Category: Hanga | Create

This morning, the task I did was called Code or Cipher but I did it in the afternoon. Both Code or Cipher are secret messages passing around through your team. I used a template and inside, there was a dictionary of a few words, an atabash plus pig pen explanations. An atabash is when a becomes z, b becomes y and so on. Basically, one row goes abc… and the other which is underneath goes zyx… which is just flipping, I guess. A pig pen is a tic tac toe/knots and crosses with alphabets on it, a big cross with another few, and the same thing but with dots on it. I solved a few and made my own Code or Cipher relating to the question of ‘two favourite places’ using atabash at the end. I challenge you to solve it.

How did you go? What did you get right? Also, where is your favourite place?

Previously, I had done this task called Summer Chat Story. It is Step It Up to another activity I have done called Silhouette Art. This was about creating a story on what you/I did or are going to do in the Summer Holidays and also using some emojis to replace some words. The emojis could be some of the pictures on the template but I deleted them when I was finished. So what I did was make a copy of a template, get inspired by an example, create my own and share it. This is how it looks.

What would you like to do in the holidays?

Previously, I did this task called Summer Holiday 101. Like before, this task was to complete the template and fill it with your winter destination. But instead of winter destination, this time is changing it to summer. I chose Fiji for my destination, and this is my Summer Holiday 101.

What do you think/is the temperature is like in the summer of your Summer Holiday destination?

Previously, I did an activity called Silhouette art. A Silhouette art is like a shadow of something for an example a cat, and is on a piece of background. It is also a type of art, it looks like a figure on backgrounds. Most Silhouette art I have seen goes on either a sunset background or a sunrise background.

To create it, you first need an image you have, or take a picture on your device. Next, using remove.bg, remove the background so you only have your figure. Press download. Then, using Google slides, insert your image without the background. Google drawings will also do.

After that, right click on the image and click on ‘format options’, adjustments, and set the brightness to 0. Your picture will then be black. Insert a picture of a sunset/sunrise by searching it on Google, or insert one from your device. Your Silhouette art is ready!

I enjoyed this activity as I found it very easy to do. I had followed an instructional video while doing it. My favourite of them all is the rainbowed background.

Which background would you choose?

Today, I did a task from this week that I hadn’t completed. It is called Tessellations – Step It Up. Previously, I have done the Kick Start and so this is after the Kick Start. This task is about creating semi – regular tessellations and irregular tessellations. The differences between the two types are that a semi – regular is multiples of different polygons/shapes and a irregular tessellation is made of irregular polygons/irregular shapes. I have made all three types, regular (Kick Start), semi – regular, and irregular. I used Mathigon to create them, using the polypad function. The hardest to make was the irregular, the most fun was finding the shapes/polygons.

Can you tell which pattern is what type?

Answer: irregular, semi – regular, regular.

How obvious did the answers come when looking at the tessellations?

This morning, the activity was called Winter Holiday 101. This task was to complete the template and fill it with your winter destination. Inside the template, it had instructions so you wouldn’t get lost. I chose Antarctica for my thing, and this is mine.

Which part of the world would you go to?

This morning, the first task I did for the day was about making a postcard on “google arts and culture”. I went on the link and watched the video as I did it. I learnt how to pick my own image and pick my own type of poem when watching the video.

I would send this postcard to my friend at school, who owns a farm and of what I think, love horses. He also owns some, and this white horse reminds me of one of his ponies I have rode on before. Those are reasons why I have picked this image.

This is my “google arts and culture” AI generated postcard. If you click on the postcard, it will bring you to the actual one.

What thing do you think your person would like?

This morning’s activity was about creating a regular tessellation. A tessellation is like patterns for an example floor tiles or driveways. Tessellations are split into two parts, regular tessellations and irregular tessellations.

The task: Using Mathigon, create your own regular tessellation. A regular tessellation is using one regular polygon only but repeated. The only possible shapes are triangles, squares/rectangles, and from pentagons to dodecagons plus anything in between.

I chose my shape of a hexagon but with patterns originally on it is because it is having a cool effect of what I see. It applies to the regular tessellation rule as it is in the shape of a hexagon even though with patterns. I found two different patterns on the hexagons and I couldn’t decide which one so I did two of them for this task. All I did was copying and pasting as it had to be the same shape over and over again. I thought the orange pink and green standard out really well together so I chose those colours on it. The result turned out to be this.

Which would you choose and for what reason?

Today, I made a sundial and tested it to see whether it works or not. It is Step It Up Extension because it is not a real SLJ activity but it is related to it. It is related to it because in the last activity, it was about creating shadow art where you had to colour the shadow, wait and colour again, as the sun moves across the sky. So a sundial is telling the time through the sun from the direction of the South or North, depending where you are. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you direct from the true North. If you are from the Southern Hemisphere, you direct from the true South. There is a sundial at Botanic Gardens if you want to have a look.

First thing you have to do is to make a Sundial. Print out a template using the latitude in your area or city. The site that I used was called https://www.blocklayer.com/sundial-pop. Cut, fold and glue it. Decorate it if you like.

Time to test! Using a compass, locate your true Direction whether it is South or North, align your Sundial to that direction and the sun shall tell you the time if on a sunny day.

I enjoyed this activity because I love doing fun thing outside with nature especially on sunny days. I also had Tea, my duckling, somewhere on the grass with me.

My Sundial didn’t match the analogue clock because

• a. It is summer time with daylight saving so it is 1 hour faster
• b. Wellington time zone is based on longitude 180˚ East and the Christchurch longitude 172.6˚ East
• c. Our clock has been 5 minutes faster because I don’t want to be late

Did your Sundial work? Why or why not?

This afternoon, I made a shadow art like before but in time lapse. So instead of just plain shadow art, I waited in periods of time and drew the shadow. When you look up to the sky, you would see the clouds moving. And if you look carefully at the sun, the same thing happens. The fact is because the Earth keeps moving, so it looks like the sky is moving when it is actually us that’s moving.

Now, if you place something that creates a shadow outside on a sunny day and trace (and colour with colouring material) the shadow, you’ll see it will of have moved in a period of time. Trace and colour that with another colour, not caring it overlaps. By choosing colours, I suggest contrast colours e.g. black and white so it stands out more with that effect. It starts to appear that effect on the second so on the third, you can choose to be ready. If you keep going, the effect may stand out more. If you keep going, it may look alike to something like this (but this is not mine).

I chose to do it three times, starting with red, then blue and lastly green. I found it not easy but also not hard because it was not easy for my surface was not totally flat but it was not hard for the last activity to me was harder. I did it with a wooden cat and this is how mine turned out to be.

What figure would you choose to do it on?