Rube Goldberg Regional Competition

Brian's class competed today at the Rube Goldberg Regional Competition. Two weeks ago, they took the top prize at the Local competition and today they competed against seven other 5th grade groups.

The event was held in conjunction with the U of I Engineering Open House and the High School Rube Goldberg Competition, so there were plenty of other Rube machines to view. The High School competition allows electricity, with a larger machine footprint (I'm guessing 6' x 6' x 6') and up to 100 steps. Many of the High School entries were very extensive - motorized cars, fans, ramps, elevators and rockets, just to name a few of the elements.

For example, this team's theme of the North Pole:


Arriving early enabled us to watch many of the HS teams assemble their machines - like the above North Pole Team:


And watch many of the teams' preliminary runs through these complex machines - like this Disney-themed machine which incorporated scenes from Peter Pan (Big Ben), Cinderella (the castle), Beauty and the Beast (the flower), The Lion King, just to name a few.



I can't imagine how many hours were spent designing and building these contraptions!

And here's another look at our 5th grade machine, a birds eye view -


While I wish our team won this Regional competition, sadly, we did not. The judges only award a first place, so the rest of the teams all "came in 2nd place". I do know that our kids presented their machine well and it worked during the judging process. The kids did their very best and we are so proud of them!

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Rube Goldberg Competition

We spent all Saturday morning with Brian's 5th grade class at a Rube Goldberg competition. If you aren't familiar with the concept of a Rube Goldberg machine, it is a complex device with numerous steps which performs a simple task. If you played the Mousetrap board game, you've assembled a Rube Goldberg-type machine.

My son's class has been working on this machine for over a month and all the hard work of designing, testing, re-designing, re-testing, writing a technical report, designing brochures, T-shirts, and posters culminated in the local competition where they competed against 5 other machines.

The purpose - create a machine to open the cover and the first page of a book. The machine must also be designed around a theme, complete with a backstory.

Our class decided on a Medieval theme and built it as a large Castle, complete with moat, dragon, princess and brave prince. The machine itself used ramps, dominos, levers, a pendulum and a mouse trap to open the book and turn the page.







The competition included a Junk Wars theme:


And Alice in Wonderland:

The remaining competitors: the Illini team, The Beach Team and The Jungle Team.

Here the kids are setting up right before their performance and judging:


The coolest part of the project - everyone in the class participated in the presentation. That's 24 kids to manage and herd!

Here's a quick clip of the machine in action - it goes fast, so pay attention.


The best part? The machine worked during the competition and our team won first place! Now they advance to the Regional competition in two weeks.

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5th Grade Choral Concert

The first of several "lasts" as we enter the second half of the school year and Brian's final months in elementary school. Tonight - the last choral concert - a look at the history of black inspired music, from spiritual, to jazz, Motown and Hip Hop.

See - they are moving their hands around (singing It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing).

Except for Brian. That boy - he didn't even try to perform.

Friends George, Drew and Matthew are all smiles. Yes, they all sang and moved their arms:


Oh well, I'll always remember this concert as the one where Brian just stood there...

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Making Stuff - Bookmarks

Each year, the fifth graders hold an event called the Trader's Faire, where they barter and exchange hand made goods. Since this is my second go-around with a fifth grade child, I had a game plan already formulated - making bookmarks.

Brian and I worked on these two nights last week - he picked out the paper, the stamps and made up a design. Then we assembly-line produced 25 stamped, heat embossed book marks:



And truthfully, Brian did a lot of the work himself (like all the embossing - give the boy any kind of gun and he'll use it). I was really proud of him.

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338/365 - How is This Possible?

How is it possible that my daughter will be going to High School next year? That sweet, little thing that cried and cried the first night we had her home? It just seems like yesterday she was starting kindergarten.....

(now, if I were a good blogger, I would have pictures from kindergarten for you to see - I'll have to get a picture or two to scan in)

Well, future freshman night was pretty straight forward - our next step will be meeting with her future counselor to determine what classes she will take. And based on her grades, it will be a pretty easy discussion [all honors classes].

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320/365 - Reading Night

It was reading night at Brian's school tonight. Several classrooms were set up with readers - teachers and athletes from the university. There was a classroom set up with fifth graders - Brian and other fifth graders signed up in shifts to read "The Ugly Duckling".

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Favorite Equation

Yesterday, I posted some graphs and mathematical equations. I asked if my friends would guess what my favorite equation is.

First, the slope of a line can be determined by "Rise" over "Run" of the line on the graph.


For graph one, to get from the dot on the far right to the dot on the far left, you travel up (rise) on the graph 7 spaces, then travel left (run) 9 spaces. Since we are traveling to the left, that's considered moving in the negative direction. The Slope is Rise over Run, or 7/-9.
Mathematical equation for the line is y=mx+b, where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept (where the line passes the y axis). So the equation for the line is y=-7/9x.

As for my favorite equation. I should have mentioned that it is an equation I learned in Chemistry, not math. A couple of you guessed a^2 + b^2 = c^2, or Pythagoras's Theorem. A very good equation!

But the most useful (and hence favorite) equation for me is:

PV = nRT

Or the Ideal Gas Law.
P = Pressure
V = Volume
n = moles or molecules of gas
R = a constant
T = Temperature

SO useful where I work! Because if the temperature goes up in a container and you have the same amount of gas in that container, guess what - the Pressure of the container will increase. This law is practically demonstrated if you blow up a balloon and stick it in the freezer - when you take it out, you will see that the balloon has shrunk in size. The volume shrinks because the temperature went down. As the gas heats up, the balloon will expand again.

OK, enough of the geeky stuff tonight! Back to our regular programming!

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276/365 - Math Homework

Who doesn't remember how to determine the slope of a line?



Don't remember?

Hint - You have to Rise before you Run.

And one of my favorite equations is: y=mx+b *

I keep repeating that to Erica. At first she thought I was nuts, but now it's starting to sink in.

* I have another favorite equation - care to guess? I'll post my answer tomorrow.

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269/365 - El Juggo

Brian's latest masterpiece - El Juggo, an Ugly Mug, created in art class, using coils of clay and paste.



The mug's smile incorporates Brian's signature "buck teeth".

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257/365 - Open House

It was Open House night at Brian's school. The last one we'll do at his current school! I think the highlight of the evening was the boys playing on the jungle gym:



Goofy kids!

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229/365 - First Day of School

I now have a big 8th grader and a big 5th grader.

This means two "Advancement" Ceremonies to attend at the end of the school year.

Where does the time go?

Each year, it is getting harder and harder to take their first day of school pictures. But I know in the future, they will be glad I insisted.

Take One:


Take Three or so:


At least they are both smiling!

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228/365 - Last Minute Assembly

School starts tomorrow, so we spent this evening assembling the kids' school binders.

But first we had to buy Brian a new baseball bat, new socks (navy blue to coordinate with his uniform), Erica wanted new socks for soccer, and I took advantage of a sale on Under Armor running shirts.

Then it we were off to the Wal-Mart to buy these special folders required for 5th grade, as I had held off buying them until I confirmed what Ms. J wanted. I warned the kids it could be crowded in the Wal-Mart, and they commented "But why? Who is going to wait until the very last minute to buy school supplies??".

Apparently lots of people wait until the last minute to buy school supplies as the store was packed, and we had to pick through remnants of folders to get what we needed. Note to self - never go to the Wal-Mart the night before school starts!

And the binders were assembled with care, the bags filled to the brim with pencils, paper and other "essential stuff".



I'll be glad when I can reclaim the Dining table as a Dining table, not a holding platform for school supplies!

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227/365 - School Meet Up Night

Tonight, we went to Brian's school to meet up with his 5th grade teacher, Ms J.

Erica also had Ms. J in 5th grade, and she is a wonderful, energetic teacher. I can't hardly believe Brian is already a big 5th grader. It seems that yesterday he was just a little shaver in Kindergarten.

The event is a big social one - the kids seeing some of their friends for the first time since June, parents hanging out with other parents, older students returning with their younger siblings.

And an opportunity for the boys of the family to act silly.

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220/365 - School Supplies

School starts next week, so this afternoon we visited our favorite Wal-Mart store, armed with lists from each of the kids' schools. $100 later, we have 99% of what we need (or what the schools want - I don't know how my daughter could really need 3 dozen ink pens).

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118/365 - First Goal! And 4th Grade Concert

Erica made her first goal during tonight's soccer game, during the second half. Her team went on to handily win the game, 4-0.



The bad thing, we weren't there to see it - Scott and I were at Brian's school attending Family Arts Night and the 4th grade concert.

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117/365 - Early Morning Departure

It's not quite 7am and I'm at school dropping off Erica - her class is taking a day trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The last time we went, she was in 5th grade and I served as a chaperone. Well, not today.



And how lucky they are to ride in style. When I was growing up, we used the standard Yellow school buses for transport to the Boston Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium. [OK - it was only a 60 minute ride - but don't tell the kids that!]

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96/365 - Homework

Normally, Erica finishes her homework at school, but today she had a heavy load of it and worked on it at home. This gave me the opportunity to reach back into the recesses of my brain to remember math functions and linear equations.



Remember slope and y-intercepts? Fortunately, we do encounter them at work and I was able to explain them to Erica and help her complete tonight's math homework. I can't wait to re-live Calculus. Really. Yeah, I'm a geek.

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67/365 - Science, Bugs and Technology

Several great pictures from today, so I'm not limiting myself to just one.

Math and Science Night at Brian's school. So many great hands on exhibits, ranging from chemistry experiments, food science, wild animals, math games, police forensics, minerals and bugs!


Brian's previous 2nd grade teacher loves bugs and offers real insect treats to eat. I have a low res picture of Brian in 2nd grade eating a grasshopper. Tonight, he ate several larvae, then sprinkled some on these nachos:


Brian also "dissected" an owl pellet, which revealed a rodent skull and several vertebrae bones.


Back home, we managed to teach Scott how to send a text message from his cell phone. In the past, he had been unable to send or receive texts, but something changed with his service (the service is provided through work). Erica, resident expert, walked her Dad through the steps.

And a new texter is born! And since Scott doesn't know how to access his voice mail, this is the best vehicle to communicate with him.

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47/365 - Today's Gas Price and Kickball

I have two pictures today - one that's not very "personal" and one that is "personal". Both are relevant (well, all pictures are relevant in some context or other, so that goes without saying).

First, the non-personal picture - our current gas prices:

$2.379 per gallon is pretty low for around here. I don't recall it being this low in a least several months.

Now, the picture of Brian playing kickball with his 4th grade classmates:

Brian's teacher coordinated a classroom pizza potluck tonight. We got to meet parents of the other students and then we watched the kickball game. Quite entertaining and fun.

Some "technical photography stuff" around the kickball picture:
ISO: 1250
Aperture: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/160s
The shutter speed is still a little on the slow side (for sports, 1/500sec or faster is desired), but Brian wasn't really running very fast (he never runs very fast), so it was OK.
The noise in the original image was pretty noticeable, so I ran the image through a noise reduction program - a freeware program called Noiseware Community Edition from Imagenomic. They also offer a full licensed edition with more features.

So, how are the gas prices in your neck of the woods?

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February 12 on 12

This month I didn't forget and got my 12 pictures throughout the day.

Morning means preparation for school. Brian's class held their Valentine's party this afternoon, and I signed up to bring drinks.

No, I didn't bring beer! And lest you think we are bunch of boozers here, all of the beer is leftover from our Super Bowl Party. It will probably last until next year! (OK, it won't, but it will last a while). I took the sodas (again, leftovers from the Super Bowl Party) out of the fridge. And this is the fridge in the garage, which houses all of our drinks and "overflow food".

The water is in the kettle, heating up for my coffee:

Hey, you can see a reflection of the window - and there's a bit of light starting to peak through the clouds.

I woke up with a sore throat, the sniffles and I can't stop sneezing. Time for pseudoephedrine and zyrtec.


I went upstairs to roust Brian out of his bed.

Yes, he is in there.

And I took a picture of the outside pond from his window. Yes, that white stuff is still hanging around.


We're at Brian's school now, and he's picking out his lunch selection card. Friday's are easy - it's pizza day.


On my drive to work, I got stuck behind a large farm tractor.

While not an unusual sight during harvest season, this is February! I've never run into large farm equipment in the winter. [then again, there's corn still standing in some of the fields this year]. Notice the frosty trees off to the right? Hoar frost. Beautiful.

At work, we have been planning a big plant shutdown and computer conversion. I decided to write the dates on the big calendar this morning. Then at 11:15, I was called to an "emergency meeting" at 11:30 to discuss the plant shutdown. Moved to September.


After lunch, I needed a little chocolate snack.

Perfect while working on the computer!

After work, I took Erica to the stable for her horse riding lesson.

Hey, she even waved to me!

After dinner, I drove Brian to church where he is spending the night in a "Lock In".
That means he'll run around the indoor playground, drink soda and eat snacks. I doubt there will much "sleeping".

Because he'll be spinning around on the merry-go-round, hanging on for dear life:


We spent the rest of the evening watching the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. A great day.

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