Merry Christmas!

We ended 2014 with a fun holiday party planned by our committee. There was lots of food, a gift exchange game and a heated game of dodge ball against Mr. Tulla's class. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wiggly Worms and Loopy Leeches

We are well into our animal study in science. We are talking about each group of invertebrates and learning about their special adaptations that help them survive. Today we looked at some annelids, or segmented worms. The kids made some careful structural and behavioral observations of earthworms and leeches, including looking at them very carefully under dissecting microscopes.

Fractions and Decimals on a Number Line

We have been studying fractions and decimals in math. The kids are finally understanding how fractions and decimals are related. Today we practiced placing fractions on a giant number line on the floor.

Coins for Vets

The fifth graders worked hard and raised over $350 for our area veterans. Each student adopted a classroom and decorated a milk jug to collect the money. They made announcements and created a flyer to send home.  Every day they collected and counted the money from their room. We kept track of donations on a big poster. We were very impressed that our calculations were less than $10 off from what the bank told us!  This money will be used to help out three area veterans in the Hill City/Jacobson area.

Veterans Day Program

The Hill City High School band starts the program with some patriotic music.

Major David Nyback, US Army Reserve gave the Veterans Day Address.

The high school choir sang "America he Beautiful."

Tess read an essay she wrote about Veterans.

The fifth graders announced the kickoff to our fundraiser, "Coins for Vets."

Noah plays "Taps" to end the program.

Environmental Science

We had a special guest speaker in science today. Brittany Benson is a senior at Hill City School and is also studying at ICC. She taught us a lesson on taking care of our environment. We learned about how to conserve water, composting, and recycling. We really enjoyed having her talk to us today!

Happy Halloween!

Once again, I wasn't feeling well on Halloween so I had to get a sub. I was so thankful that Mrs. Crabeesub could come in for me. She wasn't very happy with all the junk food and partying going on. She thought the kids should be doing more reading, writing and math. She even handed out worksheets during the Halloween parade. The kids had fun at their party, even though they had to deal with a crabby teacher.

Peer Leaders

Three peer leaders will soon be coming in to teach the fifth graders the Second Steps program. This anti-bullying curriculum will help the kids learn about ways to get along with others and stop bullying in our school. The peer leaders are high school students who have been trained to work with the kids. I am so excited that Tess, Hailee and Madi will be coming in to interact with my students. They will be working with the kids every Wednesday afternoon from 2:40-3:00, while the teachers have our Professional Learning Community time.

Math Workshop

I have started a new math program this year we are calling Math Workshop. The students are divided into four groups for each lesson, based on their performance on an "Entrance Slip." We then rotate through four stations during our math workshop time. One group works on our Math calendar, one group works on the daily Assignment, one group has Teacher Time with me, and the last group does a Hands-on activity such as a computer program or a game.  This allows me to work more closely with small groups of learners.

Phenology

John Latimer has been working with my class for the last 14 years. He has a radio show on KAXE radio 91.7 fm in Grand Rapids. Every Tuesday morning he talks about phenology - which is the study of how nature changes throughout the year. He took my class on a walk today. We observed how the trees are dropping their leaves and looked at many other plants and animals in the woods near the school. John will be returning in the winter and again in the spring.

Adopt A Tree

The students started an Adopt-A-Tree project this fall. They each selected a deciduous tree to study. They spent a lot of time observing and recording information about their trees. My goal is to have the students become more observant. When they are out in the woods near their homes, I hope they will be able to identify some of the trees that are in their own backyards.

Minnesota Trees

Our first science unit is on trees. The kids are soon going to be heading out to the school forest to adopt a tree. They will study that tree in detail and get to know everything about it. But before we can identify trees in the forest, the kids need to learn how to identify them. Today we took a close look at 6 different tree branches. They looked for differences in leaves and bark and we learned about alternate and opposite branching.

Observational Drawing

For the past few days we have been working on an important scientific skill, observational drawing. In science this year we will be doing a lot of scientific inquiry investigations. The students will be expected to be able to make observations and record data. A big part of these observations is recording what they see. This week we practiced drawing and coloring many items from nature. As a final assessment, the kids went outside today and drew a plant they found on the edge of the woods.

Writer's Notebooks

Today we finished decorating our Writer's Notebooks. I brought in my Cricut cutter and the kids had fun cutting out their names. They also found photos in magazines on the computers of things that represented their lives. A whole bunch of cutting and gluing followed before we coated the covers with a couple of layers of Mod Podge. Does Mod Podge remind anyone else of their childhood? One whiff of that stuff brings me right back to second grade.

These notebooks will be filled with all kinds of wonderful writing. Hopefully they will end up as a keepsake and will be found in a box of stuff 20 years from now, waiting to be rediscovered. 

Second Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school and I forgot to take pictures. The first day is always jam-packed full of information and activities, but I usually remember to take at least one photo. Not this year. Well, I did take some today, thank goodness...

We jumped right into science and yesterday we learned about goldenrod galls. Today we went out to the school forest to find some galls of our own. Tomorrow we are going to cut them open to see if we can find the tiny Goldenrod Gall Fly maggot inside. It's going to be awesome!

Finding goldenrod galls

Being a little goofy

Looking for galls.

We found a dead mole. It was pretty cool!

Mrs. Magner's 5th Graders