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Friday, October 26, 2012

Week 10- Partial Quotient Method

Hello Kitty pumpkin

Check it out! Mrs. Lawrence made me a pumpkin and it is Hello Kitty! I think it is so cute and I have it on display in my classroom.

Angry birds

This week we learned about action verbs and linking verbs. The kids each got a coloring page of an Angry Bird and then wrote a paragraph about it. After writing they had to reread their paragraph and highlight action and linking verbs. I think they were excited about this activity.

Teaching verbs

Playing games

We have also been learning about long division. This week we played Multiply, Divide, and Conquer. The kids divided into two teams. Here is a picture of the winning team this round.

The winning team

We also learned how to divide using the partial quotient method. Do you know this method? If not check out this video I made to explain it.



We wrapped up the week with an activity to explore mechanical weathering.

Weathering

The kids used fine and coarse sand paper to weather their rocks (sugar cubes). Then they recorded their observations in the flipbook we made.

Weathering 3

STUDENTS: What did you think about the partial quotient method for long division? At first several of you didn't like it at all. Now that you've had a little while to practice that method I'd love to hear what you think!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Week 9- Layers of the Earth

Layers of the Earth

This week we learned about the layers of the Earth! Check out the flipbook we made Monday. The kids did a great job and learned a lot about the layers of the Earth.

Cleaning the roaches

I had a few volunteers clean out the habitat for our Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. Some of the boys didn't want to touch the pets but Jon had no problem picking them up!

Our pets

It was time for a brain break and the kids love getting up and moving!

Brain breaks



When learning about the layers of the Earth there were two songs we kept going back to. Take a look at our songs. The songs are a great way to help the kids learn!



STUDENTS: Today we started talking about Roanoke Island, The Lost Colony. Take a look at this website and see what is being done to try to figure out what happened to the colonists: America's Lost Colony. What do you think happened to the colonists who disappeared? Mare sure your ideas are realistic.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Week 8- Explorer Day

Sumdog

This week we logged in to www.sumdog.com for the first time in the computer lab. The kids had a great time practicing math facts and playing Junk Pile!

Newton's Race

We also had Newton's Race! The students built ramps to use to race their cars.

On your mark

Get set

Then they added washers to the cars to see if it made a difference in the speed of the cars.

IMG_2549

Friday was Explorer Day. Students dressed up like explorers and brought items to trade.

IMG_2552

All of the 5th grade classes went to the library and traded items. Everyone had a great time!

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We also started making our flipbook to learn about the layers of the atmosphere. Check out this song to help you remember the layers!



STUDENTS: What was your favorite part of Explorer Day? What were you able to trade for? How does what we did compare to what the explorers actually did?

Friday, October 5, 2012

Week 7

Mult properties match up

This was a very busy week for us! We started off by learning the properties of multiplication. You can see Dalton & Ryan playing a game where they had to match the properties to problems on their game board.

Mrs James comes to visit

Our reading coach, Mrs. James, came in this week to help us with Daily Data. One of the things we learned to do was to make inferences about the data. Then we practiced finding unrelated inferences! Check out the list we generated to explain why someone sold more lemonade from week to week.

Unrelated inferences from data

We also participated in the OREO project from Projects by Jen.

Oreos

The kids stacked OREOs and tried to make the tallest stack. There were able to make 2 attempts.

M & C Oreos

Look at the concentration taking place!

Oreos 2

Don't fall!

Boys & Oreos

After everyone finished we recorded the data in our Daily Data notebook and used the clickers to create a graph to show their averages.

Oreo design

After we finished stacking the kids were able to use the cookies to create a sculpture. Some worked alone and others synergized!

Pyramid success

Jon's "fat free" Oreo

Eli's sculpture

Newton's law penny

This week in science we were learning about Newton's First Law. The kids tried to keep the object at rest (penny) while sliding a paper circle out from under it. It took a lot of practice and concentration but some were able to make it work. We started by cutting circles out of cardstock. Then we balanced the penny on top of the paper and put all that on our thumbs. If the students had it balanced correctly they could hit the side of the paper circle. The paper circle would fly out and the penny would stay on their thumb! If they flipped it wrong the force of the paper moving made the penny move.

Penny 2

STUDENTS: Give me an example of Newton's 1st or 2nd law. We talked about the penny (1st law) and riding in a car (2nd law). Give me an example that you can think of that has not already been mentioned in the comments!