Recently SJS 7th grade students, who read the book Refugee by Alan Gratz in literature class, were challenged to construct rafts that would mimic a real-life refugee’s boat and withstand certain conditions.  As part of their class assignments related to the readings, the students had to write about how they would make a life raft, what materials they would gather, and what factors they would take into consideration.

The assignment carried over to their STREAM class where they were given just a few supplies to work with (and not all groups had the same supplies).  Once the boats were made they had to put in as many refugees (Lego figures) as they could and see if the raft could float. Then the rafts were subjected to wind (hair dryer), rain (spray bottle of water) and intense sunlight (UV flashlight; there were also beads that detect UV light on the raft so we could see if the refugees were at all protected from the sun). Boats were scored on how they fared with each element and how many refugees successfully remained on the rafts.  Great job Sabers!