Kindergarten Investigates Direction!

Now that kindergarteners know how to launch the pinball, it's time to investigate short and long distances with gentle and strong forces! First we practiced short and long pushes with a tennis ball.  We focused on what our bodies felt like when exerting each force: gentle or strong.

It's harder to roll the ball a short distance.

How long can it roll?

It rolls a little faster on the table.

Finding more space to roll!

Now we try short and long distances in our model pinball machine box...with a launcher!

It is so hard to make it go short sometimes!

I like shooting it long!

This is a lot of force!

Next up....making the pinball go left and right!  First we practice making the tennis ball go left and right...

Knowing which way is left and which way is
right can be tricky!

To the right!

Which way now?

Then we use our new skills on our model pinball machine box and launch the pinball left and right!

I'm moving the ball to the right.

The ping pong ball is going left!

I'm doing a big force!

Trying out what happens with a little more
height!

We discovered that making the ping pong ball go in the direction of left or right was easier than making the ball go a short or long distance.   

Pre-K and Their Binoculars!

Pre-K recently made bird feeders out of milk cartons to help the birds find food during the winter months.  We decided some binoculars might help to get a closer look at the birds...so we made some!

I see something!

Oh the things we can see!

Adding designs and decorations on our
binoculars.

Hi!

Binoculars definitely help you to see better!

Binocular designs.

Here's looking at you!

Ms. Clark's class took their binoculars outside to looks for birds.  They did see that the birds ate all the bird seed in their bird houses! Thanks Miss Sam for sharing your photos with me!

Maybe this weekend you would like to become a citizen scientist and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count! http://gbbc.birdcount.org/ Check it out!

Balancing with 2nd Grade!

2nd grade has been investigating how to make an object stable while balancing it.  They first found the balancing point of the crayfish - closer towards the nose of the crayfish than the tail. Then they tried to determine if using clothespins let you balance the crayfish in more ways.  They wondered if they counterweight was helpful and if so, why and how did it help?

Always fun to get the crayfish to balance on
it's nose!

Can you walk and balance at the same time?

Balancing while writing!

It makes a difference how high up the clothespins are
on the object.

Finding new ways to balance the crayfish is fun!

If the clothespin weight is too high, the crayfish
won't balance.

Balancing on your finger is fun.

Is this balanced or leaning?

It is so hard to get the crayfish to balance
on it's side!

1st Graders Build Towers

First graders as engineers! They are exploring how to use 12 different solids with varying properties to make a stable tower and, much to their surprise, no tape or glue was to be used! 

A rubber band can help keep solids together.

Balancing on top of the tower.

A stable base makes for a stable tower.

After building the tower, it's time to draw it.

So many solids!

Measuring how tall the tower is.

The whole table decided to work together to
create a huge tower!

Sometimes, the tower falls.  So, we just start over and make
a more stable base.

Higher and higher the tower goes!

Success!

My tower is as tall as the ruler!

The tower was so tall a tape measurer was needed!

Reading the ruler and checking the height.

Adding more height.

Working together.

Finished!

Sometimes how tall a tower is, isn't all that
important.

Striving for symmetry!