The Revolutionary War

So, our next unit in Virginia Studies is the Revolutionary War. This was a concept that was taught in 4th grade but I like to review this major unit before I move on to the new 5th grade material. My goal is to get through the Revolutionary War before we leave for Christmas Break. 

Our first thing that we will talk about is reasons that the Colonist wanted to split from Great Britain. They wanted to govern themselves because they felt that the King should not have any authority over them. They also wanted to form their own county because they were still having to pay taxes to Britain even though they were not represented, thus the say, "No taxation without representation" 

After discussing reasons for war, we talk about the roles of certain groups like free African Americans, enslaved African Americans, whites, and American Indians. We also discus some famous Virginians such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Jack Joutte, and Patrick Henry. 

The last thing we discuss is famous battles that happened in Virginia. These battles include the Battle of Great Bridge, and the Battle of Yorktown. 

This Virginia Studies unit should take us up to the Christmas Break. When we come back, NEW MATERIAL! Woohoo!

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had the BEST THANKSGIVING EVER! I know I did. It was a much needed break and time with family. Anyways, now we are all coming back to school and we have the final push before we go out for Christmas Break. Its hard to believe that its only 3 weeks away. 

So, I wanted to take this time to lay out the "game plan" for these last few weeks of the 1st semester. 

Coming back on Monday, we will finish up the Rock Cycle and take a quiz on Tuesday, so, be ready for that and make sure your child is studying! After that we will talk briefly about fossils and where they are found. Once we finish that, we will begin preparing for our SOL 5.7 unit test. This test will be pretty big as we have covered a lot of material to this SOL. Don't worry, you can find the study guide here to get a jump start on studying! 

Our next science unit will be on Oceans. We will talk about the profile of the ocean floor, properties and characteristics of the ocean and oceanic food chains. There are a lot of cool labs and projects we do with the ocean! Yeah, labs! :) We should get though the fist part of this SOL before we go out for Christmas break! Here is one of the Brain Pop videos I use in class to teach the ocean floor. Feel free to view it with your child and discuss. It never hurts for them to be ahead!

As for Virginia Studies, we will start setting the stage for the Revolutionary War. This is somethings students learned in 4th grade so we will briefly review this before we leave because once we come back, we jump right into the Civil War!

WOW, we are moving on! Hard to believe we are almost at the half way point. As always, if you have any concerns or questions, feel free to email me or fill out the google doc that was posted in my first blog! 

Trying Something New

Ok, so today in class I decided to try something new. I used QR codes with my students. And guess what?? THEY LOVED IT! I was able to go about and find websites that I wanted my students to view and put them in QR codes. The concept is so simple and my students ate it up. All you have to do is find the website you want and copy the link. Next, you go to this website, and paste the link. Then you just copy the code it gives you into a word or any other document.

The lesson I did today was on the Rock Cycle. I found multiple videos and interactive websites I wanted my students to see. Instead of me going through each of the websites, I gave my students control to work through it at their own pace. It was so much easier to use the codes than to have them type in the web addresses. (talk about a headache) They loved using the technology and I will absolutely be using the QR codes again.

If you would like to see, or use my Rock Cycle Webquest with the QR codes, click here.

VS7- The Civil War

I feel like I have been focusing on Science so much that I thought I would do a post on Virginia Studies. Our next big unit that we will be focusing on is the Civil War. This will take place when we return from Christmas break! (Yes, I said Christmas break.....which is 3 WEEKS AWAY) My students typically LOVE discussing and learning about this topic. They especially like when when start discussing the battles that took place in Virginia.

The first thing we talk about is the reasons that lead up to the Civil War. We go over the economy of the North and the South, the country's view on slavery and opposing views on the new territories of the United States. Next, we talk about abolitionist, people who opposed slavery, and some famous Americans who led rebellions against slave owners and plantation owners. The final thing we discuss is major battles and events that took place in Virgina. The students love learning about things and battles that happened in their back yards. (Literally)

One way you can get you child ready for our discussion on the Civil War and to activate questions or prior knowledge is by viewing the following video. You can find it here.

The Rock Cycle

Soooo, after listening to some of my students, and going through some of their work, I decided to dedicate one post to just the rock cycle. This is sometimes a hard topic for students to understand and it can be confusing. So, here we go! 

Once a rock becomes a rock, it doesn't always stay that type of rock. There are three types of rocks and rock can change between the three. The three types of rocks are sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. A sedimentary rock is formed when sediments are compacted and cemented together over time. A metamorphic rock is formed by heat and pressure deep within the earth. An igneous rock is formed when magma or lava cools down. 

A metamorphic rock can be broken down in sediments and become a sedimentary rock or become melted and eventually become an igneous rock. A sedimentary rock can melt to lava and become an igneous rock or get pushed deep into the earth were heat and pressure change it to a metamorphic rock. And, an igneous rock can be broken down and become a sedimentary rock to pushed into the earth to become metamorphic. So, the rock cycle, like any cycle never ends and the rocks are constantly changing! 

To view and interact with the rock cycle, use my smart-board lesson found here. Or, you can view this Rock Cycle from the Khan Academy found here. 

Mobile STEM Lab

Today, the Mobile STEM lab came to our school. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. This a great way to show students how these skills are used in everyday life and jobs. Students get to experience hands on learning through the mobile STEM lab.

The Mobile STEM lab is through the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The coordinator, Bruce Waller, comes to your school and allows students to enter his laboratory. The cool thing about the lab is that he is able to travel from place to place so that ALL students are able to experience STEM activities.

Please watch our PhotoPeach to see some of the cool things we got to do in the Mobile STEM lab today! Enjoy!

Mobile STEM Lab on PhotoPeach

The Rock Cycle Crayon Lab

Remember how I told you earlier that 5th grade LOVES lab?? Well, today students worked on simulating the rock cycle using crayons! How fun, and colorful! Follow along to see what all we did!

First, we gathered all of our materials: crayons, a penny, tin foil, ice, our lab sheet, and a hair dryer (with the teachers assistance, of course).

Next, we shaved part of our crayon using the penny and collected the pieces on the tin foil. (sediments)

Then, we stomped on our packets for 60 seconds to squish our sediments together. Behold, a sedimentary rock!

After that, we placed out foil packet under the hair dryer for 60 seconds to let the shavings melt. (magma-HOT) We then placed it in the ice to cool back down and we have an igneous rock!

Who knew that the rock cycle could be so much fun? If you or your child would like additional information about the rock cycle, scan the following for a fun video.