The exciting bridge breaking day has come! For two weeks the students worked in three groups, building a bridge made from toothpicks. The challenge was to build a bridge high enough so that a cardboard boat could go under and wide enough for a cardboard truck to drive across. They were to build it to hold as much weight as possible but also stay under the 1.5 million dollar budget. The "lumber" and "welding material" had to be purchased from the teacher's store. They even faced inflation towards the end of the building project. Each student chose a special job. Some were accountants, who had to write checks and keep the books. The project director had the difficult job of keeping everyone on task and working together. The architect designed the bridge, with input from the group. The Transportation Chief was in charge of purchasing and delivering the supplies to the work site. The students learned to work as a team and solve problems as they came up, all the while staying under budget but also meeting the project specifications. The tension was high in the room as we tested how much weight each bridge would hold. The bridges held from 500 grams to over 1,000 grams. Comments from students: "I learned that making the bridge wasn't easy." "You don't have to win--Science is all about learning." "It took a lot of patience to do this." "We faced difficulty when we had to change plans because of how things were working out." "Triangle shapes are stronger than they look." "One small toothpick bridge can hold a lot." "I liked my team because we all worked together and even had fun." "I learned that the shape of your bridge matters." And my favorite comment of all, "I love Science!"

As students were learning about working together to build a physical bridge, they were also learning about Moses and how he had the difficult job of teaching the Israelites the concept of following God's will perfectly. Students realized that God was forgiving, but He also demanded obedience. They learned those who didn't trust God to fulfill His promises were not able to go into the Promised Land. We are a lot like these Israelites when we fail to trust God to provide what we need in our lives. As our class has been learning, there is hope for all of us because God gave the ultimate sacrifice in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. We are forgiven!

School is not just for students!

I went back to school this summer to learn more about how to teach physics to elementary students.
I spent a week learning what the scientific definition of work is, plus many other important basics of physics. Already I have been able to use the new knowledge to enhance the learning of my students. We just finished up a unit on simple machines, and discovered what work is, and how to reduce the effort force. The next few weeks will be spent in hands-on activities including building a car out of paper, drinking straws, paper clips, and life savers. The car will be powered by air. (It may be hard to keep from eating the "wheels.") Our final activity will be building a bridge out of toothpicks, and testing to see which group builds the strongest bridge. We will let you know the results later. Maybe someone will come up with a great design for the 35W bridge!

We are studying the same time period in both Bible study and Social Studies. We have learned a lot about Martin Luther, with our main idea being that we should base our beliefs on what the Bible says. We are realizing how important it is to tell others about how much God loves us, and that Jesus died for everyone. In Social Studies, we are learning about the exploration and discovery of America . Along with that we are reading some historical fiction novels from the same time period.

All thirteen students work well together, and I enjoy watching and playing with the class as they learn to be a team.
-Linda Becker