1st Grade Engineers at Work!

How would your life be different if you were an individual that used a  wheelchair? This was the question posed to Mrs. Taylor’s first class at Glen Allen Elementary after reading the story Sidewalk Patrol by Larry Brimner. The story focused on a woman that faced a difficult time using the sidewalk due to her disability. In the story, the children assisted the woman by removing obstacles from her path. Mrs. Taylor’s class discussed how their day to day lives would be different if they were bound to a wheelchair. The majority of students found that playing on equipment during recess would be the most challenging. Mrs. Taylor reached out to her students’ parents and asked for them to send in a picture of a local playground. The students looked at the pictures together and decided that they wanted to design a special piece of equipment that a wheelchair bound child could utilize at Springfield Park. After extensive research with the help of a 4th grade class, Mrs. Taylor’s first graders divided into small groups, came up with an idea of a new piece of equipment, sketched a rough draft in their science journals and then created a commercial/explanation of their invention. They had to include at least three shapes that they had been learning about in geometry in their creation and label them. Students had three choices for how they wanted to carry out their final project:

1. Use Pixie with a Voice Over

2. Use Google Drawing, export the drawing as a jpg and drag it to a PowerPoint slide to do a voice over

3. Use the iPad apps Doodle Buddy and Educreations

Check out their innovative equipment and cast your vote at the end of this post:

1- Monkey Bar Lift (Google Drawing & Powerpoint):


Monkey Bar Lift from Julie on Vimeo.

2- Wheelchair Slide (Pixie):


Wheelchair Slide from Julie on Vimeo.

3- Arm Stretcher (Pixie):


Arm Stretcher from Julie on Vimeo.

4- The Automatic Swing (Doodle Buddy app & Educreations):

5- Wheelchair Swing (Pixie):


Wheelchair Swing from Julie on Vimeo.

6- Science Dude (Pixie):


Science Dude from Julie on Vimeo.

7- The Mega Cart (Google Drawing & Powerpoint):


Megacart from Julie on Vimeo.

8- Swing a Lee (Pixie)

Swing-a-lee from Kelley Taylor on Vimeo.

Which piece of equipment would be the best addition to Springfield Park playground?
1- Monkey Bar Lift
2- Wheelchair Slide
3- Arm Stretcher
4- The Automatic Swing
5- Wheelchair Swing
6- Science Dude
7- The Mega Cart
8- Swing a Lee

polling

Mrs. Taylor made an AWESOME video that captures all the parts of this project. Sit back and enjoy the show :)

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