The news is really about the International Space Station--- look at how they love it!!!

The imbedded link is from the Astronauts at the International Space Station. Take a few minutes to be awed by the gorgeous video and thoughtful quotes.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Winter Showcase and Classroom Presentations-- Academics are something right now!

Each student presents their skeleton project and a math bar graph 

When presenting, three questions, comments or compliments can be givn
following the criteria list to help each student do a better job at creating  final work.
Also, learning to speak in front of others is an important skill as it being an engaged audience.

These were the art pieces created to illustrate the personal narratives.

 The kids have  work that they can take their family through--any or a few. It helps show the work in all areas
and how we process and prepare. 

Finishing up this very full year with the PongSat Experiment and last fieldtrip-- WinCo!

 After the Mars Rover Competition...

The kids got back into routine of a day that felt more like the beginning of the year. They came away from the competition inspired to learn more about design. It would be great if they all knew that Juno is in orbit around Jupiter, just yesterday--that would mean they are paying more attention to the amazing things happening on and off the planet.

We closed the year with our Near Space Engineering PongSat experiment
http://www.nearspaceengineering.org/    and trip to WinCo  http://wincofoods.com/.

The PongSat experiments allow the students to plan with careful procedures a science experiment that goes up to near space-- +/-90,000. They consider the variables of the electromagnetic spectrum, temperature, and altitude on the item that they put in their ping pong ball. They have a control experiment that stays at school. It is really interesting listening to their thinking about what they think will happen to their marshmallows, salad, paperclips, or plants, for example.

Drawing and writing information in lab notebook

Writing procedures-- rough
draft and revision. These
are like formal lab reports that
require everyone to use
the same format. No small
feat for 4th graders.

Opening experiment and documenting

"Kinda grossed out!" The kids had emotional responses and were able to document those too. :)

2 pongs- control and experiment to near space

We visited Mr. Blount's classroom to go over what had happened to the weather balloon.  As the the Physics Teacher at Moscow High School, he has been doing this program for 10 years.
Two 4th graders presented while there chosen by classmates that they best represented the scientific process.

It was time to go to WinCo and learn all about how the Idaho Company is working on sustainability, how they became employee owned, and what type of work each manager does. The kids asked good questions, and The Winning Company.

 Bulk Food Section
The kids came away with a greater understanding of measurement.

These managers were so interested in making sure the kids learned all about WinCo. We were in the store for almost 2 hours and each employee that the kids had contact with was so knowledgeable and took great pride in sharing what they had learned from the company and how they did their job. The kids talked about the experience--several want to work there and in general, they were wowed by so many facts. Of course, the one that blew everyone's socks off was that bananas are the number one item sold in  the grocery store!

Measuring their items when we got back to school. We used a scale and a balance.

The trip to Winco had math, science, and social studies tied together in a final project of being able to get 100 grams of an item from the bulk section, not by measuring the traditional way, but by having weighed many items that were brought to school and learning 'the feel' of 100 grams. We went to WinCo  for them to test their practice. The students that got 100 grams earned an additional $100 MCS currency. Two kids did it and one student's items weighted in at 95 grams. We had a great time with the data set doing means, median, mode, range, and other things.  and learn all about how the Idaho Company is working on sustainability, how they became employee owned, and what type of work each manager does. The kids asked good questions, and The Winning Company.

 Final days of school-- learning using the Jigsaw Protocol-- cooperative learning at its best. Hard and interesting.

 This year ended on such a positive note-- everyone agreed that they learned a lot!

Thank you kids!

The Engineering Design Process in Action-- Kids at the Competition! 28 teams and a talk with SpaceX

Getting directions about the day.

Thanks to the volunteers who were the referees< Jordan and Susie for organizing another great event!