Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee!!!

Yesterday was our 5th grade Spelling Bee.  We had several students that represented our 4 classrooms!  They all did a fantastic job and we have a lot to celebrate!  Congratulations to our representatives!

Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters!!!

This week, the students have been researching different kinds of natural disasters that occur here on Earth.  They are working in groups, based on their interest, and are learning about how they happen, their affect on earth, the tools used for detecting, etc.  Students will also create a survival kit of 4 items that they believe will be helpful if their disaster actually happened.  During our class on Wednesday, next week, students will present their findings to the class and teach their peers about their disaster.  They are really excited about this assignment!

Here are a few of the students working together to collect their research information!

Layers of the Earth-Ooblek

Layer's of the Earth

During the last couple of days of class, we have discussed the different layers of the Earth along with their characteristics.  Today, the students focused on the Mantle of the Earth, which behaves both as a liquid and a solid.  We simulated this idea by creating our own Mantle out of Ooblek (cornstarch and water).  Please see the fun and MESSY pictures below!!!

Science Fair!

SCIENCE FAIR!!!!

Below is information for an optional science fair project I introduced to the students today.  I want you to get accurate information straight from me to avoid any confusion (and last minute panicked requests for science materials!)  Here are a few important things to know about the project:

1.  This is a science experiment project, meaning the principle task is to perform an experiment at home and to present it to the class.  The directions have some links for science experiment websites that may be helpful, or you can Google science experiments for kids to get more ideas.  Students should start with a scientific question:  What type of dog food does my dog like best? or What type of paper airplane flies the farthest?.  They should test the question at home and create a presentation to share with the class.  Students may video tape the experiment, may bring it in to share with the class, may create a Power Point, Google Presentation, poster, or however they can effectively present the experiment. 

2.  Students may work on their own or with up to two partners.  I emphasized that if they work with a partner they should make sure they can find times and places to meet and complete some work outside of school.

3.  The rough draft is due on Friday January 9th.  The final project is due Monday, February 2nd.  I am asking parents to sign the rough draft so you are aware of the project specifics and can discuss any needed materials or other details.

4.  The optional district science fair on Saturday February 7th.  Students who choose to enter (free of charge) will need to register at:  www.nasciencefair.org.    There are prizes for winners at the science fair.  Science fair entries must have a 3 sided poster and must complete research related to their experiment.

Earth and Seasons Quiz

Earth and Seasons Quiz-Friday!!!!

This Friday, students will have a  quiz over the Earth and it's seasons.  Students have been given a study guide today, Tuesday.  Everything that is on the study guide will be found on the quiz.  Please encourage your child to study!!! You can click on the link below to retrieve a copy of the study guide. 

COPY OF STUDY GUIDE 

Week of Catapults...

CATAPULTS

Last week we started our unit of Space.  We started talking about the concept of gravity and what this might look like if we didn't have it at all!  The students thought it was pretty funny what some everyday events might look like in space!  

We followed this conversation up by creating posters that showed "What Gravity Effects..." Finally, the students worked on making Catapults out of popsicle sticks and masking tape.  This was a two day project and the students will test their models today during class!

 

Busy Week~!

We have had a busy week!!!

This week we completed a Boys vs. Girls experiment!  The students loved this (mainly the girls!) as it was "Who is more flexible-boys or girls?"  We found that girls are more flexible as a whole, but we did have some flexible boys, beat some of our girls!

We also borrowed a model of an environment.  With this model, we pretended that it was our town of New Albany, and thought of different ways that humans might negatively impact our environment (salt, fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, litter, oil, etc.).  All of this we saw get washed away into our rivers, streams, and ponds/lakes; which we discussed was not okay for the water ecosystems.  We talked about how this has lead to many deformities within the ecosystem, including mutations. 

 

Finally, we helped one of our very own!  Mr. Bill Resch sent a plea asking for help to finish planting plants out in our newly developed wetlands, here on campus!  We spent the entire day out there, planting a TON of plants for Mr. Resch!  We didn't get it all done, but we made a huge dent before the frost comes this weekend!  Thank you to all of the students that were a part of this!  You will get to see this environment grow during your educational career at New Albany!  You should all be proud of yourselves!

 

Biz Town Interviews and Mayor!

We are getting reading for our jobs! at Biz Town!

This week, the students got dressed up and become professionals for the day.  It was their turn to go on a job interview.  The students were asked to dress, business appropriate, and were then interviewed by our very own parents!  All of the students looked terrific and did a great job on their first job interview!  Thank you to all of the parents that donated their time to help with interviews!

We also held Mayor elections.  The students ran for mayor in their own homeroom, the students then voted on who they thought would best represent their class.  From there, we held a final election between the 4 homerooms (Ballard, Cameron, DeLong, and Taylor) to see you our Mayor for Biz Town would be.  The winner is........

Sydney 

From Mrs. Cameron's Class!

Congratulations to all participants, as we recognize the courage that it takes to stand up in front of your peers! Great job to everyone!

Partial Solar Eclipse

Partial Solar Eclipse

Tomorrow, Ohio will have a Partial Solar Eclipse.  It will begin around 5:30PM and go until about 6:45PM.  If you are home or out and about tomorrow, please check out this awesome science spectacular! If there are clouds, please check out the following website: http://spaceweather.com.  They will have a live camera so you can view the show!

Lucid Chart

Lucid Chart Food Webs

The last couple of days, the students have been using a computer program called Lucid Charts.  This is presentation program that the students can use to complete projects for class, or create new documents at home.  The students used this program to create a food web using the organisms that we found out in the Wetlands last week.  They learned how to search and drag in images, create and change fonts, and also how to use arrows to show the energy transfer between the organisms. When finished, the students will share their Food web with me, just like you would share a Google document. They have really enjoyed this program; many students even asked if they could create a new project at home on their own time!!! 

Wetlands!

We Made It!!!

We finally made it out to the wetlands this week!  The students were introduced to Mrs. Wilmore, who gave them a quick lesson on what to find out in the wetlands.  She included the super scary.....DADDY LONG LEGS, which we learned would not cause us any harm.  She mentioned that the "Cute" "Furry" caterpillars that we all enjoy picking up and analyzing should be something that we actually stay away from as they have defense mechanisms that could hurt humans.  Finally, she showed us what to look for when looking to STAY AWAY from poison ivy- "Leaves of three, let them be."

 







When we ventured out in to the woods, the students were to observe a log of their choice.  They were to decide what stage of decomposition the log was in, as well as observe the various organisms that were living on, in, and under the log.  The students food some really interesting creatures!!

Ecology Assessment

Ecology Test is Thursday and Life Science Packets will be turned in!!!!

This week, we finished talking about photosynthesis.  The students should know the necessary resources that a plant needs in order to survive: Sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.  The plant then converts this energy into Glucose (sugar), which is the plants food (energy).  This energy is then passed to other organisms when they consume the plant.  

Yesterday, we reviewed for our test, by playing a review Bingo game.  The questions that were used during the game, came directly from their study guides.  If they felt comfortable with the game, they should be successful on our test this Thursday!

Today is FINALLY the day to go out to the Wetlands!  We are headed out to dissect a decomposing log and document the organisms found within the log.  It should be a great day!  

Stay tuned for pictures from our adventure!!!!

FabLAB Day #3

Last Day of FabLab Conference:

Final Products!!!!

At my conference today, we were given a challenge to use a Vex Robotic set and create a robot and then program it to draw a square.  The creation of the robot happened very quickly, as we had a great idea of how this "Should look!!"  However, we quickly figured out that, it doesn't always work the way we originally intended it to!  There was a lot of "That won't work!" "Let's take that off, and put it here."  Here are a few pictures of our completed robot!

Here is a video of our robot drawing our "square!!!" We only got it to draw a shape that looked like a flower,  before we ran out of time! 

 

FabLab Training

Where is Mrs. Taylor???

This week, I have had the privilege of attending a FabLab training in Westerville.  This week I have been learning how to use a program called Inkscape.  This program allows for you to take a drawing, blueprint, doodle, etc. and bring it to a polished piece of work.  This week we used Inkscape to create airplane gliders.  Once created in Inkscape we then exported the data to a Laser cutting machine, which took our one-dimensional drawing and made it into the actual model!

 This was my final product on Inkscape. 

Here is my plane, after it was cut using the laser cutter.  Also, you can see the blue details...these were actually cut using another machine, a Vinyl cutting machine.  It allowed us to create our own professional decals to add to the plane (They didn't have maroon and gold, like my original idea on the computer displayed!)

 

This is short video of the laser cutting out my glider!

LUNAR ECLIPSE

TOTAL Lunar Eclipse

Tomorrow morning, we will be able to witness a TOTAL Lunar Ecplise!!!!  This doesn't happen too often, so fingers crossed that the clouds stay away!!!    However, if the weather is an issue, click on the link below to watch a LIVE Webcast of the eclipse!!
I would love to see some pics, if you get up early enough!!!

 

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON:  The Moon is about to pass through the shadow of Earth, producing a colorful lunar eclipse.  Sky watchers in the Americas, Australia, Pacific islands and parts of Asia can expect to see the full Moon turn beautiful shades of red and turquoise for nearly an hour on Wednesday morning, Oct. 8th.  Check http://spaceweather.com for viewing times and observing tips.
LIVE WEBCAST:  Got clouds? No problem. The eclipse will be broadcast live on the web by the Coca-Cola Science Center: http://www.ccssc.org/webcast.html

Centers

Simulating an Ecosystem

The end of this week was super busy!  We didn't make it to the Wetland's (My curse with weather continues!); please stay tuned for a reschedule date!

We got a lot accomplished at the end of the week.  On Thursday, I introduced the students to centers/stations.  The students were creating their own food webs, watching a video on dissecting a decomposing log (to prepare for our wetland's trip), and seeing the direct affects of animal consumption in an ecosystem.