Marshmallow Toothpick Bridges & FREEBIE!

End of the year craziness is in full force! Field trips here, convocations there, y'all know the drill. I wanted to come up with something that would keep my kids engaged for longer than most convocations with fifth graders do, if you know what I am sayin'. 

So, I made my own twist on the classic marshmallow toothpick bridge. Students were going to build a bridge to go across two kleenex boxes using only toothpicks and marshmallows. Set up was easy-peasy. All I bought was four bags of mini marshmallows and toothpicks, all from my favorite store, TARGET! :)

I broke my class up into 8 teams and they worked together to build a suspension bridge. They had to first discuss and decide on a design for their bridge. 

Once they drew up their plans, they were handed their marshmallows and toothpicks and begin engineering and building their bridges. Each group was different and unique. Hearing them talk while they built their bridges was the best part. They were able to go over and make sure their bridge was long enough to rest on each kleenex box. I did not allow them to test their bridges with the coins. 

Once we cleaned up the stickiness that the marshmallows became, which was a MESS, it was time to test out these very creative bridges. 

My literacy specialist popped in and actually got a picture of me in the middle of our bridge testing! (Weird seeing myself on my phone without it being a selfie!)

Of course, this couldn't be a successful activity without the content. Students definitely used their STEM brains, but I also used this activity to review some of the math skills we learned this year! After we recorded all of the data on the board, it was time for the students to analyze the data by finding the mean, median, mode of the number of pennies held by each bridge. 

This was such a fun activity for the end of the year! If you want to give it a try in your classroom, click HERE to get the student book I used for this activity in my TPT store!

Lego Racecars!

The end of the year is upon us, and what a crazy, fun time of the year it is! Being a fifth grade teacher can be really tough, knowing I won't be able to see my students the next school year. I am soaking up every minute with them! I was inspired (once again) by Hope King. I wanted to have my students engaged in a multi-day math activity that reviewed a lot of the skills we learned this year. Being form Indianapolis, the Indy 500 is right around the corner, so why not have our own mini Indy 500!

The set up was overall pretty simple. I based my track on the one Hope posted on her Instagram (thank you for the tips on how to make it!). I went to Lowes and got all the materials I needed to make the track, it cost all of about $25 for it. Super easy, it was foam insulation board and pipe wrap! Other than the board, I needed to get Legos, and decorations which all came from Party City!

Day #1 is where the fun began! I welcomed my students to the Nora International Speedway and explained how the next 3 days would work. I wanted a quick way to partner them up, so I created cards with the numbers 1-12 on them and when they drew their number they found their partners for the activity. Easy peasy! 

Once they were partnered off, they were handed a bag of Legos with no other instructions and needed to make a lego car they would use for time trials on Tuesday. Other than Legos, they could use balloons and pipe cleaners. They were given no instructions on how to make it, this is where the magic happened.  We had a lot of different cars being built with a lot of teamwork. The entire first day was building and rebuilding their cars.

Day #2, TIME TRIALS DAY! The pit crew was busy making their final tweaks to their cars before they raced them on the track for the first time. On this day, each of the 12 teams raced their cars 4 times and in between each trial, they were able to make changes to help their cars go faster. I called them up team by team to race once then go back and make changes, while the time trials were happening, everyone else was working on their cars. Once they were done with their time trials, they were to analyze their teams data by finding the mean, median, mode, and range. 

Day #3, it's RACE DAY! With the sounds of the Indy 500 race cars welcoming them into the classroom Speedway! 

Two different things happened on Race Day:

1. Each team had 3 runs, each timed, for data collecting.
2. Race time! We had 3 heats to get our final four, then the checkered flag waved!

For the data collecting piece, students recorded every team's time for the data analyzing they would be asked to do after the race.

When all of the times had been recorded, the timer was put away and the races began! I had predicted on the heats and what teams would be in each. The winner of each heat would compete in the finals! My room was loud and the cheers and chants made multiple people stop into my room to see what was going on! The winner won by a landslide.

I wish I could show the faces of my students! The one at the top pretty much says it all!

As soon as the checkered flag waved, students began analyzing the data by answering three questions I had prepared for the students. This part required them to use many skills we learned in fifth grade,

-mean, median, mode, range
-adding and subtracting decimals
-ordering decimals
-graphing

This was a wonderful three days full of STEM thinking and creativity!