Yesterday we participated in another inquiry based engineering lesson.  After studying the materials that we could use to build our inventions, we designed on paper our own container for carrying apples. The container had to have handles and be big enough and strong enough to carry at least three apples from one side of the room to the other.  After drawing our designs, we were placed in groups of 3 or 4 and told to choose the best design and then create it.  It was amazing because everyone was engaged and participating!  Most of the designs were a success but some were not.  We learned that engineers do not give up but keep working to better their designs.  

I took a lot of video of the kiddos testing their inventions.  I will try and upload them to the blog.

Last week we learned about what scientists do.  They collect, classify, measure, predict, make models, test, and observe.  We also discovered that each of us is a scientist!  Since we are studying seeds we classified different types of seeds and made predictions about which seeds would sprout the fastest.  We are germinating seeds in the classroom and observe them every day for changes.

Spelling Words for the Week of October 7th

1.  hen

2.  pen

3.  men

4.  end

5.  send

6.  set

7.  all

8.  call

9.  that

10. she

1.  Send the hen to the pen.

2.  Will she call the men?

Challenge Words:

1.  mean

2.  before

3.  move

4.  right

5.  boy

Enrichment Words:

1.  before

2.  obedient

3.  ground

4.  desert

5.  explain

6.  circle

7.  computer

8.  friendly

9.  chance

10. energy

11.  October

12. right

13. germination

14.  seeds

15. twenty