Escamilla5th
Community. respect.educating. inquiry. Life in Ms. Escamilla's 5th grade
While learning about the respiratory system we had the students bring in 2 liter bottles. We were lucky enough to have extra bottles donated and each student as able to create and take home their very own model.
Students were challenged to read the directions on their own and do the assembly with the help of their peers. It was great watching them work together and help each other out to create these models. As the models were becoming complete it was great watching the excitement on their faces to see that their creations worked and that they were able to make their lung (balloon) inflate and deflate without having to blow air through the straw. Understanding the power of the diaphragm was an important part of this experiment. As the kids finished up their lung models they logged into Google Classroom and labeled a diagram to see if they really understood what the parts on our 2 liter bottle lung represented and answered some questions. It was a great time in science today!
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On March 24, 2015 our class set up our own Williamsburg in our classroom. Williamsburg was established in the 1600s. We went around the made up town doing activities. We pretended to be in the colony Williamsburg the girls went too Dame school and the boys went to the College of William and Mary. By pretending to be in the colony Williamsburg we learned what it would be like if we where those people in the colony. The boys did penmanship at the College of William and Mary with toothpicks for quills and paint for ink while the girls did sewing at the school of Dame with yarn. In the Dame school us girls got to sew on a piece of paper. At the Dame school the girls in the colony not only learned to sew but would be taught manners, cooking, prayers, and knitting. We also got to pretended we were working at a shoemaker store. We traced our partners shoe and designed the bottom. Shoemakers would specialized in making men and women shoes and boots. Shoe making was the most common crafts in Williamsburg. There was the government's palace. We would read three paragraphs of fake laws they typed on a piece of paper. At the governor's palace we would read laws and stamp and sign them for approved and don’t do anything for unapproved. There were two stamps we could use to stamp the paper if we approved of the law. The governor's Palace was designed to impress visitors with the kings power. It took 25 servants and slaves to care for it. Outside the Government's Palace where gardens and orchards. At the church we would pick out a role card and then read it. Next we would write about the person we picked from the the card on a sticky note and put it on the little white board that the directions were on and then go into church and sit in chairs silent for two minutes. We did other things too. The two other stations we went to was the Raleigh Tavern and played a board game and then we went to the station where we sang a song that African american slaves would sing. I think everyone enjoyed this wonderful experience and learned many things from it. Doing this was way more fun than just reading the book and we actually learned something. I think it was cool that we got to get a picture in our minds of what it would look like back then. Written by our blog competition winners, Ariel and Luke
In the new year we began the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. We have been following our new friend August on his journey through his first year of fifth grade. I think we all know what it feels like to be different from time to time, but August teaches us how to be strong and confident regardless of how people around you may be.
We have encountered many personalities in our story so far. In addition to learning about kindness through the book Wonder, we have also learned about kindness through Life Vest Inside. Each student was touched after watching the Kindness Boomerang video online. We then watched Orly Whaba's TED talk and felt inspired to create our own random acts of kindness cards which are included in our display case. Kindness is contagious, how much are you spreading? The character faces among other awesome resources can be found here. |
AuthorMy name is Ms. Escamilla. This is my first year teaching 5th grade and so far it has been amazing. Follow our journey as we continue down the road of independent thinkers and lifelong learners. Archives
August 2015
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