Colonial Trade Fair

After more than a month of researching and preparing the 5th graders enjoyed a morning welcoming "customers" into their shoppes!  Thanks to all of the parents and teachers who were able to attend.  If you couldn't make it, we hope you enjoy these pictures and reflective comments from the colonial trades-people!

My experience at the colonial trade fair was fun and exciting and I got to meet different customers from my friends. One of the funny parts is that me and my friend were the same thing and we got to be right next to each other at the fair. Another favorite part was that my Mom and Dad came and I got to show what I worked and they liked it a lot. I had a really good time at the fair and I will remember this moment forever. ~~Frank, Cabinetmaker

From a customer I learned that even touching mercury can cause you to lose your mind. So they said that the mercury will be absorbed into your skin and will travel up into your brain then attack your central nervous system. What I’m really proud of is how when I gave the customer new information the way they looked flabbergasted made me feel proud to have known this stuff. To be a colonial trade person must have been very hard back then because you would need patience to help your buyer and not scream and yell at them when they made a stupid remark.

~~Brookelyn, Hatter

The colonial trade fair was fun because we got to show people what we did. I also thought it was fun because my mom got to see what I did and also it was exciting. Something else that was fun was making the toys with my mom. It was a little hard to make the clay balls. ~~Maya, Toymaker

One of my customers taught me something I did not know that was very interesting.
I learned that people would ask a lot of questions you did not know.  I am proud of my costume, research, and props that I made or wrote. ~~Liam, Glassmaker

Harper, Milliner

The colonial trade fair was really fun and bigger than I thought it would be. I've never done a fair before. I learned so much about how people react to your project. It was so cool when your parents showed up it was a very happy moment. I loved the experience of the colonial trade fair.

~~Andre'a, Weaver

One thing that was difficult was when I was presenting, people would ask questions that were very good and I couldn’t answer them. One thing that went well was that my costume turned out pretty well. One thing that I was proud of was how smoothly I presented, but then again when you say the same thing 5 times it is bound to get smoother. I learned that if you have a deadline that is pretty long don’t cram it all into two or three days. The colonial trade fair was really fun and exciting. ~~Matthew, Saddler

It would be really hard to be in colonial times as a real apothecary because of how I would have to memorize all these different medicines. As an apothecary I was proud of how if someone asked a question I could just answer it. When I was presenting I learned that everyone had different opinions of my licorice leaches.

~~Gigi, Apothecary

One thing I experienced about colonial trade fair was it was challenging for me to explain to a bunch of parents.  Another thing that I experienced was making all the props was fun.  The last thing I experienced was setting up was also fun. ~~Coda, Blacksmith

My customers asked how did they make bricks, and I responded by saying we start by mining clay, after we did that, we put it into a large pit, then flip them onto a raised bed of sand, then they are put into a drying shed and finally they are burned in a kiln. I am proud of my mold because I work hard on it and I think it turned out well. I learned that there was more than just the blacksmith, brickmaker, miller, and house maker.

~~Cavan, Brickmaker

I felt the colonial trade fair was a great idea, it really let us learn about a certain trade. As a silversmith I learned so many things I would have never learned without doing the colonial trade fair. The silversmith wasn't my first choice  so I was surprised how much I liked it. Those are my views on the colonial trade Fair.  

~~Owen, Silversmith

What I am most proud of in this experience is learning a lot about the homemaker.  The homemaker has lots of facts and I think I learned a lot about the homemaker.  I learned from the colonial trade fair that the homemaker cooked, cleaned and took care of the kids. ~~Liberty, Homemaker

My trade was a miller.  I learned that water wheels grind wheat into flour and corn into cornmeal.  It was fun and took me 10 minutes to make my water wheel at home.  It was fun telling other people about my water wheel. ~~Bryan, Miller

I’m proud of  the powder I made at the fair. One of the things my customers said was ew you used leeches. What I learned by studying the Apothecary was that they used leeches to drain infection.  

~~Adrian, Apothecary

I had a very good experience. One thing why I had a good time was that I liked learning about the blacksmith and writing an essay. I am very proud of getting everything done and making all of the tools and the horse shoes. I liked presenting to people's parents and sharing what I learned. I also liked learning about other people's trades. This is why I had a good experience.

~~Ashley, Blacksmith

When talking to people I found it hard to think of something to say like I would say um a lot. Also many people would ask what some of my herbs were used for or my calamine and honey even though there were labels that said what they did. I also found it hard to concentrate on people asking questions when there was so much going on. Also it was hard trying to say something when there were lots of people around your booth. ~~Norah, Doctor     

I think that it would be hard to be an actual colonial silversmith because there are many dangerous things that involve skill, which would take a long time for me to develop.  To keep the silver from cooling you would have to put it in an acid bath, which seems very dangerous and hard to do!  I learned that presenting to many different people can be hard because I got a lot of questions, and I talked a lot which made me very tired, and thirsty.  There were good parts too.  I liked how I taught people about silversmithing.  I’m proud of presenting to people because I know that all my hard work has paid off when I talk to people about silversmithing. ~~Maura, Silversmith

This colonial trade fair was a good experience to see and hear because we had to learn all these facts about our trades and create our own tools and dress up as if we were in the colonial trades. Something that I learned from this experience was that when there are about 37 students in the cafeteria and over 37 parents in the cafeteria it is hard to hear which causes you to not listen or not hear and you could answer the wrong question. Another thing that I learned was that some people would acknowledge what you made but others stopped, smiled, and kept walking. Most of my customers commented on the hat because they would say, “What is that?” and “Can I touch this it looks fuzzy?” but some of the people would ask questions that were about my job. ~~Janabeth, Tanner

Colonial Trade Fair is Monday! Don't Miss it!

Just a quick reminder that the Colonial Trade Fair will be on Monday from 10:00 - 10:45 in the cafeteria.  We hope to see you all there!  Thanks to Harper for doing her presentation about the colonial Milliner for our class today.

Around the Classroom 

I haven't been photographing much lately, but one morning this week, as students were busy doing Morning Choice work, I was struck by this site in the classroom... who needs a chair while learning?!?!

Fun in 5R October 10 - 20

On October 11th we had our second all school celebration after filling the "Paw-some Alph-a-bits" jar.  The whole school went outside for artistic sidewalk chalk drawing in the parking lot.  

A great time for some family fun!!!

MATH

We just finished unit 1 in math!  To kick off unit 2 we did a word sort.  First, students sorted the terms in any categories that their group chose.  After sharing the sorts with each other, students worked on matching the terms with their definitions.  This was an engaging way to introduce new vocabulary that they will need to be familiar with for unit 2.

The Final Engineering and Design Task - Design and Build Your Own Catapult!

Engineering & Design Introductory Task

Problem:  Two Lego men named Bob and Jack aren’t getting along.  They are about to go to battle.  The town has decided that they may design a catapult to help them in battle.  The town council agreed that they may both only use the supplies provided by the town.

The supplies each man will receive are:

• Rubber Bands
• Two sizes of popsicle sticks
• Mini Marshmallows
• One bottle cap

If you were Bob or Jack how would you design your catapult so you would have the best chance of winning?

The students spent several days going through the engineering and design process to create a catapult and go into battle!  There were some frustrations, celebrations, suggestions, and loads of supportive cheers!  

Building prototypes: 

 Testing Prototypes:

 And the Battles Begin!

The final round!  Natalie verses Liam!

 Champion Liam

And the WINNER is... LIAM!  

Honorable mention goes to Norah for teacher voted:  BEST DESIGN!

Taking the Battle Outside with 5B

 

And now, for the students reactions to this whole process:

Adrian -     I realized when I put my mind to something, I can do what I'm doing.  
                 I was confused when my catapult didn't work like I planned.
Cavan -      I was impressed when Natalie's hit my lego man.
                 From what I noticed, my catapult did well.
Frank -       It frustrated me when I was building the catapult because the rubber bands    
                 and the sticks and my design wouldn't work.
Gigi -         I used to think my catapult would work very well, but now I realize my   
                 catapult could've been a lot better because it was very short and it shot    
                 marshmallows to the sides.
Bryan -      I realized that numbering the popsicle sticks helped.  
                To make it better, I would have made it taller.
Owen -      I was confused when my catapult fell apart in battle.
                I wonder what the most effective catapult would be.
Liam -       I realized my 3rd catapult design did not work so well, so I stuck with my 2nd design.
                From what I noticed my catapult was not the most accurate.
Norah -     To make it better, I would have tested it more to find all the flaws.
Maya -      I was impressed with Ashley's model because it was put together well.
                I was frustrated when my model didn't work in the beginning.
Maura -     I used to think my catapult was never going to work, but now I realize tweaking one small thing, 
                my catapult worked better because I think using your imagination and being encouraged by 
                other students gave me courage to fix my catapult and make me win a couple rounds.
Andre'a -   To make it better I probably would have made it more simple instead of using 20 popsicle sticks 
                 and 30  rubber bands.
Janabeth -  I loved it when we got the challenge to create our catapults.
                  From what I noticed, everyone tried their best.
Natalie -    I loved it when we battled with our catapults.
Coda -       To make it better, I would have worked on my accuracy.
                 From what I noticed, the class did an outstanding job.
Ashley -     I  wonder if I made a bigger base, it would have worked better.
                From what I noticed, my catapult can go far, short, or high.
Liberty -    I used to think you could not make catapults our of rubber bands, sticks, and a bottle cap, but 
                now I realize you can because I did it, so now I know I can.
Harper -    I loved it when I got my catapult to fire.
                Have you considered, Norah, to use your hands to fire your catapult instead of using a rubber 
                  band?
Matthew -   I was confused when my design didn't work as well as I had hoped.
                  To make it better I would have changed how the tension was stored.
Brookelyn -  I loved it when I saw the final model of my catapult, I was so proud.
                   From what I noticed, the simplest catapults worked best.
                   I realize that if you try your best you can accomplish the most darndest         
                   seeming things!