4th

Dice Games!

Students were challenged to invent an original dice game.  They wrote clear instructions on how to play the game and used Tinkercad to design 3D printed dice to go along with their games.  Fourth graders will be sharing their games with 2nd graders!

                                 

If I had to Walk a Mile in Those Shoes...The Newspaper Shoe Challenge!

Fourth grade students are designing and making shoes from newspaper and tape only.  The shoes must be made for a particular character/person in mind.  After constructing their shoe, they will write a creative story about the person wearing it.

The Stock Market Game...

Fourth and fifth graders are participating in the Stock Market Game.  They have $100,000 of virtual money to invest.  Students had the opportunity to hear from a certified financial planner, Karen Perri from Morgan Stanley.  She gave them information about companies, why stocks rise and fall and how to read the interactive charts on Yahoo Finance.  Ms. Perri also looked at the student's portfolios and offered them some advice.

                            

Floating Houses...

Can you design and build an eco-friendly floating home for a group of scientists studying pollution?  Students learned about living off the grid and how homes can be eco-friendly.  They are working on their blueprints for their homes and will actually build them with solar panels.  We will test their ability to float.

Architects at work..

The Stock Market Game!

Students will be participating in an online game in which their team is given $100,000 virtual dollars to invest in stocks of their choice.   They have been learning about companies, brands, profit and loss.  Yahoo Finance will help them gather information about stock share prices.  The game concludes in April.

Roller Coasters:  It's all About the Physics!  

After learning about the science behind how roller coasters work, students are challenged to build their own paper roller coaster that a marble can effectively travel through.  There are supports, loops, curves and hills.

Intro Activity:  Half Self Portraits

Dice Games

Fourth graders are the first to design their own 3D dice using the Tinkercad program.  To accompany their dice, they had to create a strategic game.  Students had the opportunity to share their games with a 2nd-grade class.

 

Balloon Rocket Cars!

Using simple supplies, fourth graders are making cardboard cars that are powered by the air in a balloon.  

Frank Lloyd Wright:  Build It Wright

Students are learning about one of America's greatest architects, Frank Lloyd Wright. He loved incorporating nature in his designs.  Some of his most well-known works include Falling Water in Pennsylvania and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.  Students must design a Frank Lloyd Wright style house for a particular client.  They are beginning with a scale drawing/blueprint and will eventually make a 3D model.

If I Had to Walk a Mile In Those Shoes!  

Fourth graders are challenged with designing and creating a shoe made only of newspaper and tape.  After making their shoes, they will be writing a creative story about the person that would wear their shoe.










Keva Planks:  wood stacking blocks

Fourth graders are testing out our new Keva Planks.  They were exploring different ways they stack and created tall towers.








Sphero Bridges!

Students created bridges that had to be at least 6ft long and 5 inches wide for Sphero to travel across.  After discussing various bridge designs, they were able to select their own materials to create them.



     

Tallest Tower Challenge Take 2!

Using the same materials as below.  The cups can't touch each other and every row (level) must be different in some way.




Tallest Tower Challenge!

Using only two supplies...50 cups and 50 popsicle sticks!
Restriction:  The cups CANNOT touch each other

Makey Makey Interactive Books

Taking a page from Hallmark with their interactive greeting cards, students are writing interactive mini books that they will hook up to Makey Makey.  After writing and illustrating the books, copper tape and/or graphite from a pencil will be used to create a complete circuit within the book's pages.  Each page will contain some interactive component such as a sound, musical instrument or their own voice narrating the story. These one-of-a-kind books will be shared with kindergarten classes.

Cup Stacking Team Building Activity!










































































































































































































































Spaghetti Towers!

Who can build the tallest freestanding tower that can hold a marshmallow on top?

Student's recycled art at the ACUA Earth Day Festival!

If I Had to Walk a Mile In Those Shoes!  Fourth graders are challenged to designing and creating a shoe made only with newspaper and tape.  After making their shoes, they will be writing a story about the person that would wear their shoe.













                                      






Self-driving cars use sensors to help them navigate without incident.  Fourth graders are creating gameboards (switches) that will act as a circuit to avoid obstacles. They will flip cards to see how fast the "supercomputer" can close the circuits.

February 5, 2018

Here are the tiny house architects in action!

January 24, 2018

It's all about the Tiny House Movement!  There are many benefits to tiny house living as well as many drawbacks.  Students are designing a tiny house for a character.  They will locate evidence from their chosen book to support why their character would actually need or want that item.  They will create an interactive floor plan on the program floorplanner.com.

December 15, 2017

         

Geodesic Domes!  Fourth graders are learning about geodesic domes and how they are constructed.  Their challenge will be to create their own that can hold the weight of at least 4 quarters using a variety of materials.


December 8, 2017

The day to share their interactive books has finally arrived!  After a lot or hard work, students had the opportunity to showcase their books to Mrs. Richardson & Mrs. Watkin's third grade class.







December 1, 2017
Fourth graders are still working hard on their interactive Makey Makey books!







November 7, 2017

Taking a page from Hallmark with their interactive greeting cards, students are writing interactive mini books that they will hook up to Makey Makey.  After writing and illustrating the books, copper tape and/or graphite from a pencil will be used to create a complete circuit within the book's pages.  Each page will contain some interactive component such as a sound, musical instrument or their own voice narrating the story. These one-of-a-kind books will be shared with first grade classes.



October 10, 2017

Makey Makey!  Our new invention kits came in and we aren't wasting any time becoming familiar with them.  With Makey Makey, you can turn everyday objects into touchpads.  Today we were using them to control bongos and a piano with a couple snaps of an alligator clip!  Students are making a game controller out of clay to see if it can be used to play an online game.





 

October 4, 2017

"Get to the Chopper!"  Fourth graders competed in an online contest (STEM Playground).  In teams, they had to make, modify and test a paper helicopter.  We dropped them from a height of 2 meters to see how many seconds they stayed in the air.  There was also a teamwork score included from 1-5.  Out of 33 national teams, all four of our teams placed in the top 5!

September 26, 2017

Our 3D printer (Donated by Donors Choose) came in handy today when we made a model of a paper airplane!



 

September 25, 2017

Investigating Flight!  The Wright brothers were our inspiration after looking into how they think and eventually became successful.  Students then sprung into the research phase of making paper airplanes using some online help.  Soon we will test their models and record and analyze the data to see which ones fly the farthest and why.



 



                      




September 14, 2017

After reading, I Like Myself, students were asked to create their own self portrait using a variety of random materials.  They did an excellent job representing themselves!


 





Last Year's 4th Graders
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April 11, 2017
Fourth graders are designing a bow that will launch an "arrow" as far as possible.  They will then record the distance their arrow traveled using centimeters, millimeters and meters.  Using their data, they will create a bar graph and find the median, range and mean.  After thinking about their design and its level of success, students will discuss ways they could improve their bows.




March 22, 2017
Robotic Faces!  Did you know that scientists and engineers are working to build robots that can communicate with facial expressions?  Fourth graders will have the opportunity to create a robotic face that can express an emotion using mechanisms to design moving facial features that show how the robot is feeling.  Stay tuned for the final results.

February 27, 2017
Fourth and fifth graders are still working on their obstacle courses.  They are turning their rough draft into a 3D model.  Here are some pictures of them in action...
 
 


January 30, 2017
Climbing ropes, crawling through mud and jumping through tires!  Teams will be designing their own obstacle race course. Students will have 50,000 units of land to build their amazing course which entails calculating perimeter and area and using math in a real world situation. There are plenty of requirements such as including 8 obstacles, 2 gift shops, a warm up area, hydration stands and health aid center.  They will be provided with a checklist to keep them organized.  Completed obstacle courses will be 3D and include a map key.

January 17, 2017
We are embracing the TINY HOUSE movement!  Did you know that to be considered a tiny house, it has to be under 500 square feet?  Students are using a program called floorplanner.com to create a tiny house specifically for a chosen character.  Everything that they choose to incorporate into their house has to somehow reflect that character.  They are doing a remarkable job using this new program and their tiny houses are super creative!



November:
Fourth graders are becoming island architects and have begun...The Deserted Island STEM Challenge! Teams are presented with a challenge in which is necessary to help a man survive on a deserted island.  Each challenge has specific requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to be successful. For example, the first challenge involves constructing a hut that is at least 5 inches tall with a base no larger than 36 square inches.  Their hut must also withstand a windstorm (a.k.a. blow dryer).  They can choose from a selection of materials that they think would work the best.  A solid plan and excellent teamwork are critical for success.  Each challenge will be scored on a rubric as they will be competing with other students.


                                                                     

Sphero City Tours October 7, 2016
Fourth graders have created their STEM journals and are now involved in their first exciting project. In teams, students are designing and creating their own cities using everyday materials.  They will then program SPHERO to cruise their city streets!