HALLOWEEN PARTY

Today we saw many creative costumes for our Halloween party and parade. The students had a great time this afternoon showcasing these costumes and participating in a number of games and other activities. We also got into the "Halloween spirit" this morning by using a number of Halloween costumes to think about character traits.

We want to thank all of our parents and other family members who made this day extra special by providing treats/snacks for our party, along with everyone who came to the parade today at school. 

Happy Halloween

Engineering Project

This week students were engaged in a science lesson to learn about Engineering and Design.  As part of this lesson students learned the six parts of the Engineering Design Process:  Identify the Problem, Explore, Design, Create, Try it Out, and Make it Better.  Students explored this process through a hands on activity in which they researched and designed a tall structure with spaghetti and marshmallows.  Students were challenged to come up with the tallest structure possible that could stand on its own and withstand an earthquake.  Students also reflected on how they could make their design better in the future.  Teamwork was a very strong emphasis of this activity - listening, communicating, participating, and working together.  The students did a great job with all aspects of this lesson.  Student structures are shown in the photos below. 

Symbols of the U.S. Project

Today students were busy researching a variety of things that symbolize the United States. They worked in pairs to learn the significance and meaning of their chosen symbols, and answer questions about them. This project is part of our unit regarding Veteran's Day. Some of the symbols being researched by students include: The Liberty Bell, Bald Eagle, U.S. Flag, Statue of Liberty, along with various buildings, monuments, and memorials. The pictures below show students engaged in their research.

Navy Birthday

Today we took a little time to celebrate the 238th birthday of the U.S. Navy (which officially was yesterday).  We learned a little about the Navy, the other military services, creeds, and oaths.  Our activities included marching, facing movements, and singing the Navy Song, which we did as we went down the hallways.  I'm not sure how much the other teachers appreciated our singing, but it was fun anyway.  The activities today set the stage for a project we will be staring soon in connection with Veteran's Day. 

5th Grade Field Trip - Ledge View Nature Center

Today we had a great field trip to the Ledge View Nature Center at Chilton with our 5th graders. Through this adventure we discovered how caves are formed, and in what type of rock most caves are found.  We were able to “unearth” information about sink holes, carbonic acid, lifelines, stalactites, stalagmites, and a little about bats and spiders as well. Most of our learning took place in the caves, where we were able to explore various caverns and crawl through the passages that connected them. This presented the students with a fun learning environment filled with great information, good physical challenges, and plenty of mud to keep things real interesting.

Our 5th grade students represented our school and community very well during this field trip by showing great responsibility and respect! We can all be proud of them!

We want to especially thank our parents who volunteered to chaperone this trip and made the day even more enjoyable!

Hands on Math

The teaching and learning of math has changed a lot in recent years.  The common core revolves around research based best practice which has shown that students need to have a more concrete understanding of math.  For instance, I was taught to multiply fractions by simply multiplying across and reducing the answer.  I was never asked to use it in word problems or create a model that shows what it means to multiply one fraction by another.  Now we put more emphasis on understanding the models and what math means than just memorizing the steps of an equation.  Below you will see student working hands on with manipulative to gain a better understanding of the order of operations.