Category Archives: Free Write

Rube Goldberg #7

We finally finished our whole Rube Goldberg project, including our final video. We are so excited! In our video, we included our fails, our sketch and our success. We also included a little skit to introduce our goal; and to make it entertaining. We are super happy with the way it turned out, and I’m super excited to share it with you!

This is our Rube Goldberg!!!! Hope you enjoy!!!!

 

Rube Goldberg #6

We finally finished our Rube Goldberg! It actually worked! We did fix the last part, but then after that, our beginning didn’t work! So, we played around with that, and finally getting it to work, we tested the whole machine a few times, and then recorded the final video. In the video we are putting together on Wevideo, we are also going to include our fails, like when the beginning wouldn’t work, and when we just started building. I’m so excited to show you the video in the final blogpost!

Rube Goldberg #5

We are looking forward to testing again tomorrow. The one thing we have to fix is the last step. In the last step the car bumps into 2 boxes, the front one filled with chips. The second one to help the chips inside the box fall into the bowl. What’s happening is the chips spill everywhere, instead of into the bowl. We have been trying to make the chips go into the bowl in various different way, but none of them have worked. We are planning to sleep on it and look at it in a fresh perspective in the morning.

Rube Goldberg #3

We have changed our whole sketch. It now includes more simple machines, each step is changing from KE (kinetic energy) to PE (potential energy), and it is a lot more interesting. The simple machines we are using includes a lever, ramp and wheel and axle. We finished the sketch and are happy with the way it turned out, and we didn’t even have to scrap our old pieces we built for the other sketch. We are using them in our new design. I will update you more when we start building again!

Recycling

Today Monica came in. She taught us how to reuse things, such as tin foil. The 1st assignment was to make something for ourselves out of 1 sheet of tin foil. I made a hat and decorated it in orange marker. Our 2nd assignment was to disassemble the things we made for ourselves (in my case, a hat) and use that to make something for a partner. I made a pair of mittens/hand warmers and again colored them orange. My partner made me a bracelet using tin foil and some very bad play-doh. Note: In the end we had to disassemble the items we made. Our 3rd assignment was to make some sort of tool that could pick up/sort bottle caps and such. This we had to do with only 3 or 4 people. Our 4th and last assignment was to work together in groups of 8 to sort through the bottle caps, etc. Within our groups we paired up into 2’s. Each pair created a tool with 3 pieces and were in charge of sorting a specific kind of bottle caps (clear, white, orange…). Overall today was really fun and I learned a lot from this experience.

Rube Goldberg #2

We still haven’t started building our Rube Goldberg yet, but have completed our first iteration sketch. It consists of 8 steps. Step #1: Push the marble. Step #2: The marble rolls down the curved cardboard tube. Step #3: The marble rolls out of the cardboard tube and rolls onto a binder, it rolls off the binder and falls onto another binder, and rolls down that binder. Step #4: The marble rolls off the binder and through two open notebooks. Step #5: The marble rolls off the notebooks and goes down a slide-like, cut open cardboard tube. Step #6: Marble rolls out of the cut open cardboard tube and knocks over a cardboard box. Step #7: The cardboard box that was knocked down by the marble, knocks down the open chip bag. Step #8:  The chips from the bag fall into the bowl at the bottom. That is our first sketch.

Feb 28, 2019

We are now using a different sketch

Rube Goldberg #1

On January 28, my class started a project about Rube Goldberg. The assignment is to build a complicated machine, that does a very simple thing. Our goal (Julia and I) is to put snacks in a bowl. Our material list includes; cardboard tubes, marbles, a chair, books, binders, a cardboard box, tape, glue and White Cheddar Corn Puffs. We decided to use stairs, because if we did it on a flat surface the ball might not get enough speed or might stop in the middle of the machine. We are really excited to start building and to test it. It’s going to be so much fun!

March 4, 2019

We are not using all of these materials anymore.

Abigail Adams Project – Finally Finished!

This weekend I finished my project. I am really happy with how it turned out. I think it was worth it to have to wait for supplies. It turned out better than I ever could have imagined. When I designed it, I didn’t add everything I have on/with it now, because I made quite a few tweaks once I got started. The process also ran pretty smoothly. The only hiccup in the process was that when I was ordering the wood print The company canceled the order and we had to order a different type of wood print, but it worked out fine in the end. Overall, I am very proud of what my final product is.

Christmas Vacation

I know that many people go away for the holidays. I am one of them. I am going to Miami, Florida. We go there to celebrate my sister’s birthday and visit my grandparents. My aunt’s family also goes to Florida, so we all celebrate my sister’s birthday together. We always have tons of fun there and it is a nice break from the cold weather in NY. Going to Florida is a family tradition and is the perfect winter vacation.

Philadelphia

On November 9th, 2018 we will be going to Philadelphia. Our day starts early in the morning. We are required to get to school at 5:50 am. The bus ride takes about 2 hours. Our first stop is the National Constitution Center. We will be watching two theatrical performances and touring the building. In the afternoon we will take a tour of Independence Hall and the historical district of Philadelphia. Finally at 3:00 pm we will start heading back to school.

I am sure that we will have the best time and that no one will ever forget this memorable trip to Philadelphia!