As "tribes", students analyzed an environment, studied the natural resources that would be found there, and came up with a plan of survival including what they would wear, eat, travel, and live in.
Our room has changed yet again as we dive into our country's FIRST PEOPLE - Native American Indians. A major focus during our Native American Unit, is how do people use natural resources to ADAPT to new environments? Our goal is to understand how each Native American Indian group adapted to survive in their unique North American environment. Before we do this, however, we work together to try and "adapt" there on our own. As "tribes", students analyzed an environment, studied the natural resources that would be found there, and came up with a plan of survival including what they would wear, eat, travel, and live in. After working together, groups shared with the class their environment, their natural resources that they had to work with, and their adaptations for survival. The next phase will be discovering how the Native American Indians in these regions ACTUALLY adapted and see if our conclusions were similar!
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Last week, we wrapped up our Government Unit. Here is a little bit about what we have been doing! We started with the most important document for running our Country - The Constitution. We discussed the major points addressed in it including limited government, rights of the people, and it's purpose (to protect, give justice, provide for the overall welfare, etc.) Much like a video game instruction book for Minecraft, it lays out what our founding fathers believed would build a good government. We summarized the major sections of the Constitution then built video game covers that summed up the Constitutions purpose. Some students even included the Federalists and Anti-Federalist arguments ;0) Federalists arguing FOR strong government and anti-Federalists wanting more citizen's rights. Student Council elections always falls perfectly when we are learning about Presidential Elections. We staged our own election, campaigned, and presented our speeches. We discussed how the next step would be the debates if this were presidential ;0) The Federalists and Anti-Federalists finally came up with a compromise - THE BILL OF RIGHTS. In this way, one could have a strong national government and not worry about it taking away the rights of it's people. We discussed why rules are important, why we can't be a totally "Free" country (because then bad people would be free as well!), and illustrated each of the Bills of Rights. Reading is one of the best ways to learn information. We have been pouring over Government non-fiction book in an attempt to learn as much as we can about how our country is run. Students are required to read at least ONE unit book, complete an information slip, and test on it. They also share the most interesting fact on a fact card to add to our 5th Grade Historians' WALL OF FACTS! Be sure to keep checking in to see what is coming up next!
We all had a WONDERFUL time enjoying the GORGEOUS fall weather as we walked and excised during the Hoppin Hustle this past Friday. The students really worked hard to earn money for our school and received their prizes! Each child also received a snow cone as a reward for participating the hustle. A big THANK YOU to our parents who came out to enjoy the event with us as well! Also this Friday, Mrs. Bermingham's class had the privilege of visiting the Bowman Place in the morning. We enjoyed a lovely morning with the residents playing Bingo and eating cookies! This is a great opportunity for students to learn how to communicate and interact with the elderly in their community. Mrs. Griffioen's class will be going in the Spring. Using figurative language, as well as parts of speech, we wrote about what the season of Fall arrives with. On our walk back from the Bowman Place, we gathered leaves... we used these leaves to do leaf rubbings which we glued behind our lovely FALL poems. We have been studying the different types of government that can be found around the world today and throughout history. The most common include, Anarchy, Monarchy, Dictatorship, Oligarchy, Theocracy, Democracy, and Republic. In order to better understand these systems, we first applied hand motions to them, created a flip book with their definitions, and finally, ACTED them out with GUMMY BEARS :0) Once we had recreated the system of government, we drew a matching picture in our flip charts. Each student was given a spelling inventory at the start of the school year. The spelling inventory placed students on spelling teams based on the skills they had mastered as well as the skills they needed to work on. Here you will find them working with a buddy from their team participating in a game called Look, Write, Say. |
HOPPIN's FABULOUS FIFTH GRADE CLASS!
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