Grade 2 Air Show

First the students complete a graphic organizer on "What I Know about paper airplanes?, " I Wonder what would make it fly far?" and "How can I find out?". Then they come up with a hypothesis on "How can you make your paper airplane fly farther?" and a way to test their hypothesis. Second we complete trial flights on a marked field (in feet). The students make predictions on how far their plane will fly, record their findings and indicate what worked/or didn't work? They will then make modifications if needed and come up with a conclusion to their hypothesis. The student go over their findings and make a presentation to the class on what their hypothesis was, how they tested it and what happened and their conclusion. Another student is assigned to "evaluate" the presenter and shares a "Star"- Write one thing the presenter did well and a "Wish"- Write one thing the presenter could improve on. Then the presenter also self assesses themselves.
Throughout the lesson I do mini lessons on measurement to review how they will measure the distance their planes flew and we collaboratively come up with a Oral Presentation Rubric so the students know what is expected and the evaluators know what to look for.
At the end of the lesson all the students participate in an Air Show where they choose an airplane design that they think will fly the farthest. They fly their planes and the student with the farthest flight gets a trophy and everyone else gets a participation ribbon.
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