Critical Thinking at the Morning Meeting

Each morning the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade class have a "Morning Meeting". The "Morning Meeting" consists of a Greeting, Message and Activity. On this particular morning, the activity for my class an engineering contest. The contest was to see which team could build a table that was at least 8 inches tall only using tape, eight sheets of newspaper and an 8” x 11” piece of cardboard. Also, the table had to be able to support a 3.6 pound book. After nearly 30 minutes and multiple tries, the boy’s team won. However, the girl’s team did not give up. The girl’s team continued working until they too had built a table that could support a 3.6 pound book. Though this activity was some what frustrating for the class, they all were able to complete the task. In the end, the whole class learned that perseverance, critical thinking, and cooperation are keys to accomplishment.

Chrystalin W. (3rd, 4th, 5th grade teacher)