3rd and 5th Grade Teachers , Church Lane Elementary School
For our Unit 1 ELA culminating event, third graders researched an endangered animal. Addressing the essential questions from the unit, students looked at the relationship between humans and their animals. Students transformed their research into digital presentations using tools like Discovery Education boards, Wixie and Power Point. After researching, we dove into an exciting maker challenge. Using the engineering design process, students determined what problem their animal faced. Then they worked in groups to build a prototype of something that could help solve that problem. Using cardboard and Makedo tools, students created reservations to protect red pandas from poachers, water filtration systems to clean the oceans for the sea lions, jungle alarm systems to warn jaguars of approaching danger and fish traps to round up food for the polar bears to eat. Throughout the project, students showed their creativity, collaboration skills, and problem solving strategies. We finished our week by using Flipgrid to share our final projects with our classmates.