Week of December 18-22

***Calling all 5th grade inventors!!! The 2018 Young Scientist Challenge is now open! Click HERE to find out how to enter.***

This week, the 3rd graders learned about ecosystems. We created a model food web to show how the living and nonliving things in an ecosystem are connected. Every single organism in our web was connected to the river in some way. This helped us understand how much devastation an oil spill can cause!

In 4th grade, we worked on programming our robots to move straight (forward and backward) and some groups began exploring curved moves. We learned that there are different modes you can use to tell the robot what to do. For example, you can use degree mode, rotation mode, on for seconds, and more to move the robot a certain distance. We used our math skills to figure out that one rotation is equal to 360 degrees. Some groups even found the circumference of the wheel in order to figure out how to get the robot to go a certain distance!

In 5th grade, we went on an invention hunt around the school and identified inventions as either type II (known problem with unknown method to solve it and unknown solution - like fans) or type III (unknown problem with unknown method to solve it and unknown solution - like the Promethean Board). We discussed how inventors have to be observant problem-finders and think up ideas that people didn't even know they needed. Some classes then learned about the 4 steps in the inventive process: idea, invention, innovation, improvement. Our challenge was to take the invention of cardboard and create an innovation and improvement using that invention. We will continue to work on this after the break.

Week of December 11-15

This week, our third grade engineers examined pictures of an ecosystem from 50 years ago and today. Their challenge was to notice what's changed and figure out why those changes have happened. We realized that the birds disappeared, and without birds to eat them, the insects and fish increased. This caused the plants to start to decrease. We learned that everything in an ecosystem is interconnected, and when one change occurs, many more changes happen as a result!

The 4th graders finished building their robots and began programming! We are starting to see how the blocks have different modes and parameters that affect the behavior of the robot. We are excited to see all the amazing things we can program our robots to do!

Students are busy building their robots!

Our 5th grade inventors learned about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and how inventions come from trying to meet people's needs. We had a lively debate about what is more important: things we need to survive or things we need for happiness. We came to the agreement that our basic needs must be met first, but that happiness is also very important for our survival. We then tried to create inventions out of wood (popsicle sticks) to meet each level of human need.

Students create shelters, weapons, trophies, and more items to meet their tribe's needs!

Week of December 4-8

This week began our engineering units! The third graders kicked off the cycle with an engineering design challenge, build a tower at least one foot tall to support a stuffed cow. The catch: they could only use 50 index cards and two feet of tape! We learned an important lesson; engineers fail all the time. The important thing is being able to learn from our mistakes! By the end of the challenge, we all had a better idea of how we could improve our designs by making the index cards into stronger shapes like triangles and cylinders. Check out our creations below!

In 4th grade, we held our probability carnival and got a chance to play each other's games. The students did a terrific job of making games that appeared fair but were actually slightly unfair. Check out some pics and video of the carnival below! We also started our engineering unit by talking about robots v. machines and some examples of real robots in our world. We are very excited to finish building and start programming our EV3 robots!

Shout-out to Reeti for making this hat!

In 5th grade, we began our unit on inventions by thinking about qualities of a good inventor. We agreed that things like creativity, perseverance, and patience are just a few important qualities that an inventor should possess. We then learned about the differences between divergent and convergent thinking and debated when each one would be more useful. Finally, we took E. Paul Torrance's test of creativity by brainstorming uses of a paper clip (fluency), categorizing the items on our list (flexibility), choosing the most unique one (originality), and creating a one minute commercial to give a detailed description of the wacky use of a paper clip (elaboration). Go to our 5th grade page to see all of the commercials! 

The pocket scratcher

Does changing a flat tire require convergent or divergent thinking?

Week of November 27-December 1

This week, the 3rd graders finally decided which movie studio to work for. After looking at a lot of data about movie ratings and profits, they all decided to work for Pixar. They used their data to explain that Pixar had better overall ratings and a higher net profit than Dreamworks in recent years. Their final project is to choose a career that they are interested in and show how math is used in that career by creating word problems for their classmates to share. This will be due next week (the first week of engineering).

In 4th grade, we finalized our carnival games, making sure they are slightly unfair so we can make a profit. Next week, we will invite students to come and play our games! We will also start our engineering unit on Lego robotics!

The 5th graders learned about piecewise functions that will allow different results based on what key is pressed. This will enable our player to move up when the up arrow is hit and down when the down arrow is hit. The remaining code to get our games working is shared on our 5th grade page. Click on the links below to play some of the games the students have created! More games will be added to our 5th grade page.

Zachary's game
Gabriella's game

Week of November 20-22

During this short week, the 3rd graders focused on the importance of analyzing data in order to make informed decisions. Now that we've looked at movie ratings and profits, we must figure out what this info tells us about each studio so we can make an informed decision about where to work!

The 4th graders worked on their carnival games. They made the games are slightly unfair, but they made sure that this won't be obvious to the players. Then, they played their own games to determine the experimental probability of winning and losing (see below)!

Some 5th grade classes continued to work on getting their game elements to move, while 5c learned a new datatype that will help keep these images onscreen. This datatype is called a Boolean. It performs a test and evaluates to true or false. Some examples of functions that produce Booleans are: <, > , =, and, or. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving!!!

Week of November 13-17

This week, some third graders learned about the difference between gross profits and net profits. They calculated the net profit of Pixar and Dreamworks movies by subtracting the budget from the gross profit. This will help us figure out which company is doing better financially. We also learned what it means to be "in the red." Soon, we will put all of this data together to decide which company to work for!

This student is calculating the net profit of recent movies.

In 4th grade, we revisited the question: what makes a game fair? We realized that in order for a game to be fair, each play must have the same theoretical probability of winning. Students were then given the challenge of creating their own carnival game based on chance that is slightly unfair (carnival owners have to make a profit)! They must be able to prove that the game is unfair by calculating the theoretical probability of winning and losing. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

In 5th grade, we finally got some of our video game elements to move! We definied functions that take in the danger's and target's x-coordinate and either add or subtract 50 in order to move it left or right. Now, the problem is that they fly off the screen and don't come back! Our next challenge will be to keep them onscreen!

Week of October 30-November 3

This week, the 3rd graders learned that bar graphs are useful when trying to compare and contrast data. Now that they found the average movie ratings for the five most recent movies from each studio, they will use this data to create bar graphs. This will help us see which movies were most liked and which studio had the highest ratings. This info will be very useful when deciding which studio to work for!

In 4th grade, the students in 4b explored what it means for a game to be fair. We realized that the theoretical probability for each player to win must be equally likely in order for it to be fair. This will help us when creating our own games, because now we know how to find the theoretical probability of compound events. The students in 4a explored the probability of getting possible sums and products when rolling two dice. We realized that a table is really helpful when finding all possible outcomes!

The 5th graders finally saw how functions are necessary in order to get game images to start moving! We used the design recipe to solve a problem related to rocket-height at various times. We even figured out how to make the rocket go faster and slower. The one challenge we are still working on is getting the rocket to start at the top of the screen and move down.

Week of October 23-27

This week, the 3rd graders became movie studio executives. In this challenge, they must decide whether to work for Dreamworks or Disney Pixar. Before they make a decision, there are a lot of factors to consider. We started off looking at the critics' ratings for the five most recent movies from each studio. We discussed the importance of looking at a few reputable sites to find the ratings since people's tastes might vary. We learned what an average or mean is and how to calculate it. We then found three ratings for each movie and calculated the average. This will help us easily compare the ratings from each movie studio.

In 4th grade, we continued to find combinations using tree diagrams, lists, tables, and multiplication. Some classes used these strategies to explore the probability of the possible sums and products when rolling two dice. We conducted experiments to compare the experimental and theoretical probabilities and realized that some sums and products are more likely to occur than others. For example, you can get a sum of 7 in many ways, but you can only get a sum of two in one way.

The 5th graders learned that defining functions is an important skill in programming because it allows you to make things like triangles of all different sizes and colors or rectangles with different lengths and widths. We learned how to write a contract, examples, and definitions for functions and practiced inputting and evaluating them in wescheme.

Week of October 16-20

This week, the third graders completed and shared their Restaurant Owner and Dog Walker projects. It was amazing to see how much math was used in both of these careers. The restaurant owners learned that some meals will have a larger profit margin than others, and that the prices of each menu item have to seem reasonable to the customer. Our dog walker learned that he could make a good amount of money by walking five dogs at a time! Click on the links below to see the menus the students created!
Healthy Choices
Chinese Diner

4a continued to learn about how to use theoretical probability to make predictions about what should happen in a dice game. This allowed them to place their chips appropriately in order to increase their chances of winning the game.
4b learned some methods of solving problems involving combinations (think ice cream with various toppings). We discovered that tree diagrams help us organize our info so we can use it to answer questions involving probability. Some students were even able to figure out all of the combinations of heads and tails when flipping one coin four times in a row! Then they could find the probability of getting all heads or all tails.

In 5th grade, we started to use what we learned about defining variables to start to create our own video games with our own game images. We defined our target, danger, player, and background to be specific images related to our games. Next, we will define functions to get our game images moving!

Week of October 9-13

The third grader restaurant owners worked on creating menus and seating charts for their restaurants. When pricing the items on the menus, we discussed the importance of making a profit. After figuring out the cost to make each menu item, the students tripled or quadrupled that amount in order to make money and stay in business! The dog walker also had to figure out how much to charge per hour by calculating the distance each dog would be walked, how long it would take to walk the dog, and what a typical dog walker charges per hour.

In 4th grade, we discussed the difference between theoretical and experimental probabilities. Theoretical probability is determined by analyzing a situation and looking at the number of favorable outcomes over the number of possible outcomes. It never changes. Experimental probability can only be figured out AFTER an experiment has taken place. It is the number of favorable outcomes over the number of total trials. This fraction can change from one experiment to the next.
For some practice problems related to what we learned, click HERE.

In 5th grade, we learned how useful it is to define values using variables. It helps make our code much shorter and more efficient. The students even figured out how to define the string "Mrs. Emmich" to evaluate to a picture of me with my family!

Week of October 2-6

The third graders continued to discover new ways restaurant owners and dog walkers use math when running their businesses. Stay tuned for the finished products!


This week, the 4th graders explored unequally likely events. We conducted an experiment to find out how often students would get homework, and we realized that the teacher who designed the experiment was very smart because getting homework as an outcome was more likely than no homework! We also learned that according to the Law of Large Numbers, you have to do MANY trials for your experimental probability to get close to your theoretical probability. Check out a video that explains this below:

In 5th grade, we realized that when we write code, we can produce images, not just numbers. We did a lot of experimenting and discovered how to write the code for many different shapes of varying sizes and colors. We used math skills (properties of shapes, angles, problem solving) to help us understand the meaning behind the code we were writing.

Week of September 25-29

This week, some 3rd graders took on the role of restaurant owner and are using all kinds of math to figure out how much it will cost to make each dish and how much to charge customers in order to make a profit. We are also learning about fractions and measurements, like how many liquid ounces are in a cup, how many ounces are in a pound, how to calculate the cost of 3/4 sugar if we only know the price of a whole cup, and much more! Other students became dog walkers and are using google maps and elapsed time skills to plan out the schedule of when the dogs will be picked up and dropped off. They are also thinking about how much to charge each dog owner in order to make it worth their while. The students are realizing how much math goes into careers that might seem totally unrelated to math!

These students are planning out the meals for their restaurant!

In 4th grade, we've been learning about equally likely events by conducting experiments like flipping a coin or picking a colored cube out of a bag. When tossing a coin, the probability of getting heads or tails is 1/2, but we realized that not all events that are equally likely have a 50-50 chance of happening. If there are 8 different colored cubes in a bag, each chip has a 1/8 chance of being selected. The students came to realize that equally likely events have the same chance or probability of occuring, not necessarily a 50-50 chance!

These students are finding the experimental probability of choosing each of the eight colored cubes in the bag.

The 5th graders are becoming computer programmers and have already started writing code to evaluate mathematical expressions and to produce images. After learning how to write code to produce a star, students were able to figure out on their own how to create many other shapes like triangles, circles, squares, ellipses, right triangles, and many more! This led to a lot of meaningful discussions about how the coordinates of the screen can help us size our images and what the numbers we are using actually mean. The students discovered that the rectangle's numbers represent the lenght on the x and y axis and the circle's number represents the radius.

Students are writing code to produce various shapes.

Week of September 18-20

This week, our 3rd graders began to explore how math is used in many different careers. We realized that when teachers are deciding how to arrange the desks in groups, they are using division! When travel agents are planning a vacation for someone, they have to use math to make a budget, book flights, hotels, and much more! Math is used in some way in almost every career. I encouraged the students to go home and ask an adult how he/she uses math at work. I can't wait to hear all about it next week!

In 4th grade, we kicked off our probability unit by discussing the likelihood of various events ocurring. This led to some great debates, especially when asked how likely it is that a meteorologist will correctly predict the weather or how likely it is that someone else at Menlo will have the same birthday as yours! We left off thinking about which comes up more often, heads or tails. Next week, we will use experimental probability to better answer this question.

The 5th graders learned a new way to indicate the order of operations in an expression - a diagram called a circle of evaluation. Circles of Evaluation show the structure that’s going on inside an expression. All Circles of Evaluation have two rules:
Circle Rule 1: Each circle must have one function, which goes at the top of the circle.
Circle Rule 2: The numbers are written below, in order from left to right.

This circle means: 351 / (4 - 5)
Next, we will learn how to convert that to code and begin programming!

Week of September 11-15

Welcome to G&T 2017-18!!! This year will be filled with enriching and challenging adventures in Math, Engineering, and English Language Arts. G&T is a place where we can take risks, learn from both our successes and failures, ask lots of questions, persevere when faced with challenges, and, most importantly, have fun! For those of you who are new to the program, check out the videos below to get a feel for what this program is all about.

Click here for your first assignment!

During our first week of classes, all grades participated in a Dr. Suess themed Breakout EDU session. This is kind of like an escape room where students have to work together as a team to solve a variety of puzzles to open the locks on the breakout box. It took a lot of creativity, communication, and collaboration, but eventually all classes cracked the codes!!! I was so impressed with the teamwork and grit ALL students demonstrated! Check out some pics and video below. 

Week of June 12-16

The 5th grade TED Talks that were given this week can be viewed by clicking on the "TED Talks" tab above!

The 3rd graders were busy creating a poetry anthology with their best work from this cycle. You can check it out on our 3rd grade page!

The 4th graders created their own modern storybook versions of some of Shakespeare's plays. Stay tuned! They will be posted soon!

Week of June 5-9

This week, the 3rd graders explored various types of poetry that they were interested in, and then created their own poems based on these styles. I was very impressed with the reverso poems, limericks, diamantes, and other types of poems written by my poets! Here is an amazing website that teaches kids anything they would want to know about writing poetry:
https://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/poetry-writing-lessons/

In 4th grade, we continued to take on the role director and performed a scene from "Macbeth" in many different ways. We then watched three versions of the same scene done by famous directors and realized just how many choices a director can make and how different a scene can turn out as a result. Here are some of the performances from this week!

The 5th graders have been busy working on their TED Talks. Next week, they will be delivering their talks. I will be filming them and posting them here, so stay tuned!

Week of May 22-26

Our third graders explored self-image poetry this week. We started by analyzing George Ella Lyon's famous poem, "Where I'm From." Then, we brainstormed ideas about what makes us who we are. After this brainstorming session, we will write our own self-image poems, using the poetic techniques we have been learning about during this cycle.
Here is a poster showing some of the info we learned on our field trip to Ohmsett:

This week, the 4th graders took turns directing the first scene of "Macbeth." Watch how the decisions made by the directors affected how the scenes turned out!

In 5th grade, we began outlining the bodies of our TED Talks. I'm really excited about how they are taking shape! We are focusing on making sure to support our main points with research and that it all ties back to our thesis statements.

Week of May 15-19

This week, the 3rd graders went on an awesome field trip to Ohmsett, an oil spill response research and renewable energy test facility (http://ohmsett.com/). We got to see real oil spill equipment, like booms and skimmers, in action! We learned that people from all over the country come to Ohmsett to test their oil spill cleanup equipment and to be trained on how to respond to an oil spill.

In 4th grade, we shared the sonnets we worked on over the course of the week. You can see an example below. We also started to discuss the role of a director in plays and movies. The students will take turns directing their classmates in the first scene of Macbeth. It will be interesting to see how the same scene can turn out differently depending on decisions made by the director.

Sonnet by Angelina

The 5th graders delivered their intro to their TED Talks and received feeback from their classmates on how to make it the best it can be. Next, we are working on the body of our speech, using our research to teach our audience about our topics.

Week of May 1-5

This week, the 3rd grade poets continued to explore figurative language, and wrote poems using figurative language. I was thrilled with their willingness to try new things and their ability to create meaningful poems using figurative language!

In 4th grade, we learned about sonnets by looking at some Shakespearean sonnets and identifying attributes they all possessed (14 lines, iambic pentameter, specific rhyme scheme, etc.). Then we analyzed his famous Sonnet 18 and tried our hand at writing our own sonnets. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Teach your parents what this sonnet means!

In 5th grade, we finalized our thesis statements and learned ways to open our talk to really hook our audience. Things like a jaw-dropping statistic, a personal anecdote, and audience engagement are all great ways to capture the listeners' attention right away!

Week of April 24-28

This week, the third graders continued to explore various aspects of poetry like consonance, assonance, hyperbole, personification, and more. We've been trying to incorporate some of these techniques into our writing to make it stronger and more powerful. I'm very impressed with my students' ability to apply these techniques in creative ways to their own poems!

In 4th grade, we explored Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. After reading an abridged version, some students were surprised at how depressing this play actually is! We then focused on translating some of the balcony scene into modern day language by having Rome and Juliet text each other. I was shocked at how quickly many students were able to make sense of Elizabethan English and pick up on the gist of what was going on!

The 5th graders continued gathering research on their TED Talk topics and adding to their mind maps. This important work will help us tremendously when we start to write our speeches next week!

Week of April 18-21

This week, my 3rd grade poets explored aspects of poetry like repetition, lists, surprising/descriptive language, and wonderings. We then tried to incorporate some of these things into our own poems. We discussed the importance of seeing the extraordinary in ordinary objects and seeing the world through a poet's eyes. I am so impressed with the sophisticated and thoughtful poems my students have been writing!

In 4th grade, we explored the language of Shakespeare and discussed his contribution to modern English. People back in Elizabethan times definitely spoke very differently than we do today, but after learning about verbs, pronouns, and some common terms from back then, we were able to start to make sense of it all! We had fun translating some modern conversations into Elizabethan speak using this website:
http://www.shmoop.com/shakespeare-translator/

In 5th grade, we have chosen our topics for our TED talks, and we spent this week doing research and mind mapping our topics to gather as much information as possible in order to become experts. Our next step will be to figure out the point we are trying to make and to decide which branches of our mind map to include in our speeches.

Week of April 3-7

This week, the 3rd graders continued to read and respond to poetry by participating in poetry stations. We painted the images poems created in our minds. We found the rhythm in poems and put them to music using percussive instruments. We also hunted for poetic techniques we've been learning about in the books scattered across the room. We really started to see how poetry is an art form; instead of paints, poets use words to make pictures or evoke feelings in their readers.

In 4th grade, we learned about Shakespeare's use of puns to entertain his audience. We explored the meanings of modern day puns and puns from some of Shakespeare's plays. The best part was coming up with our own puns! I was very impressed by how "punny" my students are!

The 5th graders brainstormed possible topics for their TED Talks, and some students began mind mapping their topic to see where it might take them. See an example below!

Weeks of March 20-24 and March 27-31

This Wednesday, I was finally able to begin our ELA cycle! The 3rd graders were immersed in poetry. We read and discussed a wide variety of poems, looking at poetic techniques and meanings/messages of the poems. We learned ways to respond to poetry and took a try at it. We had many interesting discussions, like how something as simple as where words are placed on the page can convey so much about the meaning of the poem.

Students respond to poetry.

In 4th grade, students were transported back to the Globe Theatre during the Elizabethan Era. We explored the life and times of William Shakespeare and learned a lot about what life was like back then. The girls were not happy about the fact that girls back then did not go to school and could not act in plays! We discussed how the themes of Shakespeare's plays are still relevant today, which explains why he is still so well known!

Students learn what life was like in Elizabethan England.

In 5th grade, we began our unit on TED Talks by exploring what a TED Talk is and what attributes make for a good talk. We also learned that our words are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to public speaking. Our nonverbal cues can make or break a speech. While giving minispeeches to introduce ourselves, we did things like twirl our hair, sway back and forth, turn our backs to the audience, etc., and we realized just how distracting these things are when listening to a talk!

Week of February 27-March 3

This week, my third graders really impressed me with their knowledge of issues like the Keystone Pipeline, fossil fuels v. renewable resources, the damage that cruise ships cause to the environment, famous oil spills from the past, and how land oil spills are dealt with. Check out this ABC news report on a famous oil spill!
Harshini's Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill News Report

A debate about fossil fuels v. renewable energy

The 4th graders finished up their last programming challenges with their Lego Robots and said their goodbyes to their robot friends! We began the unit by talking about how robots can sense their environments and make decisions based on what they are sensing. By the end of the unit, the students' understanding of this concept was so much stronger because they got to see it in action. Our robots could sense colors, light, objects, and angles and could react to what they were sensing. I am very impressed with the students' understanding of how to program the robots to complete given tasks! There is a middle school Lego Robotics elective, so maybe some students will continue their learning in the future!
These students successfully made their robot go up an incline!

The 5th graders made their pitch presentations on the inventions they have been working on for the past few weeks. We had things like smelly nail polish to put an end to nail biting, a shopping cart attachment to lift heavy objects into your trunk, a portable desk organizer, a device that helps you pour heavy cartons of milk/juice, and many more! Check out some of our models below!

A football with velcro gloves to prevent injuries, a football made of material that doesn't soak through it, and a bicycle helmet with more comfortable straps, sunglasses, and a light!

A shopping cart attachment to lift heavy objects into the trunk and an easy-to-make bed!

Week of February 21-24

This week, the 3rd graders continued to research their chosen topics related to our oil spill unit. We discussed the importance of pulling out the most important info and explaining it in ways our classmates will understand and that will hold their interest. Presentations shouldn't be text heavy. Instead, they should rely on strong images to convey their information. I can't wait to see the final projects next week!

In 4th grade, we have added all the sensors to our robots! We discussed how the ultrasonic sensor would be useful for something like a vacuuming robot because it can sense when the robot is within a certain distance of an object and back up or turn so it doesn't bump into things. Some groups started a design challenge to try to get the robot to move without wheels or to make it move up an incline. This is still a work in progress!

The 5th graders were busy creating patents, logos, jingles, and pitches for their inventions. Next week, we will determine if these inventions are worthy of receiving patents. Who knows - maybe we will have the next Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla on our hands!

Week of February 13-17

This week the 3rd graders became researchers. They chose a topic related to our oil spill unit and learned how to take notes by paraphrasing (putting the info into their own words). Some examples of topics are how cruiseships damage our environment, the pros and cons of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources, the pros and cons of the Keystone Pipeline, and real oil spills that have happened in the past and their effect on the environment and economy. After the note-taking phase, we will learn how to put our info into a clear, concise presentation.

In 4th grade, we added the ultrasonic sensor to our robots. This can judge distances and "see" where objects are. We used a switch block (boolean logic) to walk our robot dog. If the robot is less than 5 inches from our hand, it will move backward. Otherwise, it will move forward. You can see this in the video below.

Now that we've explored other inventors' patents, it was time for the 5th graders to come up with their own inventions/innovations to patent. I was so impressed with the students' creativity. In doing research on previous inventions, we realized how difficult it is to come up with a novel idea, but that didn't stop us! Stay tuned for Shark Tank style pitches on these inventions in the coming weeks!

Week of February 6-10

This week, 3a improved their oil spill cleanup process, thinking about what worked well and not so well during their first process so they could make adjustments. They learned that changing the order of their steps could affect their results and that it's important to maximize their budgets.

In 4th grade, we are learning how sensors can allow the robot to make decisions or to do certain tasks based on input from the environment. Our robots can now sense reflected light, colors, and angles! The robot in this video is programmed to go around a baseball diamond by going straight and turning 90 degrees to the left in a loop that repeats 4 times.

In 5th grade, we learned all about patents and how detailed they must be in order for them to be granted. The following website has tons of great resources that explain the patent process and give samples (many of which have been filed by kids)! Next, we will be creating our own inventions or innovations and patents for these inventions!
https://www.uspto.gov/kids/guides.html

Week of January 30-February 3

This week, the 3rd grade environmental engineers implemented their oil spill cleanup processes, evaluated how effective they were, and thought of ways to improve their processes. 3b was aslo able to carry out their improved plans, and all groups were successful at removing more oil!

We are cleaning the oil spill in our model river!

In 4th grade, we added a color sensor to our robots that can detect reflected light and specific colors. We learned that when the sensor is over white paper, a lot of light is reflected back, while the black line absorbs most of the light. We found the threshold by calculating the average between the two values. We also learned that a switch block can allow the robot to make decisions and complete different tasks based on these decisions. In the program below, we are using the color sensor and switch block to make the robot follow a red line.

In 5th grade, we wrote proposals that outlined the problems we identified at Menlo and how to solve them. We will present these proposals to Mr. Duggan and Mrs. Abetamarco to see if any of our ideas can be implemented at Menlo!

Ideas of how to make the hallways safer and quieter.

Week of January 23-27

This week, the 3rd grade environmental engineers continued to move through the engineering design process to imagine possible methods to clean an oil spill. After coming up with a couple ideas independently, they shared these ideas with their team members and came up with one plan to implement first. These plans are scored using 3 criteria: cost score (we have a budget of $20 million), shore score (whether oil reached the shore), and ecosystem impact score (how much oil was left in the river). After we evaluate our first processes, we will ask more questions about what worked well and what didn't work, and we will improve our designs.

In 4th grade, we added arms to our robots that are powered using the medium motor. We learned that negative power moves the arm down, while positive power moves it up. We used this arm to move objects of different sizes from place to place.

In 5th grade, we went through the steps of the creative problem solving process to try to solve problems at Menlo. We brainstormed ideas to waste less food in the cafeteria, have people move through the hallways more quietly and safely, make our bathrooms cleaner, and more! It's exciting to think that we can actually make a difference at our school!

Week of January 16-20

This week, the 3rd graders continued to test materials and evaluate their usefulness in cleaning up an oil spill. We also did some research to find out what materials are used in real oil spills and how they compare to the materials we used in our model. Now we are ready to begin imagining and planning our oil spill cleanup processes!

In 4th grade, we had many robots successfully complete the obstacle course! You can check out an example below. Next, we are adding an arm attached to another motor so we can move things around the room!

In 5th grade, we pitched the inventions we created from a part of the technology we dismantled last week. We realized that the inventions that received the most interest from investors were the ones that were original and appealed to a large audience. We also did some research on the inventing styles of Edison and Tesla and looked at how they used FFOE (fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration) when inventing. Next, we talked about steps in the creative problem solving process. We identified a problem affecting the students at Menlo and began gathering facts and info about the problem in order to prepare to brainstorm possible solutions. That is what we will work on next week.

Week of January 9-13

This week, the 3rd graders made their presentations to the mayor of Greentown (me) about what was causing the pollution problems in Greentown and what should be done about it. We learned that pollution can travel from one place to another because of water and wind and that environmental engineers test soil and water samples in order to identify potential problems in the environment. 3b also started to investigate materials that could possibly be used in our oil spill cleanup process. 

These environmental engineers are testing materials to use in an oil spill cleanup process.

In 4th grade, we used what we learned about different types of curved moves to work on the obstacle course challenge and the baseball challenge. Some groups realized that a loop block is a great shortcut when we want to repeat the same moves multiple times!

In 5th grade, we had an exciting week of dismantling technology to see what's inside. We realized that many of our gadgets have a circuit board controlling all of the functions. We made a web to show the supporting technology making up our item, and then we chose something from the web to come up with a new invention. We talked about invention by reduction - like how someone took away a wheel from a bicycle to make a unicycle or took away the pedals to make a balance bike.

Mr. Joe helped us dismantle technology!

What's inside a cell phone?

Hard at work dismantling a remote

Week of January 3-6

This week, our third graders were environmental engineers hired by Mayor Higgins of Greentown to investigate problems with animals and plants dying in the pond and garden. We used pH strips to test soil and water samples from various locations around town and compared this data to data taken three years ago. We noticed that some areas had become much more acidic, causing problems in the pond, while other areas had become more basic, causing harm to the garden. We then made visits to the locations in question to learn more about what was going on. Now we are working on making recommendations to Mayor Higgins about how to solve these problems and prevent future problems with the ecosystem in Greentown.

samples we tested with pH strips

In 4th grade, we learned a lot more about how the programming blocks work. We learned that making the power negative moves the robot backwards. Some groups began learning about the various types of turns the robot can make by adjusting the power of the left and right motors. Now they are working on programming the robot to move through an obstacle course using these turns.

In 5th grade, we discussed how some inventions (like the flushing toilet) were invented way ahead of their time, and they didn't have the supporting technology to make them really useful. We made a tech web to show all of the supporting technology necessary to make Gorilla Glass and other inventions successful, and we realized that many of these webs included electricity as a necessary supporting technology. We then did a little research about electromagents and how they are used in inventions and created our own electromagnet!

We found that when we wrapped the wire around the nail more times, it became stronger and could pick up more objects-like in this pic!