Minecraft

Our end of year project has been Minecraft.  Thanks to our donors who purchased a MinecraftEdu license for us so that we could have a safe learning environment.  This project was also a collaboration with the Thinkery.  The students were tasked with creating a community.  Second through fifth grade participated in this community.  They decided what buildings we needed and they built them either on their own or with others in the room.  They learned many SEL lessons while collaborating on this project.  They built things like libraries, swimming pools, water slides, roller coasters, homes, restaurants, zoos, schools, tree houses, parkour stations, underground caves, underwater science labs, and much more.  I'm super proud of their teamwork, building skills, and their pride on our society online!

4th grade as Environmental Engineers

Fourth grade has been studying about alternative energy sources both in their Science class and in STEAM.  We have learned about a village in Africa that relies on fire for cooking and has recently been introduced to solar ovens.  We have tested insulators and experimented with different materials to hold heat and conductors transfer energy.  The students have determined the best materials for both jobs and through lots of planning have created their very own solar ovens.  We had to wait for a sunny day to begin cooking.  Then the big day -- cooking smores!  What a treat for all of our hard work!