Students worked in two groups of three on their October STEM Challenge. The objective for this age group was to build the longest bridge possible using a set amount of materials. Students put on their engineering hats as they gathered in their groups to discuss their ideas and plan for how best to go about solving this problem. By having more than one group within the class and by viewing other bridges built by the different classes, the kinder students can begin to understand that there are many ways to solve a problem.
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Here are a few photos of students working on their Architek builds. Architek is a fun and challenging game that helps children learn to focus, problem solve, explore the notions of angles, tessellations and perspective, as well as other concepts such as force and its application in simple construction. It’s a Défi math game that is also used in upper grade levels, so you will see it again at some point! The students love the challenge and the excitement that comes with placing the last block on their towers, as you can see in the pictures!
We have now had our first two STEM classes with the Senior Kindergarten students. During our first class, we read a book titled, 'The MOST MAGNIFICENT Thing'. It's a great little book that relates to the subject at hand. Then, we talked about what STEM meant, we learned that it is an acronym and we did a little brainstorm to see what we know about each of the the words that make up STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING and MATHEMATICS). Each week, we'll briefly discuss what the words mean and add any new information we learn to our STEM description chart.
We also built cubes using marshmallows and toothpicks. As we were building, some of our cubes were tilting to one side. We talked about how we could build a stable structure and how we needed to ensure that the joints (or corners as they were also called) were secure and strong. During the second STEM class, we finished up our cubes, in case they were not quite complete, and then tested their strength by placing a light book on them. Here is a collection of photos taken by the students of their completed Architek builds. Architek is a super fun and challenging game that helps children learn to focus, problem solve, explore concepts of angles and perspective, as well as other concepts such as force and its application in simple construction. It's a Défi math game that is also used in upper grade levels accompanied with their math text book so you will see it again at some point! Students have their own tracking sheet so they may cross off each completed building challenge and as they progress, they get increasingly difficult! They love the challenge and the excitement that comes with placing the last block on their towers!
Our little community is well on its way! The pictures of community members you see around are pictures the kids coloured and then I laminated. Each community member picture can be found in their respective areas! The areas in the community have been decided by the students. Before we started, we discussed what was needed in our community and then we went from there. As we continued developing our community, we realized that we did not have a hospital or a train station so we added them. This week, we will discuss the current state of our community, evaluate whether it requires further development and then play with it of course! We will also discuss what would happen if we remove one or more of our community members. Will we still be able to function as a community? Who will be affected? What will happen to our community as a result? Stay tuned! The kids have been working very hard on their cities. Plasticine buildings, parks, signs, lakes and more, all made of plasticine and finally, the transportation systems that connect them all. After some discussion, checking out different books and exploring a variety of maps, it was time to develop our own little cities. The first task was to plan out where the homes, parks, etc would go and then to connect it all. We worked in two groups, each group chose a group leader and named their city. They drew using chalk on the table and once the plan was complete, the building began! All of their construction was inspired by their knowledge and creativity! Some more work has yet to be done but the cities are looking fantastic. Charlottetown and The City of Bamalikiko are the city names!
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Welcome to the daily life of Académie de la Capitale's Junior / Senior Kindergarten class! We hope you enjoy this window into our classroom as much as we enjoy sharing it!Archives
October 2022
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