Guest Bloggler: George - Fun Social Studies

Fun Social Studies

Guest Blogger, George

   This week we have been doing fun things in social studies.  We have been doing stations about the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party,Townshend Acts, Intolerable Acts and the First Continental Congress.  We make T-Charts about these events with British Point Of View and American Point Of View. We learned by watching videos and reading textbooks like History Alive, America’s Past, and other resources for the T-Charts.These T-charts will help us with understanding these events of history. This week of social studies is so fun and exciting to learn about. I love it!

Guest Student Blogger - Genevieve: Mindful Popcorn!

Mindful Popcorn

~ Guest Blogger, Genevieve

It was our writing period and Mrs. Malki had told us to get out a pencil, and our writing notebook and come to the rug. We all gathered to one side where we all saw a desk with a microwave on it, but we didn’t know what was going on. She then had came to the rug, too. She explained that we were going to be mindful and use our senses, and right down what we hear, taste, see, feel, and smell.

First Mrs. Malki took out a bag of popcorn and slowly opened the plastic bag so we could hear what was going on. I then started to understand how this was helping. Since later on when we write our story we could add in details, dialogue, setting, and more because we always can make things better. Not just writing, you can get better at sports, reading, math, and science. We also could add more to our writing.

After she opened the plastic bag, she took the paper bag, which had kernels in it, and put it in the microwave, the door closed. It had gotten stuck a couple times so Mrs. Malki adjusted the bag. While the class was waiting we were all moving to see what was going on. I was wondering are we actually going to get to eat this?

After Mrs. Malki adjusted the bag we heard the bag popping like a balloon, I also saw the bag blowing up like a balloon. I heard people saying they smelt the butter already, but from where I was I couldn’t smell a thing. I jotted everything I sensed down.

The bag was taken out from the microwave, and Mrs. Malki was holding it from the tip of her two fingers, since it was hot. The bag seemed full. I noticed it was sizzling like a frying pan. Mrs. Malki teared the bag open, and gave us a whiff of what it smelt like, to me it smelt like potato chips combined with butter and salt, but much stronger.

She went to the other side of the room with the bag of popcorn and took out a couple, and down it went into her stomach. Now I was really wondering are we going to get to get to eat the popcorn? I guessed everyone else was jealous too, I couldn’t blame them.

Something got me smiling again though, and my question got answered. So we went back to our seats with a paper towel and popcorn on it. I was peeking at others’ desks to see if they got more then me, but I couldn’t tell, so I decided to forget about it since it really didn’t matter. I couldn’t tell if others were doing that too. I tried eating it slow so I could really taste it.

I really didn’t expect this day where we got to eat popcorn in the classroom, but I was glad it happened.  Being mindful helped me use my senses to write a good story.  I wouldn’t want to miss a day in 5th grade, because you never know what can happen!

Guest Student Blogger: Rachel: Wacky Science!

Wacky Science

Guest Blogger, Rachel

Hi, I’m Rachel with a guest blog post. I’m here to keep you informed on our life in school. We’ve recently been doing many science experiments. This really surprised me because it seems really soon for science experiments, but I’m glad we are doing these experiments.

Here are some examples, one time Mrs. Malki told us all to wear safety goggles because she was putting a glass test tube on a hot plate with room temp water.  She also had a balloon on top of the rim. When the water heated up you might have guessed the balloon rose, but we first weighed it and it weighed 363.2g. After she put it on the hot plate, there was a problem… the balloon had a hole in it. Not to worry, a hero came in her name was… Mrs.Malki, she saved the day with her side kick Mrs.P. Thanks to them our science experiment was saved, YAY! We finally found out that the expanded balloon weighed the same as the deflated one!

Here is another experiment that we did with Mrs.Malki as our guide. Oh no, there was a volcano made of baking soda and vinegar and it was exploding it’s up to us to fix this  perfect example that shows how air takes up space. A related project is when we combined baking soda and vinegar to make a gas and make a glove rise!  

From all these science events we learned about the fact that all matter, even gas, takes up space. This is my report on our lives at school. Write To You Soon!!!

Guest Student Blogger: Sienna: Book Fair Water Balloon Toss!

Book Fair Water Balloon Toss!

This year we crushed our goal of the amount of books we should buy at the book fair. Every year Mr.Roth surprises us with a crazy event for meeting our goal, like spraying his hair red and sleeping on the roof.  Since we sold more books than 2,100 books, this year there will be a water balloon toss between Mr.Roth and Mr. Burke, the Superintendent. The loser gets a pie in the face! The whole school is invited to see this amazing event happen. I can’t wait! Who do you think will win?

*Take the poll on this page to vote!

Spookley the Square Pumpkin

Last night I was watching "Spookley the Square Pumpkin" for what felt like the 100th time.  This has become a standard in my household now.  It's like eating a potato chip--you can't have just one.  Well, The Malkis can't watch things just once.  However, as my students know, I have become obsessed with the movie Moana because I've watched it so many times that I keep noticing new things as I watch.  As I notice these things, I become so aware of the beauty that comes along with story-telling.  With the excitement of the Halloween season, Spookley is now airing several times a day, and my kids want to watch it every time.  Of course, I am noticing new things about this story each time we watch.  I openly admit, we watch a lot of TV in my house, but I am starting to use this TV time in a new way.

Since I have to watch Spookley so much, I've decided that my children and I need to discuss some of the things happening in this story, just like I would if I was reading with my students in the classroom.  I think people forget that shows and movies are stories too.  We can use our comprehension skills as we view, just like we would as we read.  You can infer, predict, question, connect, and do anything a reader would do, but as a viewer.  Last night, I tried this out with my son and daughter.

My daughter Lilly is already using her inference skills when she cried to me, "Spookley is sad, mommy."  Now since she is only two, I can't really dig deeper with her, but I asked Jacob, "why do you think he is sad?"  Jacob thought for a minute and said, "The other pumpkins are not nice."  I asked him to tell me more about what they are doing that isn't nice.  He proceeded to tell me that they won't let him join their contest because he's square.  This is exactly the conversation I would have with any of my fifth graders if I was talking to them about something they read.  I would ask them for an idea, and then to back it up with evidence from the story.

As parents and teachers, we can do this with anything--movies, books, articles, science experiments, the list is endless.  I finished by asking my almost five-year-old son to always let other kids play with him; to never treat anyone the way the round pumpkins were treating Spookley.  The beauty of this is that he got it.  He understood how Spookley felt, and how he could use the message in his life.  Even though I didn't read with my children last night, we still practiced comprehension skills and had important conversations.  So, next time you are watching something instead of reading (which is totally okay!), try out some of our reading strategies and see how it goes.  I would love to hear about it!