Inquiry

Today room 9 worked on their simple machines. The item that we used was balsa wood we all described about what it felt and what it looked like. After we described the wood Mr Wong gave us instructions to follow and draw on the piece of wood. When we followed the instructions we had to draw on the balsa wood. Drawing on the balsa wood was quiet hard because we had  to draw softly or other wise it will snap. Drawing on the balsa wood was quiet hard because we are used to draw barely. But after a few minutes people got the hang of it. So the finished result was quiet amazing. The words we used was parallelogram and square and triangle. 

7 times tables

Today Room 9 learnt their 7 times tables. We wrote them 15 times to memorise the 7 times tables. After we wrote them we got tested by Mr Wong  and did our DLO. In our DLO we needed the 7 times tables in words, numerals, in a different language and in objects. 

Assembly

Today Panmure bridge school had assembly. At assembly there was some guess from the Panmure library and guess from c3 church. Guess from the panmure library talked to us about dare to unlock. They also talked to us about a secret box, inside the box had puppets, books and hats. The guess from c3 church talked to us about a party which will be happening 29th of November. 

Kiwi Can W7

Today after lunch we had Kiwican. We talked about respecting others and cultural differences. We got split into 2 groups (girls and boys) and talked about our questions. What do we know about cultures? What is different about your cultures and others? We got into our cultural groups (Samoan, Tongan, Niuean, NZ and CookIslands) and discussed the different events, foods, celebrations that happens in our culture. 

Athletics day

Panmure Bridge had their Sports Day today. There were a range of events from hurdles to skipping. At lunch the school got a treat from Mrs Burke, and everyone had an ice block to eat. After the regular lunch break, the school went into doing sprints. The day was fun, and thankfully the weather held up.

How to make a time machine

The time machine in Lost in Time was made with:

• a calculator ($2 shop)
• aluminium tape
• a muesli bar box
• a foam sanding block (using something harder is better)
• a plastic button
• super glue

Steps:

1. Pull apart the calculator. Be careful to keep all the parts intact and on the table, especially the working calculator circuitry.
2. MAKE A PLAN. Draw out a plan for the prop. Include the buttons that are needed, exclude the unnecessary buttons. Make sure measurements have at least 1mm of give, making the prop easier to assemble at the end.
   
3. Cut the frame for the prop's face. Make sure the buttons fit and can move freely. Make sure the screen fits without falling out.
   
4. Cut the outer frame that houses the calculator guts. Do this in two parts, the top half to fit around the calculator circuitry, the bottom half to keep the circuitry together.
5. Apply the aluminium tape to the face. Cut out holes, fold in tape flaps to ensure the illusion of a metal object.
   
6. Glue the top half of the frame onto the face.
7. Align the circuitry with the buttons. Check the calculator still works.
8. Attach the bottom half of the frame, and apply tape to cover the prop.

With step 8 completed, the time machine was completed and ready to go. The final cherry-on-top was weathering the prop to make it look like it was a real, used object and not something that was made 2 minutes ago. This was done with sandpaper, black paint, black, brown, and green pastels, black whiteboard marker, and paper towels. The sandpaper was used to scuff up the prop, then the paint etc. were rubbed into the prop with the paper towel. The machine was also thrown around the classroom a bit to provide bumps, but this is not recommended since it could break the calculator...as it did in this case.

Manaiakalani Film Festival

Room 9 from Panmure Bridge contributes the short film Lost in Time to the Manaiakalani Film Festival. Room 9 students' roles were writers, actors, and filming assistants. Writing and storyboarding were difficult. Filming was difficult when our green screen got broken, and we had to use a blue cloth in place of our proper green screen.

* Update 11/11/2015
Thanks for all the comments. If you are interested, here is a link to how to make a time machine like the one in the movie.

Simple Machines challenge 2

Today Room 9 had their second challenge. This time they had to lift a stack of books with their little finger.

Which simple machine is best? After deliberating between a pulley or a lever, Room 9 decided on a lever.

Room 9 tried out various levers that happened to be in the class (Mr Wong's martial arts training sticks).

Room 9 already know that using a lever they can lift heavy objects (loads) with less effort. Now they are finding out about what happens with different length levers, or placing the fulcrum in a different place. What will they learn?

Mr Wong

Revisiting the times tables in different languages.

Today Room 9 revisited the times tables (3 times tables for most) and learnt them differently from previously. At first many thought it was boring, then they began to have fun, and ultimately they produced some great knowledge and some flashy DLOs!

Step 1: write and say... at least 10 times (boring; but there is no satisfaction without hard work), then get tested for accuracy.
Step 2: make the times tables out of rubber bands (groups) and ice-block sticks (items), then practise saying the times tables at speed.
Step 3: challenge each other to say the times tables with immediacy.
Step 4: make a DLO (Mr Wong originally said Google Drawing because that was easy, but some R9ers thought it was better as a Google Slide).

The DLO had to include:

• the equations written in numerals
• the equations written in words
• the equations shown in pictures
• the whole times tables spoken in English and/or another language.

Room 9 was told to choose the language they use at home or are most familiar with. Thanks to that we got Te Reo Māori, Tongan, and Burmese, among others. Daniel, Ofa, and Eric collaborated to make this one, Jasmine made this by herself, and Sa Kae did this with a little help from Jasmine for recording.

Disclaimer: Mr Wong knows there should be photos on this post to make it look interesting...they're coming.

Duffy theatre

Today we had visitors to do the Duffy show. We enjoyed the show with laughter and we loved the story about Seinna. They tought us about reading, and that rather than watching TV you could read a book. They had three rules, shout the answer out rather than putting your hand up, when they do the be quiet symbol you have to be quiet and also keep your bottom on the floor. They also tought us a valuable message about reading,the message was "reading is important". The best part was when Seinna finally started reading.