Junior Lego Creations!

The kindergarten through 3rd graders have been busy thinking and building with Lego's.  We have had a different theme each week.  The first week we had a "Snack Attack!" and we discussed our favorite snacks and where the snack ingredients come from.  We also talked about all the people who keep our food safe from the farm to the table.  There were many surprising people including veterinarians, truck drivers and the people that stock the grocery shelves to name a few.  The students worked in groups to create a lego model of where applesauce comes from by making an apple orchard, a truck for transporting the apples, and a kitchen with a cook making applesauce.  Our other group worked to create a truck to transport the ingredients needed for pancakes and also a restaurant that makes and serves pancakes.  I am amazed by the ideas and building skills of the students! 

Our second session was called "Body Forward" and we discussed biomedical engineering, which is when doctors, scientists, and engineers work together to create medical innovations to help people. Some examples of this are prosthetic limbs, Band-aids (someone had to come up with adhesive that worked on human skin!), and vaccines.  The students created a special cutting edge x-ray lab to scan the entire body for broken bones.

Today we had fun during a session called "Smart Move."  The theme was transportation and we watched a video about how bananas go from the plantation to the grocery store.  We also watched a video about all of the different way people get from place to place from horse drawn carts to helicopters! The students were challenged to choose an item that needs to be transported and then build the system to get that job done.  One group built an orange grove and moved oranges over bridges and then used trucks to get them to the grocery store.

I can't wait until next week when we think about how things are powered and where that power comes from.  We'll see you all then for "Power Puzzle!"