On Thursday and Friday, CCE students became engineers! First, we introduced the engineering design process to students. Then, 1st and 2nd graders experimented with building hoop glider airplanes to create a design that would make their hoop gilder go the greatest distance. 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders were challenged to build a water balloon launcher that would send a water balloon flying the farthest. They were given a limited amount of time and could only use the materials given to them: masking tape, wire, rubber bands, paper plates, paper clips, string, and wooden sticks. 

To introduce the engineering design process to students, we used this presentation: 

You can find more information on hoop gliders and how to make them here. 

We had so much fun doing this, and are looking forward to more engineering activities next year!

CCE 4th graders have been learning about Texas explorers in social studies. To show what they learned, we created a menu of activities for them to choose from. Here are some of the choices students had: 

• Trading Card- Use the Trading Cards app to create a trading card of one explorer. Use the “Real Person” card. Save the finished product to your camera roll. 

• Diary Entry- In Pages, write a diary entry from the point of view of one of the explorers.   Be sure to save your work in Pages. You will copy the text and paste it into Weebly to create your blog post. 

• Comic- Use the Strip Designer app to create a comic that explains one explorer’s accomplishments. Save it to your camera roll.

• Puppet Show- Use the Puppet Pals app to create a scene with one explorer. Save it to your camera roll.

• Become an Explorer- Use the Mad Lips app to become one of the explorers and speak about your experience. Save it to your camera roll.

• Popplet- Create a web organizer using the Popplet app. Put one explorer’s name in the middle and add popples (bubbles) to include at least four details. At least two popples must be text. The others can be pictures or drawings. Save it to your camera roll.

• Explain an Explorer- Use the Explain Everything app to create a slideshow with at least 3 slides. Include a picture or text on each slide and narrate it. You can narrate it from your point of view as a student giving information about the explorer or as one of the explorer. Save it to your camera roll. 

• Book Design- You’ve been asked to design a textbook page with information on one explorer. Use the Pic Collage app to show how you would design the page. Include pictures, text, titles, maps, and other nonfiction text features. Save it to your camera roll. 

• Free Choice- Use an app of your choice, draw, build, or otherwise create something (does not have to be on the iPad) about one explorer. Make sure that it answers the three essential questions.

Once students had completed one activity for each of the five explorers they learned about, they put their work on their Weebly blogs. If asked for a password, it is cce2cce2. 

Then, students created Thinglinks. They used a map of Texas as the background image, and put spots on the map to show where different explorers went. The spots link to the activity the student completed on that particular explorer. Here is an example of a Thinglink a student created: 

Weebly is an app that we have used to create student blogs. We have used blogs for various projects, including writing blog posts from the perspective of someone who lived in the past, blogging reading responses, and publishing projects on explorers. 

To learn more, see the App Snapshot below: