Design Challenge! Build a better drinking fountain!

The residents in the town of Pawnee, Indiana have some weird drinking fountain habits!!  Because of these habits, the Parks and Rec department have to redesign the public water fountains.  Can you clearly identify the problem?  How effective was Jerry's solution?  Can you spot the hilarity? Click the link below!

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!!!

Math Week of September 2, 2013

This week in Math Class students will continue to work with squaring numbers and unsquaring numbers(finding the square root).  Students will also learn to find and write factor strings, and factor trees to help them identify prime factors of a number.  Students should review Math Journal Pages for Unit 1. We will have a Unit Assessment on Friday, Sept 6th

Homework:

Monday-
No School

Tuesday-
Math Journal p. 23 and 24
Correct Math Quiz if needed. Due Wednesday 9/4/2013

Wednesday-
Math Masters 25

Thursday-
Unit 1 Review
Review vocabulary

Friday-
Unit 1 Test
No Homework!

Science- Week of August 26th

ALOFT!
This week science classes will be working through the Aloft problem solving challenge.  Students will work in pairs and will have 3 sheets of copy paper to create something that will stay aloft in the air.  The goal is to make a creation that stays aloft for the most time.  As teams work, they will document their thought/work process.  On Wednesday, we will time team creations as they fly to determine the most successful "ALOFT" solution!!

Wednesday-  Aloft Documentation Due to Mr. Wright ("Ask your way to a solution")

Friday-  Open Note Quiz on Problem Solving/Design Process/Scientific Method

LA Week of Aug. 26...Treasures Unit 1, Week 1: Goin' Someplace Special

Essential Question: What conflicts did the main character have, and how were they affected by setting?

This week the students will be reading a historical fiction selection entitled, Goin' Someplace Special.

This story reflects the struggles and discrimination faced by African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Students will focus on the setting and the characters as they read to determine the relationship between the characters and how the setting influences events in the story. 

Treasures pages 6-31
Practice Book pages 1-9

Comprehension: Analyze story structure, character and setting

Genres: Poetry, Historical Fiction, Autobiography

Vocabulary: scald, permission, autograph, fare, blurted, clenched, approached, spectacular

Vocabulary Strategy: Context clues/homophones

Fluency: Expression and accuracy

Phonics/Spelling: short vowels...jut, nick, tenth, shrug, stuff, sense, damp, cot, fling, notch, gush, scan,
 batch, rough, stump, tough, laugh, guess, lead, dove

Grammar: Sentences, punctuate sentences

Graven/Wright Homework 
*Always read 30 minutes each night. 
Monday-Read p.6-31, practice book p. 1-9 due Thursday
Tuesday-practice book p. 1-9 due Thursday
Wednesday-practice book p. 1-9 due Thursday
Thursday-practice book p. 1-9 due, selection test (Goin' Someplace Special), Newmark test (5 questions on character and setting applied to a new story)
Friday-spelling test (20 words plus 1 vocabulary word students will be asked to use correctly in a sentence), skills test (all of the skills listed above applied to a fresh story)

Bodker Language Arts Homework

Read 30 minutes every night.

Monday-Read  Goin Someplace Special in Treasures Text book

Tuesday- Practice spelling words, finish Practice Page 3

Wednesday-  Practice page 3,8, Review spelling words.

Thursday- Review story Goin Someplace Special,   practice spelling words

Friday- Selection  test,  Skills test, Spelling test

SS Week of Aug. 26

Essential Question: How does where you live influence how you live?

On Monday we will celebrate the winners of the geography challenge in each class period.  It was fun to watch many of the teams work together to earn as many points as possible and to encourage one another along the way.  The chapter 1 test will take place on Tuesday.  Be sure to complete the tutorial and study!  Students will need to know the material in Ch. 1 as well as be able to correctly spell and identify all of the continents and oceans.  The rest of the week we'll dig further into geography terms and looking at maps.

Homework for the Week
Monday-Ch. 1 tutorial for extra credit, study for Ch. 1 test, make sure geography challenge packet is complete
Tuesday-Ch. 1 test, turn in geography challenge packets, turn in tutorials for extra credit **current events presentations
Wednesday-none
Thursday-worksheet, **current events presentations
Friday-none

History Alive Tutorial
http://www.tutorial.historyalive.com/
type in your name
click on Ch. 1
complete all of the questions (can use any resources or none at all and can repeat the entire thing as many times as you wish)
print out the results page

To get 3 extra credit points
1. Earn 100% score on Ch. 1 tutorial
2. Print out the results (or a note or email if you're having computer issues)
3. Parent Signature

Curriculum Night-THANKS!

Thanks to all of the families that attended curriculum night on Wednesday.  We hope you left feeling  informed and excited about your child's 5th grade year.  Hopefully you left your email address with one of the teachers.  If not, please jot it down in your kid's agenda for us.  You should have also picked up an orange handout with information about the year.  Ask your child's teacher for a handout if you didn't receive one.  It will be posted here soon too. 

Scholastic Book Clubs

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: H66KX
September Orders are due to Mrs. Graven or Online by Sept. 6!

Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help your child succeed. It can be tough finding the right books to keep them interested, which is why we are so excited that our classes will be participating in Scholastic Reading Club this school year.

With Scholastic Reading Club:

• Every book you buy earns FREE Books for our classroom libraries
• You can choose from handpicked, grade- and reading-level-specific books for your child
• You'll find the best values on a variety of formats, including eBooks

Each month, your child will bring home Reading Club flyers. Together you can choose from books hand-selected by teachers and experts, and then order online or by returning your order form and payment to Mrs. Graven.

Please note...Mrs. Graven is handling the Scholastic Book Orders this year, so please direct all orders and questions to her.  Thanks!

Marshmallow Building Challenge

Last week in science class, we dove into the problem solving process with a little activity called the marshmallow challenge.  I borrowed the idea from a TED Talk presenter, Tom Wujec.  Here is a link.... Marshmallow Challenge.  From the website:

                 

"The task is simple: in eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out        of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top."

The marshmallow is a metaphor for the unknown problems that students may encounter in a project.  The take-away is that you should try to identify and tackle "marshmallows" early on so that you are not surprised by them when you are reaching a deadline!

Here are some pics!!

Marshmallow Challenge Champs...52 centimeters tall!

 

Math-Week of August 19th

We will begin this week reviewing multiplication facts, factor pairs and the  turn around rule.  We will also review place value.  Students should be familiar with our topics as they should have been introduced to the topics in previous school years.    I have advised students that if they are rusty or do not have a strong knowledge of their multiplication facts they need to spend some time practicing.  We will be using multiplication  daily in 5th grade math.

I do plan to administer a pretest for the students very soon.  I am currently waiting  for computer passwords for students.

Homework:
Monday- Math journal p. 5
Tuesday- Math Journal p. 11
Wednesday- Math Journal p. 12

Science Week of August 19th

This week we will be focusing on two processes that we will use throughout the year, The DESIGN PROCESS and The SCIENTIFIC PROCESS.  Thursday we will begin our ALOFT design challenge.  Students will work in pairs to keep a piece of paper "aloft" in the air for as long as possible.  We will also have a science pre-assessment so that I can get a better idea about the kids incoming science knowledge.

*I'm not anticipating any science homework this week!!

Language Arts with Mrs. Graven-week of Aug. 19

This week in Mrs. Graven's language arts class students will continue to work on pre-assessments in various areas.  These scores will not be counted in the students' final grades.  However, they are used as teaching and learning tools for all of us.  Students will also get started on the Daily 5 structure of our classroom and learn IPICK, Read to Self, and Read to Someone strategies to use in our classroom all year.  We will get started with our Treasures reading series next week.

Curriculum Night

BWIS Curriculum Night will be Wednesday, August 21 from 7:00-8:15.  We hope to see you there!

Social Studies with Mrs. Graven-week of Aug. 19

This week on Tuesday and Thursday each period will hear from one of their classmates about a current event.  Students will be assigned a date each quarter in which they will read an article and report to the class about it.  Print newspapers as well as online sources are fine to use (see the links in the SS section the right for a few to get you started).  I'm looking forward to learning what this week's presenters have read and discovered!
          Tuesday Presenters-Sam, Pace, Jagger
          Thursday Presenters-Ean, Dominic, Halley

We will also continue our study of geography this week with a geography challenge in class. Students will be partnered up and asked to work through 4 geography challenges together.  Teams will try to earn as many points as they can.

Awesome Apps for Students:
    Coordinates
    GPS Tracker
    GeoFacts

Social Studies Week of August 14

Welcome to Social Studies with Mrs. Graven!  Our first unit of study will be geography as students work with maps.  Students will also work with partners in class on a geography challenge.  Here's a vocabulary link to get kids started.

Ch. 1 vocabulary

Science Week of August 12th

Hello everyone!  Welcome back to school and to Big Walnut Intermediate.  On this blog you will find daily assignments, what to expect in class each week, and links to interesting and educational sites.  Come back often and be sure to sign up for email updates so that you won't miss the latest classroom information.

Have a great year!

PS:  No homework in science this week!