Week of February 22-26

This week, some of the 3rd grade classes improved their oil spill clean up processes while other classes read an article about the BP oil spill and it's devastating impact on the environment. I can't wait to see the final projects the students have been working on for the past few weeks!

This was the last week of building and programming for our 4th grade engineers. Look at our 4th grade page to see all of our amazing accomplishments! This unit really taught us the importance of grit and of learning from our failures!

The 5th graders were busy completing their work on their passion projects. Next week, we will share what we did and what we learned about ourselves through the process.
***One of our students organized a book drive that will be taking place all of next week. If you have books to donate, don't forget to bring them in to help this worthy cause!!!

Week of February 16-19

This week, some 3rd grade classes improved their oil spill cleanup processes by using different materials, changing the order of their steps, or by combining some materials. One group actually did the unthinkable- they removed all of the oil from their model river! However, we also discussed how sometimes our improvements do not actually make the final result better. That's okay as long as we learn from our mistakes!

The 4th graders are still busy tackling their design challenges.
One group struggled to get their robot to move without wheels, but they showed true grit, stayed committed to the challenge, and achieved success by the end of the period!!! Watch their robot go!

Here is a video of a robot going up an incline. The students added gears for extra power. It can make it up the incline- now they just have to get it to go straight!

Check out this petition written by a fifth grader for his passion project. If you agree, sign it!

Week of February 9-12

This week, the 3rd graders implemented their first design to clean an oil spill. They were surprised by how quickly the oil spreads throughout the model river! We discussed what went well and what improvements should be made, and next time, we will create and implement a new plan based on these observations.

Oil, oil everywhere!!!

In 4th grade, some groups finally accomplished the goal of their design challenges! Check out the video below of a robot moving with legs instead of wheels!

The 5th graders are making great progress on their passion projects- conducting interviews, complining research, designing websites, and much more!

Week of February 1-5

This week, the 3rd graders continued to imagine and plan processes to clean an oil spill. Here is a link to some kid-friendly info on the BP oil spill: http://www.nwf.org/kids/ranger-rick/ranger-rick-on-the-big-oil-spill.aspx

The 4th graders were busy with their design engineering challenges- building legs to make the robot walk, adding gears to go up an incline, programming it to draw various shapes, etc.  Stay tuned for videos once we the challenges are completed!

The 5th graders have been busy working on their passion projects designing websites, doing taste tests, conducting surveys and analyzing data, creating presentations, putting together a book drive, and much more. I can't wait to see what they accomplish over the last few weeks of the project!