NOAA Corps Officers LT Madeleine Adler and LTJG Aaron Colohan visited Green Acres School in Rockville, MD on June 9, 2014. Fifth grade students in Elizabeth Bullock’s class constructed boats out of at least 50% recycled materials and raced them as a culminating activity for an interdisciplinary Boat Race Project. LT Adler and LTJG Colohan discussed their roles as NOAA Corps officers and blew the whistle to start the race. 
 
For the boat race, Ms. Bullock challenged her students to apply what they learned about fractions, decimals, ratios, estimation, graphing, proportion, budgeting, and percentages throughout the year. In preparation for the project, she also taught her fifth graders about geometry and measurement, including volume and 3D measurement. In science, her 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 also woven throughout the project. 
 
Performance in the time trial only contributed a small portion to the teams’ scores. Prior to the race, students were required to write a grant proposal, create signs for their boats to garner support, and write advertisements for their boats in Spanish, among other tasks. Teammates who were not paddling 
stood on the side with their signs, cheering on their teams. Team names ranged from “The Fishing Boat” to “Singing Bacon”. “Typhoon”, however, was the winning team!