Photosynthesis!

I soak up all the water, my roots are like a straw.

I absorb Carbon dioxide, the animals give it off.

I hold out my leaves, the sun gives me a kiss.

I'm making my own food, its photosynthesis!

Extra Extra!

Several of our kiddos are going to be on the news! We had Big 2 news choose us as the "School of the Week" for January 25-29th. Each morning, at 6:30, a student from our school will be asking the question of the day! Tune in to support our school!
I love this school!
Mrs. M

Over the Moon!

Today we discussed the phases of the moon! We made cool "moon sliders" to help us better understand each phase of the moon! We watched videos and went to a cool website showing how the moon changes!
After making our sliders...we ate the moon! Didn't you know the moon is made of Oreos? Not really, but in our class today, it was!

Learning about science can be so delicious!

My job is out of this world!

Mrs. M

Websites to Visit!

This website will tell you your age and upcoming birthdays on all of the planets! It will also give you your weight on the planets, moon, and sun as well! Just click on the link below!
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/age/index.html

This website will show you an animated model of Earth's rotation!
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0404/es0404page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization


This website will show you an animated model of Earth's revolution!
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0408/es0408page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization


Happy Surfing!
Mrs. M

New Vocabulary!

Week Eighteen Vocabulary
January 11- January 15, 2010
Your spelling and vocabulary test will be on Friday, January 15 . You will be responsible for knowing how to spell each word correctly and the definition for each word.

1. Axis- an imaginary line that passes from the north pole to the south pole through Earth’s center.
2. First Quarter moon- moon phase in which the right half of the moon is illuminated.
3. Full moon- moon phase in qhich the entire moon is illuminated
4. High tide- the time of hight water. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull between the Earth and moon.
5. Last quarter moon- moon phase in which the left half of the moon is illuminated.
6. Low tide- the time of low water.
7. Moon phase- the changes in how the moon looks to people on Earth
8. New moon- moon phase in which none of the moon is illuminated
9. Orbit- the path that one object in space takes around another object in space.
10. Revolutions- one complete trip of a planet around the sun
11. Rotate- the spinning of a planet or moon on its axis
12. Seasons- teh four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Toilet Paper?

Yes! Today we used toilet paper to learn about science! How fun is that? To better understand how far from the sun each planet is we made a model. Remember kids...I am not Ms. Frizzle and can't turn our school bus in to a rocket ship and take you to the moon, therefore we have to make a model. The solar system is way to big to "see" so we have to model it! Toilet paper came in handy today for our solar system model!
The students were put into groups today and assigned two different planets. They were provided with a chart telling them how many sheets of toilet paper each planet is away from the sun. Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, was 3 sheets of toilet paper from the sun. Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun, was 224 sheets of toilet paper from the sun. The kids did quite a bit of counting today!
I was very proud of the teamwork efforts. The students seem to take every assignment seriously in Science! Even if it does involve toilet paper!
After this activity, we went back to the classroom and made bar graphs in the science notebooks!

Solar System tips-
Students need to know the following:
The Earth Rotates as it revolves around the sun
One rotation of the Earth is one day...24 hours
one revolution is a year.
the Earth revolving around the sun is also called an orbit...
gravity holds all the planets in orbit
My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos...is a good way to help remember the order of the planets...Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
the sun is a star made up of gases

Today was "out of this world!"
Mrs. M

We're Baaack!

Wow! It has been a while since I got to update my post. I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! I did, but must admit I missed my kiddos! It was fun to come back to school and get back to work on the Solar System! One of my favorites! Do I say that every time I start something new?
On Wednesday we made diagrams of the Solar System in our science notebooks. I always love to see the work of my students, the creativity is so exciting! Good job guys!We also played a silly and fun game to help us remember the order of the planets! I attached index cards with the eight planet names and one for the sun to the students foreheads. They did not know what their card said.



When I gave the signal, they had to get themselves in order without TALKING! (a big challenge for these fifth graders!).



As you can see...they did wonderful!


My job is "out of this world!"
Mrs. M