Twinkle lights and jingle bells! What's better than that?!?! Not much!
And that's what December in the Fab Lab was all about.
In this Christmas themed unit, we learned all about light and sound.
Our fifth Scientist of the Month was Thomas Edison.
{Sidenote: It's crazy to think that we are halfway through the year. We only have five more scientists to go.}
Edison's work with the light bulb and phonograph tied along nicely with our study of light and sound. We also learned the hard lesson of not giving up from Edison. He is a great example of following through the engineer process and always looking to make improvements.
In week one, kindergarten and first grade explored light by participating in Christmas Light Centers. They built magnetic tile houses and decked the halls with twinkle lights, created christmas light patterns, and lit christmas lights using 9V batteries to create a closed circuit.
They completed Jingle Bell Centers to explore sound in week two. The students built Christmas scenes using magnetic tiles and jingle bells, they made jingle bell mazes using magnets, and they did the Silent Jingle Bell Challenge. In this challenge, the students used different materials (pom poms, tissue paper, and felt) to quiet the sound of a bell.
Second and third graders found themselves learning about and creating circuits. They used aluminum foil and 9V batteries to create a simple circuit that would light two Christmas lights. Some groups even added a switch to their circuit using brass fasteners.
In week two, they learned about sound and then made Jingle Bell Runs. They could use legos and baseplates, cardstock and straws, or Keva planks to build their runs.
Fourth and fifth graders learned how to use our Edison Robots. In week one, they coded the robots to follow light and in week two, they coded the bots to respond to sound. Some classes used legos to turn their Edisons into Santa's sleigh.
Just for fun, to end our unit....some of our fourth and fifth grade classes learned how to use the green screen to make a "Flossing Through the Snow" video. Here is one of them:
Unit 8 also brought us our second guest in our STEM Career Series. Chris Bragg (Charlee's dad) shared with our fifth grade students about his job as a sound engineer. His presentation was very engaging and he shared some cool gadgets with us too!
Check out your grade level's page for more pictures and videos of Unit 8!
