3-D printing...continued from COVID-19 Shutdown

A 4th grader, now 5th grader used Tinkercad, an online 3-D engineering site to build this cargo car.  He included a sliding door for loading and unloading his cargo.  A lot of exact measurements in this project! 

WELCOME BACK STUDENTS

 I hope the 2020-21 School Year is a blast for you!  

Problem of the Week

This is an awesome puzzle to challenge your knowledge about GEOMETRY!  Can you do it?

K-Nex: learning for all ages

Many students have been testing their engineering skills using the K-Nex building units.  These kits include the basic materials to build and test different simple machines.  Students create and put together models and put them under tests to see how their creations work.  They can change and modify to have their creation work better or use for larger/smaller items.  A lot of learning while having the freedom to be creative!

Noetic Math Challenge Fall Winners

This program is a nation-wide program that provides challenging problems to over 750 schools throughout 47 states.  

The problems are not your ordinary math problems, they focus more on real life situations, logic, and general problem solving.  With these problems intertwined in the Iowa Core, it provides students things they are learning in the classroom while adding higher order thinking skills.  

It is very challenging for students, many mistakes are made and with that comes learning from each other and themselves for future problems.  Pictured are the 3rd-6th Grade Class Champions; Landon, Cael, Zach and Persephanie.  Cael, Landon and Zach also earned National Honor Roll status, meaning that their score was in the top 10% of all the 36,000+ students who took the Noetic tests this fall throughout the country.

An idea...turned into reality

A couple of 4th grade boys wanted to build their own car, a simple idea really, but one they took to a higher level.  The boys then wanted to add an engine to the car and I insisted that the car must be able to steer also.  After hours of building, and tearing apart they completed this task that starter out as a simple idea.  Great engineering from these two young men!

A short video of the car:

Problem to Ponder:

Wind Powered Cars

A few students in 5th grade have been working to use the power of the wind to move a car at least 20 feet.  Students are learning about testing and making hypothesis from those tests to improve their invention.  It has been frustrating at times, but in the end it is always rewarding!