Friday, August 12, 2011

First Week Fun... Saving Fred


School started on Wednesday and I am tee-totally worn out now that it is Friday! I have a great new group of 4th graders and am looking forward to watching them learn and grow this year!
As one of two 4th grade science teachers, I am always looking for new ideas. I think I hit the JACKPOT! One of the terrific ideas I got this summer from either bloggy friends or pinterest... (can't remember which since I stalked both on a daily basis) was the Saving Fred experiment for my 4th grade science classes. WOW! What fun and a terrific team building and problem solving activity! The plan I followed comes from here.
The goal is to save fred (a gummy worm) by retrieving his life preserver ( gummy life saver) from under the boat (clear plastic cup) using only 4 paper clips. Fred is stranded on top of the cup!
See what I mean... Poor Fred!
But never fear..... I am happy to report that ALL 20 Fred's were saved today at Huntertown Elementary, thanks to some amazing 4th grade problem solvers!
A SAVED Fred!
After the students completed the experiment, they completed a flowchart, in their Interactive Science Notebooks, showing the steps they took to save Fred. They then had to include a written description, and answer questions about problems they encountered.
All I can say is this is a definate repeat experiment for next year! I can not wait to get all my photo releases in so I can post pictures of the kids. If you could have only seen their faces! And of course each pair wanted their picture taken with Fred once he was saved! I do admit that their affection for Fred did not last long... he and his life preserver ended up in their tummies! What fun!

27 comments:

  1. Awesome! A fan suggested this activity to me on my facebook page and I am going to try it. Did you make the worksheet or did you find it some where?

    ~Lorraine

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  2. What a SUPER fun activity!! I think I'll use this activity the first week of school too with my 4th graders--thanks for sharing!! :D

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  3. Where do you get most of your science activities? I am always looking for new things that aren't in our book.

    Thanks for sharing--great idea!

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  4. Lorraine- Where I typed The plan I follwed comes from here. The word here is hyperlinked to take you to where I got the directions and worksheet. I really need to change the color of my hyperlinks. :-)

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  5. Mrs. P- I get a lot of my ideas for experiments from the internet. Blogs, teacher websites, pinterest, and of course google searches.

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  6. Becky, I tried clicking on the word here and it didn't take me anywhere. This looks os fun I want to do it too!

    Marisa
    iDream.iPlan.iTeach

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  7. I don't know why the link isn't working... it works on mine. Anywho, here is the link for you! :-)
    http://www.sd41.k12.id.us/Staff/abosworth/Biology%20Documents/Basics%20of%20Life/Labs/Save%20Fred.pdf

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    Replies
    1. That link didn't work for me either, but I found it elsewhere http://6sci.pbworks.com/f/Save+Fred+ebook.pdf

      Thanks for the great find!

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  8. Thanks for posting the full link. Don't know why I couldn't get the link to work...maybe it's my browser. Thanks again!!

    Marisa
    iDream.iPlan.iTeach

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  9. Looks like fun. I am going to try this with my class this year. Thanks

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  10. This looks great! What are the general rules? How many students do you have in a group? Thanks for sharing. This is awesome!

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  11. This activity looks like an excellent one for the first week of school. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  12. Just wanted to let you know I nominated you as one of my top blogs! Thanks for sharing your ideas.
    You are a Top Blog!

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  13. Because the Himalayas, home of the snow, is the most impressive system of mountains on the earth, and for centuries the setting for epic feats of exploration and mountain climbing / treks, are a world into themselves.

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  14. Good and another post from you admin :)

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  15. Do you still have directions, the links aren't working for me. Thanks!

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  16. I can't seem to make the links work for the "Fred" activity. HELP!! This looks like a GREAT activity!!! Thanks!

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  17. Please fix the link this activity looks great!

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  18. I would also love the directions. I believe that the website that you have hyperlinked is no longer working or the link is no longer updated. This is a great activity that many of us would love to do if you would not mind posting the directions?

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  19. I would also LOVE to do this activity the first day of school!! Please post directions!!

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  20. Please, please post the link again! I would love to try this as well. The link above is no longer working.
    Thanks
    Lynda

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  21. LOVE IT!! Please post the link again!!!

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  22. Hi everyone, I found this when I googled.
    http://6sci.pbworks.com/f/Save+Fred+ebook.pdf

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  23. I just took the picture and recreated the Work sheet myself.

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  24. Managed to track down the flow chart, this site has it! https://extension.purdue.edu/4h/Documents/Volunteer%20Resources/Science%20Made%20Easy/Save%20Fred.pdf

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  25. Absolutely love this team building activity. It could be a first activity into establishing science experiment group norms and more. Thank you for sharing. The original link didn't work but I tried links that other people shared on this thread and bingo. Thank you again.

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  26. Merci beaucoup ! Thank's a lot from France.

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I have been teaching for 20 years. This year I am beginning a new adventure as I move on up to 5th grade!