Have I mentioned how amazing this class is??? Well, in case I haven't, they're AMAZING!!! We had such a fun, hands-on week this week. We are preparing for our first engineering project of the year and what a better way to get started than reading The Three Little Pigs. Before we read our story, our first day this week was learning all about materials engineering, sorting materials, and learning about properties of materials. Sounds pretty advanced for kindergarten doesn't it? Well, it's right up there alley. Day 1 was all about exploration and discovery. They had some pretty awesome conversations and healthy debates. I love hearing how their brains process information. It is so inspiring hearing the thoughts they share. Days 2 - 4 were all about the three little pigs and the choices of materials they selected for their homes. The version we read had 2 boy pigs and 1 girl pig. Now don't get me wrong I love the original version, but it's so important for girls to be excited about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) so any time I get an opportunity to share a text with a girl defeating the odds in a situation that could be STEM related, I'm jumping all over it. We read a small portion of the book each day, stopping at the point where the wolf has blown one house down. Students then went back to their seats, examined the materials in their boxes, and chose which ones they thought were similar to the ones the pig of the day chose. At the end of each lesson students then shared and debated their selections. It was pretty interesting to hear their arguments. An amazing part of this week was the amount of respect that had for one another. They listened to each other, waited their turn, and defended their choices. Below is a slideshow of our week. You will see our class anchor chart (my way of reviewing our daily lessons and their sharing of learning), the class investigating, and their results. Friday they were able to imagine a material they would use, received their engineering challenge for the upcoming week, and began the Engineering Design Process. More on that next week!!!
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Christy Wilson"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" - Dr. Seuss CategoriesArchives
April 2015
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