Playing with content seems to decrease as students age through school. Why? Middle-grade students enjoy playing with language and numbers just as much as primary-grade students. Students enjoyed doing this math problem as a warm up to get in the Fall spirit. Upon completion, students were encouraged to make their own puzzles! You can find this puzzle from Greg Tang here.
Students were eager to make their own puzzles and share them with another fifth grade class. The puzzles are not perfect and they initiated great conversations among students. Classmates were motivated to solve the puzzles made by their peers!
Almost 1o years ago, my son was going into fourth grade and attended summer school. His summer school teacher, now my teammate 😊, introduced my son to Caine's Arcade. This 10-minute documentary inspired my son to create his own arcade out of Legos. He spent weeks working on different games, made tickets, and invited young friends over to play. And, the littles loved it. My son has always been creative and a "put things together" kind of kid. He is resourceful and was always a "maker". He learned early on that his talent could be financially rewarding too. Whether selling Duck Tape wallets on the bus or using Rexlace to construct intricate keychain designs for his teachers, he was a builder.
Our incredible Library Media Specialists regularly design astonishing learning opportunities for our students. Recently, they offered a cardboard construction session for our monthly Maker Space! I was introduced to new tools and techniques that allow students to construct without using tape! Students used teamwork, planning, and work delegation to complete a simple cardboard construction and I will tell you, they did not disappoint!
Here is the documentary that inspired the Cardboard Challenge movement!
The pictures do not do justice to the student projects... here is a glimpse of what they accomplished in less than 45 minutes!
A McDonald's Drive Thru...
A doll house...
The Twin Towers with the plane crashing in on the side of one of the towers...
A house...
A tree house...
Working together and team work...
And they cleaned up all of it! Such a great session!
Students read the article The Structure of a Corn Plant from the Benchmark reading series to investigate the structure and function of a plant's parts. Students were familiar with the stem, roots, and leaves, but many did not recognize some of the other parts of the plant. After reading the article, we headed outside to our garden plot where we looked at a variety of plants that were approaching the end of their life cycle.
Students uprooted the Bibb lettuce and brought it back to the classroom to compare and contrast how the lettuce plant was similar and different from the corn plant. Many students connected the lettuce seeds to dandelion seeds and imagined how a lettuce seed could easily travel with a gust of wind, thanks to its cotton-like top!
Students annotated the parts of the plant and used their Benchmarks text to help with labeling.
Students harvested the seeds and compared these seeds to the ones that I used from the seed packet. They were exactly the same!! Students collected some seeds to take home and were encouraged to plant them and watch the cycle continue!
And as we were looking at the various garden plots, we saw this pest! We observed signs of its wrath before actually finding it!
The Tomato Hornworm!!!!!! Truth be told, we did not kill it. Rather, we broke off the stem of the tomato plant and brought it inside to observe it for a few days! Eventually, they turn into a Sphynx moth.
Using the hallway tiles, which are 1 square foot each, students worked to mark out the dimensions for Chavone's bathroom floor. This helped students make sense of the fractional sides. This problem proved challenging as the fractional parts had different denominators. Students worked together and were able to solve the problem! Can our class fit in Chavone's bathroom? Yes!
