Otaki college China day

Before the holidays the year 7 and 8s went round other classes in a rotation. Each class we went to was a different thing from china. There was calligraphy, kung fu, fan dancing, tai chi and music. First we did calligraphy which I found hard but practising made it easier to remember and write. Next we did fan dancing, which was surprisingly fun but still really challenging. With fan dancing there is lots of different fans and difficult moves. We managed to get half way through the dance but it was really fun. That was all for the first day.

The next day we started with music which taught us about the guzheng. We played Mary had a little lamb on the guzheng and started learning twinkle twinkle little star. but then we ran out of time. Next we had kung fu we got to see many chinese weapons (practice versions) and the teacher showed us some. Also to do with kung fu we practices a little routine with punches and jump kicks. This was also very fun since you got to see the weapons and how they're used. Finally we did tai chi which is all about your inner energy. this was pretty had to do since it required a lot of balance and flexibility. In the end we learnt a lot about china and things people do their, it was a fun two days.

Otaki Youth Centre

On Wednesday some members of the KCDC came to our class and set up 3 activities. These activities were to find out what our class and other kids would like in a youth centre. Each activity had a question and we would answer with sticky note, sticker and pictures. The class was split into 3 groups and we went to different activities. My group started at an activity where you placed a sticker where you wanted the youth centre to be. A lot of kids put the sticker next to their house. Then we moved on to a task were the question was 1 thing I need and 3 things I want, this required you to grab some slips of paper with pictures and put them in the boxes. If there was no slip for what you want you wrote it down on a stick note. Finally we had to write what we think would happen if there was a youth centre.

At the end we finished as a class doing an activity called blue sky dreaming. In this task you could write whatever you think Otaki needs on a sticky note, and attach it to a big piece of paper. This activity had so many crazy ideas that would be really fun. 

If there was a youth centre in Otaki I would hope for it to have areas that accept all different types of hobbies. Like arts and craft, gaming, sports, board games and cooking. also there could be fun activities to joke around with or have fun. Hopefully, it's easy to meet new people with no one bullying anyone. This will allow people to show there interests with friends and find new friends threw their interests. Also if weekly there were one or two new experiences` for people to try. I can't wait till it is finished.

Math statistics

 MNL have been learning about statistics in math, and we did an investigation about how many hours the students in MNL slept for on friday night. Here is my statistics slide.

Rocket test No.1

 This Thursday MNL went out for our first rocket test. The rules were that you can change the water level and the air pressure up to 60 psi. We were trying to test the best amount of water to add and the air pressure. The goal was to go as far and high as possible. My group was up first and we did 60 psi and 300mls. Here's how it went, 

It turned like most of the other rockets, but there were 2 or 3 that went well. Most of the rockets with less water did well  since there would have been less weight and more air. The one with 50 psi also did well since it wouldn't have gone out of control from the air coming out so fast. Here is my data table about the flights:

Here is a link.

Test flight No	Air pressure	Water amount mls	Notes
1.	60psi	300mls	Went up and did a u-turn.
2.	60psi	500mls	It went high but lost control and started flipping.
3.	60psi	700mls	Started straight but the wind pushed it so it turned.
4.	60psi	200mls	Went well then ran out of water losing its fuel
5.	60psi	150mls	Went great not catching any wind.
6.	50psi	400mls	It went high then the wind pushed it.

After the first 6 flights we put on these plastic fins, to add aerodynamics and stability. The fins helped dramatically doubling the furthest distance and height easily. After a few different attempts with fins we went back to class and had finished our first test.

 After our wind cars we our now starting to make boats, we had to make a diagram on our boats and here is mine. This is the base idea of what I want my sail boat to look like and how its going to work. I'm not to sure how I'm going to make it but I will try to. Here is my design.

Our Unique Wind Car

In the class people in groups of one to five and I was with Zach, we had to make wind cars with paper and card board as the base materials. Then you got three to five bottle caps for the wheels, skewers and straws then if you wanted anything else you asked Megan if you could bring it. After drawing a diagram and making an idea that wouldn't be copied, we started. The first thing we did was draw a sloth on the main paper for no reason. Next I made a big sail since we new we were going to have a big base. After the sail and main paper we made stilts so our car was taller than others. These were connected to the wheel through a straw on top of the wheel straw. The wheels are made by putting a skewer through two bottle caps and a straw, this allows the skewer to rotate around in the straw and the lids. Then you connect the straw to the base. I had trouble making the stilts stay in the same place since the hot glue had ran out, this meant I had to use tape. In the end the stilts ended up really good because them being kinda lose gave me a good angle and suspension. Here is my car and some races.

All about me

For our first blog post this year me and MNL are all doing all about me's. This was a cool activity and is cool to see what all the new kids in my class like. You can also find everyone's profiles on the MNL blog. Their was two that we had to complete and here are mine.

Our board portraits

Over the past few weeks me and my class have been making portraits, the steps to make this were confusing but necessary to make it so realistic and different. In this post I will tell you how to copy the steps and get a portrait like this.

My finished project

Here are the steps:

1. Find a board that you want to paint on and cover it in newspaper, lots of small bits is better than a few big bits.

For this step it takes its time but helps the paint stick so it is necessary.

2. When your glueing on newspaper you have to find 5 to 10 words and glue them on top of the news paper.

The reason for this is that you will always know that these words are inside of you even tho the paint will cover them up.

3. Now you cover up your newspaper with paint making it unique and your own.

For this step I did swirls with different colour schemes making it my own and different.

4. Next you grab your photo and cover the other side of the paper in black pastel. After you finish the pastel you place your photo onto the board and draw over the photo lines. 

Libby's parctice

With this you can practice on a random paper but then you do it on your board and you start to see your face.

5. Finally you paint over the pencil lines with black paint, and paint the background white adding in shapes if you want.

This part you picture really comes to life and you can be proud of your finished product.

For me something that went well was when i finished and i could see all the steps come together and make my potrait.

The most challenging part was painting the lines straight, i had a really shaky hand so this was hard.