Saturday, March 21, 2015

March 20th

March has been a WILD month! We have made it through weeks filled with half days, assemblies, PARCC, and post-tests! Each class has been wonderfully flexible with class times and have all worked very hard to round out the Engineering Unit!
5th grade has been making huge gains with our passion projects. The first week of March, each student presented their Pitch to peers as well as leaders in our school. I was so impressed with the level of hard work and detail each of the students put into preparing and presenting their passion. After we shared our general plan for the project, we began to draft survey questions to gather data about what our peers had to say about our topics. We worked together to analyze the results of each survey and are in the process of using that information to adjust the end goal for our projects.
5th grades continued HW is to reflect on the progress we make each week. Additionally, this week each student should revisit their initial essential question and reflect about the direction they are going. Has your research lead to in a different path? Did you find that your initial essential question was too simple/too broad? When we meet next we will share out our feelings and reinvest ourselves in our passion.
4th grade worked to understand why some groups found certain materials successful while others struggled to use the same material to clean up the oil. Each class researched and experimented with the idea of “surface tension” and the relationship between oil and water. As a grade, we had some interesting findings. We learned that oil and water repel each other (or don’t mix). This was critical to HOW we used each material. Once the material absorbed water, when dipped back in to re-use, it repelled the oil and spread the spill. Also, we figured out that if you break the surface tension of the oil/water you run the risk of absorbing the wrong liquid OR having your material sink. These 2 breakthroughs made our IMPROVE stage incredibly successful.
4th grade HW is to complete your final project and prepare to present to the class. I cannot wait to see your unique and creative ideas come to life!
3rd grade was SUPER flexible with meeting this week and although our classes were shortened we still managed to IMPORVE our water filter plans, create awesome water filter cross word puzzles, and complete our post-test. I particularly loved our conversations about technology; how it continues to change and adapt. We talked about something as simple as a pencil. It solved the problem of having to dip a quill in ink EVERY time you wanted to write. Although the quill/ink seamed terrible it was technology because it solved the problem of having to etch in stone. Then, we thought about the technology that improved the pencil as we know it today: erasers attached on the end, softer grips, stringer lead (graphite), mechanical pencils, etc. We have learned so much as engineers!
3rd grade HW is to complete your final project and prepare to present to the class. I cannot wait to see your unique and creative ideas come to life as well!