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I love to have my second graders make traps. Depending on the time of year, it could be for a turkey (Thanksgiving), cupid (valentine’s day), leprechaun (st pat’s), or a certain animal or critter. I will either give them the item dimensions that they will trap, or a paper cutout of the item so that they can tailor the trap for the particular “catch”. I hope that makes sense. If by that time I have covered simple machines, I will incorporate that vocabulary into their design requirements. I can share the actual lesson plan if you would like! rebeccaschnekser@capehenry.org

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I’m a huge fan of the Engineering is Elementary program by the good folks at the Boston Museum of Science (MOS), available here: http://eie.org/. The units are crazy good, designed expressly for a classroom by classroom teachers, and have hands-on challenges that kids love. The program is literacy based, meaning, the challenges revolve around terrific, short stories that feature school-aged kids, with a significant multi-cultural and inclusive focus, who learn about a particular type of engineering that solves a real-world problem. They then are tasked with completing a similar challenge. I’m GREATLY oversimplifying – the power of EiE is its flexibility and the fact that EVERYTHING a teacher needs is addressed and included. Assessments, vocabulary, lessons – and you can customize to your heart’s content. The program is also very inexpensive, and the materials needed for the challenges are typically household type items, easily attainable, but also sold as a kit if desired (these can get kinda pricey but they are convenient. They also freely provide a list of the materials in each kit if you wish to buy everything yourself.) I used this program for three years in a K-4 setting and it was fantastic. I have no connection to these folks, I just love promoting products and organizations that are crazy awesome for kids!