With all of the takes Audrey, Samantha and I did we spent a LOT of time setting things up again. We sang, danced and took selfies while listening to music and setting up dominos and books. (We got a bit off track sometimes:) While we had a lot of fun we also talked (and argued a bit) about our project. We did a lot of our planning as we set things up too. Samantha, Audrey and I had a blast with this project!!!
Of all our fails one of them was definitely the most disappointing. That’s because it wasn’t actually a fail. We got all the way to the end, but then, when the music didn’t play right away, we turned of the camera. As Audrey, Samantha and I were setting our project up again the music started playing!!!
We were using this kind of radio and it didn’t play right away because the radio used a CD. The CD had to get to the right song and them play it. It took a while. Now that I think about it, we should have tested this part a little bit more.
For our Rube Goldberg project we have to film all of our takes until we get a success. It took Samantha, Audrey and me 101 takes until we got our success. Each take took a long time to set back up so we had to reconsider our steps a bit. We switched dominos with Jenga pieces and we made our book dominos shorter. This made it so we had less things to set up.
Along with taking things away we marked where things were supposed to go. We used green painters’ tape to mark where the string dominos sat. This way we wouldn’t have to test everything as much before we did our next take. It was extremely helpful and made everything so much faster!!
Before we did any takes we always tested the positions of everything. This way we wouldn’t get far into our Rube Goldberg and have it not work because a domino, book or marble was misplaced. Our testing involved trying a small part of our Rube Goldberg to make sure they worked and stopping them before they knocked down the next step. We found that this was very helpful because it made us much more consistent.
In our project there was one thing that stood out to Audrey, Samantha and me, just not in a good way… It was dominos. We regret putting dominos in our project because they were IMPOSSIBLE to set up. You would be almost done and then “whoops” all the dominos would fall again. We decided we would have to ditch the dominos.
To replace the dominos we used Jenga blocks. They were taller so you could place them farther apart, they were more balanced and they were SO much easier to set up. Samantha, Audrey and I were very happy with our decision. It taught us about problem solving and improved our project.
This past week we started a Rube Goldberg project. This project is a highlight of fifth grade! Almost everybody looks forward to it! Our teacher, Ms. Boyer, let us pick our parters. I chose my friends Audrey and Samantha. We all agreed to do the project at my house. The point of the project is to make a machine with many steps to accomplish a simple task.
On Monday Audrey and Samantha both came over to my house. We went upstairs right away and started brainstorming. We quickly came up with the first half of our Rube Goldberg. We made a ramp out of an ironing board. The toilet paper would roll down the ramp to hit the ball. The thing is, the toilet paper would always roll off the ramp! We added poles to the side of our ramp so that the toilet paper went down the ramp without rolling off. For the next hour Audrey and Samantha stayed, and we adjusted and tweaked our project. We adjusted the angles on our dominoes and cars. We all worked well together making sure to be flexible and kind. On that first day we got a lot done because we all got along perfectly.
The next day didn’t go as well. For the first hour we were fine. We made a pendulum and tweaked the project a bit more, but then we had a disagreement. Samantha and I wanted to use a train that Audrey didn’t want to use. After a while we decided that everybody had to agree on all the steps of our project. From then on everything went much more smoothly. Our Rube Goldberg project may not be done, but everybody in our group likes each and every step.
Today Samantha and Audrey came over to my house to work on our Rube Goldberg for our third meeting. We all came with some ideas which made our process go a lot faster. My ideas were adding a popsicle stick chain reaction and a motorized train. We showed each other our ideas and after we showed each other our ideas we began to build. We built fast because we had already planned our new steps. We tried each step and tweaked each one. We built four steps today which is more than we’ve ever done in a session.
We also picked our task. We came up with ten ideas and we narrowed them down to two. Some of are ideas were feed the cat, play music, close a door and turn off the lights. Our process for narrowing our ideas down was if one or more people didn’t like an idea then we got rid of it. From the last two ideas we picked our favorite. We decided for our task we would click a button that will play music. We all loved the idea and couldn’t wait to start to figure out how to make it work!!!
As you know we have been doing Rube Goldbergs for school. We are only about halfway done with ours. We have met a few times, but we were never really ready when we met. That is why Samantha, Audrey and I are trying to improve our preparation now. We are all going to come to our next meeting with a few new ideas. I have been watching videos and trying ideas out upstairs in my attic. I have tried out chain reactions wth popsicle sticks, dominos on strings and marble runs. We have also been talking at school about our project and ideas.
Along with talking at school about our project ideas, we have also started our drawing. Our plan is to do all the writing and drawing at school so that we only have to build our project when Samantha and Audrey come over. So far our plan has worked and we have gotten a lot more done. We are hoping that when they come over on Monday we will finish our first edition. I have definitely learned a lot from this project so far. I have learned about Rube Goldbergs, but I have also learned about working with a team, how to make compromises and how to manage time. This has been a great experience!!!!!
This essay is comparing Thank You Mr. Falker and Chicken Sunday, both books are by Patricia Polacco.
My Comparison Essay
In life, people aren’t always as they seem. In the stories, Chicken Sunday and My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, there are two people who aren’t as they seem. Throughout the story they change for the better. The protagonist, Tricia, begins to see them differently.
In the beginning of the story, Chicken Sunday, Mr. Kodinsky, yells at the kids because he thought they threw eggs at his shop. The yelling gave off a mean, grouchy vibe that made Tricia and her friends upset. In My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, Richie, Tricia’s older brother, is always bragging to her, saying he is better than her. He challenged Tricia and when she lost he would sneer at her “And I’m four years older than you… Always have been and always will be,” Both characters, Mr. Kodinsky and Richie, gave off a very negative vibe in the beginning of the stories.
In the middle of the story Tricia and her friends went back Mr. Kodinsky’s shop and they brought decorated eggs with them. The style of eggs they brought to Mr. Kodinsky turned out to be from his homeland. He realized what kind children the were and he invited them in for tea. Over tea they talked about their lives and they became closer. In My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother Richie saved Tricia from the ferris wheel. He ran and got the doctor for Tricia when she got hurt. Richie and Mr. Kodinsky were beginning to change.
In the end of the story Mr. Kodinsky gave the hat that Tricia and her friends had been working hard to get for free. He was impressed with what good people they were. He knew that the grandma wanted the hat and they wanted to get it for and he just let them have it. In My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother when Tricia and Richie were laying in the grass Tricia thanked Richie. Richie responed, blushing “What’s a big brother for anyway?” By the end of the story all of the characters had developed great friendships.
In life, people aren’t always as they seem. In the stories, Chicken Sunday and My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, there are two people who aren’t as they seem. Throughout the story they change for the better. Richie and Mr. Kodinsky become closer to Tricia because of this. In life, people can change.
With Christmas coming up next week my family is so excited. Every year we go to Michigan and see our grandparents and cousins. We don’t see our cousins that often, maybe twice a year, so it is great when we get to see them. One of my favorite things about Christmas, besides my family, is all the sweets! There is cookies, cake and sometimes even ice cream! On Christmas day there is always coffee cake for breakfast too! (I am almost always on a sugar rush!) All of my cousins are boys and I have no sisters so that means there are FIVE boys! When I am there I play more sports games than usual. We play on the Wii a lot too. We play baseball, bowling and boxing games, I normally lose! I love Christmas and I am always so sad to come home!
In class we have been writing a LOT!! We are going to share our writing in a writing expedition next week. My writing has definitely changed changed this year. For each subject we have done I have learned so many new things. Because Ms. Boyer is such a great, unique teacher everything is different in writing. It is more creative and we have more freedom. In essay writing I have learned a new way to organize my writing (that I find easier.) This year we have also been able to free write more. I got to write I a fiction story, and I haven’t gotten to do that for a while! Overall writing has been so much fun this year, and I can’t wait to do more!
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