To Infinity and Beyond!

We have recently been studying space science.  The last couple of weeks we explored how big (or small, depending on how you look at it) our solar system is by walking a 100 meter scaled model of it on the playground.  We then built our Milky Way Galaxy out of paper and visualized where our solar system fit inside that model and tried to visualize our galaxy as one of 30 galaxies in the Local Group, just a few galaxies in the universe.

We continued to dig into science standard E5B4 to understand the cyclical patterns of observable objects in the solar system by having a guest speaker visit to talk about meteors and asteroids.  Ask your child what he or she thought of the guest speaker, as he was quite different.  Students then created a model of the surface of a planet with flour and grape drink mix and explored impact crators.

Museum Day was a Success!

After a month of preparation, Museum Day was a huge success.  Students wrote the best three-minute speeches using research from three different sources.  Their memorization of the speech, along with their amazing costumes was outstanding.  They presented twice throughout the day, with the showing at 2:15 being the busiest.  Many students said they only had five or ten seconds of not talking between presentations during that showing.  I am very proud of all my students.

Museum Day, Art BBQ, and Book Report

This Friday, May 6th the school is holding its art and picnic BBQ.  Families are welcomed to attend.  Students' artwork will be displayed outside each classroom.  You are welcome to purchase the BBQ food from the school or bring your own picnic lunch.

Next Tuesday, May 10th is the 5th grade Museum Day.  We have been working hard researching historical figures, using internet, encyclopedias, and books to put together a three minute speech about the character.  We will begin dress rehearsals Friday.  Please help your child create a costume to fit their character.  Their homework this week is to begin practice memorizing their speech.  They will also have time Thursday, Friday, and Monday to work on memorizing it and practicing it.  You are welcome to attend the showing on Tuesday.  We will have one showing from 9:30-10:00 and one from 2:15-2:45.

Our next book report is due on May 20th.  Students can choose any genre they like.  There are two components to this book report. First, fill out the standard book report form.  The second component is to create a board game using the characters, setting, plot, etc. from the book.  Criteria is attached to the book report form.  These games will be played in class on May 20th, so they need to be designed so that anyone can play them, even if they haven't read the book.

Reading Week ROCKS!

The week before spring break celebrated Reading Week.  Our class participated in themed events each day.  The last day many students dressed up for a final finale to our "Reading Rocks" theme.

Other activities this week included Poem in a Pocket, guessing passages from books, and more.

It didn't stop us from learning though.  We have been working on a novel titled "Dreamsong".  We will finish the book after spring break.  In social studies, we are moving into understanding the reasons the nation became divided in the 1800's leading up to the Civil War.  In science, we are beginning to conclude our unit on mixtures and solutions.  Today students will compare solubility between a saturated solution of salt water and a saturated solution of powdered citric acid and water.  They are all becoming very good at the metric system and using graduated cylinders to measure liquids.  After the break, Monday will start out with Star Lab, followed by a big unit on space science.  Writing is focusing on research.  We have learned about bibliography pages and have begun researching our characters for the book report and Museum Day.

Students are now going to continue this research on their own for their book report book, using the notecard process learned in class.  At the completion of their book report, we will research in class using two other sources and take notes on those as well.  Museum Day will be a great success!

Museum Day

We will begin working on a large scale report on a person who is an American hero, either someone who was an American or greatly influenced America.  Starting this week, students will sign up for the person they want to research and eventually become.  Our book report for the next 3 weeks will be a biography on their person.  Later this week they will learn how to take notes on notecards on important information as they read their book.  These notes, along with the book report, will become the first source for their big report.  Following the book report, which is due April 29th, students will continue researching using one internet site and an encyclopedia.  Creating a well written bibliography page to go along with the report is part of the assignment, as well as citing sources if using quotations.

Finally, the end finale is Museum Day.  On May 10th (times to be determined later by the 5th grades), parents are invited to tour our "museum".  Students will be dressed up their costume representing their person in history.  Simply pushing a "button" on their arm will activate a 3 minute, memorized oral background of the person.  Over 75 fifth graders presenting America's influential people...what a great time that will be!

We began checking out biographies last week in library.  We will continue to do so Wednesday of this week.
The public library is also a great resource.

St. Patrick's Day Math/Reading/Science

In the afternoon of March 17th, we broke into groups to become specialists with different topics related to St. Patrick's Day.  After reading and sorting through information, students presented the information to the rest of the class.

Next, we built off of the information about the potato famine in Ireland in the mid-1800's.  We explored what part of a potato is "edible", considering that most people peel potatos for cooking.  Through the process, students also discovered why the mass of their peels added to the mass of their pulp didn't equal the original mass of the potato.

We finished the day by turning regular copper pennies into "gold".  Students cleaned their pennies in an acidic solution (Taco Bell sauce).  Next, they watched as Dr. Brock galvanized the pennies in zinc.  They soon held a zinc coated penny in their hand.  Finally, Dr. Brock circulated around the room so students could watch as their penny became the alloy brass (when zinc and copper are heated they create brass).  The brass pennies were now shinny, gold colored.

Happy Pi Day

March 14th was Pi Day (3.14). After measuring many different baked pies in the classroom (diameter and circumference) and discovering that Pi= circumference/diameter, we reversed the process and found circumference of different circles using the formula C=Pi/diameter. We also found the area of circles using pi.

Overall, it was a successful, math filled day.  A wonderful way to spend an afternoon after CRTs.