The One And Only Marble Challenge

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been doing something called The Marble Challenge and while we were doing the marble challenge we have been learning how to use The Scientific Method  In The Marble Challenge you had to build a ramp that could send a marble accurately at 110cm.  After that you can test the ramp, you can chose to modify the ramp.  After you made the ramp you had to build instructions for the ramp so if it was two pieces you would have to put how to build the ramp in instructions.  When you did those things you let someone else test your instructions.  After you have done everything you wait for competition day.  Even though it was a simple and easy process my team Amber and Alana did not succeed BUT our team did not fail either because we got 11 points and some teams got 0 so we stay grateful.

After the challenge we reflected on the marble run we made and our team. We thought our ramp did good because of how fast the marble went but maybe it went too fast.  We thought we needed to make our instructions better because when we put our ramp down for competition day we had no instructions for building and our ramp was two pieces so the testers had to make the ramps themselves.  We thought our ramp wasn't really successful because the testers had to build it because we forgot about the instructions and our marble kept on rolling past the places were you get a point.  If we had the chance to change or modify the ramp we would make the ramp stepper and we could of made taped it all together.

Have you ever made a ramp for a marble before?

The Very Scientific Roadshow

In Te Ngahere we have been learning about science. There was a Science Roadshow about science at BOI Collage (A.K.A Bay Of Islands College).  So first we took our bus to BOI Collage at 12:00.  Next we went into the school hall to see the BOI College about to leave.  When they left after the starting show the scientists said we could have some time to check out the interactive displays.  Before we went we had to get into groups and my group was Aaron and Jacob, my classmates. After some displays we saw a quiz about electricity so we tried the quiz and it was actually very awesome and you actual can learn some stuff from it.  From the electricity quiz I learned that DC stands for direct current and AC stands for alternate current. 

I am sure my favorite exhibit was called “Pepper's Ghost”.  In Pepper’s Ghost you can flip a switch and then look in the box and in the chair you will find a invisible skeleton.  You can figure out how they did this by reading the info card on top of the box or you can open the lid of the box to see what unravels.  Apparently they used a very shiny skeleton and a mirror to reflect the skeletons shine to the chair.  The reason I like this exhibit is because it is simple and interesting.  

At the end there was another show and that show introduced something called fair testing.  Fair testing is when you test your hypothesis and if your test fails you change ONE variable at a time.  Fair testing would definitely help with future science projects because instead of removing more than one variable you can remove only one so you don’t remove a variable that is good by accident.

Do like like science?

The Silent movie Called Wing

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about using language features to set our mood and atmosphere.  We had to write and describe a scene of a movie called Wing.  The thing is the movie was silent so we had to watch without sound and we had to write what happened in a certain scene (besides the first scene) WITHOUT SOUND.  So first they introduced the year 6’s to the movie because we haven’t seen the movie but the year 7 and 8’s already watched it for their writing.

We watched the movie and it was quite interesting especially since it had no sound.  So next we went on a doc and we started planning.  One of the language features we had to use was a concrete noun and that is when there is a noun that can be described with the five senses, and the other language feature I wanted to talk about was a vivid adjective and that is when you make an adjective more interesting like if you replace very loud with deafening.  It was fun writing but I was away most of the week so I did not complete much.  I think I was good at the writing generally.  I think I should get better at describing what I write about.

Have you watched Wing before?

Astounding Narratives

This week in Te Ngahere we were learning to plan and write an exciting narrative. We were allowed to write about whatever we wanted.  I was doing a narrative about time traveling, gummy and egypt.  This was based on one of my other narratives and it was based on chocolate, time traveling and the dinosaur age.  So first we planned out our narrative and I already knew what I wanted to write about.  I knew what I was going to write as soon as the teacher said “narrative”.  So I started planning and so I wrote down everything I wanted in my story.  So first the characters were: Jimmy, Carol, harry, Will and Jim.  I made it so in the story you were Jim.

Since my story was about egypt the story would take place at: Carol’s house in Australia, Egypt and pyramid chambers.  The problem was that they fall into the chambers and they get arrested on accident.  The solution was that the chamber was actually unlocked and they go back through and they survive.  After we finished doing the narrative the teachers were disappointed so they showed us a short film called WING.  It was a silent movie and it was very nice.

Doing narratives is fun and I enjoyed doing these narratives and I also enjoyed watching the movie.  I think I should improve in actually telling what is happening and I think I did well in the narrative.

Have you wrote a narrative before?

Coral Reef Calmness

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about Google Drawing tools.  We tried a cybersmart challenge and the challenge was about google drawing tools and learning how to use them.  We had to draw a fish and I knew it at the start because the title of the challenge was called Google Drawn Fish.  We had to draw something like a fish using google drawing shapes.  The teacher let us use shapes to draw the Ngahere (Forest) but we had to finish the fish drawing first.  We watched the video and then we got to work.  I finished the fish and I put sand at the bottom.  The next day I started work on some coral.  I was proud of myself.  The next day I started on a sea turtle.  I also made a rock.

I think I did a Great job with my coral reef.  I think I should improve in my size because I would of been able to fit more fish.

Have you ever made a coral reef made out of shapes?

The Catapult Launch Fail

 This week in Te Ngahere the year sixes have been doing something called Edpro 8.  Edpro 8 is a challenge where you use math and measurement to solve problems.  This week we built a catapult that can launch a ping pong ball 3 meters.  Our catapult failed.  We thought we made it but we did not read the criteria properly and it said that we had to launch the ball 3 metres in the air so it was not allowed to hit the ground.

We used two types of energy called: kinetic energy and potential energy.  Potential energy is when the energy is stored up inside something like a catapult. kinetic energy is when the energy is transferred to another object.  Like a ball being launched from a catapult.  

It was mostly challenging because of the structure.  The structure kept on falling down and it was annoying because the catapult had to keep standing up.  I thought we did well for the bottom part of the structure because it was easy to put the rubber bands together on the structure.  I would say that we need to improve on planning our stuff because we tried to talk to each other but we were doing our own thing.  

Have you made a catapult before?

A Test About Tricky Instructions

This week in Te Ngahere we have been given a test about reading instructions. We had four minutes to finish and the test had 23 instructions. Our teacher gave us a piece of paper and we got ourselves a pencil. The first instruction said “read EVERYTHING carefully before doing anything.” This was the reason everyone failed. The second instruction was to write our name in the top right corner and really that was all we had to do but nobody actually read all instructions so I continued. Next we had to call out our first name. Well I didn’t have to but I did not listen to the first instruction. I made it to question 16 but that's when the time stopped. This was also when the teacher presented the last question and that question said “Now that you have finished READING EVERYTHING, do only sentences one and two! Then draw quietly on the back of this paper while you wait for everyone else to finish!” So all we had to do was read everything and then do one and two. The teacher was teaching this because we would never read the entire “success criteria,” and we would never read the instructions carefully. Now that the teacher has taught us we have learned that we have to read the whole page carefully before we do anything. It was actually very funny because sometimes we had to yell out something like “I AM THE MASTER OF FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS.” We didn’t even need to do it though and that was the funny part. It was fun and it taught me alot about me. I felt disappointed in myself when I heard that we only had to do question one and two. Have you been given a test about instructions?