Here is our town built out of LEGOS. We have a suburban area, a small city, a water plant, and a farming area (the gray spaces around the gray plants.) Using this town and other materials, we recreated many disastrous weather events like tornadoes (give the bottle a good spin upside down), flooding, earthquakes, snowfall and hurricane winds. We then studied the weather's effect on our town, whether it be blocked roads, murky water affecting our crops, or even the devastation caused by earthquakes.
In the final literature/STEM adventure, we read The Silly Story of Goldilocks and the Three Squares, a variant on the traditional story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. The story outtake occurs after the story concludes. The 3 Bears have decided that they want to protect their house from Goldie ever coming back and messing with their stuff again. The STEM challenge was to design an operational trap to capture Goldie before she enters the Bears' house. One solution involved a trip wire which then sends down a plastic bag which would drop over Goldie and seal her off. A second involved luring Goldie into the trap with a trail of her favorite square snacks. The third trap was still under construction when time ran out; it involved a wooden cylinder to enclose Goldie. The teams agreed that the single most important factor for success for all of the challenges was teamwork!
After reading several variations of The Gingerbread Boy the cluster was presented with this outtake to the original story: The Gingerbread Boy has eluded all those who wanted to capture or eat him. He has run so far and so hard, that he has become lost. The challenge is to design a maze that will take him from the end of the chase back home.
The maze must have at least 3 deadends. A bonus will be given for any maze that has two paths through. The students were supplied with a large-scale grid and paper straws to construct the walls of the maze. The path must accommodate a marble (Gingerbread Boy). All teams succeeded in creating a maze with the required characteristics. When debriefed, the teams agreed that while they somewhat mapped the path out before putting in the walls, it was easier to work the paths once the walls were in. The teams enjoyed mini gingerbread cookies while they worked.
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AuthorThe blog is created and maintained by Librarian and co-coordinator of Brain Power Hour Cindy Cobleigh. Archives
November 2019
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