When things go downhill...in a good way!

Here in New Jersey, January usually brings our first good snow storm. It's something that I look forward to, even as an adult. But January 2019 will go down in the books as a bust. No snow. No snow days. No sledding, snowball fights, snow angels, or snowmen.

My 2nd grade January STEM lesson was SUPPOSED to tie in with the weather. The Speeding Sled challenge was supposed to offer opportunities for students to share their own snowy experiences and connect them to the activity. But whatever the weather, STEM must go on.

Originally, I had students build and test their sleds, timing each one from its release at the top of the "hill" to its stop at the bottom. But the ramp is short, the sleds are fast, and my finger on the stopwatch is not all that reliable. While the kids were thrilled to hear that their sleds made it to the bottom in .72 seconds or .93 seconds, I wasn't as thrilled as they were. The times didn't mean much, and the rides lasted under one second.

I also noticed that teams were quick to boast if their time was faster than others. (Because .21 seconds is a BIG deal in second grade!) But their competitive attitudes gave me an idea.

Safety first! The frog is staying put!

The next time I taught the lesson, we talked about not just speeding to the bottom quickly, but traveling the farthest. We talked about friction, and the effect of the carpet on the sled sliding over it. We decided to race the sleds side by side, not timing them, but observing them. What a difference!

Gathered around the perimeter of the carpet, students cheered for the blue turtle or the orange frog. They predicted which sled would travel farther based on the designs. They hypothesized about why a sled would slide across the carpet, stop short, or tip over. And best of all, they had a BLAST!

It turns out that you don't actually need snow to have fun sledding. But my fingers are crossed for a blizzard in February!