Innovation Day
Our Innovation Day projects, were inspired by the book Make Way for Animals! A World of Wildlife Crossings by Meeg Pincus. Special thanks go to Brigitte, our librarian, for suggesting this book as a starting point for our projects.
We read Make Way for Animals and learned about wildlife crossings in different parts of the world. As a class, we wondered if we could create wildlife crossings to help animals cross busy roads safely. The students were excited; they chose specific animals to help and began designing a wildlife crossing.
The challenge was to design and build a structure to help animals cross busy roads. All projects needed to be strong enough to hold 100 g and be at least 30 cm long.
The students were allowed to work independently or with a partner for the project. The class got busy planning, designing, cutting cardboard, and gluing. Many designs changed during the building process, but ultimately, the students met with success. The children worked on their structures and helped classmates as building problems arose. One of our north stars, “We Learn Better Together,” was put into practice. Students demonstrated patience and perseverance and were proud of their accomplishments.
Innovation Day was exciting; thank you to everyone who came to our class. Showing the projects to the parents and grandparents was lots of fun. Now, students want to keep building and planning with more STEM challenges. As a teacher, I admit these challenges are so much fun.
