Making Weather Vanes during At-Home Learning Wednesday
This project helped the kids in STEAM because they created a weather vane from instructions that had been read from a Newsela assignment. We read together, annotated, and looked through the sequence of steps very carefully. Then I gave them a hard copy to use at home.
These kids that figured out the project used all kinds of thinking. They had to measure and stabilize different materials. Learning to work with your hands takes a lot of practice to build skills. They talked about how hard it was, but how interesting it is to do the problem-solving. This has allowed us to talk about all the things they see daily and how they are put together.
After our visit to the Nez Perce Historical Park where they saw artifacts from deer, salmon, plant, and fur, this project allowed them to think about the resources that people used and what they use today. It is what is around us.
Seeing the integration of all the work that they do is at the heart of 4th grade.