Grade Five Alive!

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.

Kenaz requested that I post this video about how electromagnets are used in making guitars.

guitar_pickups 

Here are the results of our Vote for Your Favorite Critter poll. Drum Roll, please…

Room 249:

“Terry Turtle” by Maddison

“Purple-a” by Tayleece

Room 246:

“Honeysuckle” by Jackie

“Starburst” by Jaime

Congratulations to all the participants in the Jitter Critter project. Everyone in both homerooms successfully assembled a complete circuit and brought to life a unique Jitter Critter.

We are so proud of everyone’s accomplishments and want to stress how difficult it was to vote for a “favorite.” The purpose of the voting was to showcase each individual critter as well as our classroom blog, and to explore a cool new online application for voting, Poll Authority.

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Here are some photos from two of last month’s projects: our electricity demonstration and the Jitter Critter adventure.

This is Mr. R, a teacher from the vocational technical high school explaining about the protons, neutrons and electrons that make up atoms.

Can you guess what kind of circuits we built? Reread Maddison’s post on February 6 to find out.

We also learned about electromagnets.

And, we had some fun with the Van de Graaff generator.

Beware—Jitter Critters taking over the school lobby…

What’s a Jitter Critter?

Johnathan wrote about this science project on January 15. A Jitter Critter is born by assembling a complete circuit (battery, insulated wires, and motor), attaching it to a CD with paperclip legs, and finally decorating it.

This project culminated when the critters were let loose in the school lobby last Friday afternoon. Wow, did they boogie — all 42 of them. Bumping and spinning and whirling in a cacophony of droning motors! Some critters boldly exposed their batteries and shiny, metal, hobby motors; others sported colorful, hard shells to conceal their inner mechanisms. Feathers, felt, fabric and a variety of other accessories were flaunted by these expressive creatures. Each one is as unusual and unique as its creator.

We realize it’s practically impossible to choose a favorite. But that’s just what we’re asking our friends and families to do! Click on the links below and cast your vote for the Most Unique Critters. Thanks for visiting!

Choose one critter in each of the four sections below:

Room 249 Group 1

Room 249 Group 2

Room 246 Group 1

Room 246 Group 2

(Apologies for the poor quality of the 246 photos. The choice was “fuzzy” or “small”—not quite sure why.)

UPDATE: The voting is closed. Awards will be presented Friday, February 13. Thanks for participating.

Mr. R and his class of 12 or so high school students came in to Ms. McP’s science class to help us learn a little more about circuits and electricity! The first thing he had us do was try and make a bell and a buzzer go off! Let me tell you it was very loud in the room!

After that we made a magnet using a battery, a paperclip, a nail, and a bare copper wire! We wound the copper wire around the nail and put both ends of the copper wire to both ends of the battery! Then we tried to pick up the paperclip, and it was a success! Although the nail and copper wire and battery got very hot! Don’t worry it was supposed to do that!

Afterward Mr. R talked about parallel and series circuits! A series circuit is a circuit that only has one path for the electrons to flow on, and the parallel circuit is a circuit that has more than one path for the electrons to flow on. Light bulbs on a series circuit are dimly lit while the light bulbs on a parallel circuit are brightly lit! If you were to remove a light bulb from a parallel circuit the other ones will stay lit because the electrons have chosen one of the other paths to flow along, although with a series circuit if you were to remove a light bulb all of them would go out because the electrons have no other path to flow along!

Then any students who wanted to could go up to something that was called a van de graaff generator and put your arm just about 2 inches from it and you would get a small electric shock, just as if you were to touch someone and get an electric shock. And then all of the girls and some boys would put both hands on the Van de Graaff generator and wait about 5 seconds and their hair would start to literally stick up straight!!!! It was sooo funny!

Then the last thing we did was hold each others fingertips of your pointer and index fingers and one of Mr. R’s students would touch the person next to him and everyone would get an electric shock because the electrons flowed from one body to the next!!!!!!! All you would hear was “oh ow” from one person to the next!!!! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

~Maddison

This year the Chinese New Year began on January 26, 2009. Would you like to hear the legend of the Chinese Zodiac? Here it goes:

“According to Chinese legend, the order of 12 signs was determined by Buddha, upon celebration of the Chinese New Year (which falls on different dates, from mid-January to mid- February). The Buddha invited all of the animals in the kingdom together for a meeting, but only 12 creatures attended.

The first animal to arrive was the talkative Rat (who was aggressive enough to jump off the Ox in order to be the # 1 arrival). Next in  place #2 came the serious, enduring and hardworking Ox with the honorable Tiger #3 and cautious Rabbit #4. The outspoken Dragon #5 joined the others, along with the philosophical Snake #6. The physically active Horse #7 arrived with the artistic Goat #8. The spirited Monkey #9 and the showy Rooster #10 came as well. The last to join the others was the watchful Dog #11 and the meticulous, resigned Pig #12.

Buddha gave each animal a year of its own, bestowing the nature and characteristics of each to those born in that animal’s year. As the Chinese say, ‘This is animal that hides in your heart…’ Have Fun!”

Shelly Wu

This is the Year of the Ox (also 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009). People who were born in the year of the ox are dependable and calm and they are good listeners and have very strong ideas. Guess who this describes?

Me, Mrs. S, and President Barack Obama!

~ Jillian

Early dismissal today due to the deteriorating weather. (Personally I’m glad the snow is back to cover up the brown leaves I never got around to raking in the fall!)

A beautiful crimson cardinal (and some less colorful friends) always visit outside Ms. M’s window on snow days. They are attracted by the thoughtful bird-feeder outside Mr. S’s window. This picture doesn’t do him justice, but I wanted to share his magnificence with everyone.

Speaking of Ms. M….

~Mrs. S.