Last week our class began our second STEM project. Our challenge was to create Santa's sleigh only by using 8 popsicle sticks, two candy canes, and tape. Throughout the week we incorporated many versions of The Night Before Chirstmas. We read A Cajun Night Beofre Christmas and A Pirate's Night Before Christmas. While reading the stories we compared each of them using a triple diagram. The students learned that there are many similarities with the stories while they all have their own unique twist to make them a little bit different. Our math was tied in by having the students measure the distances their sleighs traveled. The main idea of the project was to teach the students about push, kinetic energy, distance, and friction. We tested our sleighs on two different sufaces (carpet and tile). Some sleigh designs worked better on the carpet while most had more success on the tile. The question that the students had to answer was "why did most of the designs work better on the tile than the carpet?" The students were highly engaged and showed plenty of persistance in creating their designs and re-designing them to make them more successful.
It's amazing that we are almost halfway through the school year and beginning a new calendar year. The past two weeks that I have been at Germaton Elementary have been great! The students come in ready to learn and they are willing to try new things. As we continue to transition into my expectations for class we will begin a more established routine where we can continue to grow off of where Mrs. Dover left them.
If you ever have questions, please do not hesitate to call after school, email, or Dojo Message me. |
About MeMy name is Barry Hill. I am a Kindergarten teacher at Germanton Elementary School. I have been teaching for 9 year. I have taught Kindergarten, third, fourth, and sixith grade. I have been a high school baseball coach at Reagan High School in Pfafftown, NC for the past 4 years. I am married with 3 children, Noah, Emmilyn, and Luke. ArchivesCategories |