6/11

I think something that interests me is building things. I had built a graduation table for my sisters graduation party. It looked like a large grad cap. I started from two pieces of plywood then I made a plan/blueprint with the specific measurements. Then, I screwed all the pieces together and painted it black. I covered it in chalkboard paint so people could write messages on it. That’s just one of the projects I have made but the process of building and planning just helps me take my mind off things. I sometimes draw out a bunch of lans that I know I can make in a few years and save them so I can work off of them later.  This is one of the things that make me genuinely happy and I hope I will always be able to do it.

June 4th

In todays world, racism is a real problem. It is a disease that infects and affects other people. I think racism sparks mostly from ignorance and lack of education, but also the way someone grows up. I think in todays society we have begun to normalize police brutality against people of color, and I think the death of George Floyd has sparked something in society and we are starting to make a change wether it’s with riots or peaceful protests. Although the riots are destructive, people of color have been fighting for change for years, and minimal change has occurred. When you and your family have been victims of oppression for so long, there is eventually a breaking point and I think we’ve reached it. Large businesses can rebuild their buildings, but the lives of victims will never be rebuilt. Our government and citizens have to focus on what to prioritize. For years people have been peacefully protesting and they have been ignored. Now, people are calling more attention to this subject, and the government is starting to listen. I think we need to figure out ways to call the governments attention in a better way rather than putting them against us, but they need to start showing signs of change first.

Rube Goldberg #5 Our Finished Product

We FINALLY finished our Rube Goldberg! I’m so happy. We worked so hard on it and even after watching other people having to change their tasks we didn’t have to and that also made me happy. We have a finished Imovie that I will show you right there. I hope you like it. I’m just so proud of ourselves and my whole class because this wasn’t an easy project but sometimes you do need an extra challenge and this was definitely a fun challenge. If you made this, then after all this work, trust me, you would be proud too.

Here’s the video link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jg3DwPgKSggteOgTQ3OClO8qn09n65ZL/view

I hope you have enjoyed this and maybe even try this task.

Rube Goldberg #4 Challenges/Struggles

As we were building our Rube Goldberg we faced many challenges. Sometimes one of our steps wouldn’t work, or we couldn’t get something to stay put. This post will walk you through our challenges of building our Rube Goldberg.

Our first challenge was trying to actually focus. Now you might be thinking “What kind of a challenge is this?” But let me tell you, while with your friends your brain basically tells you “Have fun! Your with your friends no one cares about work.” And you have to make sure you tune that part of your brain out. The first few times, this was challenging for me and my partner, but as the days went on and the due date was coming closer, and closer, we got more focused. Eventually we did finish and we think it went great.

Our second challenge was changing stuff around mid-build. We had to do this because, sometimes before you even try it you have a feeling something isn’t going to work and, the more you think about it, the more it seems like it won’t work. For example, our springboard. At first when we thought about it in our heads we thought it was going to be unique and awesome. But, we weren’t thinking of the actual mechanism. Once we built it, we ended up with a spring glued to a piece of cardboard and, we both knew it wasn’t going to work. This is just one example but there are so many more that it would take a VERY LONG blog post just to name a few.

Our third challenge was finding the right places to put things. This might sound weird but there is a definite struggle with this. Heres and example: We had a pulley. This pulley held very heavy things. Our original plan was to hang it up on the ceiling, but that DID NOT end well. We almost tore a hole in my ceiling. So ten we had to switch the place of the pulley and while we only switched the place of one thing, that one thing was very important. So as we switched that, we had to switch everything else around

These are only a few of our challenges but there are many more…

Immigration Filming

Today in class, we were filming for our immigration project. Our teacher said that it was more of a testing day and that it was ok if we didn’t get any filming done. So, my group was trying to find a good angle with the camera. We tried it up close, which didn’t work because then you could see even, the slightest smear on the characters. Then we tried far away. The problem with that is, that when we have the camera far away we have a broader view. So with that broader view, we could see the background behind it, (as in the lockers). So we decided we could put paper on the sides. We didn’t want green paper because, with a green screen the picture we have as a background would also spread to the sides. Eventually, we decided to put back paper o the sides. The reason being, that we didn’t want a color that would pop out and black, being so dark, is a perfect color because it wouldn’t pop out at all because, most of our pictures and backgrounds are black and white.

Once we figured that out I had to find out how to use the green screen. I figured out how just fine. But, it wouldn’t work. I tried making a folder of images on the desktop and once I tried to insert it into the app, it wouldn’t show up. So, as you do (hopefully) I asked for help. A kid in my class helped me and taught me how to insert the picture for the background and now, we are pretty much all set for filming. I do hope that we will be able to finish on time!

Rube Goldberg #2 Steps & Energy

As you already know if you have read my previous post, we are doing a Rube Goldberg Machine project in class. We have to write down a materials list and a written plan down on paper. We also had to see what energy transfers throughout our project. Here is a list showing my groups steps and the energy between the steps.

  1. Rc car going down a ramp = potential energy ➡kinetic energy
  2. Hitting car thus pulling off the weights = energy transfer = kinetic energy from rc car to plastic car to string. This leads to the weight being pulled off
  3. Since the ball was sitting on a spring board that had potential energy. Then it was kinetic energy when the weights were pulled off.
  4. The ball hits the cup that is balanced on a piece of wood. The cup has potential energy that is then transformed into kinetic energy when the balls knocks the wood out from under and the cup falls.
  5. The pulley which also has kinetic energy is put into action then the books drop on the lever which is now uneven opens the laptop because the higher side is on the side of the laptop.

This may not be very clear and may not be how this project will be when it is done but, I intend to make 2 more posts. One further explaining the process of this Rube Goldberg project ( as in showing pictures of our plans and clearing up what they are, what different designs we have, what we might reconsider, etc.). Another showing a video of our finished product and explaining the changes we had to make.

Rube Goldberg

In class, we have started a project called Rube Goldberg. Now as some of you may not know Rube Goldberg was a person. His real name was, Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg. He was a cartoonist, author, sculptor, engineer and inventor. We now have machines that we call Rube Goldberg machines. That is what we are building in class. We have detailed sketches and research. We have to go through the whole design process. Testing and re iterating. We still have to finish building. Next post I will try to show pictures.

My Comparing Essay

In class we are writing essays. As you may know already there are different types of essays. There are persuasive essays, narrative essays, descriptive essays, expository essays, and comparing essays. As you already know from the title, this is a comparing essay. I am using two Patricia Polacco books. My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother and Chicken Sunday. I hope you think highly of my essay.

In books, people change. It is an essential part of literature. Novels, short stories and even picture books all have this trait. The books, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother and Chicken Sunday, by Patricia Polacco, are both great examples of this. The characters in this book aren’t always what they seem. The children, in both these books are perceived in a way that makes them seem “rotten” or “foul”.

In the book, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, Richard (The rotten redheaded older brother) starts out as a very mean and competitive older brother. He always tried to become better than his sister at any competition. He would also always make things competitive. Richard taunted Tricia. He would say” And I’m 4 year older than you! Always have been, always will be!” But then, at the end, Richard finally made peace with his sister, because Tricia “Did something special”. This shows that Richard wasn’t what he seemed to be.

In the book, Chicken Sunday, multiple characters are misperceived. One of whom, was Mr. Kodinsky. He was misperceived in a way that made him seem grumpy and crabby. Yet, once he found out about the truth he forgave the kids almost instantly. Another few characters that are misperceived are the kids. But, the kids are only seen in a different way by Mr. Kodinsky. This is because, to Mr.Kodinsky, it looks as if the younger children threw the eggs at his door, not the older ones. But at the end, both, the kids and Mr.Kodinsky seem to show their true colors.

The theme that runs through both of these stories, transcends into life also. In life, people aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes, someone can seem mean and grumpy, yet with a little pushing from the right person, they can become one of the nicest people you have met. Or, vice versa. These two books are great examples of this and show exactly how this idea can be brought into general life.

 

My Writing Expedition Thus Far

My writing has been a great expedition. I came in to 5th grade thinking it would be the same type of writing. But now, when I look back to what we’ve written I’ve realised we have tried so many new things.

This year was the first year I have made an Infographic and an article. I have written non-fiction but an article is different. It is like telling a story but with facts and dates and basically reporting what we know so far. There are also things I was already familiar with and I really disliked them. The writing that I am most proud of is my constitution project. The reason, I did something I like and conveyed the information I wanted to convey in a fun way. I also enjoyed it a lot because I also got to build. I included my building into my writing by going back to it. I didn’t like the essay’s because they aren’t something where I can just search for my information on the web. Instead, I have to think of a statement that sounds somewhat philosophical, which I don’t particularly enjoy.  

I look back and realize I have grown a lot as a Writer.

Constitution project

In class we are doing a constitution project. We have two cubes that we roll to find out what topic we have and how we will present it. My topic is technology of the constitutional era. We had to go more into detail about the invention we were going to talk about so I  picked a suspension bridge. I will present my information by using an app called “Explain Everything” Where we label and caption pictures and videos. And since I really like to build my teacher let Me build a model of a suspension Bridge. I am making it mostly out of wood and I am using some cement, metal wire, and screws. I am going to start building today. I just hope I will finish in time.