The Young Inventor's Fair Arrives!

Our growing students learned a valuable lesson this morning in speaking up when your chair and desk might not be a good fit. Students spent some time this morning switching chairs and desks with each other until they felt comfortable. We used design process thinking to narrow down solutions to our problem, which helped us to choose the best options. Students also know they can sit at the tables around the room, stand up at their desks, or even lie on the floor! I want them to be comfortable in their work space. 

We spent a considerable amount of time in the computer lab today working on our social studies project. Students were arguing about source validity, which was great to see. It is important to recognize when sources might not be a good resource to use during research. Grolier and Kiddle were used to find information about their colony. Several agents needed to be reminded they should not be working on their presentation until all notes are taken. Pre-planning on graphic organizers helps organize thinking for a presentation. 

But first we will take a selfie! That phrase is heard more and more and people are inventing things to make taking a selfie easier, bigger, and better. Have you heard of the selfie stick? One of my students should have taken my advice for his invention project and patented his selfie green screen. It popped up over your neck and you could be standing in Hawaii but once posted to social media you are in Hawaii. The Young Inventor’s Fair is my absolute favorite project to send home. It involves students thinking outside the box, using the engineer design process, and creating something not yet existed. They will learn from firsthand experience about what it takes to solve a problem. I cannot wait to see what problems they chose to solve, as everyone’s work is always so vastly different. I encourage you to have dinnertime conversations over the next few days about problems you and your family has that need to be solved. Maybe it is the fact that you abhor when liquid soap is sitting in the bottom of the pump so you need the Soap Sucker created by a team of gentleman last year. You hate falling off your sled so you devise a Velcro style sled to keep you fastened as a young lady did. Students create things from helping to bring the trash barrels out to keeping your hair bands organized. Maybe your agent will design something that could become part of our culture like the selfie! Get thinking! 

To view pictures from last year click HERE!