What's New

Sorry for not updating the blog. The new year is busier than the old one. For the next six weeks, I'll be teaching math to the fifth through eighth graders. The first through fourth graders will be taught science.

I've been teaching the first and second graders the mysteries of flight. They've been learning about aerodynamics especially about lift. Instead of building paper airplanes, we've built boomerangs. We started off small. They built finger boomerangs out of index cards. We graduated to the full sized ones constructed out of foam board. Of course some of the student's boomerangs got caught stuck on the roof.

The third and fourth graders have also been learning about aerodynamics. We concentrated, however, on hot air balloons and how they work. They've learned that hot air is less dense than cold air and, therefore, lighter. That's why the hot air balloons are able to float in the sky. The third and fourth graders are constructing hot air balloons out of tissue paper. Next week we plan to launch them.

Tomorrow I'll write about what the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have been doing in my math classes.

Mission Possible

The seventh and eighth graders have been building Rube Goldberg like devices. What's a Rube Goldberg device? Well, think of that old game "mousetrap" and you got a Rube Goldberg device. Their device is not to capture a mouse but rather pop a balloon. I like doing this project with the older students because it forces them to employ problem solving skills.
The fifth and sixth graders are finishing up their water bottle rockets. Their rockets has to have fins and a nose cone. They also needed to have a parachute system in their rockets. Tuesday's class got to launch their rockets. The students had a great time. By next Monday, we should be done with our rockets, and we'll start planning for a next project. Shhhhhh, can't tell you yet, it's a secret.

Discrete Mathematics

The seventh and eighth graders are studying discrete mathematics. So far we have gone over Euler and Hamiltonian paths and circuits. The students really enjoy these sorts of problems because of the real world applications. This week they are going to learn about game theory. They will have to figure out the reason why they win and lose games.
In science they are building Rube Goldberg devices. The students like the planing and construction phases. I think they will really like the devices when they are activated and run through their various steps.

Math & Science

The animation projects are finished. They were fun but required a lot of time and energy. If I see another piece of clay, it'll be too soon. I'm now teaching math and science to the fifth through eighth graders for the next six weeks. I'll be working hand-in-hand with Mrs. Iniquez.
In math fifth and sixth graders are working on geometric shapes and a nifty little program called "Logopaths". "Logopaths" allows students to write a routine that directs a turtle to move and draw on the computer screen. We're using the program with the knowledge of geometric shapes and running our turtles through its paces. As their work becomes available, I'll post some of them.
In science the fifth and sixth graders are building water bottle rockets. We hope to launch right after Thanksgiving break. In this project the student have to keep their rocket aloft for the longest period of time. As a result they've got to build a parachute recovery system. They also have to measure how high their rockets went. For that they had to learn a little bit of trig. For my next posting I'll let you know what my seventh and eighth graders are doing in math and science.

Another Animation Project

Cristian and Xavier decided to exercise their funny bones.

An Example of an Animation Project

Here's an example of one of the student teams that did a really good job at animation. Way to go Michael & Ryan!!!

Stop Motion Animation

Eighth grade students working on their animation. The students are using legos in their project.