Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Eyeball Dissection

On Thursday, the fifth graders will dissect cow eyeballs.  The eyeballs are fresh with no chemicals and the students will work in pairs or small groups.  Some of the students may be squeamish about this activity, a feeling I can relate to, but there is an academic purpose.  They will get to really see the parts of the cow eye, which are very similar to a human eye.  We have been learning about parts of the eye as we learn about light energy and how the eye detects light.  We expect this to be a great learning opportunity.  Be sure to ask your student about this after school on Thursday!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Energy Project

We have started our new science project and it is all about energy.  We will cover light, sound, heat, and electricity. Our project will be to write a non-fiction book about these types of energy.  There will be vocabulary words that need to be included and the book will need to have non-fiction test features like a table of contents, diagrams, captions, a glossary and an index. The students will create these books in pairs.  We will share these books with the second graders at the end of the quarter.  There may be supplies that we need to complete some of our investigations in the classroom.  Watch the blog for these requests.  Thank you!

Valentine's Party

In case you didn't see the note, we are having a Valentine's party on Thursday, Feb. 14.  We will do a small craft, exchange valentines and have a few snacks.  If any student wants to make a valentines mailbox at home for a box-decorating contest, there will be a small prize for that.  The box-decorating is totally optional, just for those who are interested.  A note went home last week to let you know what your child volunteered to bring in.  Email me if you need a reminder. Thanks for your support!

Parent Journals

The fifth graders are keeping parent journals.  They write a letter each Thursday to their parents, and take it home to get a response.  This is something that I hope will be a nice keepsake when the school year is over.  We do not send them home on holiday weekends, so they will not come home this Thursday, but please ask your child to see his or her parent journal.  There are kids who do not get responses who would like them.  There are some students who always get a parent response.  Thank you for that.  This is a great way to see your child's writing and hear about their week.  Thank you for participating!