Holiday and Half-Way through Fifth Grade Celebrations

We are now officially half-way through 5th grade, exactly! After finishing our addition and subtraction of fractions unit test, we spent the afternoon doing a gift exchange to spread a little holiday cheer. Then we had a celebration at the end of the day with some tasty food and some good 'ol holiday Jeopardy.

Wheat and Worms: Update

Thursday we revisited some science labs that have taken time to progress in order for us to collect data. We analyzed our wheat seeds that were growing in straws without soil, proving soil isn't one of the needed components required for plant growth. Additionally, after 11 weeks (yes, ELEVEN), we opened up our mini-ecosystems that housed the red worms. Many thought they would be dead, however their populations were doing just great. Most had close to the same amount of worms that we put in there on September 19th. Some even had reproduced and included 2-5 more worms. The big lesson of that particular lab was to observe decomposition and decomposers in action.

Adding Electricity

We started hooking up the lamp cord to the lamp base and testing it today, making sure all connections are secure. Through this project, students are understanding better how items such as lamps and light switches work. We will get it all adjusted and then epoxy the base to the antler next. We still need to figure out how to hide all the drill holes in getting the cord through the antler, but that will be in the future, and I'm sure with more lessons attached as well.

\ Today we started to drill the big holes. Pretty scary, as we had to poke out on the sides a few times, but appears to be doing what we want. We could use a starper drill but, but all is going well even with a dull one. Drilling into antler has given us the opportunity to learn about the harder outer part of a bone and the softer inner part of the bone, as we can certainly tell when we are drilling through each.

Fun and Educationally Filled Friday

We continue working each day on our collaborative art project. We have connected three antlers to make one base and even polished up the top with a Dremel. We also started drilling and screwing together part of the second base. We officially wrapped up our guitar coding today and are moving into creating a Dance-Dance Revolution game, which will require a durable dance mat that can officially be danced on and then hooked up to the laptop that carries the code for the game. This will be our final project for awhile with the Makey Makeys. We will move into other computer science tools after the break.

Common Denominators

We spent time on Tuesday in class reinforcing how to find common denominators when looking at two fractions by playing a game. This week's buddies partnered up and challenged each other through a game of chance, strategy, and math. The end goal was being able to find common denominators more efficiently.

Starting our Collaborative Art Project

Our class is attempting to make 2 lamps and shades for the art auction this year. They will be made out of deer antlers that were donated. Monday we discussed as a class the process and looked at a lamp similar to the one we will be making, using it as a model. Tuesday small groups began assembling the antlers that the class selected and organized into the shapes yesterday. Some drilling and some screwing and even a snapped screw! No worries, we got the screw out and drilled the hole larger and made it work. We are on our way!

Waste Management Field Trip

Friday we visited the new visitor center at Waste Management. We were actually the first class to visit the facility. It is a beautiful visitor center and we were even able to see the recycling taking place through windows. I even learned a lot!

Rock On! Coding our Guitars

We are nearing the end of our computer science lessons on building a guitar and coding it to play similar to a real guitar. The projects have turned out great. Perhaps one more day and then off to another project.

Modeling Dividing Decimals

We spent time in class on Friday really understanding what it means to divide a decimal by a whole number. Using manipulatives, students worked through division problems using base-10 blocks. We then transferred this physical model to a paper and pencil model.

What is Photosynthesis?

This week, students learned the in-depth process of how plants make their food, a sugar called glucose. The learned that plant seeds have enough chemical energy to sprout and do very well, even in total darkness for several days. In fact, our seeds in total darkness even out-performed the ones in light (due to less evaporation). However, yesterday we observed that our wheat plants in the total darkness, although growing still, look sickly. Students learned that they are not green because the chlorophyll isn't able to take the CO2, water, and light to produce glucose. We decided to take some of the plants in darkness and put them in the light, while also taking some from the light and putting them in darkness. We will see if over a few days we see changes.

Fall Art

Friday involved an afternoon of art. After analyzing photos of aspen and even paintings of aspen by Bev Doolittle (the neat ones where she blends in hidden pictures in the aspen), our class used painters tape to help paint a fall aspen scene. The final projects came out great.

Marco........Polo......

Today a visitor from the past visited our classroom to provide background knowledge about the Silk Road its impact on trade in the 1200s. Marco Polo, the famous merchant who traveled the Mongol Empire for 24 years, spoke to the class of his adventures and his time with Kublai Khan. Following the short visit to our class, the students found supporting information in their social studies books and then completed questions using information from the book, the visitor, or both. Perhaps, due to his great adventures and his impact on the world at the time, we still use his name in swimming pool games today.

Pie in Face and a Guitar!

Today we had a student who was selected to smash a pie in Mrs. Fischer's face. Since our school sold over 1,600 books at book fair, the deal was made last year that a pie would be smashed in her face. The student selected was selected based on checking out the most books from the library. The photos came out great, as Mrs. Fischer barely got to a count down of 1 before the pie went in her face. Additionally, following the pie in the face, Mr. Weed visited and taught the kids a lesson about how an electric guitar works. This connected great to the guitars kids are building and starting to write their code for in computer science.

Dry Ice and the Science Behind It

Why are so many people fascinated about dry ice? That was the focus question dealing with today's science lab. In forty-five minutes the class investigated many properties of dry ice and learned all about sublimation (going from a solid directly to a gas), that it is the solid form of CO2, and that dry ice is -109 degrees F. Later today, we used what we learned and made a batch of root beer to drink at our party. The CO2 of the dry ice will carbonate the drink all day and the cold temperature of the dry ice will surely keep it cold for us!

Breaking Yeast our of its Dormancy

Science this week involved a lab of trying to break yeast, a fungus, out of its dormancy. Through a two-day lab, students realized it takes warm water and sugar to break it out. Our evidence involved the amount of CO2 that was its waste product.

Celebrating Book Fair Week

Our class has really gone all out with being a part of the celebrations that Mrs. Fischer has set up for our school. Yesterday was "wear a winter hat day". That, along with Monday's "wear your PJs to school day" were the two days with the largest participation of our class.

Class Scarecrow is Complete

Our scarecrow is complete and set up. It is a beautiful day for the Scarecrow event.

Building Scarecrow

Last week we democratically voted for which book we wanted to turn into our class Scarecrow. We selected "Big-Enough Anna". This week we began putting all the parts together. We had 6 different stations where students build components of our Scarecrow. Tomorrow, Thursday, our annual Scarecrow Festival takes place from 3-6:00. We hope you can all join us.