What about the building process was challenging? The creating part.
How did your build differ from your plan? (If your build was different than your plan, update your plan!) Nothing.
How did your group work well together during the build? What would you do again? We didn’t work well together and fought a lot.
How did your group struggle during the build? What would you change? One of the people in my group was being controlling to us.

How did spending more time on planning to improve your final blueprint?

It made it better because we had to do it many times because are ideas were very hard!

How did your group come to one final plan after brainstorming several ideas?

Only one worked so it worked out pretty well!

Why do you think taking more time to plan was important?

It gave us many ideas and gave us ideas we wouldn’t have thought of.

Did brainstorming with multiple people help you come up with more ideas? How?

No, we only had 4 ideas and only one worked.

What would you differently during the planning process next time?

Come up with more ideas.

Today’s Challenge: Using only an index card and scissors to find a way to cut your index card so you can fit your entire body through it.

Teamwork Rubric Focus (Organization/Planning):

My goal for organization/planning today within my team is my team will put our ideas on the blog.

My Individual Plan 

I will make it like a lasso kinda like a cube that is as thin as I can get it.

Why I think my plan will be successful: Because Cowboy’s used lassos and that was succeful.

Our Group’s Plan  

We cut in a zig-zag shape

We chose this plan because akasawon21 told us it would work because he tried it before.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction we may cut wrong or the paper could rip.

Each team member will be responsible for drafter, cutter and fitter.

After the Build

Our design didn’t work well because we had the idea and we made it but when I tried it on it ripped.

This activity was challenging because the paper could rip really easily and fall apart.

This activity wasn’t comfortable because paper can rip really easily so it kept on ripping every time we tried to make it.

I met my teamwork organization/planning goal by I put are idea up on the blog.

A strength of my team was we didn’t give up.

An area of growth for my team is we get a little angry when we messed up and when the paper ripped.

For our next challenge, my new teamwork organization/planning goal for myself is to take a picture of my draft.

Today’s Challenge: Using only newspaper, 24 inches of tape, and one scissors, you and your partner need to create one shoe that fits either you or your partner’s foot. The shoe must be able to come on and off without falling apart.

Teamwork Rubric Focus (Communication):

My goal for communication today within my team is to listen and share my ideas.

My Individual Plan I will make a flip-flop shoe and on the bottom put tape so that the shoe has a grip on the floor. 

Why I think my plan will be successful: It is an easy plan and I have done a project like this one.

Our Group’s Plan We will make a regular shoe

We chose this plan because it hopefully should work.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction we might get into a fight.

Each partner will be responsible for JB: Model DY: Designer and Worker

After the Build

Our design worked well because it was nice and comfortable!

This activity was challenging because we ran out of tape and time.

This activity was comfortable because we did really well and had fun!

I met my teamwork communication goal by both of us shared our ideas!

A strength of my partnership was we worked super well together and didn’t fight!

An area of growth for my partnership is We needed to think of a plan.

For our next challenge, my new teamwork communication goal for myself is to let my other partner’s do some work!

Today’s Challenge: Using only provided materials ( 6 straws, 1 piece of paper, a piece of tinfoil, 12 inches of masking tape, 2 paperclips, 2 pieces of string, 1 envelope, and 2 pipe cleaners)  create a structure that holds two cups as high as possible and as far apart as possible.

Teamwork Rubric Focus:

My goal for participation today while working in my group is I want to speak up more so that my group can hear my ideas more.

My Individual Plan I think that I could tape together a paper tube with straws (as the base). The straws would be taped to the ground. I would make 2 of those and put the cup upside down on the top of the paper tubes. Also, I could make in the paper and put the string in the cups.

Why I think my plan will be successful: I could spread as far as I want because they aren’t connected. 

My Groups Plan 

We chose this plan because it was kinda all our ideas.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction we might have some tape wasted.

Each group member will be responsible for tape, construction, and cups and cutting the tape.

After the Build

Our design worked well because it didn’t.

This activity was challenging because we messed up.

I met my participation goal by helping and sharing my ideas.

A strength of my team was we all worked really well together and didn’t fight.

An area of growth for my team is we needed to try harder.

For our next challenge, my new participation goal for myself is to look at other people’s ideas.

Today in math we continued to work on solving word problems with fractions. When solving word problems we need to draw a visual to represent the problem, write an equation(s) with a variable to represent the unknown amount, show our work, and write the answer with a label. Shown below is what this looks like based on the following word problem:

“Rex is making bread. He combines 1 3/4 cups of white flour and 2 1/3 cups of wheat flour. He adds rye flour to make a total of 5 cups. How much rye flour does he add?” 11/12.

1) Here is a picture of my visual:

2) Here is a picture of my equation(s) with a variable to represent the unknown amount:

3) Here is a picture of the work I did to solve the problem:

4) My answer and label are… 11/12 cups of rye bread.

5) Why does drawing a visual help when solving a word problem?
Because then you have it in your brain.
6) How are you feeling about solving word problems with fractions? Is there anything that you still need help with or need to work on further? Sometimes I miss steps accedently.

7) We have our Unit 1 test this Friday. Is there anything that you do not understand or want more help with? Sometimes I get confused with the problems.

8) What will you do throughout this week so you are prepared for the test this Friday? I will practice so that I will get a A.

In August, I thought the following about myself as a learner: I thought I needed to be very quiet or else I would get distracted except for with music.

Today, I would add the following to my puzzle piece is I would add I don’t get very distracted with people talking because it doesn’t distract me anymore because I can focus on my work better. 

Today, I would tweak or modify my puzzle piece by changing it saying “no distractions” with instead “distractions don’t bother me anymore” because I can focus with people talking.

I think I’ve already grown this year as a learner because I can focus on my work a lot easier than before.

Thinking about working in teams in ETC, my classmates can best support my learning needs by helping me focus on work a lot more.

Essential Question: Can my group successfully plan, design and build a paper plate pinball/marble run using only the provided materials? Continue reading →

Today’s essential question: What makes a team work

Why is it important to develop the capacity to work as a member of a team, it makes the work go faster and can help you make friends.

What areas of teamwork do you find easiest and why, I find communicating the easiest because most of the people I work with I know. 

What areas of teamwork do you find most challenging and why, making sure that we don’t have a fight because we all have different  ideas.

What difference does it make if you are able to play a role in the development of assessment tools, you can learn new stuff and get work done easier.

In what way(s) do you connect this work to our Core Values: Wonder, Empathy & Tikkun Olam, For Wonder we brainstorm our ideas together for Empathy we are kind and respectful and for Tikkun Olam we are all kind!

Today I worked through two different challenges in a small group. The first challenge required me to work with my partners to build a duck out of legos in 4 minutes. The second challenge was a brain teaser where we had to solve a bunch of questions within 7 minutes.

After The duck Challenge:
What went well for my team regarding teamwork was that we all had diffrent jobs to make it easier.
What went well for my team while completing the actual task we never fought and worked really well together.
What was challenging for my team in terms of teamwork sometimes one person would do there own thing and it made us have a little trouble.
What I would do differently is problebly come out with more ideas before actually making the duck.

After the Brain Teaser:
What went well for my team regarding teamwork we all had jobs and did them well.
What went well for my team while completing the actual task we all participated.
What was challenging for my team in terms of teamwork one of the kids gave up.
What I would do differently I would try a little more harder.

When working in groups this year, I hope that we all get along really well.