Wednesday, September 27, 2017

STEM - Apple Containers

This week we completed our 1st STEM project. Our challenge was to engineer a container to carry apples. In the photo below are the specific constraints and criteria the students needed to follow. There is also a list of the material that were available. 
Be sure to ask you student what specific job they had when working with their group!



Materials Available:
paper clips        tape
paper plates         yarn
straws         paper
foam plates
sticks       note cards
wax paper
foil
plastic bags



Step 1: The students had 15 minutes to draw and label two of their own ideas for engineering apple containers.





Step 2: The class was split into groups. Each student then presented their individual ideas to the group. Then ONE idea was chosen. Many groups agreed to use components of multiple ideas to create their container. Groups had 10 minutes to choose a design.

Step 3: The class had 20 minutes to build their container using only the specified materials.
The next day the class was given an additional 20 minutes to complete their group's container.




















Step 4: The groups each had 5 minutes to present their group's container and then test the container to see if the container fit within the constraints.











Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Reader's Workshop Launch

Last week we focused on building our reading stamina. We started by reading 3 minutes to ourselves, using our reading mats to keep track of books we've read and sitting in our new reading spots. The kids loved reading so much that we increased our reading stamina to 20 minutes by the end of the week! I'm so proud of this group!

















Friday, September 1, 2017