It's Not a Ball - It's a Robot

Sphero Painting

Nursery 2

The Nursery 2 students were introduced to robots.  They learned that a robot is a machine they can control.  Then they controlled the Sphero robot with an iPad to paint a picture of the moon.

Learning the Engineering Design Process

This week the Kindergarten class reviewed the Engineering Design Process.

They asked a question.  How do you get rid of an itch on your back?

The answer is make a back-scratcher.

What supplies will we use?

We will use Zometools. 

They imagined solutions and planned their designs.

They created their designs from Zometools.  

Some designs had short handles; some had long handles.  

Some designs had many points for scratching; some only had one.

Each design was unique. 

Then they tested their designs and made improvements.  In the end their back-scratchers were just the right length to reach their backs and stayed together when being used.

They successfully implemented the Engineering Design Process and will be on to bigger and more complex designs next time.

Learning "Learning Launchers" with Grade 4

Learning "Learning Launchers"

with Grade 4

Grade 4 is learning to use the Lab digital curriculum (called "Learning Launchers") and to document their work with Google Classroom.  Understanding this process will allow them to work on independently on paired projects and strength their 21st Century Skills of communication, collaboration, problem solving and time management.

Their challenge for this Learning Launcher was to create a comic using ComicLife software that depicted them using their talents to better their community. Each pair of students had to collaborate on one comic which incorporated both their their talents towards a common goal.

Off to a Great Start

The New Year

Every class from Grade 8 to Nursery 2 have been to the Innovation Lab for their first STEAM class where they were reminded of the goals for their work in the Lab.  

Early Childhood and Lower School students worked on challenges 

designed to work on collaboration skills.

Middle School students were challenged to create a comic strip using Comic Life with a partner.  

The comics depicted what they can do to make their world better using their talents and strengths.

Working so hard that an ice pack was needed!

Spending a little extra time to work on a puzzle.

The beginning of this year marked the launch of the HCA Morning Broadcast, a filmed newscast including the daily prayers, announcements, reports and special features, created by the Eighth Grade and played each morning in each classroom.

Spring Inspiration

Spring Inspiration

Grade 2

The Second Grade will be focusing on circuitry and robotics for the remainder of the year in the  STEAM Lab.  To begin their project they created Lego models of animals that we saw on a walk around the school.  In the upcoming classes students will create Lego robots and Snap Circuit circuits to demonstrate how animals move and communicate.

PreK Claymation

The PreK have been thinking spring! For the last few weeks the students have been working on making claymation movies about flowers.  They made clay models of the parts of a flower.  They then laid them on paper one piece at a time in the order that they grow -

first, the seed

then, the roots

next, the stem

and finally, the flower.

They were very excited to use the camera to take pictures of each step.

Today, we uploaded the pictures to a stop animation computer program called Frames.  As groups they selected a background and added the background using ChromaKey.  Then the groups decided on the story of their flower and added additional clipart, their own picture and sound. 

Hope these movies brighten your spring break.

Sea Turtle Plastic Bag Challenge

After learning that many sea turtle die from mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish, the Third Grade created a Sea Turtle Plastic Bag Challenge. The class created a record sheet and will use the data collected for a Scientific Data and Analysis Launcher activity in the STEAM Lab.   

If you would like to join the challenge the record sheet is below or email Mrs. Zwilling for a digital copy.