Week of November 12, 2010

Health

         This week during health, we did some cool but gross things. One of the things that we did was look at the sugars and the fat in different sodas and foods. We divided the sugar by 4 to turn grams into teaspoons. We divided the fat by 5 to turn grams to teaspoons. We did that for the following drinks, Coke, Mountain Dew, orange soda, Gatorade, ginger ale and A and W Root Beer. The one with the most sugar was root beer with almost 19 teaspoons! The one with the least sugar was Gatorade and ginger ale with 8 1/2 teaspoons each. After we did that, we looked at fat. It was really cool and gross. She took Crisco cooking fat and showed us how much fat is in Burger King food. It was a lot! Then she told us that there is 1 teaspoon in each bag of chips and if you ate 5 bags of chips a week, that would be a lot of fat.  

Bullying 

   We had a bullying meeting. We learned that when we see someone bulled we say: "Stop we don't do that at Potter Road." We learned that it is illegal to bully in Massachusetts. We learned that if it is serious bullying, you  could be arrested. In 2009 Massachusetts enacted one of the strongest anti-bullying laws. If you are a bully, your teacher by  law would have to tell the principal. The principal by law would have to tell the police. There are 3 types of bullying : physical, emotional, and cyber bullying

Social Studies

      This week in Social Studies we learned about Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Samuel de Champlain. For Henry Hudson his crew got so mad at him they threw him over board.This is called mutiny.  France funded Jacques Cartier. And Samuel de Champlain found Quebec. We also looked at letters from the Pilgrims and the Wamponoags.

Week of November 5, 2010

  In reading this week we are doing some thing called epals.The people we are doing it with live in Moscow,  Russia.The cool thing is that they are also in 5th grade, too.Our classroom and their classroom sent over pictures to each other.In their pictures they all wore the same thing.In some of the pictures you can really tell what they were doing. In some of the pictures they were doing plays.Even though it does not seem we have a lot in common, WE DO!!!!! We are doing this as we learn about people from other cultures.

   In art this week we did paintings on canvas or paper.You would do the painting based on your  poem.Most people would do all these different shapes and designs.At the end they were very colorful and great.I think everyone had a great time!        

  In Social Studies we learned that Francisco Pizarro was a conquistador.Pizarro was born in Spain in 1478 and died in 1541. Pizarro was invited to a feast, but then ambushed the Inca.  Pizarro killed thousands of the Inca and strangled their leader, Atahuallpa.  This, along with disease that his men brought, ended the Incan empire.  Pizarro wanted to take riches in Lima, Peru.  Later, he was killed by Pedro de Almagro while trying to take the riches.  Almogre wanted the riches for himself.

Written by Will, Evan and Dimitry

October 22, 2010

                   Science                       

 This week in Science we learned about magnets and magnetic fields. We did something really cool where we levitated disk magnets by just using a pencil! We learned that magnetic fields are the area of force surrounding a magnet and that magnetic poles are the north and south ends of a magnet. We also learned that some magnets are really strong! Magnets are inside compasses, they can be used for many things, and that if you rub a magnet on a piece of metal, then the metal becomes a new magnet. Magnets are in refrigerator doors, and they are also used to close things. We also learned about atoms in Science. Protons and electrons make up an atom and the protons and electrons make up and atom and the protons and electrons jumping back and forth create static electricity. So, if you get shocked by a slide when you come down it and you get shocked, that's really the electron on the atom on the slide jumping onto the atoms on you. We had a fun time this week learning in Science.

Reading

This week in reading we found out we are going to be doing a word parade.A word parade is when we go to a class room and tell them about the new word that we learned.To get prepared for this we have to make a sign with our word, the definition, and a sentence for our word. We also have to dress up as it too. It is going to be a fun word parade!!!!!!!!!!! Also, in Reading we did a computer game about Internet Safety. The computer game is about a kid named Zack. He is doing all this bad stuff on his computer. His dad wants to help him but Zack wont let him.Zack meets another kid on the computer that is older than him. Zack ran away to go live with him. We are helping Zack's dad to get him back by playing a game and finding password.We had a fun time in reading this week!!

 

BY SALLY AND PAIGE

Friday, October 15,2010

Noah Webster

This week we learned a little bit about Noah Webster.Noah Webster wrote the "Webster Dictionary".Noah Webster was born on October 15,1758.By the end of his lifetime Noah knew 20 languages.He wanted to study law but ended up being a teacher because he could not afford to go to law school.Noah Webster was a very smart man because he came up with 12,000 words.That is why room 32 has honered Noah Webster by learning about him.Mr.Weinstein got his first "Webster Dictionary" for Hanukkah in  5th grade.We looked up the word "internet" in the dictionary and it did not exsist yet.That was because the copyright date was from 1976! Every year new words are added to the dictionary.Don't forget to say Happy Birthday to Noah Webster!                                                                                                                                             

Explorers

 In Social Studies we each have an explorer we have to research and resite to the class. We will have to put our information on index cards and dress up like our explorer.We put all our information in a packet with lots of detailed information. We have been looking for information in the computer lab and in our classroom books to help us answer our questions about our explorers. When we resite our information to the class we have to be looking at everyone while we read, dress properly like our explorer and put enough important information on our index cards as we resite. Mr Weinstein will score us on the things above. Hope you like our presentation!!

Monday, September 27

Hi everyone,
If all goes well this week, the next post will actually be written by the students, instead of me!  We harvested our first round of cucumbers and snap peas from our Seedfolk Community Garden this morning!  We've got a full week of great learning activities planned this week.

In Math, we'll be learning some new, exciting ways to complete double digit multiplication problems.  In Reading, the students will be creating online posters, called "Glogs" using Glogster.  The posters will allow the kids to apply what they learned during our unit on Story Elements.  They will all be creating posters on their Jerry Spinelli books!
In Social Studies, we will be starting our Exploration unit and the children which each be assigned an explorer to research and then make a short dramatic presentation on.
In Science, we will be graphing dtat from our pendulum experiments and going outside to perform our own controlled experiment.
In Writing, we will continue to revise our personal narratives.
In Engineering, we will be applying what we learned about properties, design, and materials to help us design design sails for working sailboats.

Lastly, on Friday, we will be taking a field trip to work on 5th Grade Teambuilding skills.

Have a good week,

Mr. Weinstein

Our First Full Week!

We're finally getting into a solid routine now that we have five consecutive days in the classroom this week. 
In Social Studies we used Google Maps and music from around the world to help us find locations in an atlas using latitude and longitude.  We learned how maps have changed over time and now we are also learning all about the Vikings.
In Reading, we are learning about story elements and applying them to books by Jerry Spinelli.  We are also learning about different parts of speech and adding words to our word wall (our most recent words are diligent and propaganda-ask your child what they mean!)
In Science, we are learning how to use the Scientific Method and create a controlled experiment.  We'll be creating our own pendulums to test various hypotheses about what can change the number of swings our pendulums makes in a set time.
In Math, we have been switching classes and learning basic Algebra by using cross number puzzles and input/output tables.
In Writing, we are choosing small moments from our lives and turning them into Personal Narratives.  We will eb learning how to write strong leads and add dialog later this week.
We also will be meeting our kindergarten buddies on Thursday!
We have a FANTASTIC group of kids-I am so excited to get up each morning and learn with them!

A Great First Week!

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had the opportunity to discuss with your children everything we did this week.  If not, make sure you read their Friday Letter Home (and write them back)!  We worked very hard to create a cohesive team with solid expectations.  I am very impressed with this year's class.  They are excellent writers and also seem to really love reading.  They are focused and respectful not only of me, but also of each other!
Even though next week is a very short week, we will be getting into our normal routine.  We will begin our author's study of Jerry Spinelli as we learn about story elements and apply them to our books.  We will begin working with our new math groups, writing personal narratives and working on some very fun and interactive geography review.

Have a great long weekend!

Mr. Weinstein