The whole school was buzzing with excitement over the cardboard challenge last Wednesday. 5th grade classes set up their cardboard projects in the gym and cafetaria for the whole school to enjoy.   It seems like the first all school project share event we have had in a couple of years so the children were ecstatic.  Teachers did a great job of spacing out classes to have a safe event.  5th graders were so proud and excited to share their creative solutions with peers..

We had tossing games, board games, paper airplane throwing games, bopping games, and games where children hid inside to manipulate the game surfaces.  We even had a mystery room and life sized boats and tanks to relax in.  I was impressed by this year's students and all that they collaborated to accomplish in three work periods.  There was so much creative problem solving that goes into getting a game from a drawing on paper to an actual standing game.  Students had to take in account the time restriciton, engineering in function, structure, creativity.  It was a great two weeks of innovation and fun!

Thanks to all that donated cardboard!  We had an abundance of every size of cardboard.  It made for great building.  Thank you!

This week was all about the 5th grade Cardboard Challenge.  There was a ton of cardboard thanks to you all.   The children loved coming to CLIC every day working in teams creating games or experiences out of cardboard.  It was so fun watching them problem solve and create such awesomely creative solutions. We will be sharing these projects with the whole school on Wednesday.  

CLIC Clubs are going great!  I am so impressed by how hard everyone is working.  It reflects in the craftsmanship of the work students are creating as well as the uniqueness in thought.

Mechanical contraptions class is especially challenging since there are so many factors that go into getting the cam driven gears to mechanize the top friction gears.  Every child's project is different so they can not just make it and it works.  Careful thought has to go into each step.  There is a huge learning experience when students realize they have to test, reengineer, retest, and probably reengineer again.  It is the engineering design process in real time and the kids are loving it when
they get their machines to work. This week we are adding the characters or scenes that will be mechanized.

Basket makers are whizzing along making all kinds of shapes, adding beads, and finishing off the top this week.  Students are going to learn how to weave a cover or flat trivet this week.

The last set of pictures is Mrs. Kelleher's 4th grade class doing expressive Landform pictures for Science.  We looked at the art of Georgia O'Keefe for inspiration and then drew different types of landforms in water soluble oil pastels. We then blended the pastel with water to create dreamlike paintings.  It was a great fusion of art and science.

All 6th graders came to CLIC this week for two hours plus optional lunch work blocks to create Panamesian coil baskets.  We learned about the different types of cultural objects from Panama and how the bright artwork is influenced by the tropical climate, animals, and people.

Students then learned how to create coil baskets based on authentic Panamesian techniques.  This was a challenging project for students and tiring.  It takes alot of strength to tightly pull the strings to create a basket or flat trivet.  In the end, my hope is that students will appreciate the workmanship behind these cultural objects.