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DISTRACTED DRIVING

We coded a simple driving game and then played distracting noises, simulated talking on the phone or texting while students played the game.  We graphed which distractions caused the drivers to crash or drive off the road most often. 

This Science Fair Experiment won First Place in the New Haven Citywide Science Fair.

CORNELL WEST’S “JOURNEY”

Using text from Cornell West’s “Journey” my class studied the evolution of music.  Students researched and created posters about famous artists for each musical genre. 

We made a recording of students preforming West’s words and used iMovie to lay example beats in the background.  They worked in groups to create tableaus (still pictures) of each musical movement.  Then we created diagrams of each group’s tableau to memorize choreography. Our unit culminated in our final performance for our school’s Brotherhood Assembly.

10,000 PAPER CLIP MEMORIAL

After writing and receiving the LilySarahGrace Fund grant for our Arts-Integration Holocaust inquiry project, students researched and created a Holocaust Memorial to complement our reading of Hana’s Suitcase.  At our unveilling party students presented the rationale and symbolism for each part of our memorial to families and community members such as Hedda Rosner Kopf, author of Understanding Anne Frank’s The Diary Of A Young Girl, and Marji Lipshez-Shapiro of the Anti-Defamation League.

MATH ART

Students used fractions to create jars with different pitches and composed their own songs. The class constructed shapes with straws and calculated perimeter. We created factor rainbows to visualize key math skills. Students created Pizza Fractions to help them better understand core math concepts. Students used beads and bamboo to create a 3-dimensional multiplication table.  “Figure Me Out” posters helped students introduce themselves to the class. Chenille stem circles helped students discover the ratio of Pi while creating an artistic mobile. The digits of Pi were made into a bar graph of buildings with a watercolor sky.

BE THE CHANGE

Our class worked with popular recording artist MC Yogi  to evoke the inspirational words of Mahatma Gandhi.  We produced our own recording of MC Yogi’s song and created the art to produce a music video.  “How can we be the change that we want to see in the world?” became our essential guiding question.

We then researched and made “Facebook pages” for others who changed the world. We wrote letters in support of Malala receiving the Noble Peace Prize. Students wrote small steps they could do to help the school, our class and our community.  They held themselves accountable to “being the change” by writing a log of all steps taken to help others.

S.T.E.M. CHALLENGES

Hands on STEM challenges are student favorites. They teach teamwork, problem solving, engineering, design and grit. Here are a few of our favorites.

Who can build the tallest index card tower? Can we create clay pyramids that are freestanding and hollow? How can we remove index cards from between plastic cups without tipping the tower? How can we build the longest bridge still strong enough to transport a toy car?