2nd & 3rd
LESSON 1: VOLCANOES
These students spent the lesson working to deliver the answer to this hypothetical questions: how would you make a volcano?
lesson 2: board games
DRAFTING A PLAN
Brooks Thompson, 3rd, and Elizabeth Smotherman, 2nd, discuss their game board and what would make it unique.
WRITING THE RULES
Catherine Soldato, 3rd, brainstorms the rules and potential obstacles for her game.
After a week of planning and writing rule books, the students begin to bring their board games to life.
lesson 3: CODE-BREAKING
crafting a code
The blue team debates the most effective way to create a language and message worth breaking.
cracking a SECRET
The green team attempts to invent their own answer key to a message unveiling the secret of the "canopic jar."
LESSON 4: ROCKETS
How do you generate lift? How do you make it fly towards the desired target? These are just a pair of questions we attempted to answer during this exciting unit on rocketry. Hayes Parker, 2nd grade, discovered the rockets with slender wings and a rounded nose flew higher, and more accurately, than others. Furthermore, the students each created a rocket company and mission statement outlining WHY human space exploration is necessary.
Above: Samuel Terhune and Hayes Parker, 2nd grade, conduct initial trials of their roller coasters first run.
Right: Blaise Bowyer, Adalyn Brinkman, Catherine Soldato, and Eli Sykes attempt to and jumps into their coaster. The process and trials of learning to angle the piping at just the perfect degree took just over two weeks for the students to master.
LESSON 5: ROLLER COASTERS
This unit provided the ACES students the ability to learn how to generate momentum by simply varying levels. When the students placed their foam piping at specific angles, they learned how to manipulate structure to achieve their ultimate goal: get the marble from one end of the pipe to the other. The result? A wonderful time learning the basic principles of gravity and making a sweet roller coaster in the process.
LESSON 6: CODING & PROGRAMMING
Elizabeth Smotherman and Liam Rolfes, 2nd, along with Catherine Soldato, 3rd, practice coding principles.
Hayes Parker and Samuel Terhune, 2nd, code their names with beads and string.
Learning to code is becoming imperative for today's generation. By gaining coding experience, tactile and digital, students set themselves apart.
LEsson 7: Engineering & design
As we approach the final weeks of the school year, our elementary ACES students continue to challenge the mind and attempt to take on daunting tasks. This current unit forces the students to answer the following question: how do you make the tallest possible structure using only toothpicks and jellybeans?
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