18 Little Engineers and the School Dance

This week was the kick-off to the Engineering Expo! 

The students were presented a problem: When the parent volunteers bring ice pops to our End-of-Year party, what will you create to keep the ice pops from melting?

This is a student-based project, which means the students ask the questions and figure out the best solution. From first graders? Yes! First off, they have been engaged 100%. Getting them to think on their own has been like pulling teeth, but they are finally getting it! While trying to figure out what material can help keep the ice pops insulated, we have been talking about different temperatures.

I enjoyed integrating math into our lesson. We compared Fahrenheit to Celsius and discussed that both degrees are different units of measurement, like measuring with inch tiles and paper clips. We also discussed what degree it has to be to keep the ice pop from melting. Do you know? Ask your child.


I talked to a wonderful lady that works in the kitchen and she let us go into the walk-in fridge and freezer. The students fully understood what above freezing and below freezing felt like. Cold is not just cold! There was a big difference. While freezing their tooshies off, we compared what foods were in the freezer and fridge. We talked about why we put other foods besides ice cream in the freezer. We observed that the apple juice is still a liquid in the 40 degree cooled fridge. The students also observed what the fridge was built with and compared it to what materials they will use for their project.


Challenge your child: let them try to give you an example of why heat energy is important to our every day life.

SCHOOL NEWS!
***All children must be accompanied by an adult in order to attend the dance this Friday***

ChristieMark

Our last math unit was about financial literacy. We learned about how we save and spend money that we can earn from income. 

This is a new math standard for first grade. To make it more meaningful to a seven year old's everyday life, we created the first ChristieMark.

The students saved money for two weeks by doing their "job." Payment came from reading each night, bringing their binder each day, receiving their sticker, etc. 

Mrs. Armstrong had a great idea to have the students each write down how much it cost to buy all the goods they wanted, including their movie ticket and desired snacks. This gave each student a personal goal to reach. 

On Friday, we watched Big Hero 6 while each student had a chance to buy the snacks they could afford.

As a teacher, I enjoyed hearing "I only need two dollars until I reach my goal!" The students loved exchanging change for bills, but seemed super excited when they could get a half-dollar. Money is a hard concept to teach students. This kept them engaged the whole two weeks.

As a teacher, this was a time-consuming hassle! However, the outcome was worth it.