Science Fair

Owen

The science fair has come and gone at our school...but it's not over for students who placed first and second. They will continue on at the County Science Fair.
Jennifer
Meigan
Tamia Ruth
Emilee
Kylie
Nathaniel
Haley
Russell
Jacob and Alex F.
Taryn
Ariel and Octavia

GraceJessica and Jesse
Jade
Kamryn
Maiya
Bryan
Alex T.
Stephanie
Art
Science Fair ... 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners~
After everyone presented their science fair projects, we took them into the gym and set them up with all the other projects from other 4th and 5th graders. The next day, we were able to go back into the gym to see all of them.
Room 5ers were asking questions about NEXT year's Science Fair project...even asking me if they could start it now~ Yes!
Ms.C was in the gym, having just taken her kindergartners tothe bus. Since she's been a judge for years, Room 5ers had questions for her on how they could improve their project.

The Science Fair...it was wonderful to see them so excited about their projects..their GREAT projects!

Spelling Bee

Tomorrow is our school spelling bee! For Room 5, Stephanie and Meigan are our representatives...our classroom champions! For the past weeks, whenever we work on spelling in class, Stephanie and Meigan have been able to go out in the hall and drill each other on their words.

Good luck to both girls!!!

Valentine's Day!

The bags were all hung on the white board with care...
In hopes that cupid would soon be there...

Room 5ers each made a Valentine's bag a while back...and we hung them on the tray of the white board...some have been bringing their Valentines in during the week, but many brought them in today...
It wasn't twins day...but Tamia Ruth and Haley looked like twins to us!
The morning was the time to fill those bags...
Jade, Jennifer, Haley

We spent the entire morning listening to science fair project presentations, and then after lunch...it was time for our Valentine's party...

Room 5 was excited...

Some of our parents brought in some delicious treats...that came first. While everyone was eating, I passed out their bags. How fun it was to look through and read them all...and eat a bit of candy too!
Stephanie and Taryn
Alex T., Grace, and Emilee
Russell and Alex F
Tamia Ruth and Jessica
Maiya, Ariel, and Octavia
Jesse and Art
Jacob and Meigan
Kamryn with her shiner!
Nathaniel and Brandon
Meigan...who told me she had had enough pictures...
What a friend! After Meigan said "no more" pictures, her buddy, Mackenzie covered her eyes while I continued to snap away!

Thank you, Mackenzie!

Happy Valentines to Room 5~

Friends at recess

Kylie, Haley, Jennifer, Kamryn, Maiya

This last Friday was a beautiful afternoon. We went out for 'Free Friday PE' and while Room 5ers were playing, I went around and took a few pictures...
Tamia Ruth and Jessica
Taryn, Mackenzie, Meigan, and Stephanie
Octavia, Jacob, Russell, Brandon and Nathaniel

Grace, Emilee, and JadeJessica, Tamia Ruth, Owen, and Ariel
Stephanie and Mrs. Johnston

Because this day was "Punk Rocker day"...well, I guess Stephanie and I think alike...both wearing tie-dye shirts...with photography by Meigan!

Ms. R teaches us

We've been reading The Case of the Dirty Bird, by Gary Paulsen. It's a mystery...a funny mystery. Today, Ms. R came in to read with us while Mrs. Johnston went to take pictures of our new 1st grade classroom.

I think all of Room 5 enjoyed having Ms. R come in for awhile!

Owen and Alex: Our Geography guys!

Last week we had our school geography bee...There were 12 contestants...the two winners from each of the 4th and 5th grade classrooms...

Room 5's champions were..................
Owen....
and Alex....

I was SO PROUD of them...proud of them for doing as well as they did in the classroom bee...proud of them for being in the bee, for getting up in front of the parents and their peers...proud of them for their success in the school bee.

After 7 rounds, we had to have a tie-breaker...they came through and were in the final four!
The final four...

Owen and Alex were the only two fourth graders left...They stayed in it until the very end...until TJ eventually won. Congratulations to TJ...and to our runner-up...

but a huge congratulations to OUR Room 5 champions, Owen and Alex T.!!!

Paper Towel Testing

Friday, we started a pair of experiments on paper towel testing. Each pair of students got 4 different paper towels...1/4 cup of water...a tray...and, if they wanted, a dropper.
They saturated each paper towel until water was dripping out of it. They held the paper towel up over the tray, letting the water drip out. When it stopped, we measured the amount of water that was NOT in the towel. Knowing how much water we started with (57ml), we were able to rate the 4 paper towels on their absorbancy.
There were 3 choices: put the paper towel in the tray, pour 1/4 cup of water on it, let it set for a minute, then hold the towel up so the water could drain.... OR put the paper towel over the tray, and take turns using the dropper to put the water on the towel. When it was saturated and not holding any more, stop, and measure all the leftover water. OR put the 1/4 cup of water IN the tray, set the towel in the water until it was saturated....and then hold the towel up...measuring the leftover water.
This week, surveys are being done. Each student is to ask at least 4 people which brand of paper towel they use and why...
This next Friday, we'll do another test...called the 'strength test'. We'll wet the paper towels, then see how much weight they'll hold before ripping.
Once we have the results of the absorbancy test....and the strength test...then we'll calculate the cost per sheet of each brand we are testing and see which one is the best buy.
An interesting discussion took place about the absorbancy test. One of the brands is much larger than the other three. I had talked about cutting it so they were all the same size. Room 5ers disagreed...saying these sizes were how the towels are sold. Maybe the largest one NEEDS to be large to be absorbant???

We'll see...

and then we'll let you know!