2nd graders presenting their “water park” during Town Meeting. (View a clip of their presentation below)
Everyone knows that kids are drawn to water like moths to a flame. But Mr. Pike’s 2nd graders elevated splish-splash to an art form for a recent Town Meeting. And their science unit on liquids and solids was the perfect backdrop for the performance.
In preparing for the Town Meeting, the class discussed how to share their science learnings in a fun and engaging way. After some discussion one student, Adyn Torres, suggested that the class build a water park as part of the show. Other students were quick to point out that water parks combined both liquids and solids and also connected to one of the learning activities they had done in which students used their understanding of the properties of various solid materials in order to construct towers. Another student, Arianha Bautista, suggested they use wood for the water park because of its rigidity as a building material.
After a weekend of hammering and sawing, Mr. Pike had constructed a tower-like structure that could be slotted together very quickly. With the help of friend and part-time DJ, Dave Moscarelli, Mr. Pike even chose music that would accompany the on-site construction.
The students’ eyes lit up that Monday morning as Mr. Pike lugged in some strange looking wooden tower pieces with plastic tubes intended to be the water slides. The students dove in with enthusiasm and quickly figured out how to construct the towers and add the plastic tubing/water slides to the tempo of a three minute piece of music. Teaching Partners, Rose Claprood and Christian Staton helped with rehearsals for the event.
View a clip of their presentation below:
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