Feats of Engineering: Building Bridges

CALENDAR EVENTS

11/1 All Saints Day Mass - Dress Uniform 
11/7 & 11/8 Parent Conferences, ASP Open
*11/15 - Parents: Come in to View Bridges, 7:55-8:10 AM

11/18 St. Philippine Mass - Regular Uniform
11/18-22 Book Fair, Reception Room, Flood Mansion
11/20 Lower Form Assembly - Dress Uniform
11/21 2:00 PM, Harvest Celebrations, meet in Little Theatre
11/22 Free Dress for Golden Shoe Win in October!
11/25-29 Thanksgiving Break

CIVIL ENGINEERING: BRIDGES
First graders started an engineering unit about bridges. We tested the strength of various materials positioned over block abutments. What are the properties? Which materials will hold up the weight? What did we observe about materials that failed? Then girls explored building bridges with: small blocks, Keva planks, Legos, and Magna tiles.

Testing Materials
  

Building Abutments for Soft Plastic
   
How Will Fabric Hold Up?
  
Recording Observations

Bridge Gallery
  

Building with Small Blocks
 
Building with Keva Planks
  
Building with Magna Tiles
 
Building with Legos: Day 1 (above) & Day 2 (below)
 

JAVIER BUILD A BRIDGE

The literature selection, Javier Builds a Bridge sets the stage for the design challenge. During lessons the girls are learning vocabulary, building models, and applying concepts in stability and strength. In their role as civil engineers, girls built three bridge models: beam, deep-beam, and arch. They tested how much weight each one would hold before collapsing (failing). Girls shared observations with partners and recorded data in their notebooks. 

Testing Bridge Models: How Many
Weights Will It Hold Before Failing?


  

Recording Data in Design Notebooks

                                      Deep Beam Bridge

  
Counting Weights to Test Stability

Where? How Did the Bridge Collapse?

                                       

                                                   Arch Bridge

   
Building the Arch & Counting Weights to Test Stability

Where? How Did the Bridge Collapse?

NOTEBOOKS: IMAGINE & PLAN
After girls sketched their own bridge ideas,  they shared ideas with their partners. Then they collaborated on a single bridge design.

Sharing Bridge Sketches

Sketching Bridge Plans

CREATE & IMPROVE

After gathering materials listed on their plans, girls started building their bridges. Throughout the process, they are testing bridges for strength and stability. When bridges fail to hold the weight of a car going across, partners work together to make improvements that will strengthen their design.

Building Abutments

Rectangles with Triangles Inside

Rectangles, Cylinders & Triangles

Testing & Making Improvements

Adding Supports to Hold Up the Span

Testing Deep Beam Construction

SAVE the DATE!

Friday, Nov. 15 at AM Drop Off:
View Bridge Designs @ 7:55 - 8:15 AM

November Newsletter

CALENDAR EVENTS
11/1 All Saints Day Mass - Dress Uniform 
11/7 & 11/8 Parent Conferences, ASP Open
*11/15 - Parents: Come in to View Bridges, 7:55-8:10 AM

11/18 St. Philippine Mass - Regular Uniform
11/18-22 Book Fair, Reception Room, Flood Mansion
11/20 Lower Form Assembly - Dress Uniform
11/21 2:00 PM, Harvest Celebrations, meet in Little Theatre
11/22 Free Dress for Golden Shoe Win in October!
11/25-29 Thanksgiving Break

SAVE the DATE: Harvest Celebrations

Please join us for a short variety performance on November 21st, including music and poetry. Immediately following the program, there will be a reception in the foyer area outside the Little Theatre. Light refreshments will be served!

LANGUAGE ARTS

Girls participate in whole class and small group lessons, using posters, big books, and guided reading level books to build fluency skills with vocabulary, oral expression, and pace. The big book selection is The Little Red Hen. Girls will be performing the Reader's Theatre plays, Baa, Baa Black Sheep.  This month's comprehension strategies, include:

•Learn/review elements of fiction.
•Summarize, synthesize, and analyze story elements: character(s), setting, problem, and solution.
• Retelling events.
Word Study lessons cover additional welded sounds with __ng and __nk and  suffix endings:__ing, __ed.  Girls will have opportunities to practice word skills in class and at home by building words with letter card sets.

WRITING WORKSHOP  
Our new Writing Workshop Unit of Study, Nonfiction Chapter Books, introduces the girls to writing information. Mini lessons will cover new concepts, as well as incorporating techniques learned in the previous narrative unit.

Girls are practicing their craft of writing by: 

• Introducing the topic of their choice

• Including lots of information

• Organizing their writing

NOTE: At parent conferences, first grader's Small Moments writing workshop folders will be sent home. Please enjoy reading the delightful collection of your daughter's narrative stories. 

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING 
Girls are diving into engineering with "To Get to the Other Side: Designing Bridges". During upcoming lessons, girls will be examining the properties of various materials and testing the materials to see whether or not they will hold the weight of a car going across a short distance. How do the materials hold up during testing? 
First graders will have hands-on experiences building models of 3 types of bridges, beam, deep-beam, and arch to test strength and stability. Girls will be applying these principles to their own original bridge design.

Please come in on Friday, 11/15 at
morning drop off to view the bridges.

SOCIAL STUDIES & SEL

This month first graders continue to explore the theme of heritage with taking a closer look at who they are and being part of many communities, including family, school, and beyond. In art class with Ms. DeYoung, girls are making a self-portrait for a classroom gallery. 
Literature selections include:
📕Be Who You Are, Todd Parr
📕It's Okay to Be Different, Todd Parr
📕Why Am I Me?, Britt, Qualls & Alko
📕Happy in Our Skin, Fran Manushkin
📕I'm Like You, You're Like Me, Cindy Gainer
📕Listening with My Heart, Gabi Garcia

Social Emotional Learning activities and discussions teach our students how to express, understand, and connect with self and others. This month we'll explore how our actions impact others with lessons that focus on THINK. 

MATH 
In Chapter 4: Subtraction Facts to 10, first graders are learning strategies for subtraction: count back, check with addition, and using tools (number bonds, ten frames with counters, number lines, etc.) for guided practice. In math journal assignments, girls show their mathematical thinking and problem-solving strategies by showing their work with number bonds and writing subtraction sentences (__ - __= __).

Subtraction in Action

One Less on the Ten Frame



Bears in Swimming Pools: One Less




Subtraction Spinners: -1, -2, -3

A LOOK AHEAD
First graders will be learning about plane shapes, solid shapes, and patterns. Working with plastic shapes and 3-dimensional foam shapes, girls will explore attributes (color, size, thickness), classify and compare shapes, and identify solid shapes (cube, rectangular prism, cylinder, cone, sphere, pyramid). Girls will be making shape models in Spark Studio with Ms. Inchausti.