Jamestown Simulation

What are the social, political, and geographical implications of settling in a new area?

Students engaged in a simulation whereby they were charged with developing a settlement in the new world.  Students were grouped and had to elect a member to act as John Smith.  Students then had to move through a series of activities to build and maintain a thriving community.  Once members endured five sessions, we came together as a whole class to debrief.  When asked to share their thoughts about the social, political and geographical implications of building a new settlement, students concluded:

1.  Building a new settlement requires communication, collaboration, and trust.

2.  Settling in a new area requires skill sets one may or may not have time to learn.

This simulation serves as an excellent hook for the new unit in social studies entitled, Interactions In Action, and prepares students for grappling with the following:

Enduring Understandings	Essential Questions
·   Where you live influences how you live. ·   People migrate for social, political, and economic reasons. ·   Interactions often prompt change.	·   How does the physical environment impact the social, political, and economic characteristics of a group? ·   Why do people move? ·   What happens when cultures collide? ·   How does need drive change?

S.T.E.A.M. Video

Our Video:  STEAM+Candy+Time

S.T.E.A.M. + Halloween Candy + Time = Skills Reinforcement

How do we successfully iron together subjects in 5th grade?  We STEAM them!  OK, that was not a great joke, but it was the only way I could think of to make a point about how we integrate authentic learning opportunities into our packed academic schedule.

Friday, October 30th, students were asked to think like toy designers and create a catapult toy.  This particular activity was chosen as we are currently studying geometric shapes in math, effective research strategies in English, and cyclical methodologies and matter in science.  We knew students would have to use skills and concepts from current studies to apply during their design challenge process.

Here is a peek into the results of a morning of STEAM design creation.  See if you can identify the math, science, engineering, art, and technology in these designs.  Then see if you can spot how research, writing, and math skills were utilized.

Brainstorming cycles prior to starting design challenge.

Pairs had to chose best design, sketch the design, and create a materials list.

Partnership tested, then had to re-design catapult.

Partnership using a protractor to determine degree of angles for hypothesis prior to final tests.

Gardening Fosters Great Minds

Gabbianos in the Garden

"This is fun!"  "What if we put some plants in plastic 'planters' and plant others in dirt, what will happen?"  "Let's measure how far apart these plants need to be planted."  Digging around in rich soil does lead to rich conversations!  This last Saturday students and their parents met me at Casolare 4 to dig the first phase of the 5th grade garden.  Students planted cole crops, including broccoli, many types of lettuces, and cabbage.  

Thanks parents for your help, materials, and encouragement.  Thanks Mrs. Russell, TFC Education Coordinator, for helping us 'grow' this idea of building sustainable resources on our school grounds.  We are even thinking of starting a composting system, too. 

You are invited to facilitate the planning and implementing of our next STEAM Team projects by discussing the following and posting comments here:

1.  In what ways can our garden grow?  Could we, should we consider growing crops that can be eaten in the cafeteria?  Why or why not?

2.  In what ways can we positively impact how our school conserves resources?  How about in our community?

3.  What ideas, inventions, or innovations might we consider for our new school that would positively impact our environment?

November 12th fifth grade meets with Mrs. Russell from TFC to discuss recycling and debrief project ideas.  Stay tuned here for more information.  I look forward to your comments and suggestions to the above questions!

Cycles: Why Are They So Important?

Thursday, October 1, 2015, the Gabbianos were charged with exploring the concept of "cycles". Why do scientists use a cyclical approach when conducting experiments?  Why do engineers use a cyclical approach?  First we brainstormed where in our daily lives we find cycles.  We then categorized the different types of cycles.  We attempted to identify non-cycles, too.  Lastly, we reflected on what all the cycles have in common and wrote some generalizations:
1.  Cycles are all around us,
2.  Cycles are inter-related,
3.  Cycles cause change, change can be positive or negative, fast or slow, man-made or happen naturally, and
4.  Cycles repeat over time.

This lively discussion led us to the creation of pendulums and conducting of scientific experimentation with different variables,  Students identified ways to change to the period per second of a given pendulum swing.  Students were encourage to use a cyclical approach during the execution of their experiment.

As students collected data, Miss W. (our ODU practicum student) and I encouraged them to consider this cyclical approach.  Was it helpful to follow a cycle of observe, take data, change variable, observe, take data, and repeat?  What happened if the cycle was disrupted?  What were the results?

The study of how and why practitioners use a cyclical approach is essential to building student understanding of and respect for the scientific method.  Teachers are guilty of telling students it is important to follow a cyclical protocol, but when do the students learn for themselves how important these protocols are?  Well, I am hoping their understanding has deepened as a result of our first official STEAM day!

We will continue to explore and use cyclical protocols during the field trip to the Virginia Air and Space Center this week.  You can further this effort by discussing cycles at home!

TEAM: Together wE Achieve More

This week in honor of Constitution Day, we engaged in higher level thinking strategies like brainstorming and systems thinking to draft our classroom constitution.  Students are pretty sure they want to have fun this year.  That was evident from all the data gathered.  However, they also expressed a passion for achievement in terms of things like:  getting 600s on their SOL tests, and getting all APs.  Students also expressed a wish for having choice over the types of projects they are asked to complete this year.  These are pretty common wishes from fifth graders.

There was one area that did surprise me.  There were several references to cheating and fairness.   These types of references are new to me.  I have been inviting students to craft their learning environment with me for over 10 years now.  Cheating is not a topic I have heard of before.  I have heard some reference to the principle of fairness being applied to all.  Our country is dealing with the issue of fairness every day, wouldn't you agree?

The Gabbiano's were able to craft their common goals this week and start a rough draft of their agreements.  I am planning on engaging them in several types of dialogue structures this coming week to really tease out details related to fairness and habits of mind.  You are invited to join us in the dialogue from home by conversing about the following questions.  I also provided links to interesting student and family resources below for your use as needed.  Stay tuned to our blog for more information about our classroom constitution.

Questions for consideration:
1.  What does fairness mean?  What does it look like and sound like?  Is fairness the same for everyone?  Why or why not?
2.  What does "do your best" mean in your family?  What does it look and sound like?
3.  What habits of mind do you use daily?  Which ones do you still wonder about?  Here is a list of the most common habits (nscd.org, 2015):

Links for further information:

Developing Habits of Mind (Costa, Kallick)

7 Habits for Happy Kids (Covey)

STEM Design Challenge=Unique Solutions!

Students were given the challenge to create an animal with at least one moving part from the materials given.  That moving part could only be move-able by air!  Many unique creations resulted from this challenge!  What would you have created if asked to complete this challenge?  Go to Curiosity Machines for some challenges you can do at home.