Robotics: Hungry Alligator

We were on vacation while this project came due.

BUT...

Here I am! 

I was excited to make this one!

I put the legos together 

and watched videos on alligators.

Did you know that alligators have 'U' shaped snout, 

like to show off their teeth when their mouth is closed, 

eat fish and DEER (and other animals too).  Deer are big! Wow!

My lego alligator's snout is even u-shaped.

Then I plugged in my alligator to the computer and programmed it to open its mouth and close its mouth.  

First it was triggered by pressing the letter a.

Then I made it trigger by motion. 

I made fish to put in its mouth.

It totally caught me off guard the first time I put it in his mouth.  It almost got my hand!

Alligators are dangerous!  Even Lego ones.

Report for October 20-24, 2014

This week we drove 7 hours over to the coast to meet our new cousin and see what the Washington coast is like! We left at 7am and got there a little after 3 (we had to make a few pit stops.)

We walked out over Deception Pass...

We learned that the logs that float up on the beaches protect the lands. 

Some people build forts for shelter, too.

We climbed on a douglas fir tree that is HUNDREDS of years old!

Next, we went to another beach...

...Where there was lots of climbing!

We even saw a seal!

And a nice man with a dog taught us to fish!

We also went to the pumpkin patch (especially since we missed going on the field trip there in Utah).

At the laundry, we worked on our time and money math skills!

While on the coast, we left Whidbey Island and travelled across the ocean/bay to Port Townsend by Ferry. That's when you drive your car onto a big boat that can carry cars across the ocean. We saw 5 otters diving for their food (fish), lots of different types of birds (especially gulls and ravens), and a WHALE (orca)!

It was fun to watch the ferry leave and connect to the land.

We practiced our art skills by picking designs to carve in our pumpkins!

And through all of the week, we worked on earning our Junior Ranger badges from the Cascade National Park and WA State Parks. 

(This is a picture of lots of different badges. This is what we want our junior ranger vests to look like.  So far we have 6, I think. Maybe more.)

Here we are taking our oath to be awesome Junior Rangers!

Report for October 13-17, 2014

This week, we picked apples for the deer.  

The apples are bitter and our grandparents said to 

pick them, put them in a pile, and watch for deer.

So we picked them. And put them in the yard.

And the deer came! And we watched one eat the whole pile of apples.

We learned to not put such big piles, or else we would run out of apples and the deer wouldn't come back.

We watched them out of the windows.  

They put the apple in their mouth, chomped them in half, and then ate a half at a time.

Porter did some Lego basics for his robotics class.  

This one is his crown gear!

We had fun science experiments going on in the kitchen.  

Debany and Myanna started by coming up with their own experiments:

mixing things with water: soap, glue, and oil.

 And she wrote down her results:

 Myanna's experiment was to attempt to make a cake/cookies without a recipe.

She knew the ingredients and learned what they do!

Afterwards, they found a website that has lots of science experiments.

They made a floating egg and a parachuter.

We also did our usual things:

reading, writing, math, study island, and spelling city, reading plays, theater, art, legos.

Report for October 6-10, 2014

This week, we have been doing lots of Timez Attack and reading.

On Monday, we had a birthday!  We had a piñata, but no big tree to hang it by.  So we had to come up with a simple machine to make the pinata work.

 It worked great!

 Myanna has been reading from "Little House in the Big Woods", Porter has been helping find words in his beginner books, Debany has been reading her plays and Anne of Green Gables.

 We regularly went down to the lake and kept moving the stick to the end of the water.  It has risen over 3 feet this week! We love measuring it.

 We also had a new cousin born! 

We got to support our Uncle and Aunt Wilson when they had their baby Terra.

It's been a crazy week.  We didn't know when we were going over to the coast (7 hour trip) to go see our newest cousin. So, we kept doing our school and packed to be ready to go when it was time.

Robotics: Dancing Birds

Hi! Porter here.

I just finished the 'Dancing Birds'

project for my robotics class.

Did you know that if you twist the 'belt' 

it makes the birds turn different directions?

But if it isn't twisted, they turn in the same direction.

And because the 'hubs' (those are the green wheels) are the same size,

they turn the same speed!

I even played with the timed motor. 

Different times made them turn different.

I really enjoyed making this project!

I can hardly wait for the next one.

I still have more basics and activity videos to do.

I got through the first 10 basics before this project.  

And I have learned so much!

I'll show that in my next post.

Robotics: Smart Spinner

Hi!  Porter again.

I have been working on the Smart Spinner!

 I was excited to watch it spin!

I tried different gears to see how they spun.

This is what I reported for how long each gear combination spun.

I couldn't believe that the last one only spun for 1 second!

That was hilarious!

To make my spinner last the longest, 

I'll make sure that the top has the small gear 

and the handle has the big gear.

I wouldn't mind trying two small gears 

and see if that makes a difference.

My Learning

I wanted to share with you some other things that I have been doing for school!

I have a word family flip book that I started reading. 

It has funny and real word combinations in it.

I practice my writing.  

I try to make my writing neat!

I practice my math facts on Timez Attack!

This is one of my favorite games. And  I learn from it too!

My sisters and I love to go to the lake!

We measure how far the water comes up every day, 

we read a story on the beach,

we use our math with adding and dividing things like treats or pine needles,

and even paddle in the paddle boat.

We have to take a trail to get to the lake.

My sisters help me when it's steep and a little slippery.

We have good teamwork.

Until next week!

Porter, signing out.