The Library Fantails are in the middle of learning about simple machines to help us with our technology inquiry. We know that simple machines are an important part of everyday life and they combine to make almost every machine there is. They make lifting, pushing and pulling easier. We have found out about four of them so far – the inclined plane, the wedge, the screw and the lever. This week we have been doing some experiments with levers. When using a lever, it has three important parts: effort, fulcrum and load. There are three types of levers. An example of a first class lever is a seesaw. A second class lever is a wheelbarrow and a third class lever is a fishing pole.
Our question for our experiment was: Do levers help to lift heavy things and where does the fulcrum have to be to make lifting easier?
We used a wooden board (lever), a wooden block (fulcrum) and some heavy books (load).
We placed the fulcrum on the floor and placed the board on it so that it was balanced. We then placed the books on one end of the board and pushed down the other end to lift the books. We discussed how much effort was needed to lift the books. We then moved the fulcrum (wooden block) in a direction away from the books and discussed how much effort was needed to lift the books. We then moved the fulcrum in a direction toward the books and discussed the effort needed to lift the books.
What we found out: When the fulcrum (block) is closer to the load, the distance the lever is moved is bigger but less effort is needed to lift the load (books.)

Children’s comments:

I saw that the fulcrum by the book was easier to push with your hand.
By Seth

I learned that levers make work easier for you.
By Maia

We see levers on bikes, scissors, hedge cutters, hammers and windmills.
By Rose

Levers make machines go. They make lifting easier.
By Alex

I learnt that lifting, pushing and pulling is easier with a lever.
By Reuben

We see levers on computer chairs in our classroom. Bikes have levers on the handle bars.
By Timeka

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This week we have met two new friends, they are both Lego robots that we are learning to program with many different commands. We are using them to help us with maths as we have to think about distance, time, degrees and creating logical links.
The robots have really set our imagination on fire with our writing too as they are a great character to create narratives.
We are all very keen and eager to learn from our interaction with our robots!

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Robot by Aston Roberts
When I was a little boy I went to the toy shop. I looked right in through the toy shop window, then I looked in the book isle and the plane isle and last but not least the robot isle. I saw push robots and sensor robots. I bought one and it was $20!
I went home and named my robot, it’s name was Speed because it was really fast! It was really thin so it could go super fast. It was as fast as a rocket.
One day I played with him too much and he broke. I started crying but my mum said “settle down, settle down, I will get you a new one” I shouted “no! I want Speed!” So mum said “ OK I will get a repair man to fix it for you”.
The repair man was called and came over in a sec. He fixed Speed!
I was so happy!

I wonder if any one is feeling inspired by the picture below to create their own narrative from this setting?

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The Shearwater pets are still a huge hit especially for all of our wonderful visitors at the moment. Now you can enjoy them at home too!

Ready to rumble at R&R Sports. We spring onto our bikes ready to stampede to Kaikoura Suburban School.
We leave our parents behind in the dust, powering up the hills that seem like mountains. Crashing down again, sweat filling our mouths we see the finish line. Our cheerleading team screams on the sidelines.
As we power across the finish line we collapse on the ground laughing. Our fantastic bike days over.
By Katie,Taylor and James

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