Andy & Justin's Robot Challenge

Our very own Andy (room 19) & Justin (room 24) were participants in FIRST LEGO League (FLL) where they scored 1st PLACE!!! FLL is a program where teams mix curiosity and imagination with LEGO bricks, sensors, motors, and gears to invent unique, autonomous robots capable of completing various missions. Each September FLL teams compete around the world with an annual Challenge. The Challenge is based on a set of real-world problems facing scientists and engineers today. This year their focus was on transportation in their very own communities. They researched how people traveled, what problems or obstacles they encountered, and then designed solutions to increase their efficiency while reducing their energy.

Here are some of their ideas and solutions about traffic in their community. What are some of your thoughts or ideas regarding traffic?

Why are traffic jams bad
-Delays peoples trips
-People are late for events
-People get mad and frustrated
-Waste time
-Waste gas
-Bad for environment

What Causes Traffic Jams                   

-Rubber necks-
People are sleepy
-Car crashes,accidents
- Too many cars,rush hour
-Work zones

-Bad weather
-Highway and road intersections
-People drink alcohol

 Traffic Jam solutions
- more tollbooths!
-bike lanes on highways(make a barrier between lanes)
-lower bike prices
-make car prices higher
-pay bikers to bike
-free school bus rides
-more buses
-make gasoline prices higher

 Here is the website of the challenge.

• http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/smartmove1.aspx

The robot challenge video is on the website below. In the first and third videos, Justin and Andy are the operators. The highest score any team could get is 400 and they scored 350! Game 3 scored 350 points which put them to the top spot among 24 teams. Way to go!!!

• http://204.16.244.155/~lovelyki/lego/tour/

Ria's Post

Veteran's Day

By: Ria

On November 11, Veteran's Day, my family and I went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a really fun trip. My favorite part was when I go to touch some starfish. The water was really cold. Another part I enjoyed is watching the penguins getting fed. In one place, there was a big group of fish swimming in a circle in the same way. Only a few were swimming in the opposite direction. With a magnifying glass, I saw many jellyfish up close. They were really beautiful. Then we saw some people feeding the stingrays inside the tank. The stingrays would come up to the person and eat the food. One part that I really liked was that there was a piece of glass, on the outside, there was water coming from the top into a fish tank. If you stood in the inside it felt like the water was coming on you when it really wasn't. I really enjoyed Monterey Bay Aquarium. What did you do on Veteran's Day?

Dilip's Post

Skateboards

By: Dilip

Have  you ever seen Tony Hawk jump off those huge mega-ramps they have at the X-games with a skateboard? Well he had to grow a lot of self-confidence to even set foot on a skateboard. Skateboarding is basically a wooden board with four wheels on the bottom of it. It is one of my favorite sports ever. It was so hard at the beginning, and I would litteraly fall off the board about everytime I got on to the board, but it got easier as I did it more. So far, the tricks I can do are an ollie, a grind,a shuv-it, sort of a boardslide, and  I’m getting the hang of a kickflip. There are six main parts to a skateboard,the deck (which is the board),the wheels,the bearings (which are the things in the wheels to make it spin),the trucks(the two metal pieces that hold the wheels together),and the griptape ( the black stuff on the top of the skateboard that make sliding for tricks easier). There are many boards you can choose from, and some can even be in different sizes. One of my favorite pro-skaters are Chris Cole ( the person in the picture ). The fun thing about skateboarding is that when you learn a new trick, you can show them how awsome it is. Overall, skating is a really thrilling sport. If  you in-line skate or skateboard why do you enjoy it ,if not what other sport do you enjoy and why?

Shaan's Post

Vacations

By: Shaan

This summer I went on a cruise to Mexico. It was a great vacation. There was so much to do, I do not know how the time passed. We did many fun activities, including putt-putt golf, camp carnival, visiting Mexico and eating lots of delicious food.

There were many games to play but I enjoyed putt-putt golf the most. Some of the other games I played were ping pong, swimming and bingo. One time we were so close to winning but it did  not happen.

I attended camp carnival which had many activities like PS2 and watching movies. We even had a mini golf tournament and got to go into a swimming pool.   

Visiting Mexico was another fun part of the trip. We were there for a day and we went walking and shopping. We bought a Sombrero! The best part of the cruise for me was the food. We had so many options! I ate pizza, chicken nuggets and for dessert every day I had a chocolate melting cake with ice cream. It was filled with warm melted chocolate and the outside was a fluffy cake.

The trip was great and I hope to again soon.

What was your favorite vacation? If it was a cruise – what was your favorite part?

Himanshu's Post

   !!! Stop Global Warming Now !!!!!

 by: Himanshu

          Global Warming is upon us and it is something that we all need to be aware of. Of course you know about global warming, increase of the average temperature of the Earth due to emission of greenhouse gases. Rise in global temperature causes the ice caps to melt. When the ice caps melt the the ocean level rises, creating the threat of tsumamis and floods.One major thing that causes global warming is greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases captures more and more sunlight in the atmosphere. I am trying to protect environment by walking and biking close distances, conserving electricity by watching less TV, and recycling. What will you do to give a helping hand to stop Globel warming? How?

Harsh's Post

SOCCER

By: Harsh

      My favorite sport is soccer. Soccer is a sport played with any part of your body except your hands. I go to AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) and my team name is The Blue Hawks. We have eight players on our team. My shirt number is two and I like to play goalie, forward, and defense. My team was undefeated until last Saturday. We lost 2-1 against “The Black Ace” but its okay, because sometimes even the best team has to lose. My favorite soccer team is Brazil and my favorite player is Ronaldinio. Italy is the current champion. The next FIFA world championship is coming up and I’m cheering for Brazil. I think soccer is a great sport. What is your favorite sport and why?

Rohan's Post

My Trip to Hollywood 

By: Rohan

      On the 18^th of September, I went to Hollywood to visit my mom’s cousin. His name is Varun. He had an accident during a basketball game. While he was running, his knee bent backward instead of forward, causing the anterior cruciate ligament, also called the ACL (which is one of the four major ligaments of the knee) to tear. It is the most used ligament in the body.
      Hollywood was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      We went to the star walk, where there are a bunch of stars on the sidewalk, and there was the name of a movie star on each star. Since Michael Jackson had died recently, people were putting flowers on his star.
      We then went to the new wax museum. One of the statues was actually President Obama! The statues looked so real, that I couldn’t even tell them apart from the actual people. I can’t believe that people could actually make them!

      There was also a place in the wax museum where you actually make your own hand. You dip your hand in wax, take it out, dip it in color, and remove the coating of wax. The coating of wax is your hand.
      My favorite wax statue was Shrek. He was bent over, and was making a fist. Even when he was bent over, he was at least twice the size of my dad!
      There was also a statue of Michael Jackson. He was on the stage, with his hand out in front of him. There was a man who takes pictures of you and sends them to the front desk. 
      There was also Spider-Man. There was another man who takes pictures of you there and sends them to the front desk. The only difference is that he takes pictures of you upside-down! That way, it looks like you are hanging upside-down. There are also some upside-down pictures of buildings, so when you take a picture of someone with the pictures in the background, they look like windows.
      There was also another place where there is a video camera that they use faux movies, and there was a wax statue with a painted background. It looked artificial through the naked eye, but through the camera, it looks real. So when you are watching a movie, the background may not always be real-it may be painted.
      I did not want to leave, but I guess I had to. What recent vacations did you go on?

Agrima's Blog

October Break

By: Agrima

     The October break just passed two weeks ago. For me it was one. For my break, I spent my whole first week relaxing. The next two weeks of mine were spent in India. In India I saw many tourist attractions and monuments such as Qutub Minar, National Science Center, Rajghat [The place where Mahatma Gandhi was buried after death]. I also had a fabulous time celebrating my Diwali with friends and family in India. In conclusion, my October break was really fun. I would like to know "What did you do on your October break and how was it?"