With the goal of lifting the most weights, first graders continue to design, test, and improve their windmills!  Because wind energy is clean energy, why not use this energy to do work for us?!?!

Students are changing the size, shape, material or number of blades on each of their windmill designs.  They continue to ask questions about how their designs can be improved to catch more wind energy!  Between both first grade classes, the record to beat is now 21 weights. 

Keep up the great work mechanical engineers!  Your machines make lifting weights easier!

With our plans complete, there is only ONE thing first graders are thinking about!

"MRS. BRINZA!  WHEN can I create and test my windmill design?!?!?!"

With their windmills built and the fans running, first graders are combining all that they have learned about materials/properties, wind energy and the engineering design process to build a windmill that can do the most work for them.  Our work is being measured by the number of washers it can lift.  Even if our designs do not work the first time, first graders know that engineers use a process in their work to try to improve their designs.  

So far, the most weights any windmill design has lifted is 15!  Who can design a machine to do more work using the energy of the wind?!?!  The record at STEM is 44 washers, set back in 2011!

A HUGE thanks goes out to Mrs. O'Neill and Mrs. Abel for volunteering with first grade!   

First graders are using what they've learned from their sail designs and applying that into designing the blades of a windmill.  We've asked a lot of questions about the materials, size, shape and structure of our sails, so we feel pretty confident about about designing the blades of a windmill.  We're using the Engineering Design Process to imagine and plan our designs before we begin building and testing them.  Check out the first graders who are planning their designs together!  Way to go first grade!  

First graders continue to design, test, and improve their sail cars.  With the ultimate goal to travel the distance of the carpet with the most weights possible, first graders have quickly seen how the properties of the sail affect its performance!

The designs are limitless, but they all share something in common.  Each design someone creates catches the wind and does not allow the wind to go over or under it!  Way to go first grade!

First graders are putting everything they've learned about mechanical engineering into action!  They know that machines do work for us, that they need an action or force to get it moving, and that another part begins to move!

Using everyday materials, first graders are making sail cars.  While the body and wheels of the car remains constant, they are having the opportunity to use what they know about the materials they investigate to make different sails.  Testing the sails in front of box fans, they can change their design so that the sail car moves the farthest distance across the carpet with the heaviest weight inside.  We'll be testing our sail cars over the next two weeks!

In order to design a machine that can do work for them, first graders are testing various materials and how they respond to the wind.  Identifying various properties of the materials, they will predict which materials will make the best possible sails for a sail car. 

Is the material heavy or light?  Transparent or opaque?  Elastic or inelastic? Smooth or bumpy?  Which properties actually determine whether a sail will catch the wind?  First graders are asking all these great questions before they plan and build their sail cars!

Since we've finished our mechanical engineering story,  first graders are not seeing exactly how machines move and as a result, make work easier.  This week and next week we are focusing on the following things:

1.  The purpose of the machine (Why it was created?)
2.  The action needed to get the machine moving (Push/Pull)
3.  The resulting action of the initial force (How did the parts move?)
4.  The advantages (+) and disadvantages of the machines.

Using what they know about windmills catching the wind, first graders created diagrams that show how Leif and Dana built a windmill to solve the fishes' problem of not being able to breathe!  Great work first grade!

Leif and Dana are the main characters in our mechanical engineering story.  Dana quickly discovers a problem...that her fish seem to be pumping their gills hard!

First graders put their knowledge to the test!  Why would all the fishes' gills be pumping so hard?  We've revealed our first problem of the year!!!  How can someone get air into the water so that the fish can breathe easier?  Is there a machine that can help us?  I WONDER!

Caption to the left:  "The problem is there's no air in the water and fish there [are] pumping there gills hard."

Mechanical engineers design machines that do wonders for us!  While all machines need a force to get them moving, some specific machines use the wind to do its work.  We're learning new vocabulary related to mechanical engineers, including anemometer, wind turbine, and windmill.  First graders have had the chance to see all of these machines in action...and how they do work for us!  The student to the left holds the fan as Mrs. Brinza holds an anemometer in front of it.  An anemometer is a tool scientists use to measure the wind's speed.