Seabury School Alchemists: September 2016

The MakerSpace is one of Seabury's great new additions and very popular with all the classes, including the Alchemists. This week we had time to go to the MakerSpace and some of the kids were working on a car model complete with padded seats, gear shift and radio.

Most of the kids got into the shelves of used electronics we have available for taking apart. Educational? You bet. Not only did they look at how the radios, disc drives and CD players worked but they also learned how to use hand tools, a valuable life skill. Many of them started the session not knowing the difference between types of screw drivers or how to use wire cutters but by the time they were done they were all feeling very confident. And we got a bunch of new wire and circuit boards to use for future projects!

On Thursday we went to the Middle School and took a long walk to Wright Park. Why did we go to Wright Park? The Alchemists explain:

"We went to Wright Park so we could learn about the history of Wright Park. We also went to see what the city pays for."

"I think we walked to the park because it was run by the city. The city wanted to have a place for kids to have fun and play."

"Yesterday we went to Wright Park because we are studying Tacoma's budget and expenses. We also went because it was one of the first public parks in Tacoma."

"We went to Wright Park to go on on a nice walk. We also talked about the city of Tacoma."

"We went to Wright Park to try and find things that the city ran. We found things like the roads, power poles, and parks like Wright Park. It was interesting to learn about this. I hope we can go further into this topic."

The Alchemists are now quite comfortable at the Middle School and love going out to lunch at the Farmer's Market.

We ended the week with Grandparents/Special Friends Day. We had many visitors and the Alchemists got to be guides before they shared math, the computer lab, book fair and MakerSpace. And there was cake which makes any event a success! Thanks for coming Grandparents and Special Friends!

As much as possible, we ask the students to write about things we are studying. However, we asked the students to write about something they made in the MakerSpace for a quick assessment of their writing. Here is what they made and their writing about them.

The legendary flash drive

Ding dong who’s there? It’s your dad. "How is it going on your finding the legendary flash drive?” Not yet but there was one more place. Where? Greenland. Can I go? Sure but this will be a very dangerous quest. You must be ready for anything. Ok lets go. By the way, you’re paying for the flight. Lets go.

Credits

Author Samuel

Creator Samuel

Back to scene

Ok I found this note but I can’t read it.

Hey there in an Easter egg beneath the Greenland castle.

Ok we're in Greenland but I can’t find it. Wait there’s a castle. You're right. Lets go. Boom! What is that? It’s a guard. Run! You stop. I must find the flash drive. He’s trying to hurt us. You got any tools? Hey I have a pen. Throw it at him for distraction. It’s a smoke pen. Even better. We can do this. Flash! There it is. The hole we fell in was under the castle in an Easter egg so that’s what the note said.

The Magic Box

Hi my name is Sandy. I just got off work today and it was a very hot day so I went for a beach walk with my dog Gunner. Gunner was a police dog. So we were walking and Gunner found something in the sand. It was like a jewelry box of some sort. It had a bracelet, and earrings, and necklaces. It was crazy cool. It had a note on the bottom. The note said who shall find this jewelry box will have great riches for the rest of your life. The box is also magic and it will send you to the future. And that was all the note said. And she was rich for ever. And she lived happily ever after.

THE HAMMER

Once there was a blacksmith who wanted to make the best hammer in the world. He wanted to sell it to the mining company. He got started right away. Day after day he would work. Then on the 16^th day he finished the HAMMER. He sold it for $100,000,000,000.

Once upon a time in a land far far away...There were two kingdoms one human and one furry. Mankind wanted to conquer the land of furry to get the very powerful and very ancient artifact that was known by the name of Ichowimi.

The king brought together two other kingdoms. On December 16th he had his son come over. Then the next day they got all geared up and left to conquer the land of Ichowimi. When they met up with the furries there was a 3 year war. At the end of the war there were a lot of men and furries on the ground dead. Sadly the king died and the furry queen was also dead. The only human that was alive was the king's son. No furries were alive. The boy went into a cave to rest. They had a lot of wounds and could barely walk.

In the morning he saw something glowing deeper in the cave. He followed it and found the artifact of Ichowimi. He brought it home to his mother and she was very sad her husband the king was dead. But then in no time she was happy because her son found the artifact of Ichowimi.

The Unfinished Robot

There once was a robot. He had no name, no heart, and he only had one leg. This happened because his toy maker had passed away. He was a friendly old man, his smile was worth millions of smiles. When he was making the robot he died and did not complete the robot. Although the man did have magical toy powers and he used them on the robot. The robot had no friends despite his friendliness. Every shop that found him would put him on clearance for 99 cents and even after that he would get thrown away, if he did not sell in a couple of days. Until today. When he was thrown to the curb he met a bunch of not finished toys. The robot said, "What is your name?" The stinky torn up teddy said Stinky. The other animal said Twinky, they were twins, one was blue and one was pink. They started walking and the teddies said follow me, the robot waddled over to them and followed. "Where are we going?" he said. To a toy maker who can fix us. "Really!" exclaimed the robot. "Actually we are here," said the pink teddy. When they walked in the toy maker's shop. He said "Okay which of you two are going to be my last customers forever?" Only two, yes that's all the supplies I have left. You go then, I have learned to stay positive even if everyone is being mean. On one condition when you get a home remember me and bring me food. I know but robots can be hungry too. Okay sure they said, and they lived like that for the rest of their lives.

My Modern Art

My art is a compilation of wood and burlap. The wood is white, but is dirty. The burlap is green and rough. The art's name is code green. Code green can also be used as a weapon if needed. It can be used as a throwing spear or a regular spear. It you whittle the tip it is a hot dog roasting stick. :) It is also a teleporter and lucky token so if you are having a bad day, just pick code green up and your day will be great from then on.

A Story about a Robot

This robot was programmed to hack computers. But it decided to become a singer. It was the most famous singer in the galaxy. It would travel to different planets to sing. He had 10 Lamborghini spaceships and a mansion on Saturn. One day he thought he needed a name so he named himself Pluto. He was so famous people named a planet after him.

In the early 90s a farmer named Michel Landberge started producing these so called “farmbots”way out in the rural part of New York. He made some pretty interesting prototypes some working some more design oriented. He thought they were all pretty impressive, so he drove 119 miles in his old 50s GMC farm truck to New York City to pitch his idea to the nearest investor. 119 miles 1 oil change and a new spark plug later he was standing in the shadow of a enormous office building. Waiting for him on the 88th floor was an investor name Bill Crunch. 234 stair steps later he was at the door of Bill Crunch’s office, he pushed open the door and saw a tall man in a navy blue suit that barely held in his enormous body. And that’s as far as he got, that night when they were closing up the building the farmer's dead body was found untouched with no signs of a struggle, Bill Crunch’s suitcase was gone, his computer was still on, and his swivel chair was in the backward position. Bill Crunch was never seen again, only this farmbot was recovered.

The end

The White Sheep on the Farm

Once there was a farmer. The farmer had always wanted a sheep. However the farmer never had enough land to have one or two. To compensate he made one. He named it Jade.

Jade was made of a plastic bottle, cotton balls, an apple crate, paper tubes and most of all a tinny bit of hope and love. The farmer had hoped that one day the sheep would one day come to life.

That night a fairy had come to the old farmer’s house and turned the sheep into well a real sheep! That morning the farmer was amazed at what he saw and for the first time in 37 years he was happy.

That day the farmer and Jade played all day. That night the farmer had let the sheep into his tinny little hut on the farm. The little sheep had turned into a good sized sheep. The farmer strived to make farm land trying to make a deal with the neighbors. He finally made a deal and the sheep could live in the farm.

The end

FrEE GAmE

An Aidan story.

wRitTen bY Aidan

IlIstRatEd bY Aidan

eVerYthIng eLse bY Aidan

Hello, my name is Aidan I am the award winning* designer with the likes such as unfinished Popsicle stick robot and the coding I did cuz I got bored with the makerspace. (Strictly speaking that doesn’t count but whatever) Anyways the point is that I have just made the best project in my life! Let me tell you, this is much better than a Popsicle stick robot. Now words alone cannot give this machine justice so refer to this helpful graph

* well I mean I gave them to myself but that’s besides the point

1. This is the cork holder, for holding corks to throw

2. This is the first goal getting the cork in here give you 5 point

3. This is the 2^nd goal throwing the cork in here get you 10 points

Anyways this is the most beautiful creation I have ever seen in my long life of 10 years and every one else I know agrees

“The best thing ever ~~is probably pizza~~ 10/10”

-Zakaria

“~~The new iphone is~~ the best of the bunch”

-Craig’s tech

“Just plain amazing, I carry one everywhere”

-Aidan Certified Tech

So in conclusion I am the best tech man alive and this is my best creation. Toodle-oo

Once there was a dragon named Flames. He was supposed to be able to breathe fire but for some reason he could not. When he was 10 his grandfather told him that to be able to breathe fire he must go on a journey to the icy region where the frost dragons live.

“Only the frost dragons know how to cure your breath,” Flames’ grandfather said. So Flames packed his bags and set out on the journey. After an hour he saw an animal in the sky. It was a gryphon!! The gryphon landed in front of Flames. Flames was about to run away when suddenly the gryphon spoke.

“Hello,” said the gryphon,” what are you doing here?”

“I am going to the icy region,” replied Flames.

“This is not the right way. Let me show you the right way,” said the gryphon.

“Ok”

So the gryphon showed the right path to the dragon. In a few days Flames reached the icy region. The frost dragon told Flames that to be able to breathe fire again he must eat a gryphon feather. So Flames set out to find the gryphon. He finally reached the gryphon and asked for a feather. The gryphon gave it to him and he went home and lived happily ever after.