It’s that time of year when we do research in the library! To add an innovative spin to our research, we are doing a video research project! Fourth graders are currently learning about different states and different regions of the United States. Students were assigned to a partner and given a state to research. Students accessed a Google Doc through Google Classroom that outlined what information that they need to find regarding their state. After researching, students were instructed to save pictures of their state information to their Google Drive to be used later when filming. A few groups have started filming in front of our green screen and have begun editing their video using WeVideo. Using the pictures saved in their Google Drives, they can add them to their video that they imported to WeVideo. Here is one of the videos that is still a work in progress. These girls are doing a fantastic job!

With the winter Olympics under way in Pyeongchang, students got to participate in their own version of Olympic games! Students had three different Olympic events to participate in with Dash the robot. They were put into groups of 4 and given an Olympic event: Slalom skiing, ice skating and curling. They were given a flag of a country participating in the Olympic games to attach to their robot. They had to code their robot to complete the Olympic event they were tasked with. Figure skaters had to move the robot to three different spots on the floor and code the robot to do a complete turn before moving to the next spot. Slalom skiers had to code their robot to move in a zig zag path through a set of cups being used as flags. Curlers had to code Dash to move 4 cups to a target on the floor. Fourth grade enjoys learning coding with Dash and enjoyed participating in their own version of the Olympic games!

As part of the Project Lead the Way 4th grade module, students learned about energy conversion. After students have explored energy conversion and transfer, they were presented with a design problem involving moving large amounts of donated food from a truck to a food pantry. The school held a food drive, local food bank representatives will be coming to each school to explain the services they provide. Select 4th graders will participate in a STEM design challenge to design and build something that represents “comfort” out of the donated food items. All donated was given to Community Ministries just in time for the holiday season. Check out their tree design below:

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, students had a little fun with taking Dash the robot to the turkey farm! Students were placed in groups and given three "turkeys" to get back to the turkey farm! Dash is a huge hit in the library! The students were quite the makers engineering an attachment to round up the turkeys to get them in one attempt. Next, they had to code Dash to follow the path to the farm. Watch their success below!

Building on our knowledge of Scratch programming, fourth grade made musical instruments out of cardboard and conductive materials, such as foil. They then programmed musical notes in Scratch matching their particular instrument as the guide for which cords to program. After programming Scratch, they connected their Makey Makey circuit board with alligator clips to specific cords on their guitars or keys on their piano. Sticking with a Halloween theme, students played "Skin and Bones" on their cardboard devices. Take a listen!!