The Collaboratory is just as busy as Santa's Workshop!
We have been very busy in the TES Collaboratory this week! Take a look at the great work our students have been doing in each grade level.
In Pre-School, we read the story Little Tree and discussed why the tiny tree in the story was so special. Then, students were challenged to design and build their own special little trees using popsicle sticks and Play-Doh. Students had to persevere and keep trying different ways to make their little trees stay standing!
In first grade, we continued to work on our "Designing Lighting Systems" unit. We finished reading Omar's Time to Shine, and we explored the effects of sunlight by testing out solar print paper. Students collected items from nature to "protect" part of the solar paper. They watched to see the transformation the paper made in the sunlight, watching how quickly it could fade in direct sunlight if it wasn't protected. We even took a sheet of solar print paper and covered it up with a special coating, just like Omar's brother designed in the story, and we saw first-hand how effective the coating was at protecting the paper from the sunlight.
In second grade, we continued our "Designing Water Filters" unit. Prior to our Collaboratory time together this week, the second graders had the opportunity to attend a special presentation from the Pinelands Commission over at OMS, which taught them about some of the plant and animal life in their own backyard. The presentation stressed the importance of clean water, which tied in really nicely with our unit. When we did get together for our Collaboratory time this week, we worked on our next part of the story Saving Salila's Turtle. The second graders made many connections between what was happening in the story and what we had learned from the presenter. We also had a chance to test out some different filter materials for their effectiveness.
In third grade, the students were getting ready to work on their North Pole News reports, so we thought it would be fun for the students to give the North Pole a fresh look! We helped Santa, the elves, and the reindeer redesign the North Pole according to the needs of everyone who lived there, and our students got very creative with their designs!
In fourth grade, the students continued working on their "Designing Windmills" unit by studying the work of mechanical engineers and investigating a variety of machines and their parts. Students were also introduced to the work of Rube Goldberg, who is known for creating some very unique machines!
A student sketched the design of the can opener to show the gears!
We are looking forward to seeing what is in store for us during our last week of 2017 together!
No comments:
Post a Comment