Update for the week of January 18th, 2016

Hi Friends!

I hope everyone had a fun and productive week! The students of Wentworth and I sure did! See below for a grade specific update.

I also want to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past Monday by sharing a powerful quote that I keep in my journal of reflections of my teaching practice.



Grade 5 Update

This week the 5th graders continued their aerospace engineering unit by creating rockets that will be tested next week on the stomp launcher with new variables in mind. Our new objective is to find out how the variables of rocket length, width, and material will affect how far the rocket can travel. The students were split into groups of three, and each group was assigned a different variable to test. The students created rockets of small, medium, and large width and length, as well as, different materials like copy paper, transparency paper, and foam. Next week the students will launch their rockets and record their distance data. Then, as a class, we will pool our data, and see which lengths, widths, and materials flew the furthest. The goal is that this information will inform how the students will construct their final rockets that will carry a rover to a specific destination in the solar system. Nice job 5th graders!

Grade 3 Update

The third graders this week began to plan and create a new flying technology--a drop copter! First, we listened to a message from our student engineer friend Jacob. Jacob is working with a friend, April, who is an aeronautical engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop a flying technology that Jacob can use to take aerial photos. Jacob sent us some drop copter templates to try out and modify. The students have a goal to design a drop copter that falls slowly enough to take as many aerial photos as possible! The students will use what they learned about how materials behave in an updraft last week to create their designs. We learned that lighter and wider materials fly better in an updraft last week. The students will continue this challenge next week. I can't wait to see what the kids come up with!

-Mrs. A