Happy Thanksgiving from 5R!

Parent/Teacher Conferences were great!  I appreciated meeting with so many of you!  Your children did an excellent job sharing their learning with you.  I enjoyed the presentations as much as you did!

Math Update!

We just finished a unit in math, so we celebrated with some fun math on this short, 2-day week!  Today, we did Mayflower Math.  For those of you who were interviewed last night by your child (that was their homework!) They can share their math from today with you and let you know the correct answers!  Have fun.

Yesterday we used various formulas to create an 18 point circle piece of artwork.  Below are pictures of the students with their artwork.  They have typed their thoughts about the project below their picture.

This is our blank slate!

Working with formulas to create some artwork!

My design was kind of random, all I did was pick a number, than close my eyes and pick a color out of my pencil case. But maybe I looked once. (Or maybe twice) But the math activity was so much fun.We found different number patterns, and turned them into color patterns.

Maddie M.

In math we did a project, so to do it we had five formulas with different colors for each one. To figure out where to make the colorful lines we picked a number 2 through 9, then we had a line of numbers 1 through 18. I started with the number I choose and put it on 1 and added that number until 18 and then if we were not there yet we would start again. To draw the lines say there was 1 to 3 then you would draw a line from those to numbers and that's how I did it.    

                Teagan

We made patterns in math only using only straight lines.  I named my design Star kaleidoscope. We used a formula using the numbers 2-9 and 1-10.  First we would choose a number 2-9, let’s say we choose 2. Then we would add our number to 1 and get three, then to two and get 4 and so on and so on until we get to 18.  When we get to 18 we would do the same thing but subtract 18 after. After all of this we would choose a color. After that we would connect the number on the top, like 1, and connect it with a straight line to the three And so on.  And that is how you would get this kind of design.

Madison R.

The 18 circle formula table is how we formed our shape. We chose a number from 1-18. So there is a B that stands for body, and F stands for frame. B is what color you choose my first one is green , F is the numbers, so if you, + anything with F you add 1 to the number you, +. And if you, +F and 9,  see where it takes you.

    From Nara

My favorite part of my 18 point circle was that the colors that I chose reminded me of the holidays and Christmas. It also reminded me of the circle of life. I like my circle because in the middle is my favorite color (green).

Drew

I made this picture by connecting dots, first, I connected every dot to the dot 7 dots to its right with a red line, then, I connected every dot to the dot 2 dots to its right with a blue line, then, I connected every dot to the dot 4 dots to its right with a green line, then, I connected every dot to the dot 8 dots to its right with a purple line, finally, I connected every dot to the dot 9 dots to its right with an orange line. If I were to name this picture, I would call it, “a rubber band ball.”

Gavin

So what I did for my 18 point circle was a red, orange and yellow pattern and when I finished it looked like a sun.  It looked so cool and it actually looked like the actual sun. This math art was really fun and awesome and cool. And I think that we should do more than just 18 dots maybe 30 dots or more than that many, maybe forty dots.  I hope that we can do this again.

Lucas

I think that Math Art was fun because you got to draw. I first added 6 then I did 5 then I did 4 then I did 2. That is how I made my circle.

Nicholas

I used 5 numbers to create my spindle. I used 4, 6, 8, 2, and 5. The colors l used are orange, purple, red, blue, and light blue.

Owen

This was a really fun activity because it combined art with math. I enjoyed seeing the patterns, and how no two were alike. It was really interesting while making it, because you didn’t know the outcome. It was fun connecting the numbers and again, seeing the outcome. I think it was fun for mostly everybody, and really entertaining to watch. Being able to connect math, with art was a really fun experiment. Personally I thought everybody's color choices and patterns were beautiful. Who knew that you could make art with math?!

Charlie

It was very fun to do my Math Art because you got to combine numbers  and colors to make a cool design. I did not get to finish with mine and my 5 colores but it ended amazing. The first  number I did was the number 9, it turned out to have straight lines going down to each number. Then I chose different numbers like 4,8 and 7 and they each had a different design than each other. I used different colors like Violet,Blue,Light Blue and Red. I was going to use the number 3 and use the color yellow but I did not have enough time to do so. It was very fun and I hope we do it again.

             -Lia H.

The math art is very fun and I think that at least 3rd graders and up can do it and it is very simple.  All you need is 5 colors if not more and a ruler. What you do is your formula can be plus 5 and you get  6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 2 3 4 5.

Reed

We have some wonderful mathematicians and artists in 5R!

September/October in 5R

It's hard to believe that a month has passed since my first blog post.  We have accomplished too many things to document in this post, so I hope your children have been informing you of the things they have been learning.  Here are some photos of some of the highlights:

Saving Pennies Club - The challenge was to design a boat out of a 1-foot by 1-foot piece of foil, that would hold more pennies than any other.  We found that the largest rectangular design worked best. It held over 200 pennies!

On September 25th we had an all-school celebration after students filled the alpha-bit jar for the 2nd time this year.  We enjoyed decorating the parking lot with chalk!

In math we worked on helping Brad box his baseballs.  Each baseball required 1 cubic unit of space within the packing box.  Brad was shipping 2 dozen baseballs per box.  Students created as many different shaped boxes as they could with a measurement of 24 cubic units.  I'm sure your child could explain more to you about volume, if you ask!

Engineering Design Process

Our first science unit involved learning about the engineering design process.  This high interest unit culminated with each student building a catapult to solve a problem:

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 design process:

Let the battles begin!!

Grand Champion:

Cooperative and Teambuilding Activities

We spent the first two weeks of school getting to know each other.  We also started to build our community of learners, so that we can all be comfortable and grow together this year.    We did several fun cooperative learning activities, as well as team building activities.  The students are working well together and have been very supportive of one another.  I am excited to be working with my new 5th graders!  I am also looking forward to meeting each of you at Open House on September 27th.  

A GREAT CLASSMATE...

We spent some time talking about what a great classmate is..., does..., says..., and is not...

The students came up with several good qualities that they would like to see in a great classmate.

Paper Towers

In this team building activity, each group received 6 pieces of paper and was challenged with building the tallest tower.

 Saving Sammy!

Pairs of students were charged with Saving Sammy!  Poor Sammy was on his boat, which overturned.  His life preserver was stuck under the boat (plastic cup) and students needed to retrieve the life preserver and get it onto Sammy without letting him fall off the boat.  This was a fun challenge ~~ enjoyed by all!

 Spaghetti Towers

Here's the challenge:  Build the tallest tower that will hold a marshmallow without toppling over!

 

TEAMWORK! 

For our culminating teamwork event of the first two weeks of school, we went into the forest with Mr. Clough.  5R tried (and failed) the spider web challenge.  Thankfully, in math, we have been learning about how important it is to brain development that we try and fail!   With each failure, our brains grow and we learn so much!   We will revisit the spider web challenge later this year and I'm sure we will persevere and succeed!

And... that's a wrap!

This post may come as a surprise to you, as I haven't been blogging recently.  I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this class!  They have grown so much not only academically, but socially and emotionally as well.  In the words of Samuel Johnson... "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."  I have seen a great deal of perseverance in this class.  My best wishes as you move on to middle school.  Be well and enjoy every moment!

March 2018

Three highlights from March were following the Iditarod Dog Sled Race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska; monologue readings for Esperanza Rising in ELA; and having a little fun with a leprechaun challenge in math.  Read our student blog posts below to see how much fun we had!

Iditarod

The Devil Dogs

 Tracking of the Iditarod was fun but my team lost by a lot. The best team, Team Paw-Some got 205 points, the second best team, PATA Huskies had 137 points,  the 4 mushkateers had 120 points, Snow Cloud had 100 points, Snow Paws had 71 points and my team, the Devil dogs had 57 points.                   - Cavan

The Four Mushkateers

The Iditarod was super interesting because you got to see how your team did and watch them come into a checkpoint. Also it was fun to watch people get their prizes. MY team came in third but I thought we would come in fourth. -Liam

The iditarod was awesome.  The person who won was Joar Leifseth Ulsom.  Some of the other awards he won was Northrim Bank Achieve More Award (A $2,500 check and a one of a kind print by Anchorage artist Marianne Wieland.)  --Andre’a

Snow Paws

The Iditarod was lots of fun. The best part was when we were choosing our mushers and seeing how many points we would get. The worst part was when 2 of our main mushers didn’t race. It was also nice to keep track of my musher who was in 5th place for almost all of the Iditarod. --Janabeth

The iditarod was fun on the last day for the final points given because someone across from me was very stressed out. Our teams final points were 70. Owen’s rookie got 2nd rookie. - Adrian

The Iditarod is a very interesting subject.  We learned about all the prizes and who won. We all studied different mushers.  I studied Michi Konno. It was fun and my musher ended up doing really good he came in 23rd. Owen

PATA Huskies

Snow Cloud

Esperanza Rising Monologue Reading

When we did the monologue reading we did it in front of a shower curtain that looked like a brick wall.

We were split into two groups so one group was in one room and the other group in the other room.

We rotated through the monologue groups so everyone got a chance to read their monologue.

                                         Norah 

Yarn Dolls - like Esperanza's!

Leprechaun on the Loose!

The Leprechaun on the loose was so cool. It was really frustrating because you’re like “This is impossible” it took me five minutes to even try again. But when I got it, it was awesome.  I felt like I did something. Then we had to get the penny on the string back on the Leprechaun. Now that was frustrating. But then I got that and was really happy.               - Harper

The Leprechaun on the Loose was an activity/excruciating challenge that we did in math. There was a piece of paper that looked like a leprechaun and there was a string that went through 3 holes in the leprechaun’s body. On the end of the string there was a coin. The objective was to get the coin out without harming the paper or string.  It was not easy for me but other people got it out in a snap. But eventually I got it and it gave me a sense of accomplishment.

-Matthew

The Leprechaun  on the Loose activity was really cool because it was hard. At first I was all like, “HOW DO YOU DO THIS?!” but then after a while I did it and I thought, ‘why was I so mad before?’ honesty I really loved this activity for the level of difficulty this activity possessed. Out of 1-10, 1 being lowest, 10 being highest I’d give it a 9! - Brookelyn

On the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day we did this leprechaun challenge with a string and a penny.  We put the string through the holes that we hole punched in the leprechaun and after we taped the penny on then string.  Then we tried to pull the string out without cutting and without taking the penny off. ~~Maya

My mom could do the leprechaun activity better than I could. -Bryan

 The Leprechaun on the Loose is an activity where you have a leprechaun and you hole punch three holes in it, and then you put in a string in a particular way, after you put the string in you tape a penny on the end.  It’s pretty hard to get the string out of the hole punches but once you get through the challenge it is pretty easy and you feel accomplished. ~~Maura

In math we tried a puzzle where we had a leprechaun. We hole punched three different spots. Two were on his arms and one was on his leg. We had to pull the strings through the holes and at last, we taped a penny onto the string hanging from the bottom.Then, we had to try to get the penny through the holes. The whole time I felt like screaming and ripping it apart. By the time I had finished my brain was working so hard and then it was time to go crazy again at recess.    -Galadriel

The Leprechaun on the loose was a very fun challenge. First, we had to get a string with a penny on the end out of a paper with a leprechaun on it. Then after we got the string out we had to get it back in. This was very challenging to get right the first time! I liked this challenge.  ~~Ashley