Force and Motion: Intriguing Wonderings!

Wondering: "How far would the bowling ball go if we had a taller ramp and a longer space to travel?"

We have begun our study on force and motion with our energy unit.  Last week, we conducted a test to see what would happen when we rolled five different spheres down a short ramp and measured the distance the objects traveled.  Then we recorded our wonderings and tested them the next day.  (Our wonderings are the things we are still wondering about- such as "what would happen if we did this...).  Some of our student wonderings led us to the hall and others led us outside to test a word we had not learned about yet, but introduced: friction!  It was a great engagement lesson and created more wonderings!  Once we had our data recorded, we used this nifty bar graph sticky notes and created a data representation.  Students created their own "scientific claims" and supported their ideas with the data they had collected!

 

 

(A wondering: what would happen if we rolled the marble and the bowling ball on a rougher surface and down a larger ramp?"

Pen Pals in San Antonio, TX!

We have pen pals in San Antonio, Texas, this year and we got our first letters from them today!  We were all so excited and have started writing our letters back to them!

 

 

Favorite Quotes

Throughout the halls at CCES, teachers and staff have been working hard to make our space more positive and prettier!  This is the quote that fourth grade teachers painted last night and it will be hung in the fourth grade stairway above the window.  We can't wait to see everyone at open house to check out all the beautiful student work and new art work hanging in the halls!

 

 

Controls and Variables

We started our discussion today of controls and variables in experiments and conducted an experiment to discover whether weight and size has an impact on force and motion.  Our "paparazzi" in each class (which now has a name based on past space shuttles- Team Discovery, Team Atlantis, and Team Endeavor), recorded their wonderings and we will test them as we continue on with this part of our unit.  Watching them create their own questions and ask each other is such a proud moment for me as a teacher!

 

 

Engineering Design

Students had to put their thinking caps on today to figure out how to create a circuit that would power a buzzer and a light at the same time when the "watering trough" emptied.  We constructed the trough and when it was empty, it tilted and connected to close the circuit.  there was a lot of "productive struggle" going on in the lab and it was AWESOME!  The hard part was figuring out how to make the light and buzzer go off at the same time!  There were lots of cheers when they figured it out!

 

 

Class Behavior Rewards

Last week, we filled up our marble jar in Studio 214 for good behavior!  The crew got to choose what they wanted for a reward, so we had an ice cream party and wore silly socks for half the day in the room!  It was a lot of fun and I wonder what they will choose next time!

 

 

What is that?

Our district superintendent shared this with us recently and I thought it was so good!  Thank you, Dr. Biggerstaff!

 

 

 

 

Do you know what this is?

 

 

You probably have some good guesses…or INFERENCES!

 

Click on the link below for a great lesson idea on teaching inferences using pictures. High level thinking required…which is always a great lesson bonus! This lesson could be used with any level.

 

http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2014/09/making-inferences.html?m=1