Welcome to the 7th Grade Experiential Week (ELW)! During this week, a few of the 7th grade teachers plan fun activities and field trips where students are learning outside of their normal classroom with a lot of hands-on activities. Here is a breakdown of last week...
On Monday, we worked on a Newton's Car Project for Science 7. Students were working on creating a balloon car that fit three different requirements; it had to travel 2 meters in a straight line, carry a load and have different forces applied to the car. Students went through a process of looking at the requirements and limitations they had to work with, materials they could use and started coming up with ideas that they drew out individually and in a group before they began their creations. We also went for a hike...in a rainstorm!
Below, you will see a few videos of some of our balloon cars in action!
On Tuesday, we had guests that came to present a workshop for our 7th grade students. They began by forming groups of 3 then writing down everything they knew about hamsters. Then, they researched and looked up more information about hamsters and added to their understanding. A mini lesson was taught on creating simple drawings before students individually drew a few ideas for a hamster cage. Then, they met with their group to create their best idea for a hamster cage by drawing out a cage idea. After drawing, they were given materials to create their cages and lots of time. After creating their cages, they met up together to show their cage to the class then met with another group to give feedback (what went well and what could be improved). They had 10 minutes to make changes to their design before launching their final cage to the class.
On Wednesday, we traveled to the Technorama Science Museum in Winterthur, Switzerland (about an hour and a half away) to spend the day exploring science! We had a workshop in a chemistry lab where students explored very cold chemicals like liquid nitrogen and dry ice. They were in groups and went around the lab doing different experiments to learn how these cold chemicals behave in different scenarios. There are a few videos of our explorations. Then, we had the next several hours to explore all the museum had to offer with magnetism, light, coding, sound and so much more. The museum has stations spread out across three floors and each one has simple instructions for how to explore that station then ends with a pondering question. The card has information on the back as to why the magnets behaved the way they did or whatever was happening at the station. The cards are in different languages; English, French and German.
On Thursday, we celebrated Ascension Day so did not come to school as this day is a holiday in Germany. On Friday, we spent our morning at a Trampoline Park that is about 20 minutes away in Germany. So much fun!!! Lots of jumping, flipping, and did I mention jumping? There was a yellow wall that the students would work to jump up to. They would jump on the trampoline in front of the wall to get enough height, then grab onto the wall and pull themselves up. As I saw the students doing this, I made this a personal goal for my morning and made it up three times!! It took a lot of work through and upper body strength to get on this wall. My back, shoulder and arm muscles are still sore and it is 2 days afterwards! There are a few videos at the end of students jumping up to this wall and then a few of a couple of girls doing some cartwheels and backward flips.
ELW is always a fun week of active exploration! And when it is over, we go home exhausted! This next week, our 7th and 8th graders will begin studying for their finals and stay tuned for our Spring Art Show that happens starting on Friday!
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