4th Grade Solar Cookers! Bring on the S'mores!

Fourth Grade has been busy contructing solar ovens in our effort to to learn more about Environmental Engineering and alternate forms of energy.  Some of the questions we are asking:

How do you cook with the sun?
How do solar panels turn the sun into electricity?
How do people use solar cookers to improve their lives?

Shealyn and Kellen

Aiden and Tyler

 

Max and Zane

 

Jacob and Johnny and Evan




Michael M.

Ashlyn H.

5th Grade: Moving Parts!

Fifth grade dismantled their first mindstorms challenge, and have been building a small robot that they will be able to program themselves.  Along the building process, we have been testing the robot's brick, or brain, to make sure it is connected properly to all moving parts like motors and wheels.  Some of our group was able to test sound sensors so that when we made a noise like clapping, our robot would change direction.
See our short videos below:

Gerontology, Who You Calling Old? Grades 1-3

Our study of Gerontology led 1st-3rd grades, first, to watch the youtube video, Mr. Six's Introductory Ad for Six Flags.  We talked about why it was funny in a positive way!  Most of us agreed we were not used to

 seeing older people dancing like that and recognized that this person was an actor.  These observations led us to a discussion on who is the oldest person we knew and then we predicted what life would be like for the elderly in 2050.  We also discussed what things we could do to make our own aging process positive:  eating healthy, exercising, having hobbies, etc.  When we interviewed our grannies and grandpas, we found out that some of them had a phone hooked to the wall and you had to dial it to get it to call.  Then, you had to share your calls with others on a party line!  Weird!  We constructed cards for the elderly living in Richmond who might not get very much mail and Christmas.

Love My Cetaceans!

Grades 1st-3rd dove into the Cetalogy, the study of whales, this past month.  We took some measurements in our hallway to try and understand how big some of these mammals are.  How does a blue whale get so big as to fill our hallway, but it only eats little bitty animals like krill?  Having teeth doesn't help you very much if you are a whale and you eat plankton, but being baleen does!  We investigated the difference in how baleen and toothed whales eat with a comb, toothbrush and a jar filled with water and black pepper and got to see
(Click below to see individual 3rd grade research as well)

5th Grade's First Robotic Challenge!

Fifth grade used only the parts in their NXT Mindstorms kit to construct a chair for a beanie baby.  The chair had to survive an ankle-length drop and not fall apart.  It had to fit the beanie comfortably, and be an inch off the ground.  Specialized parts were also added such as cup holders, arm rests, massage devices, even automatic saws in order to cut wood without the beanie getting out of his/her chair.  We used iMovie Trailer to record our engineering ideas.  See below!  Awesome use of the engineering design process mixed with creativity!  Good job fifth grade!

Lamby's Chair by Marin and Riley

The Battle of Jolly by Walker and Mason

Mackenzie and Katie

Brian and Kai

Kaden and Colin



Noah and Ty


Timothy and Mitchell

Caleb and Cooper




Madison and Mallory