Twins Win!!!

The 5th grade DARE class went to a Twins Game today.  It was a long bus ride to Minneapolis (over 3 hours one way), but we had a lot of fun singing songs and being generally silly.  Our seats were right over center field under the cool Minnesota Twins sign - a perfect place to catch a home run ball - if the Twins would ever hit any.

The game was as exciting as a baseball game can be (not very), but the Twins did win and that hasn't happened very often lately.  I had to post one photo I took of my favorite player, Joe Mauer. 

Math Masters

Today was our Math Masters Regional Tournament.  We competed against 26 other teams from across northeast Minnesota.  My team (minus Delaney, who was sick) placed 10th.  We were competing against teams from Brainerd, Aitkin and Grand Rapids - all large towns with many more kids, so we were happy with our placing!  Taya was 11th place over all and 13th place in the fact drill round.  I am very proud of this team. They worked so hard and were a lot of fun!

Class Play

Today was the 5th grade presentation of "The Chocolate Fairy and the Return of the Vanilla People."  Back in March I started a play writing unit in which each student wrote a play.  The class voted on which play they wanted to act out and Sigrid's play won.  We have been working on it for about a month - or I should say the 5th graders have been working on it.  I let them have complete control.  I was there to offer advice or suggestions if they needed me - sometimes they took my suggestions but usually they didn't. 

The play was complete with costumes, props, professional theater lights and everything.  We performed the play for about 100 people this morning.  I am so proud of these talented 5th graders and what they have accomplished as a team.

Bird Lab

We are continuing our study of the vertebrate animals. Today we learned more about birds. The students moved through 6 stations - each one teaching them something new about birds. They dissected owl pellets, looked at three mounted bird specimens, explored different kinds of bird beaks, looked at feathers under the microscope, compared bird bones to mammal bones, and investigated a bird digestive system. Thanks so much to Jane of Willow Sedge farm for the chicken head and digestive system. My class got to explore the inside of a bird's beak (they really don't have teeth) and see how chicken feed passes through the crop, gizzard and intestines. We found grain and tiny little rocks the chicken eats to help digest the food. Even though many kids didn't like the smell, most everyone had a close look at all the chicken parts!

Garbage Kids

The woods by the school were littered with bottles, cans and other garbage, so the 5th graders decided to help out by picking it all up. We spent this afternoon wondering through the woods trying to find as much garbage as we can. We ended up with over 8 bags full! Now if we could just spread the word to people not to put it there in the first place!

Spring Fever Day

Today was our fourth annual Spring Fever day. We had 8 classes available for the students including bracelet making, pedicures, tie dye, meat cutting, card tricks, the history of sports, making a rain stick, and designing egg race cars. The kids got to choose two classes to attend during the morning where they were able to interact with teachers they don't normally see. I think everyone enjoyed the morning!

A Walk in the Woods

With this crazy spring weather, we were able to get out in the woods a little earlier this year. John Latimer from KAXE radio came to visit us today. He took us out to the forest where we learned about maple and willow flowers. We also saw an emerging marsh marigold and tons of little black spiders crawling in the grass.