Week 8- Newton's Laws Stations & Explorer Day

This week we have been learning about Newton's Law of Motion. I love sharing this video with my students because it helps them connect the laws to the world. 

I also found this song for the laws that I shared with my classes.


At the end of the week we were ready for our stations to help learn more about the laws. I love these stations from Focus Learning Resources on TpT.

My favorite station is where the students have 2 eggs, one raw and one boiled. They have to use Newton's 1st Law of Motion to figure out which is which. 

Friday was a 1/2 day for students so the 5th grade had Explorer Day. Our students dressed as explorers and Native Americans. They all brought things to trade and had a great time!

STUDENTS: We have played Kahoot several times now. Do you like playing the game? Why or why not? It is something you would like to continue playing?

Week 7- Dot Day, Speed, & Proactive Activity

Monday was International Dot Day. We read the book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds. We talked about ways we could make our mark on the world. 

I gave each student a red dot to use in their picture. I told them there were no requirements with the dot, other than the fact that it needed to be on their picture somewhere. While they worked on their posters we enjoyed eating dot candy.

Take a look at some of the posters they created.

This week we also used toy cars and tape measures to calculate the speed of our cars. This goes along with our study of speed and velocity. 

Want to know their favorite part of the lessons? The song, of course! Click the song name to find it on YouTube. Speed and Velocity by They Might Be Giants.

To practice our multiplication this week, we played number crunchers. I love this game because the kids practice multiplication but share their work with a partner. They can compare answers and find any mistakes they might have made. 

If you'd like a copy of my Number Crunchers posters that I have in my classroom, they are a free download on TpT. 

We also use the Meaningful Mistakes to help figure out what type of mistakes we make. Grab my free posters here.

We also started working on a hallway display for special visitors next week. All of the activities I found for Habit 1: Be Proactive were all more for younger elementary. So I started looking for inspiration and ran across this picture. 

Since we talk about how you carry your own weather while being Proactive, I knew exactly what to do! I showed this picture to my students and had them create their own. They wrote ways to be proactive under the umbrella and ways to be reactive around the outside. 

These are just a few examples but I love what they did with my inspiration!

STUDENTS: This week we celebrated International Dot Day. What do you plan to do to make your mark on the world?

Week 5 & 6- Hiccups & Math Fun

When I got home last weekend my internet was down and I wasn't able to do my weekly post. So this week I'll share a few things that happened over the last 2 weeks. 

Have you ever had a kid with the hiccups in your classroom? My students get them all the time and I have a great way to get rid of them. It works every time. Give the student a cup and have them fill it with water all the way to the top. 

Then turn upside down and drink that way from the wrong side of the cup. So your top lip goes on the outside edge and your bottom lip goes on the inside edge. Drink some water that way and then stand back up. Easy way to cure the hiccups every time!

Have you seen this book? I gave one of the activities a try during math. 

One of the pages has dice roll prompts. So I partnered my students up and had them work in pairs to solve word problems. They rolled a dice to discuss a question before the problem solving started. 

Then they each worked separately to solve the problem. Finally they would roll the dice to choose the final discussion question for that problem and compare answers. 

There was a lot of on task discussion about math! They decided this was a lot more fun than just sitting and solving the problems alone. Plus, everyone was engaged!

We used my favorite reading strategy again this week, Keep It or Junk It. I also hung my posters on the wall under the clock so everyone could see them. 

This is another great way to have students working together in groups. They work to find words to help answer a focus question and them write an answer to that question. 

Have you used Kahoot? I created a review quiz to help prepare for the social studies test this week. We did it Monday and when the kids came back to me Tuesday they were begging to play again. They didn't care that I hadn't made a new game yet. 

I grouped my students to work as teams and submit their answers with the iPads. It is like a game show and they earn points for each correctly answered question. It also shows the leader after each question. They were cheering so loud when the correct answer showed up that I told them they would have to have a silent celebration or Mrs. Reasner and Mrs. Smith (our neighbors on either side) would ban us from playing. 

I wanted to share a picture of me and my Kindergarten buddy. I talk to him every morning in the gym and he has been trying to learn to tie his shoes. He works so hard and almost has it down!

Finally, here is a picture of my wonderful 5th grade team! We all purchased matching shirts and wore them today. I have the best team! Our shirts say, "In 5th grade we... share, love, laugh, grow, show respect, apologize, sing and dance, do our best, encourage, make mistakes, create, play, word hard, have fun, learn   We Are Family

L to R: Mrs. White, Mrs. Reasner, Mr. Schmitt, and Mrs. Smith

STUDENTS: I'd love to hear from you! What is your favorite part about 5th grade so far?