All Grades Study with a River Table

Special thanks to the Ottauquechee Natural Resource Conservation District for the loan of their river table for several weeks at the end of school.  Every grade (1st - 6th) was able to do hands-on learning about erosion, the natural flow of water, and how to mitigate flood damage. 

It was a wonderful way to end the year.

Afterschool Club Constructs and Launches Bottle Rockets

Students constructed water bottle rockets out of old two liter bottles - cardboard for fins, and duct tape.  We studied what it takes to balance our rockets and make the aerodynamic.  After several days of construction, we were finally able to launch!

6th Grade Designs, Constructs and Tests Heat Concentrating Devices!

Woodstock Elementary School received a small equipment grant from the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering (VASE) to purchase                      5 Vernier digital temperature probes. The 6th grade was able to use them to design, construct and test heat concentrating devices.  This is a short video about the project.

All School Speed of Sound Demonstration

This is a school wide experiment (K-6th grade) that Woodstock Elementary School did to demonstrate the speed of sound. We gathered on our village green with flags to mark the moment when we heard the whistle.

Engineering Club 2015-2016

Cody TanCreti and I presented at the Vermont Science Teachers' Conference on 5/13/2016 in Colchester VT.  Our presentation was about an Engineering Club that we ran in the STEM program here at WES.  Here is a movie about that club.

First Grade Studies "How Does a Cactus' Roots Compare to an Oak Tree's Roots?"

In this model, students used small horizontal "roots" made out of thin strips of sponge to capture "rainfall" - just like a cactus does.

  They squeezed them out and measured how much water they were able to get, as a group, in two minutes of "rain."

70 ml for our cactus

The oak tree roots were larger pieces of sponge, were able to access the water directly from groundwater,  and could be vertical to do so.  After 2 minutes, the whole group collected the amount of "oak tree" root water.

4300 ml for the oak.

Quite a difference!

While not a perfect model, it illustrates how different plants adapt to their different environments.

We ended by drawing the root systems, taking notes, and recording our experimental data!

Kindergarten Builds a LEGO Treehouse

The basic framework is a couple of different platforms separated by logs, that they can access from different levels.  The idea is that they will work together to create one large "treehouse"

The different levels allows them to work together without it being too crowded.

This will be a multi-week building project!

Fourth Grade Built and Raced Solar Cars!

 Fidelity Investments and Impact4Good donated several solar car kits for our fourth grade to use as part of their renewable energy unit.  

They worked in teams of two to complete the car of their own design.

Ready to test in a mini-race - with flashlights.

Sixth Grade Creates Scribble-Bots

As part of the Montshire Museum's 40 Schools Tinkering Challenge, the Woodstock Elementary School STEM Lab got a tinkering "kit" with enough supplies for the whole sixth grade to create scribble bots.  

Sixth Grade Finishes a 3D Printing Unit

 Using Tinkercad, their assignment was to make a car or a container - with a lid that fits.