What's the Biggest Excavator?

Today we began our science unit about forces:  the pushes, pulls, and other actions that we do whenever we do work. In our first lesson we learned that before we had machines, we had to do lots of work by hand. We talked about how machines are not magical; rather they just seem that way because there are often moving parts hidden inside.  Students brainstormed different machines they would like to have to help with tasks they do not enjoy some ideas where: a tooth brushing machine or a room cleaning machine.  We saw the difference between how much dirt 3 digs of a shovel would scoop up versus 3 scoops of an excavator.  There was a really big difference!  We also had a chance to imagine that we were digging a swimming pool.


Sharing during Writer's Workshop continues to be popular, especially since it can be seen on the big screen!  Here is a video from a share today, lots of laughs :)