What materials are sculptures made from? Many sculptures are made of clay or stone. We decided that sculptures can also be made with magnets! To make their magnetic sculptures, students needed to know about the properties of a magnet. First, students decided what materials were useful in making a magnetic sculpture. By applying what they knew about magnets, students then discussed plans with a small group, made sketches, wrote lists of the magnetic materials, and wrote down any steps needed to follow to build their sculpture. We constructed our sculptures and look forward to creating a classroom gallery!
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Welcome to a new school year -- a year of strength and a year of growth! This past week we have been exploring the concept of multiplication, reviewing place value, rounding, and decomposing numbers, and learning about the scientific method. I am so thankful that I have creative and active students that were willing to put together a bulletin board that displayed the steps of the scientific method: Today, we put the scientific method to use. We asked "What happens when you add soap to whole milk?" By adding some food coloring, the students were able to witness the fat molecules bonding with the soap molecules. Very cool! You can try it at home: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/milk-color-explosion
We’ve lately been finishing up our life science unit by examining adaptations of living things and the effects of pollution and the importance of preserving ecosystems. Our student teacher wanted to plan a fun adaptations activity, so why not create organisms out of potatoes?! After deciding upon a habitat, students were provided with potatoes and materials to create a plant or animal that might live in that habitat and include features that would help that organism thrive in such a habitat. Below you can view some of the creative (and at times, interesting) products: This past week, students have been completing a RAFT project. RAFT encourages students to assume a ROLE, consider their AUDIENCE, while examining a TOPIC from their chosen perspective, and demonstrating their knowledge in a particular FORMAT. Some drafted an email to a congressperson to voice their concerns about pollution in their community. Others acted as biologists who set out to convince a school board to create policies regarding conservation with some type of visual. And many students enjoyed teaching the meaning of pollution, conservation, and recycling to young children using a puppet show.
We have had a couple of crazy weeks, with school closings and winter storms. However, learning continues both in the classroom (when school is in session) and through use of a flipped classroom model. Students have been exploring ways to represent and compare fractions. By manipulating fraction strips, students observed equalities and inequalities and have since used area models and the number line to represent these comparisons. “Pizzas made to order” helped us make these connections and further compare fractions by representing them in a familiar way — on a pizza!
This week we are finishing up our unit on Georgia regions and habitats! We have explored the Mountains, traveled through the Piedmont, experienced Georgia’s marshes and swamps, and are now investigating the coast and ocean. Along the way, a few students have extended their learning by making habitat models. Others are continuing orbital studies on specialized topics of their choice. Welcome to our class blog! On this site we will share the incredible things we learn together. Families, friends, and students are welcome to join us, follow us, and comment on our learning.
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Mr. Nonnemaker's InvestigatorsA community of learners sharing and blogging together Archives
August 2014
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