Demolition

Eighth grade students were excited to demolish their old cities, Bondidag Cove and Triana.  I can't wait to see where their imaginations take them this year!  The Future City theme is "Rethink Runoff!"

What is Future City?

The Future City Competition is a national, project-based learning experience where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCity™ 4 Deluxe software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February.

Equate

I introduced Equate to some of my students this week.  It reminds me of Scrabble, but with numbers.  Students are required to make equations using nine tiles which include numbers and operations.  For older students, there is an advanced version with exponents. It's challenging for all ages!

Free Apps for Education

Fair Isn't...

Destination Imagination

Team D.I.R.T placed third in the Destination Imagination State Competition in Joplin, Missouri!  Congratulations to all their hard work!

I Wanna Be an Engineer

The junior high Challenge students created a parody of "I Wanna Be a Billionaire."  They wrote the song, "I Wanna be and Engineer" to thank the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE) for supporting the Future City Competition. 

Caldwell Memorial Wildlife Area

Thanks to the Missouri Conservation Department and the Discover Nature Schools grant, Edgar Murray students had the opportunity to do field investigations at Caldwell Memorial Wildlife Area in Washington, MO.  Using the Nature Unleashed curriculum, students participated in inquiry based activities at the pond, prairie, and forest.  With out a doubt, their favorite location was the pond!

Sam Faith gives students last minute directions in the Prairie area.  Students learned that prairies aren't always plains with wildflowers.  Most of the prairies have very few trees because fires cleared the trees.  

Students measure the temperature in various locations to see where they can find a comfortable fit for their randomly chosen cold-blooded animal.  Students used strategies to change the temperature, such as placing the thermometer in the shade, sun, under a leaf, in a hole, etc... 

Our parent chaperons helped keep our young scientists on track.  The activities were student led, but our parent volunteers were available to help students with questions.

Jarod and Zachary view one of their living organisms through a hand lens.   They got a close look at their frog's webbed feet, a specialized structure of their frog friend. 

Here is a closer look of our froggy friend!

 

Jessica and Sophie discuss specialized structures they've discovered on living organisms in the pond.

Mrs. Hawkins enjoys observing an earthworm.   Don't eat it Mrs. Hawkins!

Students collected living organisms to view under the microscope.