Week 3
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5th Grade:
5th grade has started their first design challenge. The task is to design and build the tallest tower they can using only 50 cups and 50 popsicle sticks. The constraints for the design are time (12 minutes), the cups cannot touch each other, and no materials can be damaged in the process. We worked through the Engineering Design Process (Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve, Communicate) as we solved the problem. We had lots of fun and lots of different ideas. Be sure you ask your child about their tower!
6th Grade:
6th grade elective classes worked through the Engineering Design Process (Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve, Communicate) as they created rescue carriers and lifting devices. The "Ask" question was "How can you design and build a model of a carrier that will hold objects (10 mini marshmallows) to be lifted up from a 3 foot drop?" and "How will you design and build a model of a cranking or winding device that can rescue an object from a 3 foot drop?" The constraints for this task were that the lifting devices should be cranking or winding and each part had specific (and limited!) materials that could be used (10 popsicle sticks, 10 straws, a 4 ft string, 5 rubber bands, a piece of construction paper, and a 3 foot piece of tape). It turns out that tape is a very valuable commodity! The cranking device part really worked our brains to figure out. Be sure to ask your child about their solution.
Week 2
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We're continuing our "waterfall" 7 day rotation with 5th grade students. The first session is all about learning what STEM is, establishing students expectations for class behavior and device use, and getting an overview of the kinds of activities that will be happening this year. We're excited to do our first design challenge (cups and popsicle sticks tower) during our next session!
6th Grade:
We're going to spend each Friday participating in an activity called "Genius Hour". It's based on Google's idea of 20% time. You can learn more about Genius Hour here. Each student will select a topic of interest to them and tie it to either science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. They will spend each Friday of the quarter researching and creating a presentation to teach the rest of us about their topic. We have been brainstorming our individual "Genius Hour" topics and each student will be writing a "thick" question for their research. Be sure to ask your child about their topic! Their brainstorming document is located in their Google Drive. They should be able to login to our Google Classroom and access it for you to see.
We've also started learning about computational thinking and coding. Students participated in an "unplugged" coding activity to learn about writing code using symbols and how to "debug" errors in code. Students have started the lessons on Code.org. These lessons are self-paced and can be continued at home if your child wants to.
Everyone:
We're still accepting donations of supplies for our engineering challenges! Our wish list is embedded on the Resources page above. Thanks to everyone who has already donated things!
STEM Week 1
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All 5th grade students will have STEM specials class once every 7 days. The first session will be learning about what STEM is, establishing students expectations for class behavior and device use, and getting an overview of the kinds of activities that will be happening this year.
6th Grade
The first week of the 6th grade STEM elective will be learning about the engineering design process, participating in our first design challenge, and beginning our Genius Hour Fridays.
Request for Materials:
STEM Syllabus (also embedded on Resources page):
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