This week was a fun-filled week as 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students built catapults to learn how a simple machine like a lever can make work easier and also to understand the difference between potential energy and kinetic energy while operating the catapults.  Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students were jamming to a groovy beat while learning about gravity. The students also made paper flyers to prove how gravity is responsible for holding everything down and we went outside to have a paper flyer contest to see who can defy gravity the longest and land the farthest distance by flying their paper flyer.

Lesson Objective: 

K-2 Students will build paper flyers and observe and communicate effects of gravity on objects and recognize that some things, such as airplanes and birds, are in the sky, but return to earth.

3-5 Students will build and operate catapults to identify sources of energy such as potential energy and kinetic energy and how the energy is used. Students will also identify how a lever, a simple machine, is used as a basic mechanical device for applying a force and making work easier by operating the catapult.

Our first coding and robotics club is also off to great start as students are using critical thinking skills and reasoning to complete coding tasks. Check out the pics and videos below.