Architecture!

Check out AJ's description of the future house that he has designed:

The year 6's from room 8 had to act as architects and design a future house for Glen Innes. This my dream house that maybe could be built in the future.
                           
This house is different to the houses around today because the houses in Glen Innes are made out of wood but in the future the houses are all made from metal or bricks so it is stronger in a natural disaster like an earthquake, flood or tsunami. They would have different designs because the architects would create their own new ideas. They would be able to create way cooler houses and things because they have more technology and different ideas. 

The things inside the buildings could be different too. They not have books because they could use devices instead. They wouldn't have analogue clocks anymore, just digital. Everything could have buttons, like when you go to the kitchen you could press a button and then it could change to the living room. The appliances would be better - the oven would cook things faster for example. We could have robots to do things for us as well, they could even brush our teeth for us! Instead of having paper money we might only use digital money instead. People could create robots and get them to work so they could earn more money.

The houses would also be heaps taller because we don't have enough space for all the people to have a one story house. There would be more skyscrapers or three story houses, like the ones being built on Fenchurch Street.

In my house I have filled everything with water. People could adapt to live under water and probably they will have gills like fishes. Or they could invent technology that would let them live under water.  They have created things like floating chairs for their houses.

Here is the site I used:
https://roomstyler.com/3dplanner

Bush Survival!

This afternoon Michael, our Adventure for Good guide, took us out to the back of the camp site for some lessons on bush survival.

Our group first wanted to learn about building a shelter first, so Michael began by showing us how to tie a variety of knots. We would need these to secure the tarpaulin on our shelter.

Once we had learnt to tie the knots successfully, we began to set up a shelter by tying rope between two trees and securing it to ensure that it was tight.

We then lay a tarpaulin on top of this rope and secured it to the ground using tent pegs and rope. We then had created something that would keep us dry if it rained, as the water would run off the sides of the shelter.

Following this we went to the bush to collect tinder and a collection of sticks ranging from the thickness of half of a pencil to the thickness of our thumbs.

We dug a hole in the ground which we lined with a few sticks. This would keep our fire out of the mud at the bottom of the hole. Next we made a bundle of tinder and lit a match underneath it to start the fire. To keep it going we added the sticks that we had collected earlier.

That night we ventured to the bush to sleep under this type of shelter. Miss Stone and the girls found a large spot to build their shelter and the girls secured it to ensure that the tarpaulin was tight. The boys chose an area that was slightly smaller, which made it far more difficult to set up their shelter.

Before bed we had a bonfire and ate delicious marshmallows which was great fun! We were all pretty cold overnight but most of us settled down into the shelter well. Next time the boys decided that they would choose a larger camp ground as some water came in on a couple of boys in the morning.

Insulation with Mrs Tofa

Today the students from room 8 went to room 7 for their science intensive with Mrs Tofa. There they learnt about insulation. Check out Maselino's explanation about insulation:

What is insulation?
 Insulation keeps the heat inside and it keeps the cold air outside and keeps your warm during the winter. Use pink batts to keep your house warm like use it for the ceiling and for the walls.

Where you put insulation?
You put your pink batts in the walls, roof and ceiling and mammoth insulation for the floors. You can buy Mammoth from the warehouse. You have to install it in a mask because it might be itchy.

Why do you need insulation?
 Many people don't have warm houses and many people have them because their houses are insulated. Some people can get sick or die because of the cold in their houses.

Telesia made this google draw to illustrate the importance of insulation:

Year 6 Engineering; The Magic Triangle!

This morning the year sixes investigated Engineering as part of their learning in technology. We first discussed what engineers do and talked about their career path. We found out that they are technologists: they design products to solve real life problems.

We then read a book called the Impossible Bridge by Jane Buxton. We discovered that civil engineers are responsible for creating roads and bridges. We then attempted to design and create our own impossible bridges: we were given one piece of paper that had to hold the weight of a lego car and driver. We tried lots of different designs similar to what we had seen in the book.

Our first attempt

 The paper arch bridge and beam bridge were the least successful, but we found that the piece of paper could hold the weight of the car if we folded it lots of times, like the one pictured below.

Success!

We thought of lots of reasons why this might be. One reason was that there were lots of points at which the piece of paper was touching both the car above it and the table below it. We also saw that the folds of the paper looked like a series of triangles. It was then that we watched a video and found that triangles are the strongest shape and that they are often used to build bridges because the force or weight of the cars going over them is spread evenly between each of the three sides.

Creating a square shaped bridge

We tested this out by building a bridge out of squares and out of triangles, using the same amount of materials for each. The triangle bridge could hold far more weight than the square bridge. We then made a larger bridge, out of squares made up of two triangles, which was able to hold the weight of a toy car.

Our materials had to be an exact length for our design to work

Finally we learnt about another shape that is seen a lot in architecture: Geodesic Domes. These are made up of a series of triangles and the more triangles you add the more circular they become.This was a tricky build and a lot of problem solving was involved in order to finally make the dome! We are pretty proud of our final product though.

Cooking in Room 8!

Following on from our measurement breakout, we used our fractions and measurement knowledge again today as we baked as a class. We knew that we wanted a shared lunch to end the term, but our whanau have already brought in heaps of food over the last few weeks for camp fundraising. So instead we decided to bake a tasty treat that we can all share on our last day tomorrow.

We split into groups of four and began to make our brownie mixture. We were careful to read the recipe very carefully to make sure that it would taste really good.

Once we had finished making our batch we put all of the mixture into a large baking tray. Then Miss Stone and Charlie added the final ingredient: chocolate! The brownie came out of the oven really well and we are looking forward to trying it tomorrow. 

Technology Challenge!

This morning room 8 were given a technology challenge. They had to work in groups with students that they do not usually work with in order to come up with the solution to a problem.

Maselino's group making a warm habitat for the egg

The students had the choice of creating a safe container for an egg so that a farmer could transport it to a supermarket or to create a habitat for an egg pet.




Telesia's groups inventive creation



Charlies group wanted to make their container as safe as possible - it survived a very bumpy ride!


Alex's group made a simple and attractive container for their egg.

It was great to see all of the different and inventive ideas that the students came up with! I was very impressed to see how secure Telesia's groups egg remained, even though their invention didn't look as strong as some of the other groups.

Technology Showcase!

Today the year sixes presented their final products to the year sevens. After trialing different recipes, sourcing different ingredients, creating adverts and conducting market research (getting the teachers to try the samples) we finally launched the product; sustainable burritos.

These went down really well with the year sevens, who found that they were pretty tasty despite being filled with mostly vegetables. They were delicious, nutritious and good for the environment - well done year sixes!

Burrito Trial

Today the year 6's made a prototype for the sustainable burrito that we designed last week. Our brief stated that we had to create a product that we knew people would enjoy, that we could make more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

We create a burrito with lots of fresh vegetables, chicken instead of beef and less cheese than we would usually use. We used less beef and dairy because we have learnt that cows contribute to air and water pollution (through their wind which contains methane gas and because their dung can be washed into rivers). We used vegetables that hadn't been sprayed with chemicals as these chemicals can also be washed into our drains and rivers. We made both a vegetarian and a free range chicken option.

We each took a different role when creating the burritos. We used different ingredients and combinations of ingredients to test out which would be the most tasty. We then took samples around the school and collected market research - other peoples opinions about our product.

Moana's Morning Tea

In food technology today the year sixes created the recipe that they had found the previous week. This recipe had to be healthy and easy to eat as it was designed to be eaten as a snack by an active student.

As it was our first time in the kitchen, we started by discussing health and safety rules. We learnt how chefs wash their hands and stay hygienic in the kitchen. We also discussed how to stay safe around the hazards such as knives and the hot stove.

We then began creating our healthy banana cake. This didn't use sugar or butter and it was made with honey, banana, coconut oil and whole wheat flour. We each had a couple of cupcakes and make a loaf for our year 7's to enjoy with their milk when they returned from technology.

Food Technology

Today in technology the year 6 students in room 8 were asked to support some of the younger classes to use their netbooks. They did a fabulous job supporting the other students and acted as true leaders.

Head chef Anita preparing the fruit

When they returned to the classroom, the students had time for a short technology lesson. We looked at the process that food technologists take to create new recipes and products. We were then given a brief and asked to create a recipe for a healthy morning tea.

Creating the fruit kebabs

One of our recipes will be selected to be created during next weeks technology lesson, but in the meantime, Miss Stone gave us an example of a recipe that would suit our brief - fruit kebabs.

Taste testing!

We had a great time creating and eating the fruit kebabs, our head chef Anita did a fabulous job!

Food Technology

Every Friday the year 7 students from Room 8 spend the morning at Tamaki College for Technology. This means that a small group are left of year sixes are left with Miss Stone to follow their own technology program.

 

Room 8's Cafe!

This term we have decided to have food technology lessons. Our first session kicked off with us exploring what Food Technologists do and the process that they follow. We then went on to act out a testing scenario, to broaden our taste buds and vocabularies. We learnt about the five main tastes and tried an example of each, before writing a description using technical terms.

                                             Testing out a tangy, sour lemon

The decadent, creamy milk chocolate was a hit!

We found that the sweet banana chips and the salty pringles tasted quite artificial. It was interesting that the banana chips appeared to be a healthy snack, but we think that the supermarket added a lot of sugar to them, making them more of a treat like the pringles.

The 90 % cocoa dark chocolate looked delicious, but a small bite showed us how bitter it was. This was rated as repulsive and disgusting! Although Tumanako and Miss Stone thought it was nice in (very) small quantities. 

We learnt some great new adjectives from this activity, from luxurious to briney, to umami. We look forward to describing some of our own cooking next week!