Rockets!

Hello Everyone!

Some quick updates as we head into the last six weeks of school!

Unit Work — Math, Science, and More About SPACE!

We are focused on SPACE! What are we doing right now?

  • We are reading about the anatomy and characteristics of the sun, moon, and stars
  • We have watched videos from astronaut Chris Hadfield on what life is like for humans in space, including information on how water behaves in space, what it is like to brush your teeth in space, and how to cook in space. You can watch more videos, such as the one where he explains sleeping in space or how you clean up spills on the space station! Just google “Chris Hadfield” and space videos to see even more videos he made while up on the International Space Station.
  • We are discussing what we need to think about when we design our spaceships and make prototypes on June 13th! Add to our discussion on the blog by visiting my past post about spaceship research.
  • Our math work is from You Do the Math: Rockets, and after that is complete, students have some challenge math to try from Adventures in Space Science Mathematics produced by NASA.
  • We made straw rockets today and discussed/read about the physics of rockets! Everyone tried to meet the challenge of constructing a simple straw balloon rocket that would touch the bullseye target on our classroom wall. If you adjust your straw rocket at home, you can bring it in and see if you can meet the challenge tomorrow!
  • More experiments to come about rockets and space, such as making a moon lander, doing a parachuting egg, and flying paper rockets. We will use geometry and some basic trigonometry (don’t worry, it isn’t hard!) to figure out how high our paper rockets go using a viewfinder and angles!

Unit Work — Language Arts!

  • We discussed how the science and arts are related and students made a venn diagram about this in their journals.
  • We had our storytelling exercise as a class and I enjoyed hearing everyone’s stories while we shared snacks!
  • We used a variety of core competencies as we told the story of St. George and the Dragon through our school musical last week.
  • We discussed poetry! We did a sensory activity to gather descriptive words and language, and then we went over the difference between literary devices such as metaphor and simile, and literary forms such as a tanka or acrostic poem. We expanded our knowledge of haikus by looking at the Japanese words for the parts of the haiku poem and then discussing alternate forms of the poem such as a tanka and a senkhu. We will be doing more poetry work this week, with the end goal of focusing on writing science poetry, combining art with science knowledge.
  • Students are finishing stories on element superheroes, or writing essays about an element. All drafts need to be sent to Ms. D’s Google Drive for review.
  • Finally, we are working on Lit Circle Books! Each student chose a book out of several different choices, and we are now on meeting number three this week! The purpose was to use Reading Power tools to practice and improve our deeper reading comprehension.

Other and ART!

  • Dragon Boating! May 23rd Wednesday is our first time! And then we will go again on May 28 and June 1.
  • Acrylic Painting! We will be making a canvas using our science poetry, acrylic paint, and collage materials in a multi-media art project!
  • Wool Project! We will be using wool to make a picture on felt related to science or landscapes. Some fun projects to finish out our year!
  • Independent Project! Remember notes, bibliography, and primary research are due by June 11th. If you haven’t decided on a format for your presentation, please do that soon. Here is the blog entry on independent projects.
  • E-Ports: We will be doing some reflecting leading into term three reports, and students are recording some of their independent project process and thoughts on their e-ports!

Important Dates:

  • Dragon Boating May 23, May 28, June 1
  • Early Dismissal on June 1 at 2PM
  • No School on June 4 for Pro-D Day
  • Parent Volunteer Tea on June 6
  • Applied Design Spaceship Project Day June 13
  • Sports Day June 15, with early dismissal at 1PM
  • Independent Project Presentations June 22 12-2:30 PM in the classroom
  • Recognition Assembly June 25 Monday
  • Reports Distributed June 28, Last Day, School from 9-10 AM