Newspaper Towers

Today our junior engineers attempted to build towers using newspaper and masking tape. The students had to think about stability and strength. Teams tried to use the things they learned in earlier challenges to build the tallest towers.

Tomorrow we are Skyping with a civil engineer from Australia. We can’t wait to learn about what it is like to be an engineer. Stay tuned for a video of our call.

Strengthening Materials

Engineers are faced with a lot of challenges. Often the strongest building materials are the most expensive. Engineers usually have to keep within a certain budget and so they often have to choose weaker and cheaper materials and find ways to make them stronger.

In our challenge today we had to find ways to make a paper bridge stronger. In the first part of the challenge we were given a single piece of construction paper and had to make a bridge across our desks that could carry a load. We couldn’t use any other supplies.
In the second part of the challenge we were given four sheets on newspaper and some masking tape.

We sure learned a lot!

Joint Construction

Today our engineers in training learned all about joints. A joint is a point at which two pieces of building material are joined together. The students experimented with different connectors that could be used to join two straws together. We can’t wait to try some of these joints in our upcoming challenges.

Sahara wrote a post on her blog today about engineering. You can read it here.

Engineers in Training

This week we started a new unit in science called Materials and Structures. We learned what structures are and looked for different geometric shapes and forms used to create them outside and in our classroom. We also learned that engineers have to be good problem solvers, work well in a team, and be very creative.

Today we tried our first team challenge. Mrs. Watson gave each team 5 sheets of newspaper, 20 popsicle sticks, 1m of masking tape, 1m of string, and 20 minutes to build the tallest free standing structure they could.

Take a peek…

In the next few days we will be learning about forces that act on structures, joint construction, and how to strengthen materials. Then we will try this challenge again.

Summer Fun: Week 5

Last week I finished reading two great books. The first was The Maze Of Bones which is the first book in the 39 Clues series. The second book I read was The Doll People. This is one of the books that one of the classes we Skyped with recommended. I really enjoyed both of these books and have the second book in each series on order at the library. What books have you read this summer?

This week’s Reading Rockets ideas: Become a publisher
• Make your own joke book. Collect jokes and riddles from your family and friends.
• Cut out pictures from an old magazine or catalog. Write a story about them.
• Create a rebus story (a story that uses pictures to represent words). Write a short story, and then substitute pictures (that you draw or cut out) for some of the words.
• Start a round-robin story. Write the beginning, then ask friends to add to it until it has an ending.

Click on the picture below to make plastic milk. There are all sorts of great experiments you can try at Joey Green’s Mad Scientist Experiments.

This week try a new game from Funschool.com. Add, subtract, and multiply numbers fast in Math Popper. The objective of the game is to pop the balloons with the correct answer before time runs out!

Click the link below to see a great video about chimps using tools!
http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/mammals-kids/chimp-tools-kids.html

Summer Fun: Week 4

I can’t believe how quickly the summer is flying by! I just got home from a great trip down island and now it is swimming lesson time for Brooklynn. A big thank you to Sophie for leaving a comment on the blog last week! I hope everyone is having lots of fun 🙂

This week’s Reading Rockets ideas: Enjoy the great outdoors
• Pick wildflowers and press them between the pages of a heavy book until the end of summer.
• Plan a backyard camping trip with a friend. List all the things you will need to survive.
• Plan a family ‘booknic’ at your favorite outdoor spot, such as the beach, a park, or the woods. Pack lunch and plenty to read.
• Collect shells at the beach or rocks along a trail. Use a nature guide to identify them.
• Find something small enough to put in your pocket. Write or tell a story about it.
• Look for shapes and designs in the clouds. Draw them.
• Word game! Make a list of words to describe fireworks.

Click on the picture below to make a yummy treat!

Click on the picture below to practice adding single-and-double-digit numbers together while shooting spaceships trying to invade Earth. Hurry before it’s too late and the aliens land!

Click the link below to see a great video about fishy disguises!
http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/fish-kids/fish-camouflage-kids.html