Weathering and Erosion

We will continue reviewing key science concepts today, focusing on slow land changes.

1. Watch the Brainpop,jr. movie clip by clicking on the picture below.

weathering

2. Download the science prompt, The Surface of Earth is Always Changing, and answer and print your response. Put your name and date  in the header area of the page.

3. Play Shape-It-Up, a game on erosion.

4. If time allows watch the Mountains Brainpop movie clip.

Butterfly Life Cycle

Your caterpillars have arrived! To enhance your study of the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly, we will use Kid Pix to draw the four stages of the butterfly’s life cycle.

Learn more about butterflies by visiting the websites below.

Zoom Butterflies

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

KidZone Monarch Butterflies

Butterfly Discovery Game

Butterfly Life Cycle Game

Butterfly Origami

Animal Slide Show

Today we will make your Massachusetts animal research come alive by creating a PowerPoint slide that includes a picture of your animal, the sound that your animal makes, and YOU narrating five facts about your animal. Mrs. Stewart and I will combine all the slides into one presentation to share with classmates and parents.

MCAS Science Practice

This week you will take the fifth grade science test that the state of Texas gives their students at the end of the year. The test will give you practice for your exam and will also let your teacher know about the areas in science she may need to review with you. The test is online and you can score it instantly. Click on the link below and enter your first name only.

Grade 5 Science Test

Simple Machines Minibook

Today you will create a simple machines minibook that you will use as a study guide. Create one page for each of six simple machines. Each page of the book should include a title (name of machine), a definition, and a picture of an example of the machine.

Lever

Use these websites to help you:

The Elements of Machines

inQuiry Almanack – Simple Machines

Simple Machines Examples

Animal Research

Today you will visit the Enchanted Learning website to begin the research for your animal report. At the website you will click on the letter that is the beginning letter of your animal. Write your notes on the research guide that your teacher has given you. Click below to get started.

Try this website at home to create your own original animal at Build Yourself Wild!

Solar System and Planet Glogs

Today you will begin to collect pictures for your Planet and Solar System Glogs. Next week, after you have researched the topics, we will assemble the Glog in the lab, using GlogsterEDU.
Gather pictures from the following NASA websites:
NASA Images
NASA Images Exchange
Great Images In NASA (GRIN)
NASA Multimedia

Use WatchKnow to find a video to include in your glog.

Water Cycle Slideshow

Today you will begin working on a KidPix slideshow of the water cycle. You will create a title page, and four more pages for each of the parts of the water cycle. After you are finished with the drawings, you will narrate each slide by using the Record a Sound function. Finally, you will put it all together in the Slideshow portion of KidPix adding transitions between the slides.

Weather Paragraph

Today you will independently use Microsoft Word to key in your paragraph about weather, which you will use to help teach your Learning Buddies all about weather. Remember to place a school heading in the header area of the page. Center a title and indent your paragraph. When you finish typing run the grammar and spellcheck, change your font, and add a picture. Use your best keyboarding techniques.

What’s For Dinner?

Today we will gather at the whiteboard to review the food chain components and play the Food Chain Game.

At your workstation you will conduct research on the food chain of one of five animals. You will use Enchanted Learning’s website below to gather the information in the Food Chain Research document.

Next week you will take your research and organize it in Kidspiration.

Owl

Done early today? Try the following websites:

Food Chains

Quia – Grade 3 What Living Things Need & the Food Chain

Exploring Energy

Today you will watch the United Streaming video, Exploring Energy. The video will ask you several questions along the way. Pause the video and answer the questions on the worksheet that Mrs. Leary will provide. When you are finished with the video, click on the pictures below to take you to a Millionaire type game on energy, and a place to try your own hand at building a roller coaster.


energygameroller

Cloud Voicethread Poems

Cumulus, Stratus, Nimbus, oh my! Grab the digital cameras- we’re heading outside to lie down in the playground field to take pictures of clouds! We’ll write a poem about them and put them in Powerpoint, adding our picture of the clouds as the background. Next, we will create an avatar for our identity on Voicethread using My Avatar Editor. Finally we will create a class Voicethread of our poems.

Weather Reporting and Predicting

You will use the activities in the website below to help you better understand reporting and predicting weather. In the first activity, you will use common weather symbols to create a weather map to report the weather. In the next activity, you will use temperature, precipitation, and cloud coverage to predict the weather in various regions.

Bugscope

Our day has finally arrived for the Bugscope project! We will connect to the scanning electron microscope at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign to examine the honey bee and the butterfly, two important pollinators. During our Bugscope session, we will control the microscope as we examine the insects at incredible magnifications. Have your questions ready because we will chat with the scientists during our session.

bugscope

Plant Parts Scavenger Hunt

Let’s take advantage of the last few days of warm weather and go outside with the digital cameras in search of plant parts. Your group will be looking for and photographing roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds. Brainstorm with your group the function of each of the parts. In the lab we will use iPhoto to create a book with the pictures.

Animal Adaptation Research

Today you will use the websites below to gather information about your chosen animal for your PowerPoint presentation. Use the Research Guide to help you organize the information. You will need to collect three pictures for your slide show, too. Two pictures should be of your animal and one picture of its habitat.

National Geographic- Animals

Massachusetts Audubon

Kids Biology

eNature

PBS Critter Guide

San Diego Zoo- Animal Bytes

Enchanted Learning-Animals

BBC Nature

Eco Field Guide

Raccoons, Foxes, Sharks, and Bears

Physical and Behavioral Adaptations

What is adaptation? How do animals adapt to their environment? Today you will watch a United Streaming video on adaptation as an introduction to your ecosystems unit. Answer the movie guide questions as you watch the movie.

Visit these websites for more information and games on adaptation:

Interdependence and Adaptation

Animal Adaptation

How Animals Meet Their Needs

A Walk in the Woods

Butterfly Life Cycle

Your caterpillars will be arriving soon! To enhance your study of the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly, we will use Kid Pix to draw the four stages of the butterfly’s life cycle.

Learn more about butterflies by visiting the websites below.

Zoom Butterflies

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

KidZone Monarch Butterflies

Butterfly Discovery Game

Butterfly Life Cycle Game

Butterfly Origami

Let’s Learn About Frogs

Very soon you will be getting some tadpoles to observe in your classroom. Today we will watch two Brainpop movies about metamorphosis and amphibians. Fill out the activity sheet while you watch the movie called Amphibians. If you are done early, click on FYI then Trivia, Mother Nature, or Timeline to learn more about amphibians. We will come to the rug after viewing the movies and use the activotes to take a quiz on frogs. Click on the pictures below to view the movie clips.

To learn more about frogs visit:

Enchanted Learning: Frogs

Exploratorium: Frogs

Museum of Natural History: Frogs

Play frog games:

Frog Switch

Frog Jumpin’

MCAS Science Practice

This week you will take the fifth grade science test that the state of Texas gives their students at the end of the year. The test will give you practice for your exam and will also let Mrs. Ross know about the areas in science she may need to review with you. The test is online and you can score it instantly. Click on the link below and enter your first name only.

Grade 5 Science Test

Planet Postcard

This week you will begin to create a giant postcard based upon the planet that you have been researching. We will use two slides in Powerpoint for your postcard. You will find two pictures for Slide 1, the outside of the card. For Slide 2, the reverse side of the card, you will insert an image for a postage stamp from the planet and write a friendly letter incorporating some of the facts that you researched. We will print the slides and gluestick them to card stock creating an 8.5″x11″ postcard.

Solar System Research

Today you will use the websites Astronomy for Kids, Zoom Astronomy, and Star Child to begin collecting information about Earth. Next week you will continue your research on your planet. You may also watch the Brainpop movie clip for your planet. Click on the pictures below to go to the websites.

Weather Predicting and Reporting

You will use the activities in the website below to help you better understand reporting and predicting weather. In the first activity, you will use common weather symbols to create a weather map to report the weather. In the next activity, you will use temperature, precipitation, and cloud coverage to predict the weather in various regions.

Seasonal Happenings Wiki

Using the Research Guides provided to you by Mrs. Leary, you will begin to investigate your topic for the wiki, utilizing the Internet Resources page on the wiki. The wiki is currently private so you will need to enter your regular user name and password to gain access. Clicking on the picture below will take you to the login page.

Animal Research

Today you will visit the Enchanted Learning website to begin the research for your animal report. At the website you will click on the letter that is the beginning letter of your animal. Write your notes on the cards in the pocket folder that Mrs. Stewart has given you. Click below to get started.

Mealworm Maze

Today you will use a Kidspiration template to design a maze for your mealworm out of virtual base ten blocks. Later you will take your printed design back to the classroom, build the maze out of real base ten blocks, and allow your mealworm to run the maze in search of oatmeal. On your mark, get set, GO!

Life Cycle of A Meal Worm

Today we will learn another verse of Our Computer song. Next, we will create the Life Cycle Of A Meal Worm drawing in KidPix. We will review how to use the pencil, circle, fill bucket, eraser, text tool and the undo guy.

Click on the Group folder (it says your teacher’s name) on your dock. Double click on the Meal Worm.kpx empty template and begin your drawing.