Spaghetti and Marshmallow towers

Did you know that some shapes are much stronger than others in a building?

The clever builders who made the pyramids knew this and maybe that's why the pyramids are still standing.

In our class this week I set the clever Kea learners the challenge of building a structure using two non-traditional building materials. The aim was to build either the highest, or strongest structure using only uncooked spaghetti sticks and mini marshmallows. Mr Buckingham acted as our judge and the teams used a 200g vitamin container as a strength tester.

I also had a go at making a tower with some success.

We all did some shared research into which shapes would be strongest and we found that putting lots of triangles into our buildings made them stronger. Here are some pictures of our buildings starting with Mr Gunn's.

Describe what is happening in a picture

The Wanderer.

WALT: use a prompt for writing.

WARNING!!

Hey team, you might find one of the following pieces of fictional describe writing a little bit scary!! 

The clever authors in the Kea class were asked to describe what they thought was going on in the pictures below. 

As a description of a moment in time, they had to write as if the events shown in the pictures were occurring in the present. 

They were able to remember that sentences about things that are happening now used the words 'is' and 'are' as well as the -ing ending on doing words. 

Someone suggested that we use the seven servants to help us think of ideas when we look at the pictures while planning what details we will put in our finished writing piece. 

Finally, we talked about using words to create a mood that matched the pictures. Talk about deep level thinking! 

Scroll below the writing to see the picture and comment below about what you thought was the best bits.

WARNING. the following description contains references to supernatural horror and violence. 

While these are usually not appropriate topics for our school, I felt the description was too good not to share. Sorry if it is scary. 

The Mountain-Top Demon

By Ebes

There is a mysterious hooded demon, wearing a purplish-blue robe with a crescent moon shaped power staff, resting on the blinding, foggy and grassy Himalayan mountains. He is sitting on a huge rock which is covered in moss. The hooded demon is resting from the huge climb up the mountain. He is looking for a little cottage to enslave the people living in it and feed on their happiness. 

Picture credit www.pobble365.com/wanderer/

The Bikers.

By Kata.

There are dirt-bikers having a race. They are having a race. They are racing against each other and the green bike is winning. They are ramping over a big hill with dust on their tyres. The red and green bikes are in front and all the others are behind. The ones in front are blazing through the dust.



Picture credit www.pobble365.com/the-race/