Project Management

This morning Alison Low returned to teach us about Project Management.

Last time Alison came in she reminded us to talk about requirements so that everyone is on the same page and working together as a team. "What does 'done' look like?"

In project planning it is normal to work backwards from the end goal. What is needed to enable your end goal to be achieved? What order will these need to be achieved in?

The initial idea is usually really fun, however, to get there in the end you will need to go through a lot of hard work!

Each group were challenged to use sticky notes to write down every action that needs to be taken on the way to their end goal. They then put these into an order. Each group decided on a project manager and people who would take on each of the necessary tasks.

What a huge learning experience this morning has been. Thank you so much to Alison for your wonderful expertise that you bring to S'Mart Tank.

Building Websites

This morning we were fortunate enough to have Mel Opie come in to teach us about website design. We were asked to think about who our audience might be and how we might design a website that will be attractive to these people. We were asked to think about colours and that the most important part of our website was placed on the top left, as well as thinking about simplicity.

We are designing our free websites via wix.com
Alice Vetcher, From Smart Worms, talked us through the basics of design and how to get going in this area.

This was such an exciting two hours, the groups are on their way to creating their unique websites. Check back here soon to see some.

A huge thank you to Mel and Alice for facilitating this learning.

Plight of the Bees

BEES

Hello! We are the 2018 Plight of the Bees group.

We will be giving you weekly news from our
group and bee hive.

1.Mrs O. has bees at her house and she let
us have some honey to try and it was very,very
good.  

2.Rachel Knight has made bee suits for us
to wear and they fit well.

3. There are three different types of bees, there
is the Drone and they are the male bees and they
do nothing,

there is also the Worker bee and they collect the
honey

and there is the Queen bee who lays the eggs.

4. Our bees are starting to make honey
because
of a special person called Nick. He took our
hive
to
his house and our bees learnt how to make
honey.
Without Nick

our bees wouldn’t survive the Winter.

Here is a video of the bees

Pitching to our Mentors

This morning was an exciting time at S'Mart Tank. Each group presented their idea to our six mentors for them to select some of us to go further.

Ski Bike was our first product and we were impressed with the prototype Lennox had made. Our mentors asked who would be likely to buy these ski bikes.

Filter Water was next and there was a big discussion about the large number of opportunities for a product like this. How might it work? What would filter the water? Greg commented that this idea definitely "had legs"!

Grippy shoes did not have a prototype created but talked about their attachable product.

Trash Lab were next. They had created a mini Lego prototype of their idea that will enable students at St Martins to creatively play with products from this shed. The lack of playing area is a problem for us during the rebuild. This group has already talked with Mr Callaghan about working alongside the SMart Community to enable this to happen in our school. Rochelle was particularly excited about this idea.

Smart Sheet was next with their art sheets that would wrap around tables to prevent paint spillage on tables.

S'Mart Folders have already been on a trip to TwinNeedle to look at creating and printing their reading folders. These girls had a number of prototypes that did not yet work, as well as two materials that do. They were really well organised with why S'Mart Folder are a great alternative to the regular reading folders available now. They had even thought of donating some of their profits to Duffy Books.

Kitchen Herb Garden brought along their product to promote to the mentors. They were very clear on what their product is and the benefits of these herb gardens. Each of these herb gardens will be made individually by this group. They had already thought of costs and products.

Bike Seat Heat were the final group. These boys are all about keeping your bottom warm while cycling! This is a battery powered pack that heats up a bike seat.

It was great to see each student confidently presenting to the adult mentors - what a great skill.

The mentors discussed the pros and cons of each group and agreed to support the following:

• Trash Lab (Rochelle and Marty)
• Smart Sheet (Marty)
• Smart Folders (Alison)
• Kitchen Herb Garden (Greg)
• Filter Water (Craig)

Congratulations S'Mart Tankers!