Spirit of St. Louis Airport

Seventh grade students visited their engineering mentor at Spirit of St. Louis Airport on Thursday, November 24th. Mr. Ramos gave them a tour of the airport and we even drove on the runway. Students also had the opportunity to sit in helicopters and perform flight simulations.

Flight Simulator

Should Stores be Open on Thanksgiving?

Should stores be open on Thanksgiving? Should we shop on a day we typically spend with families? Is it okay to require workers to work on Thanksgiving? If they do, should they be paid overtime? All of these are questions students pondered while creating their PowToons today. Whether you choose to shop, or not, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving! Please enjoy our videos.


 

Free Birds--Dinner Debate

Do you ever get in a debate with family members about what you will eat for dinner? With the holidays approaching, many of us will be joining family members for dinners and parties. What do you fix? Check out these videos, created with Powtoons, to help solve your dinner dilemma.
 

Late Night with Legendary Leaders

Challenge students, grades 1-5, took on the identities of Legendary Leaders throughout history on Tuesday, November 19th in the Edgar Murray Gym.  Parents and community members mingled with the Legends and asked them questions.  The guests then tried to guess the legends identities.  After mingling, the Legendary Leaders gave short speeches revealing their identities. The students did a fabulous job, and I'm proud of each and every one of them.

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

Junk Box Wars

I'm introducing "Junk Box Wars" to classes this year.  What are Junk Box Wars?  They are a more detailed version of our Instant Challenges.  Students participate in creative problem solving challenges using "junk" in their boxes.  It's a friendly competition where students use creativity, problem solving, and teamwork.  In this week's challenge, teams are required to create a chain that will hold weights from anchor points.  The longest chain that holds the most weight wins.  The key is not to have "The Weakest Link."