End of the Year

What fun we had celebrating the end of the school year! On Tuesday, there was  pool party for all 5th and 6th graders. We started with lunch in the park, then walked to the pool for swimming. 

On Wednesday, students enjoyed a movie or a roller skating party to celebrate the end of the year!

It was a wonderful year filled with memories of learning experiences and fun!

Attendance Awards

Congratulations to the students who earned attendance awards at the end of the year assembly. It's quite an accomplishment to go an entire school year and miss no more than one day of school. Regular attendance is the most essential part of academic success. Good job!

In the elementary and middle school years, regular attendance is actually due to the efforts of the parents. Many thanks to you parents who show your children that school is their job and keep absences to a minimum. It makes a big difference for your child's teacher, but most importantly, it instills positive life-long values for your children!

Reward Time

The fifth graders collected the most box tops in our school competition, so they earned some extra recess time. It was great to be outside on such a beautiful day! Everyone enjoyed a popsicle, and some creative ways to have fun!

Silent Ball

During homeroom time in our class, it's so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Everyone is concentrating intently and is focused on their task. What are we doing?  Playing Silent Ball!

When we have had a productive afternoon, sometimes the class plays a game of Silent Ball at the end of the day. The object of the game is to stay completely silent while tossing the ball from person to person. A player gets out if they drop the ball, make a bad throw or make a sound.

These are highly motivated students who take their Silent Ball skills very seriously :)

The Effects of Water Erosion

During science, the students are having fun doing experiments to see how water changes the land when it flows over it. Using sand tables with earth material, they create a water source and observe the water as it flows across the land. Changes happened quickly in our sand tables- with a river channel, then a canyon and a delta. These same changes can take thousands of years on earth! We discovered that the quantity of water and the steepness of slope really increase the amount of erosion and deposition.

Next, students are planning individual experiments. They want to see what happens when people build houses along rivers or try to control a river channel.

Third Quarter Reward

The third quarter reward for all 5th grade classes was game time for students with exceptional behavior. During 7th period, last Friday, those students got to choose between computer games, arts and crafts, board games and lego construction.

The 4th quarter goal is to hand all work in on time with no late assignments. Our class is motivated to reach that goal !

Capture the Flag

After earning 10 class pride points, the class voted to play Capture the Flag as their reward. We went outside and enjoyed the beautiful day while players worked to sneak to the opposing side, rescue a team mate from "jail" or try to steal the other team's flag.

5th Grade Concert

What a great job all the 5th graders did at their spring concert! All the extra practice paid off and the music sounded great. It was fun to see the dancers and the instrumental parts for one of the songs.

How does light travel?

During our light unit, we have been discovering how light travels. First we found evidence for the claim that light travels in a straight path. When we shined it through a comb, we saw that light rays spread out as they travel.

Then we set up mirror obstacle courses to bounce light along a path. The students planned their courses first, using rulers to draw straight lines to show the predicted path of reflected light.

Next, everyone tested their plan to see if they could reflect the light along the planned path.

Another experiment we tried was to see how things looked different when we looked at images through water. We discovered that water definitely stretched and magnified text and images. Next, we learned that was called refraction, when the light bends as it travels from air to water.

Finishing Our Flags

After several weeks of composing words, revising, and practicing our handwriting, we were finally ready for the last step of our flag project-- lettering the words on that beautiful flag print. Knowing they would soon be completed and framed into the finished project was exciting for us!

Everyone is eager for their families to see the finished product on conference day!

Hoops For Heart

Mr. Hoover organized a Hoops for Heart event at our school which raised money for the American Heart Association. We had great participation, and everyone had fun rotating among the various stations in the gym.

Making Glass Sing

The last experiment in our sound unit was a fun one! The class tried to determine the best way to make a glass sing. Starting with the basic trick of rubbing a finger along the rim of a glass to create a high pitched ringing sound, they formed questions and designed experiments.

After groups decided on their question, they chose containers to use for their experiment.

Will it sing with pop in the glass?

What effect does the liquid in the container make on the sound?

Can you imagine what it sounded like in our classroom that day?

My apologies if any fifth grader brings this noisy activity home to the dinner table! :)

Valentine Party

The class chose games and treats for our Valentine party on Friday. We pushed all the tables to the edge of the classroom and had fun with some active games and relays! Then we enjoyed Rice Crispie treats, trail mix and juice.

Tail Tag

Balloon Battle

Fumble Fingers Relay