Inspired by real-world inventions, Irvington’s Dows Lane Elementary School third graders came up with original ideas about their own creations. During a lesson in library media specialist Gina Samaniego’s class, they completed a worksheet with a description of their invention’s purpose.
“What stood out is the level of ingenuity for creations that could possibly be put to practical use,” Samaniego said.
One student invented a plane pillow to provide a cushion during a plane crash, another student created an animal translator to understand your pet, while another student invented an electric hammer to assist people in building. The experience, which coincided with National Inventors Month, provided the students with lessons about different inventors and their innovations. The students listened to a read aloud, “Sweet Dreams, Sarah,” by Vivian Kirkfield, which is an inspirational true story of Sarah E. Goode, who was an entrepreneur, inventor and one of the first African American women to be awarded a U.S. patent.
“We spoke about how a patent is a legal document that recognizes the invention as unique and protects an inventor’s intellectual property rights,” Samaniego said. “After the read aloud and book discussion, students completed a worksheet in which they were to come up with an idea for an invention and write out the purpose of that invention.”
