Attached is one student’s video on our measurement unit.  We have spent several weeks learning about length, capacity, height, weight, inch, foot, yard, centimeters, meter and estimation.  You can watch all the other videos by clicking on the student learning link to the right.

We made mazes to demonstrate our knowledge of the force-push, kinetic energy, friction, and momentum.  It is fun to see all the different shapes of the mazes that are designed and built by the students.

How do you get Santa safely to the ground if he has to bail out of his sleigh?  You build a parachute, of course! Students built a parachute out of their choice of materials to try and land Santa safely to the ground.  Gravity, drag, mass, and friction were talked about and used to try and build a parachute.  Attached is a short video explaining how a parachute works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tofBRpzB5n4

Do you want to know what makes this teacher’s day?  Give her a box of STEM books and Leader in Me books! Our class won the Coldwell Banker coloring contest.  We received books and pizza.  Thank you Coldwell Banker/Spring Creek for the wonderful gift!  These books will be used for many years to come.

We had another fantastic mystery reader today.  We will take parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, and uncles.  We can even Skype in relatives if needed.  I still have spots available if you want to come in and read to our class.  Students receive one clue about the mystery reader each day and then they try and guess who it is.  On Friday, the mystery reader reads a book to the class.  The kids absolutely love it! Let me know if you want to sign up.

It is so great to be back to school! Take a look at the students learning how to code.

We created algorithms (a list of steps to finish a task).  The above picture is an algorithm with bugs (mistakes).  Students debugged (fixed the mistake) in the algorithm.

Students then created algorithms and practiced them with a partner on paper squares on the floor pretending to be robots. The students couldn’t talk and they had to follow the directions of the programmer.

Last but no least, students practiced writing algorithms and then running the programs to see if they were able to successful write an algorithm. The lesson plans and programs that we use are available for free to parents from www.code.org

It’s that time again and it is bitter/sweet! These kids are ready for third grade but it is hard to see them go.  Thank you parents for sharing your wonderful kid with me.  Have a great summer!

Before spring break we worked on another stem project called Marble Maze.  Students were given an array of things to build a maze from. They had to build their maze with at least five obstacles. Timed trials were done by using a marble and a straw.  This was definitely one of the students favorite stem projects.

What do you get when you try and build a trap for a leprechaun?  Hopefully a leprechaun and lots of ingenuity! Students built a leprechaun trap using the engineering design process.

Students learned about incline planes (ramps), friction, height, and distance (length) today.  We used our STEM skills to work together to build a ramp for a sled.  Ask your child what was challenging, what worked the best, and what changes they would make if they could do it again.  It was fun to see engineering skills like designing, building,  re-designing, data tracking, working together, and perseverance today.