Testing testing 1, 2, 3!

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This week the students designed their Rube Goldberg machines and started testing out the different parts. They experimented with ramps and tunnels at different inclines. Also, they learnt how to arrange machines at different heights for maximum effect and learnt they need to record their attempts, whether it was a failure or success.

Some students realised that perhaps their ideas were a bit hard to execute in real life or that the order of their chain reaction needed to be changed. Next week the children will finalise their tests of their Rube Goldberg, write down any changes they made to improve it, as well as a reflection on what went well or didn't . If you have Hot Wheels or Tomicars at home, we really need some!
                                                       AC has 4 parts to her machine so far. 
AC's Rube Goldberg machine starts with a car going down a ramp.
RI wanted to start with a screw (a bottle with string an an eraser on the end that swings around) that would knock over the dominoes, sending the car down the tunnel to knock over the pet bottle. But she had trouble getting the eraser to knock over all the dominoes and cause enough force to push the car into the tunnel. Originally her tunnel was not on an angle, so she realised with my help that if we changed the angle it would help the car go faster to push over the bottle.

RO had quite a lot of ideas of how to start his Rube Goldberg machine. He decided it was easiest to push the car down the ramp which will then hit some dominoes which then send another car down another ramp. 
On Friday PJ was making a pulley and AC was making a marble run.
TU made a marble run but was having trouble getting it to stay within the barriers. 
KU was trying to get his eraser to spin around the bottle, hitting the car and sending it down the ramp. I asked him how he could make the car go faster and he said put some elevation on the ramp to help the car go down.
RI's test.


AG's 4 part Rube Goldberg worked with few adjustments. 

In English this week, the students learnt more about suffixes such as -er, -ness, -ment and -ship and how to use them to make nouns. Most children have been practising their spelling words every night which is fantastic!

In math, we have learnt more about strategies for division beyond repeat addition, especially when the numbers are so big it takes a long time to draw them. One strategy is to use a number line and skip count along it, using the divisor. Another is looking for the the nearest 10 and approximating with trial and error. For example, if I have 54 divided by 6, 54 is close to 50 or 60, so if I know 6 x 10 is 60, I could try 9 x 6 and see if that makes 54. Therefore, 54 divided by 6 is 9. 



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