PBL

Chicken Dilemma

Fourth-grade students at Park Elementary are diving into sustainability with a unique STEAM project. The students are raising chickens, collecting eggshells, and crushing them to compost in a worm bin. The resulting nutrient-rich soil and worms will be added to their outdoor garden beds, which are planted with cabbage, kale, and strawberries.

This hands-on learning experience teaches the students about ecosystems, composting, and sustainable farming practices. Beyond science, the project has a meaningful goal: growing fresh produce to donate to a local food bank. By combining teamwork, creativity, and community service, these young gardeners are cultivating more than just plants—they’re nurturing a sense of responsibility and care for others.

Life Cycle of a Chicken

Predictions

observations

c. E. R.

evidence

Redesign of the Chicken Tractor

redesigning

Students reflected on the problems with the design of the current
chicken tractor.

create and plan

Students supported their claim for new materials with evidence and reasoning, and a new design that will be created with a coordinated effort with the HCHS CTAE departments.

new design

CTAE at HCHS used Park's plans to construct a new chicken tractor

Evidence and reasoning of student claims were answered in the new design build.

4th Grade Chicken Coops

Future meteorologists

To culminate the study of the weather, fourth graders at Park Elementary completed an all-encompassing project where they broadcasted a weather report from a news studio. With recycled materials from around their house, they first created a meteorologist. They then used their meteorologist and their knowledge of weather forecasting to create a detailed Flipgrid weather report for Tiger TV Action Weather! As students and teachers walk past the display, they can scan the QR codes to hear their classmates' forecasts.

Sliding coop

Henrietta and Wobble (our hens from Park) have gone to Mrs. Rexrode’s home for the Extended Absence from school. They are very happy with their large coop; however, we would like to be even more resourceful since Park’s mission is Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. We want to reduce the amount of feed used and let the chickens free range for food. Free-ranging means letting them roam around and eat insects, worms, and grasses that give them a healthy diet. BUT BEWARE! There are ecosystem hazards such as predators that would LOVE a chicken dinner. We must protect our small flock! How do we do that? How do you let them roam to eat and protect them at the same time?

The students then were then challenged to design a "Sliding Snack Shack" that is mobile, light, and similar to the design of a "Chicken Tractor" using 7 ten foot PVC (flexible, plastic, pipes), flexible netting, and zip ties, (and of course pieces that will connect the pipes)

This Sliding Snack Shack design is a combination of several 4th-grade students' work after given a mission to "get the chickens out of the coop to free-range, yet protect them from predators." Through their extended absence, students logged onto Google Classroom to view their STEAM Engineering Design Challenge and submitted entries using only the 4 materials listed; 7 ten foot PVC (flexible, plastic, pipes), flexible netting, and zip ties, (and of course pieces that will connect the pipes).

This final design, built by Mrs. Amy Rexrode, was a combination of designs from Tavon Martin, Luke Moss, Cameron Reynolds, Patrick Riccinto, and Lucas Manan.

Rube Goldberg

Third and fourth-grade students from Park Elementary competed in the Rube Goldberg competition on January 18, 2020, winning 2nd place overall.

Career Pathway

Visit from local TV station Chief meteorologist, Derek Kinkade. Students study weather, collect data, make predictions, and observe weather/climate trends. Derek Kinkade was invited to demonstrate his career path because of his interest in meteorology. He introduced connections behind the camera, in the field, and in technology departments that coincide with what our students are doing with Tiger TV.

egg candling Certified

Benjamin Pitts with the Georgia Department of Agriculture was invited to give the students a Junior Egg Candling certification. Prior to his visit, students studied, discussed, and passed the required test. Students demonstrated their candling skills of over 100 eggs and received certificates. Students were able to use this knowledge to determine how eggs are graded before taken to the grocery store. This knowledge was used in our school to determine which eggs were fertile prior to hatching. In turn, they were able to pass this knowledge down to the younger students throughout Park, as they eagerly awaited the hatch date.

"Pump Up the Jam"

Fourth grade students at Park Elementary completed a STEAM project through their study of sound. Using recycled materials from home, each student designed and created a musical instrument that varied in volume and pitch. They developed Flipgrid presentations to explain and demonstrate their projects. The fourth grade hallway is now filled with inspiring musicians and their musical delight!

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