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
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