Our newest lab is investing not only what breaks wheat seeds out of their dormancy, but also looking specifically at what plants need and how they get it. We will follow seeds planted both in the dark and in the light and observe their growth over the next few weeks. Understanding what is taking place at a 5th grade level will be quite exciting.
For those students who were able to attend last night's Zombie Shoot, we sure had a blast. After learning about the sport of archery and the safety associated with it, students had an hour (three sessions) to improve their skills at the sport. Pretending not to get attacked by zombies (a great connection to Halloween this weekend), three arrows per round were shot.
We started our unit on field hockey in P.E. yesterday. Students were very excited. During day 1, we covered the techniques of: how to hold a hockey stick, how to pass and stock a hockey ball, and how to maneuver the hockey ball around cones. Each week we will add skills, working towards culminating hockey games we play on the basketball court. For most, this was the first time every using a hockey stick.
We started a new science unit and really started getting into a good lab. Students learned about yeast being a fungus and then designed an experiment to try to get yeast out of its dormant phase. We discovered that yeast needs warm water and sugar to come out of dormancy. Our observations focused around noticing foam/bubbles in the bag, as well as the bag blowing up slightly. Additionally, we could measure the air in the bag to rule out other test items, such as flour. Finally, we learned that the waste product created by yeast when the single cells come out of dormancy is carbon dioxide.
With restrictions easing up somewhat in Nevada, we are able to do a little bit more in P.E. We had some fun this week playing Capture the Flag. We sanitize our hands before going out and upon returning, just to make sure nothing is spread as we try to "tag" students out by pulling a flag off his or her belt. It was a very competitive first round, with the red team winning 3-2. Lots of smiles!
After studying the Native People of the Great Plains, we investigated the difficulties it must have been to carve items out of stone or antler which these early people often did. Using soap and plastic knives, students selected an animal that might have been carved by an early person and attempted to carve the basic shape.
