Week of January 4-8

It was so nice to see everyone again after a long break! This week, the 3rd graders were environmental engineers who were hired by the mayor of Greentown to investigate while plants and frogs were dying in the garden and pond. We used pH strips to test the pH levels in the soil and water in various locations around town. Then we shared and recorded our results and visited each site to investigate further. We learned that pollution in one area can spread to other areas, we were also surprised by some of the causes of the pollution. Next week, we will make recommendations to the mayor about what should be done to remedy the problems in the environment.

basic, neutral, and acidic pH results from our testing

In 4th grade, we've been flying through the tutorials and have been able to get our robots to do amazing things. The video below uses the switch block to make the robot follow a path. 

In 5th grade, we've been working on our pitch presentations. The purpose of these presentations is to inform our classmates of the essential question we are trying to answer, share our possible solutions, and get feedback about our passion project ideas before we begin the planning and research phase. My Monday class did an excellent job of making sure to rely on images (instead of a lot of text) to make their presentations interesting and engaging! I look forward to seeing the rest of the presentations next week!