Worm Mazes

Today we made our poor little Super Worms perform some amazing tasks. The students built mazes and then timed the Super Worm and a Meal Worm to see which was fastest. The students enticed the worms with light and food to see if that made a difference.

Fur Trade History Lesson

Today we discussed a very important era in Minnesota history. About 250 years ago the French arrived in Minnesota looking for beaver pelts. The Native people began trading with these Frenchmen and the Fur Trade was born! I have collected a few artifacts from the fur trade and had fun dressing up a student as a young metis woman from this time period.

We are almost done studying the European explorers who came to the United States. We will soon be learning about the 13 British colonies which leads up to our final unit, the Revolutionary War.

A Little Mealworm Snack

Yes, we are eating mealworms. Now before you freak out and call the principal, these mealworms were designed for eating. They are actually called Larvettes and are flavored, freeze dried mealworms. I think this year we had taco flavor, but in the past we have eaten nacho cheese and barbecue. You can get them here.

During our study of invertebrates, we have talked about how many different invertebrates are used for food around the world. Insects are actually a very good source of protein in many countries. Just not ours.

Super Worms!

Our latest science investigations involves Super Worms. No, these aren't cape-wearing super-hero type worms, but the larva stage of an insect (this insect will remain secret as I want the kids to discover what it is on their own).

These larva are closely related to mealworms, which I usually use for this investigation. However they are much larger, thus the "super" in their names. Each student has received a larva to take care of and observe as it goes through metamorphosis. Of course the students take this very seriously and the critters have received names (Mr. Wiggles, Daisy, Bob) and special decorated film canister homes.

Fruits and Veggies!

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to our room for snack break. This is the result of a fabulous grant our school received this year. The kids have had the opportunity to try mango and strawberries as well as jicama, kohlrabi, kumquats and grapples. I have been very impressed with the quality and variety of fruits/veggies the kids are experiencing.

Happy Valentines Day

It is Valentines Day in 5th Grade land. We had a fabulous party this afternoon, planned by our class officers and 3 additional committee members. Along with all those wonderful heart shaped cards and candy stuffed into boxes, we had a carnival complete with a ring toss game, pin-the- heart-on-cupid, and bingo.

Stinky, Crawly Science

We are studying invertebrates in 5th grade right now. Each day we talk about a different phylum of invertebrates starting with the simplest of organisms, the sponges.

The last few days we have been learning about the annelids or segmented worms. We spent a day getting up close and personal with leeches and worms. The students designed experiments to test worm and leech behavior. We had worms tied in knots and leeches swimming through mazes.

The next phylum we studied was Mollusca. We talked about snails, slugs, clams, octopi and squid. Today we spent some time dissecting squid. You can buy full squid - guts and all - at the grocery store. The students had a good time checking out their squid's mantle, tentacles and eyes. Then we ripped their poor little heads off to get a close look at the internal organs. The kids even got to write their names with the squid's "pen" using the squid's very own ink sac.

Tomorrow I will make calamari for the class. Yum!