31 st May 2016 😀

Today was a very fun day because I went to a lot of workshop and learned a lot of new stuff and me and Arnav accomplished one of the most hardest goals in our I Explore about scratch was and that was that we made a platform and it was like real life. normally in scratch if you make a ball bounce it will go through the platform but we made it like there is gravity and the ball comes back to the ground and bounces. Today was a great learning experience and I really want to learn more about scratch and create a proper game
😀

Robotic Skeleton Hand

Today I was at home because I had a dental appointment. After I came home from the Dentist's my mum showed me this video of a man creating a skeleton hand made out of straws so I thought why don't I try it. I used straws, strings, tape, scissors, and a marker. First I looked at my own hand and marked the finger joints on the straws. Then I made small diamond shape cuts where the joints were. When one finger was done I slipped a string through the straw finger and tied a knot at the end and taped it so it was secured. Next I did the same with the four straw fingers. Once all of the fingers were done I taped them together to form a hand. I collected all the strings together. When I pulled the strings together, it formed a grabbing action. I used my creation to pick up some scrap paper and chucked them in the bin. I also used it to scratch my cat's back and she loved it :)

Reflection: the straws were a little too small so it was difficult to cut them. Next time I want to use longer straws.

Next steps: I think I can may be I can finalize the design and create a final version. I can also make a rubbish collector or an arm extender to grab things that are far away or too high to reach.

Fo Guang Shan temple NZ visit

Today a few students including me were selected to go to the Fo Guang Shan NZ Buddhist temple because the next day we have to lead our groups through the activities in the temple. I led the smaller children through the activities and looked after them so they didn't get mixed up with other groups or get lost.

On Friday when we went as a class we learnt a lot of things like 3G & 4G. 3G stands for 3 goodnesses: do Good deeds, say Good words, and think Good thoughts. 4G is 4 giving: give others hope, give others joy, give others convenience, and give others confidence. 

We also learnt how Siddartha became a Monk and showed people the good path to happiness and joy. We watched a 8 minute long movie on how he grew older and became kinder and more respectful. Even though he was a Prince with lots of wealth and riches he became a Monk. 

Inside the shrine there was a huge meditation place with a 3 thousand ton statue of Siddartha  made out of pure gold. It was massive. We also went to the art gallery and bathed a small statue of the Buddha. We saw a statue of his white horse too. Over all it was an amazing experience.

Rongomai School Visit

Today some of us went to Rongomai school for a quick visit. When we arrived there was a lady who introduced us and gave us visitor badges. We met the class teacher who introduced us to the class. Then he showed us some of his robots. There was a submarine robot which was remote controlled and it could go up, down, left, right in a water trough. They bought it but it was not assembled so they had to assemble it.

We tried assembling a submarine. It was pretty hard as unfortunately some of the pieces were lost. At the end we took a short interview of some of the learners. We had a sheet of questions which we asked. We filled it with the answers they gave. For example, how well do you know STEM? STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Maths. They said that they do their English and Maths through the Science.

There was a real bee-hive which they had made in their classroom. There was a hive inside a box next to the window. The students had made a hole in the window and there was a see through tube connecting to the hive so you could see the bees coming in and out. The honey was being collected from the box and they sold their own honey. I thought it was a pretty good idea.

They had a lot of pets such as this weird walking fish which was blind. They also had a few cacti and miniature Aloe Vera plant. After that they showed us their garden. We had a fun time and went back to our school.

#The coolest day ever!

This week I had fun improving my iExplore about scratch with Arnav. Scratch is a coding and programming website where you can create whatever you want like air hockey as a game or may be a racing car game. I am learning how to make a platformer game such as Super Mario Bros. Scratch was created by MIT in the USA. I like working on Scratch because I can create whatever I want without limits.

I also liked doing the geometry challenge. It was a new experience. We made a geometry book for the younger learners in our school. We had to first write the name of the shape then write some information about it. For example a hexagon is a polygon with six sides. Then you draw the shape. Arnav and me worked on this. It is most likely going to be used in a book. It was very fun and I am sure that I would love to do this again.

Also on Monday we went to learn how to swim. I love to play and swim in the water but unfortunately I'm not that good. I used to go to swimming classes but I stopped. Now I am learning how to do freestyle, swimming on my side, and backstroke with one arm.

This week was such a fun and Curios week.

My next steps are

Maybe I should finish my work completely and not muck around and chat with my friends. Maybe I will go sit alone by myself or work with someone new so we can collaborate. Or I can set up a timer to finish my task and not talk to anyone until I complete the task on time.

Best WEEK EVER

Today me and my friends played soccer and it was fun. It wasn't as fun because    most of the people went to soccer tournament. We also did some NZSL activities and it was cool. In the morning the deaf students played a few acts and they were funny. Seth showed a #OREsome video about him and his dad skateboarding. Seth did some pretty sweet moves.one of them were he jumping in mid-air and his skateboard was twirling then the video finished. So to day was epic!!

My next steps are

Maybe I should
Work hard so that I can get an award or two or maybe get the Mathletics Trophy!