Spring News

Project Lead the Way

     The fifth graders have been working to construct something to safely transport an egg down the length of a zip line.  Mrs. Huber, the PLTW teacher, has had students complete the design process and work on thinking critically.  Today the students got to test their creations with real eggs.  

Redworms

     Our composting worms arrived this week.  We are studying systems and learning about the importance of producers, consumers, and decomposers.  This week the students created a habitat for the redworms.  We will monitor the worms for the next month or two to see what they do with the organic waste we have provided.

Project Jack

Students displaying our purchases

     We were the lucky recipients of a Project Jack grant in the amount of $250.  This pay-it-forward grant is sponsored by the REALTOR Foundation of Iowa.  The students were randomly grouped and asked to select books, craft supplies, games, DVDs, and more for the families and patients of the Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City.  These items will all be donated to the hospital this weekend.

The group was in charge of books.

This group was in charge of selecting toys.

This group selected craft supplies.

This group selected books for older patients.

This group was in charge of DVDs.

Another group selected some games.

Valentine's Day

     Today was our Valentine's Day party.  The students enjoyed opening their valentines and having snacks.  Thank you to Cobi, Jr., Kylee, Jason, Kyla, Lydia, and Hunter for providing our food, drinks, and paper products.

Our party committee

Winter Survival

      Winter Survival

     On Friday, January 26th, the fifth graders  tested their winter survival skills.  Pam Holz, the Washington county conservationist, led the field trip.  The students were divided into small teams and tasked with creating a shelter, starting and maintaining a  fire, and boiling water.  The students were graded based on their positive mental attitudes and the effectiveness of their fire and shelter.  Pam then informed the students about whether they survived or not.  This year we were quite successful.  Almost all groups successfully started fires and created sufficient shelters.  Pam fictionally "diagnosed" a few students with smoke inhalation due to their proximity to the fire and told a few others they had gotten frost bite.  Thank you to Nick Duvall, Adam Heitman, Jenny Gillam, Renee Sellers, Stephen Bender, Jenni Hershberger, Andrew Wiles, and Brandon Statler for helping supervise the students during this field trip.

December Fun

Pajama Day

Blizzard Day (Dress in White)

Acting cold, hence Blizzard Day

Fuzzy Sock Day

Holiday Colors Day

Holiday Sweater Day

     In addition to wearing our holiday sweaters, all students performed a reader's theater.  

Winter Party and Sing-Along

The students planned their own games including Sorry, Twister, and wreath toss with deer antlers.

STEM Challenge

     On Wednesday, December 20th, the students were challenged to create an antler that could support and transport ornaments.  The students were given limited supplies that included popsicle sticks, tape, pipe cleaners, yarn, and tin foil.  

     The next day the students took part in The Great Reindeer Relays.  The students were tasked with using the antlers they created to transport the ornaments from one location to another in the classroom, where another student would then load up on ornaments and transfer them to another student.