End of Year Field Trip

Okay, so this wasn't the most educational field trip we have ever taken.  But it sure was fun!  The 5th and 6th graders spent the morning at Thunder Alley, the new and improved bowling alley in Grand Rapids.  The lanes are lit with black lights so we got some cool glowing effects on white socks. And the science teacher in me could talk about ultraviolet radiation.

The kids then spent money in the arcade.  And the math teacher in me could discuss probability and statistics as they took chances in winning thousands of tickets.  These tickets were turned in for fabulous prizes, including at least 10 whoopee cushions.

The best part of the trip (for me) was going to Veteran's Park for lunch.  After eating, half the kids played kickball and I took the rest down to the Mississippi River for a little nature exploring.  We found a dragonfly nymph and lots of crayfish.

Maybe the kids did learn a few things after all...

Track and Field Day

Track and Field Day is an annual event at Hill City School.  The morning was cloudy, cold and rainy, but the kids still ran, jumped and had a great time.  The highlights this year included the 5th grade girls relay team defeating the 6th grade girls and, of course, the tug-of-war competition.  We had lots of help from some older high school boys, so there were some upsets here, too.

DARE Celebration

Today was our DARE celebration.  We spent some time playing kickball with the Fatal Vision goggles  while Jeff showed small groups of students all the cool gear he uses in his squad car.  We also had a short graduation ceremony and 4 students were selected to read their essays.  We ended our celebration with pizza and pop.  A big thank you goes out to Officer Jeff Madsen who does an amazing job with this program!

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!