Ping Pong Ball in a Cup Using Teamwork

 Starting out the year I try to use Teamwork activities to get the kids to think and talk to one another. Communication is very important and teamwork can accomplish tasks beyond their wildest dreams. We meet Molly the inventor in this amazing GE commercial.

After seeing this we talk about team work being important. I give them sheets of paper, a cup and a ping pong ball. They have to figure out a way to get the ping pong ball into the cup from a distance of 4 feet or six feet and even 8 feet away. It is funny to see them using trial and error to accomplish the mission. 

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work... #ottersmatter

Making Heart Sculptures

 February is more than heart month. It is a month for friendship and love. Our 4th graders used teamwork and their taping skills to create heart sculptures out of stickers (tape) and construction paper. There was laughter and smiles throughout the room.  Each class took on a different perspective when it came to creating a heart sculpture as you can see by watching this video.

2019 Annual Fishing Tournament

We are spoiled by our Coaches! Each year our school meets under the Dunlawton Bridge for some fishing, hot dog lunch and some fellowship outside school.  The Coaches use funds to purchase raffle prizes to include trophies, sporting equipment and hot dogs for everyone! The kids look forward to it every year and we grow numbers depending on the local sporting events.  Moms, dads, and even grandparents are baiting hooks and chatting away with one another along the dock. It is a fun time for everyone and the smiles are the best part.  The fish are caught and released right back into the river so no harm came to the fish caught.   Check out the smiles in this video of students, teacher and parents.

CTE-PLC

What is CTE? Career and Technical Education is a broad branch to cover all the technology courses and certifications in a district. Students in elementary are exposed to an introduction of technology to include basic operation functions, Microsoft Suite-in our district, and fundamentals of web browsers. I was blessed to find our elementary CTE-PLC group my second year into teaching STEM as a special area. What an amazing group of educators! I live for the meetings where we share curriculum ideas, websites, and ideas to implement to further our students in technology. Not every school has an introduction to technology course so we are a group of about 15 that regularly meet or even chat in Teams troubleshooting and sharing. Our leader is the famous Debra Dumas and she is a gem! We try to meet in one of our classrooms and that is amazing for photos and ideas. Yet with drive time we are sometimes on a short schedule so she found a neutral spot for us to meet-Dave & Buster's!!

YES you read that correctly. Did you know they have wifi and a small conference room where we are able to have a webinar with Animation-ish from Fable Vision? It was a perfect setting for a technology group.

The sound was great, food was available, and we were from all over the district in one room. If you need to have technology PD why not at Dave & Buster's.

Debra even had door prizes for us after our meeting.

Properties of Matter with 2nd Grade

Why Do we Wear Clothes? is a Mystery Science lesson that always grabs the attention of 2nd graders. There are giggles and laughs but what a great introduction to properties of matter. We talk about attributes of materials and when we use various materials based on need. During the lesson we are stranded at sea on our cruise ship. We only have some miscellaneous supplies and we need to make a hat to protect us from the heat, water, and grueling sun. We needed to test which materials would be best and then use our creativity to build a hat with the best supplies to keep our heads and necks protected.

After we talk about which materials were soft as to not scratch our head. Which material was absorbent since we would sweat. Which material would extend past our heads so we could stop squinting. The reflection piece is my favorite tot hear their thoughts and what they would change next time. If they get stranded these 2nd graders know what to do.

You have heard that saying Could you really fry an egg on the sidewalk? This leads us into testing the cold and hot of various materials to be an insulator. What a great way to use water bottles, tin foil, socks, and styrofoam cups to test our best guess. The funniest is when you try to get them to put socks on their hands. Mind you these socks have never been on feet, they are only used for this experiment. The faces they make are priceless. Oh and trying to get them to close their eyes as their partner slides the hot or cold cup is tough for them, you know they want to be right. The lesson is on what makes the best insulator and they are having fun experimenting.

Our properties of matter unit ends with a challenge of making the tallest tower with only index cards and paper clips.  Every group receives the same materials and we quickly learn that folding and bending can make the card stronger.  With partners they are to build the tallest stack. I got to see teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, measuring and perseverance while their towers toppled over. They were a bit surprised how you could stack index cards by rolling them, folding them, or bending them.