Mighty Girl Engineer Challenge-Wind-Powered Wheels

The girls became MIGHTY GIRL ENGINEERS as they accepted a STEM challenge to build a *wind-powered* car with limited time, materials, and a budget!

The Story: A German car company, Speedy Spinners, designs and builds race cars. The engineers at Speedy Spinners are STUCK! They want to create a safe air-powered car so that it is better for the environment, but they still want it to travel far and fast! 

The Challenge: YOU ARE AN ENGINEER! Your challenge is to use a limited amount of materials, time, and money to design and build a wind-powered car that will travel the farthest distance. Use what you have learned about severe weather and the power of wind!

Limitations: 

•  It must carry 2 passengers (washers)
• You may use tape and scissors for FREE
• A fan on medium speed will provide the car’s wind
•   It is powered by air/air-pressure
•  It must travel in a straight line
•  It must cost $20 or less to make.

In collaborative groups, the girls brainstormed by drawing and labeling their car design with the materials they wanted to use. The girls had to plan a shopping list of materials according to their $20 budget. 

They made a claim/prediction about how far their car would travel and which materials would work the best. 

After careful planning and building, it was time to test!! Most of the original designs only traveled a couple of inches if anything. 

Guess what that means?? We "FAILED" but it was great because we could learn from our mistakes and redesign our cars using what we learned-just like real engineers do! The girls then compared their prediction to their test results and came back to the room to reflect on the STEM process (challenges, successes, etc.)  

One very important skill that this activity taught was PERSEVERANCE and not giving up when things get hard so that we can learn. 

"If I had given up, then I would not learn from this mistake." -Hannah Dunn

Week at a Glance-October 26th-30th

Welcome back from the long weekend, mighty girls!!

Ride the Weekly Wave:

Math-We will continue practicing strategies for multiplying larger numbers through guided math stations! We will practice and test 2 x 2 and 3 x 1 digit multiplication. We will also introduce division.

Reading-We will continue reading Wonder as our mentor text for our Choose Kind PBL as we focus on skills such as character traits, summarizing, and inferences within guided reading stations. We will be practicing our script to spread the word about the CCA organization that was inspired by Wonder to raise money for children with facial deformities and their families!!

ELA/Writing-In Writer’s Workshop, we will be having mini-lessons and writing activities on how to write scripts to go along with our PBL. We will also be learning about how to use commas.

Social Studies- We will continue learning about early settlement and colonies the New World!

Science- We will finish our unit on weather as we do stations on climate v weather, have a hands-on activity with layers of the atmosphere, and test on severe weather.

 Anchor Down for Upcoming Tests:

·       Thursday- Math Test on 2 x 2 and 3 x 1 Multiplication *Study Math notes on multiplying larger numbers and be able to use the traditional method, box method, and lattice method.  

·       Friday- Science Test on Severe Weather *Study severe weather notes on thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes

·       Friday- WONDER Test *Be able to identify character traits with evidence, summarize with “tweet tags” (as practiced during the week), and answer comprehension questions on reading

Homework for the Week:

(please refer to your child's agenda daily for more details-this is only an OUTLINE of what to expect):

·       **Graded papers signed/returned by Tuesday!!**

·       Monday-Math HW on 2 x 2 multiplication *using the color check strategy*

·       Read 2 steps (30 minutes) for 100 BC and sign Reading Log *every* night

·       Study Multiplication flashcards (missed fast facts) or practice facts on Multiplication Times Table App 10 minutes *every night* & sign log

AHOY…Announcements Ahead!

·       October 26^th- Report cards sent home for those who do not attend conferences  ACT Aspire results from third grade will also be sent home on Monday.

·       RED RIBBON WEEK (Monday – Bulldog Spirit Day (wear red & black; Tuesday – Dress for Success (dress in your best); Wednesday – College, University, & Military Day (wear a favorite college/university/military shirt); Thursday – Career Dream Day from 8:30-10:30am (dress in clothing that matches future career); Friday – OES Spirit Day (wear an OES shirt or school colors)

·       Thursday, Oct. 29^th- FALL FESTIVAL 5:00-8:00

·       November 12^th Brattonsville Field Trip. **Please return field trip forms and $$ ASAP J

 Crew Member of the Week

Check out Taila’s tweets! @mrsburns19girls

Taila is our star student this week for showing the character traits of PERSEVERANCE, HUMILITY, and KINDNESS in the classroom this week!! Taila is a mighty girl because she never gives up, always helps others, and is kind in her words and actions!! J

100 BC Goals

Good-220

Better-250

How can one act of kindness change the world??

Our driving question for our "CHOOSE KIND" PBL is-How can one act of kindness change the world?

We have been reading the novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio as our mentor text for our PBL, and the book centers on the main character, August (Auggie) Pullman, who was born with a facial difference that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. The book takes us on a journey with August as he enters 5th grade at Beecher Prep as the new kid. The thing is that Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. Will he be able to convince his classmates that just because he looks different, that he is really an ordinary 10 year old kid who loves his family, his dog, Star Wars, science, and making other laugh??

For our PBL culminating assessment, we are making a webpage to teach our family and friends about the organization, CCA, that helps children with cranio-facial deformities just like August. Right now, we are learning about and practicing how to write scripts. Each class will create and perform their very own script writing to help spread kindness through this inspiring organization. Our class will be creating a video on-What is the butterfly effect? How does it relate to spreading kindness?

Watch a video about the butterfly effect: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/proving-the-butterfly-effect-with-a-single-act-of-kindness/ 

Learn more about CCA here: http://www.ccakids.com/wonder.html

Check out our OES Spread Kindness Blog: http://spreadkindnessoes.blogspot.com/ 



Stay posted to see our videos and learn about making pledges to help children with facial deformities and their families! Become a part of our kindness movement to change the world :)

Week at a Glance-October 19th-22nd

Ride the Weekly Wave:

Math-We will continue practicing strategies for multiplying larger numbers through guided math stations! We will review 2 x 1 digit multiplication, practice 2 x 2 and 3 x 1 digit multiplication, and introduce division.

Reading-We will continue reading Wonder as our mentor text for our Choose Kind PBL as we focus on skills such as character traits, summarizing, and inferences within guided reading stations. We will be practicing and writing scripts spread the word about the CCA organization that was inspired by Wonder to raise money for children with facial deformities and their families! 

ELA/Writing-In Writer’s Workshop, we will be having mini-lessons and writing activities on how to write scripts to go along with our PBL. We will also finish our fable scripts.

Social Studies- We will continue learning about early settlement and colonies the New World!

Science- We will continue research on severe weather, and we will test next week. We will be creating wind cars in a STEM activity!! We will also integrate this question related to our PBL-How can a butterfly flapping its wings cause a HURRICANE on the other side of the world? What does this have to do with how kindness spreads?

Anchor Down for…Upcoming Tests/Projects:

·       Thursday- Social Studies Test on Jamestown, Roanoke, and Plymouth Colonies *Study 2-sided notes on these 3 early settlements in SS notebook

·       NO M4T Test this week!!

·       Next Thursday- Science Test on Severe Weather

·       Next Friday- WONDER Test

Homework for the Week:

(please refer to your child's agenda daily for more details-this is only an OUTLINE of what to expect):

·       **Graded papers signed/returned by Tuesday!!**

·       Math wkbk HW throughout the week on 2 x 2 multiplication

·       Read 2 steps (30 minutes) for 100 BC and sign Reading Log *every* night

·       Study Multiplication flashcards (missed fast facts) 10 minutes *every night* & sign log

AHOY…Announcements Ahead!

·       Book Fair starts this week! (Family Book Fair-Tuesday 2:00-5:00) *Our class will go to the book fair this Wednesday, the 21st!

·       Make sure to attend Student Led Conferences this Tuesday (20th) and Thursday (22^nd) at your assigned time. You will be getting your child’s 1^st 9 weeks report card at the conference.
**Thursday, October 22nd at 8:30-Awards Day**

·       NO SCHOOL this Friday- Staff Development Day

·       October 26^th- Report cards sent home for those who do not attend conferences

·       November 12^th Brattonsville Field Trip

Crew Member of the Week Check out Baylee’s tweets! @mrsburns19girls

Baylee is our star student this week for showing the character traits of PROBLEM SOLVING, PATIENCE and ENCOURAGEMENT in the classroom this week!! Baylee is a mighty girl model because she always works her hardest even when it is challenging and encourages others!! J

                                                                   100 BC Goals

Good-200

Better-230

Mighty Girl Mentor-October

Our Mighty Girl Mentor for October is Mrs. Anna Montgomery, a NICU nurse at GHS in Greenville, SC!!

Our little sisters in Mrs. Hall's class and our class brainstormed questions to ask about her career, mentors, inspiration, the challenges and rewards of her job, and how to choose kindness even when it gets hard. Mrs. Anna did an AMAZING job inspiring our girls to see that hard work has amazing rewards, and showing her passion and love for serving premature babies and their mommies and daddies :)

One of our favorite parts was when Mrs. Anna showed us the tiny diapers that she uses for the newborn babies. The infants can be born about as tiny as a baby doll. 

After meeting Mrs. Anna, the girls reflected on what they learned-

The girls wanted Mrs. Anna to stay forever, and many of them were inspired to think about being a nurse or a NICU nurse for their future career!!

On Friday, the girls were sharing their favorite part of the week. We had so many exciting things going on this week, but most of the girls said that meeting Mrs. Anna was their favorite part!!

We love you, Mrs. Anna!! :)

Face Timing Chris Justus

To make our science unit on the Weather more real world and exciting, we had the opportunity to face-time with local WYFF meteorologist, Chris Justus!! A huge thank you to him for taking time out his busy day to speak to us :)

We began by brainstorming and learning- What is a meteorologist??

After we learned that meteorologist are weather scientists, we used what we have learned about weather to write thoughtful questions to ask Chris Justus. 

Next, all of fourth grade gathered together in the library to face time our local meteorologist!! He showed us all around the weather studio. We saw the computers, weather tools, the green screen, and more!

After our tour around the WYFF studio, Chris Justus answered our questions!

Ava represented our class by asking who inspired him and mentored him to be a meteorologist. Chris said that his dad inspired him, and another experienced meteorologist mentored him when he started his job. 

When we were finished, we came back to the classroom to share what we learned. We also got to watch Chris Justus in action on the local forecast!!

Mighty Girls, if you post a comment sharing what you learned from Chris Justus you will get +5 on your Weather Test this week!