Keep the Mayflower Afloat!

On the last day before Thanksgiving Break, I wanted to do something with the kids that was exciting and brain stimulating!  I did a search on TpT, and came across some really cool Thanksgiving investigations!  One of these investigations stood out, and I knew that my kids would love it!  This investigation was called "An Engineering Challenge: Boat Builders".  The goal of this challenge was for the students to build a boat that could carry the Pilgrims, their livestock and their cargo without sinking.  The supplies that they were able to use were one tub of water (the Atlantic Ocean), one stick of modeling clay (The Mayflower), ten mini marshmallows (the Pilgrims), five Tootsie Roll candies (livestock), and ten pennies (cargo).  The students were tasked to build a boat, place it in the water, and then load it.  Many of the students questioned why they couldn't load it outside of the water and then place it in the water.  We had a great conversation about how boats are loaded in the real world!  This was such a fun and exciting activity.  We decided to video the investigation and share our results on Twitter.  The kids were super excited about making connections throughout the day!!!  Twitter has done so much for my kids.  Check out some of our videos below!