Good bye Enrich

Today is the last day of Enrich for every year six student here and we probably won't get an opportunity like this again so I have made the most of my time here and I wish that I could be here longer and enjoy this opportunity, learn more and work with other like minds, but that is life. Everyone today has been polishing off their passion projects and making them look great for sharing night. We also finished presenting our affective studies and all of them were great.

As I said before I wish I could be here for longer, but that is life.
 

Clear your mind

This is mandala made the traditional way, out of sand.

Today at Enrich we started to do some mandalas. By the way mandalas are not made by Nelson Mandela they are made by buddhists and they use it as a meditation and prayer tool but once they are finished they sweep it up and pour the sand into rivers, lakes, creeks or the sea. But today we did it for maths and we didn't make our mandalas out of sand like the traditional way, we drew ours. You start off by finding the middle of the paper and you draw a dot ( the seed). Then you can use any shape, letter or symbol you want to, as long as you make it symmetrical. All you have to do is clear your mind don't over think and let it grow like nature does. It grows outwards and then once you have got to the edge of the paper you can go back in and add more detail. It sounds easier than it is, trust me. And one more thing there are no mistakes unless you are careless.

Drip Drop Splat!

This how my virtual drip painting turned out

Today I did some art called drip painting with Katie, this was a style of painting that was originated in World War ll. This is a way of doing abstract painting which is a painting of random colours but looks good. The hard thing about drip painting is knowing when to stop or when to change colour. To do some drip painting you need to never let the paintbrush touch the canvas and be able to control the brush by knowing how to do lines and blotches. To do a line you need to move the brush quickly over the canvas. You also need to saturate the brush in paint so that you have enough paint to create lines and blotches. We also did some virtual drip painting on http://www.jacksonpollock.org. My virtual art is above.

Tech challenge

A very great newspaper chair (not ours)

Today we had a Tech challenge and our challenge was to build a chair out of newspaper . The rules were it had to be a chair, had to hold a wooden frog that weighed about 1.5 kg, it had to be freestanding and you can only use the materials given to you. The materials given to us were: a roll of masking tape and five newspapers. To start are team made a stool which was going to be the base of the chair so the frog would be able to sit in it we then built the chair around it. finally after about 40 minutes our chair was complete and we took it down to the judging area where there were some pretty impressive chairs. There was one that was very strong but it was a triangle and there was another one with a table and one that fell over right on the spot so it was disqualified in the end we won!!!  Based on the judges decision they said that our chair looked great and would've been more comfortable to sit on than a triangle chair.

Impressionism

This is my last day of the term and from now on I will only have 8 days left at Enrich so I'm making the most of it! Today we had a second workshop about impressionism painting and we got to choose what we painted. I chose to paint the picture above because I thought it would be a good picture to paint and I could also change so it looks like my perspective of what it would look like in real life. Impressionism is my favourite style of painting because it doesn't have to be perfect and it can be what your perspective is of the picture in real life.

Impressionism

Claude Monet's most famous painting

Today I went to the second workshop of art with Katie and we studied Claude Monet and his art style: Impressionism. This is a type of art which is done by using a flat brush, mixing colours on the canvas and they way he painted which was "tache" which is French for touch. Today most people were doing a lily pad scene which was water using pretty much all of the colours and then mixing blue and yellow (not on the canvas) to create the lily pads. When you are painting you should always remember to do your lily pads and your water different ways. This gives a great stroke effect. I like the style of art Claude Monet did because nothing has to be perfect and it is your impression of what your painting is about.
 

Affective Study

Today I researched some facts about Michael Jackson for my affective study and I found out heaps of wonderful and weird facts about him. Darryn gave us a criteria we have to meet to be at a certain stage. I am going for the "at" stage (which is the middle stage) because I do not have much free time after school or during the weekends to research. Some of the facts that I found out were that he owned a pet boa constrictor called "Muscles". He also came up with the lyrics for black or white 20 mins before he had to sing it. A survey in 1997 declared that he was the most famous person in the world. This is great because I don't have to explain who he is. (everyone knows him!)

Welding, flame-cutting and grinding!!!

Today Stu (my expert that is helping me build my go kart) came in to take me to SIT to learn how to weld, grind and learn what machines do what and how to use them. First of all we went around all of the machines and tools so I knew what they do and how to use them. Second we went into the welding room and I learnt how to do 2 different kinds if welding. (Stu helped me with this.) The types of welding that I learnt to do were arc welding and MIG welding. I tried welding on a piece of scrap-metal and I got to use a welding mask that was automatic so whenever there was any kind of spark that would damage my eyes there was an automatic shade that allowed me to look at the welding without my eyes becoming sore. After that Stu taught me about flame cutting. (You still have to wear a welding mask for this!) When he was teaching me about flame cutting he taught me ho to make a C which is the first letter of my name. He then helped me do a good C which is the one above for a decoration.

Changing behaviour

Imagine recycling or keeping your seatbelt on while you are in the car for a brilliant reward!

Well that is what we talked about at Jenni's workshop. We talked about changing behaviour in a way that rewards someone or something.We watched 2 videos on a website called fun theory, if you want to look at it here's a link: www.funtheory.com/ 

The first video that we watched was called the bottle bank arcade. The game was put outside a local place to recycle glass. The arcade machine works by flashing lights that sit on top of holes that you can fit your bottles in and you have to put them in before the light stops flashing to get points. At the end of the game it tells you how many points you got and the highest score.

The second video was about an invention called the play belt which teaches kids to keep their seatbelt on while in the car. To work the play belt you follow the screens instructions and then you can use the on screen entertainment device. But if you take your seatbelt off the screen automatically turns off and you can not use it until you put your seatbelt back on.

While I was at Jenni's workshop I learnt that you can change someone or somethings behaviour in different ways.

Expert Help

This is Warren and me having a discussion about my go-kart.

Today Warren (who works at SIT) came in to help me with my go-kart and showed me how he thought it could look like and he told me that he would get me a book of go-karts to see some other designs of karts, steering, braking and loads more. He also wanted me to get some measurements for him so he can see what I am going to be working with. He also told me that I would need to take a trip to SIT so I can see what machines and people I am going to be working with. While I was with Warren I learnt that I can change plans and alter things so they work better.

Behaviours

Do you think about breathing or blinking? Thats just one thing I thought about after Katie's workshop about behaviour patterns today. We also learnt about learned and unlearned behaviours. Learned behaviour is something that you have learned do over time and you are still learning now even if you are an adult. An example is that you learned to go to the toilet when you need to go. Unlearned behaviour are things that you do automatically without thinking, such as: breathing, blinking and sleeping. We also got a page with a whole heap of words on it. We had to put the words into three different categories - thoughts, feelings or behaviours. I put the words into all the right categories and got 100%!!!

B.O.S.S keynote presentation

I suppose you are wondering what B.O.S.S stands for and what it has to do with Enrich? B.O.S.S stands for beauty, order, strength and survivability and all of those categories are the four types of patterns. Patterns is our concept curriculum for terms 1 and 2.

Today I was working on my keynote and it has to include all four types of patterns, and some information of how they fit into that category. So far I am up to doing the strength part of B.O.S.S but I still have heaps of work to do on it

this an example of a pattern of beauty

Flying Sparks!

Here is an example of what was happening when I was grinding

Today Brent (an expert on carpentry) came in to help me with my go-kart. Brent helped me grind the edges off my bumper on the front of the kart with his grinder. The grinder sends out heaps of hot sparks that burn you if they land on you. Next week I need to remember to wear pants so the sparks from the grinder don't burn me, and also so the sandflies don't bite me. We also bolted the deck of the go kart to the frame so I can sit in the go-kart and win the race down Bluff Hill!

Tannenbaums model of giftedness

Today we looked at Tannenbuams model of giftedness.

Tannenbaums model of giftedness is the sea star. The sea star has 5 things that you need to have to be gifted when you are a adult. The things are: Chance such as where you were born and who your parents are, Environmental support which is the environment around you, General ability is just your abilities to do things, Non intellective requisites is pretty much task commitment and special aptitude is that you choose to take opportunities.

So the big message Tannenbaum told us was ability alone does not accomplish anything.

Passion Project

Here is a picture of the base of my kart with the
wheels at the bottom

Passion Time, My favourite part of the day. My passion project as you all now know is designing and building a go-kart. Today I got an all new sketch of my go kart and I also contacted Alison (the principal of Bluff School) to see if I was allowed to enter the go-kart race down the hill. I am still waiting for an email about the details. I also started an email to Warren at SIT to see if anyone is able to come in and help me construct my go-kart to make it more aerodynamic and light so that it will help me win the race!!!

Passion Project

Screech! 

Today we worked on our passion project. I wanted to make a go kart so I put my proposal forward and got a conference so now I'm allowed to move onto the next stage which is planning.

The resources I will need to build a go kart are: wheels (10-12") wood, saw, measuring tape, pedals and a steering wheel.

While I am making my go kart I will learn about aerodynamics and physics to try to make my go kart as fast as possible.

I can't wait to ride it!!!

here is an example of a go kart

 

Cardboard Arcade

Ding Ding Ding!

Caine's Arcade (above)

No that's not the sound of a wrestling match starting! Thats the sound of someone winning at Caine's cardboard arcade.

A nine year old boy who is stuck at his dads used auto parts store in East LA for the holidays decided to create a cardboard arcade. With the prices of $1 for 3 games or $2 for a fun pass which is 500 games,  which is a really good bargain!!!

He started with one simple game with a hoop and a paper ball and he kept on creating new games even though no one was coming to play. But one day a movie maker wanted a new door handle for his car and he saw Caine's cardboard arcade and he thought it was really cool. So he decided to buy a fun pass for Caine's arcade and came back every day to play.

One day the movie maker decided to make a movie about his arcade so he created a surprise flash mob for Caine's arcade. So Caine's Dad took Caine to an arcade. While Caine was away the flash mob arrived at Caine's arcade and wanted to play. Caine got a lot of customers and became very happy.

Caine also was in the newspaper, made the front page of reedit and inspired lots of other kids around the world to make their own arcade.

Polyfest t-shirt design

Today at Enrich we accomplished a T-shirt design for the 2013 Polyfest. Our design had to be original and creative. The theme for this year is "I am part of the community and the community is a part of me". The rules about putting together a design is it can only be two colours: a background colour and the design colour. Last year the t-shirt was purple with green writing on it and it said Polyfest 2013 on it. To be fair I don't really think it was that creative and original. The backdrop for my T-shirt is going to be red korus with black printing on it. Hopefully my design is a winner!!!

PMI

Today we did a PMI about what its like being gifted. PMI stands for Plus, Minus, Interesting. The pluses about being gifted is that I get to come to Enrich, I think differently and I get more oppurtunities  in life. The bad things about being gifted is people think you know everything, sometimes you have to dumb down your coversations and I think differently to other people. The interesting things about being gifted is that you have to develop your gift, and some people I know are gifted but they don't go to Enrich.

Concept Curriculum

Here is an example of a pattern

Today we found out what our concept curriculum is, it is ... PATTERNS!!! We made a list of things items or objects that include patterns or are patterns itself. Some of the ideas we had are...Algebra, clothes, art , nature and loads more. Some people say there are 4 types of patterns: order, strength,beauty and survival. We also looked up "patterns" in the dictionary it said that it was a decorative design, a sequence or repetitive thing.