Fossils

Fossils are not just old bones.  The students are learning that fossils are very special pieces of evidence that provide important clues from the past.  By studying fossils the students are learning about animals that are now extinct, like dinosaurs. During a lesson on fossils Keira brought a rock and fossil collection for the students to look at. We will continue to "dig in" and learn more about rocks, fossils, and the earth in future lessons.

Snap Circuits

This year the students will have fun learning about electronics by using Snap Circuits.  They will get to build over 100 projects.  The students have to construct complete circuits to make the sounds, lights, and fans work.

 

Monarch Butterflies

During the month of September students were able to watch the Monarch Butterfly life cycle.  Milkweed leaves with eggs were collected  and brought to class.  The students then observed the small caterpillars eating their way out of the eggs.  The classes watched the caterpillars consume a large amount of leaves until they were fully grown and formed their chrysalis.  Around two weeks later the adult butterflies emerged from their chrysalis.  Finally, after keeping the adult butterflies for a couple of days we released them so they could begin their migration to Mexico.

Dash and Dot Robots in a Classroom Near You

                  

My homeroom class will be learning how to drive and input codes into Dash and Dot robots.  Today we simply started by learning how to drive the bots.  The students found it was much harder than they expected.  By the end of the year I hope to have the students entering codes that will instruct the robots what commands to follow.

   

Flowering and Reproduction

This year in science class we will be using Mystery Science.  We have worked on two mysteries so far.  The first mystery was flowering and reproduction. The second mystery was "Why do plants give us fruit?"  The students have been learning the structure and function of flowers and how they reproduce.  The students completed an art activity where they constructed a flower and had their bee transfer "pollen" to other flowers.

STEM Project

In March the students were put in groups and given newspaper and masking tape and told to design and construct a chair or stool.  When the chair or stool was complete it had to be able to hold the weight of one person in their group.

Robotic Arms

In December we made robotic arms for a STEM project.  Each student was given  straws, string, and a toilet paper roll.  The students created a squid and had to make sure each tentacle would retract towards the body.