Wonderful Work with a Side of Worms

We were so excited to gain some new Collaboratory Cubs this week as we celebrated Take Your Child To Work Day!  Take a look at some of our new cubs in action!

I wish I would have been able to get more pictures!  We loved having so many new friends enjoying the Collab!  Take a look at what our veteran Collaboratory Cubs were working on this week!

In the spirit of Earth Day, our Pre-K friends were introduced to my two favorite books:  Michael Recycle and Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug!  The students learned all about the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling through the great characters in these books.  Then, they had the opportunity to upcycle some plastic lids and create art with a message:  Don't be a "lid"-erbug! They loved creating color patterns with their lids and counting how long their buggies were!

Our kindergarten friends continued reading their "Designing Solar Ovens" intro story called Lerato Cooks Up a Plan.  They even had the chance to go outside and explore solar thermal energy.  They were testing how materials with even the darkest colors absorb heat differently based on what they are made of, which led to a discussion about thermal conductors and thermal insulators.  

Our first graders are preparing to design different maglev systems so they tested out some cool magnet racers and levitrons to start brainstorming some ideas!

Our second grade environmental engineers began a new unit all about cleaning up oil spills.  We began reading the intro story called Tehya's Pollution Solution and started talking about some real life events that involved oil spills.

Our third graders continued their maker projects and enjoyed our special Take Your Child To Work Day guests!

Our fourth graders started tackling some of our Green Team projects this week!  First, they started working on their blueprints for an irrigation system that they will be building to help the TES Garden.  Mrs. Kwelty even showed our students how the compost for our garden is made.  We also prepared our new Worm Bin, since the Collaboratory is now the proud home of 500 redworms!  Mrs. Francis even came down to show the students how to prepare the bedding and food waste for our little wormy friends!  A big thank you to the Education Foundation of Tabernacle Township for the funding to begin this project!

We are looking forward to another exciting week ahead!

Weavers, Planters, Builders, and Baseball Players:  Our Collaboratory Village People

Our students dabbled in so many new projects this week and took on so many different jobs that I thought that we could have created our very own YMCA music video (with the theme Young Minds Can Achieve, of course!).  Take a look at what we did:

In Pre-School, we "planted" our forever flowers to bring a pop of color to our Outdoor Learning Center.  Hopefully, these beautiful flowers will inspire Mother Nature to keep bringing us those warm spring days!  

In kindergarten, we continued reading Lerato Cooks Up a Plan, which is our intro story to our "Designing Solar Ovens" unit!  Our students explored the world of weaving, since weaving is Lerato's favorite hobby in the story.  We also learned that people in Botswana weave the tops of their rondavels where they live!  

Our first graders planted seeds in the sprout houses that they made right before Spring Break!  The sprout houses are proudly on display in our Indoor Grow Lab, and we can't wait to see them grow!

 Our second graders enjoyed a "Maker Mania" day to celebrate all of their hard work on their water filtration systems last week!  Check out some of their amazing upcycled creations, especially the jet packs that some of the students made to help them soar to new heights!

Our third grade ocean engineers began planning their submersible designs this week!

  

The highlight of our week was the Fourth Grade Recycled Baseball Extravaganza!  Our fourth graders designed and created all of the equipment, and everything they made was very successful during the game!  However, their success didn't stop them from trying to continue to improve their designs to make them even better!  They are very determined engineers...and very determined baseball players!  We had a blast enjoying the great outdoors and honoring the upcoming Earth Day!

Stay tuned for new and exciting adventures making their way to the Collaboratory next week!