4th Grade

The first week of school, along with discussing rules and expectations, fourth grade students practiced their teamwork and creative thinking skills. They competed with other groups to see who could fit the most paperclips on top of an upside-down cup. We had some super innovative ideas--check them out below! 

We read Clean Up! by Nathan Bryon, which discusses pollution (specifically oceanic) and how we can work to help with the issue.  We researched the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to tie in real-world issues related to this topic. This was a big project for us as it had two parts: one tech challenge and one engineering challenge. For the tech challenge, students were required to brush up on their Google Slides skills, which was a big focus in 3rd grade, and create a poster to raise awareness for pollution and how we can help stop it! I will display a few of those awesome posters below. 

The second portion of our project, the engineering portion, was to design and build a device that would help clean up debris and microplastics from the ocean (aka: a big tub of water in Mrs. McKibben's room).  Together, we researched what microplastics are and how engineers are currently trying to help alleviate the problem in real life; we explored various materials and how they would hold up versus being placed into water, along with how to waterproof something that isn't already.  After much research, thought, and planning, students got to work building their ocean debris cleaners. When it came to test day, students had the opportunity to test, redesign, and then re-test. It was an exciting, engaging process for the students, and we had many successful engineers after a few redesigns.  Check out some of our work below! 

After reviewing our Google slides skills, we dove right into Google sheets. We talked about where you might use something like Google sheets (completing math or money calculations) and discussed conditionals and what they mean: 

if _____________________, then _____________________.

Then we followed some simple directions to learn how to use conditional formatting on Google sheets in order to create pixel art. Once comfortable, students were tasked with getting creative and incorporating their name into a pixel art Google sheet. Take a look below to see some awesome pieces of work! 

We learned about biomedical engineering and prosthetic devices. We discussed how prosthetics can be made for various appendages and how engineers have really worked to improve prosthetic hands over the years! Fourth grade students then had the opportunity to create their very own prosthetic hand that works! It was a lot of tedious work, but by the end, we were playing rock, paper, scissors with our brand new hands! 

It's December, and those elves are back! We read How to Catch an Elf.  Then with a partner, students followed the engineering design process to plan out a trap in order to catch the elf. We learned about six different simple machines, and students were required to choose (at least) one simple machine to use in their elf trap design.  Pulleys, inclined planes, and levers seemed to be our most popular simple machines! It was a busy few weeks with little time for capturing photos but hopefully, we captured a few elves!