The following week we will spend time writing and spelling each word and students will be tested on their spelling skills at the end of the week.
This week in fifth grade, we will begin studying Vocabulary and Spelling. I use the program Wordly Wise 3000. We will spend two weeks on each word list and by the end of those two weeks, students will be experts on each of the 15 words we are studying. Week one we will make our way through the vocabulary pages. This will be classwork but you can see the pages/activities here. At the end of week one students will take a multiple choice vocabulary test to assess their knowledge. The following week we will spend time writing and spelling each word and students will be tested on their spelling skills at the end of the week. There are some practice activities and quizzes that they can do online to help them study. They are on the "educational websites" menu on the Kipps Website. Or you can click here!
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This summer has been one of reflection and mourning for me. The last week of school last year, I lost a dear friend. Lewis (Louie) Heslip was my hero. Ask anyone, even my husband, and they will tell you that Louie was my favorite person. Ask any police officer I have ever encountered and he or she will tell you, the first thing I ever asked them was, "Do you know Louie Heslip?" Louie taught me so many things. He taught me how to motivate people, how to work hard, how to smile through hard days and that every day you are given to live is a good day. Not one day prior to May 24th had I ever imagined a day on this earth without him living here with us. He was taken way too soon and without warning. His death has taught me many things. A few of those are: 1. Life is beautiful , look around you and notice it while you can. 2. Be humble. There is always more good to be done and it isn't about ourselves. It is about others. 3. Stop being afraid, life will end, don't worry it away while you have it in front of you. I am still learning. I see life through a new lens now. Life is very different without him physically here with me and all of us. I am looking forward to a new year of teaching. This year and every year after will be different. I will be more positive, more patient and more kind. I will give more and take less. I will be more like Louie. Step one is to make our community a better place and to show our students the importance of serving their community and helping others. I am proud to introduce a new service organization to Kipps Elementary School called Captain Louie's Future Leaders. Together with local law enforcement, Kipps parents, teachers and students we will strive to complete 14 service projects in honor of Louie. You can follow this link to see what this group is up to: http://kes.mcps.org/for_parents/captain_louie_s_future_leaders You can also click here to suggest community service projects for our group to complete: Community Service Suggestions Until next time....... See you at the Top! Today we talked about courage. Students worked with partners to come up with a definition of courage and synonyms for the word. After that, they came up with examples of courageous acts. Then it was time to watch the vignette from Medal of Honor recipient: Jack Jacobs After watching, students shared the parts of his story that showed courage and we added them to our brainstorm: At the end of the lesson, students each wrote their definition of courage. Here is what they came up with in their own words:
"Courage is bravery in the face of impossible odds." " Courage is when a person stands by their beliefs and for what they know is right, for others." "Courage is a selfless act that is not for personal glory or for yourself." "Courage means being brave and putting others first." "Courage is being brave and not giving up no matter how hard the situation is." "Courage is serving your country." "The definition of courage is to do something that no one else dares to do." "My definition of courage is to be brave when things might not turn out so good." "Courage is being selfless and doing something that takes risk." "Courage means being selfless, to always put others first and being brave." "Courage is being brave and trying something new." "Courage means to help others first." "Courage means you never give up." "Courage means doing something brave and putting others before yourself." "Courage means being brave and helpful, looking out for others and doing something you aren't familiar with." "I think courage is doing something that seems scary but you do it anyways." "Courage is what people do to save lives or just small things." Like all good scientists do, we began our experiment by making some observations about our two cans of soda. Students used their senses to observe the similarities and differences of both cans. After we made our observations we had a lot of questions like: "Does real sugar weigh more or less than fake sugar?" "Why does one can make a lower sound when I hit it?" I gave them two questions to answer using the remaining steps of the Scientific Method: 1. If I put the can of regular soda in a bucket of water, will it sink or float? 2. If I put the can of diet soda in a bucket of water, will it sink or float? Can you guess what happened? Most of us had a very accurate hypothesis! Scroll down to see what happened!! Conclusion: The matter that makes up the regular soda is greater than the matter that makes up the diet coke. That makes it have a greater mass. When you divide it by the same volume for each can you can (pardon the pun!) conclude that the regular soda has a greater density than the diet soda, therefore it sinks!
We have made it exactly halfway through our 50 states! We have traveled from Alabama to Missouri!! We have opened care packages from most of them and had such a great time tasting and touching our way through the many rich traditions and cultures that each unique state adds to our great country! Louisiana may have been one of our favorite states to study! We received a wonderful package filled with Mardi Gras beads, a Voo Doo doll and potato chips, pralines, an authentic Muse shoe and more. We also had a special guest (a.k.a. Mr. Flad) come in and play music for us while we sampled Mrs. Flad's delicious Jambalaya! Each package has been different and the kids get so excited when we get to open a new one. Thank you to everyone who has helped our class by sending us a care package!! We can't wait to see what we open next! Below is just a sample of the amazing artifacts we've received! The kids are keeping a wonderful notebook filled with what they have learned about each state. Check out some samples below. Be sure to read our "fun facts." We bet you just might learn something new too!! Montana here we come!!
After weeks of learning about plant and animal cells students were given the challenge to construct their own cells out of edible ingredients! Our class came up with so many creative ways to show their knowledge of the cells, organelles and their functions! Each cell was presented to the class with an explanation of the ingredients that they chose to use for each organelle and what job those organelles have in actual cells. A snowstorm the night before the due date meant students had to freeze their cells or be creative about how they would present them the following week. One student came up with a clever movie to use in his presentation! This teacher is in awe of everyone's creativity! Today students participated in a nation wide "Hour of Code." They were able to participate in their choice of many tutorials teaching them step by step how to code their own program.
Most popular among our class was Minecraft, Flappy Bird and of course, Scratch! Click here to try your hand at some coding!! It was a beautiful fall day when we went to visit the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. It was the day before Veteran's Day and we could see that a lot of preparations were going on around us as they had special events planned for the holiday. We were divided into two groups: one for an outside tour and one for a lesson on D-Day inside the classroom tent. Students were taught about the equipment used on the beaches of Normandy. They were able to see all of the supplies each man had to carry on his own. They were also taught the significance of the Bedford Boys, why the memorial is in Virginia and heard the names of all of the local boys who didn't return to their families after that battle. The tour outside was beautiful. We were surrounded by busts and statues of the important leaders of that day, a mosaic map with time stamps as to the top secret mission, and a solemn beach scene complete with the sound of waves in the background. Children learned that the cement on the beach at the memorial contains actual sand from the beaches of Normandy, France. It was a great trip that helped our kids learn even more about WWII and the part that Virginia played on D-Day.
Our fifth grade classes wrapped up our unit on the Earth by paying a visit to the Virginia Tech Museum of GeoSciences. The visit began with an explanation of the dinosaur model and other fossils that are housed in the museum. Students were then divided into groups to explore the museum that is filled with rocks, gemstones, and fossils from all over the world. They were even able to put their hands inside dinosaur tracks, a fossil that was found in Virginia! Students were able to look at different minerals under a black light to see how they react under certain conditions. They also dazzled the geologists with their knowledge of the Earth as they sorted real rocks into a model of the actual rock cycle! To top it all off, they were sent on a scavenger hunt to find the many unique rocks, minerals and gems from around our planet!
We have been learning about the four layers of the Earth. With a little help from Mr. Lee, we have learned all about the Inner Core, Outer Core, Mantle and Crust! Students began this project with red dough to shape the Inner Core. This layer of the Earth is almost as hot as the sun and it is made from solid iron and nickel. Then, they carefully covered the inner core with orange dough, creating the Outer Core. The Outer Core of the Earth is made from very hot, liquid iron and nickel. Students then used yellow dough to form the thickest layer of the Earth, the Mantle. The Mantle is not all liquid, nor is it all solid. We tell the kids to think of it as a "Jello" like substance that has some movement, but doesn't flow. The thinnest layer of the Earth is the Crust. We walk around on the Crust every day! The kids used brown dough to represent the Crust and then they got busy covering their Earth with continents and oceans! After their Earths were complete they took dental floss and sliced them in half! Each partner was able to keep one half to help them remember the:
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Kelly McPherson:
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