Simple Machines-continued

We had a very busy week in Room 115!  We finished up our study on simple machines.  Each student wrote about the simple machine they worked with and how it's associated to transportation.   In addition, each student spent a lot of time completing our fairytale.  The students are thrilled to share their stories with you this week at conferences.  

I have chosen not to share any photos of the students completed projects yet.  The students want to share their projects with peers at school, and also their families at our open house Tuesday, March 26 from 8:15-9:00am.  Next week, I will share photos of their completed projects and hopefully some videos of their presentations.  

Here are some photos of the students project progress.

Mrs. Garrabrant's husband, Micah, came in as our industry engineer to help with some of our projects.  

Have I left you wanting to see more photos...including their completed projects?  If so please come to our open house this Tuesday to see the completed projects.  

I hope you have had a nice weekend, and I hope that this may be our last snowfall of the spring.  

I also hope to see you at our open house!  If you can't make it, I will definitely see you at our student-led conferences after school.  

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Simple Machine Projects and More!

This week was full of exploring simple machines.  As mentioned in our previous post, last week the students worked with the simple machine of their choice.  Each simple machine team chose two different projects to work on.  The teams broke themselves into two groups so each group has their own project. 

Here is a list of our projects.

Pulley:

zip-line and flagpole 

Lever: 

teeter totter and catapult

Wedge: 

Book ends and door stopper

Inclined Plane: 

Stairs and roller coaster hill

Wheel and Axel: 

Ferris wheel and skateboard 

Screw: 

Tornado in a bottle, corkscrew waterside

First, each team did research by looking at the differences of each simple machine.  We made a list together and then students made their list individually in our exploration journals.

Then, we began exploring materials.  We found several things around the classroom that we could use to make our simple machines.  Here are some photos as the students were exploring materials.

 Simple Machine:  Wheel and Axle
Ian and Atticus use donated materials to make a plan for making a Ferris Wheel.
 

Simple Machine:  Pulley
Elizabeth explores materials to make a flag pole.

 Simple Machine:  Wedge
Dana sands and paints pieces of wood to make a set of book ends.

Simple Machine:  Inclined plane
Levi made a set of stairs with donated pieces of wood.
Simple machine: wheel and axle
Nathan found a box and helped cut out the shape of a skateboard.
Then he looked around the classroom to find a couple things that he could use for a wheel and axle.

 
 
Next week we plan to complete our simple machine projects, write about the simple machines and how the help "TRANSPORT" someone or something "from one location to another."   

Be on the look out for our Simple Machines Open House invitation.  We will be hosting an open house Tuesday before school from 8:15-9:00am.  

In addition to working with simple machines, we have been writing our own versions of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" stories.  The students have really used their imaginations while focusing on writing a story with characters, setting, series of events, a problem, and solutions.  These stories will be put into their kindergarten portfolios.  Be sure to look for them at conferences.  

Lastly, Friday we had Irish dancers visit our school.  The students danced around the classroom for the rest of the day.  They were thrilled to see young girls and boys their age dancing.
 
 

We hope to see you at our Simple Machines Open House and at our student-led conferences.  

Take care and we'll see you soon!

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Simple Machine Projects & Science Fair

Although this was a short week with QPT day and a snow day, we still got a lot accomplished.  One of our biggest accomplishments was completing our autobiographies.  Next week we will begin looking at how to write our own fairy tales.  Although we have looked at fairy tales in the past we will take a further look at all its' elements.  These stories will be focusing on creating a setting, character development, a beginning, series of events, an ending, a problem, and a solution.  

This week we also completed our overview of the 6 simple machines:  inclined plane, screw, wedge, lever, pulley, and wheel and axle.  We looked at each simple machine and made a list of several different types of that machine.  For example wedge; book ends, door stoppers, wheel wedge to keep wheels from moving, saw, axe, knives, etc...  

After researching each type of simple machine, students decided they wanted to share their knowledge with others in our school.  One student made the comment that they should work with a couple of friends to make a simple machine.  Using her idea, we allowed each student to choose which simple machine they wanted to help create.  Once the students made their choice I introduced them as "engineering teams."  Each team had a "project manager" that was to lead a meeting and write down their teammates ideas.  Each engineer on the team gave an idea of a type of simple machine they wanted to make.  Here are some photos of the students working together in a collaboratively.  

For the next couple weeks, we will be investigating the simple machines with our teams.  I will continue to keep you updated.  

We also had our science fair this week.  Our station consisted of the 6 different simple machines.  I must say that our station was a hit!  The students loved using the screwdriver to screw and unscrew screws.  They also enjoyed the pulley that one of our students made with his grandfather, using a hammer as a lever to remove nails.  They also loved the inclined plane to race cars!  I have added some photos of the students exploring the other science stations.    

Mixing red and blue to make purple!

 Light shadows

 

 Tornado in a bottle

****Please take a look at the "Save the Date"  This is March madness week!****

March 11th- Hat Day

March 12th- Wacky Day

March 13th- Favorite Team Day

March 14th- Blast From the Past Day

March 15th-  "Go Green" Day 

Have a wonderful week and lets hope our beautiful weather from this week continues! 

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Simple Machines and More!

We began noticing that the students were excited about catepolts and launchers.  They expressed their interest in wanting to create different kinds of launchers.  To keep the theme of transportations and follow our students leads, we thought it would be important to introduce our students to simple machines.  We began with the simple machine "inclined plane."  The students took a liking to the thought of inclined planes at the moment we began chatting about them.  They made connections to their everyday environment and truly understood that inclined planes/ramps really do make our lives more "simple."

The first thing we did to explore inclined planes was to chose a material and use their portfolio to make a ramp.  Their learning target was to use their portfolio and make the object go up or down the "ramp."  The students were very inovative, as they worked together with other students to make their ramps taller to reach higher places.  

Later we researched many different types of inclined planes and documented them.  Some of their illustrations included escalators, stairs, playground slides, skateboard ramp, vehicular inclined plane, wheelchair ramps, and much more. 

The students were so thrilled about ramps we gave the students another opportunity to explore.  The students worked in teams of 2-3 friends.  They had one vehicle, and a large cardboard box.  The students job was to adjust the incline of their ramp in order for their vehicle to not crash at the bottom of the ramp.  This was not an easy task but they came up with several strategies to solve this problem.  Take a look at some of their experiences.  

Some of the cars ended up like this...

Some landed like this!

In addition to inclined planes we began taking a look at two more simple machines: screws and wedges.  We will be taking a closer look at these two in the upcoming days.  

A preschool classroom asked for a few students to come share books they had written to her students.  She has several preschoolers that will be transitioning to kindergarten next year and they have been doing a study on what a "book" is and it's components.  The preschoolers loved our students work.  Our kindergarteners were very proud to share their work with the younger students. 

Please don't forget that this Thursday is Science night at the ECC.  There will be several science stations for your family to enjoy.  I hope to see everyone there from 6:30-7:30.  Also, we will be having several "March Madness" activities happening.  Visit our "Save the Date" page to get all the information you need.  

Have a fantastic week and take care!  

Mrs. Julie Atkin