Let the games begin!!

From the National Science Foundation website:

"Engineering faster and safer bobsleds: Steve Holcomb, Steve Langton: Michael Scully, of BMW DesignWorks USA, and mechanical engineer Mont Hubbard, professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, explain the engineering challenges associated with making sleds faster and tracks safer."

Visit their website NSF website to see more stories about the Science behind the Winter Olympics~

1 day and counting!!!

 I can't believe that the Olympics begin tomorrow night (actually some preliminary
competition started this afternoon!).  The opening ceremonies will be on TV tomorrow night.  I will post more information later, but here is a neat video about speed skating and the science behind the competition suits - "cool stuff"!!

LEAP SHARING SESSION and more...

We ended our LEAP week with a "sharing session" of all of the 1st-4th grade classes.  Brie did a wonderful job explaining what we had done in our Complicated Contraptions session and I would like to share some of her comments with you now:

"Have you ever heard of a man named Rube Goldberg?"  Well, he took simple tasks and made them complicated.  That is what we did in our LEAP session.  We used marble runs, gumball machines, battery-powered and remote controlled cars, tracks, mega-blocks, jenga blocks, quadrilla blocks, and dominos to design and create interesting ways to make objects move.  We even used Goldieblox to build a float that was then pulled by a small battery-powered car.  Goldieblox are kits that encourage invention and teach us engineering concepts...

If you watched the Super Bowl last night, you may have seen the history-making Goldieblox commercial during the 3rd quarter.  The small company won a contest run by Intuit and their prize was a 30 second ad!

Click on the Smilebox below to see our designing, creating, and inventing process at work:

This slideshow design created with Smilebox Click here if you want to know more about Goldieblox toys

Complicated Contraptions

This week is a fun week in the Lower School filled with new and interesting experiences as we Learn, Enrich, and Play (LEAP).  My group is working to create "Complicated Contraptions" and we are using Rube Golberg Machine model as our inspiration.  I will share photos and a video soon, but here is something to enjoy while we complete our contraption!




You might also want to check out for experiments you can do at home:
PBS Kids
Goldberg Invention on PBS
Another Goldberg Invention on PBS
Goldie Blox

Olympics continued...

After working with several first grade classes this week on their "seasons" project, I was excited to run across this video about the "science of snow" and how it relates to the Winter Olympics.




I also ran across a list of books about the Winter Olympics from Reading Rockets that you might enjoy:

Click here for book list

9 days until the competition begins!! I've got the fever...

Olympic Fever that is!  Here is another website with neat scientific facts behind the Olympic sports.  I hope that you enjoy watching the video clips as much as I do:)

USA Ski Jumper Lindsey Van

Click here to watch the videos:
Science behind the sports

More Olympic Info...

 Please check out this cool video about the Olympic sport of "Curling" -


The Science of Curling from ProjectExplorer.org in Canada from ProjectExplorer.org on Vimeo.