Float Time!

Friday was Float Day in fifth grade. Students with positive behavior throughout the first quarter received an ice cream float! Deciding which flavor to choose was tough, but over all, root beer seemed to be the favorite !

Next quarter's reward challenge is to get all work handed in on time and stay off the MASH list.

The Biome Song

We had fun reviewing biome facts in science by watching this YouTube video. It was made by a teacher who changed the words in a popular song. See if you recognize the tune!




http://www.safeshare.tv/w/EMdhaYZcod

Experiencing Edmodo

Today was an exciting day for us because we launched our class Edmodo site. This is an online community that is designed especially for school use. I am delighted to have a safe and secure way to teach the students about the realities of digital literacy. Being able to collaborate and discuss online is a fast growing means of communication. The class is learning how to post appropriate messages, participate in discussion threads, post replies that are on-topic, and many other features of online communities.

What impresses me about Edmodo is the security of the site. Only people who are invited with the access code can see our page and communicate with the students. Students do not need an email account to be a part of this. Parents are invited to join our group with a special parent access code, so you can see your child's activity online.

Students will be uploading their published essays to our Edmodo page so we can read each other's essays and offer positive comments. I will also be posting informal polls and quizzes related to our lessons at school. If students have homework questions, they can post on our page and receive help and encouragement from fellow classmates. I will be actively moderating everything that is posted on our site.

I look forward to hearing your comments and questions about this new project. All the students are very excited about this new way to extend our reading and writing activities outside of school!

Publishing on the Laptops

This week we published our first essays using the laptop computer lab. This was many students' first experience with Microsoft Word. Everyone learned how to center a title, return for a new line, tab to indent, and the most important thing of all....saving documents!

Once we were done publishing, the students enjoyed browsing through our class website, and doing the activities linked to our site: checking grades on Powerschool, reading and finding their picture in blog entries, and playing spelling and math games.

Studying Bugs!

Last week in science, we did experiments with bugs to determine their preferred environment. Since all biomes have special sunlight, soil, temperature and precipitation conditions, we wanted to find out what conditions these critters would choose.

First, we set up bug runs with three types of soil: dry, moist and wet. We observed the darkling beetles and isopods to see where they went. At the end of the experiment, we concluded that beetles prefer dry soil and isopods like to be where it's wet.

Next, we did an experiment to find out if they prefer a light or dark environment. We found out that both isopods and beetles prefer a dark environment.

Working together in groups was so important during these activities. Everyone learned how important it was to cooperate, listen carefully to directions, compromise with group members and help each other stay on task.