Good Morning Grade 3 and Grade 3 parents!
As you may or may not know, each year at the OJCS we hold a day to celebrate all things science/math/engineering/imaginative/technology – this has come in the form of a STEAM/STEM fair with the Middle school students planning and creating something of scientific interest to them and then presenting to judges. The elementary school planning and creating in their classrooms and parents coming to see.
This year, the wonderful Mr Ray has planned Innovation Day. We, as elementary science teachers, had a meeting to discuss and be introduced to the new Makerspace (and all of its potential!) and how we can use it in preparation for Innovation Day. The idea behind Innovation Day is so students can explore areas of science, engineering and math that are of interest to them.
I introduced the idea to the grade 3 class yesterday and WOW were they excited and ready to go! We have been learning about structures – strong and stable in Science; what a strong and stable structure needs from base/foundations to what shapes hold the most weight and what materials are the most stable and durable to work with. Our Innovation Day project will consist of students selecting a famous landmark, researching the real structure (this is a part of our social studies work) using our math measurement and geometry skills to look at height, weight, scale of their structure and ensure it is free standing. The structure must also be able to hold weights ranging from 100g-500g. This is a cross curricular project in which all areas of General Studies are included.
Some students have expressed an interest in working on this at home as well as in school, that is fine with me. But please note, there is no pressure on you at home to create or buy supplies. This is an in class project which students will be given ample time to produce.
As parents and grandparents, you be invited into our grade 3 classroom in the morning (9am-10am) of March 5th 2020 to come and see the projects.
If you have any questions linked to this, please do not hesitate to ask,
Miss M