flying high

Folding paper! Machines! General Patton!Today the currency club met with Mark and Thor. They played a gambling game and included a cheater in the midst of the players. This led to discussions about the emotional burdens of cheating and not playing by the rules. The biggest thrill was that everyone received a dime that was 90% silver, worth $2.98.After currency group, the Undead Goats did a lot of work on their projects with drawings, prototyping, and editing their work.They read General George Patton's letter to his son in the afternoon, and talked about and critiqued the work. They decided that Patton was a pretty smart guy and said interesting stuff, but was an undeniably pompous jerk!In the afternoon, Josh and the Goats opened the back of his computer to insert more RAM and explored the innards of a Mac.And they flew paper airplanes with the Flying Fish.The Ninja Cats played games and did experiments with potential energy throughout the day.They studied potential energy in wind-up cars. Kaia understood the mechanics of the machines and was able to fix a few when they stopped working.The Ninja Cats presented their potential energy sculptures during the end of day circle. They used wire to show what the energy inside the wind up cars looked like.They created posters with examples of how not to gossip or speak disrespectfully behind someone's back. They discussed some examples of when, who, and what is involved in speaking respectfully.They made human machines, like a writing machine with some human versions of paper.They played "Guess Who's Gone," a game courtesy of Theo.Norabelle and Chane had one on one writing time while the rest of the Ninja Cats attended the currency workshop. They focused on two pieces of her writing work during the writing conference.The Flying Fish explored what kind of paper makes the best airplane, leading to an investigation of what makes an airplane "good."They came to three conclusions: flies straight (or where you want it to go), flies smoothly, flies far, Sometimes they categorized them as flies fast.Ben explained that to make a straight flier, you have to make sure the wings are the same size and that all the folds are straight.Aidan suggested that everyone test which paper is best for airplanes by folding them all into the same type of plane, essentially explaining how to make a controlled experiment.They flew the planes in unison; first with much force and then lightly.And we fly high on swings and paper wings.