A Fifth Grade Classmate

We had a great first week of school!

Here are the kids working in groups sharing ideas about great classmates.

Favorite Science Unit

The results are in....

For the last week of science homework,  I had my two science classes pick their favorite science unit/activity and give evidence to support their choice.  I was not surprised at the results. (simple machines and engineering was also our last unit)

The Totals:

engineering 28

plants and animals 11

weather 4

space 2

matter 2

"My favorite unit was very hard to choose because Mrs. Hall is such a good teacher.  But I did love the engineering unit.  I liked engineering because each partnership had different designs.  I liked testing the models to see what worked and what didn't."

Freedom Trail 2015

We went on our first fifth grade field trip this week.  We visited many sites on the famous Freedom Trail. Going on trips like this makes me appreciate living in this historic state.  

We learned many new things from our tour guide and the children were very engaged.  The tour guide kept their interest all day.

I had to get a Selfie!!!

STEM Race Cars

Planning  our race car designs.  I set up the kids in random groups of three.  I was very impressed on how well they got along.  There were discussions on materials and their purposes and what the cars should look like.  The lesson was from Teach Engineering.  They were given a budget and ha a math component to the lesson.

Once they shared their design plans, the building of the prototypes began.  The kids learned quickly that their plans had to be redesigned.  I learned that Elmer's Glue should not be an option.  I did end up pulling out the hot glue gun for repairs.  My students spent several days building and testing.

Race day was so much fun!  We had a few duds but for the most part...it was a huge success.  I plan on using more projects from this website.  My husband and brother-in-law made the racetracks our of coil stock which is for siding houses.