Pitch a Field Trip – Writer’s Workshop Persuasive Writing
This week, the heroes pitched their field trip ideas to each other. Wingra Boats won!
The initial challenge was to research and pitch a field trip within a few main parameters:
- Within 20 minutes of school via walking and bus
- $10 or less per hero (funded by Acton)
- Open during the school day
- What to do if there is rain
The three options that emerged were the Zoo, Wingra Boats and the Geology Museum.
The children are planning to walk and take the bus to Wingra Boats where they will rent canoes for an hour. We’ve budgeted $10 for each child which is enough for the boat rentals. They may also choose to make the 20 minute trek to the playground at Wingra Park, or Vilas Beach, and/or Henry Vilas Zoo, in which case they may want to bring additional money for ice cream, train ride and carousel ride. That is 100% optional, however. They will be doing more research together this Friday as a group to determine a specific itinerary, so ask your child(ren) what they decide!
Quest – Newton’s Physics of Toys
Physics of Toys continues! The last three quest activities have involved simple machines. The children have learned about the six types of simple machines and then were challenged to utilize simple machines in building a rube goldberg machine.
The steps were scaffolded over three days. First, two teams built large marble runs. Then for Friday reward, we had pajama, popcorn and movie day, and watched a “Bill Nye the Science Guy” episode on simple machines to learn more about pulleys, levers, ramps (inclined plane), wheel and axles, screws and wedges.
On Monday, their challenge was to build a compound machine that launched pennies using a lever and pully system out of materials from the makerspace. And on Wednesday, they learned about Rube Goldberg machines and were challenged to build one themselves.
They used the example of Joseph Hersher‘s page-turning machine and watched an brief example of a collegiate Rube Goldberg competition. They determined that the heroes who worked on these machines displayed perseverance, creativity and knowledge of science. So that’s what they measured their process against, rather than if they succeeded or not. Why? Because this was a very hard challenge that was more about the journey than the destination.
As a team of four, they worked to combine their two marble runs, use their compound lever/pulley machine to launch a marble into the marble run, and designed a connected machine to complete a task which was to ring a bell. Did they succeed? No. But they learned a lot about working as a team and had a fun time getting the individual components to work.
At the end of the week we explored Leonardo Da Vinci’s self-standing bridge designs.
360 Feedback and Setting Personal Goals
This Friday, the heroes will be setting personal goals based on the 360 feedback they received last week. We structure 360 feedback as “two stars and a wish.” It is a tremendously useful skill to be able to give and receive constructive feedback. Last week, our 360 review session was very respectful! As a note, the Guides are also included and we invite the heroes to give us feedback as well. Ask your child what they learned and what they are setting for their personal goal that they can work on for the last couple weeks of school into the summer. Even though we are late in the school year to do this, the exercise is still a great self-awareness builder and something we will build into the end of every session next year.
