The Great Egg Parachute Challenge!

As part of our Inquiry learning about Inventions, we have been learning about Leonardo Da Vinci. He invented many different machines and contraptions, most of which no one knew about until after he died as he had kept them hidden. On his death he left his notebooks to an apprentice who shared them with the world. We learned that he wrote a lot of his ideas in code or used mirror writing. Tamati tried some mirror writing at home and brought it to school - great job Tamati! It is pretty tricky!
One of Leonardo's inventions was a parachute. Mrs Jackson set a challenge for Room 1 & 2. We had to create a parachute that would protect an egg when it was dropped from the highest part on the playground. Because Leonardo had to work with limited material, so did we! We used - one plastic bag, 3 pieces of string, a sheet of newspaper and 10 pieces of sellotape.
Our values this term are 'Integrity & Inclusion'.This challenge was a great opportunity for the seniors to work with the juniors and vice versa, building relationships and working cooperatively. We focused on listening to each other's ideas and making sure that everyone was included in the creating and testing of our parachutes.
It was great to see and hear everyone being enthusiastic, encouraging and working together.
Here are some photos from our challenge.

Elsie and Evie all smiles as they work on their invention

Nathan and Cooper showing great concentration

Wiremu and Michael putting on the final touches

Oh no Elsie! Its an egg-cident!

Amber and Max's interesting invention

Seth and James used a modified paper plane in their invention

Tom & Madeleine had a very technical design!

Like any great inventor we had to test our prototype. We had some successes and some failures but we know that all inventors need to have great perseverance. We had great fun counting down to each egg drop and then rushing to see if it had worked! (please note - some eggs were hurt during testing)

Tamati and Jack M showed great team work with their invention

The before...

And the after - oops! 

Shakira, Ethan and Sean's invention was a success!

Ryan and Jack G made a great parachute!

It's national Road Safety Week and the focus this year is on driver distractions. We will be exploring road safety at school this week. This will include revisiting bike safety guidelines and rules for pedestrians. This morning Room 2 walked around school and identified any hazards. We talked about the driveway, the car park and the intersection. We talked about how to get to school safely and things we should be looking out for.
Here are some safety rules that we have come up with so far:

• Stay on the left side of the road if walking or biking
• Always use the footpath
• Always wear a helmet when you are biking or scootering
• Look both ways before crossing the road
• Get off your bike and walk when crossing the road
• Never jaywalk!

We also talked about the importance of having our 'ears and eyes' open - listen and look. We will be adding to our safety rules over the week.
Post a comment and add some more ideas for us!