Engineers are very important people!  They are true problem solvers, designing technologies that are human-made and non-living.  Today we learned that some of the technologies engineers design meet our needs, while others meet our wants.  

Today we started to build technologies that can solve some of the problems engineers face everyday.  Check out their work to the left!

Do you know which ones will grow?  If something grows, it's incredibly unlikely that an engineer has designed it!  

Our focus this week is on identifying things that will grow, which is an indicator that it is a living thing.  Engineers design non-living things, and we will continue to work through sorts to get us thinking like engineers.  

Kindergartners also had a chance to use many different materials to begin building with.  Way to go Kindergarten!

Learning what an engineer does is hard work!  Kindergartners are learning to identify the characteristics of the designed world, focusing on the difference between living and non-living things and human-made vs. natural things.  We're starting with our first sort of the year, identifying the technologies engineers make!  Some items are tricky to identify, because not all non-living things are designed by engineers.  For example, a rock is non-living, but it is natural.  Therefore, it is not a technology that engineers design. 

We're also learning our "What Do Engineers Do?" song, which is sung to the tune of "A Farmer in the Dell."  Here's our first two verses:

What do engineers do?
What do engineers do?
Hi-ho-the-derry-o,
What do engineers do?

They design non-living things, 
They design non-living things,
Hi-ho-the-derry-o,
They design non-living things!

Engineers are super important people!

In our opening classes together coming back from my maternity leave, Kindergartners are learning about the important work engineers do!

Our first taste of engineering came from Rosie Revere, Engineer.  Rosie is challenged to make a flying machine, and with much hard work, she is able to do just that!  She never gives up in her designing!

Our second taste of engineering came from Engineering Elephants.  In our story, students quickly use patterned language to see that engineers make "stuff" like roller coasters, wind turbines, and race cards and do not make "stuff" like eggs, volcanoes, and rain clouds.  Over the next few weeks, we will officially define technology and all of its characteristics!  
Keep up the great work Kindergarten!