THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR!

As another year comes to an end, I want to thank members of 5W for a wonderful year of fun AND learning. It was so great to see how this class came together throughout the year as you all demonstrated supportive and caring attitudes towards each other, and even to me!

You exhibited this ability to work together as we finished up the year with the dome project, and two of the better domes that I have seen were put together. You followed directions well and listened to ideas from others on your teams and the results showed this ability to work together. What a great job!

I just want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you all the best of luck in 6th grade, and for the rest of your educational endeavors. You are great group of young adults and deserve nothing but the best. Thanks for all of your hard work and for making it so much fun for me to come to "work" everyday.

Lifespan of a Bubble

A great Math project is to find the lifespan of a bubble. We head outside on a beautiful spring day with our bubble bottles ready to go. The task is to time the "lifespan" of 50 bubbles per group, place the data on a table to organize I,t and then graph the results. This gives the class plenty of opportunity to apply several of the standards in Common Core Math for 5th grade. And... its fun!

Reader's Theater

Once again, this year in 5W, we are wrapping up the year by preparing, rehearsing, and performing Greek Myths in Reader's Theater. This year's class will be performing the myths that include Cupid and Psyche, Daedalus and Icarus, Echo and Narcissus, and Orpheus and Eurydice. This past week we have had the opportunity to get outside and do our rehearsing which allows us to work on more than one play at a time.

Next week we will  get our costumes and props ready for our performances on Friday. The class is really looking forward to performing for a live audience.

Pool Chairs

Another year of "This is impossible." becoming "This was fun.". The Lego Pool Chair project is complete and, once again, the class rose to the occasion. The groups were to design a pool chair for a Barbie doll by utilizing the Engineering Process. They faced constraints, such as Lego options and availability but each group designed and built a functional chair.

On Friday we presented the chairs to the class as each group demonstrated what the chair could do and how they arrived at their final design.

Great job everyone!!

Egg Drop

The Annual 5W Egg Drop took place on Thursday as all sorts of imaginative contraptions were designed and build by the students at home. Bubble wrap was a favorite material (it may be outlawed for this project next year). Cotton candy, felt, foam insulation, and even suspending the egg using rubber bands were part of some of the innovations.

We used the Engineering Process which called for the students to first understand the problem. They then brainstormed ideas and created a design. Once the design was complete, they built their contraption and tested it. After the test, improvements were made, and the process would start all over again.

We want to thank Mr. Conary for taking time out of his busy day to get out on the roof and toss our egg contraptions.

After weighing the contraptions (the weight limit was 200 grams), we headed outside to give them the ultimate test. Fewer than 20% of the eggs broke, one of the best percentages in years. Cheers to the students as they put a great deal deal of thought and effort into this out-of-school project.

Pool Chairs and Other Activities

Over the past couple of weeks we have been designing Pool Chairs for Barbie. The groups have been given the task of designing a chair that has:
1. wheels to transport it
2.  a back that has at least 3 different positions
3. a leg rest that has at least 2 different positions.

The chair must be built entirely out of Legos. Each group will  present their chair at the end of this week. This is a project that we do when learning about the Engineering Process in Science. It gives the class the opportunity to share ideas and to work in groups as they design and build the chairs. Every year the students start out claiming that the task is impossible but every year each group comes through with solid designs.

The students have also been working on battle reports from the Revolutionary War. Each group of 3 or 4 students will research an assigned battle of the war and then create a PowerPoint presentation and present their findings to the class next week. We were able to use the iPads to do our research in the classroom which always helpful.

Finally, the class has been hard at work at home designing and building their egg drop contraptions. The eggs will be dropped this Thursday from the roof above our classroom. The contraption, including the egg, can't weigh more than 200 grams so it is a real challenge confronting each student. Egg drop time is always fun. Stay tuned for pictures next week.