We have been studying plants and animals in 1st grade. When scientists and engineers are inspired by something from nature we call that "biomimicry". We just finished planting sunflower seeds using homemade garden tools that were inspired by a story we read in class.
Thank you to the parent volunteers who came in to operate the hot glue guns!
We have been studying plants and animals in 1st grade. When scientists and engineers are inspired by something from nature we call that "biomimicry". We just finished planting sunflower seeds using homemade garden tools that were inspired by a story we read in class.
Thank you to the parent volunteers who came in to operate the hot glue guns! We were dealing with a little bit of rain during the planting, so I apologize for so few action shots!
We have been studying plants and animals in 1st grade. When scientists and engineers are inspired by something from nature we call that "biomimicry". We just finished planting sunflower seeds using homemade garden tools that were inspired by a story we read in class.
Thank you to the parent volunteers who came in to operate the hot glue guns!
We have been studying plants and animals in 1st grade. When scientists and engineers are inspired by something from nature we call that "biomimicry". We just finished planting sunflower seeds using homemade garden tools that were inspired by a story we read in class.
Thank you to the parent volunteers who came in to operate the hot glue guns!
When visiting the Science Lab, Second Grade spent a lot of time this semester studying astronomy. We examined the rotation of the Earth and the affect on seasons; the sun's movement across by tracking shadows; the phases of the moon; the movement of the Big Dipper and other stars; and even learned about exoplanets and Trappist-1.
Our engineering challenge came when we decided to add shade to a model of our playgrounds. Students had to track the sun during their recess time and determine where to add walls/trees/roofs/screens. You can take a look at their creative ideas below!
I've been thinking about the "A" in STEAM a lot lately, and stumbled upon this article. I think that some of scientists' ideas could be communicated better to non-scientists, and that is where ART can play an important role.
From the Scientific American: "Art and science. To those who practice neither, they seem like polar opposites, one data-driven, the other driven by emotion. One dominated by technical introverts, the other by expressive eccentrics. For those of us involved in either field today (and many of us have a hand in both), we know that the similarities between how artists and scientists work far outweigh their stereotypical differences. Both are dedicated to asking the big questions placed before us: “What is true? Why does it matter? How can we move society forward?” Both search deeply, and often wanderingly, for these answers. We know that the scientist’s laboratory and the artist’s studio are two of the last places reserved for open-ended inquiry, for failure to be a welcome part of the process, for learning to occur by a continuous feedback loop between thinking and doing." - John Maeda
Read the rest here: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/artists-and-scientists-more-alike-than-different/
In Fourth Grade we wrapped up our study of gravitational forces and the wheel & axle by building restraint systems for raw eggs that traveled down a ramp on our VEX cars. Take a look at their designs here: (click on photos to scroll through)
Mrs. Moffett's class demonstrates "seed bomb" creation. A little clay, a little potting mix, some water, and a teaspoon of wildflowers, rolled into a few ball, dried out, and you get "seed bombs"! Toss them wherever you think could use a little more color, and in a couple of weeks you'll see blues and purples and yellows!
This mimics the way the owl and elephant help plant seeds from the story we read in class!
We were gifted 150 cabbages from Bonnie Plants. Our 3rd graders recently revisited soil in a vertical garden experiment - so i figured, what better way to spend Spring Break than outside planting food!
We will make a contest out of it: largest cabbage wins! Instructions below...
I was fortunate to be asked to sub for a very pregnant Mrs. Walker on Target's field trip today to Sope Creek, part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Our Park Ranger was Mr. Jerry Hightower, who first taught me about the Chattahoochee River Watershed over 10 years ago! The students were able to search through leaf litter to find macroinvertebrates, indicators of the health of Sibley Pond, and by extension Sope Creek and the Chattahoochee River. The more biodiversity, the healthier the water! It didn't look healthy today though, as much needed rain brought silt into the creek from the surrounding areas.
I was so excited to join Mrs. Pirlot's class on their trip to Driftwood! It was 3 days full of science: reptile demos (Gators, Gopher Tortoises, Copperheads, etc.), an encounter with a Barred Owl, a nighttime hike all about our five senses, dipping into the inter coastal to capture microscopic plankton - and finding them under the microscopes, team building activities (trust fall!), campfires (I know the counselors secret language), a ferry ride, tree climbing, picnic lunches, old ruins, wild horses, a beach hike (with discoveries of crabs, fish, Cannonball jellyfish, and horseshoe crab exoskeletons), and even more when we used our seine nets! Here are just some of the pictures that I was able to take of our class and others!
I love the transitional seasons, Spring and Fall. Sure, the weather can be hard to predict: 80 degrees and sunny one day, and literally freezing a couple days later - but that is kind of exciting, right?! And Green Paws, First and Third Grades are all starting planting/gardening projects, which is SUPER exciting.
So when does Spring really begin? Even though March is almost over, I like to go by the equinox. Because the Earth orbits the sun on a tilted axis, our days are shorter in the Winter and longer in the Summer - really, that is what makes them Winter and Summer! But twice a year, on the Equinox, the days and night are exactly the same length: 12 hours each. The Spring Equinox was this weekend, so.... WELCOME SPRING!!!
Mrs. Swierski's class demonstrates our use of microscopes in 5th grade as we begin our unit on cells.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water. You can learn more here: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around.
And Here:
Kindergarten has been investing how engineers consider structure and function when solving problems. They designed cast that had to have 4 functions: light, comfortable, strong and water resistance. Here is what we came up with!
After a week of playing habitat games before the February break, it was back to work in Green Paws. While we were weeding, the Thursday class harvested about 60 carrots between 1-4" each. These were holdovers from the class that ended last November, but moving forward we'll always plant some root veggies to grow over the winter.
Friday's class helped plan out our garden schedule for the semester, but even more fun were the bird nesting boxes we created! We cut doors in recycled milk jugs (I'm always collecting those) and added a bunch of red string. Our hope is that nesting song birds use the strings to help build/line their nests and that we can spy on them from the ground. You could also add dryer lint, hair from a brush, and other yarns and strings to entice them to use your nesting box!
Mrs. Pirlot's class is the latest to build electromagnets. We used a 14 gauge stranded copper wire to create a solenoid around a steel nail. Using a 6V battery we were able to attract paperclips and change the direction of a compass!
... and there's a party over there. Some of our partners from Georgia Tech will be here with telescopes to share, but you are encouraged to bring your own and they'll help you set them up! Dress warmly! Parents are required to stay. All are welcome, but this is a 4th grade party!
We made the Cobb County School District newsreel! We had about 10 visitors from Project Lead the Way (Indianapolis), Gwinnett County Schools, and Cobb County Schools visit during Mrs. Friends 1st grade class a couple of weeks ago. They were interested in how we were implementing this engineering curriculum with our state science standards. You can see pictures and read all about it here: http://cobbcast.cobbk12.org/?p=17533!
I love to travel to all the National Parks around the country, but where I'd really like to visit is the Galapagos Islands. They are an ecological wonderland! Today is Charles Darwin's birthday - he helped make the Galapagos Islands famous with his work on evolution.
