Halloween Fun

We started today with some discovery stations that the students created last week. We looked at all the Halloween stuff we had and asked "How can we use this stuff to show our learning?"

Sorting and patterning Halloween cut-outs.

Creating lanterns.

Sorting and counting bugs using tweezers (building our fine motor strength).

Then later in the morning we made 4 teams and competed in some Halloween games.

Games included bowling for ghosts, shake it off (ask the kiddos about that one), cup stacking, and this game where students had to knock down pumpkins using their funny hats. 

After lunch we went to the gym for the dance-a-thon. There were so many great costumes and the dancing was awesome! We also raised a lot of money to keep making our playground even better!

Another hot dog!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Class Symbol

Last week we had an assembly where we were asked to bring an object that represented our class.

Presenting our thinking to the school. They wrote their own script!

The students put a lot of thinking into what we would bring.  First we brainstormed things we like to do and things we are good at.

We love to build.
We are kind.
We are a team.
We are all smart in different ways.
We love building with Lego.
We LOVE skyscrapers!

Hmm...this was going to be tricky.

Then someone suggested we build a tower out of Lego. Each student chose one piece of Lego to represent them. We worked as a team to add our pieces and "build" each other up (kindness).

The finished product.

In the end our Lego tower was beautiful and a real symbol of our class beliefs and values. I couldn't possibly be more proud of this amazing group of students!

Our tower displayed with the objects from all the other classes. 

Tall Towers STEM Challenge!

Today we had our first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Challenge.  The challenge was to use 50 pieces of Lego to building the tallest standing tower possible.

Our first challenge was counting out 50 pieces of Lego. For some students this was very challenging while others caught on quickly and started grouping piles of 10.

Most children were in a big hurry to get their pieces counted and start building. It was interesting to observe the different children's priorities in choosing their pieces.

After they had confirmed they had exactly 50 pieces, they drew a plan and started building.

The tallest tower ended up being 47 cm high. This particular student had built a similar tower that was 35 cm tall but knew that with some adjustments, he could make it even better.

I was so proud of how students took chances, repaired fallen towers, made adjustments to their designs, and demonstrated perseverance in a challenging task. They even started this spontaneous cheer in the middle of building.