STEM Rec Challenges / Jan 8 -12
STEM Rec Challenges
January 8-12, 2018
Science
We are trying something different in science during the month of January. We will be conducting a morning session with one objective and an afternoon sessions with a different one. The following week, these sessions will flip so every student will have a chance to attend both.
Morning:
Seed germination is an essential step in a plant’s life cycle and very well regulated. We'll be setting up experiments to both determine which conditions encourage germination, and to practice experimental design. Students will learn about forming a hypothesis, choosing treatment conditions, and the importance of a control group.
Afternoon:
Optical Illusions use color, light or patterns to create images that can be deceptive or misleading to our brains. Students will scrutinize some illusions to sort out reality from perception.
Literacy
Look at the evidence. What do you think? Oh no! Miss Morgan and Miss Rhylee need your help! A crime has been committed in the Literacy Reading Corner!!! Using your best detective, problem solving and reasoning skills can you figure out what happened? Who did it? And why? We need your help to solve this case!
Objective: Students will practice making inferences and using them to draw conclusions.
Social Studies
The Civil War. It was hard and heavy. This week, with the help of Dr. Seuss and The Sneetches, we'll try to make this historical landmark more, well, elementary.
Engineering
What makes a building strong? It's not just the material but also the shapes. We will explore other structures to see what has worked in the past. We will then build a building out of paper and straws to make a structure that will hold a textbook.
Math
Common Denominators. We will be talking about common denominators and how they are used. Each student will reach into a bag that has an assortment of different numbers. They will grab three different numbers and then break down each number into all of the common denominators that they can find.
Art
Radial Balance. Art this week will be a lot of fun. We will be discussing symmetrical designs like Mandalas and Rangolis from India. Students will then make similar patterns called radial designs.
