Technology and Design February 5, 2016

Welcome to Technology and Design for grade 7! I will emailing weekly

newsletters throughout the semester. If you prefer to only get one copy of this in
your household, please let me know. You will receive these weekly emails looking
back at our activities during the week and a looking ahead at those in the weeks to
come. Hopefully, it will spark some conversation about what were doing in class.
This year at FMS, we are focusing on increasing collaboration to use
students individual strengths to enhance our learning experiences. Ask your child
about our first day of the semester challenge where we tried to, Save Fred. Fred
the Worm had been out sailing his boat on the Chesapeake Bay. He has never
learned to swim and he never wears his life preserver. His boat has capsized and
hes stuck on top. His life preserver stayed in the boat when it flipped over but he
did not know how to reach it without falling off and drowning. The STEM teams
had to save Fred using only one set of tools four paper clips. Students could not
touch Fred, the boat or the life preserver directly with their hands. Our groups
all had 100% success at saving Fred. We tried to make the challenge more
interesting by decreasing the number of paper clips.
We also had a challenge where we were trying to make the longest chain with
the same amount of materials in each group. Each group received a piece of
construction paper and had 2 days to create their chain. They started by
preplanning how they would attempt to make the longest chain. Groups had
different ideas of how to make this work. Some had thin links while others had
thick. Some had small links while others had monster size. Our winning group won
with a chain length of 19.8 meters. We graphed and analyzed our data. They
engaged in valuable conversation and essential cooperation in order to accomplish a
common goal! Collaboration and digging for deeper understanding guide our
instruction this year.
Friday, we will have a town hall meeting during this class.
I have created a blog of our class to show you what is going on in the
classroom. The website is: www.mrsgrandin.weebly.com Click on the tab at the top
that says, Technology and Design. I will uploading pictures of our challenges
multiple times throughout the week.

Announcements:
Next week, our counselor, Mrs. Finch, will be coming into Social Studies
classes to discuss registration for next school year. I wanted to let you know
about a course that will be offered next year that is new to Farquhar that is
another version of Technology and Design that will offered. It is called, Sea
Perch. The official description of this course is: Students develop an
understanding of the cultural, social, economic, and political effects of the
technology; the role of society in the development and use of technology; and the
influence technology on history. Students use engineering design, troubleshooting,
research and development, invention and innovation, and experimentation in
problem solving while learning to use and maintain technological systems. Students
will research, design, construct, and test their sea perch device to solve a natural
or manmade disaster. This course will involve making an underwater robot and
testing it out at Naval Sea Systems Command in Carderock, MD. If you child is
interested, look for this course being offered during registration next month.
27th Annual Females in Science and Technology Conference Montgomery
Blair HS sponsors a conference for 7th grade girls to help build and sustain interest
in math, science, and technology. The conference is scheduled for Saturday,
March 19th from 8:45-2:00. The program is completely free of charge, you just
need to provide your own bag lunch and your own transportation. There is only
space for 15 seventh grade girls from Farquhar to attend. In years past, the girls
that have back from the conference have only had positive things to say with the
program. It is extremely hands on and they get to pick a preference sheet of
different activities to choose from: Fossils and skeletons, biology, botany,
forensics, robotics, engineering, computer science, mathematics, rockets and
space, chemistry, and physics. If your daughter is interested, please email me.
Registration is due by February 19th.
The University of Maryland Physics Department is providing an exciting
summer camp opportunity: the Physics of Quidditch Summer Camp. The camp
takes a fun, interdisciplinary approach to exploring concepts in physics through the
literature of the Harry Potter novels and the real-world sport of quidditch. I have
attached a flyer and provided a link if you are interested.
http://umdphysics.umd.edu/events/aboutus-outreach/outreach-physicsquidditch.html
Coming Up:

Challenges:
Paper Tower
Popsicle Stick Catapults
Dates:
February 8-12 Our counselor, Mrs. Finch, will be talking about registration
in Social Studies classes.
February 9-12 NO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES due to Outdoor
Education (Grade 6)
February 15 No School
February 17 Honor Roll Celebrations
February 25 Holocaust Speakers Period 3
February 26 Half Day