Hello! XTmad here! This blog post is about my innovation day project. My project is making a castle with a working drawbridge from Medieval times out of cardboard. We are also learning about the timeline of the Medieval times, and how pulleys and gears work. We are also in our history part of social studies, which is interesting.

pulleys: A pulley is a simple machine made by putting a wheel with a groove in the middle and putting a bar or something to go through in the middle then putting a string on the groove. It is used to lift heavy loads using the same amount of force as the weight of the object. An example is if you are lifting one hundred pounds, you have to pull with the force of 100 pounds. To use less force, you add more wheels and use more string or rope.

gears: A gear or cog is a wheel with “teeth” or grooves on the edge. they are used to send motion

 

Here is my video about medieval times:

 

Here is my science booklet

My Hypothesis:

 

PROCEDURE:

1. First, I got a box and cut off the flaps, or whatever you call them.

2) Then I cut the square things on the top.

3) Then I made a guard tower and the keep, which was a cardboard box.

4) Then I made the drawbridge, which I cut out of the castle.

5) Then I got the strings and made holes for them to go through. The pulley system I used was not a success. So I tried another way that also did not work… I took a break from the pulley building.

6)Next, I cut a door into the keep and on the top, I made a guy, put him there, and cut a trapdoor.

7) Then Ms. M helped make a pulley system that worked. (See my castle!)

8) Then I painted a pond and hot glued a “vegetable garden”. I got a “death carrot” next to the drawbridge.

9) Then added an elastic canon and a normal cannon. I also added a little house at the pond.

Here is my finished project:

Self Assessment:

I liked this project because the building allowed me to show my skill of building almost toggleable castle. My favourite part was building the elastic canon which happened just by accident after seeing a pencil hot glued to the floor. if i did this again, I would change my materials for example I did not realise that we were able to use tooth picks. Here is my self assessment rubric: