End of the Year

We are quickly approaching the end of the school year. My how time flies.  In an effort to drive academic instruction to the final days, we will be incorporating multiple disciplines we have learned this year to carry out a variety of projects.

The week-long project we are currently working on involves collecting data involving automobiles.  Yesterday we discussed how companies do in-depth research before sinking funds into making products.  The challenge this week for math, science, art, and writing is to develop a new car or truck based upon the characteristics of the most commonly seen automobiles.  We collected a variety of data on vehicles that drove by the school yesterday on Plumb Lane.  Today students will calculate percents on the vehicle's characteristics (on the many, many cars we saw in 15 minutes).  Later this week students will transform these percents into accurate circle graphs to display the information.  They will then design their own car based upon the most commonly seen traits and create an advertisement which persuades others to purchase it, while at the same time backing up their claims with data they collected.

In social studies, students are narrowing down the top 15 events from U.S. history and designing an accurate time line to display the events they feel had the most impact on American history.

In science, a variety of small labs/lessons will be carried out. One lesson will focus on germs, using a special dust that glows under UV light.  Students will see how quickly germs can spread.  Another lab will challenge students to discover if the size of a ball effects its speed as it rolls down a ramp.  We will also be investaging some new materails I collected this year on wind energy and solar energy.  We have had the wind, we just need to have a little sun too for this lab.

Next Tuesday, June 6th, is our field day for the first two hours of school.  Students will rotate around to a variety of stations around the school.  This is also when we will have a little celebration during lunch time.  Thanks for all those who will help contribute food for this.

That afternoon students will fill out some information, which is exactly the same as the Time Capsule they filled out the first few days of school.  They will then get their original Time Capsule back that they filled out and compare their answers to see how they have changed (and stayed the same with certain likes/dislikes).  It is always a fun time. 

Our last day of school will be on June 8th.  Thank you so much for such a wonderful year.  This has been an amazing class!