All of the following projects are optional. However, I highly encourage your child to do at least a few during the year. These projects are designed to build on your child's current unit and/or to expand their knowledge in certain subjects. Each project is to be completed BY THE STUDENT at home. Parents and older siblings may help with the logistics of a project, but the ideas and final project should be completed solely by the student. They will then be brought into class and presented to their class. If the project is too big to bring in, it can be video taped at home and sent in to class. If you are video taping a project, you must convert it to an mp4 before sending it to me or saving it on a flash drive. You can also upload it to YouTube or bring the device in and we can watch it from the device. If you have any questions about one of the projects, please let me know!
At Home Projects Specific To This Years Units:
General At Home Projects: These Are Good All Year
Engineering Projects
1. Create a working Rube Goldberg machine. You will need to:
Research who Rube Goldberg is and what a Rube Goldberg machine is.
Create a working Rube Goldberg machine.
Video you working on/demonstrating your machine.
Make a prediction of how many times it will take before your machine is successful and then test your machine. Use this data to make a graph for your presentation.
During your class presentation you will need to show your video and discuss the above points.
2. Create a working Archimedes Screw to lift rice. 3. Create a working water clock from Ancient Greece. 4. Create a working Greek catapult that hurls a "stone" or throws an arrow. 5. Create a working Greek chariot with rolling wheels.
Geography Projects
1. Memorize the name and location of at least 100 countries and be able to label them on a blank map in front of Mrs. Sanchez.
2. Research a country that has a female president and write a report about that person. Include in your report how she is seen from different points of view. For instance, how do the poor people see her, how do the farmers see her, how do other presidents see her, etc. Think about the following things:
Was she the first female elected?
How is she viewed among the people?
What are some specific things she supports or is against?
3. Create a Venn Diagram that compares the geography and civilization of Ancient Greece to Ancient Egypt or Rome.
Research Projects
1. Create a documentary on a topic of interest. The documentary needs to be well researched and filmed. It should be at least 5 minutes. You can chose any topic, but some ideas are:
a specific animal you don't already know a lot about
a geographic location or place of interest
how something works or is built
a profession that you are interested in
2. Create a biography that tells the complete history of someone’s life who changed the world. In that biography you need to describe what actions they took that changed the world and what were the impacts of those actions. I would like you to consider someone who isn’t very well known and someone you don't already know about. Some ideas of people are:
Albert Einstein
Rosa Parks
Henry Dunant
Bill Gates
Plato, Aristotle, or Socrates
Elon Musk
Liu Yang
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins
Jacques Piccard
James Cameron
Leonardo Di Vinci
Andy Warhol
Mother Teresa
Stephen Hawking
Todd Beamer
Malala Yousafzai
Irena Sendler
Lois Gibbs
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
and the list could go on...
**There are many different ways to present these projects, be creative!
Science Projects
1. Research the periodic table. Create an interactive periodic table and explain what it is and its purpose to the class. 2. Create a model of the water cycle and explain it to the class.
Reading/Writing Projects
1. Memorize one of your favorite poems. Then create a piece of art work that symbolizes the poem. During your class presentation you will recite the poem from memory and talk about/share your artwork with the class. 2. Write a