Technology was definitely my favorite quarter. We got to do lots of hands-on projects, and everyone was able to do them. Mr. Calvert was really nice, and he always posted videos for us when we were doing the projects, which really helped. I really liked making the projects, especially because I’m an all-virtual student, so I don’t really get to do hands-on activities. I thought that the projects that we did were really cool, and informative. Especially the I-beam project, because it really showed me how powerful I-beams are, and why they are all over the place. I really liked our conversations about the universe, the stars, and the galaxy, and I also liked learning about the Samsung phone that kept exploding. I thought that learning about the aircraft that exploded was really cool as well. There were so many things that I learned about, and I a really loved the projects Mr. Calvert had us do. They were fun, and I loved being able to see what other people did, so I’m happy that Mr. Calvert had us post some projects on Flipgrid. I liked basically everything that we did in Technology, and I had a lot of fun. I thought that the video that we watched on automatons, was really fascinating. I had no idea that a place like that existed with thousands of automatons doing things. I really liked that video, and I had a lot of fun making the automatons. I thought that the tools that we got to use were cool, like the pen that had a pointy part inside, and I thought that it was really cool that we got to strip wire. I really liked everything that we did in Technology. I would have liked to do more with the wires and breadboard, but other than that I thought that literally everything we did was awesome. Thanks for a great quarter Mr. Calvert!

I thought that the breadboard project was really cool. I have to admit, it was very satisfying to see the LED light, light up. I also think that it’s so cool how the electricity comes from the battery, down the wires, through everything, and then lights up the LED light in a second. I think that it’s also really cool how humans found a way to harness electricity. I liked the project, and I would like to do more projects like this, except I want to try to light up multiple LED lights at the same time. I have to say, even though the breadboard project was really simple, and basically anyone can do it, I was pretty proud of myself when the LED light lit up. I hope that we will do more projects like this, or at least next year in seventh grade, we’ll do more projects like this. Like I said, I would like to complicate things a little more, but other than that I thought that this project was really fun. I also liked how the project didn’t take a lot of time, so we were able to get it done way more quickly than the other projects. I do have to say that I wish that we were able to do more projects with breadboards, wires, and LED lights before the quarter ended, (practically ended) but at least we got to do this project! Anyway, like I said, I really liked this project. It was fun, simple, and definitely not time consuming. I hope we can do more projects like this in seventh grade!

I’m really happy with how my crank turned out. I did have some problems though. At the last moment when I was moving the crank arm (of course not roughly) before I submitted it, the inside part’s glue wasn’t strong enough, so the part inside the crank detached, and I thought that my crank would be ruined and that was that. But then I managed to grab the piece inside, and I also managed to get more glue on it, and attach the other piece that was supposed to have stayed on. and I pressed the pieces together, and bam! I had fixed my crank! I’m really happy that I didn’t just give up and take a picture with my broken crank, because everything worked out in the end. I also glued the last piece on weirdly, so my box looks like a squished cube, but I still think that I did a pretty good job, and I know that I definitely gave it my best. I also am going to draw different things and put them on the peg sticking out of the top. I’ll see what it will look like when I put a bird on the peg, like he’s swooping down and then coming up, and maybe put a fairy on it, like she’s flying. Anyway, I had a fun time doing the crank project, and like I said, I’m really happy with how my crank turned out! 

Technology has brought us a very long way. In my opinion, I think that technology has also helped us tremendously with our learning. For one, we wouldn’t really be able to continue school without being forced to go into our classrooms to learn during this time. If we didn’t have technology then we wouldn’t be able to Zoom into classes, so we wouldn’t be able to have the option to be a virtual learner. We also wouldn’t be able to use online textbooks, or print extra sheets of paper, if we need to. (Like what some people do when they mess up their sheet in Technology Class) So technology has totally saved us during the pandemic. I think that it also helps tremendously with writing papers. I for one, like to write a lot, but my hands hurt and cramp up after a bit of writing, so I’m not able to write as much as I am when I’m typing. I also have really bad handwriting, and a lot of times I’m not not even able to read my own handwriting! It’s totally not good at all when I can’t read the notes I took, or I scribbled things down so fast that my handwriting isn’t legible, and I need to know what I wrote. But if I type whatever I want to write down, that’s a whole other concept. I can change the font, make my words bigger or smaller, put them in bold, italics, underline them, and a million other things! I am also able to read the writing! 😉 I can do so much when I’m typing, and I’m actually a pretty fast typer, so that helps a lot. If we didn’t have technology then I also would be in trouble for writing assignments. 😉 I think that once people invented computers, and iPads with keyboards, that it was the smartest idea in the world to invent apps that teach you how to type better. Those apps really helped my typing to improve, and so I think that the typing apps were really good inventions. I also love all the teaching videos that we are using now. I think that those videos are really helpful. In math, Mr. Paquette sometimes gives us videos to watch, and they actually help a lot for me, and if I forget something, I can always go back to the video, and I can learn the thing I forgot again. I also think that the videos Mr. Calvert gives us to watch are extremely helpful. I wouldn’t be able to build my cam or crank without them. There are so many things that technology has helped with, in my view, in school, and I think that that’s just really cool.

I thought that the Electroscope project was cool. I know the reason that the tinfoil pieces moved was because of static electricity, and I think it has something to do with what Mr. Calvert told us happens with lightning. He said that some houses have things on the tops of them, so that if lightning strikes, the thing on the house will suck the lighting into it, and the electricity will go down through the pipe into the ground. I think that the paper clip was like the thing on the house, and when the balloon’s static electricity was near the paper clip, the paper clip sucked up the electricity, and brought it down into the tinfoil pieces, like the thing on the house would put the electricity in the ground. I of course don’t know if what I just wrote is what happened, and I could be totally off, but I think that what I just wrote might be at least part of it. Anyway, I thought the project was fun and simple, and I’m curious to hear what Mr. Calvert says about why the tinfoil pieces actually move.

I was actually pretty disappointed with how my carrot and toothpick cube turned out. It was only able to hold 5 books before it collapsed, and that’s not that good, but what happened happened. I saw some other people’s though, and their’s were incredible! Some people were able to have their project hold up a stack of books! I couldn’t believe it. I can’t believe that the simple materials that we use to make our projects are able to hold up such weight. I guess it’s all about the structure, really. Not so much the material, but more the structure. (For our kinds of projects, with the materials we use, not actual structures, all though the structure of the structure is important) I used the triangle structure in the four corners of my cube, but I guess I just didn’t make my structure as well as I should have. It was my first time making a structure out of toothpicks and carrots to hold up books though, so I was obviously not going to be perfect. I also spent so long on it, changing the structure, and trying to make it better than before. I think that I should’ve done two things; made the carrot slices thicker, (I think that I made them too thin and too small, so they didn’t work well) and I shouldn’t have worn out my toothpicks. I kept changing my structure as I said, and I was ripping the toothpicks out of the carrots, so I think I might’ve worn them out and made them weak, so they weren’t able to hold up the books as well. Anyway, I certainly learned from the project, so because of that, I enjoyed it.

I loved the I-beam project. I was amazed at how much weight my I-beam could hold. The I-beam that I made with no instruction was working out great until I added two giant jars of pasta sauce, and they were too heavy for my I-beam, so it collapsed. The I-beam that I followed instructions on was incredible. I didn’t add any giant pasta sauce jars though, so you never know, my other I-beam could’ve been just as good. The I-beam that I followed instructions on was able to hold 2 giant bags of canned goods, and 1 giant bag full of canned goods, chargers, a house phone, colored pencils, markers, etc. I stopped after 3 bags, because I didn’t think that I had to continue, but I was still astounded by how much weight my I-beam was able to hold. It was only made out of cardboard and glue, so I can’t imagine the weight that a real I-beam is able to hold. No wonder why I-beams are everywhere. They are able to hold a ton of weight, and this project proved it. I had a lot of fun doing the project, and I’m so happy that I did it.

I thought that the catapult project Mr. Calvert had us do was really fun and cool. I didn’t know that with just a few popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and a bottle cap I would be able to make a decent catapult! It actually worked pretty well, and I made a fun game out of it. Plus, you can do lots of things with catapults, including using different things to shoot, and then seeing which one worked the best. It was also fun seeing the games other people made with their catapults. I made the easier catapult, but I saw some people made the bigger catapult, and I thought that it looked really cool. I also like how Mr. Calvert has us do projects, but projects that aren’t too hard. I had fun building my catapult, and it was fun, like I said, to make a game out of it. I also like how we get to see everyone else’s creations as well. I know that my catapult had flaws, but it was helpful to see what other people had done, so I could fix mine to make it better. Overall, I thought that the project was really fun!

If you don’t know what a Kindle is, it’s an electronic device, usually about the size as one of those small cutting boards, or about as big as a side of a regular sized tissue box. A Kindle is a device that allows you to read, and get books online. You have one Kindle, but you are able to read thousands of books. I think that whoever invented the Kindle is really smart. Let’s say you’re going to travel, but you don’t want to make your suitcase really heavy with tons of books, or you don’t want to take up space, all you have to do is bring your kindle with you, and you then have thousands of books available for you to read. Plus, Kindles barely weigh anything. They’re not like computers, ChromeBooks, or iPads. So they are super portable, they can give you access to basically any book in the world, and they’re really lightweight! Kindles are really smart inventions in my opinion. The only problems are that they might be expensive, and they are an electronic device, so if you don’t want to look at electronics all day, then you might not want to get a Kindle. And, you are now able to get the Kindle app, so you might just want to download the app on your phone or iPad, instead of buying an actual Kindle. Our world is also evolving so much, soon there probably will be an even easier and more efficient way to read books, so you might want to wait and see what else you can buy!

I think that airplanes are really cool. You are sitting in something that is literally flying in the sky, and through the clouds. You can see the land below you, and to me, it’s very exhilarating. I think that whoever came up with the idea to build an airplane is a genius. You can now take a few hour plane ride, that would otherwise take days to travel by car or boat. You can take an overnight ride, and get somewhere that would otherwise take you weeks! Air travel is really convenient in terms of getting where you want to go, really fast,  but it’s definitely not easy. You have to get tickets, book your flight, go through security, etc. Air travel is also not cheap, so you would have to save your pennies for a while. But besides those things, it’s really quite astonishing that you board something that takes off into the sky. I also learned that airplanes were modeled after birds. Airplanes have wings of course, but did you ever wonder why? Because of birds’ wings, of course! And birds also tuck their legs and feet under when they are flying, and airplanes do the same! They have those ‘legs’ with wheels on them, and they fold onto the underside of the airplane just like bird’s legs! (I think at least) And bird’s legs come out from their underside when they land of course, and the same thing happens with the airplane’s legs. I think that that is extremely cool. People built something based off of a bird, and that thing is now probably one of the most popular ways to travel! It’s really amazing, isn’t it?