Monday, May 21, 2012

May is field trip month!

We made our annual trip to Pilot Knob State Park last week, it was a beautiful day!
Riley holding his arm load of eggs for the relay.

Logan's turn.
Then it was time for operation egg drop.  Students constructed a container that an egg could survive in after being drop from the tower.  Read about Pilot Knob and its tower here http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/browse/pilotknb/pilotknb.htm

Students anxiously wait for their egg project to fall.

Mrs. Happel at lift off


Yes, there were survivors!


View from the tower, beautiful Iowa country side.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

We Met an Author !
Laurel Snyder



On Friday my class skyped with the author of Any Which Wall.  This book is particularly interesting because it starts out on a hot summer day in a corn field in Iowa.   A group of children find a mysterious wall and soon the adventures begin.  With this in mind we decided to ask the author for a skype interview.

Laurel started by introducing us to her pets and her dog even did a trick.
She then told the students that she started writing when she was in 3rd grade and about her childhood friend Susan, who is a character in Any Which Wall.
She told them that she had to send her first book to 49 editors before it was accepted, and that when they write they have to write and rewrite.  She also showed them her special writing area.  She informed them that she does a lot of research while writing her books, because the historical facts have to be correct.
Skyping with author Laural Snyder 



Everyone enjoyed this author skype, "That was so fun," was the comment when we reluctantly had to say good-bye.  Some of the students shared illustrations for Any Which Wall that they had made.
Thank you Laurel for inspiring us to read, write, and draw.


http://laurelsnyder.com/
http://laurelsnyder.com/?p=800   She also told us about the Penny Dreadful bookclub





Thursday, May 3, 2012

Dissecting Tulips

Today we had fun dissecting and investigating the parts of a tulip.  What a great hands on experience.  It was so fun to walk around the room and listen to the chatter as they found each part and examined it.
Scientists always take notes, we use our notebooks often.



Vocabulary:
  • pollen
  • anther
  • ovary
  • petals
  • pistil
  • sepals
  • stamen
  • seeds 


The Dr. is in!
Wow this is neat!  Engaged students.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Africa
We have been studying Africa this past month.  Students have learned that:

It is the 2nd largest continent.
The Nile river is located there.
Animals include zebras, camels, and elephants to name a few.  
The Sahara Desert located there.
Lake Victoria
Ancient Egypt

Students were asked to give either a Google presentation and make a glog.
Here are two glog examples 
 

http://fcloges.edu.glogster.com/egypt-africa/
http://fclehmann.edu.glogster.com/egypt/


Madagascar, by DreamWorks Animation, have you seen this movie?

Logan giving his presentation


Our study of Africa made us think of the movie The Lion King by Disney