Stallion Spotlight - 5th grade Outdoor Xylophones

Stallion Spotlight - 5th grade Outdoor Xylophones
Posted on 04/25/2019
preschool xylopohone

Ms Ranieri's 5th grade students collaborated with Mr. Anderson to design and build and install two 'Hanging Xylophones' on the Kindergarten playground. The Design Thinking & STEAM project started back in November of 2018 with discussions about who the design project would be for (Empathize), the needs of the user (Define) and brainstorming creative solutions (Ideate). 5th grade interviewed Kinder students and polled them as to what songs or sounds they might like. They settled on notes for 'Are You Sleeping' and 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' which were incorporated into the design sketches. They also used tape measures to get an average height of the Kindergarten students so that the instruments could be installed at the correct level. Moving on to the drawing and sketches phase (Prototype), they worked in the elements necessary for correct pitches/notes. The actual construction and assembly (TEST) of the instruments took place in early April 2019 with installation a couple weeks later. So far, Kinder students have really enjoyed the Hanging Xylophones and the 5th graders greatly benefited from the Design Thinking creative experience!