This is an end of the year culminating project . Students will work on their own or in pairs to create a house that will help their family to survive the climate of a randomly chosen location. Students will use their knowledge or ecosystems, heating and cooling, and weather prediction and tracking to determine the proper supplies that will be needed to build a house for survival. The project will include weather research, house build planning, creating a mock-up, and presentation to the class. The project will conclude with a video detailing what they would change after collaboration with the class.

Students will use Lego WeDo kits or any other building kit such as k’nex, or geomags or craft materials to build the alligator or alligator mouth and then use a protractor to measure the angle of the mouth opening. Connecting math and the everyday world through the use of building an object to incorporate angle measurements.   As an extension of learning students will then attempt to vary the measurement by adjusting the bands or speed of the motor if using wedo or programmable build kits or non-robotic version by adjusting the hinge of the mouth. Students should attempt to alter the build in efforts to change the angle.

After reading several stories by Sandra Markle, and researching a landform of choice, students will make a list of adaptations that an animal living in that environment would need such as, fur, wings, claws, sharp teeth etc. Then using recycled materials such as paper rolls and craft materials such as wiggly eyes and pom poms, create a new animal.

Students will engage in and design an aerial glider from a list of materials that will be provided for them. An aerial glider is a mobile vehicle that is suspended in air for a given amount of time, and it travels a targeted distance.This vehicle will demonstrate animal adaptations and how their wings are beneficial for successful flight of that creature in their biomes. Knowledge of these concepts will be crucial for industry related fields such as mechanical, electrical and additive manufacturing engineering in both the public and military sectors. Students will learn the hard and soft skills necessary to be globally competitive citizens and perform at the highest standard in various careers. This lesson should be taught at the conclusion of the ecosystems unit as students will need prior knowledge of animal adaptations and how they must adjust to various environments in order to survive.

Can your group make a balloon to look like a favorite book character, famous person or Superhero which will be driven by a Sphero and Sphero Chariot?

Students will use the design process to create a new pair of shoes.  Students will use multiplication to find the area and/or perimeter of their design.

Students will start by brainstorming ideas for their tower by looking at actual examples for inspiration. Next, they design their tower on paper or by using digital tools. Another part of this process is to locate materials. Next, they will build the dice tower according to their design and test it. Finally, students redesign the tower as needed, either to fix malfunctions or to improve the existing function and aesthetics. This project is meant to be done over several class periods, potentially as a major project or even the final assignment for a design elective. It contains the entire design cycle, and numerous opportunities for students to report on their project to the teacher or their classmates in whatever way the instructor thinks best. Therefore students have many opportunities to demonstrate their learning in both formative and summative assessments

Students will design a device using Spheros or Sphero Minis and recyclables to help clean trash out of waterways.

During this PBL, students will read a text and make it come alive by creating a 3D story map that shows the major events of the plot and the obstacles that the main character faced throughout the story. Students will then code an Ozobot to maneuver through the story and the obstacles while explaining them to an audience or their peers.

After brainstorming a list of essential businesses and/or points of interest, each student will create a building from recycled cardboard. They will then decide a location to house the building in the city. There will also be waterways included.  Then in teams of 2-3 the students will use recycled materials to build a bridge to carry the ozobot through the city giving tours of important locations. The ozobot will need to be able to cross the bridge which will allow students to work through issues with force and motion.

Students will choose a landform to research. Using NC Wise Owl they will complete the Research form.They will use the information they learned to write an oral report as if they are a newscaster reporting from the landform.  They will record the report using Do Ink (Greenscreen app). Next they will create a diorama of the landform in a shoebox. Using the ipad, they will take a picture of the diorama and use Do Ink to make the greenscreen video.

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.

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 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.

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.