1st Grade Update: Green Schools Quest Project & Biodiversity Unit

Click HERE to see a video about our Avian Restoration project.

Presently students are learning about several other biomes and their biodiversity. They are creating 3D dioramas of a biome of their choice. After creating the biome, the students will create a character that will move in a stop-motion animation video. In this video, students will teach others about the characteristics of the biome they chose and include plants and animals that are found there. 
Stay tuned... to hear more about this project in the upcoming weeks ahead. 

2nd Grade Update: Cardboard Arcade Challenge

 Our Idea Lab second graders would like to share our Cardboard Arcade games with you.   Please click HERE to view. 

We really enjoyed this hands-on engineering design unit! We were able to practice the engineering design process in a fun and practical way with our peers. 

1st Grade Update: Divergent Thinking & The Green Schools Quest Project

 Divergent thinking is the creative process of coming up with original ideas and new possibilities. Divergent thinking is really an exercise in creativity.  

1st grade Idea Lab students got their creative juices flowing recently when they SCAMPERed a Donut.  You might be thinking what do you mean by SCAMPER?

SCAMPER is a brainstorming strategy. SCAMPER is an acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Purpose, Eliminate/Minimize and Rearrange/Reverse

Inventors may SCAMPER when creating a product. We also practiced Divergent Thinking by creating captions for memes. 
We had some funny memes and some serious ones too!
Students made their own tangram creations-- it was fun creating our own! 
We created some pretty awesome masterpieces around a few squiggles.
We are also wrapping up our Green Schools Quest project for Avian Restoration.  
The students have been waiting to decorate their bird feeders and nesting boxes!!!

We are working on a video for our final submission. We will share it with you when it is ready. 

Proud of the effort and commitment the students have displayed in Idea Lab this quarter!

Keep up the amazing work, 1st graders!

2nd Grade Cardboard Challenge Update

 Second grade has been actively engaged with a Cardboard Arcade Challenge! 

Inspired by Caine's Arcade, students were challenged to create their own arcade games by upcycling items like cardboard, paper towel rolls, plastic cups/bowls, cartons, etc. 

We began with inquiry: What makes a game interesting to play? What makes you want to play a game over and over again? What are things every game needs to have? What is your favorite arcade game? Why?

Students then began brainstorming ideas with a partner and presented their ideas to their peers. Peers asked questions to get students thinking about their game and design.  Students discussed game titles, rules/instructions for the game, and construction ideas.

After examining scoring guides for the games, students learned about the
 Engineering Design Process and began creating their rough drafts. 

Part of the Engineering Design Process includes testing, evaluating, and redesigning. Partner groups helped other partner groups with the testing. 

Improvements and redesign have been key to making the games the best they can be.

Once the construction is complete, students will add typed game instructions, catchy game titles, design flair and color, and prize ticket amounts. 

We hope to invite you to come and see our Cardboard Arcade soon. 

Should be fun! 

I caught students hard at work in Idea Lab recently. CLICK HERE to check them out! 

3rd Grade Update

3rd graders have been busy in Idea Lab this quarter!

We've been blessed with more parents who have come in to share their passions/interests with us. Adam's dad talked to one class about his passion for working with fighter jets as an engineer for Boeing. Addie's mom shared her passion for gardening/nature, and it was evident that teaching is her passion as well!

Students dabbled in game-making and programming with Scratch this quarter!

Students can access their Scratch accounts at home if they have an interest in trying out some more coding on their own time. Please message me if your child would like to access their account, and

I would be happy to pass on the account info to you.

After our coding unit, students were tasked with getting ready to compete in the Academic Challenge Cup's Creative Convention!

The first thing students did to get ready for Creative Convention was to create a team name and costume idea. Then, each team had to create a skit demonstrating teamwork since this is one of the big components of Creative Convention. We want to ensure that teams truly understand the meaning of teamwork.

What better way to show you understand than showing and teaching others?

The Shining Stars' Teamwork skit included making a large order at the Hot Ideas Coffee Shop where all members of the team had to work together to get all the specialty lattes and sweets completed accurately and on time!

The Jurassic Ninjas' teamwork skit included a power outage and working together to reinstall electricity so that they could continue to play their electronic games!

One member of the Sports Sidekicks got stuck in quicksand, and all members of the team shared ideas to get their team member out of the quicksand until finally one of the ideas worked!

The Imaginary Inventors played out a scene at school where all members of the team had to work together to create a 3D block puzzle.

The 4 Spies also had a school scene, where a strict substitute teacher came in ready to give a test, and the students worked together to get out of taking the test!

Another way we prepared for Creative Convention was completing an impromptu challenge in a limited amount of time:

Design a camping space for someone who really dislikes camping hopefully convincing them to try out your camp space/shelter. Once the space is designed, all team members must give a convincing presentation about their team's design.

The projects at Creative Convention work on originality, task organization, division of labor, and task commitment. We look forward to our upcoming competition, and we will keep you updated on our progress!

4th Grade: Architecture

 Our 4th graders have been fully immersed in an architecture unit this semester! 

Inspired by the book, Iggy Peck: Architect, students were challenged to build a bridge. This was an exploration with no background knowledge or preconceived notions. Students experimented with how to hold vehicles on a bridge that would cross a body of water. 

Students quickly learned that an architect could and should work with engineers to ensure function and safety.

This also led to a discussion of form and function.

To continue our exploration, students built 3D puzzles with famous buildings in major cities around the world. Students were quickly exposed to many architectural features before being formally introduced.

One of our students was excited to work on famous buildings in London after just returning from London! Other projects included the Taj Mahal, Paris, Dubai, San Francisco, and Moscow.

After exploring, we did some research on many architectural styles throughout history.

We also learned about architectural features and created a digital book of architectural features that included famous buildings around the world.

Students have recently paired up to create an architectural model and presentation on a particular architectural style in history.  
Stay tuned... we would love to share our projects with you!

1st Grade Update

 We've been super busy since Halloween! It's been a whirlwind. 1st graders have been hard at work with both our Primary Education Thinking Skills and our Green Schools Quest project. 

We've been focusing on convergent thinking like Dudley, the detective.  Dudley uses patience and perseverance to find the correct answer. Dudley uses clues and thinks carefully and analytically. He uses deductive reasoning and does not jump to conclusions. 

Students have completed logic puzzles and other similar activities to think like Dudley. One way to think like Dudley is to build models with step-by-step directions and coding. Coders must try, make mistakes, and try again until they reach a solution. Students tried coding with Osmo and Lego WeDo Education kits. 

Playing games like Mastermind is also great for practicing this type of thinking.

Students thought like Dudley the Detective (logical/deductive thinking) and Max the Magician (visual-spatial thinking) when playing other games like Blokus, QBitz, and Quirkle during one of our sessions. 
Students have also worked on our Green Schools Project.  This year's theme is Biodiversity. We are working to preserve and protect natural ecosystems in our area. After discussing several possibilities, students decided to create nesting boxes and feeders that songbirds in our area prefer. The Missouri Department of Conservation and other sources have helped us understand the how's and the why's of the decline in the avian population.  

Phase One of our project includes creating two types of nesting boxes and feeders. Students researched two types of nests that many birds in our area prefer. Students worked on the first design this past week, with the help of mentor, Mr. Merril. 

Students will be working on the second design after the winter break.  In the meantime, we have begun collecting data by installing a deer camera (thanks to the Davila family) to help us track bird activity before and after our nesting box installation. 


It has been a great quarter in Idea Lab!  I sincerely hope the students enjoy their Winter Break!