News Features
Mrs. Russell's Friends
January 2024
A New Year and New Projects to Share
1ST GRADE
Students will present to peers after completing their Watts Towers research and related projects.
How can my dreams and ideas leave a legacy?
Students have dreamed about how their ideas and creations can grow into reality through research about an inspirational life figure, designing a dream playground & and recreating the Watts Towers. For the final phase of this project, which will go on display by the gym entrance, they also presented their products and reports about this famous landmark and the immigrant from Italy who created it all by himself!
Who Was Simon Rodia? Brochure
Watts Towers Replicas
2ND GRADE
Students will communicate results of the Garbage Car Challenge through an engineering speaking panel.
Why is studying a career like engineering important?
Students completed the communication phase of the engineering project by sharing their thoughts through an engineering speaking panel. Parents and principals were invited to listen to the panel of mechanical and automotive engineers speak about their project experiences, processes, car designs, and results from testing.
Civil Engineer, Chad Cormack
Speaks to Students about His Career
Speaking Panel Event
3RD GRADE
Students will work through individual puzzles in the book titled The Eleventh Hour to solve a curious mystery full of animal characters.
How can we solve and use puzzles to find the solution to a greater mystery?
Students are using critical thinking skills to work through the pages of The Eleventh Hour. In the book, Horace the Elephant holds a party for his eleventh birthday, to which he invites his ten best friends (various animals) to play eleven games and share in a feast that he has prepared. However, at the time they are to eat—11:00—they are startled to find that someone has already eaten all the food.
Creating Book Covers
for Detective Work
First Look at The Curious Mystery
Making Predictions & Naming Suspects
4TH GRADE
Students will research Rube Goldberg and simple machines.
What information do I need to know to be successful in this challenge?
Students have researched Rube Goldberg and simple machines to prepare for creating a complex contraption that completes a pathway, containing a series of events, built with a team of inventors.
Big 6 Research Process
Students use Jamboard to share their questions and what they learned after researching several sources
Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt
5TH GRADE
Students will complete research about what makes a civilization.
What is a civilization?
Students have created a graffiti wall of information after researching civilizations and discovering the similarities and differences between societies, civilizations, and cultures. After showing understanding, students will team up to develop key pieces of a society and eventually build models of their own civilizations.
Research Phase
Sharing "Graffiti Wall" of Newly Acquired Knowledge About Societies/Civilizations/Cultures
