Technology Challenges!

If I haven't already mentioned, my students participate in technology challenges every Thursday where they work in groups to complete some sort of challenge. We've done things like create clothing from newspaper, make musical instruments from recycled goods, and create creative faces from soda bottles. The biggest learning intention for these activities is to get students to work together as a team, plan before they begin working, be creative, and use their resources wisely.

Last week we did a challenge where they had to try and build a shelter that would cover 3 people using newspaper, tape, and string. There was some good working going on, but in the end all of the teams really failed to create any sort of structure that would stand up. But we ended up doing some great reflection on what went wrong and what they could have done better so that for their next technology challenge they would be able to use that information to help succeed. And since for the shelter challenge they received such low marks due to the fact they didn't make much of anything, I awarded points for the best reflection on the experience and that helped determine a winner.

But the next week's challenge was where my students really showed a great deal of growth that made me so proud of them! This week they were given the challenge of creating and designing a flower that had the longest stem possible and that had the most creative flower on top. But the stem had to be able to hold up all by itself with no extra supports apart from the resources given to them in the challenge. For this challenge they were given 10 sheets of newspaper, 2m of tape, 6 m of string, and some colored paper. I was so impressed by how well my students worked at this challenge. When I walked around checking to see how well teams were working together, all of them were working as a team! There was really no fighting going on and most teams were having great discussions about how they should complete their flower. There was also a lot of great planning going on about how they should construct their flower and they were being very careful about the materials they were using. In the end, 4 of the 6 groups had a standing structure. One group's flower was very well designed and put together. It was a really great height and stood way longer than the 15 seconds required in judging. But one group kind of just got lucky with their flower standing the 15 seconds. It was by far the tallest of all the flowers, but it really didn't have the support that the second place flower received. But of the other two flowers who stood for the 15 seconds, one group got lucky on their 15 seconds and the other had a really strong structure despite the fact they did run out of tape. There was such so many good things happening within the groups. I was so proud!

After the challenge we did a bit of reflection on what went well, what they learned, and what they could have done better if they were to do this challenge again. My students had so many good things to say! One group had different jobs within their group and another traded off the responsibility of being the team leader. I was so glad that this was our last technology challenge because it really ended on a high. Great work Room 13!

This week is Week 8, so the end of the school year is drawing near. Both the students and the teachers are feeling it. I'm trying to keep my activities fun but also ones that will challenge my students and get them to think. We are doing a geocaching activity on Thursday that I really hope goes well. I think they will really enjoy it as long as I'm properly prepped for it. Lots of prep work this week. Keeping my fingers crossed it goes well.

In terms of travel, the biggest travel adventure I've been on since my last blog has been my trip to Wellington. I have a friend I worked with at camp this summer from Wellington, so we were able to stay with her and she showed us around Wellington which was really nice. I really liked the city. It had a lot of culture which was cool. I would have liked to look around more, but we only had a weekend. My biggest travel adventure I'm looking forward to is Queenstown. It should be really fun. Milford Sound looks absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to experience it for myself.

I can't believe I only have 2 weeks of school left! It feels like I've been here forever, but also that we just got here. It's a little strange. But I really can't wait to go home and see my family and friends and my kindergartners!