Dear Bloggers,

The students skilfully built ‘Crazy Floors’ – a great little ride which is operated by 6 pulleys that can be connected many ways.  The children were challenged to work out and count all the possible combinations.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

 

 

Dear Bloggers,

2AF investigated wheels, friction and what is needed to create a car that can steer.   The students made models with: two fixed axles and ,one fixed axle and one movable axle.  They rolled their cars down a ramp to see the difference and then proposed a hypothesis to explain why.  The difference between wheels and no wheel was also tested.  The students  built a car with a movable front axle with a steering wheel attached to allow it to be manoeuvred.  Did the single black axle joining the wheels or the two separate axle connector pegs produce the best results and why? Lots of discussion and demonstrations occurred before students could determine the best option.  The finale was the building of a city with complex roadways and paths for their highly manoeuvrable, low friction vehicles to move on.

 

 

 

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Dear Bloggers,

2AF were investigating gears to see how they can turn things at different speeds and directions. When making a Merry-Go -Round the children geared up to make it spin as quickly as possible.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for calling by

 

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

2AF came to rescue when they designed and made scary scarecrows to scare away the birds that were eating Sam and Sara’s cherries from the tree.

The scarecrows had to look scary, be stable and have at least one moving part.

Previously in class the students followed instructions to build a ‘Hockey Player’ with gears that moved his arms and ‘Sam’s Dog’ with pulleys that moved his eyes.  Now the children had to apply what they had learnt in these activites and use at least one of these mechanisms in a Scarecrow made by them.

The groups had to assess how scary their scarecrow really was and explain how the moving part kept the birds away.

 

Thanks for calling by

 

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Today 2AF were challenged to design a fan with propellers that moved as fast as possible using gears or pulleys, could be hand turned and had a stable base and free standing.  Students had previously made a simple fan but not with gear chains and a top launcher that used the appropriate gear chain.  Now it was time for them to apply the principals that they had learnt and combine them into a new design.  Many wonderful extras were added such as swivels, double propellers of different sizes to suit the day, seats and even drink holders.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Bloggers,

Last lesson 2AF designed and made a dog with a tail that wagged.  This lesson the students decorated, made collars, leads and name tags for their pampered pooch.  The special canines then spent a wonderful week with their new owners in 2AF’s classroom.  Mrs Fry told me they did not bark once!!

 Wow this canine had an eye on the side of his body for good vision on his right hand side,  lots of seats on his back for transportation and lovely plumage on his tail and head.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for calling by

 

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Year 2 made use of low friction shiny lino floor in our room when they played Ice Hockey…..actually when their Lego Creations played Ice Hockey.  The students built a Ice Hockey player from a picture they were given but the challenge was to form teams and to negotiate and decide on a modified team design.  The different teams then played against each other… but not before designing and building a goal and negiotating and deciding on the rules.  The results were a little noisy but lots of fun.

This photo shows the basic design of the player.

Teams with design modifications made.

 

 Measuring how far the player propelled the puck.

Thanks for calling by

 

Mrs Garlick

 

Dear Bloggers,

2AF made pet dogs that could do tricks with their eyes.  The eyes could move at different speeds and in different directions… but the students’ challenge was to discover why this happened and how they could repeat these movements.  The secret of course lay in the relative sizes of the driver and follower pulley and whether the belt was twisted or not.  Ask your children as they are very good at explaining how the different gearing systems work.

But their dog did not have a tail and certainly not one that waged.  Challenge 2 was to engineer a happy wagging tail and the results were delightful.

Look at the cute gear operated tail.  AWwwwww

 

Thanks for calling by

 

Mrs Garlick