It was a beautiful day to spend time with our whole fifth grade class at Bay Beach. Many rides were rode, may smiles could be seen, many screams and laughs could be heard, and much food was eaten. Here is just a snapshot of some of the good times we had together at Bay Beach.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
Performing the Declaration of Independence
For the last two months of school our students have spent a great deal of time studying the events that lead up to the Revolutionary War.
We played a game, created by Mission US, called "For Crown, or Colony?" Throughout this game our students had to take the role of the main character Nathaniel Wheeler, who is a teenage boy moving from his families farm outside of Boston, MA to Boston to become a printer's apprentice. Throughout the six levels of the game students make choices which determine if they will become a patriot, a loyalist, or a neutralist.
During the playing of this game our students kept a paper journal in which they had to respond to daily prompts. We used this journal to practice 1st person and historical fiction writing. By far, we received some of our best writing products all year with this project.
Once we finished our Nathaniel Wheeler journals we used our textbook for a couple more discussions on events between the Boston Tea Party and the Second Continental Congress. At this meeting of delegates, the men declared that they must "Hope for Peace" but "Plan for War." They also began having Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence.
We watched a video featuring several well known actors and actresses recite the entire Declaration of Independence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU. In this retelling, Morgan Freeman told our students that the declaration was origianlly written in a way that was meant to be performed. Our students had asked for a play here and there throughout the year....now they wanted their chance with only 2.5 weeks of school left.
They received their parts last week Monday (May 13). We did set creation and recording this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Immediately following the recording our school LMS took individual and groups of students to create the final product. Keep in mind, this was all put together in less than two weeks by 25 passionate fifth graders. We proudly present to you, our rendition of the Declaration of Independence:
On a final note, today our students reflected on what they learned this past month or two about the Declaration of Independence in their Google Drive. Their prompt was "What does the Declaration of Independence mean to me?" In what our students wrote, it seems clear they now have a much better, more real life, understanding of the importance of the Declaration of Independence and our upcoming summer holiday, July 4.
During the playing of this game our students kept a paper journal in which they had to respond to daily prompts. We used this journal to practice 1st person and historical fiction writing. By far, we received some of our best writing products all year with this project.
We watched a video featuring several well known actors and actresses recite the entire Declaration of Independence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU. In this retelling, Morgan Freeman told our students that the declaration was origianlly written in a way that was meant to be performed. Our students had asked for a play here and there throughout the year....now they wanted their chance with only 2.5 weeks of school left.
They received their parts last week Monday (May 13). We did set creation and recording this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Immediately following the recording our school LMS took individual and groups of students to create the final product. Keep in mind, this was all put together in less than two weeks by 25 passionate fifth graders. We proudly present to you, our rendition of the Declaration of Independence:
On a final note, today our students reflected on what they learned this past month or two about the Declaration of Independence in their Google Drive. Their prompt was "What does the Declaration of Independence mean to me?" In what our students wrote, it seems clear they now have a much better, more real life, understanding of the importance of the Declaration of Independence and our upcoming summer holiday, July 4.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
P.B.I.S. Field Day 2013
This afternoon the entire student body got to take part in a field day to recognize all of their hard work this entire school year. It was very hot! That said, we still had a lot of fun and enjoyed a great afternoon outdoors. Check out our video to see what we all got to do:
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Fun with Probability Plinko - The Probability is Right!
The end of the year can be tricky when trying to maintain attention and excitement for everyday school activities. Today, in math we tackled probability. We were able to use the SMARTboard to display a six-sided dice and talk about the odds of landing on a particular number. We also played with a 10-quadrant spinner and, again, chatted about the odds of landing on a particular space. We should have captured that on video, because there was some genuine excitement for determining the odds of choosing the right number or space. We ended today with a game that we came upon today: Probability Plinko - The Price is Right! As you can see in our video...WE HAD FUN practicing probability. Hoping for 9 more fun filled days of school...single digits...can you believe it!?
Monday, May 20, 2013
Motion and Design: Wind Powered Cars Challenge
Today in science our students had the task of creating wind powered cars, which was perfect since we had a nice wind blowing (from time to time). They had about 20 minutes to design and test their vehicles. We had a couple races afterward for the fun of it. Luckily, one of our students used an iPad during the building, testing, and racing to capture some photos and videos. Afterward she created the following movie using iMovie. Check out our fun, in the sun (and wind), science lesson:
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