City Planning & In the Air

In February, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students began a multilayered, collaborative city-planning project. After many fruitful discussions, debating the components and infrastructure that are needed to design a livable home, neighborhood, and city, students were divided up into 6 neighborhood teams. As each team is working on a separate but connected neighborhood, the students will need to conference with one another throughout the process. The landscape has been determined; students decided that it is a coastal city with a nearby mountain, river, and a watershed! They are in the midst of debating issues such as placement of roads, bridges and sidewalks.

In early March the K/1s set out to design mini parachutes and began experimenting with gravity and air resistance. Before starting construction, they tested the drop rates of different canopy materials including: textiles, tissue paper, thin plastic, and paper. After students settled on canopy material, they began testing canopy shape. Some chose rectangle pieces while others cut canopies into a circular shape. Once they had cut their canopies to optimal size, they tested how varying the attachment site and the number of suspension cords, changed the drop time. We tried a parachute with the suspension cords attached within the canopy piece and then retested the same parachute with suspension cords attached to the very edge of the canopy. Students also found that, by varying the suspension cord length to the load, they could see a difference in how their canopy dome would open during test falls. The K/1s made their own minifigure parachutist out of clothespins and teachers planned a test-launch from 15 feet!

Building Bridges & Catapults

Through our studies of arch construction, a natural transition to architecture and bridge design occurred. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students focused on the history of bridges and began designing and building their own truss bridge. As they recalled the principles behind load, tension, and compression, we noticed the central role that triangles play in bridges that are designed today. Using balsa wood, students measured, marked, and then re-measured each piece of wood before teachers cut their requests.

Construction was a heroic multi-week project and their commitment paid off when they were able to test and proudly report the surprising load-strength of their bridges!

Meanwhile, the Kindergarten and 1st graders were busily designing and tinkering their own best catapult in February: using popsicle sticks, rubber bands, glue, and a small bucket, students performed test launches with different weight objects (pompoms vs. tinfoil). They played around with stop and start angles, tension, and throwing arm length. Some students wanted to propel objects to the farthest distance while others were interested in having objects achieve the greatest height. After students were happy with their catapult designs and implementation, teachers set up a challenge course that included 1. Target Practice (using different width containers as goals), 2. Going the Distance (using measuring tape to track their landing results), and 3. Add them Up! (3-rounds of landing on a number mat and finding the sum). 

We found that through several rounds of trial and error trouble shooting (Ha Ha!) that they were able to improve upon designs and modify propulsion results.

The Arch & That Medieval Thing

As we investigated the field of archeology and learned about the science behind uncovering ancient ruins, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders became very interested in how buildings were constructed thousands of years ago. Our path led us to Rome and in particular, the longevity of the Roman arch bridge design. We briefly covered the history of bridges and students began to identify the basic types of bridges and to understand the forces of gravity, tension, and compression that act on them. Students formed human arches and felt the forces in action! After they tried creating model arches with small stones and a sand/corn starch mixture, many students decided that using a removable frame as a base was key to successfully constructing a model archway.

They found that building an arch is anything but easy. Since the arch is completely unstable until the two sides meet in the middle at the keystone, students realized why engineers for years used wooden forms on each side to hold the structure in place until the two spans met in the middle.

Others were interested in comparing different materials for constructing an arch and they tested arch design using sugar cubes and glue (but said they would rather use thick frosting next time, concluding that the mortar is a most important factor for success!)



In the Kindergarten and 1st grade classroom, our investigators developed a deep interest in castles, knights, and Medieval times. In December, students began noticing the different geometric shapes that can be found in castle architecture. In several classroom-wide hunts, they identified shapes that resembled certain attributes of a castle. We introduced 3D-shape vocabulary and played with handheld models. Students became comfortable counting the faces, vertices, and edges of geometric shapes.

January brought us to an investigation of simple machines as they relate to castles. We provided several materials challenges centered on levers and learned about force, effort, and load. Students tested different shapes that could be used as a fulcrum, and experimented with moving the placement of fulcrum along the arm. They each set up their own mini seesaw, using a 12-inch ruler (the arm), dixie cups (as load and effort containers), a thick marker (fulcrum) and proceeded to investigate how the effort changed depending on the position of the fulcrum from the load. Another time they used a large thick wood board for an arm and a thick cylinder piece for the fulcrum and were able to lift a box of books and a classmate!

Big dig

We’ve started thinking about archaeology!! 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th graders are exploring what types of objects archaeologists search for, where their laboratories are, and what tools they use. In investigations we’ve learned that archaeology involves a whole lot of careful detective work. Archaeologists are scientists who use ancient material as evidence, to infer human behavior and human activity that occurred many years ago. We’ve looked at a tool kit used by archaeologists and discussed the elaborate protocol that is undertaken in setting up a field survey and dig site. We’ve imagined what archaeologists might conclude about our classroom and students if our school itself was a dig site! Students are thinking about what objects get left behind, how scientists catalog artifacts, and how they use technology to date the objects that they find. We are learning how to keep careful records in our notebooks and thinking like budding archaeologists. Students completed an archaeological investigation of a grave site, using diagrams and cataloging techniques. We are realizing that burial sites provide a human connection to the past and reveal the culture of ancient people. We have learned about the original settlers of Lincoln, MA, not only their family names but in many cases, their cause of death, age, hobbies, wealth, ancestry, and history.

We have a professional archaeologist coming to visit in December!

Leaf Book

Kindergarten and 1st graders began creating their leaf book last month!
After some very concentrated illustration sessions, the students helped one another to identify their leaf species using kid-friendly tree guides and the ipad app leafsnap. Here are just a couple snapshots of their work in progress. We plan to use MagCloud photo book for our final document.

Our forest studies

Our Kindergartners and 1st Graders are deciding how to best tell tree species apart. They have been discussing the key features that all trees share and we are learning to notice the attributes that give us clues about which species a given tree might belong.

A typical tree guide requires significant amount of background knowledge; much of which we adults take for granted. Wouldn't it be great to have the students design their own tree guide -- deciding for themselves the features that they deem most important for telling trees apart?



We are working toward that goal. In order to categorize the leaves that they find, students have begun collecting fallen leaves around the school yard and are listing all of the traits and qualities that they notice. K/1's started making Venn Diagrams comparing and contrasting sets of leaves. One of our first comparisons included looking at a white mulberry leaf and a catalpa tree leaf. We are on our way to collecting data for creating a K/1 guide to trees!







Students also spent time outside yesterday, between rain showers, studying an elaborately decorated maple tree. But before they even began depicting coloration to their drawings, students carefully counted the branches and trunk formations; we were surprised to count at least 7 large branches that started very near the base and looked like the tree had multiple trunks.

Nature's Engineers

 We invited members of a silk lab to our school. And oh, wow, were we treated to an amazing presentation today!

I am forever grateful to Principal Investigator Fio Omenetto who came, along with Benedetto, a post-doc, and Alex, a graduate student, to talk to our students about the seriously mind blowing power of silk. I thought I already knew a fair amount about potential applications of biomimicry (imitating elements of nature to solve complex human problems). But today, thanks to the silkworm (and to some really smart biomedical engineers!) I could actually envision a future without our piles of trash accumulating in landfills.

It was inspiring to meet these scientists who are spending their life's work cleaning up our planet; creating everyday products made out of silk.  Fio and his lab members are figuring out how to manufacture electronic gadgets from a renewable, sustainable source.

Could we really hand off a cleaner world to future generations; one without plastic piling up in landfills and in trash heaps?! It's a beautiful vision!

Fio, Ben, and Alex came with beaucoup props: thin sheets that looked like plastic, screws, nuts and bolts, a femur bone, entirely made of melted down silk. And enough cocoons for every student to take one home.