All about Rocks

For the past week, the class has been learning about how soils help to purify water and connecting this to the larger concept of the water cycle.  First, students brought in a rock and became very familiar with it.  They recorded observations, created detailed diagrams and more in their science lab book.  The rocks were then put into our rock tumbler.  Tomorrow we get to see how the past 9 days of "weathering" has impacted the rocks.  This moved the class into learning about soils, since they are what is created through weathering.  Students learned the basics behind diatomaceous earth and how its unique properties enable it to stick to tongues.  Incorporating this idea, students planned out a water filter using soils, rocks and organic matter and executed their plan.  Two filters in class it was determined that they had more impermeable soils, as theirs took over the weekend to actually allow the water to permeate through.  Yesterday, the concepts were all connected as students diagramed a high-level water cycle.

Alfie the Rabbit

This week Alfie, a rabbit, will be a guest in our classroom.  To build off of the excitement of having another mammel in the room, our informational text in reading this week will focus on rabbits, hares, and bunnies.  At the end of each day we will journal "as the rabbit" in first person point of view about what was learned in our class that day.  Later this week our science will connect rabbits to our learning on ecosystems, where students will apply what they learned about ecosystems to design the ideal ecosystem for a rabbit.

Next week, we will be once again connecting our reading to what we are learning about in other subjects.  For reading the week of December 10-14th, we will connect our science of weathering our reading.  As we bring in rocks to put into a rock tumbler we will first use our skills are understanding in depth the instructions for using the new tumbler.  Our science book will become the informational text on the topic that we will read for a few other days during the week.  The goal is to build upon our reading skills while applying it to what we are learning about in other subjects. As for the science, students will carefully observe and record observations about their rock they place into the tumbler on a weekly basis until the natural rock becomes a polished stone.

The Declaration of Independence

Recently in class we've been learning about the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary war. Both John Adams and George Washington visited our class and taught about specifics on these topics.

As for science, we will be advancing our concepts on earth science as we actually create our own fossils after Thanksgiving break.

In math, we have moved past exponents and are currently learning about algebraic expressions. Soon, students will be using the foundational algebraic skills to solve various algebraic expressions.

In reading, we will soon change from reading literature and go back to reading informational text. Writing has combined topics from social studies to allow students the opportunity to not just polish up their writing skills, but also reinforce the concepts learned about American history.

The Rock Cycle

This week in science we are reviewing the rock cycle.  Students made sedimentary rock sandwiches, drew diagrams of them in their notebook and labeled youngest and oldest layers.  Next, they combined their group "rock" into one large sedimentary rock.  This was wrapped with plastic wrap (to keep things clean) and then heat and pressure (sitting on the sandwich and a microwave) were applied to make the sedimentary rock into something new...metamorphic rock.  This was then opened and analyzed.  Again, students drew a diagram of this "new" rock.  It is funny, as although every student wanted so much to eat their sedimentary rock, hardly any wanted anything to do with the metamorphic rock.

Dry Ice Lab

To further capitalize on the big day of October 31st, students made their own drink for our Nevada Day party, using both math and science.  After reading about the history of rootbeer and how to make a 5 gallon recipe, students used their math skills to convert the recipe so that we only made 2/3 of it.  Since it was carbonated using dry ice, we saved some and incorporated teh dry ice into a lab before lunch.  Students learned about sublimation (going straight from a solid to gas) and other unique properties of dry ice. 

The rootbeer turned out great, but due to the -103 degree dry ice, which did a fantastic job of carbonating the beverage, it also froze the bottom half of our drink.  This didn't seem to matter to many students, as they soon learned that "slushy rootbeer" tasted great!

Halloween Science

The time is now upon us...Halloween.  Today we kicked off the excitement with a pumpkin lab and connected it to math later in the day.  Students were responsible for finding their pumpkin's equitorial circumference, polar circumference, wall thickness, mass, seed count, mass of seeds, volume of pumpkin and density of pumpkin (calculating it using the formula).

In math, groups exchanged their data so a class table was produced.  Using students as an example, central tendency was calculated for each characteristic.  Many patterns emerged, including connecting the density of the pumpkin (around 0.60 g/ml) to how much was below the water (60%) when the pumpkin floated, as well as the number of verticle lines on each pumpkin (21 or 22 on every pumpkin).  Other items were not so linked, such as the number of seeds in each pumpkin.

In reading, an informational text article about the Irish Potato Famine was started.  This was linked to this week's celebration of Halloween regarding the "trick-or-treating" that now takes place.  Ask you child to fill you in on more details.

What are we doing lately?

Recently in class we have switched back to informational text in our readings. We focused on Scholastic News this past week and will utilize the science book and social studies book this coming week during our reading time. This will lead to a lab on identifying minerals based upon their densities this coming Thursday.

With Halloween the following week, and no early release that Wednesday, we will fill the day with reading, writing, and science labs focused around the theme of Halloween. We will then have a celebration for NV Day at 2:15 the 31st, and drink a special concoction made through science from earlier in the day. Feel free to send in a treat, plates, or utensils for our little celebration to celebrate Nevada's 148 birthday.

What we Learned from Journey's Outdoor School

It is amazing what concepts students walk away with from our four-day trip in nature.  The following is just one quote from each student off of their one to two page reflections on science concepts they learned.  They also reflected upon how this experience helped them grow as a person and how it helped connect them to nature.

I think their words will do a much better job of explaining what was learned on this trip:

-"I learned that some macroinvertebrates have three tail.," -Camden
-"There is a difference between a comet and a meteor." -Zaira
-"We always see the same side of the moon." -Jesse
-"It was so much fun in the outdoors I didn't even think about TV. I saw the bottom of a half-dead frog and learned that diurnal animals are awake during the day." - Collin
-"I am not afraid of bugs I was before and I learned that it takes about 28 days for the moon cycle." -Jade
-"A blue moon is two full moons in one month." -Chloe
-"I had no idea that a spider swam in the water.  The north star's scientific name is Polaris."- Maddy
-"Things smell better with a wet nose." -Josh
-"I connected with nature by seeing lots of deer only 15 feet away.  We learned about triboluminiscence, which is breaking chemical bonds to produce light." -Nate
-"I saw how a pond on its animals work together and learned that bullfrogs are not native to that part of California, so they are an invasive species." -Addie
-"I have never caught a frog and had it land on my foot.  I saw macroinvertebrates." - Skylee
-"Rods help us see in black in white and cones help us see color." -Liam
-"I learned that shooting stars are actually meteorites. I saw a snake that backed up in the tree when we were looking at it." -Lane
"I saw squirrel and deer tracks.I learned that the sun is our closest star." -Andrea
-"I didn't even think about electronics. I learned that bats use echolocation to either steer or find food by making a noise." -Penny
-"I had no idea that crayfish lived in ponds. This was the longest time I have ever been outside. I learned that when the moon is orange it is called a harvest moon." -Mya
-"I found a lot of tracks. I saw a lot of hawks and heard a hawk." - Drew
-"There is such a thing as 'Orion", which I had heard of in Men in Black. I didn't know it was a real constellation." -Tommy
-"Plate techtonics are connected to volcanoes.We had so many connections with nature." -Angie
-"I saw a shooting star for the first time. Convergence can make mountains." - Nicholas
-"I learned about the bones of sheep (some groups stumbled upon a dead sheep)." -Lexi

End of Day Three

Another beautiful day at Grizzly Creek Ranch. Adventurers continued in rotating through archery, geology, pond ecology, and the challenge course. Besides the frequent siting of deer, several students also saw and heard hawks today. A monstrous craw dad was captured at the pond, and frogs too numerous to count tempted the students, but to my knowledge were not ever captured. According to Andrea, "the best thing was doing geology because we learned how rocks get separated." Lexi's favorite thing "was watching Penny try to get a 'fish' in the challenge course." According to Liam, the best thing today was, "archery because it was really hard to aim, but was really fun."

Beginning of Day Three

After another amazing breakfast of eggs, sausage, hash browns, fruit, yogurt, and biscuits and gravy, the young scientists headed out. One day-group headed up the mountain to learn about geology. While on the hike, (not only did they burn off their breakfast hiking quickly up the mountain) they learned a little about forest ecology, specifically about fire's role in healthy forests. When they arrived at their final destination, campers were pleasantly surprised at the giant outcropping of quartz. The geology lesson began at this location and continued for the next few hours.

Day Two of Journey Outdoor School

Day two began with a beautiful sunrise. Shortly afterwards we enjoyed a filling breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit, and yogurt. We only had 1.5 pounds of Ort (food put on plates, but not eaten)! By 9:15 day groups had begun. Some began the archery, while others started pond ecology, or the full day challenge course. We sure have a few Robinhoods and Maid Marian's in the group. Tonight's event after dinner is astronomy, and what a beautiful night sky it was yesterday night (except for the gibbous moon). Day two is looking like another success.

End of Day One

Day one is now over. Student scientists ended the day with a great meal (and a snack in the forest before dinner) and then a night hike...without any flashlights. They learned how rods and cones in the eye work, why Wintergreen mints spark in the dark and more. Day one was a total success.

Making Tree Cookies

As students begin to become acquainted with Journey's Outdoor School, and begin becoming one with nature, the making of tree cookies is one of the first items they did today.

Can Ye Talk Like a Pirate?

To celebrate "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" our class joined the celebration by bringing in the fun to our reading, math, and science today.  We analyzed a poem about Long John Silver, solved high-level word proplems involving pirates, and learned how bouyancy and surface area allow for heavy items such as gold to float inside vessels.  On top of all this, the buccaneers in class polished up their pirate vocabulary.

What are we Doing Now?

Recently in science, we finished our dehydration of apples lab.  Students discovered which method of dehydration dried apples the fastest.  They also learned which method they prefer in terms of qualitative data, that of tastiest.  Ask your child which method he/she prefer.

In social studies we are learning about interactions between Native Americans and early explorers/colonists.  It is being connected to literacy, as we are reading the novel The Sign of the Beaver.  This novel brings up many topics that are standards in our social studies curriculum.

In math we have been learning about division, going beyond the simple computation into understanding what division is all about.  It has been challenging for many students, but they are beginning to understand WHAT division is in addition to HOW to divide.

Journeys Outdoor School is just around the corner.  Our class is excited to attend Sept. 25-28th!

Food Preservation

In connecting reading, math, science and writing together, we have been spending the last week reading informational text about food preservation.  Today we read part of a manual about a food dehydrator, and tomorrow we begin our experiment comparing different dehydration methods (solar oven, food dehydrator, and air drying apples).  Math will be connected through science as we weigh the apple slices for each method to the hundredth of a gram before, during, and at the end of each method of experiment.  Tables and graphs will be developed as well as we collect and analyze data.  A brainstorming session took place today regarding their writing topic, where they have to choose which mission to Mars they want to be on and which method of food packaging, as each as advantages and disadvantages.  Writing will officially begin on this topic Thursday.

Science Rocks!

Well, we have begun a new year of science labs.  For the first lab, students honed in their scientific observational skills by recording observations of a small rock.  After adding more observations after class discussions (such as diagrams, measuring the rock in mm, and doing a scaled drawing of it), students then turned their rock in and had to find it among the other 25 rocks.

Another class discussion took place on how science lab books are often used, leading us to understand that other people often use lab books of other scientists (think of Da Vinci's notebooks).  We added more observations, such as measurements in grams (to the hundredth of a gram) using a digital scale, and then the rocks were collected once again.  Finally, students switched notebooks and had to use the other student's observations to find the other child's rock.  This class did it very quickly.  We are off to a great year!

5th - 6th Grade Combo-Class 2011-2012

Fantastic news!  I will have the pleasure of combining elements of 5th and 6th grade into an immense learning experience for students next school year.  This is so very exciting. 

The following are the recommended supplies for students in my class next year:
-1-2 black dry erase markers
-box of Kleenex
-bottle of glue
-1 box of colored pencils
-1 three-ring binder (1 1/2 inch wide)
-at least 8 tabs
-red correcting pen
-pencils
-at least a 4 GB USB drive
-one package of lined paper (please don't open it)
-1 GREAT attitude and an excitement to learn

Items not needed, which the classroom has plenty of include: scissors, markers, crayons.  Also, please don't bring a pencil box for your desk, as they simply don't fit.

Thank you and I look forward to meeting everyone next fall!

The Milky Way Galaxy

In beginning to wrap up space science for the year, today we advanced into looking at the galaxy that we live in.  Students built a model of the Milky Way Galaxy using paper and analyzed it from two perspectives.  With some coaching, students began to understand how we use such a model to see our solar system's place within our galaxy.

Our space science unit will conclude next Wednesday with a field experience at the Planetarium (combined with the Keck Museum and Seismology Lab).  We will learn how our galaxy fits into the larger picture of the universe.

Volume

For the past few weeks we have been diving into understanding what volume is all about in math.  After learning how to calculate volume for rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, and three dimensional parallelograms, students advanced to cylinders.  This is where our celebration of Pi Day came in.  We reviewed the concepts learned during Pi Day and applied them to calculating the area of a circle (pi times radius squared).  The only new concept was then multiplying this by the cylinder's height. 

After learning the formula and trying it out on a few written examples, students were given the challenge of calculating the volume of an empty can of soup (in cm).  After they applied the math, they filled the can with water and then measured it in a graduated cylinder, all in the hopes of truly understanding volume at a deeper mathematical level.

Nature Club- Written by a student

After school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, part of fifth and sixth graders went to Nature Club. Nature Club is where you learn about wildlife. Some of the activities we did are made duck, crow, deer and owl calls. We also made elk prints. First thing we did was wet the sand on the playground. Next, we put an elk foot print in the sand. Then we put a paper ring around the track and poured plaster inside the paper ring. Last, we let the plaster dry overnight. The next day they looked so cool! Nature Club was very fun and I hope this club is available next year.

Annular Solar Eclipse

After learning about eclipses, both solar and lunar, students were given a pair of solar glasses to borrow of the weekend to view the annular solar eclipse.  This is what they had to say upon returning to class on Monday:

-"The solar eclipse looked like a crescent sun. It was so awesome."- Collin
-"I really enjoyed the solar eclipse. It gives you a chance to see what happens when the sun and the moon align."- Jakob
-"What I enjoyed about the eclipse was when I started seeing the glowing ring around the moon."-unknown
-"I learned that an annular eclipse doesn't happen a lot." -Mason
-"It was cool how it happens. I liked getting to see the ring of fire!"- Unknown
-"When the moon covered 90% of the sun, it didn't effect it. It looked like a normal day."- RJ
-"It looked like a black spot with a ring around it."-Brisa
-"It looked like you were in space looking at the sun"- Keziah
-"Until now, I didn't know there were three types of solar eclipses: annular, total, and partial." -Claire
-"At the end of the eclipse, it looked like a mouse ate a little bit of the sun!"- Regan

Jessie Beck Nature Club

The Jessie Beck Nature Club began yesterday and was filled with eager 5th and 6th grade students.  With the goal of connecting children to nature while having fun with the natural sciences, the first session involved students putting together game call kits.  In all, four calls were made: deer, duck, crow, and owl.

How Much Sugar?

Students walked away from math today better able to visualize how much a gram is.  After learning how to read packaging lables, including: servings size, ingredients, and sugar content; students rotated through stations reading labels on various food products. As they did so, they weighed out how many grams of sugar are in one serving of the product.   Products ranged from Coca-Cola, Lunchables, Sunny D, milk, cereals, candies, and more.  Maybe these fifth graders will even walk away from this lesson with the life skill of being a more informed consumer when purchasing food products.

Book Clubs- By Claire

A few weeks ago we finished our book clubs.  We had three books, Maniac Magee, Among the Hidden, and The War with Grandpa.  We had read these books for three weeks, reading a few chapters each day.  We would have Bloom`s Taxonomy questions for homework.  We would pick one that we wanted to share with our group of people that were reading the same book.  We led our own discussion groups.  On Friday, we made posters of our book.  The posters had information on the front and a picture of something dealing with our book on the back.  Everyone`s poster was amazing!

Written by Claire

Reading Week!

During the week of April 2-6th, Jessie Beck Elementary celebrated Reading Week.  Students were encouraged to dress up each day of the week according to topics that fit into the "Historical Fiction" theme.  Historical hat day, favorite book character or historical character, and western/NV character were some of the topics.  Yeee Haw for Dr. Brock's class!