Drums and Lamp Shades

What do drums and lamp shades have in common? They both are items our fifth graders have been working with in school the last few weeks. In music, Mr. Unruh has been teaching them how to properly play a specific type of drum. With lampshades, no, Dr. Brock hasn't taught them how to play a lampshade, but instead has used them to teach students some art concepts. We have traced some images of nature and Lake Tahoe on them and are now learning how to blend colors together (colored pencils) to create specific color patterns. The lamp shades will sit upon the antler bases we created and be auctioned off in a few weeks. Money will go towards our art program at Jessie Beck. There is still time to buy your dinner tickets for the art auction.

Youth Wildlife Conservation Experience

Our class had a great time at the YWCE a week ago. Although we had a delayed start, we simply cancelled two of the outdoor career seminars and shortened one of the keynote speakers. Students were still able to attend one session of the outdoor career seminars and the lunchtime keynote speaker, who was a college student majoring in wildlife management in Colorado. After lunch we had some hands-on stations. Here are a few photos of the afternoon's hands-on stations.

Lamp is Almost Finished

Last week students worked on hooking up the electrical sockets for the lightbulbs, getting wires hidden into the antlers, filling the holes with wood putty, testing different stains and coffee grounds for the right color, and beginning staining the lamp base for the art auction in a few weeks. This next week we will work on the artwork which will occur on each lamp shade, depicting a Lake Tahoe scene. It is coming together very well!

Book Report Board Games

Friday was a fun educational day. During reading time, we took time to play the board games students created for their book reports this month. There were so many different styles of games and it appeared everyone had fun teaching others how to play the game each student created. We hadn't had computer science for awhile, and Friday allowed time to hook up the Makey Makey to play the coded Dance, Dance Revolution game.

Violins in Music

In music, our class started a unit with learning the basics of the violin. This is important, as during the 4th quarter this year they will receive paperwork to select which music class is wanted in 6th grade, their first elective. They will have the choice of choir, strings, or band. This introductory unit Mr. Unruh teaches them helps them have background knowledge to help them select for next year.