This week, in both 5th and 6th science, we have been working on different challenges to get our brains thinking, bodies moving, and to understand how to work respectfully and empathetically in a group so we are prepared when we dive into our first units next week.

I think both the students and I can agree that the best challenge we took part in this week was “Saving Fred”.

At the beginning of the challenge, students were given the back story of poor Fred. It goes as follows:

“Fred is a friendly worm who took his boat out on the lake one day. However, Fred wasn’t very smart because he forgot to wear his life preserver! Unfortunately for Fred, a strong wind caused his boat to capsize. Now his boat is upside down, Fred is stranded on top, and his life preserver is underneath!”

The kids needed to achieve 3 things in this challenge:

1. Turn Fred’s boat right side up
2. Get Fred back into his boat 
3. Put on Fred’s life preserver.

However, there were some pretty specific rules that they COULD NOT break:

1. You may only touch the paperclips. You CANNOT touch Fred, the boat, or the life preserver directly with your hands.
2. You must not let Fred fall into the lake or he will drown (aka on the table)
3. You may not injure Fred (e.g., spearing him with the end of a paperclip).

Just by looking around the room, before they decided on a plan or got their supplies, I could see that many of the students thought this would be EASY. However, once they actually began the challenge, boy oh boy did they realize that it was a lot harder to do than they thought hehe 🙂

Students developed a well thought out plan before they were given their supplies. Throughout the “saving” process I was so impressed with each and every groups perseverance. Not a single group gave up, and every group member supported each other. In the end, although it took longer than they thought, each group was able to save Fred.

After they had finished the big save, each group looked back at their original plan to document what they did differently and what they changed throughout the challenge. We spent time discussing why this is so important to do, not only in science, but in life.

I seriously wish we could re-live this day over and over because it was one of those classes that I never wanted to end!

Make sure to ask your child(ren) about some of the other highlights from the week:

• Paper tower challenge (5th and 6th science)
• Divisibility rules (5th math)
• Describing activity (5th and 6th science)
• 4-4-4-4 activity (5th math)
• 3 levels of convincing (5th math)
• Reviewing fractions and decimals (6th math)