4th Grade is Electric

Hello again,
We have begun our experiments with electricity and electrical circuits. You may have heard about our "glowing ball" and our Van DeGraff Generator. We have used both to demonstrate one of our two types of electricity. Static electricity is responsible for the wonderful things we experienced during our classes the last few weeks. We have also started work with Current Electricity. This as we have discussed is what we have in our homes, schools and businesses. We are very excited to continue to learn how many ways we use electricity and can save it and also learn how to create the circuits we use everyday ourselves!!!

Winter Weather Woes

It has bee an interesting couple of weeks with the way the weather is treating us, however, we have been going strong here in our lab. In 4th grade we are making the transition into our Studying Electricity unit. We have begun by learning about static electricity and exploring the roots of our modern day electrical capabilities.
In 5th grade we are diving into our Variables unit and experimenting and learning about how variables change and drive our experiments. Currently we are working with buoyancy and capacity. We have also begun another cross curriculum project with technology by researching famous scientists to create interactive presentations on for computers and science. We are looking forward to wonderful presentations from our students!
The 6th grade is wrapping up Studying People Scientifically and heading into Body Works. Both units focus on how our body works and how things that we do and take affect our body systems. This is a unit that works closely with what is happening in the news every day when it comes to improvements in our health care and new discoveries in the world of the human body and medicine. Although it is cold outside, we are heating it up inside with hands on activities, experiments, and demonstrations!

Hatching over Thanksgiving Break!

We are very happy to welcome our new TROUT to the classroom. Over Thanksgiving Break our trout eggs hatched and we now have "alevin" swimming around in the bottom of our tank. We have over 100 trout hiding in nooks and crannies around the tank and we will have our "Trout Vision" camera installed so the students can see pictures and movies of the trout. In class we will also be studying the life cycle of the trout as well as charting their growth, coloring, and behavior weekly. This is our second year with the Trout in the Classroom program and we are excited about having this opportunity again. Please feel free to stop by to see our new additons!!!

The Trout Have Arrived!

Great news!!!! The trout arrived today!!!! Hooray!!!! We are welcoming 200 trout eggs this year as a result of our success last year. We are acclimating the eggs tonight and will be introducing them to their growing basket soon. We will be installing our Underwater Camera this week as well so we can film the growing trout. We look forward to having images on the blog as soon as possible. The photo's here are our first photo's of our eggs.

Earth Cycles TOO!

Today we discussed the Carbon, Nitrogen, and Water cycles in depth and we talked about different web pages where they can be found. Below is a web site with all of the different earth cycles and how they work.
Be aware...you will have a quiz on the cycles soon!
Happy Studying!
www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/cycles6.htm
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/earth_system/biogeochemical_cycles.html

Earth Cycles and YOU!

In our Sixth grade classes we have been discussing the different cycles on Earth. We began with the Water Cycle and have since moved on to the Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles. I would like to have you continue this conversation at home. If you would, please discuss the ways in which each of these cycles are at work in your own yard and community. Please talk with your parents or an adult, and try to cite some examples from your yard and/or your neighborhood. Please share these discussions with your classmates on the blog so we can have an open discussion about them. I look forward to your examples and thoughts!
www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/cycles6.htm
Please use this web address to gain more information to talk about.

5th Grade Life Science Introduction

Today in class we read about and discussed what Life Science is and what Life Scientists do. I would like you to discuss at home tonight the importance of Life science in the world today with your parents or an adult and post the thoughts you are able to come up with on the blog. We will discuss your postings tomorrow in class. I look forward to reading your thoughts!!!