My process in selecting a topic was to think of something that I don’t know much about or something that I really enjoyed doing/seeing or something that was memorable. So I chose to do my topic on the box fish, because when I was in Hawaii and I went snorkeling I was HORRIBLE at it. So I practiced in the swimming pool until I was perfect at it! And when I went snorkeling for the first time I saw the box fish and from that day on it became my favorite animal. Since my favorite animal has such a back story to it I decided to do it also, I don’t know much about it. I ended up settling on that topic because I wanted to know more about the fish because it is such an interesting animal. For example the size and shape of it I find so strange, so I want to learn more about that and other facts too.

My proposal letter:
Dear Mr. D,
For my 2020 passion project, I will be learning about the box fish. I’ve always been interested in the box fish because they are such cute and majestic animals of the sea. I started getting interested in the animal when I went snorkeling in Hawaii and I saw one of them. They’re so cute and little. They are one of my favorite animals. A feature that I think is super interesting about them is that it always looks like they are blowing a kiss, but they are actually just eating! After I went snorkeling I looked at a book all about fish in Hawaii and found the box fish page. There were so many interesting facts about them. They are such interesting and fun animals. After seeing one, I wondered why they’re so little? Why do they have spots and why are they shaped like a box?

I will be learning about them by reading books. I’ll call my aunt because she knows a lot about fish, because she lives in Hawaii a lot of the year.

I will research them on Google and read websites about them. I’m going to make a poster all about boxfish. I’m going to give all the types of species and information about them. I will have pictures and drawings/paintings.

Main inquiry question:
How do box fish survive?

Sub questions:
Where does the box fish live?
What does the box fish eat?
How many kinds of Species are there?
What eats the box fish?
What does the box fish look like?
Does the box fish travel and socialize with other box fish?
How does the box fish travel?

The sources that I will be using

Articles:
https://www.britannica.com/animal/boxfish
https://science.jrank.org/pages/1006/Boxfish.html
https://www.thesprucepets.com/boxfish-and-cowfish-photos-4082927
https://www.fishlaboratory.com/fish/yellow-boxfish
http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/boxfishintro/

Videos:

Since I will be interviewing my aunt, I’m also going to ask her to send the page from the book that I read about all the fish in Hawaii . I’ll make sure to get all the information that I need to know about the box fish .
I am very excited to start this project and share it with you!

Thanks,
Samantha

I am now onto Sautering all the wires together I am really happy, since this is one of favorite things to do at technology! I had to  sauter the wires and the batter so they could all be connected. After I did that I drilled a hole into one of the caps of my flashlight were the light bulb was going to go and another  hole were the switch to turn the flashlight on and off was going togo. Now I am on to coloring my flashlight!

I have planned and measured my hole design for the flashlight now it is time to cut the wires and get the right types of pipes! When I was cutting the wires it was really hard because they are always twisting around and they can break really easily so I had to have an extra hand. I also had a lot of trouble sawing the pipes, because I couldn’t cut it straight, but thankfully I got the pipes or else I would have to re-do the wires and that would be VERY annoying! After I finish this it is on to sauterint!

I have started to plan out what my flashlight is going to look like! My design is going to be a 3 piped flashlight one pipe it going to have a “breathing tube in it” another pipe is going to have “food in it” and then the last one is going to be the flashlight. I hope my design is going to fit in the box!

I have finished my switches I am very happy with how they turned out and this unit was a lot of fun! Now we are working on flashlights! We watched this video about these boys who were stuck in a cave and they needed waterproof flashlights , so we are making flashlight for a situation like that. I am so excited for this unit, because we are sautering which is one of my favorite things to do in technology!

I have started making my switches I am working on one were there is a ball connected to one pipe cleaner which is connected to a popsicle stick which is connected to a piece of cardboard that is covered in tinfoil, because when tinfoil touches tinfoil it makes the switch go off . So how it’s going to happen is that you are going to hit the wrecking ball then it’s going to hit the tin foil which will make the switch go on.

A few weeks ago I finished sautering! Sautering was so much fun to do even though at first I was little shaky, but at the end I was a pro at it! I loved how you got to see the sauter melt it was so cool and then you got to almost pint the sauter on to your piece. Sometimes it was hard to get the sauter on to my design since it would become almost like stretching so you would have to spread it in the gap instead of place it in. When I finished my piece I did not really like how one of the rays in the sun turned out so mr. Calvert melt the dry sauter and fixed it for me. After you finished your sauter then you had to sand it. I have sanded mine and finished mine. I am very happy with how my piec came out and I hope I can sauter again.

The other day in technology I finished making my design out of wire I am so happy, because I get to sauter! I learned a lot on making my design one thing that I learned was that it is very hard to use tools. Making the sunset was one of the hardest parts, because the rays of the sun are so small so it was very hard to cut them.

Today’s in technology Mr. Clavert showed how to make circles using wire he showed us how to cut it, shape it, and what materials to use. Once Mr. Clavert finished showing us how to make the circle, then we could start! First we had to pick a wire  brass or sliver I picked brass, because I thought it looked best with my design ( go to blog post #2 to see my design.) After we picked are wire it was time to start making our wire into a circle, we used a wooden block to shape the wire. After we made are wire into a circle we had to cut it, since I finished early I got to start shaping my design. I am working on making the hill.