Today, with the Ladybugs and the Sphinx, we read the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. The pigeon is very sad to not be allowed to drive the bus, so students designed and built vehicles the pigeon could drive, put in a paper pigeon, and they were off! When everyone had a first prototype of their vehicle we began racing them. This STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) project brought out our most creative selves as well as our competitive side as we raced down the ramps.

 On Tuesday, with our 5th grade mentors, we constructed marble runs out of half foam pipes, tape and marbles. We experimented with elevation, curvature, velocity,and accuracy since at the end of the run the marble had to land in a container. We found lots of challenges in how to make the pipes stay where we wanted, how to keep the marble on the run as we increased the elevation and how to get the marble to land in a predictable location for the container. Lots of great thinking and trial and error!

 As our final community helper experience, Bumblebees and Ladybugs visited the fire station. We experienced life as a fire fighter, putting on the gear, driving the truck and putting out (digital) fires with the fire extinguisher! The chief, the captain and the firefighters answered all our questions and  helped us learn to be fire safe in our own homes! We learned children don't wake up to fire alarms so as adults we need to make sure getting to them is our first priority.