Dear Bloggers,

Today 2A designed and built transportation devices that were able to steer by turning the front axle.  The children then had lots of fun making a city for the vehicles to drive in.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

2LF were given the design brief to make a fan that turned as fast as possible using gears or pulleys, was free standing and could be turned by hand.  This problem solving activity required the students to apply some of the principles they learnt in previous lessons.  The simple wind blown fan taught them how to use and attach the propeller blades and the spinning top launcher had gear chains and gearing up.  It was up to the students to bring all their skills together and create the new masterpiece.  The first successful team below put the fan into the sky like a trophy.  Well done to all!!

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

2A were ‘wheely’ very clever when they investigated friction.  The smiles in the photos tell the story.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

2LF carried out some problem solving and built a bridge that allowed Sam and Sara to cross the crocodile infested water.  The bridge had a span of at least 20cm, was at least 10cm above the water and supported Sam and Sara’s weight.  2LF did a fabulous job.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Last lesson 2LF made a pet dog for their friend Sam.  The dog was very special as he had pulley operated eyes that could rotate at different speeds and directions.  The students tested the different combinations of pulleys and positions of the belt to make the eyes move in the greatest number of ways.  This lesson they designed and made their own pet but it too had to have ‘Crazy eyes’ capable of moving many different ways.

Thanks for calling by

Dear Bloggers,

Year 2 applied what they learnt last lesson and designed and made the ultimate launcher to propel their car the greatest distance.  It was lots of good educational fun and all students exhibited excellent Sportsmanship.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

2LF and 2A designed and made car launchers.  Pupils made two models that were identical except for the size of the propelling axle.  Students predicted which one would work better and carried out experiments to test this.  They measured how far the cars travelled to provide quantitative evidence.  The children were then challenged to create the ultimate launcher and measure the ultimate distance a wheeled device could be propelled.  Students explained what changes they made to create their success.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Today 2A and 2AF designed and built seesaws.  The children investigated different ways to achieve balance and initially we set up the model of equal weights equal distance from the pivot.  We pretended this was a seesaw in the park.  Each student represented themselves as a Lego brick on the seesaw.  The challenge came when another person ‘Barney’ three times their weight wanted to play with them on the seesaw.  How could the children achieve balance  with such a heavy person without adding or removing any weight.  The solution was to move ‘Barney’ in closer to the pivot so the load arm was shorter.  The challenge continued when we pretended that Barney  refused to move.  The new solution was  to  make the see saw longer so the students could move further away from the pivot and increase the  length of the effort arm.  We had lots of fun and applied lots of great Science.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

I hope you enjoyed all the wonderful photos of Year 2 wholeheartedly throwing themselves into their lego lessons.  Today’s challenge was to build a spinning top launcher and to investigate what gear combination made the top move the fastest and  explain why.  Children then carried out their own design modifications with very impressive results.  Free standing launchers that propelled multiple tops simultaneously were created.  One group even made a device that was operated by a very efficient ‘flicking mechanism’. Well done year 2.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick