideas _____ X
• Took notes ___________X
• Worked in a team _______X
• Worked in a pair _______X
• Worked alone _________X
• Joked around _________X
• Had social conversation ______ X

This week I am most proud of my reseach by exploring issues we are NOT okay with because I did 6 issues and I achieved my goal which was completing at least 4 issues.

Next week my goal is to use less Korean at school and use more of Korean at home so I can improve on both languages.

My favorite trandisplinary themes: How we express ourselves and Sharing the planet

        Today our blog mission is to find out which trandisplinary theme (unit) I am interested in. I chose two, because I couldn't decide on only one theme. Those are How we express ourselves and Sharing the planet.
        First of all, I chose these two units because the other four units are less appealing to me. These units were the units that I had curiousity in. I especially had a lot of questions while doing the unit, How we express ourselves. It was pretty interesting to explore variety of topics that I have rarely encountered before. It was hard work when I did a simulation acting as a child working at a factory. I hated the work, but thinking about that I had just experienced what it would be like working in factories doing difficult work. Also, it was fun while doing the unit Sharing the planet, Stop disasters. The game's purpose is to protect a piece of land from a natural disaster. I learnt more about natural diasters from other students' natural disaster presentation.

http://abisoman.com/learning/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/03/How-we-express-ourselves.png

https://graciairene.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/express_yourself_by_casinwolfe-d4l37hb.jpg

http://roeweekly.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/6/4/14640726/678473_orig.png

        I loved learning about these trandisplinary themes since I started studying them and I hope to learn more about them in the future. I want to have a deeper understanding about these themes and try to find the solution to solve these problems while doing exhibition.

Nature is speaking-Soil

http://remineralize.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Natural-Vitality-Soil-eBook-0706151_pdf__page_10_of_20_.png

       Today, I watched a video called Nature is speaking-Soil. I have to answer the following questions:

• How did watching the video make you feel? 
• What did it make you think? 
• What questions do you have? 
• What surprised you? 
• What actions do you think humans might need to take?

        Firstly, I felt guilty and shocked after I watched this video because in the video tells that we overused soil and turned soil into broken, aching and sick soil just because of us, humans. I was stunned that we had destroyed half of the soil Earth had over 100 years. As a human, I was so shamed that people have been doing such a wrong thing for such a long time. I have never thought about overusing the soil or sickening the soil before. That made me even more feel guilty.
        Next, this video inspired me to think of plants in my garden that are rooted inside the soil and how thankful I am to the soil so that my plants earn enough nutrition to grow and produce flowers and fruits. While thinking about it, we can't survive if there is no soil because most of our food is produced by plants and those plants grow because of the soil.
        What actions do you think humans might need to take? There are some reasons why soil is getting polluted; toxic chemicals, strong pesticides, trash, faulty sewage systems, and oil spills. To solve those problems, we can recycle and throw trash in the bin. Also we should encourage farmers to use non-toxic pesticide and bio-friendly fertilizers. We need to fix the drainage systems to a proper one and plant more trees. Doing these steps and we will reduce soil pollution.

http://downloads.grangecoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/soil.jpg

All about bilingualism!

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/1542c3bf9a1b4bd0?projector=1

        Bilingualism means the ability to speak or use two different languages. Today at school, we studied about what levels of  bilingualism there are and what level of bilingualism are we at. Here is the chart:

        If I chose which level I would be in, I'd choose level 2 to 3. Korean is my weaker language and English is my stronger language. I understand the whole context of somebody's saying in Korean, even though I have no idea what those words means exactly. Interestingly, I just can't speak out the same sentences other Koreans are talking, even though I can undertand what they are talking about. In English, I understand everything and also can say it back to anybody. That relates to level two. However, I am trying hard to improve my Korean and so far, I can read Korean chapter books more often, well.. it takes LONG time to finish one book,  and finish more of my work on time like other students. I think that I am just a little behind Korean than English which matches to level 3! To summarize, I am in the between 2&3. My goal is to be level 4 or 5 as soon as possible. 

Donate a blanket to the Wrap for Love charity

http://www.pymblelc.nsw.edu.au/news/knit-in/

        In my old school, one of the Year 4 teachers told us about a charity called 'Wrap with Love'. We could knit a square and then brought it in to school. Gathered squares were sewn together to be warm blankets for poor children. I remember doing one square by myself. I tried very hard to knit a perfect square but the shape wouldn't come out properly. In the end, my square was a mess and decided to help others knit their own squares when they were busy. Since my last one turned out to be a disaster, I was very careful at knitting somebody elses'. The whole school participated for the charity and many children recieved wooly blankets from us. I felt proud (even though I didn't even get to finish mine) because I had saved a child from dying from the coldness and gave them warmth to wrap themself in.

A very fun overnight experience!

        Today and yesterday, we did PYPX Overnight experience. The G5 teachers organized this event for us to learn how to cooperate effectively and communicate among G5 students. Most of the experience, we were playing games, reading or discussing with each other to learn how to plan, moniter and evaluate (metacognition). In addition, we learnt what our intelligences are (ex. spatial, musical, intrapersonal, etc.) and just solving conflicts and finding ways to interact efficiently with other G5 students.
        One thing I enjoyed while doing the overnight experience was a game called, 'Catch it if it can!'. To win, your team must build a launcher and a catcher with the supplies provided only in a limited amount of time. The launcher must be able shoot a ping-pong ball into the catcher. It was very hilarious to look at the other team's launchers and catchers work. My group was very succesful and tied with another with 52 points because I recommended to use a lever to launch our ping-pong balls so it can fly high and place the catcher where the testing ping-pong ball lands.
        Another time I enjoyed was free time before we had to get ready for bed. The teachers gave us 2 hours to play so I planned to try the scooters, a triangle-shaped plastic tray with wheels. I played on the scooters for over an hour and half. I rode on them lying down, sitting and even spinning until I felt so dizzy that I decided I needed a break to calm down my brain.

Image found in Google

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        I think this overnight experience helped fade my worries away about exhibition from my mind and calm me down. I realize this experience will help me find a good route to a wonderful exhibition.                                                      

Is the attitude 'Commitment' an important role while we are doing exhibtion?

Today G5 studied a bit about the word 'Commitment' and what it means. Commitment means persevering (never give up or lose hope) and showing self-discipline (saying 'No' to things you want). On our blog, we need to write why or why not commitment is important part of the PYP Exhibition. I believe that commitment should be one of the most important values for our PYP Exhibition.

http://www.mohtisham.com/Images/07b57ba9-e3a0-4057-a5ae-60cdf656a43fCommitment-new.jpg

Commitment is understandable by thinking of this phrase, 'Never give up'. If we give up something while we are working on the project, our presentation could end up as a disaster.  Try ones best to untie the problem knot and find a solution and stay on the task. Also Commitment means responsibility. When everyone in a group does their work on time with decent quality, we can say that everyone takes resposibility so well.  Consequently, I strongly believe that commitment is very important attitude that we should include in our Exhibition. I am ready to commit myself to sucessful Exhibition.

It's is the first day of a long journey- PYP Exhibition

Image from google
http://democraticchallenge.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/start.jpg

Today was Grade 5's first day of PYP Exhibition journey. We started off by categorizing various words into different groups. After we finished, we tried to connect the main words into one big group. My discussion group went around other tables to examine what was similar with and what was different from ours. Next, we interacted with the teachers about why we classified the words into those groups.
I felt that the teachers were making us organize these words for an important purpose and try to encourage us to compare the different ideas among the groups. The teachers led us to think more in diverse ways, so later we can develop better thinking skills. I enjoyed this lesson and it was better than I thought; I was really worried that we might choose our team members straight away and have to choose a topic or somthing! But this lesson calmed me down a bit, I look forward to having another wonderful day tomorrow.

Compass Points About PYP Exhibition

In Branksome Hall Asia, PYP Exhibition is a overall presentation explaining about a unit we enjoy or want to find out. Now I am going to explain what I need to know and which things in exhibition I am excited or worried about and some suggestions for moving forward to make a good presentation by using compass points. First, I need to know some information about the unit which I am going to present and make a hooking question to excite people who are reading my presentation. I am excited about making the presentation and research about the topic. I am worried about getting partnered with people that play and don't do anything, fuss and whinge and say mean words, wrong teamwork, argue and don't talk for weeks, make a horrible presentation and break friendships. Something I wish about exhibition is that it is going to be a sucessful presentation.