3/25/2020
Home School Ideas
Grade 5: Use paper and sticks to build a kite. After you assemble the kite get some string and give it a try. You may need to modify your kite try adding a tail. Also, a great project is making paper airplanes.
Grade 6: In keeping with the egg bash car, design and build an egg drop container. You can use many things from around your house. Unlike the egg bash car, you can design a parachute to slow down the impact. Wrap the egg in Saran wrap before you put the egg the container especially if you are inside it saves a lot of clean up. To make it more interesting time the drop.
Grade 7: We are studying Truss Structures, Bridges. Try using toothpicks to make trusses. An easy way to cut the sticks it with the wire cutter jaw on needle nose pliers. To test the structures, you build you can use a paper cup and fill it with pennies and place it on top. Another way to build toothpick structures is to use mini marshmallows as connectors and come up with 3-D structures. You can also use the internet and go to West Point Bridge Builder and design and test virtual bridges. There are other bridge building programs online as well.
Grade 8: Marble Mania, try to find things around that a marble can roll through. Then make simple machines that create a chain reaction. There's lots of Marble Mania interactive games online as well.
Grade 8 STEAM: We are studying Ergonomics. Look around your house an evaluate thing like furniture and hardware around you and evaluate them for comfort, design and usefulness. Pick some of the objects and draw solutions that could improve the designs to be more ergonomic. More home school ideas to follow soon.
Our students learn traditional wood shop skills that most of their parents learned in school, problem solving and analytical skills, as well as Engineering Technology concepts that are outlined by the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Fifth Graders:
Learn the basics of measuring, cutting, sanding, and connecting materials.
Focus on Tools, Materials, and Techniques. A focus on shop safety and proper tool use is stressed on all grade levels.
Learn the six types of Simple Machines: Pulleys, Levers, Incline Planes, Wheels and Axles, Screws, and Wedges. They learn how Simple Machines work and how they give us a Mechanical Advantage over doing work without their benefit.
Sixth Graders:
Learn how to cut, measure and join materials with precision. Students must also create Isometric and Orthographic Drawings of their projects, and develop cut lists to understand what materials they will need for their projects.
Focus on the basics of construction, loads, and support. We study structures and how they work.
Learn the different types of Bridges and their advantages and disadvantages.
Seventh Graders:
Learn how to produce more advanced projects as their skill levels increase.
Focus on what are the best materials for different projects, and more advanced joinery techniques.
Learn the concepts involved in Transportation Technology, including air, ground, and water transport. They learn the natural forces affecting vehicles: thrust, drag, lift, and gravity. They learn how lift is created by understanding Bernoulli's Principle.
Eighth Graders:
Students work on projects of their own choice and the creativity to push their projects further or using more advanced tools and techniques is a major focus.
Focus on Manufacturing systems such as Mass, Batch, and Customized Production. Students learn the corporate structure of a manufacturing company and how each aspect works.
Learn advanced concepts of the Construction, Transportation, and Manufacturing Industries, as well as Communication Technology.