Monday, June 16, 2008
Kayak Fears
How did I overcome this risk? I just put it out of my mind so I wouldn't think of it.
One thing I do in my life outside of school that is risky is snowbording. I could really hurt myself if I fell and broke my neck. After kayaking I have better balance and that will help me be a better snowboarder.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Assignment 1
My feelings getting into the boat was excitement. I was excited to do this and once we got onto the water it was even more fun. I was using a green boat from Mayhew, it was wide and and kind of like a bathtub to be in. I don't think I would have liked to be in the other boats because I was having second thoughts about them.
My experiences and expectations were met if not exceeded when we went out for the first time. I was so excited because we spent a lot of time preparing for the trip and that day we went was awesome. My behavior was very good on the first trip and all the rest.
Spanky
This is a proposal for an end of the year project I am working on with Andy. We want to make Spanky. Spanky is a saw horse that we turned into a saw horse with a head and a tail. Our teacher Ryan took him apart and threw his head in the scrap pile. So now we want to make a new one with a head, tail, and now put tires on it and some seats. We will make him out of 2 by 3 and 2 by 4's. We named him Spanky because Andy kept spanking the wooden horse which was kinda weird.
Well it is a challenge because I have to work with Andy . That can be hard and we tend to goof off so I think that will be a challenge. We also have to find out how to attach a bike fork to a 2 by 4 that will be hard but I think me and Andy can accomplish the project.
We will have to show our problem solving skills by not goofing off. That will take some skill and putting together the forks and plywood will take skill too. Getting all the parts we need and having to come up with some designs will also be challenging.
This project will make me use people skills. I think me and Andy can work well together. I will also try not to tell Ryan to stop his complaining. He complains when everything is not totally perfect. That usually makes me mad. I will consider some of Andy's ideas no matter what I think of them.
I hope it does not break on me. That would be bad.
Kayaking Story
"No, what was it?"
"I don't know maybe we should turn back."
"Okay lets go!"
The kid was looking in the water again to see if he could see it and all of a sudden this huge monster comes up behind them! It goes for his friend and he dodges it but the monster goes under him and swallows him whole! His friend got away because he was a faster paddler. Back on shore he never talked about it to anybody. He didn't want anybody to know what happened to his friend and he took his secret to his grave.
THE END
The Sea devil
Kayaking on the Pemi
The first kayaking trip was really fun. We launched off of these huge backings in the Pemi River. It was like we were in this monster-infested river and we had to paddle really hard to get to the other side so we wouldn't get eaten. My expectations of the day was that the day was going to be hot. It was, but it also was kind of cold in the water. It was really easy and fun and that's how I wanted it to be because if it weren't, it would have been boring.
James The Animal
The Sea Devil
Football is a risky sport that I love. I got a concussion last year and I had to take the year off which upset me a lot. To me that similar to the character in "The Sea Devil" because I couldn't play football and the character couldn't fish. We both had to give up something we love.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
First Experience
English Entry 3:
At the end of the story, the main character vows to never fish again. Given the circumstances, it is safe to assume that the fight with the Sea Devil scared him. One might assume that fear is the reason he wont fish. Another thought that was brought up in class is that the main character could now empathize with a trapped fish and thus would never hunt one again. What do you think?
Write an essay explaining the main character's reasons for vowing to never fish again. Appropriately cite evidence from the story that supports your argument. Also relate this story to your own life and the risks that you take. What would stop you from doing something you love? Was he right to give up fishing?
Spanky
I will be working with Adam and we will make them out of some wood Adam's grandfather dropped off at the bike shop last week. It is a challenge because I will show problem solving skills by constructing from scratch a wooden saw horse. Then we're going to strap wheels to the bottom of the saw horse with 2 by 4's and we are going to try to make some steering mechanism for the saw horse.
We are going to use 6 inch nails and connect the legs to the bottom of the horse and then we are going to drill out the bottom of the legs to put the bike forks into them. Then we are going to super glue them into the drilled out holes in the bottom of it. Finally we are going to sand it down and spray paint it and put our own designs on the side of the horse. Then we will turn it in for our final grade and then the year is over.
My Proposal
Ryan assigned us a project for newfound challenge. We had to choose something that is challenging that showed problem solving skills and group people skills. James and I are finishing the kayak that Ryan was too busy to do by himself, so we're doing it for our final grade.
This project is going to be a challenge because we just have so much stuff to do and we don't have much time to do it. Its going to be a challenge because James is kinda slow and I'm kinda fast at some things. This might aggravate me.
We will show problem solving skills by remembering what we did on the first boat so we can build it and have it done. That will show people how much talent we have for building boats. Another problem solving skill we will use is using all the tools. To show people skills is like having fun and communication what we are doing.
I think this project will be fun. I'm looking forward to it.
shawns board design
Right now im in the process of cutting a board shape out of wood becaue i dont have money for a blank.
i will be findin old trucks and wheeles and paint my design on them. I will even put grip tape on it and put it up for display. This will be really fun and when i get money for a blank I will really paint my design and even try to sell it.
My Proposal
Ryan McMahon assigned us a group project to do so we chose to finish the kayak that Ryan is too lazy to finish(ha-ha). The main reason we are doing this is project is for a grade on our final exam. We are making the kayak to use if we go on any more kayak trips.
This project will be a challenge because it is hard to keep up with Mike when we cut out the top of boat. He works fast and it will be hard to keep up with him. It will be hard to get this done before it is due because we have minimal time to finish.
We will show problem solving skills when we run out of wood. Then we will find ways to get more wood. It will also be hard to do every thing right because their is a lot of things I forgot.
I will show people skills by working with Mike. It is hard too keep up with Mike. Also communicating and having fun while we will build the boat.
I think we will be finished the day before it is due because look who I am working with, a fast pace kind of guy who gets stuff done early.
Final Kayak Unit Post
During our Kayak Trekking Unit we took many risks. By exposing you to risky situations we wanted you to learn more about yourself and how you deal with stress and difficult situations. By learning to deal well with difficulty and risk on the water you can improve how you deal with tough situations in regular life.
This is one of the main reasons why we went kayaking.
In a blog entry please answer the following:
1. Identify one risk that you took during the Kayak Trekking Unit.
2. How did you overcome this risk, what was the outcome? Did you "loose" anything or even get hurt?
3. Identify one risk that have taken in everyday life.
4. If you had to take this risk again, how might you approach this risk differently now that you have been through the Kayak Unit?
Sunday, June 8, 2008
The Sea Devil Short Story
Hopefully by participating in this kayaking unit we will all connect with this story on a new level. Maybe we should have read Lord of the Flies...
I have a lesson in dutch oven camp cooking planned and it should be a nice hot day. Lots of water and sunscreen is a must.
Pictures will be coming soon...
Friday, May 30, 2008
English Entry 2: Fiction
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Reflection Entry One
Describe our first trip on the water...
Who? What? When? Where? Why? Set the tone. Paint the scene. Spin the yarn!
Also, what were your feelings getting into the boat for the first time? Were you in the boat we made or were you in a boat that we borrowed from Mayhew? How do you think you would have felt if you were in the other type of boat?
Finally, write about the experience and your expectations. Were you excited about the trip or were you dreading it? Often times having really high or really low expectations can influence behavior and how you experience things. Look back on the adventure, reflect on your behavior, and talk about expectations.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
English Assignments for Trip Days
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
First Trip This Week
From Mike
Friday, May 23, 2008
Latest Pictures, Trailer Pickup
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Todays Progress
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sanding Fun Fun!!!!!!! NOT
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Personal Project
Assignment: Choose a project to work on during Challenge class and at home. The project must be finished on or before it is due: the last day before finals week. This is for part of the final grade in Challenge Class.
Guidelines:
-You may work in groups
-You must fund it; on your own, or with “fund raising”
-You must be able to work on it during Challenge Class
-It must be legal (obviously)
-You are responsible to find the equipment needed
Requirements:
To get a passing grade, you must:
- Type a proposal for what you will do onto the Challenge Blog
- Choose a project that is challenging for you.
- Show effective problem solving skills
- Show effective group/people skills
- Present what you have done, and what you learned in some way to the instructor and the class
Some Suggestions:
- Put on a community breakfast with food from Shop n’ Save; challenge yourself to get more than 15 people to attend
- Build a bike
- Build something simple with wood
- Make your own blog
- Design a skate board logo, deck, or sticker
- Design a Alt Wheels sticker and get it made
- Make a Challenge Class ’08 yearbook
Friday, May 16, 2008
The Search for the Right Paint Goes On
It is down to the wire for the boat building; this next week it will be time for boat using.
We need a final protective coating for the boats, something that will protect against UV from the sun and give it a nice finished look.
I have been researching types of paint outside of class.
We need something that:
- will stick to epoxy
- is environmentally friendly
- will protect the boat
- will not flake off when stressed
- is as cheap as we can get
Acrylic latex porch and floor paint- still cheap, less volatile chemicals, may not stick as well to epoxy, may not be a durable.
I think we should test the latex paint, that way we can paint it on with out having to use a respirator mask. It will impact the environment less as well.
What does everyone else think?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Go Get Some Fiber
Monday, May 12, 2008
Fiber Glass The Seams
We glued the fiber glass tape over the seams to the sides of the boat. We also put epoxy over it and then we put the fiber glass on the boat as well. We used regular epoxy to "paint" the fiber glass to the boat. It is called painting the weave. It all is a pain in the butt and it's really hot out when we do the work outside, it kinda sucks.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
New Blogging Style, Faster Updates
To stay current with what we do in class and on our kayak project, I would like to try a new posting style. Everyday someone will post an entry on what has happened since the last post. Only one person has to post on their assigned day.
This entry should be a personal reflection. It should be in your own voice and should contain your own personal experience and thoughts.
For Example:
5/10/08
Buying Paint
I had to find out what kind of paint we can use for the outside of the kayaks. It needs to be durable and not harmful to the environment. The paint also must protect the epoxy from the harmful effects of sunlight. So far I know that oil based paint will stick the best to the epoxy, but we don't know if it is still harmful to the environment after it is dry. Things are getting down to the wire; I hope we stay on schedule.
---Ryan
This "personal reflection" style of post is what many people use on their blog.
Monday- Shawn
Tues- Mike
Wed- James
Thurs- andy
Fri- Adam
(If someone is absent the next person in the order posts and the absent person switches with them. )
Monday, May 5, 2008
Seeling the Inside and Tracing the top
We just got finished sealing the inside of the boat. We seeled it with oil based primer. We painted the whole inside of the boat with the primer. It acts like a water sealent so that way no water gets inside.
Now we are in the process of tracing the top of the boat. That's the easy part. Put a large piece of luan plywood across the top of the boat and trace it. Then you would cut it out and then glue it and even use nails to make sure that it is sturdy.
Nailing the Bottom
Once you have the bottom cut out to its correct shape you first you spread the glue on the chinelog. The glue we used was Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue. This is a good choice because it is waterproof. You place the bottom of the kayak on the chinelog. Then you nail the perimeter of the boat to the whole chinelog.
Blog Entry III: Putting it all Together
Once this round of entries is complete, we will move to a more effective blog posting method. Each day one student will be assigned to post an entry explaining what went on in class that day. Blog viewers will be updated everyday on our progress and the student will need to finish the entry by the end of class.
We need to finish these entries by Tuesday, so we can catch-up the blog to where we are with the boat.
Mike- plane chine logs to fit the bottom level
James- nail and glue the bottom
Adam- plane sheer clamps level to fit top
Shawn- sealing the inside, tracing the top
Follow the same entry comments from Blog Entry II
Friday, May 2, 2008
Bulkheads
I helped by putting in the bulkheads. The bulkheads are the pieces of wood in the middle of the boat. There are three of them spaced out in the boat's inner hull. They are for support so that the boat doesn't crush. They give the boat a v-shape. To build the bulkheads, you had to trace them on plywood with a stencil. Then we had to cut them out and shape them to the right size.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Scarfing The Sheer Clamp And Chine Logs
The sheer clamp is the thin long piece of pine at the top of the side panel. The chine log is a piece of pine that runs the length of the boat were the bottom. The sheer clamp is the part that you would nail the top to. The chine log is the piece of pine that is used to nail the bottom on. The boat is 15.5' long and you can only buy the pine in 10' long sections and thats why you need to make a joint. The scarf joint is when you cutt to pieces of wood and glue them together. The way ou cut them would be at an angle the angle we used is 6''. Then you would need to glue them together with a special type of wood glue. Then you would need to press them together with clamps to make sure it stays in place...
Monday, April 14, 2008
Doing the Sides
We stared off with 16 foot long pieces of plywood called blanks. Then you want to find your measurements to the side of the kayak, or use a pattern to trace them on the blanks. Then cut it out, but don't cut on the line, cut a little above it on the waste side. After that, grab a plane and shave it down almost to the line and finally use a Surform, which will give it a nice finished look. The picture on the right is the finished side panel we used. The picture on the left is a Edit[handsome] man in a kayak (me)=) !
Thursday, April 10, 2008
James Makes Butt Blocks
We started out with two 8 foot pieces of plywood. I, James had to block the two panels to make 16 foot blanks. Blanks are sections of plywood that you prepare and later cut out a pattern from. We had to butt block the pieces together because you can not buy 16 foot pieces of plywood at a store. Also building a 8 foot kayak would not be good enough for a camping trip. The tools we used for this step were nails, a hammer, glue, and a plane. We first glued the butt blocks to the sides connecting two pieces and then we nailed them together.
Blog Entry II: What Have We Done
James- butt blocking the two panels to make the 16' blanks
Adam- tracing the pattern and roughing out the panels, fairing the boards
Shawn- scarfing the sheer clamps and chine logs
Andy- attaching and fitting the sheer clamps and chine logs
Mike- making bulkheads, putting in bulkhead anchors
Each entry must :
- have an introduction
- what tools are used
- have step by step instructions
- be posted in order
- display at least one relevant picture
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
kayak progress
Monday, March 31, 2008
Kayaks
KAYAKS
Kayak Project
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Community Breakfast is Done
This event benefited me as well as the community in a number of ways. Well I got the joy of helping people out and the people in the community got a free breakfast. I also got to meet some really nice people. The people also got a place to talk to their friends. We only had like 10 people show up. But we all had a great time.
Kayak Project: First Entry
Naturally the first entry is an introduction to what we are currently doing.
Please write: What are we doing?
Why?
How?
Any other details about what we are doing...
And...
What is one reason someone might enjoy this project?
Monday, March 17, 2008
Community Breakfast
thank 4 reading
Monday, March 10, 2008
Community Breakfast Reflection
On February 21, 2008 Newfound Challenge put on a free community breakfast. We cooked eggs and omelets. We got muffins, bread, fruit, cakes, eggs, and vegetables from Hannaford in Plymouth. We did this event to feed people who actually need the food.
My role in this event was setting up the tables and taking orders from guests. I welcomed the guests as they came in.
I had a fun time and I learned a lot about new people and how they lived. This event helped me to get to know the community better. This made me give back to the community. It fed more people and saved food from getting thrown out.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Senior Lucheon Info
One positive outcome was we helped serve them, and they wouldn't think us teenagers are bad kids . They probably would help us build a skate park because we helped them out, so, maybe they will help us back.
One thing that I learned was to help people out and just have fun. They love having a civilized conversation with you and they really like that.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Update On Project
We the Newfound challenge kids volunteered to help at the older people lunch. We had a good time we served corn chowder tuna fish sandwiches and pasta salad and drinks. Just a hint, when an old lady yells at you (i don't want corn chowder) just walk away. All in all it was great time you should try it some time.
One good thing about the lunch is I got free food. The bad part was... I was not hungry. Another good outcome was we got to help out in the community. It is good to work in the community because people won't think we are punks.
I learned old lady's get mad if you give them corn chowder that they don't want. They may yell (i don't want corn chowder).
Update
Service Project. I went to a senior luncheon to help out people by serving the seniors food and beverages. We served the seniors their favorite food, corn chowder and their favorite beverages, coffee and tea. I, “The Prototype Football Star” also sat down and had a conversation with them.
One positive outcome of our involvement is that we earned their respect. We earned it by helping them out by serving them lunch.
I learned a lot about these people as seniors. It was nice to know what they were like because I did not know much about seniors. One guy told me punishments these days are less painful than they used to be. I'm glad this experience was useful.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Community Breakfast
I am part of a group of students that is putting on a community breakfast for anyone who wants it. It is going to be at the TTCC in Bristol, NH on February 21 from 9-10:30. We are doing this to help save food from getting thrown out. We can use this to help people in our community. We are getting the food from Hannaford in Plymouth who were nice enough to donate it.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Free Comunity breakfast
N Challenge Breakfast
Newfound Challenge Breakfast for Community
I am a student at Newfound Challenge and we are having a community breakfast at the Bristol Community Center and anybody can come and have a good breakfast. It starts at 9 and ends at 10.30 and we are doing this to earn respect and to try to help reduce food waste in America.
Community breakfast
We are the Newfound Challenge. We are putting on a community breakfast on the 21 of February from 9 to 10:30. we r using donations from local business to make the food. It is completely free and open to everyone who needs a good meal. We are having it at the ttcc/community center. It will help us and u because some people don't like the bike shop and we really want to keep it open. We also want to help the community.