Shape Shift: Perspective

K-2 read Shape Shift by Joyce Hesselberth with Mrs. Whitney to talk about perspective, and how two people can look at the same shapes and see two different things.  

They would partner up and ask their friend, What did you see?  And they would discuss their similarities and differences.

Students then went over to tables where different shapes were cut out of different materials and fabrics, and together they created two different pictures using the same shapes.

Finally, they put their shapes on cardstock and created scenes and descriptive sentences to present their Shape Shift Scenes.

They presented them at STEAM and they were on display for the school art show.  What a blast putting the A and M in STEAM for the whole school community to see!

Design Thinkers Put the "A" in STEAM!

After weeks of deconstructing electronic devices and reimagining them into everything from artistic sculptures to prototypes of new inventions our 3-5 graders completed their deigns and are ready to enter them in the 1st ever OQS Art Show! What an honor it is to be able to share these imaginative designs with our parents, friends, and community members!
This week they spent their time putting the finishing touches on their designs.

 

  

    

  



Some of the finished designs...

 A functioning portable coat hook. You can take it anywhere!

 A fire breathing dragon!


A jet pack.

 

  A very happy face!

  Robot Man!

  Is someone going to the moon?

To see all of their designs come to the Art Show this Wednesday evening, March 21st 5:00-7:00!
You won't be disappointed!

K-2 Takes a Look Back

This week our Kindergarten through second grade fairy tale engineers took a look back at all of the problems they solved over the past few weeks as they struggled with challenges to help fairy tale characters overcome engineering disasters!
This is what they remembered:



Then, we asked them to think about our three design principles:
1. If you can imagine it, you can make it.
2. Use failure as an opportunity.
3. Use the materials and tools to make things.

They turned and talked to their elbow partners about which one they thought they did really well during the fairy tale unit and which one they wanted to focus on during the next unit.
   

With bingo duabers they recorded their reflections on the design principle chart papers. First dot was they one they thought they were really good at and the second dot was the one they wanted to focus on getting better at.

    

  

It was amazing to hear them reflect back on their challenges and successes as well as critically think about ways to get better at the one they wanted to focus on for the next task.

Reconstructing and Reimagining- What could it become?

This week third through fifth graders worked to finish their posters on explaining their understanding of the 4 basic computer components and then went to work on taking all of the little (and big) pieces they collected from deconstructing electronic devices to reimagine something else to create.

Students grappled with their understanding of input, storage, processing, and output:

Hmmmm....what can we make with all these really cool parts? Will it be useful? Will it be artistic? Some chose to work on their own and some chose to work with a partner or in a small group. Students had so many choices and were in charge of this learning experience. With a quick lesson on how to use a glue gun they were off!