Food Chains

This week in science we have been learning about food chains in preparation for Journeys Outdoor School. On this particular day, we learned a food chain song. Next, students created food chains using a variety of cards with different organisms on then. Finally, students put their creative juices to work to create their own, original food chain.

Mayan Carvings

After studying the Aztecs, Mayans, and Inca, our class is taking on the task of creating a Mayan carved art piece. Using soap, students created a figurine that would have been made by a Mayan. Although still working on the carvings, they are looking fantastic. The next step is to do a short write-up of the figurine.

Solar Eclipse

Our class had the wonderful opportunity to observe the solar eclipse. We made several observations throughout the morning, recording the stages of the eclipse in our science lab book. After the eclipse was over, students wrote about their experience. Here are a few quotes from their paragraphs: "I have never seen anything more amazing in my entire life.."-Jude "When the eclipse was starting you could feel the heat. When it was almost full, it wasn't hot."- Enrique "Wow! Today I saw about 83% of the Great American Eclipse." - Lynette "I really enjoyed seeing the eclipse happen." - Hector "I surely wish I could see a total eclipse." -Emily

True Colors

Today in class we participated in a lesson that allowed students to learn how we can be different, and that those differences make up our society and help it function. Each student took a "color" test which placed them into a particular group based on attributes. Discussions took place on how, in general, they communicate, what they like to talk about, how they like to be praised and give praise, what stresses them out, and how they like to reduce conflict. The goal was to help students see that when group work/discussions take place we may think about things and need things differently than those we are working with. This is all in an effort to build a strong classroom community for this year.

Welcome Back!

The first day of school is almost upon us. I am excited to meet all of my new 5th graders the first day of school, August 7th. We have many exciting learning opportunities coming up this year, including our 4-day experience at Journeys Outdoor School near Portola, California in September. Science will also help kick off our school year with one of the biggest solar eclipses to occur in the U.S. in a long time. We will surely capitalize on that excitement! Parents- You can subscribe to the blog updates by simply entering your email address in the box on the right of the screen. Any time I update the blog, you will simply receive it as an email. So easy. Once you put in your email, you will receive a verification email. If you don't verify it, you won't receive the emails, so make sure to verify.

179th Day and Going Strong

On the second to last day of school we used our knowledge of proportions to scale down the 4,500,000,000 km solar system we live in to a model of 20 meters. Using the math to scale it down, we then measured out 20 meters on the playground and measured out the accurate distances from the sun. Having this accurate model (unlike most drawings in books) allowed students to visualize how far spaced the outer planets are compared to the inner planets. It also helped them understand how difficult it is for space travel for humans (even in our own solar system), as we haven't even been able to land humans on Mars, which was within 1 meter of the sun in our model (and only 34 cm away from earth). Trying to get humans to the outer planets or beyond seemed very difficult at this time with our current technology once this model is seen.

Sun Dials

After tracking how each student's shadow changes size over several months this spring, we moved onto looking at the math and science behind how humans have utilized the concept of the sun moving throughout the sky. This week we built sun dials. Students learned how the angle of the gnomon is related to the latitude of where the sun dial will be used. Protractors were used to measure angles between each hour, with the angles decreasing from morning until noon and then increasing until sunset. Although Wednesday was cloudy and postponed our testing of them, today looks more promising.