The 2018 ESSK Regatta!
The 5th Annual Cardboard Boat Regatta was such great fun! Our campers truly delight in the design process and enjoyed the entire 2 week learning journey that culminated in today’s final event. Each camper exhibited the utmost sportsmanship while sharing the building materials, helping other teams with ideas, and cheering on their competitors. Everyone won a sportsmanship award. Each ship team presented their planning pages and self-assessment scoring page to Ms. Stacey and our special guest announcers. Mike and Ian kept the race moving with their lively and hilarious commentary.
The race started with a few sinkers, but not to worry! This event is so much more than a race. Ms. Stacey explained the scoring rubric to the spectators before the race portion of this project began. The scoring represented the entire 2 week design process, having 6 categories worth 10 points each. Added to the teamwork category, which was worth 15, the total summed up to a final score of 75. Each category had a winner as well as the final overall winner with the highest point value. Mr. Julian and the rest of the Extreme STEAM staff tallied the scores and Mr. Kyle (engineering teacher extraordinaire) broke any ties.
Best Planning went to Andrew G. and Gavin P. They were the only team to actually calculate the size needed for their base to create the proper buoyancy vs displacement ratio. Best structural design went to Lavi P. whose boat survived two turns across the pool and kept its structural integrity. Best Ship Name went to campers Dean D. and David G. with their boat named the Diver Destroyer. The Best Navigation/Exploration Theme went to Lauren P. with her ode to Domino’s pizza delivery. Most Creativity went to Olivia D. And Lily C. with their flying unicorn ship. Best Time Across the Pool went to campers Rocky and Gio who also traversed twice across the pool! Best Teamwork went to campers Sam A. and Luke D. who not only worked well together but helped other teams research, planning and design. Honorable Mention also goes to campers Michael M. and Lucas D. who came in second for time and also crossed the pool twice. Finally the overall winners were Patrick D. and Ryan B. who scored highest overall and worked so earnestly and compassionately throughout the entire boat-building unit.
Congratulations to all of our campers, especially for learning and understanding the trial and error process. After all, that is what engineering and the design process are all about! Thank you for our most wonderful Regatta yet!
Check out the Park Shore Photo Gallery for more pictures and videos!
News from the Digital Den with Stacey
This week in the Digital Den, our campers used the iPads and the Padcaster to create an interactive map of Park Shore. This was the perfect culmination of our Navigation and Exploration theme. First our campers created a paper map, using a color key to denote each location on campus. Then our campers used the iPads to take a picture of their favorite place to visit at camp. They learned how to use the Padcaster Green Screen to take pictures of themselves with a green background. The campers then used the Do Ink app to digitally layer their picture on the background of their favorite place. We had so much fun building 21st century skills in the Digital Den this year. Our Extreme STEAM campers’ passion for learning proves that today’s children are the innovators of tomorrow! Ms. Stacey and Miss Lily wish you a wonderful school year and hope to see you next summer! Please check our blog to see more examples of the students’ work!
News from Robotics 1 with Juliana
I cannot believe we have completed our 8th and final week of Robotics! It has been an absolute pleasure working with all of your children this summer and I am so proud of how much they have accomplished in the DASH world of coding and programming! Our ESSK campers are now pro coders and we spent our last week building some difficult PVC pipe mazes to test all of the skills they have gained throughout the summer. On top of coding, they were also able to tell me whether DASH was going North, South, East or West and fine tuned their navigation skills. We also had a few DASH jousting tournaments and used the launcher attachments to end the week with their favorite activities. I hope the campers enjoyed their summer as much as I have an I look forward to seeing them for more robotics fun and learning next summer!!
News from Robotics 2 with Alan
For the second week of “The Science of Exploration and Navigation”, the campers built a simple maze using recycle cardboard for their maze-solving robots they built last week. Our campers also learned the wall-following algorithm and programed their robots to go through the maze autonomously. The campers developed critical thinking and problem solving skills during the entire process of designing and building. In addition, they received a simple idea how a robot can navigate itself through a maze.
News from Engineering with Kyle
Our Extreme STEAM Science Kids have been hard at work researching and designing their own cardboard boats to compete in the boat racing regatta! Every student had a unique design with something they found in their research incorporated. Some wanted to attach buoyant materials to the bottom to help it float better. A few students made deflectors for the front of their boats to reduce the drag they felt while paddling. The campers outlined their designs on a 4’x4′ sheet of cardboard. We tried folding and taping the boats using minimal cuts in the cardboard to keep as much water out as possible. Campers were scored on many different aspects of their boats such as best ‘exploration and navigation’ theme, best teamwork and fastest time across the pool!
It has been a real pleasure working with our Extreme STEAM Science campers this summer. I wish them all a wonderful year in school and look forward to seeing them next summer.
News from Science with Tina
Wow it’s hard to believe the last 8 weeks went so fast. We have been having so much fun in ESSK, learning, experimenting and doing exciting activities – it feels like summer just started. This past week in keeping with our Science of Exploration and Navigation, we made our very own sundials and investigated what makes a helicopter stay up. Always a camp favorite, we made moon slime and compared 2 different formulas. We all decided the saline solution mixture was the better of the 2. After observing our worm habitats for awhile and seeing first hand how they mix the soil and make a compost, we released them in our gardens. I am happy to report the gardens are doing amazingly well and we have some tomatoes growing and the zucchini have flowers. I was happy to see so many ESSK at the Heckscher Museum of Art, art show and pizza party, it’s always exciting to see the kids share their enthusiasm. The Regatta was a blast and I am so proud of all the children. They worked very hard on their boats and the excitement and pride was evident. As the summer comes to a close I want to take a moment and thank you for allowing me to be a part of your child’s summer. It has truly been my pleasure to teach, and learn with your children. They are an amazing group of talented, thoughtful and inquisitive children. I am confident the world will be better for having them in it. Enjoy the rest of the summer and have a fabulous school year, I hope to see many of my friends from ESSK again next summer!
News from Artistic Design with Lisa
It is hard to believe that we have come to the last week of camp! It has really been an amazing summer! Each project that the Museum designed allowed campers to stretch their imaginations and look for creative solutions. This week we learned how explorers from long ago, traveled the seas- they used a compass! All of our campers became familiar with the four directions N,S,E, and W. and how to be sure to locate them in the right place on the compass. We all learned, “NEVER EAT SOGGY WAFFLES” ! I am confident that everyone will now remember! Next, we traveled into outer space and created some original aliens and spaceships. Campers finished off this project by using a bagillion googly eyes! We completed the summer navigation theme with a discussion on mazes. We found out some interesting facts about why they were created throughout history, and how we could solve them. Campers designed their own mazes using their favorite EXTREME STEAM theme! A great time was had by all, and I will miss everyone this winter. The Heckscher Museum is so happy to be the “A” in STEAM at Extreme STEAM Science Kids!!
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