Welcome to 5th Grade Science!
Testing: Students may use any notes they take during class to help them on their test.
Homework: There will not be a lot of science homework assigned this year, unless students do not finish an assignment that was given during class time. Homework is expected to be turned in the following day, unless it is a project assigned for a later date.
Testing: Students may use any notes they take during class to help them on their test.
Homework: There will not be a lot of science homework assigned this year, unless students do not finish an assignment that was given during class time. Homework is expected to be turned in the following day, unless it is a project assigned for a later date.
Unit 1: The Nature of Science
Once all the beginning of the year testing was done and out of the way, students completed a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activity where they needed to work in groups to create a bird beak using limited materials that would be able to pick up the most Rice Krispies. Students were walked through the process of the scientific method on their lab sheets, which they used to collect their data and discuss each groups' designs.
The next step was to explicitly identify the steps to the scientific method and complete a lab that required students to walk through each step of the process. The Penny Lab required students to answer the question: How many drops of water can you fit on a penny? This was completed by researching cohesion (a good question to bring up at the dinner table!), creating a hypothesis, designing and completing the experiment, collecting the data, then analyzing it before making their conclusions. This lab took a few days, but students did a great job thoroughly completing their lab sheets and working their way through the scientific method. The next lab will pose the question: Can we poke a hole through a plastic bag without it leaking?
Meet Columbia!
At the beginning of September, Alex brought in Columbia, a Monarch butterfly caterpillar. When Columbia came to Taylor Middle School, he was hanging in a "J" shape from the mesh on the jar, which meant he was going to be morphing into a chrysalis shortly. It didn't take more than a day before a bright sea-green chrysalis with gold flecks across the top was hanging in place of our caterpillar. Over several weeks, the chrysalis turned darker and darker, until the morning of the 23rd, when it was pitch black. Somewhere between periods 2 and 3, Columbia emerged, a healthy, beautiful Monarch! He spent the day drying out and testing his wings, and at 2:40pm, the fifth grade went out and Alex got a chance to release Columbia on the playground. He took a few minutes to soak up the sun before finally flittering up and landing on a tree. We send our good thoughts his way and hope he makes it to Mexico for the winter!
Note: The difference between a male and female monarch is determined by the spots on the hind wings of the butterfly. If two black spots are present, it's a male. If there are no spots, it's a female.