Thursday 12 September 2013

Musical Talent

All year Arisha and Tabitha have been going off to music lessons. Today in school singing we got to see what all their hard work has been about. Arisha and her friends played and sang " the wheels on the bus" with sound effects!  They played several other tunes on their ukeleles. Arisha also accompanied Emily from Rm 2 when she sang the sunshine song.
Then Tabitha had her turn playing her recorder with her friends and giving us a lovely tune. What a relaxing way to end the week.

How is paper made?

We are trying to find out how paper is made by examining different types of paper when it is ripped.  Today we got out the magnifiers and had a really close look to see what the fibres the paper is made of look like. Are the fibres the same is different paper?  Katie also asked  what is it about paper that means our marks stay on it?
We found out and we think that
- tom - the black paper has white in the middle which shows the black paint or dye is just painted on the outside.  When you tear them the fibres stick out and may be darker than the outside of the paper
- Katie - the tissue looks softer than the paper towel thru the magnifier, the paper towel looks rougher.
- gracie - it depends which kind of paper but all the rips look different under the magnifier so that probably means the fibres are different too and maybe from different trees or other materials
- Jacob - when i ripped the tissue paper it looked like it had hair poking out

Monday 9 September 2013

What makes a good paint binder?

Today we began making our own paint in earnest. We have concluded that paint is basically made of two parts - a colour and a binder that is sticky and dries out.
Today we tested toothpaste, vinegar, honey, conditioner, hand cleansing gel, liquid soap, peanut butter, glue, and mayonnaise.  
The results we got show that:

Honey - 4
- too sticky not good spreadability
- looks like paint and can spread well
- doesn't dry
Rating - X

Toothpaste - 2
- dries very well
- sticks well when has water added
- spreads better with a bit of water
- hard to mix, lumpy
Rating - 1 tick

Mayonnaise - 2
- too runny for some
- sticks to the paper
- dries slowly
- mixes easaily but doesn't cover super well
Rating - 1 and a half ticks

Vinegar- 4
- dries quickly
- looks like dye but covers ok
- really runny
- sticks on the paper
- spreads nicely
Rating - 1 and a half ticks

Peanut butter- 0
- smudgy - not easy to paint with, too stiff and lumpy
- doesn't dry
Rating - X

Liquid soap -3
- dries properly
- good coverage
- sticks on the page
- mixes well
Rating - two ticks

Conditioner -0
- may need to check as second batch mixed well and stayed on the paper well which the first batch did not - the second batch had some water in it.
Rating - X

Hand gel -0
- comes out dark - and covers the paper well
- dries well
- nice and spreadable
Rating - one and half tick

Glue -2
- stuck well
- dried well and fast
- covers well
- the colour comes out well
Rating - 1 tick

After discussion we think we will try liquid soap as it is thinker and stickier than vinegar which would be the other choice.
When we have chosen our paint colours we could try them both and see which is best.



Wednesday 4 September 2013

Check out the science..how many can you do?

This is an amzing piece of science inspiration.  Makes me wish we had done it....ooh assembly is coming up...!!!

Monday 2 September 2013

Colour wheels

Today we had a go at making a colour wheel. We had lots of things to learn about.
How to handle the brush - concnetrate to stay in the lines - go slowly, follow the outline of the space,  press lightly or stroke the paint on
How to use the paint - how to load the brush properly, don't mix the dippers up as it messes up the paint colours, don't splat it everywhere - you have control the brush, 
Mixing colours - be carful to put each one in the right spot on the wheel so it makes sense, some primary colours aren't as strong as the others eg. When you mix the red with another colour it makes a dark colour and the red sort of takes over. So it made sense to have a bit less red in a mixture so that it didn't take over too much.

In conclusion
- shiav said it is weird when you mix colours because you can't be sure what you'll get at the end
- gracie said when you mix red with the blue it sort of comes out brown - so Joy asked - how can we make sure we get purple?
- grace said how come the red is so strong?
- shannon thought it was fun because it was fun to mix the colours and making our own..i had to think hard to get it right.
- logan said it was cool to mix yellow and blur to make green and actually seeing it happen.

Sunday 1 September 2013

Making real egg tempura paint like the old masters

To write an explanation the ideas nned to be in order.

How to make egg tempura.
First separate the yolk and the white into a bowl.  We pinched and ripped  the yolk bag and let theyolk out into the bowl. We dropped the paint powder in and stirred it wildly. When the mixture looks really red and yoghurty it is ready to paint with.
Tabitha doesn't really like the colour and it was too sticky.  Shannon liked to paint with it because he had other colours mixed in from the brush.  Arisha found that when she touched thepaunt with the brush she could scoop it up.  Yassmine didn't like the paint because it had other colours in it from the brush.  Logan dosn't think he would use this oaint again becuase it takes too long to dry. Tayla noticed it went crinkly like crayon mark. Tane wouldn't use egg paint agin because the smell is horrible. annah said the paint was gooey and really and not nice to apint with because it was lumpy.