Happenings in 5R October 27th through November 7th

The students in 5R continue to be enthusiastic about learning new things and that makes my job so pleasant and easy!  I'll share with you a few highlights from the past couple of weeks, although I imagine your children may have already shared some of them with you. 

On October 28th we had our second DENS meeting.  DENS stands for Doesn't Everybody Need Somebody.  These groups of 6-7 children span grades K-5 and meet once a month with a staff member.  It is a social skills activity that reinforces what we are learning in our new Second Step program.  

We completed our Lego Battle on the 28th, as well.  The pictures tell the whole story. This engineering and design project is a popular part of our science curriculum.  

The Students filled out a critique frame at the end of the engineering of catapults unit.  I've included some of the comments below.

Critique Frame

• I loved it when…
• It frustrated me when…
• I used to think _____, but now I realize ______ because I think…
• I wonder…
• I realize…
• I was confused when…
• To make it better I would have…
• I was impressed when you…
• The best thing I learned was...

I loved it when we started making our catapults because I wanted to make my design. ~Taylor

It frustrated me when my design kept falling apart. ~Gary
It frustrated me when we had to build it because I didn't have an idea. ~Miranda

I used to think that if you could shoot farther it was better, but now I realize that accuracy is best. ~Ezra
I wonder if there was a new design that nobody used. ~Sean

I wonder how I could keep the cap on while I was flinging the marshmallows. ~Ava
I realize I have to add more height to the base of my catapult so the marshmallow will be able to go far. ~Maria
I was confused when I couldn't figure out how to connect my pieces. ~Brayden
To make it better I would have secured the cap better. ~Farren
I was impressed when Madeline kept trying and trying. ~Tara
The best thing I learned was if it doesn't work it is okay. All you do is learn from your mistakes. ~Madeline
The best thing I learned was sometimes you are not always right. ~Owen
The best thing I learned was how to actually build a catapult and research to get more ideas. ~Casey

Last week was a short week, so there isn't a lot to report! A few highlights from The Class News:
Monday: I enjoyed Haunted House Tag in gym class. ~Farren
Tuesday: We got to vote in Social Studies. ~Madeline
Tuesday: We made self-portraits in Art. ~Brayden
Tuesday: We got new pencils! ~Ava
Wednesday: We got to finish our math poster. ~Sean

Our current math unit is adding and subtracting fractions. The object of this lesson was for students to solve story problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators and rewrite fractions as equivalent fractions with like denominators.

We started this week off with a school-wide celebration, as the alpha-bit jar was once again full! Our celebration was a crisp, refreshing outdoor recess on Monday morning! A great way to start the week!