Radical Rockets

I usually blog about what I've been doing and places I've visited, but tonight I thought I would show you what I do in the classroom. Let's face it, I spend more time teaching than doing anything else!

For the last week my ninth grade physical science students have been constructing soda bottle rockets. No, this isn't purely for fun...there is ALWAYS an educational component (shhhh! don't tell the students!). I have watched the kids discuss nose cone designs, aerodynamics (they even researched rocket designs by checking out the rockets NASA sends up), the best fin shape, and how to build and decorate their soda bottle creations. Each group was assigned a specific variable to test and we've spent the last two days launching our radical rockets and collecting data. Each student had the responsibility of timing the flight, measuring the launch angle, or keeping people on the ground safe. Regardless of how organized I am and how well I prepare the students for launch day, I always feel a huge amount of stress when launch time arrives. Yesterday's class went off without a hitch...thanks to an extra set of hands provided by my co-teacher Mr. Jenney. Today's classes went well also...almost. Let me give you a little taste of the fun I have being a teacher:).

The highest flier of the day! Notice me running to the wall to scope out the landing site of the rocket...conveniently it missed the playground by a few feet. Fortunately you can't hear my reaction, but my student sums it up pretty well. Stressssssssss!

More photos and videos of our radical rockets coming soon!