Rubik’s Cube, A Simple Guide

 Hi everybody, in lockdown we had to do a passion project.  For this we had to find out something we are passionate about.  We had a clear out of my room and I found my Rubik’s cube.  Earlier  in my life I had tried to solve it but failed.  I was bored in lockdown so I decided to give it another go.  We found an algorithm for it on the internet and tried to follow the instructions.  After fiddling around with it for 2 days we gave up on the algorithm.  We searched some more and found a video on Youtube.  This video showed me a step by step guide on how to solve a Rubik’s cube.  It was a very descriptive video.  After another day I had solved it.  I watched the video again and wrote down some instructions.  I printed out the instructions and I used them over and over again.  After awhile I managed to memorise the whole thing.  Now that I could solve the Rubik’s cube  without instructions I managed to get my time down to 1 minute 11 seconds.   I’m happy about my success.

The hard thing about solving the Rubik’s cube is the patience that goes into solving it the first time.  My favorite thing about it is the feeling when you solve it.

Have you ever come close or solved a Rubik’s cube before?  

The Hardest Thing Ever

Hi everybody, for the past few weeks we have been working on our Science Fair Projects.  It was really hard but we had a great learning experience.  Some of the things I learnt is to make my project happen were; The type of variables we used (independent variables, dependant variables and controlled variables), the hypothesis, the results of our science project (the winner was the paper towel Handee Ultra) and using the scientific method.  There were also a lot of things that were really hard as well.  Some of these things were; that other members of our group were away, that our plan changed a lot so we didn’t really know what we were doing, that we were learning things at such an alarming rate that our brains were swarmed with information and that we had a deadline that put us under a lot of pressure.  Even though we had a few trip up’s we eventually got our Science Fair board up and ready to present. 

 If we could do this again I would change the member of my group because he distracted me a lot and when we were testing we could of used a bigger variety of paper towel brands.  In this project I had to use my hoe of Kaha (being strong) and Tu Maia (resilience) to help me not give up on what I was doing.  For this project I found everything a bit confusing and not very easy.

Have you ever done a Science Fair Project?

 

The Greatest Marble Challenge Ever

 Hi, for the past few weeks we have been doing something called the great marble challenge.  We had to build a structure that would make a marble go 1.1m.  I was in a group with George and Mark.  We were quite unsure about what to do so we decided to brainstorm for a long time.  Eventually we came up with what to do.  We decided to use my chromebook and then stack a tube on top of it.  Finally we decided to get some cardboard and attach it underneath the tube.  We were doing this to learn how to follow the scientific method and to help us prepare for science fair that is coming up soon.

When we had finished building we moved onto testing.  We rolled the marble down for the first time and it was very off our goal.  We modified it and added Mark’s chromebook underneath as well.  From there on we tested and modified.  Most of them were changing the angle up and down.  When we finally thought we had got it right we wrote down our instructions.  The next day was competition day and we were happy with what we had done until it got to our turn.  Someone else from another group had to read our instructions and then test our marble run.  When he read out our instructions we realized something was terribly wrong.  Only half of our instructions were on the paper.  We were dumbfounded because we only got nine points out of 50.  The hardest part about this project was coming up with the design and building it because we needed to measure how long we wanted our supplies.  The easiest bit was writing the instructions because we had already tested how to do it so many times.

Have you ever made your own marble run?

Check Out What Happened When We Went To The Science Roadshow

Hi,  Te Ngahere went on a bus to Bay Of Islands College for the Science Roadshow.  There was a show that taught us about gases.  From this show I learnt that if you fill a balloon with hydrogen and then give it oxygen the ballon exploded.  After that we went off and could interact with the science projects.  One of my favorite exhibits was on a solar powered car.  You had to turn on light and spin the board. When you did the car moved away from the light.  This would be great in future because as long as the sun is shining your car will zoom forward non stop and not as much energy will be wasted.  In the other show we learnt that you only change one variable at a time otherwise you do not know what made it better.  This information will hopefully help me in my science project that we are going to do soon because I may change to much at once and not know what is helping and what isn’t.

Have you done a science project before?

 

Magnificent Mosaics

In Te Ngahere we have been making mosaics.  The reason for this is because we are going to put these

up with our studies about our animal, tree or insect.  We had to find a picture on Google and put it on a Google drawing.  Next we had to use the polyline tool and make small shapes to go over our picture.  I chose a tiger to do my mosaic on.  As soon as I did the first few shapes I instantly saw how hard it was.  I didn’t realize that tigers had so many colours.  Over time I slowly got better and faster at making my shapes.  I might use this on tiles in the future when I improve on my skills but for now I will use it to make detailed pieces of art.  

I think what I could do better is make the shapes smaller.  What I think I did well was when I tried to fill in as much of an area as possible at a time.  

Have you ever made a mosaic before?

 

Sharing What I Do In P.E Rotations

 Hi everyone.  Lately Te Ngahere and Te Maunga have been doing P.E rotations.  We had to work in our house groups and do sport rotations.  They are netball, soccer, touch and, ball skills.  So far I’ve learnt how to pivot in netball, how to pass the ball in soccer, in touch I learnt some rules of touch like when you get touched you put the ball down and wait for someone else on your team to pick it up.  I also learnt that the touching team has to go back five steps before they are allowed to touch anyone again.  Last but not least in ball skills I learnt how to throw and catch the ball. 

What I did well is I throw balls with force.  What I could do better is I need to try catch balls better because at the moment I’m not very good at it.

Do you know how to play these sports?

The Perfect Project Island Song Floating Classroom Day

Hi, in Te Ngahere the year sixes did Project Island Song’s floating classroom.  We had to be at school by 8:20 before leaving and walking down to the walf.  When we got there I saw our boat was called D3 or Discovery 3.  Some of us were given jobs.  One of the health and safety people were away so I was chosen instead.  My job was to make sure that everyone was on the boat and then on Urupukapuka (the island we went to) I had to make sure we didn’t lose anybody.  We had a safety briefing and then we were off zooming through the ocean toward our destination.  After a while we pulled into a island.  Our boat driver turned off the engine and we got to listen the birds for a while.  After we turned the engine back on we drifted over to some shag’s nesting.  When we got to the island we had some morning tea before splitting into two groups.  We walked over a hill to plant some trees.  I planted a rewarewa tree.  After my group got back we made some traps.  I found it quite hard to make the traps because the structure would fall apart in our hands.  On the way back we were really lucky because we found a pod of bottlenose dolphins.  The reason we did this is because we were helping Project Island Song bring the bird song back.  

Have you ever been on Project Island Song’s Floating Classroom?