Finishing Projects 5

Will just finished his fifth round of projects for school. He really enjoyed this group of projects, and I think he is a bit sad to see them done. The math and science class projects were both zoo-related. In math, the kids learned about fractions and their final presentation was a recipe book for treats they could feed to their assigned zoo animals. The kids had to use those recipes to inspire a similar kid-friendly healthy snack and write the recipes for those snacks, too.

Will and his math team were assigned to feed gorillas. It was fun to learn alongside him and see how much math really is involved in feeding the animals. In part of his preliminary research, Will found LOTS of fractions as he was learning about the diet of a wild Western Lowland Gorilla. Though he didn't end up using all the information he found in his project, these kinds of facts led to lots of great math-discussion in our afternoons together:

• The Western Lowland gorilla eats parts of at least 97 plant species
• About 67% of their diet is fruit, 17% is leaves, seeds and stems and 3% is termites and caterpillars.
• An adult male gorilla may consume more than 45 lb. of vegetation per day; an adult female may eat 2/3 of that.
• They rarely drink in the wild because they eat morning dew and succulents which are almost half water.

Each recipe in his cookbook had to be listed in order from smallest amount to largest. As he was doing the final touches, he pulled out lots of cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons (and all the partials) and made sure he had them in the right order. He was excited to explain to his teacher that he even took eggs into account and put them where they would fit on the list (2 eggs were listed after 1/4 cup of one ingredient, but before 2/3 of another.)

His science project was to design an enclosed ecosystem for a particular group of animals to be on exhibit at a zoo. His group was assigned a study of the marine life near Antarctica, and his team designed a series of large pools and caves for a beluga, narwhal, seal, and walrus. We made a special trip to the miniature-train store to get some fake grass to be the algae in the model they created, but the animals and smaller sea-life that would be food were made from clay.

Friday, the parents were invited to tour the zoo exhibits. All the kids were dressed up to explain what they designed and why they made the choices they did. They showed their blueprints, their explanations, and their models. They showed their zoo recipe books and had samples of the people-friendly healthy snacks, and they could all explain why those snacks were considered healthy. Posted all around the room were lots of the kids' artwork from the last several weeks.

Will's English-Language Arts-Reading (ELAR) class project was about heroes. The final project was to write a letter to a local television station nominating an everyday hero. The goals of the project were to define "hero" by studying several mythical and historic heroes. There were several mini essays that explained traits of particular heroes, and the final essay was a letter. Today, the school had a receptions so the students could honor their heroes. It was a sit-down-and-visit-type reception, but many of the heroes were in photos around the room, the older students (5th/6th graders) were interviewed for a video presentation about their heroes, and the students gave copies of their nominations to their heroes. I was happy to see that Allen is Will's hero -- is there anyone better than a dad for a son to consider a hero? Some of the reasons Will listed were that Allen helps him with his homework, he is honest and hardworking, and he does a great job loving his family. I'm hoping Will can always see what a hero his dad is.

As I said, I think the end of a project (or group of projects) is always bittersweet. After spending four weeks on these lessons, it is sweet to see it all come together to be something the kids can all be so proud of. It is great to be in the presentations and see how much they encourage and support each other, yet how much each student has learned and masted on his own. I love to see them beaming with joy at being able to share what they've learned. But, when Will gets into a project that he can be passionate about, I sort of hate to see that part end. In the next few days, he will be reflecting on what he learned -- not about the animals and heroes as much, but about what he learned about himself... what he did well, what he needs to improve upon, what he and his team struggled with, what they did with ease. Soon, the next round of excitement will begin.... and WE can't wait to see what the next projects are!