Sign of the Beaver - Stop Motion Animated Book Report

Ta - DAAAAA!  I am proud to reveal my first stop motion animated movie - a report on the book, Sign of the Beaver.

Here are the steps I took to complete my movie:

1. I created a storyboard that showed the series of scenes I would film.  The storyboard included a list of props for each scene.
2. I created the props.  I made figures for Matt, Matt's father, Ben, Saknis, and Attean.  I also received some art lessons from my mom and painted the backdrops for each scene.  
3. I played around to learn how to use the stop motion animation app.
4. I took pictures of the small movements that create each scene.
5. I added words, theme cards, and sound.
6. I rendered the movie and uploaded it.

This whole process, along with reading the book, took me over two months.  I worked really hard.  I hope you enjoy it!

Peace.  Out -
Ollie and Mom

Week 10 Review

Did you celebrate Pi Day of the Century?  It was on Saturday, March 14, because that day was 3.14.15 and Pi is 3.1415.  In fact, at 9:26:53 on 3.14.15, the world celebrated Pi Day of the Century as the date and time included the first 10 numbers of Pi.  

I learned all about Pi and how it helps to determine the circumference of any circle that exists in our universe.  Then, I created this fun Pi art, graphing out the first 12 numbers of Pi to create a city skyline.  Did you know there is not a known circle that exists in our universe whose circumference cannot be calculated with Pi to the 11th decimal?

Pi.  All the cool kids know it.  Pie.  All the cool kids eat it.  If you write the mirror image of 3.14 inversely to read 413, it will spell Pie.  Try it.  Mind blown.  

I also finished making my moccasins.  That's right people, I made these!  They were an engineering and art project in response to the book, Sign of the Beaver.  I love my moccasins!  I wear them a lot, especially when I want to sneak up on someone.

My parents bought me this cool new game called Gravity Maze.  It's like coding in 3D.  There are four levels of puzzle cards, and you have to follow the code to create a functional marble run.  I thought it was going to be easy . . . but it's soooooo hard!  Especially the expert level.

My mom lets me play this for homeschool because it is a real-life application of science (physics), technology (coding), engineering, and math.

Some other things I accomplished during week 10:

• Finished my unit on fractions.  That's right, people.  I'm a fractions genius.  
• Read two about John Audubon and one about ornithology.  
• Finished my physics principia (check out my post) and my Pizza with the Founding Fathers (check out my post).  
• Went to nature club.
• Filmed two scenes of my stop-motion animated book report.

That's all for now.  Out -

Ollie and Mom 

Week 8 Review

Last week, at the end of week 8, we finished the HBO movie series about John Adams.  I am going to be writing and publishing a review on it soon.  I also finished my unit on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.  I'm glad to have that over with!

During week 8, my mom and I finished reading this book, Master George's People.  I was surprised to learn that George Washington owned slaves.  This book is about the people he enslaved at his plantation, Mt. Vernon.  You learn some of their names and life stories.  It also documents President Washington's changing views on slavery throughout his life.  I discovered by reading it that the people who worked on Mt. Vernon made enormous sacrifices so that George Washington could be off leading the Revolutionary War and being President.  Without them, he would not have been able to make a living and keep up his most beloved Mt. Vernon.

I also learned about the Culper Code and how it helped us win the American Revolution.  I wrote a secret message for you using the code:

553 193 74 KRETL

If you want to break the code, visit this link at Mt. Vernon's website with the entire Culper Code and the history about how the code helped us win the war:

Culper Code at Mt. Vernon

Another thing I did during week 8 was write a story using my vocabulary words from the book Sign of the Beaver:

Do You Have A Mean Coach?!?
Is your coach finicky?  If he is, please read more.  If he is, and you read this essay, you might find it easier to nonchalantly walk into your next game.  Is he trying to lie and act dumbfounded if you told your parents, and they talked to your coach, and he said he didn't do it?  I bet you felt contemptuous about that.  I'm pretty sure you glowered at him next game.  Remember your manitou and rise above this incomprehensible man.  When your parents find out they are going to be disdainful toward him.  He will act disgruntled, but he always has.  You and your parents have to be wary next year.

This is a picture of a storyboard I created last week for a stop motion animated movie I am making as a report for the book Sign of the Beaver.  I made ten storyboards that outline the props, scenery, and sequence of each scene I will film for my movie.  It might take us a few weeks, but when we are done, I will publish my first stop motion animated movie!

Some other things that kept me busy during week 8:

• An All About Frogs nature club at night at Reed Creek.
• A nature walk with my mom where we saw many signs of Spring.
• Learning and testing Newton's first two laws of motion (videos coming soon).
• Some IXL grammar and Code.org coding.

That's all for now.  Peace out - 

Ollie and Mom