Benton Community Library and ELO: October 2017

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

5th Grade STEAM Project

The Benton Community 5th grade* students have chosen some projects to help the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. We are collecting Fleece for tie blankets and quilting fabric for pillowcases and Care Caps.

We would like bright colors and fun prints/designs to brighten the patient rooms and days.

Fleece in sizes of one yard or larger
Quilting Fabric in sizes of approximately one yard

We recently held a Pajama Day and students raised $170 dollars to purchase fabric! Way to go Bobcats!

*One class choose a slightly different project, so stay tuned for more information on that student-led project.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Follow the Flow

Sixth graders are learning about how water and gravity work in our STEAM challenge "Follow the Flow." The challenge is based on the 2000-year-old Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines.

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas

The goal is to use water to move 10 beads from the top layer to the bottom layer to get the most points. However, the materials used have a point cost. While every group has the same material list, each group is able to decide which materials to "purchase" and use in their model. Check out some of the students' works below (and note they are still in the process of building).

Here is the introduction video I shared with students:

Lesson plans from the 2017 Fluor Engineering Challenge.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Priority Standards for October 5-13

4th grade Lab Digital Citizenship Pre-assessment 21.3-5.TL.5 Understand and practice appropriate, legal, and safe uses of technology for lifelong learning.	4th grade STEAM Rotations with Mindstorms littleBits & Snap Circuits Keva Blocks
5th grade Lab Using Email continued 21.3-5.TL.5 Understand and practice appropriate, legal, and safe uses of technology for lifelong learning.	5th grade STEAM Student-directed project
6th grade Lab Glogster continued 21.6-8.TL.3 Plan strategies utilizing digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.	6th grade STEAM Flour Challenge 2017 “Follow the Flow” Overview video link

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Battle of the Books

Do you like reading and have a competitive side? Mrs. Speer is looking for Fifth and Sixth grade students who want to participate in Battle of the Books.

Important Info:

Teams will be up 4 members answering questions about the books on the reading list.
There are 20 books and the team will decide how to split up the reading.
Students will write and submit questions for the books on the list as a way to prepare for the contest.
The contest is Saturday, April 7 in Winterset, Iowa.

Battle of the Books Reading List 2018