NOAA Teacher at Sea alumna, Elizabeth Bullock’s (TAS 2011) fifth grade students at Green Acres School in Rockville, MD had a special visit from NOAA Corps Officer, LT Wendy Lewis on Tuesday, June 4. Ms. Bullock’s students constructed boats out of at least 50% recycled materials and raced them as a culminating activity for an interdisciplinary boat race project. LT Lewis discussed her role as a NOAA Corps officer and blew the whistle to start the race.

Ms. Bullock taught this project in order to challenge her students to apply what they have learned about fractions, decimals, ratios, estimation, graphing, proportion, budgeting and percentages, throughout the year. She also taught her fifth graders about geometry and measurement, including volume and 3D measurement. In science, students learned about buoyancy, stability, density, and the importance of using recycled materials. In Spanish, they used their knowledge about adjectives and verb conjugation to describe their boat and their construction process. The concepts of teamwork and time management were woven throughout the project. Students read Ms. Bullock’s Teacher at Sea Blog to learn about the science and math that are conducted on a NOAA ship.