CURRICULUM TIES
GRADE 4
Poetry in the Park
ACTIVITY:
Students watch a thought provoking video regarding sustainability of the planet. Following the video, students are taken outside and instructed to write a reflective poem, based on their reaction to the video. Later, students will have the opportunity to share their poem with the class if they choose.
OBJECTIVE:
Students develop intrinsic reflective skills when they are given the opporunity to fully form a response to an issue. This activity allows for the students to make an emotional connection to the issue and reflect on it. The students will also be exposed to a variety of reflections, reminding them of the different perspectives on every issue.
RESOURCES:
Children Respond to Poverty Video
OUTCOMES:
L.A.
2.2 Respond to texts
-experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres, such as personal narratives, plays, novels, video programs, adventure stories, folk tales, informational texts, mysteries, poetry and CDROM programs
SOCIAL - Benchmarks
Social Participation as Democratic Practice -“drawing attention to situations of injustice where action is needed”
Communication - “express opinions and present perspectives”
Sustainable ACTIVITY
Wind Challenge
OUTCOMES
Science:
Topic B: Wheels and Levers
4–6 Students will demonstrate a practical understanding of wheels, gears and levers by constructing devices in which energy is transferred to produce motion.
Topic C: Building Devices and Vehicles that Move
4–8 Explore and evaluate variations to the design of a mechanical device, demonstrating that control is an important element in the design and construction of that device.
Renewable Energy Sources through natural Resource: Wind
TO DO
Hand out copies of the images of different types of wind turbines, compare their design and discuss how they work. The main difference in design is that turbines producing electricity need to spin fast so have fewer (typically three), thinner blades. Those that harness wind power to drive machinery, such as water pumps and windmills, need a higher torque and to be more stable. They generally have a higher number of larger blades.
Main Task: Ask students to design a simple wind turbine capable of lifting a cup off the floor up to bench height. The winning team will be the one producing a machine that lifts the most weight
Set the challenge and discuss the variables that will be involved in making design decisions
Shape of the blades/ Size of blades
/ Thickness of blades / Number of blades
/ How the shaft is attached to the desk
Resources for activity:
http://practicalaction.org/wind-power-challenge
About...
Students are given minimal materials and asked to design a wind powered machine that can lift a weighted cup off the floor. Discuss how wind power has been used throughout history to power sailboats, mill grain for flour etc. and that now it is seen as one of the solutions to the major problem facing society today – that of producing a sustainable, renewable energy source.