We had an adventurous week, last week, in D108!  Students spent the week applying Newtons Laws of Motion by creating roller coasters from pipe insulation.  Students went from the "there's-no-way-this-is-going-to-work" stage to the "this-is-amazing-that-we-built-this" stage.  It was fascinating to watch the process!  I am so proud of my kiddos for persevering through this process, regardless of the frustrations, challenging ideas, and sometimes lack of patience.  They work hard and worked together to problem solve throughout the entire process.  

To successfully pass this challenge, students had to create a freestanding and stable roller coaster that was at least 6 feet long and contained at least 2 loops, 1 camel back, 1 whirlybird, and any additional maneuver of their choice.  Additionally, the marble (aka "the passengers") had to travel through the entire roller coaster without falling out.  

I am happy to announce that all students mastered this challenge and all "passengers" arrived at the finish point safely!

Lego Racers

I think I was very lazy in February!!  I usually try to post weekly to my blog, but I did not post in February, at all!!  I promise, lots of learning took place.

For Science this month, we focused on forces and motion.  Using the STEAM process, students designed and built Lego racers, that were powered by air (balloon).  They incorporated DoDEA science and CCRSM math standards into this project.   

This was a lot of fun and very educational.  Students quickly learned that their designs had to be re-engineered, in order for the balloon to stay attached while it was propelling the racer.  Even when they became frustrated, they persevered and did not give up.  

  

Princess and the Pea

Today, we took a "math break" and worked on a STEAM project.  STEAM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.  Today's project was based on the fairy tale, Princess and the Pea.  If you are not familiar with Princess and the Pea, the story is about a Prince that is looking for a Princess to marry, but she must be a REAL princess.  One day, a young lady shows up at the castle door, claiming to be a princess, but she did not look like a "real" princess to the King and Queen.  The Queen decided to test if she was real, by placing a pea on her bed and then placed 20 mattresses and 20 quilts on top of it.  After a long nights sleep, she awoke feeling exhausted and bruised because she had slept upon something hard.  This then proved that the young lady was, in fact, a real princess.

So, today, we began with 10 sponges to represent the mattresses and quilts and a large marble and small marble to represent the pea.  Students were tasked with stacking AND balancing the sponges on the marble, without the sponges tilting or touching any sides.  Below are pictures of the students working and some of those that were successful at stacking 10 sponges.  Students had a blast with this activity, despite the fact that some became frustrated with the process.  It is not easy to balance the sponges on the marble and hope that it will stay.

Curriculum Night - April 22, 2015

Well, it's that time of the year again for Curriculum Night.  You should have received an email from Dr. White with information for the evenings activities and static display.  Third Grade is displaying your child's STEAM activities for December (Santa's Sleigh) and January/February (3 Little Pigs Houses).  In addition, parents are encouraged to create a Lego car that is powered by an air filled balloon.  This was your child's STEAM activity this week, so we are challenging you to complete the same task!!  It should be a fantastic evening!  Hope to see you all there.

Back to School

Not sure about all of you, but I'm ready to return to school!!  We had a very nice, relaxing Thanksgiving Break, but after eating way too much and being absolutely lazy, it's time to get back to a normal routine!!  We have so much going on over the next 3 weeks.  That's right, 3 weeks until Christmas Break!  Not only do we have regular learning to conquer, we have another STEAM project coming up.  I'm going to keep it a secret for about a week, so the kiddos will be surprised.  It's going to be so much fun!  We also have our class party scheduled for December 19th. I'll send home more information about it as soon as I have it ready.  

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and I look forward to seeing my kiddos tomorrow morning!!

Bridge Building final day

I was going to add these photos to the previous post, but thought they were just too good to post at the end of that post.  Today was the last day of our STEAM Challenge-Bridge Building.  Students put finishing touches, completed all of their evaluations, cleaned up their area, and worked on their presentation skills.  It was a busy, busy day!  I am so proud to introduce the most amazing bridges that held 12 pounds of weight.  They would have held more, if I had more weights to add to it, but I did not.  

I also want to say thank you to the parents that were able to make it in for the presentations today.  The students loved it and did an amazing job explaining STEAM to their parents.  I am so incredibly proud of all of them!  Enjoy the final STEAM Week Bridge Building Challenge pictures!

Bridge Building

Students have been actively engaged as engineers building Popsicle bridges.  On Monday, we started off as a grade level watching videos on different types of bridges and brainstorming materials bridges were made of.  After that, students returned to the classrooms where I provided them with further information to help them understand the different parts of bridges, what bridges are used for, and examples of bridges with an example of a Popsicle bridge to match the real one.  After that, I divided students into groups where they began the process of planning the type of bridge they wanted to build, giving it a name, and sketching out how it should look when it is done.  I've attached pictures below of their work on Monday and Tuesday.  I will update this post with pictures from today, Thursday, and Friday morning as I take them. 

Parents, don't forget Bridge Presentations are Friday afternoon from 2:00-2:45.  We look forward to showing off the awesome bridges your Engineer is creating!

Monday's Pictures:

Tuesday's Pictures

Wednesday's Pictures

Thursday's Pictures