Here is a poster the scholars created to show off their learning about 3 dimensional shapes.

Today we continued our study of 3 dimensional shapes.  Today we looked at edges and vertices.  We build our shapes using straws and connectors.

We are working on building 3 dimensional shapes today.  Yesterday we looked at wooden blocks of the shapes and traced all of their faces.  Today we used the information we learned yesterday about the shape and number of faces to build 3 dimensional shapes. 

This weeks engineering challenge was building a spider web.  We studied how for spiders this is a behavioral adaptation which is instinctual.  The scholars have been working all week and today they had some help and advice from their 5th grade buddies. 

Today in math we were working on our 2 dimensional shapes.  We created Shape Monsters using a glyph.  They had to use certain shapes depending on information about themselves.  Then they got to be creative with the decoration.  They then wrote about their Shape Monsters practicing the names of the 2 dimensional shapes. 

Today in math we were learning about 2 dimensional shapes.  They were given shapes and labels and they had to work together to complete a tree map of the 2 dimensional shapes.

We had a wonderful time at our field trip today for Earth Day.

Mariana Becomes a Butterfly

This week we started our next STEM unit. This unit is titled Mariana Becomes a Butterfly and is about agricultural engineering. This unit is about a girl who lives in the Dominican Republic. She has a plant that a friend brought to her from Hawaii. The plant won't grow berries like it did when she first got it. She goes to her aunt for help because her aunt is an agricultural engineer. They discover that the plant is not getting pollinated because the insect that pollinated the plant is not in the Dominican Republic. So Mariana creates and redesigns a hand pollinator so she can pollinate the plant. She is successful and her plant has berries again.



On the first day we spent some time reviewing the different types of engineers we had learned about this year. Then we discussed and came up with a definition of an agricultural engineer.
Then we spent some time learning about the climate of the Dominican Republic using the following link. video We read the story together as a class and discussed what happened. Then we made diagrams of the parts of a flower and their jobs.

Today was test day for our bird beak engineering challenge.  We tested using rice, beans, and pasta.  One group designed such an amazing beak it won in each type of food.  Congratulations to Jack, Sofia, Landon, and Ryan for designing the beak. 

Here are some images of our first builds for the bird beak building challenge.

This weeks engineering building challenge is about bird beaks.  This fits with our study of animal adaptations.  The challenge is using the materials provided, can you build a bird beak that can pick up the most food in one try?  They can not touch the food in any way their their hands. 

We are in the middle of our animal study.  The scholars all picked animals and have researched their animals.  They have built habitats and are working on writing facts for their Thinglink presentations.  Today we are working on food chains.

Wow all of our Three Little Pig Houses were successful.  They really are becoming strong engineers.  Here are all of the houses. 

This week in engineering we are working on The Three Little Pigs Engineering Challenge.  They must use the materials provided to create a house for a pig that an withstand the effects of different wind speeds.  Three of the groups have chosen to use tape and craft sticks for their constructions.  Another group is using sugar cubes. I can not wait to see their final buildings. 

This week in science we started an animal project.  The students will be engineering a habitat for the animal they selected.  This habitat will need to meet the needs of their animal.  They can use supplies from school to build this habitat.  Some of them have already asked if they can add things that they bring in from home.  I am fine with that.  So if they ask for supplies please help them collect them if possible.  They will be working on this project for the next two weeks.  I can't wait to see how they will impress me this time.