Wild About Weather: Scientific Saturdays

 We have been studying Weather for many, many weeks.  This is the first time I have taught this unit and had fun planning something different.  We just wrapped it up on Friday and I can't wait to move on.

The major areas that we covered:

• water cycle
• layers of the atmosphere
• weather factors: precipitation, temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction
• weather tools and predicting
• clouds
• winds
• global patterns, winds, jet streams and currents

During the unit we used various resources, trade books, non-fiction articles for information.  My favorite text is Sciencesaurus!  I had the children watch Scholastic Study Jams and visited weatherwizkids.com.

 

Cloud Posters

 

Working on Weather Reports

Our school just received one-to-one chromebooks two weeks ago and the opportunities in the classroom have already been endless.  We downloaded screencastify and my students have been recording their weather reports and sharing them with me.  This is a great way to get the students to share reports with me and practice their reading fluency.  Some of students got very creative and worked on their recordings at home.

Here is a sample.  

The student did not want to be in it but was very creative with her own sound effects!

Mathematical Mondays: Multiplying with Decimals

My fifth graders have been working on multi-digit multiplication with decimals for many weeks.  Some of my students are continuing to struggle with this concept for various reasons.  Some students do not know their facts, others are having troubles with the multi-digit multiplication process, some make addition mistakes and others are just careless.  I am planning to spend one more week going over this and decided to make some centers.

I was searching on Pinterest and came across this anchor chart which led me to Teaching with a Mountain View.  (I am making this chart to go over with my two classes)

When I got to her blog I remembered that I had bought this bundle at the very beginning of the school year.  Not only is it perfect for this week, but I already bought it!!!!  Lucklily I have new ink and pack of laminating pouches.

Link

I will be pulling small groups this week while they work on centers and task cards.  I will see three groups each period. 

Here is a video that I watched to help explain a strategy to share with my students.  

https://learnzillion.com/lessons/2584-multiply-multi-digit-decimals-using-the-standard-algorithm

I found a great website that allows you to create free worksheets, WorksheetWorks.com.  I like the graph paper on the bottom.  It has many editing options.

Link

Japan School Trip

I have been missing in action from the blogging world.  I was asked to go as a chaperon on a 12 day trip to Japan with 9 middle school girls.  One of the trip chaperons had to cancel and it left me one month to prepare.  It was the best experience of my life!!!  I got to experience a new culture.  We visited Akiruno City's 6 middle schools, one of the primary schools and a special needs program.  

Here are students serving up lunch in the classroom.  Everyone gets the hot lunch…including teachers. Not a single straw wrapper on the floor at the end…very impressive!!!

 My very large feet do not fit into the slippers at school!  I scuffed around all day like this.  The students keep a clean pair of shoes to chnge into when they enter the building.

The students lived with host families during our stay in Akiruno City(part of Toyko).  The students get to experience school and home life.  After our return, a group of Japanese students and chaperons came to stay in our city in Massachusetts.  

Meeting the superintendent.  Love his table cloth!!!

My daughter was part of this program 8 years ago.  We hosted a student named Misa who has become part of my family.  She has come to our home three times.  One of my favorite moments of the trip was meeting her family!

Here are some photos from our school visits:

A few favorite photos from my trip: