Students will read text (short story, poem, chapters of a book) and create a comic strip summarizing what they have read. Students will record themselves reading pieces of the summary for each box of the comic strip and create QR codes for each box.

 As the culmination of our study of Macbeth through John McDonald’s graphic novel, students will create their own original graphic narrative using the Book Creator app for iPads or Chrome.

 Small groups  students will select a picture book containing an academic standard taught to elementary age students. The students will research the central idea to collect important points of the idea. Students will film a documentary of the central idea to be shared with local elementary school students.  

 After reading a book, students will create a podcast that gives a review of the book.

 Students will create a 30-60 second podcast informing the public on a water quality/water usage issue in North Carolina.

Students will work in groups of 2 to build Tamiya mini 4wd cars. Along the way, they will learn the basics of how a 4wd system works, as well as how to calculate power input of electric motors using Torque and RPM measurements.

Students will use the Escape Room to learn about the Engineering Design Process that they will be using in multiple projects throughout the year.

The ability to express yourself well through writing and speaking are important skills that you will use throughout your life. We will be conducting historical inquiry and research while we develop these skills together. This way we will not simply be passive participants in absorbing information, but active participants in cooperatively learning how to process complex information to develop conclusions. We will typically do four projects involving short essays and one Topical Presentation project each nine weeks grading period. These will contain both individual and group components.

Students will work independently or in small groups to plan a fairy garden for the K/1 students at the school. They will examine the school yard for the best location for a fairy garden; measure to determine how large of an area we can use and then build/create all the items for the fairy garden using recycled or inexpensive materials.

After reading the novel, “The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, students will follow the engineering design process to build  fire truck vehicles that will transport water from a starting line, 20 feet, to a finish line to put the “fire” out.  The students' fire trucks will be powered by a Sphero robot and driven using the Sphero app. Students will work in groups of 3-4.  Students will be supplied with a 3 oz cup to represent a fire bucket and a 16 oz cup to represent the fire.  The cup that represents fire will have a high water mark drawn on it and students must fill their cup to the mark to successfully complete the challenge.

Students construct a pollinator out of a spoon and pom pom balls that when dipped in the pollen powder will be able to carry the pollen to the other flower, and students could shake the pollen off on the other flower as it moves by it. 

Students will listen to a close reading of Harry the Dirty Dog  over the course of 3 days.  (The book is accessible via NC Kids Digital Library.   Personal copy or online versions can be used.) After each read aloud, students will have the opportunity to engage in The Engineering Design Process to create a maze using various materials to construct different ways for Harry to move through the maze .  Students will write to tell about their maze using sentence frames and an anchor chart for support.  Finally, students will present their maze and read their informational writing to reflect their knowledge of the Force and Motion standard, specifically the different ways objects move.  Maze creation and student informational writing should reflect multiple modes of movement per the NC Kindergarten Science Standards.

This project applies the concepts of Friction, Gravity, Newton's Laws, Potential and Kinetic Energy, Speed, Distance vs. Time Graphs, and integrates them into a culminating project. Students work in pairs to create a marble run using basic classroom supplies and a standard tri-fold board. The goal is to create a marble run that takes as long as possible for the marble to complete without getting stuck. The project includes a data analysis section and a content questions component. There is also a scoring rubric included. The standards that this project covers can be found on the final page of the document. No special materials or tools are necessary.

 Students are tasked with moving a 20 gram (or other low denomination) weight a distance of one meter using a “Sphero*” remote controlled robot.  Students use available materials to design and build a structure that will allow the sphero to push or pull the weight, while allowing for factors such as friction, direction, and gravity.   *Note: Although students can issue specific commands in the Sphero software, this activity only requires that they be able to “drive” the Sphero, thus providing the force to move the weight. 

Students will work in groups to design a wheel-less vehicle that will be sent across different surfaces to test what friction does to materials. The goal of the build will be to make a vehicle that will move as quickly as possible over different surfaces. By using different types of surfaces the student will have to test and decide which building materials are best to cause the best movement.

Students work in groups of 2 to create an anchor out of a collection of materials provided by the teacher. Students will test their anchors in an aquarium periodically to determine if their anchor has too much surface area, thus making it buoyant, or if the materials are combined in a way that is denser than the water causing the anchor to sink. The ultimate goal is to balance the forces being applied to the boat.  The anchor is attached to a 3d printed boat, or a boat of the teacher's choosing. A fan is directed at the boat after the anchor has been attached and dropped in the water. In addition to the wind, the teacher will create waves by tapping the side of the tank. Students will observe if the anchor holds under these circumstances or not. Ultimately, they will try to prevent the boat from moving at all. Distance traveled for each test will be taken by a meter stick or tape measure fixed to the side of the tank. Students will strive to keep the boat frozen at 0 centimeters.

During this unit, students will learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They will read about the GPGP and then prepare a presentation with their findings and solutions.  Lastly, they will create a prototype to help with the ocean cleanup and use Spheros to maneuver the prototype to pick up trash in water.

In second grade students will learn to compare different versions of the Gingerbread story. They focus on how the story elements change with each story, but the basic theme stays the same. Then  in writing students are tasked with creating their own gingerbread rendition. In doing so, students often get lost in the middle of the story where the gingerbread character passes other characters and repeats the refrain. This project will help students use temporal words to provide sequence to their story as they define the places and people that are passed. Students must clearly describe 3 -4 places in a sequence (first, next, then, finally), as well as, provide an ending to their story. Once they have completed their story students are allowed to take a previously made gingerbread character and tape it to a small Dixie cup. Then the cup is placed over a mini-sphero. Students use premade landmarks that say first, next, then, finally  to navigate their character through their own sequence of events! This is a highly motivational and fun way to celebrate their hard work in creating a story and making it come to life!

Part 1 - History of Rocketry: Students will explore the history of rocketry, starting with early Chinese gunpowder and progressing through the manned space programs of the 20th century. Following the initial lecture, students are divided into groups of 2 or 3 to research one of the United States manned space programs. Students will then present these programs to the class.Part 2 - Rocket Science: Students will be exposed to the foundational physical principles involved in rocket flight. Newton’s laws will be reinforced. After the initial lecture, students will be divided into groups of 2 or 3 to build a model rocket. Rockets are then launched as a class, students will calculate the maximum height of the flight using trigonometry

After reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas, students will work together to build a sleigh for the Grinch so he can take the presents and decorations from the Whos.