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We started our adventure to becoming effective collaborators with the "Helium Stick" challenge. This fosters teamwork, communication, and perseverance as groups of six have to work together to lift a meter stick to the ground evenly using only two fingers on the stick. It is a shockingly tricky task! After, we discussed how important it is to minimize frustration, keep working towards our goal, and communicate effectively with our teammates.
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We discussed how important it is to have a plan before we start to build something new! Students learned about STEM design plans where we design and label our plans so we can easily gather our materials. We practiced our first design plans by building a cozy bear cave for our friend Big, Smelly Bear !
For our second design challenge, we read the classic story of The Three Little Pigs. Then, students had to help the pigs solve their problem and design and build a house that would withstand the BIG, BAD BLOW-DRYER! With a few redesigns, our students were successful!
Frankie Stein is a student favorite. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein have a son named Frankie, and he is just not scary at all - he's cute! They try to inspire Frankie to scariness by showing him the "Stein Family Tree" and all of his spooky relatives. We decided to design and create our own scary monsters to add to the Stein Family Tree. We designed a monster. We built that monster. Then we used our technology skills to make our monsters talk!! Choose your student's teacher below to find their talking monster.
After spending a few classes practicing our digital literacy skills with Google Docs, we are back to designing and solving problems! In Thanksgiving at the Tappletons', Thanksgiving is a big deal, but when our turkey slides out the door, down the sidewalk, and into the pond, the Tappletons have a big problem! We helped them solve their problem while working on design plans to create a fishing pole. After a few redesigns, we had some successful fishermen.
Run, run as fast as you can!
First grade students had to help the gingerbread man over the river to escape the sneaky fox, as well as the little old lady, little old man, pig, cow, and horse!! I was extremely impressed by our teamwork, our ability to come up with a plan, and our perseverance if our original plan did not work!
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