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!