on These past weeks have been crazy. To stay busy I have been doing schoolwork, reading, watching movies, and more. The schoolwork takes not much time so there is room for fun. I have watched a lot of funny movies like space jam, and some that I love because I’ve seen a million times like the Parent Trap. I like not being in school because I get to sleep in but it feels kind of weird. I hope to see everyone again soon.
on Outside my house I found sticks, leaves, rocks, and bricks. Indoor I have many materials too. Such as, paper, toothpicks, lego, glue, tape, rubber bands, paper clips, string, and cardboard. My house tools consists, of pencils, markers, pens, erasers, rulers, measuring tapes, scissors, screwdriver, and a hammer. On many devices I have drawing apps and a camera.
on This week while cutting wood, we realized that math was big part of woodworking. When we first cut the top and bottom, we did it at a regular size that we had prescribed on the order form. But when it came to the four sides, things got a bit tricky. This is because the wood is a half inch thick. So when cutting the front and back we had to decrease the height by one inch, to make up for the two half-inches. On the two sides we dec rebased the height and width by an inch each. This made up for the half-inches added on by the top, bottom, front, and sides.
on This week we cut all of our box pieces. We started with a big plank of wood that was the wood that of our box. We cut that up with saws into our top and bottom pieces. Next we did a mathematical equation to find the sizes of our front, back, and side pieces.
When we sawed, we made sure to do it safely with safety glasses. We also put the wood in the clamp very tight so that it wouldn’t fall out.
on The other day we experimented with tinkercad for the first time. The assignment was to make name tags or name plates. We started by converting the dashboard to inches. We added a ruler and then clicked on “add text.” Next I typed out my name. We had to change the size of the text so it wouldn’t take to long to print
. We had to do 2 by 1 by 1/4. After that we uploaded it to a survey for Ms. Giroux. She told us to pick a color for the design. I picked purple. Now, I cant wait to see how it looks.
on In class yesterday we experimented with many tools and pieces of wood. We used screws, nails, hooks, awls, screwdrivers, and wood. We used the screwdrivers to put the awls and nails into the wood. I got 5 nails through my wood, and ended up splitting my piece of wood in half. It was very hard to do because we had to figure out how to drive the nail into the wood. We used vices to hold the old in place. In the end, my question is, what if we had used hammers? Would it have made it much easier?
on On the first day of class, Ms. Giroux taught us the safety rules for Tech this year. There are twelve basic rules on an infographic. The infographics are placed all over the room.
1. Slow down, Think before you act.
2. Dress responsibly. Tie back long hair. No baggy clothes or dangling jewelry.
3. Don’t assume you know training before tools.
4. Power tools need concentration. No talking when using machinery.
5. Protect your eyes. Always wear safety glasses.
6. Before using a machine, get instruction, get permission, inspect machine.
7. Use all guards whine using machines. Shut off & unplug before making adjustments.
8. Power tools are dangerous. Never leave a tool running unattended.
9. Soldering irons are hot. Be cautious soldering irons heat to over 842 degrees F.
10. Xacto knives, saws, & awls, oh my. Be careful when handling sharp things.
11. Walk all the time. Never nudge or push someone.
12. Report all accidents. Burns, cuts, scratches & splinters, no matter how small.
on 
In class we are making automatas. We started with a cardboard box which we sawed. Then after watching a video, we made triangles to hold the box in place. We poked a stick through the box as an axle. After putting on the sticks, we measured and cut out circles, using a compass and sawing machine. Finally we put the circles on the axle and it worked! Tomorrow I plan to add pictures of Captain Hook and the Tic-Toc-Croc to mine, which will complete my automata.
on 
In class Mr. Calvert showed a video of all different types of cool automatas:
One of the ones was a caterpillar with all the different parts of its body moving.
Another one showed a man with a knife, which he sliced his leg with, this producing fake blood.
Another interesting looking one showed two people at dinner. Outside there is creepy looking man looking at them. The radio is on, the dog jumps, and a man kicks the dog.
Also there was one of man swimming. It was really cool because the man moved his arms, his legs, and his head was moving from side to side.
on In class Mr. Calvert showed us a video about a soccer team stuck in Thailand. Using that as inspiration in class we made flashlights. Two of the requirements were that they had to be water proof, so they wouldn´t stop working even in the flood, and the flashlights had to be able to fit in a medium sized box. We made them using PVC pipes, circuits, and decorated them with markers, rhinestones, rubber bands, pom-poms, and pipe cleaners. In the end they looked really cool and worked well. I used mine to finish a book I was reading at night after I had been put to bed.
