The goal within Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) is to enrich the learning that is already taking place within student’s general education classroom. To reinforce the fourth grade math concept of measurement and conversions, a unit these students completed a few weeks ago with their classmates, kids who qualified for ELO are crafting two different paper airplanes. One airplane will be used to measure time aloft and the other for distance. We will be throwing these airplanes, tracking distance and time spent in the air, and then converting those measurements to different values in order to line graph them.
This project was inspired by a measurement unit on DefinedLearning.com; this valuable website is available to teachers at Benton Community through a partnership with our local Grant Wood Area Education Agency. Students are thrilled to be encouraged to throw things during group time. Little do they know, they will be learning while playing!