Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools March 2014 | Page 8

Students at Waxhaw Elementary build hydraulic robotic arm Maureen Stuka’s fifth grade class at Waxhaw Elementary has shown collaboration and cooperation by building an hydraulic robotic arm. They did this by working in construction crews. Each person signed up for one out of six construction crews. Each crew got a turn to work on the robotic arm during WIN time. It took six sessions to complete the arm. Each day one crew got a turn to work on the robotic arm for about 30 minutes. There were four to five people in each crew. How did we build the robot? Well, we read the instructions and followed them, but we also used background information. We had to put together all of the wood pieces and then glue them. We had to fill the tubes with water, and then we attached the tubes to the syringes, and finally the syringes to the wood claw. Then, we had our finished hydraulic robotic arm! How does our robot work? Well, there are three syringes. Two of them make the robot move from side to side and up and down. The third syringe makes the claw open and close to pick up materials such as markers, pencils or even bigger objects. • The middle syringe makes the robot move up and down. • The right syringe makes the claw open and close. • The left syringe moves the arm from side to side. © Disney Now, the building and testing processes are over, and the class is working on creating works of abstract art with the hydraulic robotic arm. Working with the same construction crews, we took sheets of paper and placed them under the robot. Next, we put colored markers in the robot’s claw and moved the machine from side to side to draw pictures on the paper. We call this process “Robot Art.” Our creations are displayed in the fifth-grade hallway. Mrs. Stuka’s class has shown collaboration and cooperation in building a creation for all to enjoy. Written by: : Katelyn Groome, Olivia DePaola and Elsie Schomp: fifth-grade students Thu. MAR. 20 3:30 & 6:30 PM Time Warner Cable Arena 265673 Buy Tickets: Ticketmaster.com 800-745-3000 • Venue Box Office disneyjuniorlive.com #DisneyLive 6 • March/April 2014 • Parent Teacher Magazine  Fifth-grade students in Maureen Stuka’s class at Waxhaw Elementary have built an hydraulic robotic arm.