YUCK-Doorknob Bacteria

"YUCK--Doorknob Bacteria" won first place in the Science Fair!  Congratulations to Alex, Phillip, Cassidy, and Ty!

Science Fair

Challenge students in grades K-3 are excited to begin their science fair projects.  They will be participating in the District Science Fair on March 1, 2014 and the Mastodon Science Fair March 15-24.  I can wait to see their end results.

Madi is writing in her group's science log book.

Chloe and Lucy are preparing their experiment:  

Brain Hats

Fourth and fifth grade students created "Brain Hats" as a culminating project for a mini-brain unit. The hats are labeled with the parts of the brain.

Junk Box Wars

Junk Box wars are creative problem solving team challenges correlated to the National Science Standards. Students are given "junk" in boxes and a problem to solve. Problems require students to: 

• Identify appropriate problems for technical design. 
• Design a solution or product. 
• Implement a proposed design. 
• Evaluate completed technological designs or products. 
• Communicate the process of technological design.

The Weakest Link--Students were challenged to build the longest chain that would hold the most weight.

The Weakest Link--5th Grade

Whirling Wonders--Teams were challenged to create a wheel powered by water that would hold the greatest amount of string.

Whirling Wonders--8th Grade

Whirling Wonders--7th Grade

Whirling Wonders--4th Grade

Spaghetti Towers--Teams were challenged to create towers out of spaghetti.  The towers were scored on height and weight held.

Ultimate Gumball Machine--Students were challenged to create a machine that would sort gum ball!

Ultimate Gumball Machine-6th Grade

Science Fair

Our first, second, and third grade students recently competed in the Mastodon Science Fair. We had no first place projects, but we did have second and third places. I'm so excited to see what these students do with their knowledge of the scientific method in the future.

3, 2, 1 Blast Off:  Cassidy, Tara, and Bella

Electrofiers:  Jack and Jeremiah

Bacteria Busters:  Emma and Heidi

Rainbow Drinks:  Katie, Cecilia, and Maddy

Lights Out:  Kennedy Ta, Kennedy Tr, Madi, Alexus, and Paris

Where's Their Teacher?

I love looking at my pictures after I've let the kids take charge of the camera. The girls in the pictures below have been collecting data for their science fair project. They are comparing brands of batteries. Would you believe that the Energizer batteries died first? I can't wait to see their final results!

Bacteria Busters

We have some Bacteria Busters in our school. Some 2nd grade students would like to find out what locations in our school have the most bacteria. This video will help them learn how to collect samples.
Check out Science Bob's Blog.

Riveting Robots

What spins, floats, and wobbles?  Our robots of course!  Fourth grade students built three robots this week.   Check them out!

The Quicker Picker-Upper

What brand of paper towel is the strongest and/or most absorbent?  My first and second grade tested four brands of paper towels for strength and absorbency this week.  They tested Viva, Bounty, Always Save, and Sparkle.  Which do you think is the strongest?  Which do you think is the most absorbent? We'll post our results next week.

Students first recorded the price of each paper towel roll.

Then, they used their senses to observe the paper towels.

Next, they measured them for strength using a spring scale.

They also tested them for absorbency. 

Students recorded their data in their scientific notebooks.

Insects Don't Bug Me

Our little entomologists have been working very hard on their insect collections.  We have discovered that taxonomy, the process of classifying insects, is harder than we thought.

All living things fit into five KINGDOMS.
The animal kingdom is divided into 36 PHYLA (a phylum).
Each phylum has CLASSES.
Each class is made up of ORDERS.
Each order is made up of a number of FAMILIES.
Families are made up of GENERA (a genus).
Each genus is mad up of SPECIES.

Right now, we are just trying to identify the common name of each insect and it's order, but insects make up 3/4 of the animal population, so identification is a tough job.

Demolition

Eighth grade students were excited to demolish their old cities, Bondidag Cove and Triana.  I can't wait to see where their imaginations take them this year!  The Future City theme is "Rethink Runoff!"

What is Future City?

The Future City Competition is a national, project-based learning experience where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCity™ 4 Deluxe software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February.