5th Grade: Andrew Clements

The 5th graders finished up their first author challenge. In March, we read part of Andrew Clements' book, "Lunch Money" in our Journeys book. The challenge was for the students to read just one of Andrew Clements' books, take an AR test on that book, and get at least 80% on the test by March 31st. If the students met the challenge, they were rewarded with pizza and lemonade which was served today! I think the students learned a little about setting a goal and learning that the authors who write in their text books are also authors of full-length novels.

7th grade: Animal Adaptations

7th graders were to create an animal with adaptations. They then had to fully answer questions about their animal. For example, what adaptations did the animal have to eat, or would the animal be able to survive a serious climate change? What adaptations did the animal have to survive? Here are some pictures of some of the imaginary animals that the students had fun creating!

8th Grade: Cell Pamphlets

8th graders recently worked hard to produce pamphlets demonstrating what they learned about the parts of a cell. They created pamphlets with the different organelles of the cell, labeled clearly and explained. They are now hanging outside their classroom.

8th Grade: Models of Cells

This week the 8th graders were learning about the parts of a cell, focusing more on animal cells. We made models using jello for cytoplasm, but the other "ingredients" were left up to the students. Students had to discuss what food items represented the different parts of the cell.

7th Grade: Engineering Concepts with Bobsleds

Our ramp/ rain gutter

Bobsled

Most of the ideas and information to do this project came from the following website:

http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/build-a-bobsled-racer/#respond

We used a rain 10-foot rain gutter as our bobsled ramp, and used small containers, duct tape, batteries, and other materials to both increase friction and decrease friction. The students had to submit a design, learn about force and motion, and finally connect Newton's First Law of Motion with what they observed with their bobsleds.

Before taking on the creation of making our own bobsleds, we watched some of the bobsled races direct from Sochi. Here's Lolo Jones getting ready before going to Sochi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49DaJuTI33U

4th and 8th Grade

Look at what Karen Nyberg is up to now that she's landed!

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/nation-world/article/NASA-family-out-of-this-world-4990062.php?t=896af79058057dc840#/0

6th Grade: Upcoming Assessment on "Earth's Changing Face"

We are learning about how the earth is always moving and changing. Why is it important? It is important because it connects to many different ideas in science. Water moves and changes, animals go through life stages and changes... Our test and what we are learning about focuses on how the earth is moving and changing to create different types of rocks and landforms. Eventually, we will be learning about volcanoes and reporting on ones we find especially interesting.

Here is a short video and song that uses many concepts about the earth, and the rock cycle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lMd

Wisconsin Dells

 

4th Grade Recently Accomplished

A letter from the ISS...

Deep Space Models

Here are some good examples of deep space models/ posters.

8th Grade - How was the Solar System formed?

The deep space presentations turned out really well, and the models look fantastic. I hope to get some pictures of them up here soon!

We are moving back to our own solar system to learn about how it was formed. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37Ju5DEbkR4

We will be watching the listed video in parts, in class. It is about 44 minutes in length.