May the Force Be With You !

May the force be with you !! Do you know what force is ?  We had 5 stations that helped us learn about force. Force is the strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement. The 5 stations were electrical force, elastic force, magnetic force, gravity, and friction. You could look at the pictures below for more information on what we did.

 

 

Here we were using crumpled up pieces of paper to show gravity.   Each time we threw a piece of crumpled paper in the air, gravity would pull it down to the ground. All we were using was a crumpled piece of paper.This was a fun, funny, and coolest experiment.

At this station, we used rulers and elastic rubber bands to test elastic force. What we did was we stretched the rubber band along the ruler and investigated how many cm. it stretched until it snaps or breaks. It was a fun station.

At our third station, we used a couple of science notebooks, a can of sprite , and a pack  of construction paper.With these materials we made a ramp and rolled the sprite bottle down to see how many tiles it went. We stacked the books and put the construction paper on the edge of the books. Then we rolled the sprite bottle down a ramp.What type of force do you think we were using ? Well, make a guess ! We were using friction and gravity. While gravity pulled the can of sprite down the ramp, the texture on the paper created friction and slowed the can down.

  

 In the last station that we went to, we were using magnetic force. All we needed was 15-20 paper clips, a cup, and 2 magnets (try to get strong magnets). We put the paper clips under the cup, facing down and slide the magnets from the bottom to the top of the cup. Try to pick up the cup holding the magnets on the top with all the paperclips inside. This was the coolest experiment of magnetic force.

Rocket Launching! Our Solo Cups Return

   Hello! Today we will be explaining kinetic, potential, and elastic energy. Potential energy is when energy is stored up. Kinetic energy is when potential changes into kinetic (moving) energy. Elastic energy is when you use something made of elastic to move an object. Our class learned a lot about energy from the experiment. Do you think you could try the experiment?  It is very interesting and we hope you enjoy it! H.R.

  Today, we did an experiment on potential energy, and kinetic energy with plastic cups. First, we got a plastic cup and put holes across from each other. Then, we tied rubber bands across the opening. Next, we put down another cup, and put the cup with the rubber bands on top of it. When we push on the cup with the rubber bands, it  stores potential energy. Then, when you let go, it releases kinetic energy, and launches the cup into the air. This is one way to show potential and kinetic energy. Are you going to try this experiment? If you do, I hope you enjoy it!    T.C.

First Lego League

                

      In First Lego League,FLL, we have to do tasks that relate to the topic. Right now we went to the Regionals Competition and we also went to the State Competition. FLL stands for First Lego League and we focus on four topics. We focus on Robot Game, Robot Design, Core values, and Project.

      In Robot Game we have to make a robot to complete the missions given to us. The missions are based on the topic which is Nature’s Fury. Nature’s Fury is about natural disasters so the missions are based on natural disasters. In the competition we have four tries to do the missions as planned. One of the tries is a practice round while the other three are real rounds. We have to program the robot to complete our missions with a programming tool.

      In Robot Design, we have to explain the features about our robot. Our team made a board for Robot Design. The board shows the features of the robot and the programs of the robot. The programmers in our team explained the programs developed for the robot to the judges. The other team members explained the robot’s design and different attachments.
        

     Core values is all about gracious professionalism and how good our team works together. In the competition, the judges tested us by making us work as a team to solve a problem which was given to us at the time of judging. Core values, it shows how strong OR weak our team is and how positive OR negative our team is. Core values are also judged throughout the competition.

              

        

       Project is the research that we did about the topic given by FLL, which was “Nature’s Fury” this year. Since the topic was about natural disaster we selected “Hurricanes” as our research topic. We had to come up with a problem people face during a hurricane. The problem we chose was “How to locate people trapped under debris”. Our solution was a gadget “Locatron LF Infinity” which could locate people trapped under debris by flashing lights, beeping sounds, and transmission of a signal.

             

    We won a 2^nd place award for Robot Game at the State Championship held in James Madison University in Harrisonburg.

Jamestown

When we went on a field trip to James town . We saw the Susan Consent we saw the beds,what they eat and the cannons and a whole lot more just on the ship.We saw long houses we saw canoes made from a tree we also saw chickens we also saw buildings that the colonist went in we also armor, tobacco , the fort and we saw how the Indians planted and how they made stuff out of deer skin. My favorite part was going on the ship and seeing cool stuff that I talked about.

Wow! What a fun trip.But, the map above was GIGANTIC! Huge! If you look closely, you will see the route of the ship that came from England to Jamestown. Isn't that awesome? I mean, who could track the ships correctly? Well, its a hard job. We learned lots of things from that one map.What an awesome start for our trip to Jamestown!

                                                                            -SR

This is a bedroom on the ship that was in Jamestown. As you see the beds are very small.They are even more uncomfortable. No one in our class would want to sleep there!There is very little room in the bedroom.You can not put a lot of personal items in here. So living in this bedroom is hard.Wow! I did not think it would be this bad. But it was still a nice place to visit!

                                                                        -SR

               At Jamestown we went on a model of the ship, Susan Constant on the James river.  The ship was not big at all.  On the real journey, they had to fit 144 people down there!  In this picture is one of the beds.  The beds were wooden and hard.  The mattress was thin and hardly made it any softer.  The bed wasn't big.  When we went down there wasn't a lot of beds.  It was cool to see the ship and it wasn't what I expected.

              Hello! Our class just recently went to Jamestown and I'm going to tell you about the Susan Constant they made. They had 2 beds below decks. The stairs leading below decks were very steep. the below decks were also very plain. This is all I remember about the Susan Constant.  T.C.

The ships in the back, recreated the journey between England the Jamestown to commemorate the 400th year anniversary.

When we went to Jamestown,we saw a canoe. It is not exactly like the canoes that we have today, all nice and polished and store bought.The Powhatan's are the one who made them. The canoes were water-proof and were one of their modes of transportation.The canoes were made of wood. They were still plain brown. They mostly used canoes for fishing, hunting, and a lot of wars and traveling.The canoes were very long. They could fit about ten Powhatan men. I think the canoe would not be the best in the world, but it is pretty much fine as long as they can travel good with it. They didn't really have much back then when the Powhatan

lived.  

     Hello! My name is Jody. I am going to tell you about the Long Canoe.

     W-O-W! This canoe is a small one. The tour said that there was even bigger one. It could fit 21 people in it! This the girls' picture.

     This canoe is made out of a Cyprus tree, and the tour guide said these are good in water. We got to stand or squat into the canoe. It was AWESOME!

                                                                                J.C.  -

Our class visited Jamestown for our field trip and I am going to tell you about the English church .   

The colonists had to go to church once a week . There was a area with a speashell  chair with a stool ,a man would sit in the chair and keep his papers on the stool

In our trip to Jamestown, we went to James Fort and we got to wear the armor the colonists had to wear. I was one of the people who got to wear the armor. When I wore the armor it felt a little heavy on me. The helmet looked sort of like a farmers hat except it was made out of something else, iron. I wonder how heavy it was for the people in the 1600's. A.Y

At Jamestown we did many cool things. One of them was that we got to put on armor. The armor was very hard and heavy. When the armor got hit by an arrow it didn't hurt a single bit.I think the armor was very protective. It would be hard to run in but it was still very protective. It would be more protective if you had the armor on your whole body but it would be very heavy.

When I was at Jamestown I got to put on the armor the colonists wore. I put on their  hats and the armor they put on their chests . The hat was huge and it sort of looked like a triangle. It had a circular border poking out of the bottom. The chest armor had a part of it in the middle that came out so if an arrow hit it it would go to a side. It was heavy and sort of  warm. The hat and chest armor was made out of metal. It was really cool to put on exact replica of what the colonists wore.                                                                 

When I put on the armor it was very heavy and I thought it must have been very hard to be a solder 

in the older times. I wondered how in the world could something so small be so heavy? 

Anyway I rely enjoyed it so much but I don`t know how the real solders would have liked it. 

J.M.M                                                                                                                                

     When I went to Jamestown I got to try on the colonist armor! It was so cool, but very heavy.The armor felt like it was 100,000 pounds!The armor was very small so it didn't fit me. It was so fun! N.N.

 

My class and all the forth grade went to Jamestown.We went to the prehistoric site we saw a lot of cool stuff. A guy shot a gun that the colonized used back then.But my favorite part was the heavy armor!That armor was so heavy it was hard to walk in the armor.I can not believe they had to ware them.I hope you enjoy it!        

When I went to colonial Jamestown I put on a suit of armor.The colonists used this armor to fight.I thought that the armor was heavy.When you put it on you feel hot because the sun's rays is directly pointing at you.The armor was made out of metal.That why it felt so heavy.The armor was very shiny and brown.When the American Indians shoot arrows the armor would deflect them.That's the armor they used to fight with in colonial Jamestown. A.B 

When I went to Jamestown, I saw the Powhatan village and went inside their homes. Inside we sat on animal fur and that is what they would sit on and sleep on. There would be animal skin hanging inside and if it was the chief there would be a bears skin and fur. It was built with something like straw.The door was a big open whole and when you where inside it would not get close.

When we went to Jamestown we saw how the Powhatan dug. My class was chosen to try to dig up the ground. The tour guide picked a couple of people to try it out. The tour guide taught us how we dig with the big stick. We all took turns using the stick. It was pretty hard because the ground was a bit hard. It still worked though, we made a little hole with the stick. It was hard work digging up dirt with a stick. After we were done we moved on with the tour. J.H

Digging with a stick was really hard to do because there was allot of rocks on the floor. The guider said that digging with a stick back then was like playing a XBOX 360 but at the same time. I liked it because I got used to it. I think it was hard for Judy too :D.

A.R

I went to Jamestown with my classmates and teacher. I really loved it there when it was my turn to do something. What I had to do was get a shell and rub off the deer fur off the deer skin. After my turn was over. My guide told me I did a pretty good job. It was hard, but it was also exciting.          U.V

When we got to Jamestown we saw our tour guide, he was very funny and nice. He told us lots of fun
information. He let us do stuff that the natives and colonists did like go into ships and shed REAL deer skin.It was lots of fun to learn with him. E.B.