Friday, September 18, 2015

Cup Tower Challenge - 3rd grade

For this challenge, third grade was given a small list of materials and specific limits.  They had to bring a stack of 6 cups from this:







To this:





Sounds easy, right?  The catch is that they had to use 4 pieces of string and one rubber band.  They could not have any part of their body touching the cup.  When I first presented this to them there were comments like "easy", "so simple", etc.  They drew out their plans, were put into groups, and began. Only about 2-3 students in each class actually had a plan that would work.  The rest of them had good ideas, but ones that eventually would prove to be futile.  There was MUCH frustration as they figured all of this out.  At one point I even almost called the project because I was worried that they were too stuck.  I am so glad I didn't!  Both classes worked through this issue and figured out how to make it work.  In the end they were so elated to have figured it out without my help that they kept doing it over and over just to cheer.  It was likely one of my proudest moments as a teacher.  To watch them move from chaos, frustration, confusion to success, accomplishment, and pride was a true gift.  I'm so glad that I could be a part of their journey!















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