Category Archives: 5th Grade

My Ignite about me

This is my ignite project. An ignite project is a 20 slide slideshow. The slides have to move on their own after 15 seconds. Since this is our first time doing an ignite it only has 7 slides and is only 90 seconds.

We have to do our ignite about us. At first I didn’t know what to do mine about. Mr Casal started saying that we could do it about a big thing in our life. I thought of the biggest thing in my life. I decided to do mine about my big move from London to Scarsdale.

I was pretty nervous. I don’t have the video but I do have my slideshow.

Hope you enjoyed!!

My first project!

This is my first project on Tynker. It is quite simple and easy but I still like it.  I followed the tutorial so it was pretty easy as the tutorial had every step and I just had to follow them.  I used the original characters and back round to make it easier and so I didn’t really have to make it a different theme even though I probably could have.

Next project I will probably try to make my project more complex and fun. I will also probably use scratch instead so I have a verity of projects and I don’t have to worry about not doing a scratch project at the last minute. I also will try to do one every week since it is due soon.

If you click the characters it resets their dance moves!

I hope you enjoy my project!

Should we be more focused on under water exploration or space exploration debate

When we started we had to pick a debate project. My group (Caitlyn, Kevin, Sam and I) was the first picked and we chose should we be more focused on underwater exploration or space exploration?

We focused on researching. At first I thought we should explore underwater. I soon changed my mind. When we started to prepare for our first debate everybody wanted to be on space side. Sam wasn’t there so we all researched space.

When we started practicing debating we switched around a lot though Sam was always on oceans side. When it came to our first finale debate it was me and Caitlyn against Kevin and Sam.

The first time we debated there wasn’t a camera so we don’t have a video. Some of our feedback was be louder, be more passionate, your first reason doesn’t make sense, more rebuttals etc.

We had a lot to work on…

Since some of our feedback was we needed better rebuttals we did some research. It took a lot of time but eventually we had better rebuttals for all of their reasons.

We only had time to practice once and it didn’t go well. We kept getting distracted and we didn’t even finish.

Here is our debate-

I think I was a little nervous and also fiddled a lot. Also Sam had done his first two reasons before we did our first. Overall I think it was a success!

Finishing the Rube Goldberg plan

This time Barbara, Hana and I (Caitlyn couldn’t come) were at my house. We were finishing the plan that was due on Wednesday. We thought we would use train tracks after the plastic.

Then we were stuck. We couldn’t think of anything and were getting a little stressed. After a lot of stressful thinking we thought of maybe doing toilet paper but that wouldn’t be strong enough to push the cup of candy plus we wouldn’t have enough steps. So we thought and pondered.

Since we were having a sleepover Hana had her wash bags. Suddenly we realized. What if we used bottles to knock over the toilet paper which knocks over another bottle which hits a cup of candy that makes the candy go into a trick or treating basket?

Perfect, we had come up with an 8 step plan.

Here is our sketch:

Second and third Rube Goldberg meeting

For our second and third meetings we had taped down the structure and we decided to work on our plan. We drew out everything we had already done. Then we tried to think of some ideas for the plan.

While we were thinking Caitlyn, Barbara and I thought of maybe doing a zip-line from one part of the wall to another. The more we thought about, the more reasons not to it came up. How would we attach it to the wall without peeling the paint with tape, how would the marble get onto and of the zip-line and  more.

We tested the marble run a few times and then it broke. We had to tape all of it back together witch wasted quite a lot of time. The dominoes we had last time didn’t really work on the carpet so we moved the whole thing on to a cardboard box. We added that to are sketch as well.  After the two meetings we hadn’t accomplished much, but we had many more days until the project was due.

Our first Rube Goldberg meeting

Before even our first meeting as a group we learned who Rube Goldberg was.  We learned he was a cartoonist who drew crazy machines to do simple tasks such as brushing your teeth. Than we watched some videos about Rube Goldberg machines. Finally it was time to pick who we wanted to work with. My partners are Hana, Barbara and Caitlyn.

For our first meeting we met at Hana’s house. We worked in her basement, and got to work. We started building a step. It was a wooden marble track. We decided to connect it to a little car track for the marble to go through. Then we decided to add dominoes so the marble hit them, they fell and it hit another marble. Unfortunately that didn’t work and we had to scrap the idea. We also tried to use magna-tile-like magnets for a step but it kept falling down so we couldn’t use that idea.

After a while our moms picked us up and we left, thinking of what to do next time.

Rocket Presentation Reflection

On November 30th my class had a rocket presentation. We launched rockets and then made a slide show about it. We shared that with parents and that is what I am reflecting about. I was in Rockets Inc and also did an additional presentation before about access information. In my group I had Kevin, Dani and Ben.

There were 5 different rocket launching groups. Rockets Inc, Radical Rockets, Rocket Crushers, Flying Savages and Rampaging Rockets. I am reflecting on the first half of the presentation that included Rocket Inc, Radical Rockets and Rocket Crushers.

First I should tell you about the process before the presentation. First we made a inspiration board to inspire us. We did research, added quotes, pictures and just things we thought would help us on our journey.

Next we had to design our first out of 3 rockets. My group decided to use a skinny body. We also decided to put a styrofoam cone and a paper cone on top of each other to make a nose cone. Then we cut triangle shapes in paper and hot glued them and the nose cone to the body to make a rocket. We did that 3 times for each rocket sometimes adding to it and sometimes taking away. Our first rocket went the highest, second the lowest and third in between.

Next we did a slideshow. We worked hard making the slideshow and rehearsing it, day after day we practiced until it was practically perfect.

Now it was time for the presentation.When we did our presentation, we had our parents there and everybody was pretty nervous. I presented the overview and it was nerve wracking  but fun. Next we were on to the rocket groups. My group went first. We did ok! A bit shaky but ok! We stumbled a little but the audience clapped when we had finished and my group was happy.

We waited a bit while the other groups in my half presented and then our teacher Mrs Edwards gave a speech and we went on with our day.It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget.