We started the second term reading Ed Clayton's biography of Martin Luther King. The Peaceful Warrior describes King's life as a youngster, his ancestral roots, and some of his accomplishments. We've been discussing segregation laws and today we initiated a discussion about The Montgomery Bus Boycott. As we head toward the MLK weekend, students will have a short writing assignment about being a participant in the boycott or a spectator outside of Dr. King's bombed house. Over the long weekend, students will be asked to write an interpretation of selected passages from Dr. King's I Have a Dream Speech.
In science, we've launched into a gravity powered car building challenge. Each student is working to design and build a vehicle that can travel down a ramp and continue in a straight line across the gym floor. Each student will use his or her vehicle to explore friction, mass, and momentum. The vehicles must accommodate a selection of weights and an electronic timing device. We'll gather very accurate test data and work to explain test results. Students will learn to enter data into an Excel spreadsheet and run a graphing program.
Attached are photos of vehicles being built and dioramas from James and the Giant Peach.
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