Solar COOKING! By: Mae & Clara

On Thursday, April 14th our class visited a sustainable home.  One of our guides demonstrated how to use the energy from the sun to cook something.  Ronda, our guide, was cooking nachos in a more advanced solar oven.

Then it was our turn to create a solar oven that could cook pizza or smores.  Our solar ovens were made from pizza boxes.  We join up in partnerships and started building.   

1.  We cut a flap on the top of the pizza box, 1 inch from the edges all around.   

2.  We taped tinfoil onto the flap we had just made.   

3.  We taped plastic wrap/cellophane to the opening of the box.

To cook your mini pizza or smores, just find a sunny area, flip the tinfoil lid open and place the food under the plastic wrap.  The sun will reflect off the tin foil lid through the plastic wrap and the food will begin to cook. The key ingredient in this process is not the oven itself, but the sun and the light/energy it produces.

The Overnight By: Owen, Andrew, William, & Ryan

On Thursday May 12, 2011, the fifth grade will have its annual 5^th Grade Overnight. This is a two-day, one night event that will include fun activities and a potluck dinner Thursday night.

During this overnight, students will participate in three activities. One is a nature walk with Mr. Church that will take place near and at the Paskamansett Bridge. Students will learn how to use a compass in this activity. There is a canoeing adventure on the Paskamansett. Also, a high ropes element (probably the Giants Ladder) will be conquered by the students.

Thursday night there will be a potluck dinner. Students have been asked to bring food that their parents feel comfortable buying or making. Some of the choices include dry goods (paper plates, plastic ware, etc.), dinners (Pasta salad, chips, desserts, etc.) a main hearty dish such as lasagna, Mac & cheese etc. and drinks; water or juice boxes/Gatorade. After dinner we will have a campfire, roast marshmallows, make smores and just have a good time. Bedtime will depend on how well we do at the campfire.

Friday will be spent doing our last two activities, taking down tents, and writing reflections. Dismissal will be at regular time (3:05 pm).

Artistic Layered Literature BY: Tony & Daniel

We started a new project in art class.  The books we are creating are shaped like accordions.  There is a window box through the entire book.  The books we create have at least four layers to look through.  Each section of the tunnel book adds to the image you can see when looking through the book.

"It is 3D, and the collage effect is really neat!"

"Tunnel books are a lot like pop-up books."

Some themes that students picked were video games, fall, adventure, animal, racing, soccer, farms, and the beach.  The books are a lot of fun to create, because you work in layers on the image.  You do not have to just work on the entire image.  The tunnel books let you work on different pieces through out the creative process. 


 

Dreaming Animals BY:Patrick

In 5th grade art we wrapped up our Animal Dream drawings. First every student had to create a sketch of an animal dreaming of something amazing.  We were all given a large piece of black paper to complete our final artwork.  We used the black paper because the pastels show up brighter on that surface.  Out task was to cover the whole entire piece of paper with the vibrant pastels.  Our Animal Dreams are now displayed around the school for Arts and Poetry Night. 

Some of the examples of our animals dreams were; a pig dreaming about an apple, a seal dreaming about fish, a dog dreaming of a treat, and a bull dreaming of charging a bull fighter. 

.Tenths/Hundredths/Thousandths BY: Lydia

Decimals are Awesome!  Guess what, we are learning them in Mr. Church's classroom.  Decimals are a lot like fractions because they both show parts of a whole.  Each number after the decimal point has a specific value.  Each value represents how many you would need to make one whole.  Decimals can be converted into fractions if you know know what place values are represented in the number.  An example of this is the number: 

0.25  =  2 tenths and 5 hundredths, or 25 hundredth.

This number in fraction form before simplifying is 25/100

After simplifying you arrive at the smallest fraction 1/4

We are going to continue to investigate more about fractions, and how to multiply, divide, add, and subtract them.  This is very important because fractions share many of the same features as decimals.

Apeiron Institute

Designed by a team of experts in sustainable design and technologies, the house showcases more than fifty environmentally friendly systems, technologies, and products, including: passive and active solar energy systems, natural, recycled and non-toxic building materials and construction, straw-bale walls, radiant flooring, permaculture landscaping, and so forth.

On Thursday our class got the opportunity to visit the Apeiron Institute in Coventry, RI.  In science we are learning about resources that can be found all over the world.  In Rhode Island they have built a home to show people how simple changes can cut down on the impact we have on the planet, and how we can lower our energy costs.  With some simple changes and additions the Apeiron Institute was able to convert this old campground building into an energy efficient living space.

Some of the features in the building included solar panels for both electricity and hot water, and more windows on the southern side of the building to collect heat from the sun exposure.  The house collects rainwater for washing and watering the gardens.  In the large open room on the main floor there is a wood stove that was invented in Finland, made of soap stone to retain the heat over a long period of time.

After our class was given a tour of the facility, we went outside to build solar ovens.  Groups of two built solar ovens with recycled pizza boxes, and a small list of supplies.  We will be using solar ovens later in science class to harness the sun's power to cook a small treat.

Friends Teaching Fun at Recess By: Daniel

There are some really great people in our class.  I was lucky enough to have one of those students teach me a few skills out at recess this week.  Owen is a very close friend of mine, and I know that he is very good at the game of soccer.  I have been thinking about trying out for a sport at school, and I just couldn't decide what sport I should try.  I have never played a team sport before, and I decided I wanted to try one out.  Owen  brought his personal soccer ball into school so we could practice some skills at recess.  We practiced dribbling, passing, shooting, and throwing the ball into the field.  Even though Owen is better then I am at soccer, the only way I can get better is to start somewhere.  I noticed that each day we played at recess I was getting better at the different skills.  It has been really great to learn about a new sport, and really nice to see other students teaching classmates sports they don't know like lacrosse.