Campfires and "Spooky" Stories

In capitalizing on the time of year, and specifically Halloween, our class embraced the possibly distraction of the holiday and instead incorporated into the motivating factors of our learning. For the past two weeks students have been writing a "spooky" or "mysterious" story, focusing on the elements associated with those. Adding detailed adjectives into their story, peer editing and then printing, students were ready to celebrate their work. Sitting around various "camp fires" in class, students read their stories in the manner they were developed.

Polygon Attributes

We are deep into our unit on geometry. Students today cut out many different polygons and then sorted them according to their attributes, such as: all convex polygons, at least one pair of parallel sides, at least one reflex angle, etc.

Surface Tension

Today Mr. Green, our practicum student from UNR, taught a lesson on surface tension. Students tested water and soapy water to see the differences in surface tension and cohesion.

Using an Atlatl

Today we had an archaeologist visit our classroom to teach us about ancient civilizations. The focus was on the theory of the migration of humans to the Americas. After the lesson inside, students were able to each try using a real atlatl. Our "tribe" had to kill a woolly mammoth (box) with the spear. Using the atlatl to throw the spear was a new experience for all. In the end, we ate fairly well, having three people in our tribe hit the box.

Soils

In completing our unit that helped us understand what main elements are chiefly needed by plants in order to survive and grow, we finished with analyzing soils. In doing so, we learned that although soils are important, they are not one of the main components needed for plants to grow. In analyzing soils we examined what they are made of. Thanks for all the families who sent in different soils from around the area. We had lots of different types of soil.

S.T.E.M.

We were one of the lucky classrooms in the school district to sign up and book 3 sessions of STEM activities by partnering with the UNR College of Engineering. Today was our first session. A UNR engineer student visited and spoke about UNR/college life. Next, the discussion focused around engineering and different types of engineers. Then a lesson on engineering of bridges took place. Students used Kinex to build a suspension bridge.