Grade Five Alive!

The Energy Carnival at our school was really amusing and educational. My favorite station was the coal mining because instead of using coal we used chocolate chip cookies. We had to pick the chocolate chips out of the cookies with a toothpick. And after that we would get to eat them.

Also there were solar beads that changed color by the solar energy coming from the sun. I have to say I really liked the ENERGY FAIR!!!

~ Diazsha ~

Last week the gym at our school transformed into the best carnival ever—a carnival of energy.

At one of the stations we used a special type of science equipment called the Air Gun. Once we lined up the bottles, we would pull back the handle and SHOOT! See how many pins we have knocked down with a burst of air or Kinetic energy!!!!!! Before shooting the air is stored as Potential energy.

Also, after we visited each station at the Energy Carnival, everyone received a solar bead that changes color by the solar energy from the sun.

~Sydney~

Last week on March 2, it would have been DR. SEUSS’s 103rd birthday. At school we celebrated  NEA’s Read Across America week. We got to go to the library and do fun activities like Throw the Cat in the Hat and Pin the Green Eggs on the Ham.  All of the classes went at different times to play games and work on puzzles.

Mrs. M, our school librarian, planned fun contests like “guess how many red fish are are in the fish bowl.” There were two winners and they each got a big bag of Swedish fish for a prize. She also asked us to pick our favorite Dr. Seuss book and then she picked some names from the box. Then she had a special treat for the students who won. 

Dr. Seuss wrote millions of good books like The Cat In The Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Hooray For Diffendoofer Day!, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, Green Eggs And Ham. My favorite is Oh, The  Places You’ll Go. What I like about Dr. Seuss books is they are funny and he uses silly words. Dr. Seuss wrote books that make reading fun for children and adults. And, everyone knows that the more you read, the smarter you’ll get!

~Daniela

Sound is a form of energy we started studying in science class today. The type of movement that produces sound is a vibration. Do you how sound travels through air to your ear? It travels as a wave—a sound wave.

Here are some things we learned watching a Real World Science video. The wavelength is the distance between two crests on a wave. (The crest is the top part of the wave.) A rarefaction is the part of the longitudinal wave where the molecules are stretched apart. (A compression is where the molecules are pushed together.)

We used a slinky to to show longitudinal and transverse waves. Something else we made was the Hilarious Honker. Saran wrap was attached to the opening of a plastic cup with a rubber band, and a piece of string was attached to the bottom of the cup with a paper clip. If you would pluck a long portion of the string, it made a low sound. If you would pluck a short section, it made a higher pitched sound.

~Alex

Laine being hilariously honked.

Me watching a longitudinal wave.

Jaime demonstrating a transverse wave (it begins with an up-and-down motion).

On February 25, a hilarious storyteller named Len Cabral came to our school and shared some of his humorous stories with students and staff. It was very entertaining. Some of his stories involved huge, scary characters as well as his brothers and some friends he had when he was a kid.

He also told us that anyone can be a storyteller and that we should ask our relatives and parents to tell us stories from their childhoods.

We were all amused by Mr. Cabral’s enthusiastic storytelling and hope he will come again next year to share his stories with the fourth and fifth graders at our school.

~ Elaine S.