Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy!

Today, our ChangeMakers became scientists. Chemists, to be exact. The students were given gravel, oyster shells and salt to mix with water to make mixtures and solutions. Next, they were asked to try and separate those mixtures and solutions using screens and filters. This made for some interesting hands-on science experiences!

Labeling the materials

Taking notes on our observations

Attempting to separate the mixtures

We Are Proud Bulldog Learners, United We Succeed!

This year has gotten off to a fast start!! We have jumped right in with both feet and we are loving our new students. Last week, we spent a lot of time introducing and practicing our expectations for academics and behavior. Students also took a Multiple Intelligence survey to find what kind of "smart" they are:

We spent some time doing team building activities, within each class, and as a 5th grade team. One of the activities we did involved a PVC pipe called a "helium stick".

The goal is to lower the helium stick to the ground, as a group by communicating and working together. Lots of laughs were had when the helium stick went up, instead of down!

The students learned that communicating and collaborating is important to reach a goal. We will continue to work as a team this year to reach our goals!

We are proud bulldog learners, united we succeed! 

Welcome Back!

We are very anxiously awaiting our students, preparing our classrooms and planning our lessons during these last few days of summer break! School starts Wednesday, August 13th. Our student orientation is Tuesday, August 12th from 2:00-3:00 p.m. Hope to see you then!

I'm a Proud Bulldog Learner!

Over the last few weeks, our ChangeMakers have been actively engaged in so many things! From Social Studies to Math to Language Arts and Reading, each child has found something they can excel at. Here's an update of our most recent activities:

Math:

Students have been working hard using multiple strategies to solve multi-digit multiplication problems. The array model and standard algorithm (old school way) are 2 of the strategies we have been practicing.

 

Language Arts/Reading:

 

We have been reading complex texts like The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo and Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan and using those texts to analyze and compare characters and settings.

 

 

 

 

Students also began identifying and writing about the theme of a story (or the author's lesson/moral). During a scavenger hunt around the classroom, ChangeMakers read and identified the theme of 16 different short stories.

 



 

 





Social Studies:

 

After studying different Native American cultures and adaptations in Social Studies, students created projects representing the different cultures. These projects had posters with information about each culture and models of the different types of homes the Native American tribes commonly lived in.

 

 

 



This week in Language Arts...

This week students began vocabulary study by looking at word parts, like prefixes,suffixes and Greek and Latin roots. By fifth grade, our kids should be learning to use word parts to help them figure out the meanings of unknown words. For example, knowing that the prefix 'un-' means 'not' and the suffix '-able' means 'being able to' can help a student figure out the meaning of the word unmanageable.

Strategies for using context clues from a student's notebook

Also, students practiced using context clues, or clues from the text to figure out the meanings of words they did not know. Working with a partner or group of three, the kids were able to figure out the meaning of 5 'nonsense' words like 'webert' and 'locloey' by using "hints" or context clues in the sentences around those made up words.

 

 

 

Not cool, Robert Frost!

Today the ChangeMakers watched President Obama's speech from Wednesday, August 28th. This speech commemorated the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s infamous speech, "I Have a Dream". After having time to reflect on the words of both speeches, students were introduced to another president, Kid President. He is a student himself, and has made many videos with motivational messages. Here is the video we watched today, called "Pep Talk".

kid president - pep talk

Throughout the year, we will watch this video to help motivate students to keep dreaming and working to achieve their goals. Oh, and to always take the "road less traveled"....we were made to be AWESOME!! What will you do to make the world awesome?

It Takes a Team...

During our first week of school, Fairdale Elementary 5th graders learned what it means to work together as a team to reach a goal. On Friday, the ChangeMakers' took a trip outside to try a team building activity. This activity involved a "helium stick", which is just a PVC pipe that has air inside (not really helium). Students were instructed to stand in 2 lines across from each other, and use only fingers pointed out to hold up the helium stick (no hooking fingers around the pole!).

 

 

 

The goal is to lower the helium stick to the ground, as a group by communicating and working together. Lots of laughs were had when the helium stick went up, instead of down!

 

 

 

  Eventually, all of the groups were able to reach the ground, but not before a few trials that were unsuccessful. Students learned that staying calm, working together and communicating is the key to success.