I heard the beep of Coach Jorge's whistle and got up on the blocks.
I steadied myself, putting my strong leg, my right leg, at the back so I would be able to get a decent head start.
"On your marks," Coach Jorge said. I put my hands down by the blocks and tightened my body.
"GO!" Coach Jorge shouted. I blasted off and dove into the water. We were swimming freestyle, and I knew that lots of people in my heat were pretty fast when it came to freestyle.
Kick! Kick! I thought to myself, frantically pulling my arms back and fourth, trying to reach the finish line first.
I saw the flags in front of me, telling me that there were 5 more meters to go. I kicked and pulled my hands and legs even harder. I slammed my hand on the finish line. Yes! I had came 2nd out of the 25 meter freestyle race. A teacher gave me a wristband. A wristband was what the P.E. department gave us every year as a compliment for finishing the race.
I opened the gate and headed outside for the next activity - wet and wild. Because I was given the number 2 by Mr. Ross, I headed to the slip and slide, which was the first activity my group (group 2) was going to do. Chris went first, and I went next. I ran and fell on my belly, sliding on the soap on the slip and slide.
Our next activity was a game where we were given a container with holes in it. We were supposed to cover the holes with our teammates and get the water in the container to another bucket, where we would empty the container. We then ran back to fill the container with water again, covered the holes, and brought the water to the other bucket. The team with the most water in the container then won. Our team tied with another team for 1st place.
Next, we went to an activity where we had a few sponges. We were to fill the sponge with water, then run to another bucket to release the water in the sponge. Then, another teammate would run to fill the bucket with water as we ran back to pass the sponge to another person. Overall, we got 2nd place.
After that, we got to eat snacks. Each person was allowed one bag of popcorn and one popsicle. Overall, I thought that today was a meaningful day of exercise. We all had a lot of fun. It was a great day.
Showing posts with label 5DH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5DH. Show all posts
Friday, May 24, 2019
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Slice Of Life #213 - Band Concert - Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
We all quietly filed onto the stage. I clutched my clarinet tight. Looking up towards the audience, I could see lots of eyes staring down at us. I heard the Gamelan players play songs beside me.
I carefully took my seat on the chair and opened my file. My friend, Aidan, took out the pieces that we were going to play for the concert. Then, we put our clarinets in rest position.
I watched as Leo and Sahana walked towards the podium. "Welcome to the Grade 5 band's portion of tonight's performance. Thank you for coming."
They were telling the audience about our first selection for tonight. After they finished talking, my band teacher waited until they were ready. Then, she checked the percussion section to make sure that they were ready.
Ms. Endel, my music teacher's, hands went up. My instrument went up to my face. And with 4 swift movements of her hands, I took a deep breath and started to play.
After 4 measures, the rest of the band joined in. Not after long, we finished the song. Then, we started playing the woodwind features. The flutists played a short part of the Nutcracker, our oboist played the Snake Charmer, the clarinetists played The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and the saxophones played Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
After that, we played Dance of the Jabberwocky. Then, the brass section and percussionists played a few songs.
Finally, we played The Tempest. We had been learning how to play our instruments for a year now, and we were now ready. I watched my music teacher's hands move quickly. I took a deep breath and played a deep, concentrated sound.
The song lasted for about 2 minutes. At the end of the song, we all stood up. Everyone clapped for us. They clapped for about 20 seconds (and I'm not exaggerating).
Our principal, Ms. Julie, came up onto the stage to say a few words. After she was done, we all walked off the stage with delight. I smiled, knowing that our parents were obviously amazed.
I smiled and stepped off the stage.
I carefully took my seat on the chair and opened my file. My friend, Aidan, took out the pieces that we were going to play for the concert. Then, we put our clarinets in rest position.
I watched as Leo and Sahana walked towards the podium. "Welcome to the Grade 5 band's portion of tonight's performance. Thank you for coming."
They were telling the audience about our first selection for tonight. After they finished talking, my band teacher waited until they were ready. Then, she checked the percussion section to make sure that they were ready.
Ms. Endel, my music teacher's, hands went up. My instrument went up to my face. And with 4 swift movements of her hands, I took a deep breath and started to play.
After 4 measures, the rest of the band joined in. Not after long, we finished the song. Then, we started playing the woodwind features. The flutists played a short part of the Nutcracker, our oboist played the Snake Charmer, the clarinetists played The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and the saxophones played Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
After that, we played Dance of the Jabberwocky. Then, the brass section and percussionists played a few songs.
Finally, we played The Tempest. We had been learning how to play our instruments for a year now, and we were now ready. I watched my music teacher's hands move quickly. I took a deep breath and played a deep, concentrated sound.
The song lasted for about 2 minutes. At the end of the song, we all stood up. Everyone clapped for us. They clapped for about 20 seconds (and I'm not exaggerating).
Our principal, Ms. Julie, came up onto the stage to say a few words. After she was done, we all walked off the stage with delight. I smiled, knowing that our parents were obviously amazed.
I smiled and stepped off the stage.
Thursday, May 9, 2019
A Meaningful Night
My heart was beating fast as I walked to the front of the stage. With confidence, I said my first line, loud and clear."So, what's next?"
My friends replied me, saying their lines. And soon enough, we were off, swiftly saying our lines.
Not after long, we reached the conclusion.
"So the next time you use single-use plastics, think about the next 10 generations after us." I said.
"'Cause these problems keep getting bigger and bigger." Linnea said.
"And when these problems actually strike, the whole world will be in crisis." Karen said.
"So please, when it's child labor or plastic pollution, go home and reconsider all this now." I said.
"Because if we don't you'll find out soon enough that we're destroying what we call," Karen said.
"Home, sweet, home." We all said together.
I heard footsteps behind me as my classmates all stumbled to the front of the stage.
I heard Linnea's 1st foot tap, signalling for us to get ready.
And as soon as she was done with her 3rd foot tap, we took a deep breath and started to speak.
"BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION AND NOT THE POLLUTION, BECAUSE US KIDS, DESERVE A BETTER FUTURE!" We all shouted together.
The audience clapped and cheered. "Nice job, kids!" I heard Ms. Schneider say as we filed off the stage.
Success! I thought as I walked back to my seat.
We had planned this performance for a long time now, and after a month of hard work, we had finally put it into action. The Night of the Notables performance was not over. The Night of the Notables performance was a performance that Grade 5 did every year. The performance was performed for the parents.
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| Karen, me, and Linnea (from left to right) |
I think that memorizing my lines was somewhat challenging for me. I don't really know why this was a challenge for me, but after a while of practicing and checking my lines again and again, I was able to overcome my challenge and memorize my lines.
There were also a few things that I learned about myself because of this performance. I learned that I had a better imagination than I expected because I was able to use my writing skills to make meaningful lines for the performance.
From watching from the other performances, I realized everyone was able to project their voices so that everyone could hear what they said. I also learned a lot about child labor and animal testing because the other classes were able to confer their information pretty well to the audience.
I wouldn't change anything about the performance because I thought everyone did pretty well.
I think that I will take a few actions because of the ideas presented at the Night of the Notables performance. I will try to use less plastic and only buy products that do not use animal testing.
Night of the Notables is a performance that Grade 5 makes every year. And from this performance, we help make the world a better place. If every school in the world did this, the world would be an amazing and peaceful place.
Because us kids, deserve a better future! Because if this continues, kids in the future generations won't know the true definition of a future. Because they won't have a future.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Slice Of Life #211 - MAP Test - Tuesday, April 30th, 2019
"Ugh." My friend groaned. "We have the MAP Test today."
The MAP Test was a test that we took every year. The word MAP stood for Measures of Academic Progress. Every year, we took the MAP Test so that our teachers would be able to see how much we improved. Today, we were going to be doing the Math MAP Test.
I quickly packed up my snack and walked into the classroom. I quickly grabbed my computer from the computer cart, opened it, and restarted it. Everyone was to shut down or restart and quit all applications so that you wouldn't get kicked out of the test.
It pretty much about 56,000 tries pressing the power button before my computer would finally turn on. Everyone always got annoyed with their computers because it always took ages to turn on.
But finally, my computer did turn on, and I turned on the NWEA Secure Testing Browser. This browser is incredibly secure; I had learned that over the years of MAP Testing.
After a while, my teacher let us all start the test. We all murmured: "Good luck," and started the first question. My first question was really easy. It took me about 10 seconds to work out the answer to the first question before I moved on to the second one.
Not after long, the questions started to get really hard. Some of the questions were algebra questions, and it took me about 2 minutes just to understand what the question was asking. It then took me another 3 minutes to actually solve the question.
Some of the questions I had never seen before, but I was able to work it out because I had done questions that were easier but were a base for working out the answers to the questions that I was now facing in the MAP Test.
After a really long time, I finally completed the test, and when I got my answers, I was stunned. My results were higher than I expected. Happy with my results, I raised my hand and gave them to my teacher. And then, I shut the lid and took a moment to appreciate, the cold, fresh air. The test was over.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Slice Of Life #170 - Post-Assessment - Tuesday, March 19th, 2019
"Your time starts now. Good luck." I heard my teacher say from the front of the room. I flipped open my laptop and opened Google Drive. Wifi, work! I thought.
As soon as Google Drive opened up, I opened up a new document. Fantasy writing post-assessment, I titled it. Right after that, I began frantically typing at the keyboard. Words materialized on the computer screen, and I quickly read them over so I wouldn't have to spend too much time editing my work the next day.
I was currently doing a fantasy writing post assessment, and this was the first 45 minute period that we got for the assessment. We were going to be doing the second period tomorrow, and after the second period, we were to turn in our essay.
I didn't really know what to write about, but after a while, I came up with an idea. In what I've got so far, my main character, Bob, wakes up to see a beautiful streak of light in the sky casting unbelievable amounts of light into everyone's houses.
I decided to make Bob an underdog - a person who people look down at - mainly because I believe that it's going to get me better grades, but also because our teacher told us that incorporating an underdog in the story is also a pretty good element to add into fantasy stories.
Currently, the story's starting to reach it's climax, because dinosaurs start parachuting out of the beautiful streak of light.
As soon as Google Drive opened up, I opened up a new document. Fantasy writing post-assessment, I titled it. Right after that, I began frantically typing at the keyboard. Words materialized on the computer screen, and I quickly read them over so I wouldn't have to spend too much time editing my work the next day.
I was currently doing a fantasy writing post assessment, and this was the first 45 minute period that we got for the assessment. We were going to be doing the second period tomorrow, and after the second period, we were to turn in our essay.
I didn't really know what to write about, but after a while, I came up with an idea. In what I've got so far, my main character, Bob, wakes up to see a beautiful streak of light in the sky casting unbelievable amounts of light into everyone's houses.
I decided to make Bob an underdog - a person who people look down at - mainly because I believe that it's going to get me better grades, but also because our teacher told us that incorporating an underdog in the story is also a pretty good element to add into fantasy stories.
Currently, the story's starting to reach it's climax, because dinosaurs start parachuting out of the beautiful streak of light.
To be continued tomorrow...
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Slice Of Life #165 - Course Selection - Wednesday, March 13th, 2019
As Grade 6 gets closer and closer for me, there are some things that I need to do in order to get prepared for it.
One of the things that I need to do is course selection. In our school, for Grade 6, we are required to choose a few courses that we want to take.
There are a few required subjects, which include math, science, humanities (reading, writing, and social studies - there is more than 1 subject to cover in humanities class, so it covers 2 parts of our day), P.E. (physical education), and world language. These are the core subjects that we are required to take. They all cover 6 parts of our day - six 45 mins classes (we don't have all the core classes every day). For world language, I think that I'll take Spanish, as I've studied Spanish for 6 years already, and I don't want to give it up. I'll probably be taking Chinese after school.
But the core subjects aren't the only subjects that we take. We also have "wheel" subjects, which rotate every trimester. Health and Drama are required, but we get to choose from art or service learning. I think that I'm going to choose service learning, because in service learning, we get to work on a project that contributes to the community and put it to action. Each "wheel" subject lasts 1 trimester (basically semester, but there are 3 semesters - trimesters).
Other than that, we are required to do music. I want to continue playing the clarinet instead of learning a new instrument, so I think that I'm going to do junior band (after beginning band - I think advanced band is for 8th graders). I can also choose choir or strings, but I don't really want to do those activities.
We're going to be getting our schedules for Grade 6 near the end of May. I wonder how my schedule's going to be like, but I do hope that it's not to hard to memorize! I'm looking forward to starting Grade 6!
One of the things that I need to do is course selection. In our school, for Grade 6, we are required to choose a few courses that we want to take.
There are a few required subjects, which include math, science, humanities (reading, writing, and social studies - there is more than 1 subject to cover in humanities class, so it covers 2 parts of our day), P.E. (physical education), and world language. These are the core subjects that we are required to take. They all cover 6 parts of our day - six 45 mins classes (we don't have all the core classes every day). For world language, I think that I'll take Spanish, as I've studied Spanish for 6 years already, and I don't want to give it up. I'll probably be taking Chinese after school.
But the core subjects aren't the only subjects that we take. We also have "wheel" subjects, which rotate every trimester. Health and Drama are required, but we get to choose from art or service learning. I think that I'm going to choose service learning, because in service learning, we get to work on a project that contributes to the community and put it to action. Each "wheel" subject lasts 1 trimester (basically semester, but there are 3 semesters - trimesters).
Other than that, we are required to do music. I want to continue playing the clarinet instead of learning a new instrument, so I think that I'm going to do junior band (after beginning band - I think advanced band is for 8th graders). I can also choose choir or strings, but I don't really want to do those activities.
We're going to be getting our schedules for Grade 6 near the end of May. I wonder how my schedule's going to be like, but I do hope that it's not to hard to memorize! I'm looking forward to starting Grade 6!
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Slice Of Life #164 - At School - Tuesday, March 12th, 2019
Currently, I am at school writing this slice. Today, Linnea and James are doing announcements. Instead of listening to them, I am typing this slice *don't get mad*.
45 mins later...
I am now outside my Spanish class and waiting for my teacher to come back from the toilet and start the class.
Toby, my friend, is sitting next to me playing Nitro Type and is currently losing. The Chinese class next to me has started already, but my class has not started yet.And, Toby is now raging because he is doing horrible in the game.
Now, I am watching Tiago and Adam walk towards me. Tiago said that he would be doing Slice of Life once a week for the rest of the year. I don't know if he's going to keep to his word, but maybe he will.
Wait... I have to go to class now.
After School...
School is now over, and I am now sitting in the car.
During recess today, in my opinion, the teams were pretty unfair, but somehow we beat them 3-2. At first, we were losing 0-2, but then we scored 3 times in a row and won.
If the teachers didn't forget to call us to go and eat lunch when our recess ended (They called us late), we would have lost 0-2.
I could have scored a goal, but unfortunately didn't manage to score.
Roan was standing in front of me, trying to defend the ball. I had had the ball at the time, and tapped the ball to the right using the side of my foot and kicked it tiwards the goal. The ball was on target, but it was going sttaight for Tiago, so all Tiago had to do was to bend down and pick the ball up.
I'm happy that doing Slice of Life is also now part of my homework, so by doing this I have already done part of my homework.
Gotta complete my homework now!
Friday, November 23, 2018
The Glow of Lights - Wednesday, 21/11/2018
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| An LED lightbulb Credits: https://goo.gl/images/sqE5yw |
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| My happy face when we got the LED lightbulb to light up. |
But what's the science behind the click? After all, it may be easy to press the button, but hard to understand the science behind it. That's what we learned a few days ago, on Monday. When we went down to the science lab, we grabbed a box with an index card, foil, a round battery, a LED lightbulb, and a piece of tape. We had to use all of this to construct a flashlight, or some thing that could light up when we pressed it, at least. Foil is a conductor of electricity, and we can use the foil as a wire. Because of that, I cut a small strip of foil and taped it to the long end of the led lightbulb, which was the positive end. Then, I cut another small strip of foil and taped it (lightly) to the negative end of the lightbulb, which was the shorter end. After that, I pressed the foil harder so it would light up. And it did!
From this activity, I was able to learn about how flashlights work, and was able to build one (that you can't really hold easily - lol). This is the world of wonders, and this is the perfect time to discover it.
Efficient Energy - Wednesday, October 21st, 2018
Grade 5 is the grade where you learn about sustainable energy. In our school, we get lots of experiences where it's not possible to define them - it's too good. Today, we had Mr. Hector Ingram come to our school. Mr. Hector Ingram is from Aberdeen, Scotland, and this was his 5th year coming to our school to talk to us about sustainable and renewable energy. He has lived in Malaysia for 15 years now. I thought that his slideshows were really good because it included some interaction between him and us instead of him lecturing us - which never happens at this school, anyway.
He also talked to us about biofuels. I learned that the energy of biofuels came from plants, and he introduced us to "fast grass", which is REALLY FAST GROWING GRASS. They would burn the fast grass and use it to make electricity. At the end, he let us keep the seeds of fast grass (but I kept it in my pants but forgot to take it out, and I think I left it in the washing machine, and I hope my mom didn't wash it.) Apparently they are edible, which I think are cool.
I think that Mr. Ingram came here to grow the fast grass, as they can only be grown in the tropics and Malaysia is in the tropics.
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| Credits: https://goo.gl/images/tXDz6b |
He also talked to us about wind energy. Mr. Ingram's family also owns a wind farm in Scotland with 8 turbines. I found out that the costs of building a wind turbine were quite high, as the small ones costed about $2 billion, while the big ones costed $2.5 billion.
One of the questions asked was: "How long does it take to earn back the money that you spend to make the wind turbines?"
"About 7-8 years." Mr. Ingram replied.
Wow! I thought. It's going to take a while a while to earn all that money back!
He also talked to us about how the wind turbines generate electricity and make money. I learned that the more revolutions a minute the the turbine turns, the more electricity it generates. In order to make profit, you need to have a wind speed of at least 48 kph. If the wind speed was too high, the wind turbines would automatically adjust to be able to get the most amount of electricity. But if the turbines were made of metal, why wouldn't lightning be able to harm it? We found out that there was a lightning rod at the top of the wind turbine and that there were really strong insulators by the turbine, so even if someone was touching the turbine, the person would be perfectly okay. And then came the question: "Why are there no wind turbines in Malaysia."
Even though the wind during the monsoon season in Malaysia had winds faster than the amount required to make profit, you can't just have a wind turbine turning for 1/2 a year. It wouldn't be able to make much profit, as normal turbines only turn 80% of the time.
I thought that Mr. Ingram's presentation was great, and he really knew about the topic. I loved the idea of wind energy, but it would take a while for everywhere on Earth to use it. I believe that in the upcoming future, we will be using that sustainable energy so we stop using as many fossil fuels and can make our Earth a better place.
One of the questions asked was: "How long does it take to earn back the money that you spend to make the wind turbines?"
"About 7-8 years." Mr. Ingram replied.
Wow! I thought. It's going to take a while a while to earn all that money back!
He also talked to us about how the wind turbines generate electricity and make money. I learned that the more revolutions a minute the the turbine turns, the more electricity it generates. In order to make profit, you need to have a wind speed of at least 48 kph. If the wind speed was too high, the wind turbines would automatically adjust to be able to get the most amount of electricity. But if the turbines were made of metal, why wouldn't lightning be able to harm it? We found out that there was a lightning rod at the top of the wind turbine and that there were really strong insulators by the turbine, so even if someone was touching the turbine, the person would be perfectly okay. And then came the question: "Why are there no wind turbines in Malaysia."
Even though the wind during the monsoon season in Malaysia had winds faster than the amount required to make profit, you can't just have a wind turbine turning for 1/2 a year. It wouldn't be able to make much profit, as normal turbines only turn 80% of the time.
I thought that Mr. Ingram's presentation was great, and he really knew about the topic. I loved the idea of wind energy, but it would take a while for everywhere on Earth to use it. I believe that in the upcoming future, we will be using that sustainable energy so we stop using as many fossil fuels and can make our Earth a better place.
Friday, November 16, 2018
What We Train Our Brain To Do - Friday, 16/11/2018
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| Credits: https://goo.gl/images/o5rKuk |
This year, Ms. Stone, our counselling teacher showed us a really cool video of the people competing in the Para-Olympics. They were singing a song where they kept saying that they were the super-humans, which I agree with. In this video, they performed lots of amazing stunts, and I have to say, I cannot do better than them. They came sliding down really high places and did lots of flips in a WHEELCHAIR. You have to listen to this song. There are so many cool stunts and the music is really good.
We also learned about neural pathways, and that if we keep working on doing something really well, we can do it. Say that if I practiced a musical instrument every day for 1 hour, every day my neural pathways for playing the piano would improve. Currently, I am working to improve in playing my clarinet, as I want to get a gold belt star as soon as possible. Because I am working hard, I now have 3 more belts to pass in order to get a gold belt star (I passed a belt today).
Overall, I think I am doing pretty well on having a growth mindset. If I was to rate myself on how well I am having a growth mindset, I would rate myself 4/5 stars. Throughout all these amazing years, I have learned a lot about having a growth and fixed mindset and now try to have a growth mindset at all times.
Electricity in Our Body - Thursday, 15/11/2018
Yesterday, we had a really fun activity where we experimented with Makey-Makey's. I thought the activity was really fun and really used a lot of our brain power (which is good, by the way - in my opinion, at least). During Science time, our technology teacher, Mr. Katz, brought a few Makey-Makey's to show us and let us experiment with them. We had to connect the Makey-Makey's to the computer, and make a sound with it. There was a Makey-Makey software, where we could play songs with it by pressing the keys (it was a small piano with 6 notes) . Our 1st challenge was to make sounds on the "piano" without touching the keyboard. After about 3 minutes of messing around, we found out that all we had to do was to make the wires with "alligator clips" touch the metal parts on the top side of the Makey-Makey, which were labeled Earth. Different sounds would be produced as the different wires touched the Earth area.
Our next challenge took a long time to figure out. We had to find out how to make sounds on the piano without touching the Makey-Makey, but just touching the tip of the wires. After connecting every wire to the Makey-Makey, there was one wire left, and that was the yellow wire. We took the yellow wire and attached it to the Earth section. Because 2 wires were able to transfer electricity to each other, when we made the metal tips of 2 wires touch, they made a sound on the piano. But that's constantly holding the key down, and if it's constantly holding the key down, I can only make one sound! I thought. I told my teammates what I thought.
"At least it's a start..." Hwan, my teammate said.
My other teammate, Ivan, began messing around, connecting all the wires together, trying to find out a way to pass the electricity from one wire to the other, making the piano on the computer sound. Then it worked. But how? Then we realised. Water is a good conductor of electricity, and our body is composed of mostly water, which meant that our body was the thing that was transferring the electricity to the other clip to make a sound!
"Congratulations," Mr. Herbert, my homeroom teacher said. He walked up to the front of the class and grabbed an orange basket with holes. The basket was filled with vegetables and other things. "Sort out the things in here that conduct electricity, and the ones that don't. Because we knew that things with water conducted electricity, we were able to sort it out fast.
Next, we connected clips to the objects, and touched the objects to make sounds on the computer. I managed to play the really good sounding band song we are currently playing - we are going to be playing it at the concert.
After coming back from our 5 minute break (for us to go to the toilet and talk to our friends), Mr. Herbert showed us things that he called energy sticks. When he touched both ends of the energy sticks, they would light up because the energy was going through your body. In other words, you were completing the circuits. I thought that even if the whole class held hands, the sticks would light up.
When we all held hands together, the energy sticks lit up. YES! I was correct! We did the same thing with 2 sticks, and the 2 energy sticks lit up also!
Throughout this lesson, I learned a lot of valuable things. It never came to my mind that energy could flow through my body, but now I know that my little body is capable to doing many things!
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| A Makey-Makey (it actually is called a Makey-Makey for a reason that I don't know) is basically a circuit board. |
"At least it's a start..." Hwan, my teammate said.
My other teammate, Ivan, began messing around, connecting all the wires together, trying to find out a way to pass the electricity from one wire to the other, making the piano on the computer sound. Then it worked. But how? Then we realised. Water is a good conductor of electricity, and our body is composed of mostly water, which meant that our body was the thing that was transferring the electricity to the other clip to make a sound!
"Congratulations," Mr. Herbert, my homeroom teacher said. He walked up to the front of the class and grabbed an orange basket with holes. The basket was filled with vegetables and other things. "Sort out the things in here that conduct electricity, and the ones that don't. Because we knew that things with water conducted electricity, we were able to sort it out fast.
Next, we connected clips to the objects, and touched the objects to make sounds on the computer. I managed to play the really good sounding band song we are currently playing - we are going to be playing it at the concert.
After coming back from our 5 minute break (for us to go to the toilet and talk to our friends), Mr. Herbert showed us things that he called energy sticks. When he touched both ends of the energy sticks, they would light up because the energy was going through your body. In other words, you were completing the circuits. I thought that even if the whole class held hands, the sticks would light up.
When we all held hands together, the energy sticks lit up. YES! I was correct! We did the same thing with 2 sticks, and the 2 energy sticks lit up also!
Throughout this lesson, I learned a lot of valuable things. It never came to my mind that energy could flow through my body, but now I know that my little body is capable to doing many things!
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Flowing Swiftly Like Water - 13/11/2018
Throughout the week (or 2 weeks, maybe), we worked on learning about energy and circuits. Because we were in the "Sustainable Energy" unit, our teacher arranged times for us to go to the science lab below us (if you drilled a hole below our class, you would have to walk only a few meters to get to the science lab).
In the first class, we learned about circuits. A circuit is a little like a circle, and is used to pass the current of electricity along. We had a box, where we had to figure out how to use some wires, a battery, and make a bulb light up. Because I had never done it before, I found it a little challenging at first (like, the very, very, first - I know it doesn't make sense), but I got the hang of it and found out how to make it work. After that, we had to find out how to make the bulb brighter with 2 batteries. Ok, yes, it was pretty obvious. We just used 4 clippers and connected it to one lightbulb. 2 batteries would be able to power up a lightbulb and make it brighter. Ok, after everyone was done connecting the 2 batteries to the lightbulb (It only made it slightly brighter), we had to make the bulb even brighter. Because we had joined forces, we now had 8 clippers to use, and we had already used 4. My partner, James, thought "More electrons, more light. The clippers are used to let electrons pass, so all we have to do is add extra clippers!" It worked. After completing all these activities, we had to do some paperwork. (Sometimes I just wish we can just do fun things and not do paperwork - LOL) After 2 days, we went down for the science lab again for our 2nd activity - learning about how switches work. We had everything we used in the 1st activity, but we had a cardboard, 2 fasteners, and a paper clip. Because I already knew a little about conductors of electricity, it was pretty easy for me. We just had to put the paper clips through the fasteners, and poke the 2 fasteners through the cardboard. Under the cardboard, we put the clippers at the end of the fasteners so we can ensure that the fasteners don't fall off, and the electricity gets passed onto the fasteners, which are conductors of electricity. Paper clips are made of metal, and metal is a conductor of electricity, so it can pass the current of electricity to the clippers, which will transfer the electricity to the lightbulb so it can light up. If you pull the paper clip upwards, you would brake the circuit, and the lightbulb would turn off.
In the 3rd and final activity, we worked on "circuit puzzles". We all had a "booklet", which had names of fruits on them. This was so we could see what puzzles we had already done, and which puzzles we needed to work on. On the top, there were holes. We could see foil in some of the holes, and in some of the holes, there were no foil, so it was black. The foil was connected to other holes, and we had to use 2 clippers and touch the parts with foil to see which parts were connected and which parts were not. If the foil was connected, the lightbulb would light up, indicating that the circuit was complete. Your goal was to find all the places where the foil was connected, write down what you think, and flip the first page to see what was under. If you was correct, you would get happiness, and if you was wrong, it was okay.
From these 3 classes, I learned that things as simple as a paper clip and cardboard can make lots of things happen. Small things really have the potential to make a miracle.
In the first class, we learned about circuits. A circuit is a little like a circle, and is used to pass the current of electricity along. We had a box, where we had to figure out how to use some wires, a battery, and make a bulb light up. Because I had never done it before, I found it a little challenging at first (like, the very, very, first - I know it doesn't make sense), but I got the hang of it and found out how to make it work. After that, we had to find out how to make the bulb brighter with 2 batteries. Ok, yes, it was pretty obvious. We just used 4 clippers and connected it to one lightbulb. 2 batteries would be able to power up a lightbulb and make it brighter. Ok, after everyone was done connecting the 2 batteries to the lightbulb (It only made it slightly brighter), we had to make the bulb even brighter. Because we had joined forces, we now had 8 clippers to use, and we had already used 4. My partner, James, thought "More electrons, more light. The clippers are used to let electrons pass, so all we have to do is add extra clippers!" It worked. After completing all these activities, we had to do some paperwork. (Sometimes I just wish we can just do fun things and not do paperwork - LOL) After 2 days, we went down for the science lab again for our 2nd activity - learning about how switches work. We had everything we used in the 1st activity, but we had a cardboard, 2 fasteners, and a paper clip. Because I already knew a little about conductors of electricity, it was pretty easy for me. We just had to put the paper clips through the fasteners, and poke the 2 fasteners through the cardboard. Under the cardboard, we put the clippers at the end of the fasteners so we can ensure that the fasteners don't fall off, and the electricity gets passed onto the fasteners, which are conductors of electricity. Paper clips are made of metal, and metal is a conductor of electricity, so it can pass the current of electricity to the clippers, which will transfer the electricity to the lightbulb so it can light up. If you pull the paper clip upwards, you would brake the circuit, and the lightbulb would turn off.
In the 3rd and final activity, we worked on "circuit puzzles". We all had a "booklet", which had names of fruits on them. This was so we could see what puzzles we had already done, and which puzzles we needed to work on. On the top, there were holes. We could see foil in some of the holes, and in some of the holes, there were no foil, so it was black. The foil was connected to other holes, and we had to use 2 clippers and touch the parts with foil to see which parts were connected and which parts were not. If the foil was connected, the lightbulb would light up, indicating that the circuit was complete. Your goal was to find all the places where the foil was connected, write down what you think, and flip the first page to see what was under. If you was correct, you would get happiness, and if you was wrong, it was okay.
From these 3 classes, I learned that things as simple as a paper clip and cardboard can make lots of things happen. Small things really have the potential to make a miracle.
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