Along with rules and expectations, we spent part of our first week of STEM working on teamwork and collaboration skills. Third grade students had to work together to build a tower of cups without touching the cups using only a rubber band and some string! It was frustrating at times, but many groups were able to persevere and build their tower! 

I can work effectively as a member of a team. 

This was the goal for third grade students in STEM this September! They were challenged to create the tallest tower using only pipe cleaners. They had to plan what strategy they were going to use then work together as a team to bring that strategy to life. It was quite the task! 

An important part of STEM is the "T" for technology! We started learning about some different Google apps, such as Google Slides. A few skills students are now able to do are change the background, add shapes, change the color of those shapes, and animate objects. Doing so allows us to have a better idea of how Google Slides works, and in turn, we can put these skills to good use in the classroom! A few of our projects are below.

One of our favorite parts about STEM is computer programming! We learn the basics of what coding is and how it works. Students code using Osmo blocks and an app called "Coding Duo". We code independently by doing increasingly challenging tasks on code.org. We also code using our Wonder Workshop Dash Robots. The students do a great job collaborating, problem solving, and critical thinking to solve each challenge! 

The Great Chain Race! 

Students collaborate to practice critical thinking, teamwork, perseverance, and more! They use one piece of construction paper, one pair of scissors, and one glue stick to build the longest paper chain possible. It takes some strategic thinking! We then measured and created a bar graph to represent the various lengths of our paper chains. Congratulations to our winners!! 

Right to Read Week

Using their new Google Slides skills, the third grade students wrote their very own stories - titled, If You Give a Moose a Marshmallow.  They were the authors and illustrators of their very own unique short story with a theme of camping based on the original story, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  Check out a few of their stories below! 

Mrs. McKibben's Interrichment Class

In October this year, 3rd grade interrichment students in Mrs. McKibben's class were challenged to build the tallest cauldron holder that could hold as much candy corn as possible. Groups worked together to plan then build their cauldron holders. It was awesome to see students collaborating, problem solving, and challenging themselves.  Our winners held 24 candy corns! Can you guess which structure won?! 

Thanksgiving theme! We discussed the first Americans and how they were able to engineer various types of shelters for themselves. Students were challenged with the task of engineering their very own shelter using only newspaper and masking tape.  After designing our homes and building them, we tested them out.  We decided the Native Americans were fantastic engineers! 

Ozobots are small robots that respond to marker paths and color codes, as well as, an online coding language called "Blockly".  We can program them to do many different tasks. We were so busy that Mrs. McKibben forgot to take many pictures of our Ozobots, but we were able to snag a few pictures of our drones. We learned to program the drones to do exactly what we wanted them to do - like making their way through an obstacle course!