Fifth Grade Update - Jan. 19

It was a day of cooperation and invention.

After our Language Arts Mind Builders and Word Plexers, each table group was given 10 pieces of paper and just 12" of masking tape.  Their task: Make the highest free standing tower you can with just those materials.  Only one group was able to succeed, but there were others very close behind.  It was fabulous to see the teamwork, the concentration and determination.  It's good to be frustrated at times, and I am going to try to give the children more of these kinds of activities so they can see that when they work together and problem solve, almost anything is possible.  Oh: the winners were D'Avion, Thomas, Amit, and Leanne.

Next I introduced the Inventions Unit we will be working on until Spring Break.  Today's activity was a group invention.  Most of the work in this unit is individual with just a few in class group activities.  The students were given fairy tale dilemmas and asked to invent an item to help solve the problem.   The inventions can be seen on the bulletin board outside the GATE classroom.  The inventions ranged from a new food source for the Big Bad Wolf to a way to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Groups that finished early on their fairy tale invention either worked on stock market research or in preparing the hundreds of box tops we've received.  The fifth graders are the work force behind preparing and counting all the box tops before they are submitted.  Last year Flynn Park earned over $600 through this project.  I've heard Delmar Harvard earned over $200.  Together we can really support all the wonderful activities that reinforce our curriculum.

SAVE THE DATE:  Tuesday evening, May 8, at Jackson Park we will have a district wide 5th Grade GATE Showcase.  All the fifth grade GATE students in the district will display their work from throughout the year.  Please plan on attending.  As soon as I have a specific time, I will let you know.

HOMEWORK:  Your child was given a handout describing a quick research activity.  I've put the requirements below, just in case the paper is misplaced. :)  They will be sharing their invention choice with the class next week.

Your homework is to choose what you consider to be the “most important invention in history.”

Follow these steps:

1.      Talk to other people to get ideas, but you must make the final decision as to what YOU believe is the world’s most important invention.

2.      Research the invention you have chosen.

3.      Complete the index card as shown below.  This is to be your neatest work.

THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION IN HISTORY By Suzy Student ·         Invention (Name it and explain what it does) ·         Name of Inventor (Give his/her name and birth date) ·         Date the invention was developed and /or patented (Give dates and place if you find this information) ·         Source of your information (Where / how you did your research (List people you talked to and what your read (Internet site, books, etc.))