Green Paws Habitat Challenge - Shelter Design

Review the Introduction Story: Design a New Home in the post below. Your challenge is to design a new home for one of the animals in the story or for an animal you discovered on an outdoor walk in your neighborhood. You will follow the design process as you work with your family to solve the problem.

Engineering Design Process (PLTW).png

Ask

Gather information that will help you define the problem.

  • Will this be working home for outdoor use, or a craft model kept indoors?

What creature will you design and build a home for?

Criteria:

  • Strong so it doesn’t fall apart

  • Safe so it doesn’t hurt the animal and/or offers protection

  • Other criteria you decide based on chosen animals, such as: water resistant/proof, soft, warm, or cool

Explore

What materials are available for you to use?

  • Craft materials: cardboard, tape, paper lunch bags, string, glue, pom poms, foil, cotton balls, dowel rods, pipe cleaners, toothpicks, feathers, modeling clay, yarn, craft sticks, others

  • Natural materials: sticks, rocks, leaves, pine straw, dirt

  • Construction materials: With adult help you could use wood, hardware, etc…

Sketch ideas for your home design using pencils or crayons.

Model

Create your design!

Evaluate.

How did your product perform? What were the strengths and weaknesses of your design?

Explain.

EMAIL PHOTOS OF YOUR HOME IN ACTION TO MR. GIUNTA.

Green Paws Habitat Challenge - Birdfeeder Results

I’d like to share your bird feeder designs and builds here, as well as any pictures or data you collect on the birds visiting there!

Be sure to check out Lia P’s design process for her feeder and Sofie K’s design process for hummingbirds.

Can anyone tell what kind of bird is on Mr. Giunta’s feeder?

Mr. Giunta with Bird!.PNG

From Sophia E: “A female cardinal.was on my hammock & it landed on my bird feeder! The male cardinal was on the fence behind it but it flew away quickly. Our birdseed attracts cardinals and titmice. We also see blue jays trying to chase other birds away. I also have pictures of a squirrel  hanging off one of my bird feeders.”

Green Paws Habitat Challenge - Birdfeeder Design

Think back to the introduction to this challenge. You were asked to observe the animals in the Tritt Elementary habitat, which should be much of the same as you’d find in your own neighborhood. What did you see? What sort of things do they need to survive?

  • Food

  • Sunlight

  • Water

  • Air

  • Space (Habitat)

Using the design process, you will build a bird feeder to provide food to birds in your neighborhood. Be sure to document your project and design process on a piece of paper or in a journal. Let this video from SciShow Kids serve as inspiration, but you can’t copy their designs!

The Engineering Design Process. We’ll use the design process in the video below from Project Lead The Way to solve this problem.

Step 1: Ask. “How can I design a bird feeder?” Gather information that will help you define the problem.

  • When should you offer birds supplemental food?

  • Where should you put your bird feeder?

  • What sorts of foods can you offer birds in your habitat?

Step 2: Explore. Begin researching the problem. Use the Bird Feeders slideshow below for inspiration and discuss your ideas and questions with your family.

Step 3: Model. Design and Build your feeder. Sketch ideas for your bird feeder design using pencils or crayons. Be sure to label the materials you are using, including bird seed as part of the design.

  • What materials will you use? Here are a lit of some ideas:

    • Recyclables, such as toilet paper/paper towel rolls, milk jugs, cardboard boxes, cans, water bottles

    • Natural items, such as pine cones, sticks

    • Sticky foods, such as peanut butter or other nut butters, flour and water paste, shortening, honey

    • Other items, such as bird seed, fresh or dried fruit, seeds or nuts , or egg shells. (NOT BREAD)

  • EMAIL PHOTOS OF YOUR BIRD FEEDER DESIGNS TO MR. GIUNTA.

Step 4: Evaluate. How did your product perform? What were the strengths and weaknesses of your feeder?

  • How often did birds go to your feeder?

  • What sort of birds were you able to identify?

  • Did you have problems with other animals?

Step 5: Explain. Be prepared to discuss your project after Spring Break.

  • EMAIL PHOTOS OF YOUR BIRD FEEDER IN ACTION TO MR. GIUNTA.

Gardening with Mr. Giunta - Ep. 2

Welcome back! In this episode I am going to plant some onions underneath the trellised sugar snap peas.

The hardest part of gardening (IMHO) is the waiting! It has only been a couple of weeks, so I am trying to stay patient, but I’m ready to find out which of these plants are going to produce a lot of food!

We did add a couple of pots of peppers and tomatoes off the to side, just to see what would happen planting them so early, and then of course we had consecutive nights of sub-40 temps. We’ll see!

Wily coyote caught on camera!

Did you know that Tritt Elementary School partners with the Atlanta Coyote Project? After purchasing trail cameras with a grant from the Georgia Science Teachers Association, we were asked to provide the data from our trail to the organization tracking animal movement in the Metro Atlanta area.

Recently the Atlanta Coyote Project helped track down and relocate a rare black coyote. You can check out the story here: https://www.businessinsider.com/rare-black-coyote-friends-with-great-pyrenees-2020-2 and video here: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/02/19/black-coyote-dog-friendship-orig-vc.cnn.

In the meantime be sure to clink on the Trail Cameras tab to see what we’ve found on the Tritt Nature Trail!

Green Paws Habitat Challenge - Introduction

What sort of animals live in the habitat around Tritt Elementary? Is it some of the same ones you can see in your own backyard! Take a look at our Trail Camera pictures for inspiration. How would you describe the shelters or homes they have created?

Answer these questions in the comments section below, and email Mr. Giunta any good pictures you have of critters around your house or neighborhood and homes or shelters they have created.

Happy Spring Equinox!

What a wonderful day! Happy SPRING EQUINOX! Today we have “equal” lengths of day and night, or at least, that is what the word equinox means, and it is pretty darn close.

Our 2nd and 4th graders both studied astronomy earlier this year! Ask the former about their playground experiment and the latter about indirect sunlight and seasonal changes!

This is a great video to share with our elementary school students:

This video get into the real deal if you are curious, but it might confuse our kiddos:

Gardening with Mr. Giunta Ep 1

I know we are stuck at home instead of being at our AWESOME school, so I wanted to share the latest, nay first-ever, #TrittAtHome Green Paws video with you all! This might seem like weird times (that’s because they are!), but it is a great opportunity to get outside with loved ones! Planting can be fun and easy - just visit the Georgia Organics website for information about what to grow now, or reach out to me.

What are you gardening during #TrittAtHome? Share your comments below or email a picture to Mr. Giunta!

A story about canoeing, a plea for help, and an idea for summer break.

One of my first memories is of canoeing the flooded streets of rural Florida with my dad, but the Flint River in Newnan was “our” river growing up. My brothers and I paddled it enough that we got to know the twists and turns between each of spot of our usual put-in and take-out. Then my folks got divorced, we all started to get older, and busier, and for 15 years I don’t think I paddled a single time.

When I got a job at the Chattahoochee Nature Center managing school programs, they asked if I could also lead canoe trips. Fortunately canoeing hasn’t changed much in the last few millennia and I picked it right back up. The Chattahoochee became “my” river and I did the same 3 mile stretch over 300 times. It was so cool watching the river change through each season, expecting the same family of ducks every Spring, and certain deer each Fall.

But I loved exposing new people to the river every weekend. When the Georgia River Network approached us about leading a group of students on their annual Paddle Georgia trip, I jumped at the opportunity. For 9 years I led 12 under-served middle school students each year on a 100-mile canoeing/kayaking and camping trip. I’ve done two more trips just for fun, so in all I’ve paddled over 1000 miles of Georgia rivers, plus another 1000+ on the ‘Hooch and countless overs on the Flint.

This is my jam. And GRN is my jam. Paddle Georgia is their biggest event, and it connects 400 people to the rivers of Georgia annually. When they aren’t putting on this event, then they are leading cleanups, helping establish Riverkeepers throughout the state, creating river guide books, or representing rivers at the Capitol. They are doing incredible work to keep our rivers clean for us to drink and animals to live.

On the 2020 trip I’ll be leading environmental games and challenges for all the kids on the trip in the evenings after everyone paddles. I wanted to invite some kids from Tritt, but there are just too many! (Seriously getting attached after spending 5 years with the same kids). So, you’ll have to come yourselves. This is a great family trip even if you are new to paddling! GRN handles all the meals; our campsites have indoor sleeping options, showers and bathrooms; and they move all of our stuff between campsites so you don’t need to bring anything on the river. My wish is that you all come on the trip with me! You can learn more and signup here: https://garivers.org/paddle-georgia/.

A donation to their canoe-a-thon goes a long way towards supporting their year-round efforts. I’m trying to raise $2k myself. You can donate online here: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/joey-giunta/paddle-georgia-canoeathon-2020. Thanks for reading my super long post!

Here comes the sun... doo-doo-doo-doo.

Second grade has been studying orbits and astronomy in the Science Lab! We built our own sundials, learned about the phases of the moon, studied the constellations, and observed the affects of UV light. Then the students designed / built / tested playgrounds with components that allowed for shade during recess (10:30AM, sun from the southeast).

Cervi:

Fleming:

Lupiani:

Smith:

Teuchert:

Waters:

Kindergarten ROCKS!

Kindergarten spent the 3rd Quarter in Science Lab investing rocks and pushes & pulls. From gravity and friction, to wheels and axles, the students covered everything they needed to design / build / test a “rock mover”. We saw sleds, wagons, wheelbarrows, ramps and more in this Project Lead The Way unit!

Bower:

Garrett:

Gillespie:

Smith:

Tommasello:

Wiggins:

VEX Robotics season is all squared away.

Over the last three days, 24 Tritt 4th/5th graders competed in robotics tournaments - both the inaugural Tritt Elementary Open, and the North Forsyth High School February Open. Thanks goes out to Mrs. Carstens, Mrs. Bates, Mrs. Smarr, and Tony and Sheena for having our back at our first competition, Col. Williams and the Pope High VEX Robotics team for serving as referees, and of course our amazing students and parents. Mrs. Jodie Marshal and junior Andrew Colette were instrumental in the success of our tournament and great hosts themselves at NFHS. Can’t wait until next season (details in late April)!

Click on the pictures below for a slideshow of the NFHS competition!

Weather the storm!

Fourth grade spent the first semester studying weather factors and hazards, a new unit from PLTW. After learning how day length and the amount of direct sunlight we receive changes because of our orbit, students listed precipitation / temperature / wind as the three main weather factors, studied different climates around the club, researched different hazardous weather conditions, and then created their own narrative and solution to a weather-related engineering problem (seen below without context), the whole time recording the data during different seasons.

Eichler:

Freese:

Kappel:

Miller:

Mitchell:

Rich:

Swift:

Science Fair Results 2020!

I am so proud of the work our 5th graders did this year! We need a scientific literate society, and these students are going to be leaders in that regard!

This morning twenty-five of our students were able to present their work to science educators from WestRock Recycling, Chattahoochee Nature Center, Cobb County Parks, Cobb County Water, Cobb County Schools, Society of Women Engineers, and Project Lead The Way. The six highest scores are advancing to the district fair in February. They are, in order: Jack E (Blick, 1st Overall), Jack C (Blick), Bryce G (Wender), Paige R (Wender), Devon P (Sweirski) and Eliana R (Stone). Congratulations!

Below are pictures of all the projects. .

Blick:

1 - Jack C, "Fastest Shot"

2 - Jack E, "Soccer Shot"

3 - Scarlet, "Which cup will keep temperature best?"

HM - Oliver, "How do weight and aerodynamics affect speed?"

HM - Grace, "10-degree Lacrosse Stick vs Basic Lacrosse Stick": 

Dino: 

1 - Arya, “What do sugary drinks do your teeth?”

2 - McKinley, “What liquids will evaporate the fastest"?”

3 - Brody, “What melts ice the fastest?”

HM - Lia, “Why should you not put a bottle in the freezer?”

Gardner: 

1 - Adam, "Does temperature affect batteries?"

2 - Vanessa, "Dog Breath"

3 - Ian, "Do you catch more fish in the day or night?"

HM - Ria, "How do you prevent apples from turning brown?"

HM - Lauren, "How can I reduce cramps when running?"

Stone: 

1 - Eliana, "Music for the Brain"

2 - Elizabeth, "Smell and Taste"

3 - Evie, "Does vision affect your taste?"

HM - Sam, "What is the fastest way to cool a can of Sprite?"

Sweirski: 

1 - Ilia, Do plants know math?"

2 - Devon, "Memory Masters"

3 - Enzo, "The Music Dilemma"

HM - Mei, "Is the 5-second rule real?"

Wender: 

1 - Bryce, "Student Retention"

2 - Caroline, "Pooch Smooch"

3 - Paige, "Do dogs have a paw preference?"

HM - Ollie, "Creekwater Health"

Castaway in First Grade

What would you do if you, your friends, and your parents got lost in the woods with nothing but a backpack of random supplies? Invent an emergency signal of course! The first graders have been studying light and sound all semester, and after exploring our own nature trail at school, designed / built / tested their own emergency signals to draw attention to their situation!

East:

Foote:

Fernandes:

Moffett:

McElwain:

Paine:

The Persistence of Function

Kindergarten has taken everything they have learned about Structure & Function from fairy tales this semester to design and build their own unique painting tool. Because every engineer looks for ways to improve their designs, be on the look out for a DIY paintbrush kit being sent home over the break!

Bower:

Garrett:

Tommasello:

Gillespie:

Smith:

Wiggins:

IMG_9609.jpg

The landslide brings you back.

Third Grade has been studying earth science since August! They investigated soil (particle size, texture, plant growth and water drainage), rocks (hardness, texture, streak), forest fires (and animal adaptations for sandy soil), and weathering (wind, water, ice) & erosion (landslides). They designed ways to prevent a landslide from destroying homes.

Schmitz:

Baer:

Toomey:

Bosma:

Herman:

Cook:

Lamphere:

Love:

STAR PARTY this Wednesday night!

The 4th Annual STAR PARTY with the Georgia Tech Astronomy Club has been set for Wednesday, November 6th. This is a bring-your-own telescope event, but the college students will bring some of their equipment to share as well - and can help you with yours!

We’ll be setting up on the Tritt field starting at 6pm, with a kick-off presentation at 6:30pm and observation until 7:30pm. This is not a drop off event, parents are expected to stay with their students.

In the event of cloud cover, a decision will be made the morning of on a GO/NO GO for launch.