Farewell 4th Grade! Archaeology Highlights

Our final quarter of 4th grade Idea Lab has come to an end, and I am so sad to say Good-Bye to our 4th Grade Spoede Turtles.  However, I am glad that we were able to end our time together studying archaeology.  It was really a blast.  Take a look at some of our highlights!  

A mini-dig where 3 different cultures were discovered!  

Egyptian, Ancient Chinese, and Aztec artifacts were pulled out of the dig and discovered!

 

Students gained a deeper understanding of culture and cultural universals after taking a closer look at several cultures as well as categorizing and classifying artifacts into the cultural universal categories.

Students also had an opportunity to create artifacts that belong to a culture in a certain time period in history for another class to dig up and discover.




Students also learned about the ancient written language of Egyptian hieroglyphics and how scientists and archaeologists are able to decipher and decode these with careful analysis and collaboration.

Students learned the basics of stratigraphy as well as absolute and relative dating. Then it was time for the bigger outdoor dig! The students were ready to discover and analyze their findings to reveal the hidden culture.  
This year's 4th-grade group was always curious, excited, and ready for a challenge. I will miss them dearly!

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

—John Dewey

"My favorite animal is the turtle. The reason is that in order for the turtle to move, it has to stick its neck out. There are going to be times in your life when you’re going to have to stick your neck out. There will be challenges, and instead of hiding in a shell, you have to go out and meet them."

—Ruth Westheimer

Once a turtle...always a turtle.  We will miss you 4th Graders!  Now go out there and stick your neck out!

First Grade: Oceans

We just finished up an oceans unit in first grade!  We started the unit by getting to know the location of the world's oceans.

We explored some myths about sea creatures living in bodies of water on the earth, and then we created our own mythical sea creatures.



1st Grade students came up with some creative creatures like the Water Owl, Merfish, Car Crusher, Sea Bigfoot, Sea Chicken, Oofy, and Frank of the Ocean.


Students also wrote fictional books about their mythical sea creatures that told about their predators, prey, what oceans they are found in, and some of the special features. This is a sample page in one of our books.

Then students researched an actual creature in the ocean. They completed nonfiction research and presentation about their animals. Some of the animals researched and presented were manatees, basking sharks, sea turtles, sea spiders, orcas, and saltwater crocodiles.


We learned about the ocean layers and the animals' adaptations in the different layers.


We learned about what was at the bottom of the ocean, who has explored there, and how.

We also researched some islands that are found in our world's oceans. After researching, we created a peep box that showcased our island. A peep box is a special kind of 3D diorama, and it makes the whole island look like a hidden secret. Interesting because some of the islands we researched are seemingly hidden secrets--Brac Island, Cat Island, Robben Island, Christmas Island, Kangaroo Island, Zhoushan Island, and Kauai!





At the end of our ocean unit, we talked about how plastic and other trash end up in our oceans. We learned that scientists and inventors are coming up with new inventions that help clean and save our oceans. Students were challenged to create their own inventions that could help clean up the plastics in the ocean.

At the very end of our unit, students tried to create a robot that would clean up plastic in the ocean with our We Do Lego Robotics.



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Click here, here, and here to see the kids experimenting with the programming of the lego robotics.  

Click here to see and hear students' explanations of their robot.  

This was an engaging unit! It was a fun way to end our school year together.

Africa & Antarctica

After learning about some of the political and geographic features of the African continent, it was wonderful to see all of the students' research of a country in Africa represented in unique ways.  Students researched and presented about many different countries on the continent.  Students chose the type of project that they wanted to create:  Google slideshow, Imovie, Scratch code, or some other method of their choice.

We listened to some music in several of the presentations, and we even tried a few dances (depending on which Idea Lab class your child is in) ... We tried the Ekista (from Ethiopia), the Kpanlogo (from Ghana), and the Maasai Jumping Dance (from Kenya).

After learning about so many unique countries with different governments, cultures, languages, and religions, the students answered the essential question:  Why is it important to understand and empathize with differences in other cultures?

We also learned about the urbanization of Africa. Africa's urbanization percentage has doubled since 1960, and we discussed the many effects it has had on the continent (as well as continents in general).

Our next project-based learning was centered around the continent of Antarctica. While learning about the continent, the students learned that several countries have scientific research stations in Antarctica (due to the Antarctic Treaty) like the American's McMurdo Station. Students discovered that some jobs at McMurdo Station (including dangerous and difficult ones) are utilizing robots to complete tasks.

Yeti is a rover robot that helps detect cracks in the ice and travels in front of tractors to ensure safety. It only makes sense for the students to receive a robotics challenge related to the continent of Antarctica! 

Second and Third Grade students were challenged to design a robot that can fulfill a task that is required at the science research center or base.  Second Grade students were also challenged to create a science research center or base that utilizes some resources that encourage sustainability and had a low carbon footprint. Some groups built designs with solar panels, wind power, or hydropower.

Here is one group of 2nd graders getting ready to try out the green screen technology to try make it really feel like we were in Antarctica.  You can click here to see their programmed Lego Robot completing the task of delivering supplies to their research station in Antarctica.  They made that sound effect on the program themselves!  We all thought it sounded very realistic! 

Click here to see a 3rd Grade EV3 in action with the green screen. 

The Second Grade virtual students programmed a virtual robot to complete a task at the science research station or base.  Click here to see one student's idea! She combined both her legos and pictures that she made.  

Super inventive and funny too!  Don't you just love her joke and the robot laugh?!?  

Virtual 3rd students completed tasks to program a virtual EV3 robot.  

You can click here to see how the virtual students were able to program virtual EV3 robots.  Click here and here to see in-person students trying out the programming of the EV3.  

The EV3 is a complex robot. It is typically used with older students.  The goal was to introduce the 3rd grade so that next year they would be more familiar and ready to do a more in-depth challenge. 

I was extremely impressed with both 2nd grade students with the Lego We Do Robotics and the 3rd grade students with the EV3 Lego Mindstorms.  I am proud of the students and how they really dove into exploring the Lego Robotics!  They really showed some grit and perseverance.  Can't wait to see what they accomplish with these robotics tools next year!