{"id":5813,"date":"2016-11-22T08:13:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T13:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5813"},"modified":"2016-11-30T10:05:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T15:05:06","slug":"first-ever-creeds-stem-airplane-challenge-takes-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/first-ever-creeds-stem-airplane-challenge-takes-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"First-ever Creeds STEM Airplane Challenge takes flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be happy until the school buses from every single school in Virginia Beach come here to find out what\u2019s behind the dinosaurs,\u201d Mike Potter told the crowd of students and teachers.<\/p>\n

\"picture-1-dinosaurs\"<\/p>\n

Many in attendance admitted they had always wondered what was behind the dinosaur statues on Princess Anne Road.<\/p>\n

The Military Aviation Museum, \u201cthe best kept secret in Hampton Roads,\u201d answered Potter, museum director.<\/p>\n

To address its \u201csecret\u201d problem last year, the museum asked Creeds Elementary School fifth-graders to serve as marketing advisers while, in return, giving students and staff opportunities to extend and enrich lessons in math, science, history and language arts with resources at the museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, our fifth-graders solved the problem of how to promote the museum.\u00a0They came up with products to promote it,\u201d explained Creeds principal Casey Conger. \u201cNow this year\u2019s group is taking the product they came up with, which was a STEM design challenge, to more schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine more elementary schools,\u00a0in fact: Christopher Farms, Corporate Landing, Princess Anne, New Castle, North Landing, Red Mill, Salem, Strawbridge and Three Oaks.<\/p>\n

\"picture-2-nles\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only invited the southern end of the city because this was our first time. Next year we\u2019re going to expand it to all schools,\u201d said Conger.<\/p>\n

The first-ever Creeds STEM Airplane Challenge required all fifth-graders to design and create planes that would fly the slowest for a distance of 8 meters, fly the fastest for a distance of 8 meters and fly the farthest. Materials and tools were restricted to copy paper, cardstock paper, construction paper, newspaper, brads, 1 foot of tape, plastic straws, pipe cleaners, paperclips, craft sticks, scissors, staplers, paper punches and glue.<\/p>\n

Each participating school hosted an event to determine the three student teams that would represent the school in the final competition at the Military Aviation Museum Nov. 18. An opening ceremony with a parade of participants kicked off the event.<\/p>\n

\"picture-3-cles\"<\/p>\n

Even students who did not qualify for the Creeds STEM Airplane Challenge benefited from the experience, according to Kendall Shuffler, gifted resource teacher at Three Oaks Elementary School (TOES).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all designed independently three planes first. They researched and they did all the prior work,\u201d said Shuffler. \u201cThen they got together in groups of three and had discussions about which was the best design and they had to come to consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all participated in the whole process of experimental design,\u201d she continued. \u201cSo they were all going through the process of design, test, redesign, problem-solving, and, \u2018This didn\u2019t work; what are we going to do now? Do we start from scratch? Do we amend the design?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

TOES fifth-grader Tam Ha was confident about the plane he and classmate William Brophy designed to go the farthest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the best!\u201d announced Ha.<\/p>\n

\"picture-4-toes\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has four wings,\u201d said Brophy holding the airplane.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a custom plane. He named it the quad wing,\u201d added Ha.<\/p>\n

Red Mill Elementary School (RMES) fifth-grader Jack Marchesi was prepared for another category.<\/p>\n

\u201cMine is catching the wind to go slower,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has bigger wings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speed was the goal for Chase Steinbrueck and his team from Princess Anne Elementary School (PAES). They aimed to be the fastest plane in the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cCardstock is the best flyer because it\u2019s heavier so it will slice through the wind easier,\u201d he said. \u201cWe put a paperclip on it because the first time, if you fly a plane without a paperclip and it hits a wall, the tip will get all messed up. So, if you put a paperclip on it, the wall will hit the paperclip first and by the time the paperclip flies off the plane will already be on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"picture-5-paes\"<\/p>\n

Creeds fifth-graders, who planned and promoted the citywide event all on their own,\u00a0had their own thoughts on how to increase one\u2019s chances for success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fastest is using all the strength in your arm to throw it as far as you can,\u201d said Zykerria Hooker. \u201cWell, that\u2019s kind of for fast and far. And when you use your slowest plane, you\u2019re not giving a lot of force.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends on who throws the plane and how you throw it,\u201d interjected Logan Leek. \u201cIf you chose a person who is weak it probably won\u2019t go the farthest, but if you choose somebody who is really strong, it will go far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leek and Hooker were assigned to help at the photo booth station. It was one of the additional activities students could take part in while they waited for their turn to compete in the Navy hanger.<\/p>\n

\"picture-6-photo-booth\"<\/p>\n

Other Creeds fifth-graders served as photographers, reporters,\u00a0registrars, material checkers, airplane retrievers, distance measurers, data collectors, quiet captains, timers, safety patrols and first aid representatives.<\/p>\n

\"picture-7-creeds-helpers\"<\/p>\n

Giving more students an experience at the museum was pleasing to Conger, but the experience for her fifth-graders is what excited her the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students get to see the culmination of putting something together from start to finish,\u201d she said. \u201cThey had to plan it. They had to advertise it. They had to put all the pieces together. They had to think about all the different jobs that go into play in putting on an event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they see that they can represent our little section of the city,\u201d Conger added. \u201cAnd that they can give back to something that\u2019s right here in their backyard while at the same time seeing that what they are learning in class has real-world impact and is real-world experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"picture-8-marquee\"<\/p>\n

Real-world lessons were shared by RMES students before they competed\u00a0\u2013 teamwork, sportsmanship, goal setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting first things first and focusing on your work will help you a lot,\u201d reflected\u00a0Ellora Geiger.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeamwork,\u201d said Gabe Zarate, \u201cand craftsmanship. You have to figure out what\u2019s going to work best for each element. For the speed, how slow it goes and for distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be good sports,\u201d said Alexis Blakenship. \u201cEven if we lose, we tried our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

PAES fifth-grader Steinbrueck also highlighted sportsmanship as an important lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it can be about winning and sometimes it can be about sharing,\u201d he said,\u00a0\u201cbut overall it\u2019s just for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

But still,\u201d he added, \u201cI really want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congratulations to the following winners of the 2016 Creeds STEM Airplane Challenge:<\/p>\n

Fastest Paper Airplane<\/strong><\/p>\n

First Place \u2013 Christopher Farms Elementary School<\/p>\n

Second Place \u2013 North Landing Elementary School<\/p>\n

Third Place \u2013 Creeds Elementary School<\/p>\n

Farthest Paper Airplane<\/strong><\/p>\n

First Place \u2013 North Landing Elementary School<\/p>\n

Second Place \u2013 Princess Anne Elementary School<\/p>\n

Third Place \u2013 Christopher Farms Elementary School<\/p>\n

Best Hang Time\/Slowest Paper Airplane<\/strong><\/p>\n

First Place \u2013 Strawbridge Elementary School<\/p>\n

Second Place \u2013 Three Oaks Elementary School<\/p>\n

Third Place \u2013 Salem Elementary School<\/p>\n

See more photos from the event on the school division’s Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be happy until the school buses from every single school in Virginia Beach come here to find out what\u2019s behind the dinosaurs,\u201d Mike Potter told the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-5813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-connections","tag-creeds-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5813"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5831,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813\/revisions\/5831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}