The Montestory. An Upper Elementary Production SPECIAL EDITION. Ancient Mayans By Leigh

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1 Vol. 1 Issue 8 The Montestory An Upper Elementary Production SPECIAL EDITION Ancient Mayans By Leigh An adult can assist in shaping the environment, but it is the child that perfects his own being. - Maria Montessori, The Sense of Childhood I was a new student this year and did not expect most of the amazing and inspiring experiences I have had here. However, it is very likely this was the most unexpected of all. I never thought that I would have the amazing and unique opportunity to be part of RMS first annual Expert Project. I researched the Ancient Mayans and had an amazing time doing so. My goal in the end was to really just teach people about the Mayans, and I feel like I did that very well. One of the most fun parts for me was watching the documentaries that I was very interested in; there were some amazing people working to discover what the Mayans had left behind. I managed to interview Professor Mora-Marin from North Carolina. He gave me more information than I expected, at least two whole paragraphs for each question. I cannot wait to see next year s projects and hope that everyone has as much fun as I did. Expert Projects are an amazing way to end the journey through Upper Elementary.

2 Charles Darwin by Ian For my Expert Project, I studied The Life and Work of Charles Darwin. I covered his early life, his experience on the H.M.S. Beagle, his life after the Beagle s voyage, and I explained natural selection. I chose this topic because I am interested by natural selection and wanted to know more about the man who formulated it. I also wanted to know how natural selection changed the way humans view evolution. Charlie Chaplin by Cameron Charlie Chaplin is my Expert Project topic. He was an actor in the in the 1900 s. This place in time is called the silent film era. Chaplin was a great man all throughout his life. From his childhood in London, to his adulthood in Hollywood, to his retirement in Switzerland. I have studied Chaplin all year, and I have found that his life story was very fascinating. I am very thankful for all of the help that I have received throughout the year. I have learned a lot about Chaplin, and I enjoyed sharing it with you. Global Warming By Balazs Expert Project has been the most exhilarating project I have ever done in my life. My Expert Project was on global warming. Global warming is an unnatural warming of the Earth s average surface temperature. Greenhouse gases, which are mostly generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal or oil, are blocking the sun s rays from leaving our Earth s atmosphere, warming the Earth s surface up. My project focuses on not only greenhouse gases, but the causes and effects of global warming, as well as how we can help stop it. All in all, it is a great project, and I hope I can study it more in the future. I chose the topic of global warming because I felt that, after reading a book about it, I should do something about it. I hoped that my project could bring people together to fight global warming. This was probably the hardest project I have ever done. Getting all of the information was definitely the hardest part of the project. It took us about five weeks to get all of our information, and then we had to put it all into an outline. All of this was for a worthy cause, though. While this project was the hardest, it was also the most interesting and emotional. It was extremely sad to read about the polar bears drowning and the golden frog going extinct, but it is all part of global warming. I also learned a lot about our Earth and the environment. Overall, my Expert Project was a wild ride I will never forget.

3 Dragon Mythology By Lilly My project is on Dragon Mythology. I became interested in dragons a couple of years ago, when I started drawing them. My interest became bigger every time I drew a dragon, and I draw a lot. When we had to come up with topics over the summer, I saw a chance to learn about the creature I loved drawing. This project has had a big impact on my life this year, because I have become an expert on dragons. The next time I draw a dragon, I ll know what type it is, and better appreciate this fascinating creature. Filmmaking by Jack For my Expert Project topic I studied filmmaking. I researched the three stages of filmmaking: Pre-production, Shooting, and Post-production. I studied all different types of techniques and skills that are essential in filmmaking. I also looked at lighting, sound, and editing. The reason I chose filmmaking is that I consider it my future career. I love reading books about the making of my favorite films and love making my own. I really enjoyed the project. If I hadn t done this project, I definitely would not know as much. Hydropower by Conrad My report is about hydropower. I got interested in hydropower when I had a family vacation to Niagara Falls. My family and I took a tour of the hydropower dam built there, and I became deeply interested in hydropower. At this time my classmates and I had recently gotten an assignment for the summer. Our job was to find and do some basic research for potential topics. My three topics were Hyropower, Stonehedge, and the planet Eris. Hydropower fully captivated me, and I finally chose it for my topic. I enjoyed my time during the creation of my project. It was amazing how many facts about my topic where out there. When I was doing my research, I interviewed a hydropower expert from the National Hydropower Association. Her name was Diane Lear. I really enjoyed communicating with her and learning facts I didn t know. In my report, I focused on five key features about hydropower. I researched the history of hydropower, how it works, examples of dams, advantages, and disadvantages of hydropower. During this project, I created a PowerPoint presentation. In my presentation I put all my research into a slideshow. I showed key facts about hydropower and pictures. I presented this PowerPoint on Wednesday, April 23rd and showed my work. Overall I loved doing this project, because I learned so much.

4 The James River By Austin I chose The James River for my Expert Project. My project included the History, Nature, Recreation, and Watershed of the river. One of the main topics in my report was safety and another one was that there are many things to do on the river. This river has changed America forever by helping the colonists survive in the beginning. One of my main reasons I chose this topic was because of my many personal connections. My family once owned the property of Bellona Arsenal after the Civil War. It would eventually be sold. Bellona Arsenal was the second supplier to the Confederate weaponry in the Civil War. I have also gone to a summer camp called Passages Adventure Camp for three years. I kayak and rock-climb at the camp. It is my favorite summer camp. This was a great learning experience for me to dive deeper into something I knew only a few things about before doing my research. Juvenile Justice By Grace For my expert topic, I chose juvenile justice. I loved learning about this topic, even though many sections of learning about juveniles in court were very upsetting. I never fully realized everything that happened during the juvenile hearing, from learning about different sentencing options, to reading about different facilities for juveniles to try to alter their behaviors. Previously, I thought they go to court and go to juvie. I chose this topic for the reason that when I am older, I imagine I will work in criminal justice. The reason I chose juvenile justice though is because I wanted to know the consequences for people in my own age group. I thought rehabilitation was the most interesting part because of how many programs there are to try to make a juvenile delinquent better mentally and towards others.

5 Mt. Everest by Zack The topic I selected this year for Expert Project is Mt. Everest. The subtopics I covered in my report were the mountain itself, its hazards, climbing equipment, Sherpas (climbing guides native to the area of Everest), and climbing expeditions. I also went more in-depth on some of my subtopics, such as feats on Everest (famous expeditions), and the unreliability of early equipment. There were a few steps I had to take before I got to a finishing point. Step one, I gathered all my resources over the summer and earlier in the year. I also picked out three different possible topics. They were baseball s greatest players, Everest, and dinosaur extinction. Step two, I wrote research questions, drafted my proposal, and started my research (notecards). Step three, I drew my research to a close, and I wrote up questions for an interview on my topic and sent them to my interviewee, and created a bibliography for my resources. Step four, I made my report and chapter outlines and started drafting and revising my chapters. Step five (the final step), I outlined my PowerPoint and created it, and made final edits to my report. I also started to practice presenting my PowerPoint, and made my display board. The final piece was presenting on Wednesday! NASA by Hannah For my Expert Project, I chose to research NASA. My chapters were History, Byproducts, What s Now, and What s Next. History was my biggest chapter. It has information on the Space Race, Individual Missions of NASA, and the creation of NASA. When I started my project, I was most excited to learn about the JWST (James Webb Telescope). When I first heard about it, I was pretty dumbfounded. It s literally a time machine! Using very advanced technology, it will look back in time at the Big Bang. I learned most of my information about JWST from my primary resource, Mrs. Wooldridge. We accidentally met at a restaurant the weekend of the assignment to find a primary resource! My favorite part of collecting all the information was interviewing her. She gave me a lot of additional information that enhanced my report a lot. My main resource, besides Mrs. Wooldridge, was It had tons and tons of information. I used a few books as well, NASA by Dan Elish and NASA by Steve Kortenkamp. The most interesting fact I learned, well, that s hard. I don t think that there was an uninteresting fact! I think that it would be two things, number one, learning all about JWST s science themes. Number two, ISS. I was so fascinated learning about how scientists could send experiments up there, and the fact that the U.S. and the Russians had gone from war to peace in less than 60 years. I really enjoyed this year s Expert Project, and my advice to the 5 th graders: FINISH YOUR HOMEWORK ON TIME! It really helps you stay organized, but over all, the Expert Project is really fun, and I enjoyed it a lot this year.

6 Pablo Picasso by Jeanie Nuclear Energy by Alex I did my Expert Project on nuclear energy. I got interested in it when I heard about the nuclear incident and Fukushima, Japan. I have spent the better part of this year working hard on this project. It has been fun and exciting, and it has inspired me to research my topic further. This topic has kept me entertained the entire year, and I have had a great time exploring my topic. Nuclear energy is the power released from the nucleus of an atom after nuclear fission or fusion. We use nuclear Fission to generate energy today. The nuclear industry is currently working on a way to generate power using Fusion, but have had no such luck. My report covers the major topics of nuclear energy including: what nuclear energy is, and some of the pros and cons. These past couple of months, I have been researching Pablo Picasso. My presentation and report is on his life, from when he was born, to when he passed away, and his artwork throughout his life. I have shared facts on some specific works of art, and explained some feelings of Picasso during certain times. I have had a fun experience researching Picasso. Not only am I researching as part of the homework, I am motivated to research, because I am excited to share everything I know. Although some parts were tough, the final product ended up really nice! I hope you enjoyed my report on Pablo Picasso! Raising Chickens by Dylan Chickens are great animals. They are kind, entertaining, and useful. Chickens have impacted many lives by providing meals, money, and more. There are many breeds, and they are all used for certain purposes, such as meat, eggs, exhibition, pest control, and more. Chickens are fun animals. They are more intelligent than you may think. I raise chickens at home for eggs and as family pets. We currently have twenty-eight at home, and they are doing very well. I first got six chickens in third grade, but since, have gotten more and more. We have also hatched eggs and seen the little chicks come out. Our family loves our chickens and eggs. I hope you come to read my report in the library!

7 Service Animals by Isabelle For my expert project, I chose to research Service Animals. I know that animals have already affected society today, but I wanted to know how much. I also wanted others to realize an animal's true potential. To see that a dog is not only man s best friend, but a lifesaver. I hope that will find this topic as incredible and amazing as I do. Service animals are and will continue to change the world. They can retrieve a lost person or missing object, or they can capture a harmful criminal. They also bring joy to people who desperately need to momentarily escape their pain. These dogs are essential and meaningful to people s lives. The reason dogs were chosen over all other animals is because, they run faster, hear better, smell better, also who could be a better partner than man s best friend. But people have also found many other uses for other animals to. Bats are used to bomb certain places, pigeons are used as message carriers, bears are used for carrying objects, cats are used as spies, gerbils are used to detect high waves of adrenalin, bees are used to sniff bombs, and dolphins are used as spies. Insects are also genetically modified at early stages of metamorphosis, they are then inserted with microphones or cameras, and their skin grows around it. Sea lions are also used to attach clamps to an intruder s legs. If you have become interested in my topic, then please read my report found in the library. The Story of LEGO by Elijah I did The Story of LEGO for my Expert Project. I included four chapters in my project. The first chapter is on Ole Kirk Christiansen, the founder, then the two main components, The LEGO brick and The LEGO minifigure. After that I explained the main LEGO improvements. Finally, I explained LEGO s Impact on Society. I enjoyed learning about LEGO and I have played with it since I was five. LEGO has really changed the world, in my opinion, and it is important to not only me, but many others. It is very hard to think of what my favorite interesting facts are, but I thought of two. One is that 36 billion Legos are made every year, which also means 60,000 per minute. Another is that there are about 8,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations with all minifigure pieces. Congratulations, Experts!