Aidan's First "Super Essay"

 Aidan Piercy

Writing class

Mrs. Piercey

4/20/2016

The Amazing Jobs of Robots

                Did you know that a group of tiny robots, which weighed less than an apple, pulled a 2 ton car? Robots can do a lot of work, and we rely on them every day of our lives. Whenever you look on the internet, you are using a robot. When you drive your car, you are driving something made by a robot. Even when you eat something like cheese or drink milk, you owe your snack to the work of a robot. Robots help adults and children alike.

                Robots do a variety of jobs. These include jobs too terrifying, tough, and tedious for adults. Robots help adults so much, yet we take them for granted. Robots are tough enough, “brave” enough, and “patient” enough to do  jobs some adults would never dream of doing for a living.

                You may think bombs, chemicals, and radioactivity are cool. Well I bet you would think differently if you had to disarm and handle them. Robots do dangerous jobs like this every day. After battles, artillery shells, which have not detonated yet, may be left on the ground. Alarmingly, without robots, men would have to disarm these by hand. Disarming these shells, robots keep adults from having to risk their lives every day! Imagine if your boss called you from the police station and said, “You have to disarm a bomb stuck in the house on Washington Street!” What would you say? Thankfully you would probably never be in that situation. Robots would do the job for you. The police force uses robots to disarm bombs, and this has saved many lives. Have you changed your mind about the excitement of bombs, chemicals, and radioactivity?

                Now you know that robots do jobs too terrifying for adults, but did you know they do astonishingly tough jobs? These jobs, which range from dangerous procedures in the surgery room to missions in the military, are jobs only robots can do. Removing tumors, robots help surgeons with surgeries they never would have dreamed of doing before. Amazingly, a robot snake that surgeons place in the patient’s body, slithers around and helps the surgeons by finding what is in the patient’s body. It doesn’t harm the patient. The military uses robots too. A dog named the alpha dog, which is immune to bullets, can carry supplies over long distances. It listens to verbal commands and watches visual signals. Robots do tough jobs day after day, but they never complain about it.

                Hopefully, you now understand the many helpful jobs that robots perform. You know robots do terrifying and tough jobs, which many people would never dream of doing, every day. Did you know that  they do tedious jobs too? Imagine that you wake up in the morning, get dressed, shower, eat breakfast, and drive out to work. You park your car and slowly walk into the building that you work at every day. After the drive you feel tired, but your boss says you need to work on a big job today. “You need to check for any cracks on that jumbo jet over there. If you miss a crack, you’re fired!” What do you do? Crawling around on an enormous passenger jet, you check for the tiniest cracks that could cause explosions that may even kill passengers in the plane! Because of the lives at stake, you would have to check very carefully for any of the deadly cracks. Thankfully, you will never have to do jobs like this. I am sure you know what would do the job for you! Robots would! Robots crawl over passenger jets, checking for the cracks that could kill many people. Unlike humans, they don’t become bored and make mistakes. Robots are the perfect ones for the job. Some robots “stand” at an assembly line all day handling the same car parts, day after day, week after week, year after year. You now see all the tedious tasks robots do for adults.

                Robots are very helpful. They always take on the same unappealing jobs, but they never complain. You can imagine what it would be like without robots. Humans would risk their lives every day. With robots, many people can do interesting jobs, and not jobs that are to terrifying, tough, and tedious, for adults to do easily or comfortably.

                It is clear robots help adults, but did you know that robots do lots of jobs to help kids too? Robots help kids in many different ways. They help kids by showing their teachers how kids interact and learn. Some help kids cope with physical disabilities like missing arms. Some even help kids with chores at home.

                Did you know that some robots help children in schools? Interestingly, one robot even came into a school acting as a usual fifth grade student! This robot immediately recognized all of the fifth grade students by their names, which it had been programmed to do, and fit in well with the school environment. Teachers learned more about kids’ reactions more easily with a robot in class. They created a better learning experience for the students too. Talking and playing with kids, the robot engaged with the students, making them feel more comfortable at school. Helping kids learn is very important and the robot seems to be doing a very good job with it. Now you know that robots help a lot with children at school. 

                 Robots help children at school, and they also help children with disabilities. Imagine you are a child who is missing an arm. What could you do for fun? You would not be able to play basketball, or baseball,  and you couldn’t swim easily. Thankfully for children who are missing arms, robots can help them play. Robots can be made into arms! One kind of arm is a comfortable Lego robot arm. This prosthetic arm has an attachment at the end where kids can make their own Lego creations. Imagine all of the choices you have! You could make a plow, or a backhoe loader attachment. Different sockets, which are attached to the end of the arm, can be attached so that the arm “grows” with the owner of the arm. The engineers who made the arm estimate that the price of the arm will be around $5,000.

                      Robots help with many things that change children’s lives. Helping teachers see how children interact with each other, robots help kids learn. They help kids cope easily with physical disabilities, which is very important, and help them have fun. Astonishingly, robots help kids at home. Maybe you know what I mean.  Robots help with chores! Robots help by washing the floor, vacuuming and doing dishes. Robots can be very helpful at home. Some even become part of the family. Some can answer questions. Robots make it so that kids can have more free time, and don’t have to do all the chores. These robots are small. It doesn’t take much work to get them started. They also are tough. Robots help children in many ways.

                Robots are so helpful. Children can learn more easily and comfortably with robots. Kids can use robots to do internet courses. They can help kids cope. They help them work. Robots do so much work for kids. I think kids around the world should give three cheers for robots. Imagine what life would be like if kids did not have any robots.

                Robots help adults and kids in very many ways. They help adults with terrifying jobs, and they help kids learn. They help adults with tough jobs, and kids with limiting disabilities. Robots help adults with very tedious jobs, and kids with boring chores. Robots help us in the present time with these jobs. They may help us even more in the future. Imagine if you were out on your deck one day waiting for your package to be delivered. Instead of looking out on the road, you look up in the sky. Suddenly you see something flying toward your deck. You immediately stand up to receive your package. A car flies down from the sky and floats high above your head. It carefully drops a package into your hands. As soon as the package touches your hands, the robot disappears into thin air. This is what some robots might do in the future. There may be disappearing delivery robots. Imagine if you were on the road and everyone had the same kind of car as you. Instead of turning onto the highway, you spin around on your seat and start talking to your friends. The car would turn for you! They are making cars like this! This is what the future of robots may look like.

The Evolution of Cars (Aidan) - IEW Assignment

Did you know that there are more than one billion cars on the road today? Many great inventors have experimented with various car designs. The man who made the first successful and cheap car was Henry Ford. He established his own company hoping that he could offer a reliable and affordable car to the average American. Over time his design improved to make cars more comfortable and faster.

Henry Ford was the first man to invent a successful and cheap car. Because the oldest

cars used to be unreliable, Henry Ford’s Model T was a big hit. Ford was the first inventor who

put together factory parts on an assembly line. Being so affordable, the Model T was a big

success. Edison invented the electric car around the time Henry Ford created the Model T.

Edison’s car was not a success.  Although the car was not a success, the battery was used for

many different uses. Interestingly, the battery is still used today. Henry Ford successfully

invented the assembly line, providing the average American with an affordable car.

Over time cars improved and became more comfortable. In addition to the Model T  the

Stanley Steamer, which was very comfortable to drive on bumpy roads, was invented by two

brothers. It was very successful.  During the roaring 20’s, people eagerly bought cars.

Interestingly, cars were starting to be made for recreation, not just transportation. Also cars

started becoming more reliable. People started expecting cars to provide safety comfort and

luxury.

Many principles of design in old fashion cars are still being used today. Because of

Henry Ford and other inventors, we have learned how to create cars with speed. The fastest is the

Bugatti. It can go  almost 270 mph. Family cars are becoming very luxurious.  Amazingly, the

Ferrari, which is a very well-known supercar, is making a family car that can go up to 200 mph.

That’s fast! Cars have  come a long way from Henry Ford’s Model T to the Bugatti.

            Henry Ford designed the first successful car, and this most brilliant invention changed the ways Americans live. From the most basic family car to the fastest super car, all automobiles are based on the original design of Henry Ford’s Model T. Since the invention of the Model T cars have become more comfortable safer and faster. We can only wonder what the next century holds for the evolution of cars. 
By: Rus (5th Grade/Age: 10) 

Our Trip to the Planetarium (Aidan)

~Planetarium~

Hi. I'm Rus. We went on an exciting trip to the planetarium to learn about the Apollo missions. We first learned about something called max Q. Max Q is when a rocket hits twice the speed of sound. If the rocket does not break it will disintegrate. Another thing we learned about was different orbits. The inner orbit and outer orbit are the two different kinds of orbits. If you want to get into an inner orbit you have to go slowly. Once you get into an inner orbit you start to speed up. To get out of an inner orbit you have to speed up when you leave an inner orbit you can enter into an outer orbit. When you enter an outer orbit you slow down. To drop back int an inner orbit you slow down. When you hit an inner orbit you speed up. So in orbits you speed up to slow down and slow down to speed up. We also learned about some of the missions. I had so much fun at this exciting trip to the Planetarium!

Back to School Pictures 2015 (Siobhan)

~Back to School 2015~

-Alma Mater Academy-

This is our 12th year! Below I listed all our main subjects...

~Mater and Pater aka Professor and Principal~

 -Brandan aka Little Lux-

Brandan is in Preschool this year. He loves doing any school work Mom gives him! His favorite preschool activities are painting and his Do-A-Dot markers. 

 ~Shaila aka Filia~

Shaila is in Kindergarten this year. She loves it and is very excited to learn how to read! She is doing Veritas Press Phonics Museum with Mom. She also does Saxon Math K and astronomy with her brothers.

 -Connor aka Tert-

Connor is in 2nd Grade this year. His favorite subject is Latin! He is doing Saxon Math 2 and astronomy. He has also started Veritas Press Online History, which he loves.

 -Aidan aka Rus-

Aidan is in 5th Grade this year. He is doing Saxon Math 6/5 and Apologia Astronomy with Tert and Filia. He is doing Veritas Press Online History.

 -Ethan aka Leo-

Ethan is in 9th Grade this year. He is excited about studying veterinary medicine in college. He is doing Algebra 1 and Biology with Elim this year. For history, he is doing Omnibus I.

~Elim~

We are so excited to have Elim joining us again this year! She is in 9th Grade. Elim is doing Algebra 1/2 and Biology with Leo. She is doing Omnibus I for history.

 ~Siobhan aka Stella~

Siobhan is in 11th Grade this year. She is doing Advanced Math and Advanced Human Biology. For history, she is doing Omnibus V.

Rus' TaeKwonDo Class (Siobhan)

-TaeKwanDo-

Rus recently took a TaeKwonDo class through the Concord Recreation Department. He loved it! 

I wasn't able to get pictures of his actual class, because Filia wanted me to watch her dance class. I did get some pictures of his uniform though, and one of his taekwando moves (see top picture!)

Rus learned so much in the class. He even got to be in a board breaking ceremony on the last day of class! 

One of Rus' optional homework assignments was to learn to count to 20 in Korean. He did it, and he taught Little Lux as well! I got a video of the two of them counting! Blogger wouldn't let me upload it in one video, so I had to put it in multiple videos. 

Here they are...

Part 1 of Rus and Little Lux counting to 20 in Korean

Part 2

School Crafts (Siobhan)

 

Crafts

Mom and the kids have done some fun craft projects lately for school. Here are some pictures...

I can't quite believe Filia is in Kindergarten. It seems like just yesterday she was doing her first year of preschool! 

Masks!

The next craft the kids did was fruit constellations. They are doing the Exploring Creation with Astronomy textbook by Apologia.

They started out by painting paper plates blue.

Mom cut up a bunch of different types of fruit and cheeses for them to use to represent the planets.

The Tuscan Village Car Show (Aidan)

     Dad,  Connor,  Ethan and I went to the Tuscan Village Car Show. The traffic was bad and we were getting late for the car show. We had brought the camera, but it was raining so we couldn't bring that to the car show. We had to walk, but at least we got a good view of the passing Lamborghini Aventador. We walked into the parking lot, greeted by the revving of a Lamborghini Diablo. We walked around and we saw many cars these included: Lamborghini Gallardo, Lamborghini Diablo, Lamborghini Miura, Porches, Maserati, Mclaren, Ferrari 458 Italia, Ferrari 458 Spider, Ford Shelby, Corvette Stingray, and antique Ferraris and many other fascinating cars.  About 8 of the cars were owned by the same man. We even got to sit in one of the Lamborghinis. Near the end of the show the Lamborghini revved it's engine (and it has the loudest rev I have ever heard) and drove out. We went back to our car and drove home. This field trip was amazing!