Dear Bloggers,

We have started a unit on ‘Playing Soccer’.  The first step was to and program kicking legs to shoot goals. The children added a motion sensor to detect the ball and then we had a competition to see who could kick the ball the furthest.  This involved modifying the program and the design of the legs to get the greatest kick. Measuring and recording the distances incorporated some mathematics. The children carried out fair tests with the only variable being the robotic legs.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Year 3 made birds with flapping wings.  When the wings flapped the tilt sensor triggered a lovely whooshing sound.  The bird had a pivot point so it could  bend down and peck.  The motion sensor strategically placed between its feet sensed the movement and made the bird chirp happily.  Students researched different types of birds and then customised their avian creations to look like their chosen species.  Kookaburras, Cassowaries, Magpies, Parrots and Eagles were some of the birds in our classroom aviary.  The students had lots of fun presenting information reports about their birds with one team member speaking and the other manipulating their bird to ‘act out’  behaviours.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

It was pretty scary for 3C and 2/3A having a  lion that reared up and roared on their desks.  Fortunately they were able to program it to go back down and sleep.  A better solution was to make a bone with a tilt sensor so that the students’ could control the  lion’s actions by throwing the bone at it to eat.

Thanks for calling by

Dear Bloggers,

From our research we discovered that Crocodiles could go without food for one year.  That year was certainly up as the crocodiles in the Lego robotics room were VERY VERY hungry.  Thankfully the talented students of Year 3 came to the rescue by writing programs allowing their crocs to open and close their mouths and munch to eat the food that the students made.  Crocodiles have been around for 200 million years without ever eating junk food – that was until today!!!  Luckily most of the crocs in the classroom had a more traditional diet!!

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

The Drumming Monkey was a very capable percussionist in class today.  His lever arms pivoted on CAM gears and the children investigated how to change his beat by altering the number and orientation of the CAM gears.  The children used the sounds in the computer software and operated them with different keyboard letters to add the Orchestra.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Today the children made and programmed a snapping crocodile.  They used a motion sensor at the back of the crocs mouth to detect the food and then the jaws snapped and the crocodile munched in response to this motion.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Year 3 investigated different types of joints – fixed and flexible.  Students experimented with shapes such as squares, pentagons, hexagons etc  made with  flexible joints.  All the shapes collapsed until we built the humble triangle which is a very strong shape. The next challenge was to build a square and do ‘something to i’t to make it strong.  The answer was bracing and what shape do we brace with??? – triangles of course.  The problem solving activities continued as students  were given a diagram of the scissorhand  shown in the photograph below and asked to build it.  Many pupils were able to  unlock the secrets of a well constructed and straight scissor hand for themselves whilst others needed that bit of extra help. Ask your child what the secrets are?

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Years 3C and 2/3A tweeted in class – certainly not the social media type.  The students made and programmed birds that chirped and tweeted happily as they pivoted on their perches.  This was the first of the WeDo activites and the students were challenged to make the birds spin in the same and opposite directions and at the same and different speeds.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Year 3 were busy last lesson.

The design brief was to design and build a crane that was:

1. stable
2. used a fixed pulley
3. had a self locking mechanism.
4. completed in one hour

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick