Making Rockets! Update Sept. 27th

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for returning all of the many forms and notices. I know the beginning of the year we seem to have lots as we get settled. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to come with us on our field trip for October 6th.

Our week began with catch up, finishing work on the First Nations questions. Some people need more time, so please turn them in on Thursday. Tomorrow we will continue discussion about human rights, indigenous rights, and how these things affect quality of life in certain countries.

We also introduced the new WOW C Words, which included words such as combustion, which we talked about today during Unit Science!

During our class meeting, we heard ideas related to our ongoing committees, particularly for the upcoming Halloween Party the students would like to have. We also discussed that the upcoming main project for this unit will involve using stop motion. Student committees met during recess today and are asked to report back to the group again next Tuesday.

For science, we reviewed Energy and Matter using the handout Ms. D gave everyone last week, and then we discussed how rockets work! We discussed Newton’s Laws, thrust, friction, combustion, heat expansion, etc. Students drew pictures in their notes of what would make a great rocket design. We watched National Geographic’s video on How Rockets Work and had a discussion. Then we talked about how rocket engineers need to consider center of gravity and center of pressure when building a rocket.

To understand center of gravity, students built balancing sticks using coffee stir sticks, wire, and washers. Hopefully they brought theirs home to share with you! We also built paper rockets which we will launch tomorrow. If you want more information on rockets, check out this explanation on NASA’s website , or Math Fun’s explanation on center of gravity, the Physic’s Classroom explanation on Newton and forces and, if you really like advanced science, check out this explanation of how rockets work from Rockets in Schools. On the last one, check out the concept we discussed in class, that center of gravity has to be above the center of pressure on your rocket.

Due Dates/Reminders:

  • Green Notice today
  • Field Trip $ and Notice due Thursday
  • First Nations Questions for Thursday
  • WOW Letter B due already; WOW Letter C due Monday
  • No School on Friday, Sept. 30th (Ms. D giving two workshops that day on the revised curriculum!)
  • Celebration of Learning at 9:15 AM on Thursday, Parents Welcome
  • Field Trip Thursday October 6th

Thank you!

Ms. D