We had a great week creating "weathering proof" structures in science last week!  Back in December, we started off our Earth Science unit by having the kids create statues out of play-dough.  It was a lot of fun, but the problem was that the statues started to weather and fall apart.

As scientists we learned more about some of the questions that we had around the "WHY" for the statues falling apart.  We did a lot of research and experimenting around weathering and erosion.

As a culminating activity the kids were given the same challenge of creating a statue out of play-dough, but this time they needed to use their knowledge of weathering and erosion to create a "weathering proof" structure.

The class worked like scientists as they first brainstormed their own ideas around how to solve this problem.  After brainstorming their own ideas they got together with a small group to talk about all of their ideas.  As a group they decided on the structure that they felt would be the most effective one.

Then it was off to our recycling pile!   The kids gathered the materials that they needed and got started on engineering their structure!

Below are some pictures of the kids creating their structures together!  It was amazing to see what they came up with.  We decided as a class that the most problematic form of weathering was water, so this is what they focused on.  It was so neat to see that many of the kids came up with drainage systems so that the water would drain out and away from their statue!

(The pictures below are a little out of order.  The bottom pictures are the planning stages and the pictures closer to the top are of the kids actually getting started on their structure.)

We can't wait to see what happens tomorrow when we return to school after all of the wind, rain, and snow from the weekend!