Africa visitor!

Last Friday, my mother (in law) came in to visit and share with us all the adventures she has had in Africa as well as show us the cool things she brought back with her.

We showed her how to use some of our technology (the classroom has changed a lot since she retired a few years ago!)

Here are some porcupine quills. They are much bigger on the African porcupine!

Mrs. G. explained the difference between predators and prey as well as characteristics of herbivores and carnivores. Then she showed us some skulls so we could easily see those characteristics ourselves.

On the smart board is a picture of a spider that was in their room in Africa. Those are a lot bigger than we can find around here as well!

Mrs. G. also brought in some animal hides and skins for us to look at, see and touch. How cool!

It was great having her come in and visit us and we all learned a lot! Thanks Mrs. G!

Africa!!!

We have started our Africa unit and we are sooo excited! We made our suitcases that will go on safari with us and I took those pictures with my other camera. I will post them soon! Today we journeyed to the country of Kenya and learned how some of the Kenyans lived. The students were surprised that there are big cities in Kenya as well as all the animals that live there. We practiced some swahili words and then made a class book using those words. Can you guess what these words mean?

Science Fair

We came ... We saw... We experimented! The 5th grade science fair was last week and the students had a blast attending it. Several remembered experiments that they had seen when they were in 1st grade. The 5th graders did a great job explaining their hypothesis to the students and then showing how they conducted their various experiments. They certainly inspired several of your children!

Here BZ and KW are learning how to write with invisible ink.

BZ is holding her finished product. (It says Mrs. Golter's rocks - I didn't even have to bribe her!)

What is causing this look of happiness and concentration on these boy's faces? A car race of course!

Getting ready for Easter.

Getting ready for spring by creating a worm farm.

When the balloon exploded, confetti shot out everywhere! I missed taking that picture because I was the one hiding under a table.