February 16, 2018

Changes Unit- Enduring Understandings:
-All life is interdependent and interacts causing change
-All things change over time.
 -Patterns and interactions change over time and help us learn about our earth and its culture.


This second trimester, students will study the changes in power, economy, industry and our earth's features.    Through the course of our studies, they will discover how natural and human processes change societies and our environment.  They will make connections between technological advancements and changes within society and will analyze how human activities can impact watersheds and oceans.  Ultimately, the students will gain a deeper understanding of how humans interact with the environment causing change which can effect our industry, economy and our natural environment positively and negatively.

ELA
Our class novel, Among the Hidden is a hit! You know it’s good when the kids are begging you to read!! This is a compelling novel about our protagonist, Luke Garner, a shadow child, a third child, a forbidden child. He lives his entire life in hiding due to a population law imposed by the government. A housing development is replacing the woods around his family farm, and he is no longer allowed to go outside……I can’t tell you anymore, you will have to ask your child about it! As we read, we are focusing on self-questioning, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. We are working on finding the main ideas and summarizing important information.  Students are also making bigger connections to the real world and the different types of government and change that goes on in different societies while reading the book. 

Social Studies
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Our 5th grade big idea, Growth and Power, has proved evident as students discovered how our country grew in both size and power at the turn of the century. With the acquisition of Alaska and Hawaii and a victory in the Spanish American War, our country emerged as a  World Power. A solid government, strong military and stable economy all led to this rise in power.
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With the perspective of the U.S. as a powerhouse, our studies led to WWI.  We discovered the causes of the war, but have an understanding of why the U.S. didn't really want to enter at first.  Students are learning about how propaganda was used during the war and will have the opportunity to analyze WWI propaganda posters. Students will then use this knowledge to integrate with ELA and create posters that would support/oppose the third child law from the novel, Among the Hidden.  Once complete, come by and take a look!
To wrap up our Industrial Revolution unit, students created individual cartoons which depicted one of the topics we have been studying in class (women's rights / suffrage, mail order catalogs, urbanization and mechanization just to note a few).  The students' hard work definitely paid off.  Please enjoy a slideshow highlighting a few of these masterpieces!

Science
     Students have been exploring the idea of "Changes" by investigating how watersheds and oceans can change over time.  In this unit, students created models of watersheds to show how fresh water travels through a watershed and changes the landscape.
     In addition, we learned about the features of the ocean floor and how scientists use sonar to map the bottom of the ocean.  Students simulated this technology on a small model of the ocean floor, and created mathematically accurate graphs of the depth at various locations.  We also learned how waves, tides, and currents can create changes along the ocean shore zone, and students conducted an inquiry lab to explore how these natural processes shape the coastlines of the world.  
​     Finally, students explored the question, "How do humans impact oceans and watersheds?".  We researched a human activity that impacts an ocean or watershed, and discussed how that impact can effect us. 

MATH
Students have been hard at work creating 2D and 3D robots. Through their designs they have been developing a deeper understanding of area and volume. They have compared and contrasted the two math concepts, written about the dimensions of their 2D and 3D robots and applied the math formulas of area and volume to solve problems.
Students are also gaining an understanding that volume not only determines how much space something takes up but that is also used by architects to design buildings. Artists use volume to create sculptures and programmers use it to create video game systems. We read an article titled, “Magic, movies and metal: How mathematics adds dazzle to the visual world” and the video game programmers and animators being interviewed stated that they rely on solving real world math problems and math in general to create cutting edge visual effects. They also inferred that artists need to understand math and mathematicians need to understand art. Don’t you just love discovering that volume is SO much more than V= l x w x h?