Week 22

See that? That is me eating a cheddar cricket. They weren't something I'd normally eat but I figured I'd give it a try. Tasted like sunflower seeds.





The kids were pretty excited about getting to eat bugs. We had crickets and mill worms one day and ants another.





Not everyone was excited. Samuel watched everyone else eat a cricket before he decided to give it a try. You can tell he wasn't sure about eating that.



Our class books came in this week too! Fifth Grade Confessions is a book where each student wrote a confession about their past. Some of the stories were quite comical. I even wrote a story about when I was little. My mom made me eat everything on my plate and I just couldn't stomach the brussels sprouts. I finally figured out that I could hide them in the bottom of the garbage can and she never knew until I told her (once I was an adult).



This week we also dissected owl pellets. The kids were excited to find bones and skulls in the pellets. They are showing off their finds here.





We have also started using our Versatiles. They are a self guided way to practice skills.

STUDENTS: Why in the world did we eat insects this week? How did it relate to what we were doing in reading? What was your favorite insect snack and why?

Week 21

This week we learned the brain dump Big G. It helps us remember gallons, quarts, pints, and cups. We also figured out there are 2 1/2 cups of Dr. Pepper in a 20 oz. bottle.



The edible insects have arrived! Next week we will be eating these. They go along with our reading story for the week. Exploding Ants.



Here are the ticket winners for this week. We pulled out all the tickets in the good job jar and found out that Carolyn had a 13% chance of having her ticket pulled. And look, she was a winner!

I grossed everyone out today by showing them the digestive song on youtube. They decided that science close to lunch was probably not a good idea.



I told everyone that the digestive process is normal and we all experience it. But they said it was gross! I even had one student cover his head so he didn't have to see. They are so silly!

STUDENTS: We have been using a lot of games during our math 4 corners and the new Thursday groups. What is your favorite math game? Why is it your favorite? I think my favorite is Oh No 99! because once you get close to 99 it is hard to win. I don't think I've won yet, but it is still a lot of fun.

Week 20

We started the week with a math lesson from our math coach, Mrs. James. She helped us with equivalent fractions and adding/subtracting fractions. The kids played a game making equivalent fractions. You can see that Timothy is having fun!





The kids have been enjoying the iPads were have had access to. Math Puppy was a popular app this week. They love to play Stack the States on my iPad. Every time we have free time they want to play.



These are the students that got the big word the other day! Each day we have a big word to figure out. I post the letters in abc order and they rearrange them to find the big word. I give a ticket for the Good Job Jar to the first 3 students who get the word correct. Congrats to Talia, Max, and Amerrit!

STUDENTS: I'm getting excited about starting chemistry soon! We just need to finish the digestive system and the light path. Then we start our big chemistry unit. What has been your favorite thing we have done in science so far this year?

Week 19

Welcome back! This was a busy week even though it was a short week. We started using the class set of iPad to practice math this week. Everyone had a chance to play math games on the iPads on Thursday during our new group rotations.



We also learned a new brain dump in math this week. We talked about converting measurement and the kids learned this graphic organizer. They can each write this down without looking and use it correctly! We will keep doing brain dumps to learn measurement before testing begins.



Today we did a fun activity to learn how the colonists felt before the Revolutionary War. They felt they were being taxes unfairly. King Nine declared taxes on things like tennis shoes, pencils, glasses, and blue jeans. The kids had to pay taxes using their Skittles and most were upset because they were having to give them all away. Claudia and several other students had to use all of their Skittles to pay taxes.



Max wasn't happy about having to give up his Skittles either. Now they understand how the colonists felt!



We are also finishing the pages for our class book. I can't wait to send this off and get the books in. Our book title is Fifth Grade Confessions. Once they come in I'll share some of the pages here.

STUDENTS: We started using the class set of iPads this week. There aren't a lot of apps there yet but I wanted to get feedback from you to see which apps you'd like to see on there. Only math games will be added to this iPads. Do you play any math games you'd like to see added? It can't be Angry Birds or Cut the Rope because those aren't math games. Don't know any apps? Share your favorite part of this week!