Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Rescheduled Field Trip to Walled Lake Western on February 2



The Walled Lake Western trip was rescheduled, we are using the original permission slips, and if you have any questions please call the office.





Monday, January 23, 2017

STEM

STEM Experiment: Science, technology, engineering, and math

During science this week, students have created 2 and 3 person companies that are trying to create a space glider capable of flying from the main space ship.  These companies are building prototype gliders to glide down into craters for astronauts to study moon dust.  Each 'company' can only use 2 sheets of paper, 4 straws, and 4 paperclips to create their glider.  See pictures below of students collaborating and designing ships in their science notebook prior to building. 










Thursday, January 19, 2017

Thursday, January 19

Below, students are working on an experiment during science using simple tools: a marble, a ruler, and a meter stick.  They are learning how different variables can have affect on an experiment.  We learned about independent and dependent variables today as well.   In teams of 2, students are controlling variables by changing only one at a time.  They have secured the ruler, creating a ramp, and changed the position of the marble to discover the distance it travels. Every time the ball travels down the ruler, students record in their science notebook the position of the ball and how far the ball traveled.  At the end of class, students try and hit a target number in only 1 try using the data in their notebook.  The students are learning so much about good record keeping, how important collecting data is, and how to interpret their data.





Friday, January 13, 2017

Happy Friday!

Room 15 had a great and full week of learning.  We worked on many new concepts in all subject areas.  

In Readers' Workshop, students began book clubs and are learning about conversational prompts and building on others thinking within a common idea. Students are evaluating each book club session and deciding what went well and goals for the next discussion.

 In writers' workshop, students are completing an opinion essay on "Should students wear school uniforms?" There are some fantastic examples coming of awesome 5th grade writing.  They have learned so much, and I'm excited to show their progress.

In math, students learned about adding and subtracting decimals.

During science today, students began an experiment where they were using data from their science notebook to solve a problem.  Students were using a ball bearing and rolling it down a ramp investigating how the ramp angle and the position of the ball affects the ball distance.  

Homework:
- Home Link 4.11
- reading 30 minutes

Reminders:
- Friday Folders came home (Science BA letter included in folder)
- Walled Lake Western music trip; Tuesday, January 17th
- No school January 16th









Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Tuesday, January 10

Today in writers' workshop, students continued their work on their opinion writing essays.  They learned how to write a counterargument.  By  Thursday, students will have a completed essay to add to their Google Site.

In math, we are working with coordinate grids and ordered pairs once again.  Students are learning how to manipulate the ordered pair to see how it affects an image on a coordinate grid.  Ask your child...what happens to the image when the ordered pair is doubled?

In science, we played a Jeopardy review game.  Click here to download the powerpoint game.
Student have a test tomorrow.

Homework:
- 30 minutes of reading
-study for science BA
- Home Link 4.8 

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Happy 2017!!!

Room 15 was buzzing this morning; students were excited to share their holiday stories and fun that they had over break.   As soon as the kids' shared, we moved right into word study.  We have been learning different Greek and Latin roots, today's focus was on the suffixes -ible and -able.

 Later we began readers' workshop, I'm reading the book, Holes as our read aloud. Students are learning about flashbacks, side stories, and main story as Louis Sachar, the author of Holes, seamlessly moves into each of these without warning.  Students also had time to preview our upcoming book club books.  Each student picked their top 4 book club books and now they will be placed in one of those 4 book clubs.  We will begin the book clubs starting tomorrow.  Essentially, students will be reading the same book as the other members of their group and together (with me) find a time to discuss the story within a small learning community.

In writers' workshop, we continued our opinion writing unit.  We looked at an exemplary opinion piece and dissected it, naming and noticing how the author was so successful in hopes to duplicate it.

Homework:
- 30 minutes of reading

Reminder:
- permission slip to attend concert at Walled Lake Western