Last Tuesday, Frost’s 5th grade attended the University of Utah’s Elementary Engineering Day with 5 other schools. Students broke off into groups and participated in 4 or 5 different activities, where their engineering skills were challenged.
In one of the activities, they had the challenge of seeing who could build the the tallest tower and have it withstand wind from large fans. They were only allowed to use straws, paper clips, and tape to secure the base. Although we didn’t do so hot in this category, the kids tried hard and collaborated well with one another.
Dustin, in Ms. Gelas’ class, and Nykole in Ms. Ocott’s class had built winning catapults at the school, and they got to put theirs to the test to see who’s was the most accurate against the other competitors from the other schools. They had to launch a large marshmallow and try to hit a target that was on the floor. Congratulations to Nykole for winning that competition.
A couple more challenges the student’s were given was the Slow Fish/Fast Fish competition. Students were divided into groups and each group was given a ball of clay (which was the fish) that was attached to a paper clip. Once the student’s created their fish, the paper clip was attached to a pulley system that would pull the fish across a tank of water. For the Fast Fish competition, they needed to create a design that would allow the clay to move quickly as possible in the water. For the Slow Fish competition, they needed to create a design that would cause the fish to move as slow as possible in the water. One of our group’s won the Slow Fish competition and another won the Fast Fish Competition.
The final challenge, which we won as well, was the kids had to build a boat made out of cardstock and Duck Tape and see who’s boat could hold the most hardware nuts.
As you could see, Robert Frost was well represented. A big thank you to the University of Utah Engineering Department, one of our business partners, for a fun, educational day and donation!
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