Maps and Fancy Day

 We had yet another exciting week in kindergarten.  While we were preparing for our upcoming poetry cafe, we were able to squeeze in a lot of other amazing learning experiences!  As mentioned previously, the students decided they wanted to map the playground and document for all to see on our hallway bulletin board.  

Before we started the project, we read several books about cartographers (people that make maps),  what designates a map, and much more.  We learned that maps are made to look as if you are looking down on it with a "bird's eye view."  We also read that all cartographers must study and know the space they are going to map.  The students thought the playground was very appropriate since we typically spend time there every day.  

The first thing they thought they should do is to actually go outside on the playground to study the space and "really look" at what makes up the playground.  

We gathered the clipboards and pencils to sketch...  

Together we decided that we should break up into four teams: blacktop, garden, climber, and miscellaneous.  Students chose the space they wanted to work on.  Next, we talked about making a plan on our bulletin board.  It was decided that we should map the spaces out before adding any actual materials or items for the map.  We showed the spaces by stapling yarn to the board.  

The students working on the blacktop area shredded black construction paper to simulate the black mulch under the climber.

This week we also had "fancy day.".  Here are a few photos of the students dressed in their fancy attire.

The upcoming weeks are very busy for us.  This Tuesday the students are looking forward to poetry cafe!  Please join us at 2:00pm in our classroom.  

Have a great week!

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Humpy Dumpty Design Challenge

This week we took a break from our transportation/map study to focus on completing our Humpty Dumpty STEM lesson.  As you know from last week Humpty is the castle guard and keeps falling off the wall due to bad weather. The students design challenge was to design something for Humpty so he wouldn't continue to fall off the wall and hurt himself.

We began the week looking at how materials can be combined to make something new. We tested materials to see how they hold together in both "rain" (water) and "wind" (fan). Some noticed specific materials didn't work well with water and wind.

Testing with wind.

Testing with rain.

Next, we studied different types of seats that keep people safe. We looked at a pilots seat, cars eats for children and babies, and high chairs. The students noticed that they all had some kind of seat and seat belt. They documented what kind of seat they thought Humpty should use and then got together with their engineering team to start their plans.

There were four jobs for the team members; materials engineer, information engineer, project engineer, and test engineer each student had a job.  They talked together as a team, put their ideas down on paper and began building. We gave them plenty of time to design and build but reminded them that all engineers have deadlines!  When they all finished they did their first round of testing. The test engineer poured the "rain" and I controlled the "wind". Take a look at Humpty's new seats.

This seat is complete with a lap bar and Humpty has a safety helmet with a whole for his "eyes".

This group created a safety belt as well as a seat.

This design also has a seat belt and a wind shield to block the "wind".

 This group designed a house for Humpty to use on top of the wall for shelter.  They also gave hims a seat to sit in with a seat belt that goes over top of his head (It's hard to see in this photo.).

 This group wanted Humpty to be sitting higher up on the wall.  They also gave humpty a seat and rather than a seat belt they gave hims a safety rope.  The rope is at the top of the egg. 


Here is how the safety rope works.

 

Testing:

As they tested, they documented weather Humpty stayed intact or if he fell. When the first test was over there was time for redesigns or to make their first design better.  It was amazing to see how creative and different each design was.  All the students embraced this challenge and had a great time.  I know we have several future engineers in our classroom!

Next week we will continue looking at maps as well as celebrating Earth Day for the whole week!!!

Don't forget Wednesday is fancy day. Have a great week.

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Maps, Humpty Dumpty, and Teepee

I hope everyone had a great spring break.  While I was away, I picked up a couple of maps from the places I visited.  When I returned back to school I showed the students an NYC subway map and they were thrilled.   Mrs. Garrabrant and I searched our houses for additional maps and the more we brought in, the more excited the students became.  We decided to listen to their excitement and run with it!  Maps fit right in with our study on Transportation because they do help us get from "one location to another."  Now with your help we have several types of maps including: subway, train, road, airplane, city, country, hotel, museum, amusement parks, and many more.  Below you can see some photos of how engaged the students were just simply exploring different types of maps.  

The students asked may questions about maps and decided they wanted to become cartographers.  We made a list of what they would like to map, and it came down to mapping our school and our playground.  As you can see 12 students wanted to map our school and 17 wanted to map our playground (these numbers include teachers).  After they voted, we made a short list of what needs to be included on our map.  You can see that documented in the lower left of the photograph.

This week we have also been working through a STEM lesson.  If you are not familiar with STEM it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. To give you some background, last year I was encouraged by our principal Ms. Hall and superintendent Dr. Clifford to apply to be a Fellow for the Dayton Regional STEM center.  So, I applied, interviewed, and was selected to write STEM curriculum for pre-k and kindergarten.  Twice a month I meet at the Dayton Regional STEM center in Dayton with a group of educators as well as college professors and engineers to write the curriculum.    It has been an incredible learning experience for me as an educator of which has enhanced my teaching and the experiences I have been able to provide for the students.  

One of my duties for being a Fellow of the STEM center is to "pilot" or teach one of the lessons that has been written.  This week I began piloting the first lesson we wrote called Humpty: "Stay on the Wall!"  One of my team members actually re-wrote a version of Humpty Dumpty and turned it into a book.  Ask the students to share the story.  It's very cute and creative.  Basically, Humpty guards the castle walls but keeps falling of the wall due to inclement weather.  In this lesson, the final engineering design challenge is to develop a way for Humpty to stay on the wall even through inclement weather.  Below you will see just a FEW photos from our first 5 lessons.  

Ian and Atticus are counting 10 groups of 10 legos to help make Humpty's wall.

Kristen and Maesyn help construct Humpty's wall.

One of our first lessons was to see how wind and water affects Humpty on his wall.  

Kingston notices that they both resulted in a fall from Humpty.  

Students also explored wind by blowing through straws trying to move objects that were different weights.  Below you see Allen easily blowing a piece of paper.  You also see his documentation sheet that we all filled out with our experiences of whether the objects were easy to blow, difficult to blow or unable to blow.  

Next, students explored materials and their properties.  As you can see there is several different types of materials.  Next week for the students design challenge, students will be using these materials to design a way where Humpty doesn't keep falling off he wall.

Below you can see Thalin manipulating a piece of string to explore it's properties.  

Later in the week, students took the materials and sorted them by their properties.  Below you can see a student sorting their materials by what can and cant't be torn.  

Next week we will be completing this lesson.  The students will all be designing a way to keep Humpty safe on his wall.  I look forward to seeing the students work through the Engineering Design Process to help solve Humpty's problem.  Check back next week to see the students progress.  

Also, many of you have seen our completed teepee but I wanted to share some photos.  Mrs. Garrabrant's step-father came into our classroom to help us put it all together.  Here are some photos.

We added some beanbags and now the children use it as a quiet reading spot.  

They love it!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Atkin

Simple Machine Museum (open house) and Final Projects

Working with simple machines was a very interesting twist and connection to studying transportation.  The children had a great time getting to explore materials, and create their own simple machine.  This post will show all 6 different simple machines and the different projects they made for that simple machine.  It's always interesting because the students will be "hams" in front of the camera, but at soon as they realize they are being recorded they start acting shy.  You will see prime examples of this while looking at the photos and then watching the videos below!

First, I will share some photos from our open house.  We were thrilled to see so many families visit the "Simple Machine Museum."  The students were proud to share and showoff their projects and their hard work.

If you and your child were unable to visit our "Simple Machine Museum," the students put on an additional museum during the day while Mrs. Gores' friends visited the exhibit.  

Below you will find final project photos as well as a video of the students explaining their work.  We had several students not attend due to illness, which might be why you notice students missing from the video clips.  

Wheel and Axel

-Ferris Wheel-

Skateboard

Inclined Plane

-Hill of a roller coaster-

Stairs

Pulley

-Flagpole- 

Zip-line

Here is a more successful run of the zip-line!

Screw

-Corkscrew Water slide-

"Tornado in a bottle"

-We used the screw of the bottles and connected a piece of

plastic that has two screws to connect the two bottles together. 

Wedge

-Door stopper

Wedge Shoe

Book Ends

Lever

-Marshmallow Catapult

Teeter totter/See saw

The next 9 weeks are going to be a whirlwind!  Knowing the students are still excited about different modes of transportation, we will now begin studying differences types of maps.  Before we began the in-depth study on transportation,  we asked the children what types of transportation they wanted to study.  We got everything from railroads, air, land, emergency, and water.  We are planning on incorporating how maps help people get from one place to another.  I'm pretty sure this will take us to the end of the school year!  Be looking for another open house towards the end of May. 

Also, in honor of April being national poetry month, we will also begin studying and writing poetry.  The students will present one of their pieces at our "Poetry Cafe."  The date has not been set in stone but will be towards the end of April.  We will let you know as soon as possible. 

In addition, we will be celebrating our beautiful Earth by getting involved in many Earth Day activities.  The list of activities will be generated by the students and our 

job is to help the students execute their plan.

I hope everyone had an amazing spring break.  Take care!

Mrs. Julie Atkin